Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a very nice Thanksgiving, even with Papa Bear away. I cooked a small meal, with ham instead of turkey. Panda ate her entire plate of food, while Cinnamon hardly ate anything. How's that for a switcher-roo???

We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV in the morning and the Cat in the Hat in the afternoon. We missed Papa Bear at the table (I probably missed him more than everyone else), but it was very pleasant nonetheless!

Gummy Bear is now drinking from a straw sippy cup and eating crackers, cold cereal, graham crackers, and anything he can find on the floor, edible or not. This morning, Panda frantically called me to come get something out of his mouth. Cinnamon had taken a small ink pad out of its container and left it on the floor, so of course Gummy went right for it. Good thing it's not toxic. He had blue spit up for a little while.

Our ward had its primary sacrament meeting presentation today. Even though I'm not serving in Primary right now, I got to help out filling in for the pianist for a couple of rehearsals. Panda did an excellent job with her few lines. We didn't really practice reading it together very much, so imagine how flabbergasted I was when she got up to the microphone and recited her lines perfectly from memory! She memorized her lines while the program was being presented. Wow! I had no idea she had such a great memory. She has also memorized the First Article of Faith.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to add this time. Our PC has a virus (despite lots of virus protection). It will probably be a month before we either get a new one or get it fixed, so I'm stuck with the laptop. I'm not sure how to load pictures yet onto this computer (or if I want to clutter it up with pictures), so we'll see later.

Happy Holidays!

Panda Bear's Baptism

Panda Bear turned 8 in October, so it was time for her to be baptized! She was baptized on November 7th in our ward's chapel. I wouldn't call it a solemn occasion, with Cinnamon Bear dancing around in circles during all the songs, but the Spirit was definitely there, and it was a beautiful service.

Since Papa Bear is digging in the sandbox for awhile, he couldn't be here to baptize Panda. We were sad about that. Originally, we were going to have Grandpa Bear baptize Panda, but making it home for the holidays is going to be very difficult for us this year. When Panda's Aunt and Uncle Bear told us they could come visit a weekend in November, we came up with the idea of having Uncle Bear baptize her. Panda was so happy to have an uncle who she feels a strong bond with baptize her!

Unfortunately, we couldn't invite a lot of people to the baptism. The ward mission leader had a hard time getting ahold of the Bishop to schedule the building (our Bishop is a doctor and was extremely busy that week). So, we didn't know what time the baptism would be until 9:00 the night before. I was scrambling to at least get the assignments made for talks and music. Everything came together, though. I should know better. Anything involving the Lord comes together in the end, no matter how many challenges you have along the way!

Panda was baptized in my own baptism dress, which my mom made for me when I was 8 years old. She looked beautiful in it, although I had to wash it in hot water and put it in a hot dryer to get it to shrink a bit. Panda's smaller than I was at that age. I was worried that Panda would be scared of the water, but there was no squealing or squirming when she went under the water and came back up. And she only had to go under once--no errant foot peeking it's way up out of the water! Our Panda Bear is very brave (when she really needs to be).

For the program, Panda's primary teacher from our previous ward (we moved in October) gave a talk on baptism. Her aunt gave the talk on the Holy Ghost. I sang a solo--Panda's choice, "Faith" from the Primary Songbook. We played "A Man Without Eloquence" from the Church History DVD during that brief period when the baptism participants are getting changed and no one knows what to do to fill the time. It's about Brigham Young's conversion through the simple testimony of an unlearned man.


After the baptism, we ate some yummy food at a restaurant and headed home for lots of laughs and talking. Aunt and Uncle Bear had to head back to their home Sunday morning. It was a wonderful weekend!

Autumn Leaves

Cinnamon Bear had a new experience this year: autumn leaves! (Our previous residence in Arizona did not have much to speak of when it came to Fall.) Panda had been begging and begging to go play in a pile of leaves, so when I finally decided to get outside and rake up our carpet of leaves on Veteran's Day, the girls were more than happy to come help. Fortunately, grounds crew happened to come by right when we went out front to do the leaves, so we didn't have to clean up that huge mess, but we are responsible for our own backyards. So, we headed out back. The girls loved jumping into the leaves. Cinnamon was very good about helping Mama put the leaves in bags, Panda, not so much. Panda complained a lot about the red liquidy stuff on the leaves. What do you expect? There's rain and red leaves and red bark dust. Put it together, and what do you get? Red liquidy stuff. It ended up being a beautiful, mild autumn day. I was so glad the girls spent it outside rather than inside, glued to the TV!

First Birthday

The time has come for Baby Bear to receive his new nickname. A new Baby Bear will be making his/her appearance sometime in April or May. So, we will refer to Baby Bear as Gummy Bear now.

We celebrated Gummy's first birthday in September. It was a very low-key get-together with his sisters and his parents. (I'm not into big bashes for 1-year-olds. They're just too young to appreciate it or enjoy it.) We went to McDonald's for his birthday dinner. He giggled most of the time and said "Da-da-da-da-da" while gesturing towards Papa Bear (not an official word, but it made Papa feel happy, nonetheless). He even held a french fry for awhile. He doesn't put things in his mouth, so we were pretty safe giving it to him to play with.

We headed home after that. Gummy got to open his presents with lots of help from his sisters. Cinnamon quickly commandeered some of his toys. (A few days later she ripped apart a nerf-style football she supposedly picked out for him.)

After that, we had cake! I made a cupcake platter for his birthday cake. Again, he didn't actually eat the cake, but he had lots of fun digging his fingers into it and getting totally messy, which is what 1-year-olds do at their birthday parties! I also fed him some vanilla ice cream. He was in heaven!

That was it for the birthday boy!

(For those of you who don't know, Gummy has some special challenges. He has a very small pituitary gland, which is causing problems with low thyroid and growth hormone levels. He is currently receiving thyroid medication and growth hormone injections. The doctor told us he would probably be on the growth hormones the rest of his childhood. It's a daily injection that I give him. He's become very good at not crying (very much) when he gets his growth hormone injections. He has developmental delays across the board and gets occupational, physical, and speech therapy. He eats pureed/jarred baby foods and drinks pediasure from a bottle. He has also been tested for Fragile X syndrome, but everything came back normal. Yay! He stopped growing at about 5 or 6 months, so he's been in 3-6 month clothes, but now I'm moving him to 6-9 month clothes. Whoo-hoo!)

Niagara Falls

(The first part of our trip was Palmyra. See our separate posting for Palmyra below.)

After Palmyra, we drove a couple of hours over to Niagara Falls. We stayed at a budget hotel, which I would not recommend. Splurge on the hotel. Our hotel offered a "free continental breakfast," which ended up being cold cereal with whole milk creamer (yuck) and juice. Oh, well. We had dinner at a casino buffet. It was definitely worth the price! (And no, we didn't actually go into the casino gambling area, for those who are concerned for our eternal salvation!)

Niagara Falls has become quite a touristy, commercialized place. We got a good parking spot but did not realize that the coupon we were given was for an expensive guided tour. I thought we were spending way more money than the website had said the attractions cost. My recommendation if you go to Niagara Falls: go directly to the actual State Park after you park, and get your tickets at the state park booths. Do not go into the huge building in front of the park. It's a privately owned building where they sell tours, along with food and tourist trinkets. The one good thing about the tour was the tour guide took us to a shop where they had video and actual crafts that had gone over the Falls. If it was busier, too, the tour might be worth skirting around the incredibly long lines (which were non-existent when we were there).

The first attraction we went to was the Maid of the Mist. This was what we had been looking forward to and what everyone we knew had been raving about. The Maid of the Mist leaves from both the Canadian and the U.S. sides of the Falls, so you can go on this fantastic boat ride no matter which country you're in. It takes you right into the bowl of the Falls. You get drenched by the spray. They give you free ponchos, which you definitely need. The girls loved getting wet (Baby Bear did not, though!). The ride got a bit choppy in the bowl, but nothing to get sick over.

Next, we went to the Cave of the Winds. Again, you get ponchos, and you need them. They also gave us free sandals to wear and a bag to carry our street shoes in. This is where (if you're brave enough) you can go to the Hurricane Deck and feel the full fury of the falls. Panda attempted to go with me all the way to the Hurricane Deck, but got scared at the water flowing over the steps, so I took her back to Papa and went by myself. I wasn't quite brave enough to actually go under the water falling down, but I got a good dose of its spray. Wow!

There were also spectacular views, both from the bottom of the Falls and the top. Because it was such a beautiful day, we got to see lots of rainbows, too!

We ate at the Hard Rock cafe and then headed for the Niagara Falls aquarium. It's an older aquarium, old style, hearkening back to the days when aquariums were small and not like zoos. They had a seal show and a nice little gift shop. Unfortunately, the most memorable event was an injury. Cinnamon Bear climbed up onto a step to see one of the first fish tanks and forgot to step back down when she turned around to leave. We were too far away (a couple was standing in our way) to catch her when she fell. She hit her chin, which made her teeth jam together. She got a rug burn on her chin, and her upper gums were bleeding a lot. She was in great pain. I had to hold her the rest of our visit at the aquarium, and we gave her Tylenol when we got back to the car. She was fine later that night but still has a dark tooth to show for her tumble down the step. (It's a tooth "bruise." A lot of children get them after an injury. It goes away eventually.)

Finally, exhausted but happy, we headed for home, sweet home!

Palmyra

Just before Labor Day Weekend, we made a short family trip to Palmrya and Niagara Falls. We had beautiful, sunny weather, and no crowds. We went to Palmyra our first day and then Niagara Falls the next day. In just that short time, we had many happy memories!



We packed a picnic lunch and ate near the Hill Cumorah. We went to the Visitor's Center, which was pretty fun for the kids. The girls loved the Christus statue. I had the strange experience of sitting right in the middle of the benches and hearing my own voice amplified every time I tried to ask a question or tell one of the kids to shush! The girls also enjoyed going through the interactive room and pushing all the buttons.



After the the visitor's center, we hiked up to the top of Hill Cumorah. It was quite a steep climb. I felt pretty out-of-shape (until I found out a couple of days later that I was pregnant). The side of the hill you see from the road is the side that is grassy and manicured, where the Hill Cumorah Pageant is performed. On the other side, everything is natural woodland. That was the part I really enjoyed seeing. I could imagine Joseph Smith trying to run down the steep hill with all those trees and roots and rocks, lugging around the Gold Plates and fleeing greedy men.


When we got back to the car, we went to the Smith Farm and Sacred Grove. A sister missionary gave us a guided tour of the Smith log cabin and Joseph & Emma's home. The buildings look so small from the outside, but they're actually pretty big inside. There was a downstairs bedroom for the parents and two upstairs bedrooms, one for the girls and one for the boys. The stairs were pretty treacherous, and I could imagine Joseph hit his head a lot going down them!





The Sacred Grove was awesome, and I mean that in the real sense of the word. There were quite a few people there, but we didn't see any while we were in the grove. It was quiet and peaceful. The sister missionary who gave us the tour of the Smith Farm encouraged us to speak quietly in the Grove and to take the opportunity to sit at one of the benches and pray. The kids were really quiet, very unusual for Cinnamon Bear, who seems to yell everything she says. We prayed to ourselves for a little while, which was a sacred, private experience. It was amazing to me to think the Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ had actually been in that grove. This was the place that my knowledge and testimony of the truth originated from.








Next, we visited the Book of Mormon press site in downtown Palmyra. Papa Bear and I were really fascinated with the whole process of how books were printed back then. The building houses a sort of library/book store on the first floor where men from the town congregated and read books that had been published by the press. There was also a lawyer's office in the Press building. Upstairs, there's a pulley system with a pallet of paper showing how paper was loaded from the Erie Canal and taken up to the third floor of the press. The senior missionary who gave us our tour explained that Grandin (who owned the press) was inspired to print the Book of Mormon. He was not a member of the Church and was reluctant to the print the Book of Mormon. Martin Harris mortgaged his farm to was convince Grandin to do the printing. At the time, the press they used took a long time to churn out pages. Grandin felt that he should invest in a new state-of-the-art press, which made publication of the Book of Mormon way faster. I highly recommend going on a tour of the Grandin Press if you'd like more information. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable!



It was late by the time we left the Press site, so we had to forgo walking around the temple grounds. We did not leave spiritually empty, however. The Sacred Grove itself is a temple experience, and the knowledge we gained from our tours left our minds very satisfied!