Here are the things I need to
1) Madelynn in Primary
2) Madelynn's letters/drawings
3) Baby development
4) Goals for 2010
5) Past events (downloaded 250 pics, need to record them!)
6) Car accident
My poor car!!Okay, I am going to start with the big one, our goals for 2010. Some of them are obvious, potty train Katherine, get Madelynn reading (or close thereto) and have a healthy baby, but our big family ones are as follows:
1) Year of SERVICE 2010!!!! Service seems to be the theme every time I turn around (Disneyland, Ward Conference, Stake Theme) so I decided that we are going to make this a year of service. 2009 was a really rough year for us financially and I felt like we were so blessed over and over again. 2010 has already been so different (seriously, 2009 is over and so are most of our woes) and I am very ready to make 2010 about other people!!! So our goal for our family is to make FHE all about service this year. I know that this might not be very easy and it will really stretch my imagination, but it is going to be so much fun. We are going to try to focus every week on doing something for someone else. Our first two weeks of this consisted of going to a Nursing home on the other side of town. Jacob's grandmother has been there for almost two weeks and we have been spending a lot of time there. The difference, however, was that when we decided to make our visit a FHE visit and to go out of our way to brighten the day of everyone we saw and not just Deanna, it made our efforts totally worth it!! We went today and there are some of the people who know my kids names already!!!! It has been so much fun and best of all, my girls LOVE it!!!
Fish tank at the nursing home. We tried to get a picture with Chuck, or friend who takes care of the fish, but he didn't want to.
G.G. (Great Grandma) was asleep the entire 45 minutes we were there, so we made picture for her to enjoy when she woke up. Madelynn took a picture of G.G. sleeping, but I am pretty sure that she would kill me if I posted it, so we will try to get a better one later!!
Some of our other ideas include:
1) Feeding the missionaries monthly
2) Bingo caller at the Alzheimers Center (Counts towards Disneyland ticket!)
3) Make the extra effort to clean the church building
4) Take food to a family in need
5) Bake cookies for the bishop
6)
Of course some of these are things we should be doing already, we'll just make the extra effort to do them.
Okay, now something much more exciting!! Baby update!!
I am now 17 weeks along, I still don't really show. I failed the first gestational diabetes test, which really scared me. So for the first time I read a book about being pregnant. Go figure, my third pregnancy and I finally pick up a book on the subject!! I found an awesome book called "Expect the Best" a guide for gestational diabetes. I learned that the best foods are Salmon, yams, tuna and eggs. I have started eating more yams and tuna and eggs were already in my diet, so I am doing pretty good. Eating better really paid off when I went to my 2nd doctors appointment and had lost 2 pounds. Not that I am trying to loose weight, you have to understand that I was already up 10 pounds and am usually up 15 by that point!! So only being up 8 pounds is really, REALLY good!!!
Madelynn update:
Maddy and Baby Alex
The fairy princess!!
OH...MY....GOSH!!!! (That seems so silly after I typed it) It is amazing at how she has developed and grown. It literally seemed like one day she was drawing scribbles that were nothing and the next day she is drawing full bodies with faces and arms and legs and everything....AND.....she is writing her letters!!! She is SO SMART, I just love her to bits!! She started primary and the scripture for the month of January is the first article of faith. Madelynn was entrigued by the first article of faith and she wanted Jacob and I to say it over and over and over. By Thursday she could say it by herself. She didn't have the courage to say it to Sister Cola until her third Sunday in Primary. And on her fourth Sunday in Primary, she passed off her Second Article of Faith!! I have been blown away at her desire to learn/memorize the Articles of Faith, and it is totally ALL her, we don't make her say it or practice or anything like that. I have her saying them on video, but I can't get it to upload tonight. I will try again tomorrow.
Okay, I have to go to bed now, but there will be a second half to come tomorrow!!
Tomorrow is a big day for our family, I will give more information later, but for now, keep us in your prayers and hopefully it will be REALLY GOOD and EXCITING news!!!
