Santa: Is he Daft or is he Dangerous?

I don't remember ever being scared of Santa but maybe it is because I can't remember back to when I was 1. What Jonas and my niece Eva don't yet realize is he is the man going to bring them presents on the 25th! Come on kids cheer up a little. On second thought, maybe its a good thing children are scared of strangers dressed up in weird clothes.

Matty

Basics: Mastered

Jonas' Christmas present.
Our new Harker family tradition is to make homemade gifts for each other every year.
Matt's requested a crocheted ear flap toque... not sure my 'umble skills can deliver on that just yet.

My cowl I made, and made up.
At one point during this project Matt asked me what I was making.
My reply: "Whatever it looks like when the yarn runs out".

My Christmas present.
Sorry new winter boots- it looks like you've been pushed back yet another Christmas.
But seriously, the fact that Bethany's soles are so grippy and the boot so warm and waterproof practically makes these winter boots.

Poor 'lil Sicky

Poor Jonas was very sick yesterday. At last the mystery of his miraculous reverence while we watched the First Presidency's Christmas message on Monday night was uncovered (but I still like to think he was feeling the spirit and enjoying the peaceful music too). Our baby was almost unrecognizable yesterday. Let me compare two very recent scenes.

Scenario 1: We are at church sitting in sacrament meeting. In an attempt to subdue our baby's lively spirits I gave him a pack of wet wipes to play with. Jonas absolutely hates when I wipe his face after he eats or when he was a runny nose, so what does our spunky little boy do? He takes that pack of wipes and he roughly rubs into my face over and over again like he is really relishing his opportunity to turn the tables. After Matt and I had let him have his fun for a minute (we were in danger of laughing out loud), Matt took him and Jonas repeated the treatment on him.

Scenario 2: Jonas lay listlessly on his back in my arms for an hour straight yesterday as I read aloud to him from one of my books. He hasn't laid in my arms like that since he was two months old and he hasn't sat still through a single baby book since he discovered he could crawl. He did make a cheeky attempt or two at pulling my hair, but his little arm fell limply by his side before he could reach it. I also caught him looking at me with a slightly annoyed look on his wrinkled brow a couple times as I was reading, as though he thought I was taking advantage of his weakness by enjoying myself with reading a book rather than trying to amuse him, or so I thought.

The Closet

There's only eight days left of my challenge to not spend any money on clothes this year so I've spent the past two weeks washing, drying, and trying on all my clothes. The challenge wasn't as hard as I expected because my online and in store shopping dropped dramatically so there was less temptation to buy. But having said that I'm glad my wonderful Mom and Dad bought me some things right after I had Jonas (it would have been very demoralizing to keep wearing baggy maternity clothes until I fit into my regular ones) and for my birthday (by which time I had reached my normal size and realized I had stretched out a lot of my "regular" clothes while I was pregnant). I also spent a $75 gift card to buy a few comfortable, washable, and presentable clothes so I wasn't wearing pajamas around the house all day.

 I wondered at the start of the year whether it would feel like I had no clothes at the end of it but I don't feel that way at all. I like being able to see everything I have at glance and I actually wear all the clothes in my closet now. I would like to pick up a few new things this year though:

1. more dresses (I only have one and the genius of dresses is that they are a complete outfit)
2. the perfect pair of jeans (I'm tired of making due with the low-rise pair I wear now but I'm not looking forward to what I'm sure will be a long hunt to find the "perfect" pair- Gap discontinued my tried and true fit, and all the new denim everywhere feels too thin, too stretchy and sits too low- where does one look for a solid, long wearing piece of denim that doesn't bag out, with a rise that actually allows you to sit without adjusting the back of your pants?)

9 months

Jonas:

* loves being kissed and giving funny open mouth kisses

* pulls himself up on everything

* likes feeding himself bits of salmon, cheese, toast and peas

* wants to be with me every single second of everyday which I find wildly flattering

* giggles when I eat his food off his tray or imitate his wild head shaking, hand slapping antics

* chases me when I crawl around the house

* thinks waking up is the best part of the day

* has had 10 hour sleeps the past three nights

Just like riding a bike

I wasn't sure how not snowboarding for an entire year would affect my snowboard performance this season. Turns out Matt is right- snowboarding is just like riding a bike. Saturday was opening day at Table Mountain and it was really fun and really busy. 

In case you're wondering why the hill looks so deserted, it's because this picture was taken a couple years ago on a weekday when Matt and I decided to play hooky (hookie?) from school. I miss the spontaneity of those days. I don't miss not knowing whether Rodge would make the two hour journey back to Saskatoon!

Swimming, Crawling, and Climbing

Swimming

Like Mother like Son. Jonas loves being in the water. His hands and feet are already the size of mine so he's going to be FAST!

Crawling

Jonas does not want to be still for one second. He is always crawling around finding new things to bonk his head on.

Climbing

His newest favourite thing is climbing. The ledges in our living room are the perfect height for climbing up onto. I wonder if all that moisture on our windowsills is condensation or drool?

Matty

Lloydminster Branch Chili Cook-off

Since 2007 the Lloydminster Branch has had an annual chili cook-off. The winner gets the beautiful trophy pictured above and more importantly the title of best cook in the branch. This year Royall and I combined our culinary expertise to create the best chili for the judges. I say the best chili for the judges because going into the event we knew the young men were going to be the judges so what we did is add a TON of meat. 3 pounds of ground beef, 2 pounds of spicy sausage, and 1 pound of juicy bacon. All that meat mixed with our secret ingredient we were sure to win. If you don't know what our secret ingredient is you will have to ask somebody who was at the event.

The picture above is the trophy sitting on the ledge above our sink. The trophy's new home for a long long time!

Matty

Humiliation Galore

Ever since the end of my second trimester I have suffered some pretty horrific short term memory loss- a point that is especially touchy with me because I've always been a little proud of my memory power. I've had numerous experiences over the last year that been humbling and frankly humiliating. Most recently over the past couple weeks I have: been stuck in a gas station parking lot because Gary wouldn't start (I turned the vehicle off when it was in drive instead of park), lost my $500 stroller (I think I loaded Jonas up and just drove out of the mall parking lot without packing up my stroller- or it was stolen the day I forgot to close the garage door) and on Friday I was a no show at my visit teaching appointment because- surprise- I forgot.

Good thing I have already finished my degree?

8 Months

 How I rue the day I started pretending to be a puppy dog for my son's amusement! But who could blame a Mom for occasionally yanking her son's socks off or grabbing a toy between her teeth while shaking her head back and forth and growling to keep him in good humor. Sometimes I make a ridiculous spectacle of myself for Jonas especial benefit- I consider part of my job.

Only I think in this instance it was a detriment more than a benefit. Jonas has taken to full out growling whenever he gets undressed or is otherwise frustrated- it might be cute if I could convince myself he won't still be doing it in nursery ten months from now whenever a kid comes near one of his toys! And the lolling his head violently around with a goofy grin on his face whenever he feels hyper! If you could see it! He wouldn't stop doing it during our Stake Conference on Sunday- Matt and I were trying desperately (and I fear unsuccessfully) to check our embarrassed laughter during an earnest talk. 

It's taken awhile to figure out where he learned such shockingly abnormal behavior but now I realize he has been taking notes during our playtime. Nothing like a baby acting like Mowgli raised by the wolves or the sobering thought of lifelong impaired social development to make a new mom re-evaluate what her baby observes.

It's a little early for Easter but I thought an egg hunt would be just the thing to keep him occupied while I cleaned his room. Vacuuming, though, is entertainment in itself as he loves to chase the vacuum.

Second rough and tumble incident of the day.

I often have little learning moments about mothering and I received another reminder of one today. Jonas is a pretty rough and tumble boy and while I'm great at soothing him after a tumble, I'm not as great at preventing the incident that requires soothing. Today I let Jonas play with his diaper basket on the floor of his room while I sat nearby to pay a few bills. Once he had emptied its contents he placed his weight on the top of one side of the basket so that the other side flew up and whacked him right above his eye. It was a metal basket and there is a little lump there now. I could try to brush it off as a freak accident or the consequence of a Montessori approach to learning, but the truth is it happens too often to be considered a rare occurrence and while I do believe that children should have freedom to explore their environment within reasonable bounds, it is mostly due to a lack of experience and foresight. Heavenly Father knew exactly what he was doing when he sent a tough headed, resilient baby to our home. Jonas, you will be admirably prepared to enter three year old rugby in two and a half years (yes there is a league in Lloyd and yes Melissa you should become a dentist here and coach it).

Just to be clear- these two photographs are of the same child...taken just moments apart.

Playing in his "doghouse" with puppy. And speaking of puppies there is a hilarious video of him throwing back his head and doing his jolliest belly laughs while watching Kalinda and Mark's dogs. I need to post it sometime.

Jonas' 2 bottom teeth have come in nicely (no fussing!) and there are 3 top teeth beginning to show.

The Smartest Guy I Know

Matt can solve a Rubiks cube faster than anyone I know so this costume was a no-brainer.

Matt wondering how he managed to a make a costume in an hour.

Love my husband and love his super nerdy infatuation with logic puzzles and mathematical problems.

Mary had a little lamb...

little lamb, little lamb,
Mary had a little lamb
its fleece was white as snow.

Everywhere that Mary went,
Mary went, Mary went,
everywhere that Mary went
the lamb was sure to go.

Lamby went to Trunk-or-treat,

Trunk-or treat, Trunk or-treat,

Lamby went to Trunk-or-treat 

which made him late for bed!

I was originally planning to be Little Bo-peep but I wasn't able to find a shepherds crook so Mary it was. I made my costume within 24 hours using all things I already owned excluding my three clothing purchases. I saved the stockings and "shoes" (which are really those strange ballet flat socks) from my pile of dust rags, sewed the sun hat into a bonnet, turned in the collar and cuffs of my striped shirt to make a jacket, made tissue flowers and felt leaves for my belt, layered a couple of my summer skirts and completed the costume with ribbons and bows. I had to be resourceful and I had to go on my own inspiration (try, actually on second thought don't try, typing "mary had a little lamb" or "little bo-peep" in google and one look at all the skimpy "adult" costumes will show you why) but I liked the end result. This is my second year making handmade costumes and I'm hooked. It is so much more fun to make and wear costumes than to buy packaged ones (though I would make a concession for a deluxe Darth Vader costume in a second)!

TRUNK OR TREAT!

Matt's Rubik's cube costume was a hit!

Our only picture of Jonas grinning in his costume!

We got to the Trunk-or-treat after most of the kids had already made their candy rounds so we left with most of the candy we brought- which is unfortunate because neither Matt and or Jonas will be any help finishing it off. Maybe the kids in the neighborhood will be brave and visit the isolated house (there are no occupied homes next to us) at the end of the block tomorrow?

Gift Giving the Royall & Matt Way

It is Tuesday morning. Matt is gathering his things to leave for work.

Matt: I'm going to buy those bindings online today (Harker Gift-Giving Rule #1 We always pick out own gift- that way we get exactly what we want).

Me: Okay. But you can't wear them until Christmas this year (Harker G-G Rule #2 Matt always buys something new for snowboarding and always ends up using it before Christmas).

Matt: You can wrap it in silver wrapping paper.

Me: Can I at least choose what color the ribbon is?

Matt: Yes, you can choose the ribbon... white would look nice (Harker G-G Rule #3 There are never any gift-giving surprises).

Thanksgiving 2006

A lot changes in just four years!

Us

I swear my hair looked better 2 hours earlier when we left Calgary- that darn cowlick had it's way in the end! Matt's Mom called a week before the family photo-shoot to say that the colors were red, dark pink, orange and brown- I think I paused for a moment to wrack my brain for any clothes we owned in that color scheme (I think we each own one red shirt but none of them are very picture presentable). So she added charcoal and dark denim to the list. We didn't want to be the "charcoal/dark denim family" so Matt bought a new red shirt and I wore red lipstick OUT of the house for the second time in my life.

Give Thanks 2010

The founding members- Mom and Dad!

All Dad Harker's daughters- the girl side of the family is complete!

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The original seven.

The grandkids. Check out Brody and Jonas- so cute!

The boys (or da bruddas as they call themselves).

All Dad Harker's daughters- the girl side of the family is complete!