Lessons to be learned

Jacob has been sick all week. We took him to the Dr. twice because his Doctor Dr. Lacour wasn't able to see him the first time! He is honestly the best Pediatrician I have ever met. And I have met my fare share with working with the babies. So after missing 2 days of school we got a heavy dose of antibiotics and some Tylenol with codeine for our sweetest little boy who was in so... much pain with a swollen lymph node the size of... the peach on that picture.
You would have thought life would get better now that we know whats going on and have the medicine to treat it! Little did I know how much I could learn from medicine and yogurt.

Today my visiting teachers came and we had a wonderful discussion about this months message. Having Faith that is steadfast and immovable in... the list was from our General relief society president but the one that was most applicable to me today was being worthy of, listening to, and Doing what we are prompted to do by the Holy Ghost.

Yesterday I had the thought to call the Pharmacy to see if they could do anything, anything at all to help this antibiotic taste a little better for Jacob. I didn't do it... I got caught up in the day and when the evening came and it was time once again to take his medicine that he gages on and gets himself all worked up over. I had a plan! I thought "I" was ready to take this on. "I" had decided to be understanding, sympathetic, and kind so I started out by lovingly saying how I know that he doesn't like the taste of the medicine I tried it in front of him and agreed that it was yucky. But I told him how important it was to take it and that it wasn't a choice of whether he wanted to or not even if he DID NOT like it. He had to take it. I told him that he did have the choice to take it plain or mixed up in yogurt to hide the taste. He chose in the yogurt (good choice). I mixed it up and tried it and it worked great. Unfortunately by this time he had worked him self up so much that he through a fit and would not take it. After I don't know how long of trying to force him to do something he did not want to do... I lost the battle. I threw the spoon and yelled (something I am not proud of and quickly repented of). He ended up eating the yogurt mixed medicine and getting in his bed. When I went into lay with him I apologized for yelling and getting so upset that I let Satan in my heart and pushed the spirit right out of our home :<>"I said a prayer in my heart and Heavenly Father helped me eat the medicine... Jesus stayed in my heart mom!"
One of the things I love the most about Jacob is how quick he is to forgive and how strong willed he is. When he has his mind set on something there is no changing it. My goal is to help direct him for good! Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
So this morning I thought... great I'll just mix his med in yogurt and we will be good to go... Nope! He wouldn't eat his yogurt(med) this morning and I didn't want to go where I went last night and not having enough time to properly handle this I sent him to school happy with a smile on his face and the spirit in his heart but no medicine in his system. My thought was that his spirit is stronger than his infection. We'll deal with this when he gets home.
I asked Jacob before he left for school what flavor he wanted his medicine to taste like and he asked for BUBBLE GUM so first thing this morning I went to the pharmacy and got the med bubble gum flavored! After school I gave it to him and still he faught and complained... it wasn't pink and it still tasted spicy. I decided to not try this time on my own I knew I needed help. So I asked Heavenly Father to please help me. I asked him if he wanted it mixed in yogurt or plain. He said yogurt. So the battle began. The whinning and the crying and the screaming.... but not from me. No I was listening to the little thoughts of what to say as I gave him choices followed with conseqences. 1st he could eat it with out complaining about it and then we would have popcorn and a movie. He lost that one so Lily had to watch the movie alone. Then we went to loosing books before bed (something he loves to do) that didn't work either. So finally I sent him up to get ready for bed and told him when he came back down that if he would do it without complaining I would lay with him. He did it!!!
As we layed there talking about choices and consequeces with the spirit in our hearts Jacob said I chose the consequences tonight... it's not fun. We made a deal that if he would take the medicine, without complaining, for the next 5 days then we wont bring it with us to Utah. I sure hope that medicine stays in TEXAS!
I learned that if we want to learn or teach something it MUST be done with the spirit inable to be understood. I learn more from being a Mother aka (a teacher, an example, a leader, a friend) than from any other experience in life so far. There is no doubt in my mind why we came to earth with a Family to help us return to live with our Father in Heaven.
We must learn to love and to earn the love of those whom we are working so hard to live with for Eternity!!! I love you Jacob thanks for helping me learn what I need to so I can live with our Father in Heaven again!

7 THINGS...

I have been tagged (thanks Kim)... I am to tell you 7 THINGS YOU DON'T CARE TO KNOW ABOUT ME!

I enjoyed reading about things I new and some that I didn't know about Kim and I did care so here's for not letting you down Kim!

1- Last October Steve wanted to loose some weight and was frustrated by not loosing any even though he'd been running his little arss off. So I told him if he was serious that he could loose a pound a week by continuing to run but he'd have to cut out all the treats... so WE did it! No treats from Oct 1st to just before Christmas. It works... for any of you out there who are looking to really get rid of some of those extra pounds, try it!

2- Self Control... this is one of my goals for 2009. I went almost 3 months with out eating any treats (I've done it twice now) Now you may think that that is a lot of self control but after about 2 weeks when all the sugar is out of your system you stop craving them and it's not that hard. I'll tell you what is hard... One treat a week. Now that is self control. I love treats... we create so many memories and traditions centered around these calorie packed foods. I personally think it's the way us Mormons socialize. It's good stuff. Although I also think moderation in All things applies to these as well. So this year my goal is One treat a week. I'm sorry to say that I am weak. I haven't been able to do this yet but I will continue to try. I am eating them less often (every other day or so)... This is good for us Nichol treat monkey's.

3- Piano lessons... yes I have started practicing the piano again. I am teaching Jacob and Lily the little bit I know. As for me I'm trying to play the hymns made easy songs.

4- This week I am teaching a beginning crochet class to the relief society sisters in the parkway ward. I love creating things. I'm grateful for this gift we have been blessed with as women to Create. I appreciate Elder Uchdorfs talk from last women's conference on this topic.

5- I wish I was in Hawaii... If I could be anywhere in the world with anyone I wanted I would choose to be in Hawaii with all of my family for the rest of this month and next. (We would be joining many of our friends and family who are there right now):) Aloha!!!

6- You would have thought I was the worst wife in the world. I cooked my husband Crab legs one week and the next week I served potato soup. I couldn't believe the look on Steve's face of total unbelief that I could make and serve this for dinner. I learned that this is yet another one of the dinners I will not be making again for my picky eatin' husband. No more potato "poup" in the Nichol home. It was hilarious to see him call his mom hoping to get some sympathy... these were his exact words "I'm telling my mom!" Guess who's side she took? Poor Steven... :<>I am going to bed!

So now I get to tag 7 lucky people... Cindy, Stephanie, Whitney, Bailey, LoiAnn, Allie, Tasha... you're it! (Have fun)

It's a wonderful life!

I was looking through my drafts that had been started and never finished... I don't know if you have any but in my life it seems I am always starting something and getting distracted by someone or something that is calling (sometimes screaming) for my attention.

I started this one back in November and it was left blank. I liked the title too much to delete.

I'm not sure what my thoughts were at the time but for now I must say Life is Wonderful because...

I am married to STEVEN ROSS NICHOL! He is the most amazing husband and father. I tell him often that he better let me die first (when we're like 90) because no one could live up to all that I've come to expect out of a husband. He does the dishes, cleans the bathrooms, bathes the kids, feed the kids, plays, tickles, wipes bums, rides bikes, chases, and best of all truly loves being with us.

For Steve's birthday his parents sent him some money(thank you!) We went to the bank yesterday and cashed the check. He wasn't sure what he was going to do with it... we looked around for a few things at Wally World (Walmart) but he just couldn't find any thing worth spending his money on. He decided that he knew what it was he wanted to buy with his B-day money... (Family Memories) Now I know this is something you don't buy... but sometimes it does take money to make memories. We love riding bikes as a family and we haven't been able to do this for the past 9 months (Miss Kali joined our family). We went to the bike store and bought a cute pink, happy heart helmet for Lily.

Last night for family home evening we went for a bike ride. Kali wasn't too sure about it at first. She wanted her helmet off. Once we started riding and she could see how much fun it was she stopped crying. We talked about giving with a happy heart and how the gift from Grandpa and Grandma was given to Daddy happily. Then Daddy gave to all of us the gift of riding bikes all together as a family again. We ended the night using the rest of Daddy' B-day money eating dinner at CiCi's Pizza. (The kids favorite place) The whole time while we were eating they were going out of their way to share what they had with each other and us. Lily wanted more noodles so Jacob joyfully shared his. They were just constantly looking for things they could do to give of what they had with someone else and just beamed with joy at the way it made them feel. We talked about how happy Jesus was with their actions and helped them recognize the Holy Ghost.

Last night was one of those days that you wished everyday could be like. It is because of these days that I can say I am looking forward to eternity with my family. All because "someone" took something of his and shared it by looking for ways that it could bring happiness into the lives of those he loves... which truly did bring Joy to all of us.

I hope I can remember the lesson of love and selflessness I learned yesterday and the feelings it brought to our family. Thank you Steve for being YOU!!!

Steve's Birthday!!!

We started out with birthday eve.. a fun tradition we started about 6 years ago with our dear friends Ivun & Heidi. We had yummy Oatmeal cake cupcakes. Kali was with us too she tasted the yummy cupcakes and had a delicious bowl of oatmeal.

January 8th 2009

Good morning... Steve had to go to work, so we when he got in the shower the kids woke up and helped me decorated daddy's door.

(Thanks LoiAnn for reminding me of this fun tradition we've started with the kids)

Steve was surprised. Then we had pancakes for breakfast with candles of course.

We like to celebrate with food, obviously and we stick a candle in everything.

Jacob and Lily enjoy this so much that we re lite them a few times.

Life is all about the simple pleasures.

When Steve got home from work we had his favorite foods for dinner. Artichoke dip, squishy odes (that's what Lily calls shrimp), and crab legs. The only thing is I think Jacob likes crab legs as much as Steve. He's got good taste in food. Speaking of good food. We ended the night with a delicious homemade cheesecake from Sister Porter. What an inspired woman. We had a service auction for our relief society enrichment and I was fortunate enough to get this cheesecake. Ruth didn't know it was Steve's birthday, it couldn't have been a more perfect time for this act of service. Steve's favorite dessert is cheesecake. And this tasted as good as it looked. Yummy yummy!

We are so blessed to have the best husband and father that exists... sorry to all the other men out there. We love you STEVEN!!! Happy Birthday. Thank you for letting us celebrate your special day. We love you so... much!

a December to Remember

Well... you are lookin' at the reason why I haven't blogged all month. This little bundle of Joy is all over the place and takes alot of attention. She is crawling up the stairs and learning to go down, putting everything in her mouth and just discovering life.
So I have decided to post a little bit about this month and the fun traditions we started and carried on.


Our sweet little Kali is growing up so fast. She got her two front teeth for Christmas and her own look is starting to develop. She says Da Da all the time and well nothing else. What can I say... She loves her Daddy and her Daddy loves her more and more each day now that she is loving to get down and play. I made her this monkey for Christmas and she loves him!

I thought I'd be the only one who sticks with it and gets the ornaments on the tree but I was pleasantly wrong... Miss Lily loved it and she just kept going and going. The best part was she stood in the same general area and can only reach so high... so needless to say the bottom right side of our tree was nicely decorated leaving the other areas look nearly bare. I enjoyed looking at that spot on the tree all season long!

We put up our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. I was so excited to put up our decorations this year because last year we went to Utah for the whole month and so we weren't able to enjoy our fun tree and the decorations. My favorite ones are the ones we have collected for each year to remind us of that particular year.

My parents came for the week of Dec 8th -15th. It was so nice to have them come. We weren't sure what the flights would be like around Christmas and whether or not we would be able to come up to Utah so we just had Christmas all week long while they were here. The kids loved opening one of there gift from Grandpa and Grandma Quick while they were here. Then they were able to enjoy the fun presents with them. They had so much fun... this is one of Jacob's fun shaving kits Grandma's helping him out.

Lily got finger nail polish and stickers for her nail parlor. She sure loves to do nails everyday all day long. She is our girly girl for sure! We love it!

Miss Kali got the gift of Love. A quite book made by Grandma. Grandpa's days were spent holding this precious angle so Grandma and Mama could sew doll clothes and make fun Christmas gift. We spent every night watching Christmas Hallmark movies and just enjoying the time we had together.

Santa came to our house...

He just stopped by and sang some songs with us, gave the kids some fun candy canes and asked them to make sure they left Rudolf some carrots on Christmas eve and get to bed early so he could come and leave them some gifts. The kids loved it! It was so fun to see the surprise in their eyes!

We took the kids to see the light here in a neighborhood called Preston wood. This was my favorite one... You can't see it but it Say's Merry Christmas Y'all on the state of Texas

The kids had a sleep over under the Christmas tree on Dec 23rd

I read Christmas stories to them until they fell asleep.

This is our longest standing TRADITION... from Steve's Childhood. The kids each have a coloring book that they get to color one page of each Christmas. They trace their hand and write their name and how old they are. We take pictures and put it on the page for that year. It is so fun to see how much they grow over the years.