a mom's dictionary

I saw this in a parenting magazine and thought I would share it with all you moms out there who will maybe think it's as funny as I do...

THE BERBER METHOD: the act of burying your face in the carpet in order to escape the sound of your baby's incessant wailing as he tries to put himself to sleep.

BIDTIME: The moment bribery enters the picture during your attempts to get your kids to hit the sack.

C-YA SECTION: Any part of the birthing process that prompts the hasty departure of your husband.

FIBLING RIVALRY: The one-upmanship between your children whenever they're trying to lay the blame on each other.

THE ITSY-BITSY SPEEDER: A lightning-quick crawler who gets around so fast on all fours that it seems as if he's got eight legs.

JUNCLE GYM: That special male relative whose body also serves as play equipment, on which his neices and nephews can climb.

MATERNAL INSTINK: The uncanny ability a mom has to determine when a baby's diaper needs to be changed.

METERNITY: The seemingly endless period of responsibilities, beginning with the delivery of your child and ending when he grows up, gets a job, and moves out of the house.

NAP AND TUCK: The surgically precise movements of an exhausted parent who is deftly tucking an already sleeping child into bed so as to not wake her.

PACICRIER: A magically gifted baby who can cry just as loud with a pacifier in his mouth as he can without it.

PLOYGROUND: A recreational area at which your child will try every trick in the book to stay just a few more minutes.

SPRING BROKE: Your financial state after a trip to Walt Disney World during your kids' school vacation.

STIFFED ANIMAL: Any one your child's plush baby toys that's been drooled on, peed on, and spit up on so many times that it's ready to be laid to rest.

TOYLET TEACHING: The art of luring your unsuspecting toddler into the bathroom with a favorite toy in hopes that she'll sit, play, and poop.

carlson family photos

Here are a few of our family photos that were taken last week. My friend took them and did an excellent job. Especially given that 1/3 of the people were ages 5 and under, and also that it was about 43 degrees outside (I told you it has actually been cold here!).

The current Carlson clan

Our family

The original Carlson clan

Grandpa & Grandma with the 7 grandkids

(also the only photo out of about 150 that Tyler was actually smiling...you should have seen the things I was doing!)

All the girls

demotivators

Kevin's brother introduced us to this website: http://www.despair.com/viewall.html

I finally had a chance to look at it yesterday, and I couldn't stop laughing! They take those inspirational photos and sayings and make them "demotivators." You can even buy clothes & create calendars! Here are a few of my favorites (I wrote what they say, since they are poor quality images & hard to read):

I expected times like this - but I never thought they'd be so bad, so long, and so frequent.

If you can't learn to do something well, learn to enjoy doing it poorly.

(This describes how I feel about doing crafts...)

Just because you've always done it that way doesn't mean it's not incredibly stupid.

christmas fun

It's been a fun few days of Christmas here. My brother & his wife arrived late Sunday night (technically early Monday morning) after 14 hours on a plane or in an airport thanks to bad weather back east and in the midwest. We spent Monday morning introducing everyone to the cool new park we found on Veteran's Day. Monday evening (Christmas Eve) we had a traditional turkey dinner with all the fixings. We then bundled up (you know...in our sweatshirts) and braved the cold to see the temple Christmas lights. It was beautiful, as always. What was not so beautiful was our two rambunctious boys who refused to stay with us. Maybe one of these years we'll actually get to see the nativity displays or the musical performances! We did run into seven families we knew there, so at least that was enjoyable.

Brandon looks thrilled, doesn't he?

Natalie all bundled up...

I had to take a picture since it only happens a few times a year!

Natalie fell asleep in her car seat carrier on the drive home. We brought her inside & kept waiting for her to wake up. She never did, and proceeded to sleep 11 hours through the night strapped in it in her clothes! The boys opened their new Disney pajamas from Aunt Rebecca and amazingly went to sleep right away without giving us any grief. We even got to play a game with some of my family!

New Disney pajamas from Aunt Rebecca
and I even remembered to take down the gate before the pictures!

Christmas morning the boys were up at their usual time of 6:15 a.m. They saw the stockings & presents Santa left for them. And then in the true Christmas spirit, they began to whine & fight over them and beg for more presents. Some of my family joined us later in the morning and the boys loved playing outside with their new remote-controlled cars. Unfortunately, it's been extremely cold here and it was very windy that day, so that didn't last too long. Later in the afternoon, we headed over to my sister's house for dinner & Carlson Christmas. The boys were very patient waiting their turn for presents with 15 people. We finally finished opening the last of the presents at 7:30 p.m., just in time to pack them up and head home for their bedtime.

All 7 cousins...and in case you don't recognize them, Tyler is on the left in the red shirt, Natalie is the baby, and Brandon is in the front wearing a bright green shirt.

Natalie gets a baby doll!
The traditional "bow-on-the-baby's-head" photo!

Yesterday morning we did family photos, taken by my friend. I will post them as soon as I get them. It was very cold, but thankfully all 7 of the children were well behaved so it went fairly quickly. Then in the afternoon, all 8 of the adults had the opportunity to do some family name sealings at the temple. What a marvelous & memorable experience that was. We finished off the evening with a belated birthday dinner for my brother.

My brother & his wife left this morning, Kevin went back to work today, and my parents leave tomorrow. So, I guess the fun is over and we're back to reality again...

We feel extremely blessed to have such generous relatives on both sides of our family, and to be able to spend this wonderful time of year with some of them. I didn't quite get everything I wanted for Christmas, but we managed to remain mostly healthy (and so far no antibiotics or trips to Urgent Care), so I guess that in and of itself is a bit of a Christmas miracle! Most importantly, we are thankful for the birth of the Savior, which makes this season full of hope and joy.

on the twelfth day of christmas...

Today I thought I'd share a few of our childhood holiday traditions - from both the Park side and the Carlson side. And since I'm too tired to drag out the old scrapbooks and scan photos in...I'll just share a few funny Christmas cartoons that have absolutely nothing to do with what I write about.

CARLSON

Every Christmas Eve, our dinner was dopp i grytan (which means "dipping in the kettle/pot" in Swedish). My dad is of Swedish heritage and this was a tradition passed on from his family. My mom would make a roast, and then give us little cups of the meat juice to dip bread or rolls in. But us kids never did.

My parents never pretended there was or wasn't a Santa. As we got older (teenagers), we each bought small, cheap items and stuffed each other's stockings.

Christmas morning breakfast was usually kuchen, which is a german cake. My mom is of German heritage, so this tradition was passed on from her family.

The Carlson family is small, not many extended relatives and none that lived nearby, so every Christmas it would just be our family.

My parents usually did a bunch of smaller gifts rather than several more expensive ones. We would open our presents throughout the day. Each of us would open 1-2 presents and then we would take a break. This taught us patience and also gave us time to play with the toys we had just opened. I honestly didn't know that other families opened all their presents at one time until I was a teenager! This also allowed us to enjoy sleeping in a bit, since there we knew there was no rush to open everything.

PARK

Each year sometime during December, there was a gentlemen who was hired to come and play Santa. He came and each child sat on his lap and told him what they wanted. Kevin's parents and his aunt & uncle (who live next door) put together sacks of little treats for him to give each child. When we were there in 1997, he was still coming...but with a walker!

Every Christmas Eve, the Parks have meat fondue. Kevin's father served his mission in Switzerland, so that is when/where this family tradition started. We would like to continue this tradition, but since boiling oil & raw meat (as well as the fact that it takes several hours for dinner) are not good with small children, we will have to wait. I personally am voting to modify the tradition to just doing chocolate fondue!

Christmas Eve there was usually a nativity program done for aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents that live next door on both sides.

On Christmas morning, the Parks wake up very early (I had a very rude awakening at 6:00 from Kevin's youngest brother our first Christmas there). They line up in the hallway from youngest to oldest and then go into the living room one by one and are given their stockings from Santa. 6:00 a.m. would definitely not be an issue anymore, since that's our children's usual wake up time each morning.

Christmas morning breakfast was usually homemade cinnamon rolls.

They draw names and make homemade presents for each other. When I first heard this (and was informed that I was going to participate), I envisioned paper junk that was made quickly a few days before, and would be throw out a few days later. However, I have been thoroughly impressed with the quality of gifts. Homemade wood-working, painted or drawn artwork, hand-sewn shirts, books written, you name it. It probably helps that they are all extremely talented and creative artists!

The main meal on Christmas is usually just salads and sandwiches. For a family who loves to cook & eat & make everything homemade, I was shocked to hear this. But we have continued this tradition, and have even started doing it with the Carlson's. It allows us to be together on Christmas, enjoying each other's company and our lovely new presents, instead of the women slaving away in the kitchen.

on the eleventh day of christmas...

I'm trying not to make this blog too much of a travelogue of our lives, but I thought I'd share some of the fun (and productive) things we've done this past week...plus I really wanted to try out this new photo collage feature my friend taught me!

We received a "Make Your Own Gingerbread Man" kit as a gift (just add egg & oil), so after several days of constant pestering from the boys about when we were going to make them, I finally gave in and endured the chaos & mess. The cookies are hard & gross but the boys had fun, so I guess that's all that counts, right? I still haven't been brave enough to try a gingerbread house or sugar cookies from scratch with them, so at least I feel like a good Christmas mommy now!

My parents arrived early enough on Thursday so that I could attend Brandon's holiday party at school. The kids had free-dress day (they usually wear school uniforms), and they were allowed to put their desks together in groups (instead of the usual rows), so they were thrilled. Add a whole bunch of sugar and games and presents, and Brandon quickly declared it the best day of school EVER! Here are photos of Brandon with his best friend (the broccoli lover) and with his teacher.

On Friday, my sister, my mom, & I braved the crowds at the mall so I could pick up Natalie's photos. I'm happy to report there were no play area incidents like the past few times we've been there. We even took the boys on the carousel because we had an extra set of hands to hold Natalie. And yesterday, thanks to my mom watching our kids at my sister's house, and my dad coming to help us, we managed to get a few home improvement projects done. It's sad that it takes getting ready to put the house up for sale to get these things done finally! Our showerhead was replaced, some doorknobs got switched, the kitchen sink was re-caulked, and we painted our baseboards. Don't you love before & after photos?

on the tenth day of christmas...

I know I'm biased, but I think our little Natalie is quite a beautiful Christmas angel. The photographer literally had to do nothing, she just sat there and smiled & smiled. They even asked me to sign a model release form, but thankfully they got busy and forgot, so I didn't have to decide.

on the ninth day of christmas...

It is my "little" brother Eric's birthday today (though as you can see, he's not so "little" anymore!). As a kid I always thought it would stink having a birthday at Christmastime (you know...presents only one time during the year), but now that I understand the importance of this season, I think it must be nice to have a birthday at such a joyful time of the year. Mom & Dad always did such a great job of making sure his birthday was not lumped in with the Christmas festivities.

Eric, what an exciting year it has been for you. Amy is wonderful and you couldn't have done any better. I hope you make it home from China safely today and in time to celebrate with her. We can't wait to see you guys in a few days!

I thought I'd share my favorite photo of you from our childhood. And in case anyone doesn't recognize me, I'm the cute one in the middle!

on the eighth day of christmas...

As the year comes to a close it's only appropriate to reflect on what we've accomplished this year before setting our goals for the new year. As I look back through my calendar and my photos, I am again reminded & truly humbled by the many blessings I have received this year. I thought I'd share a few of them & some of my favorite photos from this year...the ones that happened before I started my blog in August & that I didn't have room for in the Christmas letter.

My kind and loving (and very handsome) husband.

I can't believe I'm posting this photo, but given all the drama & sickness during my pregnancies (especially this one), I am grateful for a healthy, full-term baby and a quick recovery.


Finally, a girl!

Three beautiful, healthy (and extremely energetic) children.

Two grandmas who were willing & able to come help.

Grandma Park (above) and Grandma Carlson (below).

The time and money to take our kids to fun places like Sea World (though I would not recommend it with a month-old baby).

Two sets of loving, supportive parents (that even get along really well!). At Natalie's blessing in August was the first time since Kevin's MBA graduation in May 2003 that they've all been together.

I am truly blessed!

on the seventh day of christmas...

Kevin's youngest sister Karilee has been visiting us for the past 3 days. She is going on a mission to Salt Lake City (spanish-speaking) in January, so this was the last time we will see her for a few years. She lived with Jeff's brother (who lives just a few miles away from us) for 4 months last fall so the boys know her well & have loved seeing her again. Unfortunately, she had a really bad cold so they didn't get in quite as much playtime as they hoped. Thanks for visiting Karilee...we love you and we'll miss you!

Karilee Delpha with Natalie Delpha

They were both named after the same grandmother (Natalie's great-grandmother).

The boys loved playing with Karilee's scarf & hat - it was quite a novelty for them, since we don't own any of them! I think Tyler looks like a sad little orphan kid in this photo.

We had a family dinner on Sunday. This is Kevin's brother Jeff (who is exactly 1 year & 3 days older than Kevin...still not sure what their mom was thinking there). Jeff is holding his daughter MaggieMae, who is 2 months younger than Natalie.

on the sixth day of christmas...

This was sent to me. I have no idea who put it together or even who is singing, but it really touched me and seemed appropriate for the season. May we all remember the true meaning of this wonderful season...MARY CHRISTmas!

on the fifth day of christmas...

Natalie turned 6 months old last week, so I took her to the doctor this morning for her checkup. She is a healthy, happy girl, though she looks to have gotten the "petite" genes. She's 14 lbs. 7 oz. and 25 3/4" long. It's very strange to have such a small girl after two huge boys (she's about 3-4" shorter and 3-4 lbs. lighter than each of my boys were at 6 months old). But it's exciting because she is actually able to wear all the adorable clothes she received! Just in the past week she has learned to sit up and also to scoot around a bit. This is my favorite baby phase - sleeping through the night, not yet teething and cranky, and I can pile toys around her and she can sit & entertain herself for a few minutes.

on the fourth day of christmas...

Last night we went to visit some of my favorite people....the Turner's. They are actually my sister's parents-in-law, but for the past 15 years they have always treated me like their own daughter. And they are truly like a third set of grandparents to my children, who even call them Grandpa & Grandma Turner. They are some of the kindest, most generous people I have ever known. They have been to visit me in the hospital and have held all my babies before they were 24 hours old. I have even been skydiving & bungee jumping with them! They are people who would do anything for you. Here is a photo of the kids playing with their Christmas trains last night, as well as a photo of an adorable firetruck rocking chair Grandpa Turner made for Brandon when he was a year old. He is incredibly talented at woodworking. These rocking chairs are handmade & handpainted. They are a Turner family tradition and he has made one for each of his grandchildren. I am honored that they consider us part of their family, even though we're not technically related...we definitely consider them part of ours!

on the third day of christmas...

Today I thought I'd share photos of each Christmas since we've had kids and some memories from each year.

2002

Brandon was 4 months old.

He didn't have clue what Christmas was about.

Sometimes I wish it were still that way...

We went to California to my parent's house. My sister & family were also there with their 3 kids. It was pretty loud & crazy.

2003

Brandon was 16 months old.

A fairly uneventful Christmas.

This was the year of the debut of the Christmas tree gate.

2004

Brandon was 2 years old.

I was very pregnant with Tyler.

And apparently, I never got a photo of Brandon in front of the tree! But here is a lovely photo of what our tree looks like without a gate (we just took it down for the photo).

2005

Brandon was 3 years old. Tyler was 9 months old.

Christmas was on a Sunday this year. I only remember that because Tyler was very sick and even 1 hour of church was too much - we came home early. We ended up at Urgent Care the next morning. It was not a very fun first Christmas for him.

2006
Brandon was 4 years old. Tyler was 21 months old.

New Disney pajamas thanks to Aunt Rebecca.