a word of caution, i love my husband

this one may get a little sappy. if you are not interested in me gushing about my husband, stop reading now.

this past week and a half has been one of the best. we did not do anything very special. in fact, we hardly left the house. but, for the first time since becoming a mother, i had a vacation. brent always gets the week off between christmas and new years, which is a huge blessing. but this year, we didn't make any plans. we ended up just being a family. and normally, that would mean cabin fever and yelling and screaming after the first 36 hours. but the opposite happened. i know part of the reason is that santa brought us a wii, but i think it is mostly because brent did everything, everything while he was home. i haven't cooked a meal, folded laundry, or set a table for almost two weeks. i think this demonstrates a few things.
one- my husband loves me and gets me. even though when i look at it, i realize that i took total advantage of his kindness and i am truly just lazy, he never made me feel bad about it. he let me enjoy the break.
two- i married a terrific man who not only is a fantastic provider, he is also an amazing father and, forgive the expression, homemaker. whenever i leave the kids with him, i never worry that they will eat fruit roll ups for dinner and sleep with bubble gum in their hair. i know that they will be fed a nutritious meal (which is probably tastier than something i would make), go to bed clean, and they will have a blast with their dad. my boys are so lucky. and my future daughters-in-law are so lucky. they will marry men who will have had brent as an example of how to treat their wives and care for their homes. what a blessing. (and camma, i know i have you to thank for much of what brent can do.)
three- i need to step up my game. now that life is starting up again its time for me to really pull my weight around here. i need to show brent the same kind of love and service he has shown me these past two weeks.

new paint; new room

as promised, i have finally posted photos of elijah's and spencer's new room. i know you have been on pins and needles wondering how orange and blue would turn out. what do you think?

jake is student of the month

jacob received the student of the month award for his class in november. way to go jake!! he has been working very hard this year and it is great to see his mind grow. we know he will do great things.
i thought i would share the description his teacher gave. the principle reads this and the other students have to guess who it is. i got a little chuckle out of it:

"this student of the month is willing to take risks and ask questions about anything and everything in third grade and beyond. his quest for perfection leads him frequently to perfect, or near perfect scores on all his tests and on top of the AR (a reading program) points list. he loves learning, but mainly he enjoys keeping his teacher on his toes!"

i love that last sentence. it makes me giggle to know that other people "get " jake. he's a great kid and we are so blessed to have him in our family.

eli's kindergarten christmas program

just some great photos of elijah and his friends, all decked out to deck the halls with christmas songs. it was impossible not to smile.

merry christmas

we had a fantastic christmas 2008. we didn't take too many pictures; i guess we were just too busy making memories (or playing the wii that santa claus, and grandma brought to us). we love this time of year to remember the birth of our Savior and give thanks for all of our blessings. we have now taken down the christmas decorations and we can't wait to see what 2009 has in store for us. we hope the year brings you great joy.

a day in kindergarten

elijah loves kindergarten. these are just some shots from a day i was helping out and happened to bring my camera. they are playing a game where the kids are in a circle and one child is standing on the outside of the circle. the teacher then shows flash cards with sight words on them. the child standing, and the child sitting directly in front of them race to say the word first. if the standing child wins, he/she moves to the next kid in the circle. if the sitting child wins, they trade places with the standing child. it was lots of fun to watch the kids. i think the funniest is when the other kids want to help the ones who are racing. they know the answer and are just itching to share it. when eli had his turn he did very well. he got about half way around the circle before someone answered quicker than him.

so cute!!