Merry Christmas

So . . . two days ago I thought, "You know, we're a 'real' family now, we should probably send out Christmas cards or a Christmas letter or something." And then I thought, "Should have thought of that sooner..." SO . . . here it is. Our family newsletter!

I could write a whole bunch about all the changes in our lives in the past year. But I think I'll write less and give you a picture tour, interspersed with brief commentary.

Right after Christmas last year, we moved into my parents' house to wait for a job. In February, Nels accepted a fantastic job back in Idaho Falls and we moved into this cute little rental.
We found out that we are expecting our THIRD baby girl . . .

Just starting to show . . .
Really showing.


A nine hour trip to northern Idaho to hang out with a bunch of pirates.

Three days later ---
A NEW HOME!!! (by the way, this picture is after 2 months of work...)

Two weeks after moving - at the farm boating and having fun with family.

Settling into life with a new home.


Happy Birthday to Elsie

(Just kidding about that whole - bypass the long schpiel thing)
This year has been a year of change and growth for all of us in the Chick family. We are so blessed!

Nels has been blessed with a spectacular job that he loves and that loves him! :) He is the best dad and my very best friend. Each day I am astounded at the patience that he shows for both me and my girls. He is such a good partner, always willing to help out. He teaches me so much and even after 5 1/2 years of being married, still enjoys staying up into the wee hours of the morning blabbing with me.

Hazel turned 4 this year! She is so happy and so bright! She loves helping and teaches me daily what it means to be a good mom. She loves to paint and draw and pretty much do anything messy. :) Last night the girls stayed up late painting crafts with me and she just kept on saying over and over, "I'm just so HAPPY, mom!" She writes her own name, Lilie's name, and recently started learning how to spell out other things, such as mom, cat, dad, etc. She walks around most of the day telling me what every word she can think of (which is a LOT) starts with. I'm sure she'll be ready to start reading any day now!

Lilie is nearly 3 now and is probably the most precocious child you've ever met! LOL! She is such a spicy little girl and keeps us laughing constantly. She is still a Kitty (she refers to herself as "Pink Gertie") about 50% of the time. She writes her own name REALLY well - as long as she remembers to not write her "L"s upside down! :) She is still our little MONKEY, but has gotten much more agile over the past year - which, thankfully, has helped us avoid many more bruises -- but she was rewarded with her first set of stitches this year!

Elsie was created this year! :) She is already growing and changing so much, but one thing has remained very constant - She is the most content little baby! Thank the Lord, right? She brings such a calming influence into our home and is such a joy to all of us! (Especially since she's started sleeping in her own room and sleeps for about 6 hours straight every night) She holds her head up, tries to sit up, smiles every time you look at her, and is going to love the Bumbo Santa Claus is bringing for her!

As for ME? I am constantly learning to love more perfectly. I have learned that charity is more than giving to others - it's a character trait. It's who our Savior is and what we all should strive to BE. I'm learning to simplify and relax - or at least trying. I've learned to love and hate the power that a mother has in the home . . . if mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy, right? However, how could any woman ever be happy with anyone else having that kind of power over her family??? I've learned that true change takes a lot of time and a lot of effort and is probably a lifetime endeavor.
I am so thankful for the love that my Savior has given to me and have truly felt his love along the windy road our lives have taken. I also have felt his love through the family he has blessed me with. My own little family, my parents, brothers, sisters, my in-laws, and my extended family. I couldn't ask for better! I have also been reflecting on the fantastic friends he has blessed me with! Most of our close friends have been scattered throughout the country over the past few years, but it's amazing how true friendship transcends miles and time.

Thank you all for all you give and teach us! Thank you for the love that you pour out on our little family. I know that our Savior lives. I know HE loves us all.
His love is apparent in all around us! I know that as we live the commandments, strengthen our families, and continually work to be more like Him, we have nothing to fear. He will strengthen us to meet any challenge that is placed before us. I am so thankful for this time of year, for the birth of our Savior, and for the promise that we can see him again.

We love you all!
Glory to God for his precious Son and his beautiful Plan!

Merry Christmas!

The best Cookies EVER!

For anyone looking for some really fantastic cookies to make this Christmas, have I got a winner for you! Genny started making these when she was little and they are now a family favorite! I made some yesterday to take around to neighbors and will be making more to take around to more neighbors and friends. They are a wonderful to give because a lot of people either don't eat chocolate, or probably get too much . . . in short, they are a good break from the basic cookie mold. If you've never had ginger snaps (that weren't bought from the store) you are really in for a treat . . . literally!

Genny's Ginger Snaps

2 c. sugar

1 1/2 c. butter

1/2 c. molasses

2 eggs

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ginger

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

4 1/2 - 5 c. flour

Mix all ingredients. Roll dough balls in additional sugar. Bake at 350 for 8 - 12 minutes. Makes 7-8 dozen.

...These Are a Few of My Favorite Things...

Nels pointed out to me yesterday that they play this song a lot at Christmas time (My Favorite Things...from the Sound of Music), however, it is not a Christmas song . . . What a quandary. Anyway. I gave this post that title because I wanted to post a few of my very favorite things that I've been thinking about and enjoying the past couple of days.

#1: Christmas Trees and Lights


Putting up the Christmas tree is, of course, my favorite thing to do the day after Thanksgiving. I love my beautiful, live tree and I'm determined not to kill it before Christmas this year. The past three years the needles have gotten all dry on my tree, even though I water it religiously. I believe I have determined the cause of my black thumb. If any of you know me well, you will know that I'm a bit of a perfectionist . . . to the point of going overboard most of the time. Well, when I put lights on my tree, I compulsively need to wrap them meticulously around nearly every branch on the tree! Epiphany!!! SO! I think I've been essentially burning up my tree by overheating it!!! Aren't I smart??? So this year, I still put on all my lights, but I didn't wrap them around all the branches. I'll keep you posted as the month progresses on my theory!
Anyway, I love my lovely tree and I can hardly keep myself out of my front room in the evening because I love to sit and soak up the Season. I also love the beautiful little angel ornaments that represent each of my sweet little girls. I've been able to find an angel for each of them that is holding a little chickie, which I also LOVE!

Hazel

Lilie

Elsie

#2: My Fish

I LOVE my fish! Everyone, with the exception of my sweet mother, starts to think that I am obsessive when I start on one of my lengthy monologues about the nitrate levels in our water or the specialized needs of my Bolivian Rams or Clown Loaches, but I cannot help myself. --- As I mentioned in the above section, I tend to get psychotic about most things I decide do.
I cleaned my tank yesterday and added some really beautiful coral that my parents picked up for me in Cancun. I am so pleased with the result! (Yet another thing that's been drawing me into my living room.)

This is Bo and Olivia, my beautiful Bolivian Rams.
I made countless trips to pet stores throughout Eastern Idaho
to find two that would make a happy pair.
Hopefully someday they will produce some little bebes for me!


Bo, Olivia, and my happy, little Clowns!

#3: My New Vacuum Cleaner!!!

I'm super happy today about, my new vacuum! How quaint, right? But I truly LOVE it! A good vacuum makes all the difference in the world! Now, I'm not the type that needs to have vacuum marks in the carpet, but I sure to like it!

As an added bonus, look at how beautiful it is!!!
What could be better about having a vacuum cleaner
than having a RED vacuum???

I LOVE it, LOVE it, LOVE it!!!

#4: My FAVORITES!!!

My sweet girls!!! They are the joy of my life!

My poor Lilie has been sick and hasn't slept well all week.
I think these pictures illustrate her tired state very well!

I'm just SO thankful for all that we have and I really wanted to share a few of my favorite things with you all today --- while my husband was sweet enough to share the computer with me for one night! Hee hee! He's been working every spare second for the past month on a side project!

My husband, my best friend, my FAVORITE!!!
(Dreamy, isn't he? Ha ha! I love photoshop!)

WOW! It's been a while, Eh?

Hoosh! It's been a crazy couple of weeks. I don't have much time right now to blog, seeing as how I've got a house and a van to clean, bags to pack, and an endless pile of laundry to wash, sort, and put away before I can go to bed. (I'm heading to Utah tomorrow) BUT I really wanted to write a little something while I had a few minutes. 

It's amazing how much the Lord can teach you in such a short amount of time (especially things you already "knew"), but I think the goal in my life right now is SIMPLIFY. Wow, the past six weeks have been a lot of growing for me (funny --- that's what I thought I was supposed to STOP doing once I had the baby!).  [[[For those who don't know me well, sorry, I think I'm severely sleep deprived and somehow can't control myself enough to stay on task]]] Anyway, I've realized just how much time and energy I waste on stupid things! Whether it's going to the store almost everyday because i haven't spent enough time planning ahead, or yelling at my kids all day because I keep myself too busy and too stressed out. 

Okay, I just wrote a big long paragraph detailing all the things that I've been stressed out about and then read back over it and realized that I've been rambling and not making much sense, and probably giving too much information...so I erased it and I'm going to SIMPLIFY.

The Lord is so merciful. He truly will take us gently by the hand to lead us and teach us the things that we need to know, if we will just let him. Sometimes we (I) just need to relax enough to listen. I've realized that when my kids seem to be having a particularly hard day, it's usually just that I'M having a particularly hard day...They're just acting the way they always are! There have been a lot of things out of kilter in my life the last little while, and it's continually amazing to me that if I get up in the morning (early) and read my scriptures and pray, miraculously everything else in life runs smoother - from the kids to cleaning to running errands to finances. If we truly will make Him the center of our lives, he takes care of everything else. I love him so much for being willing to help me be the best that I can be...even though some days my "best" is different from another day's "best". 

SO. He's now helping me learn to simplify. From budgeting, making a menu, and shopping to reading scriptures, praying, and taking time to play and learn with my kids. I'm really thankful for my kids who teach me how to "smile at me" and "just be happy, Mom." (Which is what they tell me when I'm having a "particularly hard day".) 

P.S. I just want to tell you all how much I love and appreciate my husband, who is currently upstairs taking care of Elsie. He has her in her swing, which is playing music, while he sits in front of her making up words to the songs. --- He's so great! --- I have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. I have a wonderful husband and two great little girls and a beautiful kitty! (Lilie has been a KITTY for the past 2 1/2 weeks!!! She likes to call herself "Pink Gertie" and talks like a kitty most of the day. Even when she gets hurt she has a really hard time stepping out of character long enough to stop mewing and tell me what happened! She's such a silly little kitty!)

Just some more Pics of the past week.

The girls LOVED helping me clean up all the leaves in our backyard! We have a huge Ash tree that dumped leaves everywhere!


I think we had 4 or 5 piles around the yard that were roughly this size!


Friday night we went and picked pumpkins at our local pumpkin patch.

The other fella standing around in this picture is not just some random person, by the way. We have had the privilege of Nels' best friend from high school staying with us this past week. I think it's been a real experience for him to be surrounded by all our crazy girls, but he seems to be enjoying it. :) Lest you think that I having him stay here simply for the joy of having two grown men staying up until the wee hours of the morning playing video games in my basement, I'll elaborate. Andrew recently got a new job working for the railroad in Pocatello and is just staying here until he finds an apartment. :)

Hazel and Lilie loved the green pumpkins!



FYI: I don't normally wear my hair in a devil-lock! The weather here in "Windy City" doesn't always cooperate! Poor Rachel! I've just realized that I look like a kook in practically every picture on my blog! Sigh...I think it's the result of not only hardly ever ending up in a photo, but also the fact that once I get ready in the morning, I really don't look in the mirror again until I go to sleep. Another sigh...

Happy Halloween!!!

Hey all! I just wanted to share some of our pictures from the past few days and my beautiful girls! Hazel really wanted to be a doctor and Lilie wanted to be a "scary, happy pumpkin". Elsie was also dying to be a pumpkin! :)

A funny little aside about the girls' costume picks...Lilie has been adamant about being a "scary, happy pumpkin" all month for Halloween. When Hazel decided that she'd like to be a doctor, Lilie started laughing and said, "Yeah! And I will rip the doctor's arms off!" Ha ha ha!!! I genuinely have no idea where she comes up with this stuff! Hazel, of course, started crying at this point and Lilie had to repent and tell her that she was just kidding.






I had a hard time convincing Lilie today that this was not her scary pumpkin costume! I finally had to illustrate the problem with this thinking by saying, "Okay Lilie! Show me how you're going to put on your pumpkin costume..." She then attempted to put this pumpkin on her head...she then realized that maybe this wouldn't work. :)


Don't you all love Nels' CYCLOPS pumpkin with the sideburns??! I think it's funny!

One Long Month!

Well, I think I can say that this has been one of the longest months of my life...very eventful, exhausting, and happy (mostly) all at the same time. You would think that just the fact that we have a new baby would constitute an opening like that, but no, we've had way more fun that JUST that.

Our beautiful baby girl was born on the 3rd and we are so happy that she is here! She has proven to be such a sweet little baby and has a really calm, gentle little spirit. My mother came up for the week after she was born and it was such a blessing to have her here to take care of all of us!

The weekend after my mom left, we went over to western Idaho to attend our niece's baptism in Twin Falls. It was wonderful to see Nels' family and by the time we were leaving Twin, headed back to Mnt. Home, we were all pretty exhausted! As we were leaving the city, our poor van got a very rude "kick" to the bum by a Toyota Tacoma. The girls didn't think it was that fun either. We spent an hour or so with a cop and the driver of the truck (who I believe was lighting a cigarette at the time of the accident) in a Wendy's parking lot. Other than a bent frame, demolished bumper, and doors that are difficult to open, we all are fine, but it's been quite a pain taking care of all the insurance stuff related to being rear-ended.

The day after we got back from Mnt. Home, I packed the girls down to my parents house for a brief visit to drop off and pick up a few things. We left my parents home at 6:00 one morning to make it back to Idaho Falls in time for a dentist appointment for Hazel, a 2 week check up for Elsie at the pediatrician, and another appointment here at the house that afternoon to get new windows installed. (They look really fantastic, by the way)

At her appointment with the doctor, Elsie had a bit of a cold that she had picked up from her lovey sisters, but she was doing just fine and growing well, just needing regular cleanings with the bulb syringe. By Friday night she had started doing strange little grunty sounds every time she breathed and we decided to take her to the ER to just make sure that she was okay and to make sure she didn't have RSV or something. That night they not only checked for RSV (a miserable experience in and of itself) they also drew 3 vials of blood, started giving her fluids and antibiotics through an IV, did a catheter to check for a UTI, an x-ray to check for pneumonia, put her on oxygen to help her breathe better, and a spinal tap to check to meningitis. (By the time they did the spinal tap, I was crying too.) They then admitted her so that they could figure out what was going on and to keep an eye on her. Four days later, she was doing much better and finally able to breathe okay without the oxygen, so they sent us home. The doctor figures that it was possible that she had a touch of pneumonia or possibly a new virus (very similar in all respects to RSV) called meta pneuma virus. It's quite the experience to got to the doctor expecting to stay a few hours and instead be admitted for FOUR days!!! While I stayed at the hospital with Elsie, Nels's spectacular sisters practically lived at our house to take care of Hazel and Lilie. By the end of our stay at the hospital, poor Elsie would squirm and boob every time someone would even come in our room and check her vitals. I think she had learned that pretty much every time someone comes in they would hurt her. Needless to say, she is really happy to no longer be hooked up to three different machines and to be dressed and to be home with her loud sisters.


This is the face she made when I asked her how she liked her trip to the hospital. ;) I wish I'd gotten some pictures of Elsie at the hospital, hooked up to all the little machines, but alas, a remembering a camera just wasn't on my list of essentials...especially when I hadn't showered in days! :)

My sweet mother once again made the 3 hour trip up to Idaho Falls this week to help take care of my little family. She was only here for a day, but she helped me get done all the "catch-up" things that would have taken me a week to complete. I just can't even express how thankful I feel to have such a spectacular mother who is so willing to serve and bless us. I love her SO much! Nels and I have both been blessed with truly wonderful families!

Elsie is doing so well here at home and I'm so thankful for the blessing of modern medicine! The Lord has blessed us immensely! Now our biggest concern is trying to get the leaves in the backyard raked up and trying to find or make some costumes for the girls for Halloween!



If all else fails, maybe these self-made costumes will work for Halloween!

Week #1

Well, today is Elsie's due date...I'm so glad that she's already here!!! She was (obviously) a week early, 7 lbs. 9 oz., 19 1/2 inches long, and beautiful as can be! We have had such a wonderful week...I think. The girls have been kind of whiny today...and my mom decided to start potty training Lilie...Hazel has a cough...and Lilie is currently yelling at the top of her lungs because she can't dress herself (after she took all her clothes off) and Hazel keeps asking me if I'm done yet. Hmmmm...Sounds like a pretty typical day at our house, I guess.

Elsie is fantastic! She is such a good baby and her sisters (for all their fanatics) love her immensely. I'm trying daily to teach them how not to damage their sister. Things like we can't cover the baby's face, she can't eat anything but milk, "No, Elsie cannot eat...(meat, goldfish, lettuce, noodles, fruit snacks...etc.), before you let go of her - someone else must be holding her...pretty simple, important things to understand. Thankfully I get the feeling that Elsie is going to be a survivor and she live through her sisters "taking care" of her.












These pictures of Lilie were taken last Saturday (our second snowfall of the year). We woke up to a white world. She was so excited to go play in the 4 inches that we got. She went and put on the first pair of (cowgirl) boots that she could find and ran outside to make snowballs!