a day late, but never a dollar short

What happens when you work for an airline, and your husband works in a hospital? There is no such thing as having Christmas off is what happens. Buddy worked 7-3 and I worked 3-7 on Christmas day, so we decided that Santa would make an extra special delivery on Christmas evening to our house. Needless to say, Friday morning was quite a fun way to start the weekend! It was a little odd celebrating Christmas day a day late. Bella woke up on Christmas morning a little confused, but once we reminded her of "Santa's special errand" she was content. They did open their gifts to each other that night, as well as a few from us, which made them so excited. I find myself thinking alot of gifts this year. This year is a little unique for us. I would never trade our circumstances for anything, but I will say that this year has been rather challenging. Our schedules, not being around much of our family, finances, student life, lack of time. If I think about it too hard, I feel awefully silly and whiney complaining when in comparison to some of our family and friends our troubles seem like a cake walk. Never the less, everyone has periods of time when they encouter difficult times and we just happen to be in one for us. We honestly did not know how we were going to provide Christmas this year for Isabella and Moses. We didnt doubt that our parents would come through, like they always do, but we wondered how we were going to pull of a Christmas that involved more that 1 or 2 items for each, which dont get me wrong, would be okay, afterall, its not what Christmas is about. I truly hope the kids, well, Isabella anyway, felt the spirit of Christmas in her heart. We spent many nights sharing our testimony and talking about the reason we celebrate Christmas. But still, we really wanted to see the excitement in their eyes and be able to give them a fun Christmas. We received a call one evening from our Bishop who told us he had something for us. What it was, was a way to give our kids more of a Christmas than we would have ever been able. I was touched by the kindess and love of others who only wished to remain anonymous. I struggled with feeling like a charity case vs accepting the gift with gratitude. What a waste it would be to feel bad feelings about such a beautiful offering of kindness. I went to Deseret Industries, a local thrift store, to try to find some toys. We had it in our mind that if we could find Moses some toy dinosaurs, he would be in heaven, and Bella would like her yearly "Christmas Belle" off of Santa's sleigh and some clothes. I proceeded to the toy isle with a grateful heart. There, on the top shelf was a bag of toy Dinosaurs. $3.00 for the bag. I caught my breath for a moment, trying to hold in my tears. To most people, this bag of dinosaurs would have been an awesome find, a stroke of perfect timing. To me, it symolized the true meaning of Christmas. A sign so obvious that the Lord loves me and knows what we need, even down to the most minute detail in a bag of toy dinosaurs. I do not beleive that I was at the D.I. in the middle of a blizzard, with a bishops order and a spare hour to myself, just by coincedence. I do not beleive that it was just a coindence that almost every article of winter clothing I bought fits them perfectly and will last them through the winter. More than any material item could ever give, this Christmas strengthend my faith and testimony in the love that Jesus has for me, for each of us. I know that he is aware of our individual needs and blesses us in ways that we least expect. I have come to see on several occasions, how He sends others on heavnely errands to help him bless the lives of others. Someday, I want nothing more that to spend my days finding ways to help others as we have seen in our life. I will always remember the feelings of warmth and love that entered my heart that one afternoon in D.I, with a bag of toy dinosaurs in my hands and a tear stained cheek.

Now, on to the obligatory Christmas post full of the latests happenings...

Its a tradition in the Hatch family, that Santa leaves a present by our bed to wake up to in the morning. This year, Santa left a bell from his sleigh for his "Christmas Bells", also Mrs. Clause made Isabella a blanket, what a treat! She made one for Moses too, but left it at Grandma and Grandpa Hatch's house by accident. Santa left Moses a Dinosaur. Please excuse the morning-ness of this picture..I am sure no one will appreciate it like we do.

Moses big ticket item from Santa this year were his hulk hands. Oh my gosh, he has wanted these for months after playing with them at our awesome friends Gabe's house. If you ask him what Santa is bringing him, he will tell you "Santa bring me hulk hands like Gabers" Isabella was so happy with some beads, clothes, and a puppy in my pocket set.

On the 25th, our Christmas eve, we worked on a gingerbread house and watched Barbies "A Christmas Carol" It was a fun afternoon.

Later that night, we made cookies. Santa really likes these cookies, so we opted for peanut butter chocolate chip, with a roll in sugar for good measure, as opposed to the fancy sprinkly ones. Santa ate them all.

Later that night, Bella wrote a letter to Santa:

Dear Santa, I Love U Santa. I hope U bring all of my presents. thank you for all of the elves help. Thank you for leaving me a bell by my bed

(heart)
Cresmes bells.

Then we set it by the fire place and went to bed.

We loved getting so many Christmas cards this year from our family and friends near and far. Thank you.

"Christmas, chilren, is not a date, it is a state of mind" -Mary Ellen Chase.

snow scenes

I love the snow, but I am a wimp, I dont like to play in it. But alas, I have kids who do..so I give in and do it. I froze my bum off this afternoon but I will admit, watching the kids play was really fun. My favorite part (unfortunatly for my little buddy) was the snow balls they were throwing at each other. Good thing his hat was on, he would have been in for quite the cold shock. I am so lucky to have caught the "snow bomb" mid air. I love it. And really, he did too.

and my favorite of the day...SO glad I had my camera.

old fashioned christmas and snow dips

Lets face it, things arent like they used to be financially. This year, we were looking at foregoing the yearly christmas sunday clothes, that is until we went to the D.I on Saturday. Okay, truth be told, Buddy thinks Bella's dress is butt ugly, but I find it rather charming and "old fashioned" When I first saw it on the rack, I moved right along, but at second glance, I just fell in love with it, and I think she looked darling at church today. And Moses doned a new sweater from the Gap...for a whole 2.00. I love living frugally. sometimes. We just think our Christmas kids are the sweetest thing, and any chance I get to follow them around and watch them interact, I am there. This Christmas time is especially fun because the magic of christmas is a constant sparkle in Bella's eye, and moses, he walks around saying "Santa bring me Hulk Hands" Santa is most certainly bringing hulk hands..and I cant wait to see the look on his face. Christmas to us is like a month of recognizing blessing after blessing. I swear I spend most of the month in tears of gratitude for my blessings and my savior. I have felt touched by the kindness of others and witnessed blessings that are too obvious to pass as mere coincedence. Christmas truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

Party at Bella's

The other day when I picked up Bella from school, 3 girls ran up to me:
"Where's your house? "Whats your telephone number" "What time is the party?"

Unbeknownst to me, Bella has colored herself up some hello kitty "invitiations" and handed them out that morning at school. Had I known about this hair brained plan of hers, I tottally would have planned for a fun christmas themed party, but no, Bella had her mind set on fine dining. Cheeto's, mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, sour patch kids and swedish fish...and sprite to drink. Wow, what a meal. They danced to Hannah Montana and played (destroyed) her room. What fun. There were some girls that she wanted to invite that just wast possible, it was such last minute that I packed up 6 girls in our van and drove them home for what I thought would be a quiet afternoon. It was so fun to see how happy Bella was to be having this "party". She planned it and executed it...with a little help from me of course. I hope she always feels confident to hatch up an idea and make it happen. I feel like its important that she knows anything is possible, and I will always support her. We had a little chat however of the importance of a a "heads up" Next time, hopefully her "party" will allow for some extra planning time.

just in case anyone still reads our blog and cares to read my rambling blog thoughts.....

Messy hair, pajama's, movie after movie and lots of propel..lets not go there again.
Awh, it isnt until you get sick that you really appreciate your health..and this was only the flu! We are all better..just in time to celebrate Christmas, I am so happy the bug is gone.

Bella was not happy to see my camera..but I LOVE this book and thought it was fitting of our recent days.

A few things to catch up on, I have been working on our blog book and it bugs me how I write. The funnest blogs that I read are the ones where I find myself saying "I cant beleive he/she's saying this" or "I can so relate to that" and I find my self being really bored with my blog. Maybe everyone feels this way, I dont know, but I need to find a way to make our blog more interesting. Selfishly, I want our blog book to be fun...so I need to be more creative I think...but I have not a clue how. So besides being sick, I havnt blogged because I dont think I have anything interesting or note worthy to blog about...and....I am in a major photography slump. I think I may know what it feels like to have writers block...except I' m not some brilliant millionaire author, you get the picture. Because I am having such a pity party about my lens, I have resorted to putting my setting on Auto and just snapping away. I hate this because I cant get what I really want out of a photo..but the good side is, I am still capturing daily life, which is what I love about photography in the first place. Now that I have gotten all of these thoughts off my chest...on to some pictures.

A few of the days that I was sick, I litterally could not move. So Moses and Bella were left to find their own fun. Moses took to the nail polish, of course, its like a magnet for him. He cant resist the stuff. I was so worried it was all over the carpet..but he did good and got it mostly on his toes. Dont let the purse worry you, he has a sister, he's all about wanting to be just like her, I think its sweet.

Our tree is rather pathetic this year. All of our decorations are in Lake Oswego and we arent in the position to buy more. So the tree is a random string or two of popcorn, a dozen or so of half eaten candy canes and some gold balls. Bella says "This is SO the beautiful-est tree" Okay.

Comming up, if I can get my pictures right, a funny little plan that Bella hatched up and executed nicely..it was pretty funny.

out of commission

There are many different reasons I could give for not wanting to blog lately, lack of anything at all to say, nothing new happening, no pictures to share...but likely the most pressing reason, we were all sucker punched in the rear by a nasty flu..I'll be back when the germs are gone.

more of karson

My sister Andrea wants to do some baby annoucements and wanted a picture of Karsons face...I never noticed this one the first time looking at them, I love that he is smiling! I am dissapointed in the quality, but I am starting to be okay with the fact I wont get the quality I want until I'm able to get some equipment. I do beleive that its not all about the equipment you have, creativity counts for alot, but in my case, the lens I have, just isnt cutting it. ITs okay, its still a cute picture I think!

not staged...

Buddy went in to kiss the kids goodnight one more time before he went to bed. He walked in their room, walked straight out, grabbed the camera and went back in..way to go Buddy, this will bring us laughs for years!

speaking of Buddy, I am so thankful for him. This year has been the toughest of our 11 years so far. He is always gone, either at school or at work, and when he isnt there, he is at the library. When we used to stay up until at least midnight, he's in bed by 9 most nights. He is tired and works so hard for us. Neither of us knew how taxing this program would be, coupled with financial and life stresses and an absent husband most of the time, I dont think that I acknowledge his efforts as I should. Buddy, I simply dont know what I would do without you and the effort you are making for our future. I adore you and admire your strength and determination. You make your family proud. I love you.

cool dude kung fu speed

When I was at my wits end a few weeks ago, waiting for our plane to take off I noticed an interesting subliminal message on my sons shoes. Weird huh. Honestly, I was trying to constrain him from running out of the terminal, and Im not kidding when I say there were some serious looky loo's staring me down. At any rate, I never noticed the msg on his shoes before this day, it was one of those quicky, find a shoe, any shoe that fits and lets get out of here shopping moments.....

And now the lightbulb has gone off. Wow, it suddenly makes my life as his mom easier to handle when he is tornado-ing himself around the house. Thats just what he is, speed, and swords and transformers, rocks, more speed, cool dude glasses, oh and....kung fu.

I couldnt image a more perfect little boy for us!

family

Because there just cant be enough pictures of your family and friends. We had a great at home a few weeks ago. Its always too short though.

I went to meet the newest Shannon :

and the newest VW:



laughed alot with my brothers and sisters

the only girl missing is Kim..she came in a day too late..bummer.

Kim a day later...must be nice to be able to sleep like that!


Uncle Mike is a big kid himself

Mike had a birthday party for my niece Brenna and she prettied up grandma and grandpa..not that they needed it.

Moses realized baby Karson uses his same binkies..step one into fading them into history...Moses LOVES Karson, he always wants to kiss and hold him, it was so sweet to see.

Grandma and Grandpa hav a fire pit off of their deck. After showers, the girls would wrap up in big blankets, toast marshmellows, drink cocoa and take turns telling stories, it was really fun!

Got to see best friends, I am so sad that I didnt grab any pictures of Olivia and Bella, Bella had so much fun seeing her again. Next time Jen, we will stay longer! Bella got to vist a little with GRACE too, it was a fun reunion as well. Grace looked so good, given what she is going through, it was so good to see her and Bella playing again..like the good old days. Just a side note, the back of Grace's shirt says "Leukemia schmeemia" Her parents are amazing at keeping such a heavy burden light, I just laughed when I saw that.

To the friends that I didnt get to see, I am so sorry. I didnt realize that all I wanted to do just wouldnt fit within the time I had there, someone told me it might be that way but I didnt beleive them. Anyway, I am sorry, next time I am in town, I hope to catch up with you!!

scenes

On our way back from Oregon last week, we had quite the adventure getting home. We left Portland early in the morning, got pulled over at the airport for doing 40 in a 25, got off with a warning (good job dad) and made it on a flight to Long Beach. Well, little did we know that the fires would effect our stay there. There was ash falling down all over the place and the air smelled thick of fire. While we were crossing the road, we saw 3 police officers and a security guard leaning up against a police car looking all tough with air masks on. It was a scene I wish I had taken a picture of, they just looked cool. Then we barely squeaked on a flight to Vegas, thank goodness. That airport is so nice (compared to long beach) When we walked outside, there were gobs of limo's and tall men holding out signs for their party's. Again, I would have loved to take a picture of that, its so vegas. So when I was downloading my pictures I saw this one and was so glad that I took a picture of it. The park behind my parents house holds many memories of walks and talks and games. On an evening walk around it, I noticed this tree and quickly just snapped a picture of the leaf. I didnt even notice the lazy jet trail in the sky. I really like this picture because its like Vegas and Long Beach, simple, real life.

“Babies are such a nice way to start people.”

–Don Herold

I just got back from a whirlwind of a trip back home to Portland to meet some pretty sweet babies! When we arrived at the airport, everyone was there to meet us, including my newest nephew, Karson! Oh my gosh, I could not get enough of him. At only 2 weeks old, he will sleep and cuddle, anytime, anywhere, I was in heaven! How I love this little one! I cant wait to get back there to see him again. My time seemed so short there, so I was only able to meet one of my best friends Jen's little Ian for a short time. Ian is right up there with Karson, just over the top precious and cuddly, I wish I could have held him all afternoon! I love babies and am so glad I could spend some time this week being home. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the baby extravaganza!

And Jen, I had to run to work so I didnt have time to get to all of them, but I know you are wanting to see some, so here are a few that I love!

while the cats away..

Usually I wait until the kids go to bed to clean up the house and do all the things I need to do. Its the reason why I am usually up until 1 or 2 in the morning, but its worth it when I can wake up in the morning and have a new clean start. Well.....I have been feeling really tired lately, so I thought I would attempt some cleaning during the day. I was folding laundry in our room and it was quiet in the house..not a good "sound". I found Moses on the chair, grasping his favorite new movie, looking pretty mischevious I might add.

Then I went into their room to find crayon all over the walls and extra sticky Hello kitty stickers neatly plastered on his bed. Bella was sad about her stickers, and Kristen was mad.

I have yet to take the crayon off the wall, Google tells me WD-40 works great, but I havnt made it to the store yet. The sticky residue is still on his bed, but it gives him something to play with at night, and I am less tired because I am getting more sleep at night. My point is, the quietness and messes in life are what makes things fun afterall.