Already?!?!?!

The kids are back in school. I miss them. I am pretty sure they miss being home. We are finally going to start using our piano. Tai Kwan Do should start next week. Except Rylynn. She will be enrolled in tumbling to in preparation for the cheerleading glory to come. This is her idea, not mine. Parent teacher conferences were last week. Kaydin is on the honor roll. All the teachers had good things to say. The kids are finally acclimating to this new school. I hate that we had to uproot them from their friends and the place they had grown up and move away. They still miss it terribly, but they are finding good things here too. Why don't I have any pictures? I need more of those. Joseph and I had our 11th anniversary on Saturday. I mostly slept. He took the kids swimming. We went to Zak's wrestling match. If that doesn't scream "romance" I don't know what does. Actually we have a trip planned a little later to celebrate, so Saturday wasn't terribly imbued with meaningful romantic gestures, dates, presents and dinners. But holy cow! Eleven years! How did that happen? We have had a pretty good time for that past 11 years, so I am pretty confident there are more good years to come.

Resolve

It has been really hard for me to wrap my brain around the fact the it's 2009. How can this be? I can still remember 1999 like it was yesterday. It is just unbelievable to me how fast time goes. And it is only going to get faster. In the interest of not wasting any more time, I have made some resolutions for this year. One is staying on top of keeping this blog updated. It is a great way to keep a history of our family and is like journaling. Also, if I tell myself that, then I don't have to make another resolution to keep a journal this year, which I have failed at every other year! I need to take more pictures and we need to have an updated family picture taken. Yeah, it's been a while. I resolve to have Nikki married by the end of the year - hahaha how do you like that one, my BFFF? (that's not a typo, that exra F is there on purpose). Ok, but seriously, there is the potential for there to be 3 weddings this year. That, in addition to my dreaded pending birthday (30 freaking years old), have forced me to add to my list of resolutions. So I also resolve to get my face botoxed and invest heavily in cosmetic surgery. The goal is to be able to pass for 20 on my 30th. But in reality, I will settle for being 30 years old and having a husband who still thinks I'm a catch and kids who tell me every day that I'm beautiful. Oh, I love this family so much. My real resolution is to be more Christlike. Especially in my parenting. I start to tear up even typing that on a blog. In primary the kids learned a song and one of the lines is "If the Savior stood beside me, would I do the things I do"? I want to be able to say yes to that, particularly in regards to how I deal with my kids. To have more patience, be slower to anger and be the kind of mom that I always imagined I would be before I was set upon by the reality of actually being one. But right now, I resolve to put my insomnia to good use and do some dishes and some exercise.

Christmas 2008

Choir performance
After the choir concert (Tristan is in trouble so he won't look at the camera)

Trevin's "Christmas around the world" program
My
Kaydin didn't want to audtion for the play, so he was the lighting specialist
5th grade play
Choir concert

The Baker family had a great holiday season in 2008. As usual, I took no pictures Christmas morning, but here are some highlights of our holiday:
I spent the week before the kids got out for Christmas break living at the school (well, almost). There were 3 choir performances, a 5th grade play, a 3rd grade program and a geography bee. Lucky for me, the 1st and 2nd grades didn't have their own programs, or I may as well have parked the van at the school and slept in it. I was so proud of each of the kids at their performances. Kaydin won his class geography bee and went on to compete in the school-wide one. He didn't win, but we are still very proud of him and he has been studying like a maniac because he is determined to win next year. Trevin was to only 3rd grader who had his entire speaking part memorized (and it wasn't short-about 5 paragraphs). The kids all did beautifully at their choir concert, and I loved it. Then, we were all home for 2 weeks. I actually love when the kids are not in school. Things are so much less hectic. We had our traditional Christmas eve dinner of crepes and made our cookies for Santa. It is so funny how excited the kids are to open their one present Christmas eve, even though they know it is going to be pajamas. And they still love it "oh my gosh, I LOVE these pajamas"! I won't regale you with gag-inducing stories of how much crap the kids got for christmas. Needless to say, they were a happy bunch. With my signature grace, on Christmas morning I stabbed a knife into the palm of my hand cutting some caramels. Did it need stitches? Yes. Did I get them? Heavens no! I had too much to do, and I didn't feel like a $500 ER visit. So we wrappped it up, and went on with life. And luckily, I didn't get any blood on the caramels! Grandma Young came over for Christmas dinner and my brother Paul got us a Scrabble game, which Joseph and I have been playing like maniacs. During one of our games, the kids - who were upstairs with popcorn and treats having a "movie night" came downstairs to find out if something was wrong because there was so much yelling. We really get in to our Scrabble. We spent New Year's eve at Joseph's parents' house. It was pretty low key. We just played some board games and smooched at midnight. New Year's day a neighbor brought us a traditional Haitian soup called Joumou. Haitians eat this soup on New Year's day. It is to celebrate winning their liberation from slavery, so they made a soup with all the things they were forbidden to eat. It is pretty tasty, and Tristan had 3 bowls of it. But now, it's back to real life. Back to school, back to work. We had a wonderful holiday season and we were overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of friends and family. I really wish Christmas could last all year. Not the presents or the decorations and music (ok, maybe a little of the decorations and music -and the food), but because of the shift in attitude and behavior, the change of heart that takes place in so many people but seems to disappear once the tree comes down. Myself included. It is my absolute favorite holiday for that reason. And this year was one of the good ones!

Thanks!

When I got on the computer today, I noticed that several of you had updated your blogs. So, thanks! I love when you all put new things on there for me to read! Makes my day!

Husbands

I normally despise tags, but if you are a reader of this blog, you know how I feel about my husband. So I can't pass up an opportunity to say great things about him!
5 Things he loves:
- BYU football
- Jazz Basketball
- Playing basketball
- His kids
- His wife
5 Things on his to do list:
- Make out with his wife (just kidding)
- Christmas shopping (yes, this isn't done yet)
- design our new house
- clean up his work trailer and surrounding area
- make out with his wife (ok, Joseph doesn't really have a to do list, so I am just
making crap up)
5 Foods he enjoys:I must preface this section by pointing out that Joseph feels eating is a burden. He doesn't really enjoy food. That being said.....
- chips and salsa (only Santitas chips)
- gummy bears (the breakfast of champions)
- cheerios and corn chex (with no sugar on them, ewww)
- Sobe Adrenaline Rush (while not technically a food, he can't make it
through the day without this
- Hot and sour soup and lemon chicken (only from China Town)
5 things you may not know about him:
- He loves to do karaoke (only with family, not in bars or, ahem, on cruise ships)
- He can build ANYTHING. Seriously, anything. Without plans. Just looks at it,and says "I can build that", and then he does.
- He never swears. Ever. In the 11 years I have known him, he has never once used a
swear word
- He is a freaking awesome basketball player. Really-he's good.
- He knows A LOT about church doctrine and theology. Those are his favorite kinds of
books
5 quirky things about him:
- He says "forward fast" instead of "fast forward"
- He has to color coordinate his basketball clothes with his shoes
- He has really sensitive nail beds on his toes and fingers, so he has to keep his
nails a little longer than normal, because if they are too short, they hurt.
- He has a bad habit of interrupting. This is borne of ADD, not bad manners.
He is working on it.
- He has a nose thing. First thing he looks at on a person. Can critique noses
like you wouldn't believe.

There are a lot of other things about Joseph I could write (brag about), but in any case, he is amazing. He has so many good qualities and so few bad ones. What a great guy!

What's going on?

I was going wait until I had my pictures to include in this post, but at this rate, that won't be until next year, at which point I will have to do Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's and Joseph's birthday all in one post. So here's what we've been up to, minus the pictures (I promise I'll get to those).
The week of Thanksgiving was wicked fun. We went to Zak's wrestling tournament (he took first, of course) and showed our support in the form of custom made (spray painted in the parking lot) T-shirts and a "Zak Baker rocks my world" poster. I am pretty sure he won because of that. Just kidding-he's freaking awesome and he is going to take state this year!
Nikki and I went to the Twilight midnight show the Thursday it opened and I thought it was really good. So good in fact, that I took the boys to see it the next Tuesday, and went with Joseph and Zak and a whole group of people on Thanksgiving. We have Thanksgiving dinner at Joseph's parents house. I was glad to not have to make dinner, although I did make 4 different kinds of cheesecake and pumpkin pie. So now we are back to normal life, at least until Christmas break. I will get some pictures on her soon of our Twilight/wrestling/thanksgiving fun!

Thankful for.....

I know Thanksgiving was a week ago, but I a little slow (you know). So here is what I am most thankful for at this "most wonderful time of the year"!

Joseph- I have posted about him before, and I could post about him every day. I am thankful to have a husband that I am still crazy, head over heels in love with after 11 years. And I am thankful that I can be 100% positive he loves me right back. He is everything I'm not, but wish I could be more of - smart, kind, compassionate, patient, smart (did I say that already?), and a great dad. But aside from all that, he is just a great human being. He is truly one of the most generous, decent, honest hardworking people I have ever met and I am so, so, so blessed to be married to him.

Fabiola-I am thankful for all the help you are around the house and with the kids. I am thankful that, in spite of all you have had to endure in your life, you haven't let yourself become a bitter person. You are so generous and thoughtful.
Maryn-I am thankful that you wake up every day with a smile and are everyone's friend. You try so hard at school and you are learning so much.
Kaydin-I am thankful that you are my best bud. I would take you out of school every day just to hang out with you if I could. I love your analytical personality and your love of learning.
Trevin-I am thankful for your sense of humor and your compassion. I can't have a bad day or you will cry right along with me. And when you're done crying, you always have a joke ready to make me laugh. I don't know what I would do without you.
Tristan-I am thankful that nothing gets you down. You are like the little engine that could, and you just keep going, even though I know it is so hard for you sometimes. You are braver than I could be - I probably would have given up a long time ago.
Rylynn-I am thankful for having such a sweet little girl who sings for me. I love your singing and your happy personality and I am thankful that you love to read and are learning so fast.
Kellyn-I am thankful to have time with just me and you while the kids are at school. I love reading with you and talking to you and getting to see your awesome personality develop.
Ewan-I am thankful that we got to have you be part of our family. I am also thankful that you started talking and I love your little boy laugh.

I am also thankful to have a home to live in and for my extended family(parents, brothers, sisters, in-laws) for all the love, support and especially the laughs you provide me with!