Stylin' and Profilin'

This is what you get when you send two males into the shoe department alone. Jonathan picked out these awesome shoes. At least I should be able to spot him in the dark! I had staked out a place in the long line at Six Flags… I mean Kohl’s. When they met up with me in line, Jonathan had all the women around me howling in laughter. Fred immediately walked off and left me alone to view their pick. Jonathan could see that I was slightly hesitant, so he gave me a big long story about how they were the only size four tennis shoes in the entire store.

O Holy Night

As I've said before, due to my work schedule, we find it easier to have family home evening on Sundays.  I was in so much luck tonight.  Our church's annual First Presidency Christmas Devotional was tonight.  So, we just tuned into the BYU channel and listened and watched for an hour.  We laid out blankets and had dinner while we watched. 

Jessie enjoyed the musical numbers.  She loves all kinds of music, so she really liked listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Jonathan enjoyed President Uchtdorf's talk.  Unfortunately, I think he was really focusing on his accent instead of the talk itself.

As for me, I REALLY liked the choir's rendition of O Holy Night.  That is my most favorite Christmas song ever!  Earlier in the day, I was trying to decide whose version I like the best - Donny Osmond, Marie Osmond or David Archuleta's (I don't have a big Christmas CD collection).  I was thinking that Marie's is my favorite with David Archuleta's being a close second.  Now, I have to re-rank them, because I have the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's version to think about.  I just love THAT song!

I loved all of the messages from the First Presidency.  They were all inspired and so appropriate for this time of year.  I bawled like a big baby when President Monson told the story about the soldier trying to get home for Christmas.  I think Jess might have cried too, because she didn't make fun of me. 

Everyone was so reverent during the messages... even Mollie.  She could have barked and chased the cat, but she didn't.  Jonathan was extremely reverent... until he started snoring during President Monson's talk.  Do you think that makes him a heathen?  I hope not!

Buddies

Today was filled with lots and lots of errands.  Jonathan was rewarded for his patience.  He had a neighbor/church friend come play for three hours this afternoon.  His friend is almost two years younger than him, so it was a good lesson in patience for Jonathan.  From the sounds coming out of Jonathan's bedroom, they both had a great time.

Both cars needed oil changes, so that was one of our "little" errands today.  We grabbed the boys and headed out to pick up the van.  On the way out, I found that they were packing contraband.  Somehow, I don't think Firestone would have ever been the same if we came in with two nerf guns and a pointer finger.  I'm not sure what they were going to do with the pointer finger. 

After our trip to Firestone, the boys watched a movie in Jonathan's room.  They made one special request:  popcorn for their movie.  Against my better judgement, I let them take popcorn into Jonathan's bedroom.  I heard Jonathan yell out to me that the popcorn had spilled.  I told him not to worry that I would be in to help them clean it up.  I was expecting a pile of popcorn.  I think it started out as a pile and then they found that it was fun to play in. 

They are already planning their next play date.  Note to self:  remove all weapons from Jonathan's room and do not let them talk you into taking food out of the kitchen!

For Unto Us a Child is Born

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting  Father, The Prince of Peace.  - Isaiah 9:6

Each year our church puts together a Nativity exhibit.  People donate their nativities for the weekend.  They are displayed in this beautiful setting.  Jessie was singing in the choir tonight during the exhibit.  Mom, Jonathan and I went to view the beautiful nativities and to listen to the wonderful music.

The nativities were diverse.  There was even a lego nativity!  Jonathan and MaMaw enjoyed the Nativity Seek and Find game.  They were given a list of twenty items to find.   The list had things like 1)Find the origami nativity and 2) Find a manger in an acorn.

The youth and adult choirs combined tonight, and sang beautifully.  They sang four very pretty songs.  Their performance was far too short.  We could have listened to them sing all night!  Even Jonathan was a little disappointed. 

Afterwards, Jess attended a little get together with the other youth in the ward.  Jonathan and I came back home and Fred made us some yummy hot chocolate.  It was made with vanilla soy milk - just for Jonathan (he has a dairy allergy).  It was delicious.  I chose a cute little Christmas mug.  But, Jonathan needed a great big soup cup.

Then, we curled up and watched the series finale of Monk.  I will tell you that one of us cried towards the end, and it wasn't Fred, Jonathan or Mollie!

Now it is off to pick Jessie up and then head to bed.   What a wonderful evening with my family!

Blue Eyes and Blond Curls

We are in so much trouble with this kid!  This morning he was looking in the mirror at himself and he started saying over and over in a sing-song manner, "My curls are growing back!  My curls are growing back!"  Seriously, all of that wasn't necessary, since we didn't cut that many off.  This prompted a discussion about getting his hair cut short - a conversation that I start frequently.  I am the one that has to take the water bottle and wet it down.  Once I've done that, then I have to go back and spray it with gel.  After that, I have to take the mountain of curls and mold it into something that looks nice.  I don't think that a 9 year old boy's hair should take so much effort.  I am always trying to talk him into getting it buzzed, so that he can comb it himself.  He always says that is a good idea and then chickens out at the last minute.  Once again, he committed to getting his hair cut short.

I knew that Jonathan liked his curls, but had no idea how vain he has become.  After I had his hair sufficiently gelled, he leaned close to the mirror and said, "don't my curls look good with my blue eyes?"  Oh me, oh my!  What am I going to do with that child?  Some how I don't think we'll be getting that buzz cut.

Let it Snow!

This morning I awoke VERY late at 7:00 a.m. My head was pounding. When I wake up with a migraine it is usually imperative that I get up and get moving. I think it has something to do with me getting the blood flowing in the right direction – away from the brain. Today I found that it actually felt better to snuggle my head deep down into my pillow. I tried to block the impending day, and all that needed to get done.

Jonathan greeted me around this time. I squinted and looked at him. I noticed that he was wearing the shirt that he had on yesterday. I had gone to bed early last night and left the rest of the family up watching Santa Clause 3. I knew that Jess was planning on setting her alarm and getting up early to take a shower. I hadn’t planned on Jonathan needing one too.

I slowly started getting my body moving to find that it was snowing outside. The excitement of snow added to the fact that 4 people had to take showers this morning caused my head to pound even harder. Jess said that she woke up early, but we were all in bed. She didn’t take a shower, because she didn’t want to get in trouble for getting up before everyone else. (Aahhh, the rationalization of a teenager!)

I came to the conclusion that I would go into work an hour late. I thought I could rest and relax and work on my headache. No such luck!

Even with a headache, it was pretty exciting to be greeted by snow! Jonathan fussed about wearing his big heavy winter coat. This is his third season to have this particular coat and he has complained about it for three seasons. Jess hates to blow dry her hair. I don’t think she likes the way the hot air feels. Anyway, I made her dry her hair before Fred took her to school. Honestly, I think she just half-way dried it and threw it up in a pony tail. I know she dressed warm, but I didn’t see her choice of shoes. I’m praying that she didn’t try to leave the house in flip-flops (her preferred shoe).

Then, I decided to put little t-shirts on the dogs. Gracie has always worn shirts in the winter. Mollie is just eighteen months old, so this is fairly new to her. Gracie, my seasoned veteran, let me get the shirt three-fourths of the way on and then freaked out on me. We only had one leg left to go, and she literally put her foot down. I finally rolled her on her back to put that last leg through. That seemed to be less traumatic.

Three of us are native Texans, and you can tell! A little bit of cold weather and some light snow, and we bundle up like there is a blizzard coming through our neighborhood. Not to mention, all this was documented with pictures. Even in my diminished state, I managed to snap a few pictures.

The Fortenberry Four

We scored one of our new family pictures early!  So, here is a little sneak peak.  Once I have the CD, I will post a sampling of our favorite shots. 

A sweet sister from our church has a photography business with her friend.  They are awesome.  I highly recommend them.  It was actually a fun afternoon.  Who would have thought?  Even Fred had fun!

Check out Creatively Chic Photography here.

Enjoy!