Weitzel Family Christmas

The Weitzel family Christmas party this year was at Steve and Laura's house. Everyone was there except Ashleigh who is in Wyoming with Paul for Christmas. She was missed (mostly because she had the snowman "poop" and it did not get passed out this year). We had spaghetti, salad, and a great potato dish that Marisa made. Noah and Jake were so happy because they love spaghetti and do not care for the traditional turkey kind of dinner. So they ate to their hearts content. Everyone seemed to have a great time and it was fun to see everyone and share in the holiday with them. Grandma's gift cards were a hit! The older ones got ones to Nordstroms and the younger ones to Macy's. I will have fun shopping with them there:) Now we just have two more days until Santa arrives with his bag full of tricks! Hayden kept asking us when is the "real" Christmas was going to come - she doesn't have long to wait now!

Miracles

We often write about the things that bring us joy. Sometimes though we need to write about some of the tougher things in life. The last eight weeks have been the hardest I have experienced to date. But I am sure that for Paige it was harder. Eight weeks ago we took Paige to an outdoor wilderness program. We felt that for Paige to get a hold of her life and really deal with herself she needed this experience. She has been home one week now and shared with us how it turned out to be the life changing experience she needed. But not knowing the outcome and how things were before she left, made this a very scary thing to do. David and I knew we were doing the right thing but that did not make it any easier. We love Paige so much and felt that we had to give her this opportunity - she had the choice to let it work for her or not - but we had to give it to her. Believe me it was not something she would have done on her own. When I have a child I hold such high hopes for them. I dream how they will grow and be as adults. My job is to safely get them to that point. When they are little it is so easy to set the boundaries and the consequences. But as they turn to young adults this job becomes sometimes overwhelming. Paige needed to see that her actions were affecting all the people she loved. The most rewarding thing that came from this for me is just that - she realized how much her family did love her and how much she needed us. She said that some of the kids would say they missed their PS2 or certain foods. She said "I did not want anything but to be back with my family!" Paige was letting a lot of things control her life. She learned that she needed to take control and find peace within herself. She just needed the time away from the "real world" to find out where the little girl we all know and love went to. She still has a lot of battles to fight but I think that she has found how to fight the battles and that she can win! No mother ever wants their child to get hurt. Watching Paige hurt herself was more than we could watch. Seeing her today as the light has come back in her eyes, I see she is feeling so much better about herself. Miracles still happen in today's world and in our little Weitzel world Paige is the proof.

I should have known

I should have known something was wrong when Autumn did not finish eating her favorite breakfast. I should have known when she refused a chocolate muffin for lunch. I should have known when she fell asleep in church (the child never sleeps during the day). Near the end of Primary she threw up. No she did not make it to the bathroom (no such luck) but she got sick all over Tiffany Nailon. (I am so embarrassed!) The youth handled it really well, I would have been crying. We got her cleaned up and home to bed. She kept telling me she wanted me to call Aundrea to take care of her because she did not want anyone at our house to get sick. (I guess she thinks people at Aundrea's don't get sick.) About 10:00 in the evening she came downstairs wanting something to eat. I gave her 7-up and got her to go back and lay down. She slept through the rest of the night. I hope this does not go through everyone - not good timing right now. Is it ever good timing?

Pink Hair?

My girls have always loved make-up, nail polish, hair styles, generally anything that is girly, girl. My Chloe has such a passion for it all that she definitely wants to go to school after she graduates to do it professionally. All of my older kids when they got their first job worked at Papa Murphy's. Not Chloe, she found her way to a salon and is learning all the tricks of the trade. But then what do you do when she comes home with "pink" hair? Kim the girl she works for said she was going to call it "neapolitan barbie". (Under her hair in the back it is brown, the blond on top, with a splash of pink) She was so excited and then David and I saw it and were not that thrilled. We like more traditional hair color. Maybe that is showing our age or something. Anyway, she told David that we had better get used to some "fun" kinds of hair do's, this was going to be her profession. Then she told him "you better watch out one of these days you might wake up with pink streaks in your hair". It's growing on me, she is cute however she does her hair (and there are worse battles I could be fighting with her) - but David better sleep with one eye open!

The Music

I just got home from the "Creche" dress rehearsal. I was so touched by the music and spoken word. I know that it will be great Friday night. But now my heart is so full at this moment and the notes and words are still ringing in my ears. I love our Heavenly Father who knew that the only way back to Him was through a Savior. I love our brother Jesus Christ who came here to earth to create the way back. As a mother I have such admiration and love for Mary who as the mother of Christ taught and loved Him. I know that Joseph stood beside her and helped guide and teach that young boy. I am humbled as I try to emulate them and teach my family to love and serve as He did. I have accessed the atonement so many times this past couple of months as I have laid at His feet my trials and sadness. As I have felt His loving arms around me in the dark of the night, I know He hears and answers prayers. The music we sang tonight testified of Him just like the heavenly angels that sang the night He was born. No wonder the shepherds had to turn from their flocks to go and seek Him. The music they heard directed their hearts to Him. I hope that my heart can always be turned towards Him. I know that tonight for a brief moment I let the music touch my heart and my heart turned as I heard the music.....

Cookie Baking FHE Style

So for family night every year we invite a family over to make cut out cookies. Well, for the last two years we have neglected this tradition. I just never seemed organized enough but decided if we didn't get back into this long standing tradition it was going to go by the wayside. This year we had the Edwards family over. They are such great kids and had so much fun with the train under the tree. It was nice having so many older kids they really helped the younger ones with the project that I was not stressed at all. It was so fun to watch as they really got into the whole rolling it out and making a mess! At one point Autumn was on the counter with the frosting just eating it out of the bowl!! I just had to laugh and before I got after her I had to grab the camera and take a picture. Everyone was laughing. But I couldn't pass up the photo opportunity. We got the cookies made and another little project for gifts for home teaching and visiting teaching families. Then we all read two really cute Christmas books that I got this year. ( I recommend them - "Snowmen at Night" and "Snowmen at Christmas") My favorite time was when we all sang Silent Night. It was beautiful! I am so grateful for wonderful families that we get to share our lives with. It strengthens me and helps me as a mother to have friends and their families be a part of our family circle.

Top "10" Holiday To Do List

This time of year can be so stressful and I recently talked with a friend of mine and she asked if I had my top 10 list done yet. So I thought about it and decided to put one together. There is nothing more exciting than to cross something off a "to do" list.

1. Make holiday cookies for cookie exchange.
2. Wrap presents already bought and under my bed, closet, garage.
3. Get visiting teaching done early and maybe even a cute little something for the ladies.
4. Go with family and see the Christmas lights.
5. Give one - give one hour of service (hopefully I can give more).
6. Make gingerbread houses with kids.
7. Read Christmas stories with kids at bedtime each evening.
8. Take a picture of each child with their favorite ornament and have them journal with me about why. (Always looking for a cute scrapbook page!)
9. Remember to hug and kiss each child every day even if I'm totally stressed for not getting something done on my list.
10. Study the Christmas story in the New Testament as well as in the Book of Mormon. Let this help me remember the whole reason for this wonderful time of year!

Now that the "to do" list is done I can also get to work on the couple of lessons I get to teach that are coming up. It has been a while since I have had to study for teaching and it is fun to have this on my plate as it helps me focus on specific topics while doing my scripture study. I guess as I really think about it my "to do" list could just keep going and going and going.......

Tree Decorating 101

So, the first step in decorating the tree is to get it in the stand and standing up straight. Usually David is in charge of this but this year the girls were in charge (and Chad).
I have always put the lights on so that they get on evenly.
Lights on and now ready to break out the decorations,

Oh, wait I guess it is break time. Hot chocolate and donuts. Is the tree ever going to get done?
Finally, back to business. Let's get those ornaments on.

Chloe decided to join in the fun and saw that the back of the tree was empty.
All done! Now Autumn has to stand back and assess if she has all the ornaments hanging just right. Well if you count that she hung all of hers on the same branch and when that was full she started hanging them off each other. Someone needs to give that girl some lessons on ornament hanging. Good thing the other kids kept fixing it or the tree just might have fallen over from over load on one side!
Wait a minute, David got home from work and there were a couple saved just for him. It passed his inspection and now all our holiday decorating is complete. The only part of all the wonderful decorations is that I feel like I have to keep things really picked up so it doesn't look cluttered in my house. I just have to keep telling myself "kids live here" and that helps me cope. Merry Christmas to everyone and have fun enjoying all your holiday decorations! If you haven't already decorated good luck with decorating your tree and hope you have as much fun as we did!

Cutting the Christmas Tree

Our annual trek to go and get our Christmas tree this morning was greeted with snow! Boy were the kids excited when they woke up to snow falling outside. It was not cold enough to stick but that did not matter as Noah had predicted a "blizzard" for Saturday and any snow falling was "blizzard" conditions enough for him. It is always interesting as David always tries to find the right tree and I just want to hurry and get it cut and the kids want to get to the hot chocolate tent. This year they had an old van made into a shelter with a heater and benches. We will decorate Monday night for family night - a long established tradition in our family - tree on Saturday and decorate on Monday. I use to try to have the tree all perfectly decorated and ornaments all in their proper places but have long since given up on the idea as it is more fun to let the kids decorate it and talk about each ornament and its story. I will have many years when there are no kids (that seems so far off) when David and I can decorate our way (mostly my way) to our hearts content. For now it is the children's tree.

Decorating Day

About 10 or 11 years ago when I was teaching preschool one of the little girls came to school one day and said to me " Teacher Candy, guess what I have in my back pack? I have Christmas". I said "Is it a present? Is it cookies for me? What kind of Christmas could you have in your back pack?" She then taught me a lesson I have never forgotten. She pulled out of her back pack a toy nativity set. She said "See this is Christmas and I carry it with me wherever I go!" I wanted to carry Christmas with me so since that time I have collected nativity sets. They have come to be the best part of my Christmas decorating. I have several that are kid friendly and some very special ones that have stories all their own. Today as I was trying to get everything unpacked and decorated Autumn was under foot and instead of getting frustrated with her (my new goal -give away frustration to the Lord and love the ones I'm frustrated with) I suddenly remembered the little girl in my preschool class. I love how the Lord put that in my mind to help me love. I said Autumn lets go get Christmas and you can help me. She was occupied until we left to go get the kids from school and I got all the decorating done (except the tree of course, that will be Saturday). When I got home this evening I could tell that the wise men and shepherds and Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus had been moved and loved all evening long. I love this holiday the most of all because Christ came as a small baby and it is the small ones who teach me life's most precious lessons.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving day we spent at David's parent's home at the beach. The food was delicious as always and it was great fun to see everyone. It was nice to meet Ashleigh's boyfriend's mom. She was visiting from Wyoming so it was nice to get to know her a little better. Paul is such a nice young man and was excited to share his mom with all of us! Thank you Paul. I left Thursday early evening and David and the kids stayed the night. They had fun one more day at the beach and I flew out of Portland for Orange County early, early Friday morning. I went to visit my mom and family. My step dad had the opportunity to go through the temple for the first time Saturday. Papa John is a favorite at our house and to see him in the temple was so special. My favorite part was being there with so many of my family members. My sisters, mom, nephews and their wives. I think that is the most family I've been with at the temple ever. The Newport Beach Temple is quite different that the Portland Temple. It is very small. But its beauty made up for the small size. I was so glad to get to watch Papa John as he did this most important thing for himself. It will be nice to have him get to go through now as children get married and boys leave on their missions. Thank you Papa John for your great example in our lives of patience and endurance. I spent some time with Kelly and Melissa, my sisters and that was wonderful. I love Oregon and my home but I do miss the time with my sisters. When David got home he put up the Christmas lights. I guess it snowed here a little while he was doing so. He had sent everyone to bed and when Autumn woke up the next morning she said "Daddy, it was Christmas night and you ruined it, it snowed out and you made us fell asleep". I can hardly wait to hear what she says when she finds out Santa is going to eat all the cookies and milk we leave out for him! All in all it was a great weekend!!!

Happy Birthday Autumn

On Friday November 21, 2003 at 3:13pm Autumn Melenaite Weitzel came into the world weighing 10lbs 5 oz. and was 22 inches long. Today, four years later she continues to amaze us. She weighs 38lbs and is 42 inches tall. What a big girl! Autumn has always been a happy girl and constantly says the funniest things. A few days ago Chad was taking her upstairs to bed and she would not go so I told him "just pick her up and carry her" as he did, she said "don't break me, I'm a collectible". Yesterday while driving all the kids to school she said "why is the world so soggy?" what she meant was why was it so foggy. When I dropped Chad off at school Tuesday he was planning on going to the dance after school and being the cute mom I am I said "now don't be making out with any girls". When he got out Autumn said "I wish there was no such things as girls so Chad wouldn't have to worry about making out". I said "but you are a girl" and she said "oh, yeah you're right". This morning she woke me up by getting in my bed saying "good morning it's me the birthday girl". She told me the other day that she was so tired of being three because three was so boring! I am so glad that Heavenly Father sent her last to our family. There is a part of everyone's personalities within her.

Blessings

Tonight for Family Home Evening we will be writing down the things that we are thankful for. This is a tradition that we have had so this year will be no exception. We try to list at least 10 things and that can be hard for the younger children. (and most times for the older ones). I have been thinking all day of the things that I want on my list.

1. I am thankful for the trials that have come into my life. I would not have learned the things that I needed to any other way.
2. I am thankful for a Heavenly Father who answers my prayers through the people in my life.
3. I am thankful for my girls boyfriends (and husband) who put up with all of us on our Sunday crazy dinner nights.
4. I am thankful for the children in my life. Not only my own but all of the ones I get to associate with through church, music things and school. They teach me to laugh at myself and not take myself to seriously.
5. I am thankful that I have had children.
6. I am thankful Autumn will be 4 on Wednesday and that she still thinks she is the "baby".
7. I am thankful for the rain.
8. I am really thankful for the beautiful earth and how it is blessing Paige's life right now.
9. I am thankful for my husband who puts up with all we do and say. He is a saint and should be knighted by the Queen for what he lives with on a daily basis. (Actually we aren't that bad, we just give him a bad time all the time.)
10. I am thankful for forever families.

I have entered the world of cyberspace

I can not believe it has taken me this long to finally get on board and blog. I have been intimidated for a long time by the whole computer thing. But I want to link up with family and friends and start journaling better about our day to day goings on. I hope that I can find this whole blog spot again after Toshia leaves my house. Thank you by the way Toshia for helping me. Now if I can just put my pictures in and figure out the whole music thing. I love this!!!!