Just put One Foot in Front of the Other

We are almost there! A few weeks ago Dan had some minor surgery to clean up his "interesting" foot. Doesn't he look great in a cap and gown? Anyway, the procedure went really well. My favorite part was waiting in pre-op with Dan. Some older lady on the other side of the curtain was being prepped as well. We heard the usual nurse to patient dialoge: "Do you have any diabetes problems....Yes. Do you have any side effects from Morphine...yes. Do have any liver problems.....not yet." NOT YET?! Are you kidding me? That's a lot of optomism for you. We tried so hard to snicker as quietly as possible.

Next week is Dan's final appointment and we are hoping for the OKAY to ditch the crutches so he can finally start walking. I hope that is what the doctor has in mind because Dan might just do it anyway. He's been such a great patient. Never complaining, always trying to do things for himself. What a guy!

Silent Night?

LeBaron Nativity

Everyone gets the gist of acting out The Nativity. You read from Luke, sing Christmas Hymns, kids are dressed up... But I think there is just something special added when The Nativity is done with 4 generations of family. Sure its is crazy. There are only, what, 60 or 70 people in one room! Quiet and reverence are purely relative. And really it is okay if the sheep rip off their ears and eat them. I'm sure no one minded when Mary tried to leave a little early and there might have been 4 wisemen. No biggy! We did it together.

By the way, never tell Grandma you are not going to participate. You might get a look like this:

Poor Grandma. Dan likes to tease her so, but it is all out of love! Please know that this is not Grandma's usual happy face which is always accompanied with a hug and kiss. We are so glad to have her reminding us to bundle up and always stick together.

Christmas Cookies

We planned to invite a few friends to come help us, but due to sniffles we didn't get around to making them until just before Christmas. LeBaron family tradition dictates mandatory sugar cookie making at all major holidays, especially Christmas! I remember when I was a kid at Christmas time, we would each get our own ball of dough to eat raw or make into as many cookies as we wanted. The tradition continues! Adam participated mostly by gnawing on his rolling pin and eating a cookie.

Santa Clause

Santa Clause with the Palmer Family

Every year since I was a year old we got together with the Melvin and Wanda West Palmer family to meet Santa. Every year our same Santa comes with a treat and a few tricks and a good message. Here is "our" Santa with the next generation of kids. Emily whispered a question to Santa about how he gets into houses that don't have chimneys. She now knows he has a Master Key!

Of course there was dinner and treats too. It looks like Emily and Lilly had an extra yummy dessert.

Christmas!

Christmas 2008
Better late than never right?

Christmas Eve & New Jammies

Christmas morning the kids woke up at 5:30am, a bit before the scheduled time. So they closed their door and played quietly while Dan & I got ready. As you can see we always start with stockings. Adam didn't really get the concept of them, but seemed less confused when he found a new car inside. Josh really enjoyed getting his camera & soccer ball. Emi can't decide witch is her favorite gift was her guitar or the play hair set. Adam, well, Adam was just thrilled every time he opened another gift. He giggled his low fake giggle every time he opened something. I can't tell if he actually liked the gifts inside or the permission rip paper to shreds.

More Firsts

First cup of Moo-Juice.


First try at eggs. Adam loved the scrambled eggs! I think he couldn't believe we would keep such a tasty treat from him.


First steps. Adam has been toying with walking for about a month now. Here is Adam and his cousin Ryan taking turns giving each other rides. He is now walking 70% of the time and is pretty darn good.

At 11 months Adam can say "tane" (thanks) when you give him something. He has learned the concept of In and Out. The word "no" sounds more like nun nun nun. Adam has learned to follow simple orders though often smiles and takes off in the opposite direction. He loves open doors and has an especially keen eye for an open bathroom. He loves sitting with the kids and "playing" video games. Adam can also nod "Yes." Notice his eyebrows follow the direction of his head in the video below.


This Christmas Adam had his:

First Candy Cane. At first he made a sour face. Perhaps that was because the candy cane was probably a year old. Once he got sucking on it he just couldn't get enough

First ornament. It was a little snowman bell. He loved to jingle it.

First Christmas Tree. He left it pretty much alone! He has also inspired the 2/3 decorating style where we only decorate the top 2/3 of the tree in hopes he wouldn't rip any off.

Emily's Sixth Birthday

The Party

Emi trying out a new present/decorating cupcakes

The party goers/learning to use fairy wands and pirate daggers


The theme of the party was Tinkerbell & Neverland. It was simple, but fun. They played pixie tag, "tinkered" around and made their own wands, decorated cupcakes, and played games. Josh his friend Chase & our cousin Blake decorated pirate daggers for the boy version of the party. Over all it was a big success and all done just before Christmas! Whew

Catching Up

Josh- "Mom, look at how big the Tropical Guide is in my scriptures!"

I love this kid. He is so amazing. He really has felt more grown up these last few months. He even asked if he was old enough to drink from a Glass cup at dinner time and not the plastic clear cups we usually have. He also wanted so much to have scripture marking pencils. So just before he turned eight we had him choose one colored pencil and gave him the topic of Baptism. Just before and a little after he was baptized he read every scripture in the Topical Guide about baptism and then marked it. He's now on to a new topic. I love that he loves this.

Sick but Gorgeous

Em has been home sick the past couple of days so she's been catching up on some movie time and sporting PJs all day. Today she was sporting a look I wish I had captured on film. Picture Emi in an over-sized T-shirt, morning messy hair and..... a sparkling pink diamond necklace and diamond clip-on earings. She looked gorgeous too! She loved it and wore it all day even during quiet time. What a crazy girl. This isn't a picture of her unique look, but I bet you can imagine.

Christmas Dresses

I have a dozen of my Christmas dresses and skirts in several styles still available. To see what items & sizes I still have in stock go to emidresses.com .

Missed Me?

Have you missed me? Just know, I've missed all of you and reading the latest that is going on in your families. Tons has happened. The Primary Program is done, whew. Disneyland!!!! And I was in my first boutique and actually turned a profit. Whoopy! Needless to say. I have some dresses/skirts left, but am pleased to have had the experience. Many blogs soon to follow.

More Dresses

My sewing has finally come to an end, at least for the boutique. Thanks to my reliable side-kicks "super serger" & "dependable Kenmore" I've completed all that I could. I've labeled and tagged all my cloths. I organized a portfolio so customers could see samples of my work. I have business cards & even put together an entire cloths rack to display everything on. I think I'm ready even though the boutique is not for another week still. I'm ready. (I think) There are not as many items as I'd like to have had, but 25 items was all I could manage. Whew! Have I said that I am excited and terrified all at the same time? Either way, I still love sewing which is a big relief to me. I worried that the "job" of it might take away the fun, but it didn't! I learned that I had to keep it much more simple when sewing in "bulk". Simplicity also taught me how to be truer to the beauty of the fabric & emphasize it's best qualities. I've learned how the littlest accent, where appropriate, can really change the an entire look. I also learned how to make my own customized tags! That was so fun especially since I had to use a new computer program on my own and didn't ask Dan do figure it out for me.

For more information on my boutique visit http://www.shopchicboutiqueaz.blogspot.com/ or visit my blog at http://www.emidresses.com/

The Art of Anticipation

Instant gratification is such common place in today's life. I have to admit I am a bit guilty myself. The internet & cable allow me access to information and entertainment almost instantly. I can reach anyone no matter their location via cell phone. With all of these conveniences, I do worry about the world my children grow up in. Do my kids get everything and instantly?
So without being too depriving, we as a family, have tried to practice the art of anticipation. The kids have been dying to go to Disneyland for just forever. We could have gone a year and a half ago, but for various reasons decided to wait. We shared with the kids our goal of when we did want to go and let them know we would save our money all year for our planned trip.

Publish Post

Somehow all the waiting and saving makes the trip more exciting, more valued, more anticipated. And now that we've waited and saved we can afford to do so many more fun things and have more perks now than if we would have gone initially.

Simple Life

The few years ago we began to simplify things in our family. One of the things we decided to make simple was Christmas. It is so easy for us to want to buy our kids a bunch of cool things. Naturally. However, with so much family near us & the realization that "really how much stuff do we really need?!"....we decided to keep Christmas presents pretty simple. Please note that our unwrapping time is not understated. We wrap everything. Even the fun little trinkets and treats in the stocking. Then we open one gift at a time so everyone can share in each others excitement. Granted our kids are not teenagers with super expensive expectations, but it is a tradition I am glad we have had.

This week on the news various news anchors and child psychology experts were discussing how parents could explain to children that Christmas & gift giving would be less extravagant . "Santa" simply could not afford the the usual expectations. I smiled and giggled to myself, knowing that our gift lists would not change a bit with the changes in the economy. Our Christmas would be the same as ever. Simple and Sweet!

Teenage Years

Are we there yet? Sometimes it feels like we are nearer to those teenage years with Emily than I would like. Tuesday night Emily got her first phone call from a boy in her school class. (Reality check, she is in kindergarten!) They giggled and laughed. She even tried to leave with the phone and go down to her room to have her "conversation." (Big No-No) The call only lasted a few minutes since most of it was giggles and confusion. Though the situation was kind of funny, I found out that our Emily had given her phone number to a boy, so of course he wanted to call her. I laughed with the mom at the humor of the moment, but let her kindly know that Emily's phone privileges were very limited. (ie, no phone calls from boys).

Our dearest Em already loves primping, jewelry, make-up & accessories far more than an almost 6 year old should. We've tried to curb this desire that a little with out crushing her independence and creativity. If it feels like this now, I can't imagine what it will be like in another few years! Take good notes all you friends with older kids. I'll be needing you, but hopefully not too soon.

A Performer in the Making

Today Emily sang with all the kindergartners at the Veteran's Day Assembly. She has been practicing her words and sign language for weeks. They all did really well. I loved their enthusiasm and patriotism as they sang about this wonderful country we live in. I was especially impressed by one little girl's smile. That's my Girl!

After the program I told Emily how much I loved her smile. She said she was so happy to have me there and explained how proud and excited she was to sing in front of the whole school. We've known for a few years now that Emily is not afraid to be in front of a crowd, but today I think she felt the thrill of performing! I guess she is her mother's daughter more than ever. Can you believe Emily's first 3 years of life, she was incredibly shy?

Boutique Preview

Shop Chic Boutique AZ
November 22, 2008
9am-4pm

All Skirts are $12.00-$15.00!

Previews other items and location can be found at:
http://www.shopchicboutiqueaz.blogspot.com/