20 Things I am Thankful For-

1. My husband and his sweet computer skills
2. My baby Jacs
3. My family- I love my parents, sisters and brother a ton!
4. Rootbeer and licorice- what can I say?  they are 2 delicious things!
5. My college degree- It is nice to know I can support myself if I had too (if that is possible on a teachers salary)
6. Our daughter’s birthmom.  She will always be our special angel.
7. Charlotte Bronte and Jane Austen for their wonderful literature
8. Cameras- I love capturing moments that otherwise would be forgotten
9. music- it touches my heart, calms the soul, gives you energy… depending on the genre
10. religion- without it their would be no hope and life would be pretty depressing
11. our 2 stinky dogs- they helped fill the emptiness before Jackie came to us
12. Dyson vacuum cleaner- as mentioned in #11, we have 2 dogs. And they shed like crazy!
13. The chance to go back to Toronto last August.  It was a wonderful opportunity to show Jackie our missionary stomping grounds
14. creative people that are willing to share their ideas
15. shutterfly.com
16. the chance to serve a mission for my church
17. wonderful friends from the past and present
18. any chance to dance with my baby
19. terabyte hard drives to hold tons of digital media
20. being able to play the piano

Christmas Tags

1. Wrapping paper or gift bag? gift bag
2. When do you put the tree up? after Thanksgiving
3. When do you take the tree down? New Years or the day after
4. Eggnog? YUCK
5. Favorite gift received as a child? its a tie between a Jenny doll and a microscope
6. Hardest person to buy for??  Aaron
7. Easiest person to buy for?  my sister Christy- I guess I just know her style
8. Do you have a nativity scene? yes
9. Mail or email Christmas cards? mail
10. Worst Christmas gift ever received?  Thurl Bailey Christmas CD
11. Favorite Christmas movie? White Christmas
12. When do you start shopping for Christmas? November
13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I am sure I have
14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? treats
15. Lights on the tree? That is all we have on our tree this year
16. Favorite Christmas song? It’s Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas/ Pine Cones and Holly Berries
17. Least favorite Christmas song? I am going with Wendy on this- the 12 Days of Christmas
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?  travel Christmas Eve, travel Christmas Night, stay home Christmas Morning
19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Of course- i taught 7 year olds for almost 8 years!
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? star
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? there has to be a Christmas Eve squishy present- but the rest Christmas morning
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? the pressure to buy people the perfect gifts
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? as mentioned earlier, our tree has no ornaments due to the high curiosity level of our one year old.  But I have a collection of favorite ornaments in a basket as a centerpiece.
24. Favorite Christmas dinner? Turkey
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Economic Security (and a way cute giant cupcake pan)

ANOTHER TAG!
These are a few of my favorite things…..

Five favorite treats during the holidays:
1.  Mint Truffle Hot Chocolate
2.  English Toffee
3.  Freshly Baked sugar cookies
4.  Cinnamon Rolls
5.  Chocolate Pretzels

Five favorite Christmas movies:
1.  White Christmas
2.  Grinch that Stole Christmas
3.  Elf
4. Bells of St. Mary
5.  Nutcracker

Five Traditions during the holidays:
1.  Christmas Village with the dogs
2.  Squishy presents Christmas Eve
3.  we used to go to a movie Christmas night (pre Jackie days)  we also sneaked into a random ward’s christmas party and ate dinner….  Aaron wanted to adopt that as a tradition- it was way too embarrassing!
4.  Jackson Family white elephant party
5.  watching the Nutcracker

I tag aybody who would like to respond- esp. Laurie, Julie, Liesl, Jen, Wendy,etc!

1. When your toddler is upset- echo their feelings (they called this the fast food rule- relating it to how a fast food worker will repeat your order) I like to think of missionary terms instead (fast food brings up greasy and unhealthy mental images). In the MTC we learned the importance of restating the other person’s concerns. When your toddler is mad for whatever reason- as a parent, we will get farther if we show them the respect by acknowledging their feelings
2. Speak to them in language they understand- toddler-ese.  When your child is screaming because he doesn’t want to take a bath, this video suggested saying “You don’t want to take a bath.  You don’t WANT to take a bath.  YOU don’t want to take a bath (mimicking the child’s voice and facial expressions and using a lot of repetition).  I think that the idea behind most of this is great- using short phrases, lots of repetition, and mirroring the child’s face and voice- but I also know that language is developed at an early age and I believe that children should be exposed to higher vocabulary as well.  It seemed to work well when the toddlers got upset, so we’ll have to test it out!
3. Finally- the video talked about some ways to prevent tantrums.  Prevention is the best medicine!  1- avoid problem situations (if you are saying NO a lot- than there are too many of those situations) 2- feed the meter (basically give a lot of praise and attention throughout the day) and 3-start teaching patience- like if you are going to give them a high 5, say something like “wait for it.. 1…2..3…4…5..” and then give them a high 5.  Once they can wait for 5 seconds, you can increase the waiting time.

I know that there is still a lot to learn in parenting! 

ok, so this is from wendy.

1. Five names that you go by: keri(most people), sweets (from aaron), mamama (when jacs is tired or angry- the only time she’ll say it, too), mrs topance (solicitors), and keri lyn ditweiler (long story)
2. Three things you are wearing right now: christmas jammies, inside-out campaign shirt for mark openshaw, and a clippy in my hair
3. Two things you want very badly at the moment: a potato and a ham and cheese omlet.
4. 2 People who will probably fill this out: julie and laurie
5. Two things you did last night: watched part of “Auntie Mame” on KBYU and drank a few quarts of Gatorade
6. Two things you ate today: some cornflakes and a rice cake (the only things i have eaten today)
7. Two people you last talked to on the phone: counselor in the RS asking me to make dinner for a sick friend in the ward, and my dad
8. Two things you are going to do tomorrow: talk to my sister on the phone and hopefully take jacs to the treehouse museum
9. Two longest car rides:well- in recent history… aaron and i drove to denver one morning and then drove back home the next day (very short vacation due to our dogs) and every drive i have ever taken to disneyland.
10. Two of your favorite beverages:mint truffle hot chocolate and sunny d

(I Tag Liesl, Julie, and Laurie on this one.)

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Here is the second tag from Julie: