The Season of Giving...

Well, December is almost here and I am busy making a ton of Christmas presents. I have been trying to get more focused on the acts of service and charity this year. I really want to teach my kids some lesson about giving. If you have any suggestions or have done anything with your families will you please share your stories with me? I came across this story tonight about this man who has been "Sectra Santa" every December since 1979. He finally revealed his identy due to his cancer. He wants people to carry on his tradition after he is gone. Very touching story. To read it click on Secret Santa.

Happy Birthday Makenna!

10 years old today! My has time gone by so fast. I love her more with ever single day. I am so proud of who she is growing up to be. How lucky I am to be her mom. Here are a couple of pictures of her and her presents. She got Floam, clothes, boots, books, make up(for play), and her best gift... a helmet for riding at the dunes with dad!

Tagged continued...

Mason Grant... I always loved the name Mason after having a friend at Gilbert High named Mason Lundell. He was a cool guy. And Grant is William's middle name. William wasn't crazy about Mason but since we had two girls first the name had time to grow on him. Thank heavens. Although William didn't want the name Grant either cause he never really liked his name. I told him he gets to choose Grant for a first or middle name cause I wanted my boy named after him and I love it enough to use for a first name. So William chose to let me have Mason Grant.

Liberty Ella... Our last child. Seems strange to think I am never gonna do this again. Feel good though. Her middle name comes from William's aunt who died just months after we married. William lived with her in Mesa when we were dating and Makenna and I grew to love her. Her name was Ann Ella. So our choices were Jessica Ann or Liberty Ella. William and the kids all wanted to name her Jessica but William made the mistake of promising me that if I had her on 9-11 I could name her Liberty. I always get my babies here when I plan so I did it again. I have a cousin that I hardly ever see who is named Liberti. I wanted the spelling with an 'i' but William said no way. Then they all wanted Ann to be her middle name since it sounded better but I never knew his aunt as Ann. She went by Ella so I told William it had to be Ella if it was going to have a special meaning to me.

So that is it. That is how we chose our kids names. Long post. I hope it was worth reading. And now I tag Shanna and Ranae.

Tagged...

I read on Ashley's blog that she tagged me but it isn't your normal tag questions. For this one I just have to tell how we came up with our kid's names. So here goes...

Makenna Marie... I was in the process of getting divorced from her dad when I was pregnant with her. And, since he didn't help me one bit financially during the pregnancy and getting prepared for her, I told him he didn't have a say in what her name was going to be. He didn't care for Makenna at the time but loves it now. I first heard the name from a co-worker of mine back in 1993. And Marie, well that is the middle name of my dad's mother and grandmother.



Amy Jean... Well, her name was the toughest of all my kids. William wanted a bunch of 80's names that were very common. I wanted to come up with more original. He won and we named her Melanie for the first hour of her life. She thinks that is pretty funny. When we first saw her all cleaned up and decided that she didn't look like a Melanie we changed it to the only other name that both of us liked. Amy Jean. I wouldn't use the name Amy without Jean with it. And since William's grandma is named Amy Jean Payne and my mom and grandma's middles names are both Jean we decidedit was perfect. Although we kinda stole it from Shanna who already had a Bailee Jean. Sorry Shanna!


Emily May... We decided since both of our families were so big and William didn't want uncommon names we would go ahead and re-use a family name for a first name. So Emily was one we both really loved. May comes from his great grandma Cora May Merrill or Merrell, not sure which. In fact that may even be his great great grandma. I can't remember.

A friend for Mason

These boys are so stinkin cute together. This is Ethan. He is the grandson of my neighbor across the street. His mommy is pregnant and had to quit her job because she is so sick. And since I babysit his cousin that lives there I offered to watch Ethan too everyday that they need me. Most days his poor mom can't get out of bed even to throw up. Gross I know. Anyway, I love this little boy and so does Mason. They have become the best of friends. Watching them play together is so fun.

Happy Halloween!

Well, the festivities are over. I really had a fun time this year. dressing up myself is not something I do often but I think it is going to be an every year thing from now on. So I went as Snow White. And I felt like a princess at Disneyland with the way the little girls around town reacted to seeing me. I went shopping dressed up and took my kids trick or treating at the grocery store near our home. It was tons of fun! Makenna was a giant pumpkin(inflatable), Amy was an Angel, Emily a butterfly and Mason was a dalmation. And Liberty was a sweet little Cinderella. I didn't get a picture of Makenna. She ran out the door to go trick or treat by herself with friends for the first time this year. She is growing too fast!

Anyway, trick or treating around our neighborhood was fun but FREEZING COLD. I think it was probably in the high 20 degree range. The night before was 30 degrees so I am sure it was colder.
Mental note...next year we all dress as snow skiers or snow men and stay really warm!