FAREWELL, 2009!

New Year's Eve was spent at home with fun, food, games, movies, popcorn, and treats. But, sadly, no fireworks. We all pooped out before midnight. LAME!!!!

Resolutions:

Do better at everything, work harder, play more, laugh more!!! That pretty much sums it up. No really.....

BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT.....LIKE.... EVER!!!

This picture is of the two missionaries, Elder Lee and Elder Smith, who helped to change our lives. They were amazing. So mature, so wise.

Rob got baptized on Saturday, December 26th. I was in such shock and disbelief that I didn't take any pictures that day. Ugh....I am just sick about that. One of the missionaries did, and I am hoping to get copies. Rob finally realized that he has always had a testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel and allowed these missionaries to teach to an open heart and open mind. He asked Ben Thibaudeau, an amazing friend and mentor, to sit in on the discussions. Ben contributed so much to the lessons and can relate to Rob on so many levels. I remember Rob saying after playing basketball with Ben at the church quite a bit recently that he wanted to be more like Ben: calm, peaceful, a good husband, a good father, priorities right, selfless, and kind. I am so grateful to Ben for his example then and for his continuing example and friendship.

Rob was baptized by my Dad. My Mom and brother, Cameron gave talks. (Again, such a blur that I don't remember who talked on what.) All of the LaDukes, including grandchildren and my dear friend, Spring Thibaudeau, sang "I Am A Child of God."

The next day at church, he was confirmed by Bishop Rick Davis, who means a lot to Rob.

We celebrated with family back at home with delicious homemade tamales (not made by me, of course - but I did make the salsa.)

I am excited for the future.....................

CHRISTMAS EVE!!

Traditionally, the kids got to open up one present at home on Christmas Eve. And....SURPRISE!! It's pajamas!!

I hope these two kiddos always love each other as much as they do in this moment.

Then we headed over to Mike and Lora's house for a feast and downpour of presents. I love watching the kids with their Grandpa Powers. He gets such a joy out of them.

I think Gage looks like Grandpa Powers.

These kids get so spoiled by their Powers aunts, uncles and cousins. I love how much they love our children. They get so excited to give them gifts and watch them open with anticipation.

Oh, how Bella loves Tinkerbell. She sleeps with this one.

This accurately captures how excited Gage is the whole time we are there.

We love the Powers family and are blessed to be a part. Uncle Mike and Aunt Lora are, as always, the perfect hosts. Thank you!

MEMORIES

Life has been especially busy these last few months and I haven't posted here in a while. But, I did manage to jot some things down on paper so I could record them here later. Here we go:

I can't remember where she learned it or why, but Paisley walks around reaching her hand up to pinch everyone's nose, and she wants the person to say, "P...U!" Then she wants you to do it to her. She gets the biggest kick out of it.

Paisley's nickname is "The Tank", for obvious reasons. That girl is so tough. She falls probably 1000 times a day, one way or another, and sometimes they are really bad falls where I'm expecting a scream and cry. But she just pops right back up and keeps on her path.

Everytime I laugh, Paisley mimics me and lets out a big laugh. Even if I'm in another room and laugh, she'll come running in there so she can laugh with me.

Bella is our little princess. She's as girly as they come. She loves lip gloss and fingernail polish (so much that she sleeps with them clutched in her hands). She loves playing dress-up and putting on my shoes. She is so full of joy and lights up a room. Each night we have a little bedtime ritual that includes scriptures, books, storytime, asking them the five questions (that I'll write more about later) and then tucking them in and giving hugs and kisses. Then they'll each tell me how much they love me. "I love you all the way up to the stars and back, etc." The cutest one that Bella says and came up with on her own is, "I love you all the way up to the mountain temples and back."

Bella's hair gets very tangled. We have to use de-tangling spray and be very gentle. Everytime we unknowingly hit one as we're brushing, she lets out a little yelp. We were driving through a parking lot and went over a speed bump. Bella said, "Oh! There was a tangle in the road!"

I was talking to the kids about Christmas and emphasizing what it was really about. I told them that it was to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Bella got so excited and asked, "Can I have some of His birthday cake??"

On Christmas Eve, while we were at Uncle Mike and Aunt Lora's house, Bella was talking to Papa Powers. She was having this conversation with him and I realized that she was just speaking the words to "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." So, it went like this, "Hey, Papa. You know....you better watch out.........Papa, you better not cry." It was hilarious. Papa was very confused.

Bella loves to sing. She walks around just singing all kinds of songs, real ones, made-up ones. Even when she is just talking, she does it in a sing-songy voice.

Some of Gage's quotes:

"Mom, I had a troublesome night last night." (who says troublesome?)

He used the word "although" the other night and used it correctly. So funny.

Gage: Mom, Gabriel in my class talks funny. He says, "tamily" instead of "family". Mom: Well, sometimes kids say words differently. Just be nice to him.

Gage: Yeah. He must be from Oregon or something.
(??? I guess Gage things if you're from Oregon you talk funny.)

Little white lies seem to always find a way of creeping back up and biting you in the bum. All the Christmas presents were stashed in my closet awaiting being wrapped. Gage and Bella went in there to play a game and Gage spotted something and immediately asked about it. I started to come up with some story to cover, but Rob beat me to the punch. He told the kids that they couldn't go in there because it was infested with flies and until we sprayed, they weren't allowed to play in there because they might get sick. They seemed to buy it and didn't ask any questions. Phew! A few hours later, Gage told me (in his daily-dramatic-incident-style) that his tummy hurt and he thinks it's because he spent too much time in the fly-infested closet. Ha!

The missionaries came over on Christmas Day to share a Christmas message with us. After they finished, Gage ran upstairs and grabbed his pirates book that is small. He said they were his scriptures and he wanted to give us a message. He stood up in front of all of us and pretended to read things from his "scriptures". It was a full-on Christmas devotional and went on for about 3 minutes. It was so cute.

TEMPLE LIGHTS

We took our traditional trip to the see the Temple lights, which are always amazing. This year was special because we got to share it with the Thibaudeaus, the Pecks, and Scott Shook.

We are completely bundled up - total wimps!!

Bella found her holiday cheer!!

ALMOST A CHRISTMAS CARD

Here are a couple of options of what our Christmas cards would have looked like, had I done Christmas cards. Too bad, because I really liked these outfits. I'm not sure why Bella seems to be missing out on all the Christmas cheer.

There's always next year!!!!

WILDLIFE ANIMAL PARK

Alicia and her kids stayed a little longer after Mom and Dad's homecoming, which we loved. We decided to make the trek out to the Wildlife Zoo and it was totally worth it.

We all got to go into the parrot cage and feed them apples. The parrots were landing all over heads, arms, shoulders. The kids were fascinated. And I want them to know that I love them so much I was able to set aside my total fear and disdain of birds to go in there with them. They were so sad when the time was up and I was singing hallelujahs.

WELCOME HOME, MOM AND DAD!

Mom and Dad came home from their mission in India on Wednesday, November 25th in the evening. All of us were able to be there to greet them. We all gathered at the top of the terminal anxiously awaiting them to walk up. They were the last ones and I must admit I was starting to wonder if they were on the plane. We were so excited to see them.

The next day was Thanksgiving - just the perfect meal to welcome them home. I hosted it at my house and it was so much fun to have them here again. All the cousins played until they were worn out.

SOCCER

Gage played soccer with his friend, Golden, this fall. These boys are so cute and fun to watch. Just look at these pictures......adorable!

SNAKES, SNAILS, AND PUPPY DOG TAILS

Gage is the epitomy of this saying. This boy can entertain himself all day long outside. Often, he sets up his animals outside and plays some sort of game with them, running back and forth to the walls trying to catch lizards and bugs. He is fascinated with it all. I love it!!

HALLOWEEN

Sadly, we didn't do our normal Halloween traditions because I had the swine flu. It was such a bummer. I missed out on everything, even trick-or-treating. These pictures were taken by Alyssa. The kids were so excited as usual. Gage was a Jedi, Bella was Tinkerbell, and Paisley was a zebra. So cute!!

Thanks to Rob, Aunt Alyssa and Uncle Trevor for filling in for me.

I WANT TO REMEMBER THESE

Bella and Paisley LOVE to brush their teeth. They are always clamoring over the sink, fighting for their position. I hope this lasts.

Gage remembers EVERYTHING! We were playing the Children's Songbook CD's and "In the Leafy Treetops" came on. Gage said, "Oh! Grandma sang me that song once when I was sad when I was 3."

Gage says a prayer for everything and anything. He'll pray that his mama will say yes to buying the new transformer toy at Target, that his sister will give him her candy, and the other day he actually said a prayer while sitting on the toilet to "please help my bottom to not sting when I push out the poop." This might be too much information for an outside reader, but I am soooo using this one when he's older.

We were watching TV and the character said something kind of mean and Gage said, "Mama, you're right. TV is not good for me."

Today, Bella and Gage were talking about Christmas - the lights, Santa, the reindeer, etc. Gage said excitedly, "Bella! Don't forget the finishing touch is..... PRESENTS!" Who says finishing touch?

A couple of weeks ago on our way to Chik-Fil-A's playroom to meet some friends, Gage decided that he wanted to have a parade. After figuring out that our backyard would not be big enough for the parade of horses, floats, and dancers, he settled on leading a parade through our neighborhood. "Please, Mama? Can you please help me have a parade?" I told him we'd have to have a family meeting (that's my new favorite response to questions I don't know how to answer). At Chik-Fil-A, I heard him inviting all the kids there (all strangers) to his parade. The kids excitedly accepted and ran to tell their moms, who of course, shot them down. Gage just couldn't understand it. After all, he was just trying to cheer them up by inviting them to his big parade.....why would their moms say no?

At Gage's second soccer practice, all the boys were playing on the playground before practice started. Gage ran over and one by one, brought the boys over. "Hey, Austin! This is my mom. Hey, Joey! Come here! I want you to meet my mom." So sweet.

In the car recently, Gage and Bella were talking about a hospital (can't remember why). They were arguing over how to pronounce it. Bella pronounces it, "Hot-sa-bull". Gage kept trying to correct her saying, "No, Bella. Say 'HOS....BA....DULL!'" Hilarious.

Bella tells me everyday, "You are my best mama! I LUB you!!"

MY MOTHER'S FEET

I was sitting at a cub scout meeting last night and happened to look down at my feet. I sighed in disgust at my dry, cracked heels, my distorted pinky toenails and the overall hobbit shape of my feet. I swear my feet are as wide as they are long. My toenails are unpainted and my feet basically look hideous. And then I chuckled to myself.

I remember when I was in my vain teenage years, I thought to myself that I hoped I never had feet that looked like my mother's. Her toenails were never painted, pinky toenails were oddly misshapen, heels always dry and slightly cracked, and they are wide. I often wondered why she didn't put cream on them or attempt to make them look pretty.

Once I came across a picture of one of my ancestors on my mom's side, maybe my great-great-great grandmother. I commented to my mom about how unattractive she was. Her face was very hard and masculine, she was not smiling for the picture, and it was difficult to find a pleasing feature. My mom spoke of how once someone had said something similar to my great-grandfather, Joseph Peterson, and he quickly chided them. He defended her saying that her face was beautiful because it represented her hard work, perseverance, service and sacrifice.

I no longer have to wonder about the appearance of my mother's feet. Those feet have walked in a home without a father, over school campuses, in classrooms of all kinds. They have lovingly walked beside another's feet for 43 years. They have waddled through eight pregnancies, hurried to serve others, mostly her children. And now, they walk in a foreign land along filthy streets, carrying her to serve and teach about the Savior.


I chuckled last night BECAUSE my feet look JUST like my mom's. I LOVE that!



Now, I just have to earn them.......

BACK TO PRESCHOOL!

Gage went back to preschool on Tuesday, September 8th. He was so excited and kept shouting, "First day of school!! First day of school!!". He said he made lots of friends, earned funny money (which they use to buy treasures at the end of the month), and tickled the girls. I told him he probably shouldn't do that and he couldn't understand why. He said it made them laugh. Hmmm....I tried not to make too much of it.....yet!

IT'S RAINING!!

We have been getting some nice rain lately. At the first sign of rain, Gage and Bella raced upstairs to get their rain boots. (Why we even have rain boots, I'm not sure.)

Bella is so fashion-forward. She is always playing dress-up and puts together these crazy outfits. She is usually either in her underwear or in some new dress-up outfit.

Gage is so loving to his sisters (sometimes). He pulled Bella into his lap and starting singing her a lullaby.

Paisley is already a little jokester. She is always coming over to me and blowing raspberries on my leg or my tummy and then laughs. I always cringe for fear that she'll bite me - but she hasn't yet. She will get my attention and then walk around with her eyes closed, which of course makes her fall. And then she just giggles and does it again. I love when I sit in the rocking chair with her. She immediately nuzzles into me, whether she's tired or not.

Some noteable things:

*Gage just gave his first talk in Primary on "The Prophets Teach Me To Strengthen My Family". We printed off some pictures and laminated them and Gage memorized his talk in just a few minutes. He has a really good memory. He would practice it and every time he got to the part where he said, "My favorite song is Follow the Prophet", he'd stop and ask me if the kids were going to laugh at him when he said that. I assured him they wouldn't. He did a great job and was so proud of himself. He told me that as he was sitting up at the front awaiting his turn, he was getting nervous. So he said a little prayer to ask for help and felt much better. He gave his talk just as he did at home, no nerves, and smiling the whole time. The chorister invited him up to lead everyone in "Follow the Prophet" afterwards. He loved it!

*Gage asked how can Aunt Courtney and I be sisters? We don’t live together and we’re grown-ups?

*Gage got on the phone yesterday to call his imaginary friend, Rescuer. As it turns out, Rescuer wants Gage to go on a date with one of his girlfriends, and wonders which one Gage wants.Gage paces the floor (as he always does when he’s on the phone), and can’t decide if it’s going to be Carlee, Eliza, or Allison, or maybe McKenna. He decides that Eliza and McKenna are too young, and it must be one of the older girls. I decided that I need to have a talk with Rescuer the next time he calls to inform him that Gage will not be going on a date until he is 27.

*Bella points to people and characters on TV or in real life that are appealing to her and yells excitedly, "That's me! That's me!"

When Bella gets excited about doing something fun she shouts, "I can’t believe it!!"