Blessings...

Have you ever had an out-of-body experience? Or one of those moments of clarity where you step back and see your life for what it really is? I know it sounds weird but I had one of those moments yesterday. It was a good day...everyone slept peacefully the night before and Brooklynn had a great day at kindergarten...Isabelle took a nice nap...and we had just pulled up to our house after picking Brooklynn up from school. I was holding Isabelle on my hip and we were pretend chasing Brookynn up the portch stairs. Isabelle was excited to be chasing her sister and Brooklynn was squealing with delight and terror at the thought of being caught...and it happened. It dawned on me that I was a mother! No...it's not like I forgot I was a mom, it just hit me in a deeper and more profound way. Am I confusing you? I can't explain it better. Maybe it's because I have been trying extra hard these past few months to more fully embrace my divine role as a mother and have been praying extra hard to recognize and refine the talents the Lord has given me to better serve my children. I don't know...but it was a strange and neat moment. Somtimes I still feel like a little kid myself...but I'm not.

Somewhere along the way, this little girl grew up and became the mother...

...of these two adorable creatures! I am so very thankful to my Father in Heaven as well as my earthly Mom and Dad for all their love and support. I love my life. It is NOT alwasy easy and I have shed many tears (even recently) but I KNOW that I am very blessed and I would not trade any of the good or bad moments for anything!

Does this olive-eating monster remind you of anyone else you know?

Here's my little pioneer! Isabelle LOVES having free-range of Brooklynn's room while she is at Kindergarten!

P.S. As of January 1st...Izzy is Pacifier-free!!! Bye, bye Binki!!

My new favorite show! If you enjoy dance, even a little bit, you will LOVE this show. I thoroughly enjoy watching the different styles and techniques from around the world. I think my favorites so far are the Groovaloos (go USA), the 2 Indian soloist and the steamy, wait-until-the-kids-are-in-bed Tango dancers from Argentina. (I really, really wish they didn't show so much skin) What about you? Do you like the show? Who is your favorite?

My bad...

I am sooooo sorry that I have been so awful about posting lately! November flew by and I didn't even get any pictures of Thanksgiving (I'm blaming the tryptophan). So here is a little taste of what we've been up to...

Christmas Day

Surprisingly, the kids slept in until after 8 am! Great-Grandma, on the other hand, was up at 7 am...opening her presents!! I guess she just couldn't bare the excitement any longer! Tara Lynn made us a delicious breakfast quiche (actually, they ate while I napped. 5 hours when you have a cold just isn't sufficient). It was fun watching Shawn get excited as he meticulously put together Michael & Garret's Millennium Falcon that Santa brought. Not to mention Russ generously sacrificing his peaceful Christmas morning to "test" M & G's new Wii. I think the adults had just as much fun as the kids!

Izzy & Shnook with their Santa gifts...Good morning Nanna!




Russ & Tara Lynn's old tennis rivalry was re-kindled this Christmas day. (I wont say who won)


Isabelle cuddling with Brooklynn's new "Bolt" super-dog.

Christmas Eve

This year everyone came to Great-Grandma's house for plenty of food, friends, family and fun. Erica & Mark were able to visit from Utah and Shawn & Tara stayed here this year so Buster and Lorna were able to have ALL of their kids home for Christmas. Neal's bunch came to dinner and the Elders also joined us. After dinner, several of us went caroling to a few houses and took goodies along with a pamphlet about The Restoration. It was sooo much fun! Later, we had a big sleepover at Great-Grandma's house. Tara Lynn, Shawn, Michael & Garret all slept in one bedroom while Russ, Izzy, & Brooklynn slept in the other. What about me...I stayed up with Izzy until 2 am (too much excitement, I guess) and when she finally went to bed, Russ looked too comfortable sprawled out in that little double bed, so I crashed (literally) on the futon in the TV room.

Elders Wilkerson & Smith...................... Nora & her funky-bunch!


The 3 Amigos!


Izzy was fascinated by Great-Grandma's Nativity scene. She kept wanting to kiss baby Jesus and hug the shepherd. Ok, everyone together..."Aaaaaaahhhh".

I wonder if they're dreaming of sugar-plums...or Reese's Cups!

Class Christmas Party

On the 18th we went to Brooklynn's class Christmas party! Isabelle LOVED sitting at the table with the BIG kids and she thoroughly enjoyed her candy-cane...but I think her favorite part was just sitting back and watching all the kids run around and act like wild animals!

Here is Brooklynn's "best friend" Jessica. From what Brooklynn says, Jessica is just as big of a goof-ball as Brooklynn. At the beginning of the year, these two got in trouble almost every day for talking. But since they've been separated, the teacher says Brooklynn has calmed down and is an excellent student. She is at the top of the class in reading and the teacher has even put Brooklynn in charge of different groups of students so she can help them with their reading if they need it!

Shhh...they're listening.

Another conversation with Brooklynn...

Scene: All four of us are playing and wrestling around when in the midst of our family frolicking Brooklynn says...

B: "You guys fuss too much."

-Russ and I look at each other with a quizzical and slightly stunned look.

Me: “We do not! What makes you say that? What do you think Mommy and Daddy fuss too much about?”

B: replies rather matter-of-factly: “About McCain”

-Russ and I look at each other and bust up laughing!

Me: “Brooklynn…Mommy and Daddy may get frustrated at some of the things we see and hear on TV and we may get a little too loud about it sometimes…but we aren’t being frustrated at each other. We love each other very much, okay?"

-Russ and I continued to laugh the rest of the night...so now Brooklynn thinks "McCain" is some kind of punchline and tries to insert it into her daily conversations in hopes of getting the laughs that she did the first time. Granted, the election didn't turn out the way we had hoped, but at least we have something to look back and laugh about!!!

In a child's mind...

Conversation between me and my 5 year old:

Brooklynn: “Mom, what does waffle mean"?

Me: "Well, I don't know what waffle means but you know what a waffle is".

Brooklynn: "Noooo. What does waffle MEAN? You know, like a "waffle wedded wife""?

Me: Loud, boisterous laughter for several minutes. "You mean "lawful wedded wife"!

Aren't kids great!!!

booooo

We had a blast at our annual Trunk-or-Treat party last night. This year we had a chili pot-luck followed by

candy-apple decorating for the kids. However, it was quite

cold and rainy so we had to forego our usual trunk-or-treat in the parking lot and opt for a trick-or-treat up and down the church hall. Brooklynn said her favorite part was decorating her apple and if Isabelle could talk, I'm sure she would say that her favortie part was running away from me to go begging for candy from all the adults. :~) She finally got the wrapper off of her lollipop and was lovin' life!!

Happy Fall Y'all

Brooklynn was feeling a little jealous and neglected lately so we decided to have a Mommy-Daughter date. I've always wanted to check out the "Boo at the Zoo" in Knoxville, so we decided to check it out together. I wasn't that impressed, but Brooklynn enjoyed herself...which is the whole point. But most of all, I think/hope she enjoyed the one-on-one time we had together.

Lorna actually made this costume for her daughters like 20 years ago and recently passed it down to Brooklynn. I just added some wings, a wand and put glitter and jewels on Brooklynn's face and...VIOLA...a Beautiful Fairy!

Brooklynn always enjoys the camel rides!

Here is the "Haunted Carousel" that went backwards!!! Ooooooooo, scary!!!

The next morning was our 3rd annual visit to the Pumkin Patch with Michael & Garret. It's become a special tradition where both of my girls were present...even though WE didn't know it!

*2006~I was 3 weeks pregnant with Izzy & didn't know it yet.

*2007~Our 2nd trip to The P. Patch and this time Izzy got to experience it outside of the womb!

*2008~Our 3rd trip and it just gets better every year. Aren't these kids just precious?!