Be Ambitious

One of the best things about growing up and having a family of your own is that you get to combine all the Christmas traditions you had with all your husband's family traditions. Robert grew up watching the Muppet Christmas Carol every Christmas Eve while eating cheesy potato soup. He and his family also did a pinata every year. I grew up with big Christmas Eve feasts, new pj's every Christmas Eve, omelets Christmas morning, and Dad reading to us from an old Christmas book every year before bed on Christmas Eve. These are a few things we'll be trying in our family. By far my favorite was my dad reading to us. I can still hear his voice inflections and the picture his face as he read. He's soft spoken when he reads so I really had to listen. Among the favorites were the stories of The Gift of the Magi and the Christmas story from Luke. My favorite, however, was a little poem by Ogden Nash written in 1957. This will always be apart of my Christmas or it just won't be Christmas.

The Boy Who Laughed at Santa Claus
by Odgen Nash

In Baltimore there lived a boy.
He wasn't anybody's joy.
Although his name was Jabez Dawes,
His character was full of flaws.

In school he never led his classes,
He hid old ladies' reading glasses,
His mouth was open when he chewed,
And elbows to the table glued.

He stole the milk of hungry kittens,
And walked through doors marked
No Admittance.
He said he acted thus because
There wasn't any Santa Claus.

Another trick that tickled Jabez
Was crying 'Boo' at little babies.
He brushed his teeth, they said in town,
Sideways instead of up and down.

Yet people pardoned every sin,
And viewed his antics with a grin,
Till they were told by Jabez Dawes,
'There isn't any Santa Claus!'

Deploring how he did behave,
His parents swiftly sought their grave.
They hurried through the portals pearly,
And Jabez left the funeral early.

Like whooping cough, from child to child,
He sped to spread the rumor wild:
'Sure as my name is Jabez Dawes
There isn't any Santa Claus!'

Slunk like a weasel or a marten
Through nursery and kindergarten,
Whispering low to every tot,
'There isn't any, no there's not!'

The children wept all Christmas eve
And Jabez chortled up his sleeve.
No infant dared hang up his stocking
For fear of Jabez' ribald mocking.

He sprawled on his untidy bed,
Fresh malice dancing in his head,
When presently with scalp-a-tingling,
Jabez heard a distant jingling;

He heard the crunch of sleigh and hoof
Crisply alighting on the roof.
What good to rise and bar the door?
A shower of soot was on the floor.

What was beheld by Jabez Dawes?
The fireplace full of Santa Claus!
Then Jabez fell upon his knees
With cries of 'Don't,' and 'Pretty Please.'

He howled, 'I don't know where you read it,
But anyhow, I never said it!'
'Jabez' replied the angry saint,
'It isn't I, it's you that ain't.

Although there is a Santa Claus,
There isn't any Jabez Dawes!'

Said Jabez then with impudent vim,
'Oh, yes there is, and I am him!

Your magic don't scare me, it doesn't'
And suddenly he found he wasn't!
From grimy feet to grimy locks,
Jabez became a Jack-in-the-box,

An ugly toy with springs unsprung,
Forever sticking out his tongue.

The neighbors heard his mournful squeal;
They searched for him, but not with zeal.

No trace was found of Jabez Dawes,
Which led to thunderous applause,
And people drank a loving cup
And went and hung their stockings up.

All you who sneer at Santa Claus,
Beware the fate of Jabez Dawes,
The saucy boy who told the Saint off
The child who got him, licked his paint off.

This poem is a great tool for parents, I've found. You can reference it when you need your child to behave. :) I hope that this poem can bring smiles to faces just like it did mine every year!

Nate is hilarious and I always have the best conversations with him. I read other mother's blogs and they post their hilarious conversations with their kids so I always think, "I'm going to put this on the blog!" as I laugh my head off...then I forget and it's lost forever. So this time I'm sitting down and writing it before it's lost.

The other night we were on our way home from a dinner out and had to stop to fill up the car. Nate and Scarlett were blowing raspberries at each other and it was cute...for a second, but not for minutes. The nails against chalkboard feeling was swelling within me so I said, "Nate, how about we do something else with Scarlett?"

Nate: "Okay, hmm...hmm...hmm... Mom, my thinking is broken!"

How's that for making you smile?!

In an effort to get out holiday cards this year we recently had our family pictures taken. Brekke is such a good sport to come out and do this for us when she is almost ready to have her baby. Of course, this isn't all of them, I'll post all the others that are our favorites very soon. Right now, though, Robert and I cannot agree on the best family picture. I think Nate had the hardest time. He's like me and taking pictures is not the easiest for him. Scarlett, on the other, could take pictures all day! She thought it was great fun. So what we need is some unbiased opinions. Tell us what you think. Which one is the best. This year I think I'll put it on canvas because we have a really big empty wall in our living room that really needs something. It's all up to you!

We recently had our ward Christmas party. One of the staples at these parties is the arrival of Santa. We patiently waited in line for our kids to sit on Santa's lap.

Nate was really excited. As we waited in line, he practiced what he was going to say. All he wanted to ask for was a nerf gun. Once on Santa's lap, he executed his request perfectly thereby receiving the reward of a candy cane. One child down, one to go. We were excited to have Scarlett experience her first Santa visit. We were even more excited that we were able to capture the quick transformation from happy baby to stranger danger on camera.

Within 1 Second: "Wait a minute here?! You don't look familiar. What is with that beard? Your not my father! My dad cannot even grow facial hair!"

Within 2 Seconds: "Why am I still on this guys lap? Wait a second, I see my Mom and Dad and neither of them are holding me?! Oh no...I have lost my PACIFIER!"

Within 3 Seconds: "All I want for Christmas is to get off this guy's lap! I think if I cry and push by bottom lip out as far as possible my parents will come rescue me!"

In the end, Scarlett did not fare well with Santa. We are grateful for Santa and his patience as he dealt with more than one crying child. Do you notice how Santa is now looking at the camera as if to signify "Come get your kid!" Sorry Santa, we will leave a little something extra for you on Christmas eve!

Robert gently reminded me the other day that I haven't been doing any blogging. He's right. In fact, I've fallen so far off the blogging wagon that I'm not sure anyone checks up on us anymore. That's okay, we will get back into it. Truth be told, I feel like there really isn't much to blog about. We're just surviving and loving the holiday season with the rest of the world. It was fun to do the Christmas decorating as a family one night for FHE. I love that Nate is really getting into it now.

There are few things in the world that I love more than a Dollar Tree. There is one really close to us and I go there all the time. I was so pleasantly surprised at the beginning of December with all the Christmas deals that they had. The kids and I made a trip to pick out wrapping paper and and advent calendar to count down to Christmas. I filled it with Dove chocolate (I loved the chocolate as a kid but remember thinking it wasn't very good) and it's the first thing Nate and I do every morning. He goes through the calendar and points out the dates Beema and Peepa Ross will be here and the date of Christmas.
I decided this year to not be so OCD and let my family decorate the tree. It doesn't have to be perfect, right? Anyway, as we got started I told Robert I was going to sit on the couch and hand him and Nate the ornaments. I planned on just holding Scarlett and not micromanaging. You can see how well I did. I'm telling Nate where to hang his ornament. Robert gave me his "I thought you weren't going to micromanage" look and I sat down and tried really hard to just let Nate do his thing. I've got to get better at that. Why does it have to be my way?
Scarlett loved all the glittery ornaments. She was just as much fun as Nate to watch as we sang along with the Chipmunks Christmas CD.
Nate did a really good job. Robert ended up letting him do pretty much the whole thing. I love that there are branches with four or five ornaments hanging on the end. I thought I'd want to fix it but it just makes me smile.
The finished product! I think it turned out really well. High fives to Nate! Now all we have to do is keep Scarlett away from it. Did I mention she started crawling on December 2nd? It was a great birthday gift to me and I love hearing her giggle as she crawls around the house. She loves to peek around the corner and smile at you.
So here's to jumping back into blogging and gearing up for the Christmas Season!

As of late, Erin has been somewhat dormant in her blogging. I thought I would break the silence and post about our Thanksgiving. I do this because it was a special one for me as we traveled to Arizona and we were able to spend time with not only my family, but also my two Grandmothers. It was the first time that they (and my Aunt Diane) were able to meet Scarlett. I am grateful that she was able to meet her Great Grandmothers even though she will not remember the event. I am thankful for my family. Especially my patient wife who puts up with my wild ideas to drive from Houston to Phoenix in one day. I want her to know how special that holiday was for me and I am grateful for all her efforts.

Four generations of Ross/Hinman

I do have to share the best experience from the trip. We did not tell my family we were coming for Thanksgiving with the exception of my brother and sister-in-law. Hence, as the holiday approached, we secretly stayed at my brother's house where dinner would be hosted. As my parents arrived, we gave Scarlett to my sister-in-law and the rest of us hid. As my parents and Grandma Ross entered the house, they causally walked by Amy and Scarlett. They looked at Scarlett, my Grandma wondered why Amy had dressed her son Jonathon in girl clothes, and my parents assumed Amy was just tending a friend's child. So, Amy played the part. I could not believe it. As jackets were shed and people made themselves comfortable, the rest of us emerged questioning, "how could you not recognize their only grand-daughter"?! The look on their faces was beyond memorable. My mother was in complete shock as she turned bright red. My dad smiled in his "Robert got us again" way, and my Grandma Ross sweetly came and gave us all hugs. As the rest of my family arrived we took turns answering the door to partake in the stunned look on faces as the unexpected visitors greeted them. Classic experiences that made the trip completely worth it--at least in my opinion.

We had a great Halloween this year. The only downer was that the actual holiday was on Sunday so we were only able to do the ward's trunk-or-treat. Our trunk-or-treat was amazing, though. There were so many cars that by the end Nate couldn't carry his candy bucket by himself anymore.

So, can you tell who we are? We went as Clue characters. Robert was Professor Plum with the wrench, Nate was Mr. Green with the knife, Scarlett was Miss Scarlett with the rope and I was Mrs. Peacock. We got so lucky at our thrift store and found some of the most perfect (but also most ugly) things. Robert's suit is actually purple and we were able to fashion a green smoking jacket out of a child's robe for Nate! Of course, Scarlett sort of stole the show. She had her red dress with matching beret and I even put some rouge on her cheeks. Scarlett's outfit was not from the thrift store, though. Some friends lent it to us.

I don't want to give it away, but it was Professor Plum with the wrench in church parking lot.
On Friday we had a little playgroup Halloween party. Nate went as Obi Wan again because if he went as Mr. Green no one would get it unless we were all there together. He didn't seem to care. He just loved running around and playing with friends. It was a great distraction from his allergic reaction. Here he's doing the classic feeling game of eyeballs, brains, and mucus. He loved it!
This picture was taken a couple weeks ago, but I had to share. We went to a local festival and they had a great pumpkin patch. Robert and Nate couldn't come because of soccer, but Scarlett and I had a great time. Isn't she great? She just sat there and smiled for the camera. This one is my favorites because she's pulling an Elvis with her upper lip.

After we returned home from my sister's wedding, Nate developed a cough. He's always coughing here so I ignored it thinking it was the normal allergies. Well, the cough got worse and really violent so we made another trip to the doctor. They listened to him and took a swab of his throat. He tested positive for strep. Naturally, we were prescribed an antibiotic for treatment. On the evening of the ninth day of ten days of treatment he started to get really puffy. I was babysitting and noticed his feet we gigantic. He was hobbling around and as the night progressed, refused to put weight on them at all. As I looked at him I noticed little red dots all over his feet and hands and elbows. They looked just like another fire ant attack. Poor kid. We consulted some doctors and did what we could to help him. He woke up the next morning looking like this.
He told me he felt better but he was still really swollen and there were more spots and they had gotten much larger. Chicken pox, bed bugs, and hives fit the description. As the day wore on he kept getting worse and he couldn't walk. So I called the doctor again and made an appointment.

They took one look at him and knew it was a penicillin allergy. He won't be able to take it for the rest of his life. We were prescribed yet another medicine, a steroid, and told to discontinue to antibiotic. Nate has been so sick with stuff lately that for the last week he's been taking some sort of medicine (antihistamine, antibiotic, steroid, pain killer) almost every hour of the day!

As the doctor was looking at the charts for my kids she made a comment about how often we are there. Between the two of them I have been there 5 times in a little over 6 weeks. I'm so tired of my kids being sick. It's always one or the other. Is this normal when you're adding children to the family?

That night Scarlett got a fever and was so congested she couldn't breathe. Now she's coughing. I'm thinking I'll be going in again soon! :)

Just to add insult to injury, Nate ate two pieces of candy after trick-or-treating and starting screaming that his stomach hurt. Literally, screaming. He fell to his knees and started crying while clutching his stomach. We had just given him his last doses of medicines for the day five minutes earlier. I held him on the couch and tried to comfort him. He looked at me and said he thought he was going to make a big gross (vomit). We ran to the bathroom and he vomited so violently. I felt so bad for him. However, we'd lost the precious medicine we'd just administered. After talking with doctors again we put him to bed and I set my alarm for 1:15 am to get up and give him another dose. If he hadn't gotten sick again at that point we'd be okay. Thankfully, he didn't get sick again that night. This wasn't supposed to turn into a whining post, I'm really not, I swear. I'm just marveling at the craziness of life. Now I have to go pack up my apartment to move into a house by the end of this week! Wish me luck and healthy kids!

Those who know me well or live near me now know that I have always wanted to run a marathon. You may also know that I have a very difficult time losing baby weight and it really depresses me if I don't get it taken care of. Although I was much more vigilant during Scarlett's pregnancy than I was with Nate's I still had some extra weight after she was born. Robert and a friend, Myles, were planning on running a half marathon so I thought that would be a good place for me to start as well. It was a tangible goal and I figured it would keep me motivated in times of difficulty. So I started training. I worked out 6 days a week, 4 of which were on a treadmill because it's so blasted hot and humid here. Anyway, I dedicated myself for a few hard months and on Saturday morning found myself in Huntsville gearing up to run the half marathon with Robert.
Robert before. He does this all the time and wasn't even nervous. I got more and more anxious to start. By the time we were at the starting line I just wanted to get it over with.

Me before. I didn't know what I was getting myself into.

Robert and I approaching the finish line. He stayed with me the whole time even though my pace is excuiatingly slow for him. He really pushed me at the end. Miles 11-13 were miserable and I just glared at him every time he morphed into a cheerleader. I thought I had prepared but there are no hills here in Houston where we trained and the race was constant hills. None were huge awful hills, but they were just one right after the other for the whole race. That really worked me. Afterward, I just sat down and felt sick. I got an awful headache. Robert was all smiles and went around eating as much as he could from all the vendors. The last thing I wanted was food. Myles finished way ahead of us and took all our pics for us. His wife watched our kids while we ran. It was so fun to have them there and we couldn't have done this without them.

After resting and showering I started to feel much better. I was so excited to get something it eat at that point. We went to lunch and I had my first milkshake is who knows how long. I usually try not to eat like that but I figured after burning around 1500 calories I could eat what I wanted! I didn't get too sore until Sunday afternoon. My quads got really stiff. When I look back at it I think my body fared pretty well. The only casuality was my second toe on my left foot. I am for sure going to lose the toenail.

I did learn some other things while I was running the race. One is that I know now that I have NO desire to ever run a full marathon. Second, I was always impressed with Robert and his ability to run marathons and do so well and enjoy it, but now I'm way beyond impressed. Third, I am not a runner. I may do it for exercise but I am not built for it and I will never ever be competitive. Finally, if I ever run one of these again it won't be for a while. I'm more than happy to do the shorter 5K or 10K races but this is a once a year sort of thing!

While we were waiting for Robert to come home one day I pulled out the camera. My sister Krista made the hat that Scarlett is wearing and it has a button on it from my Grandma Johnson. It's a little sentimental, so I've been waiting for her to grow into it. Finally, at almost 7 months it fit.








I think my kiddos are so cute! Just had to share.

Scarlett recently had her six month appointment. I can't believe she's six months old! Time has flown by with her in our family. Since I'm terrible at baby book keeping and I publish my blog every year I figured this was a good forum to chart her progress.

She's a talker. She loves to babble. At this very moment, Nate is asking her to stop babbling because he can't hear Special Agent Oso over her! I personally love it.

She's a rolly polly. She's all over the place. This makes getting anything done very interesting. Thank goodness for an exersaucer!

She holds her own bottle. Whoo hoo!

She's getting up on her knees and scooting backward. I'm afraid she'll be crawling soon. It will be good for her since she's so curious, but not so good for me. Say goodbye to sitting through any church meetings!

She's almost sitting up on her own now.

She's drooling a lot and putting everything in her mouth so teeth may be on the horizon. Then again, she may just be a normal drooly six month old baby!

She's eating solids now. Argh! This is one of my least favorite stages because I feel like I'm constantly sitting in front of a high chair. It takes time for them to figure it out so it takes a while every time you sit down to feed them. I can't wait until I can throw her meal in front of her and she'll feed herself.
She does do really well with solids all things considered. She's not too messy and she hasn't been picky. She likes everything we've given her. Of course she puts the fruit away faster, but she'll eat her veggies happily. She'll even eat them right out of the refrigerator without warming.

We get tons of comments on her chubbiness. She's padded very well! Interestingly, she's only in the high 60th percentile for weight. This is because she's in the 98% for her length. Her head is 67%.

When I went home for my sister Krista's wedding recently my mom pulled out an old black and white photo of a baby girl. When I looked at it I instantly saw my daughter. It was unbelievable. The similarities were very striking. My mom asked me if I knew who it was and I told her I thought it was her. My mom smiled. It was my mom and I love the fact that my daughter looks so much like her grandma. There is no question she belongs in my family. I can't think of a better person for Scarlett to take after. Hopefully, one of these days I'll get a copy of that picture and post it for Scarlett to see when she gets older.

So there's Scarlett at six months. We love her!

Admittedly, I have been less than motivated to do my blog posts lately. Because I'm falling so far behind I decided it was time to get to work. Nate's birthday was September 10th. I can't believe he's five. He's so long and skinny and smart and strong. It's amazing for me to think about where he started as a newborn and where he is now. I love having a little boy. He's so much fun. His imagination is incredible and he's one of the happiest people I know. One of the great things about his birthday this year is that he finally had friends to invite to a party. We've moved him around so much that every birthday has been family because his birthday would fall right after we'd settled into a new state but before we really knew anyone. So we were really excited to get a party going for him. Little did I know how much work and time went into children's birthday parties.

It had to start with the cake. Nate requested a Dinosaur themed party so the invites were sent out and I got to work on getting ideas on a cake. I love to do cakes and want to learn how to do fondant and other techniques in the future, but for now I just do piping. I got online and found this great 3D stegosaurus cake. I showed to it Nate and he was sold. A couple of days before the party I got to work baking. Once the cakes were baked, the next day was a day of sculpting and piping. This was the shape of the dinosaur before any frosting.

This is the end product.I think it turned out really good. I was surprised at how quickly it came together. It's chocolate cake, buttercream frosting, chocolate scales, candy corn spikes, red hot eyes, chocolate chip claws and toasted coconut. I had such a good time doing this that I'm thinking I had more fun with the cake than Nate did. The day of the party came and it was 2 in the afternoon. I was still in my pj's and running around crazy trying to get all the food made, the house clean and all the stuff for the party together. Robert's parents promised a birthday phone call that afternoon so when the phone rang we grabbed Nate and had him talk to his grandparents. They told him they had a gift delivered and they needed him to go check outside the front door to see if it had arrived. We don't allow Nate to open the door without one of us checking through the peep hole first. I went with him to the door and looked out. There was nothing so I was hesitant to open the door, but I did. The hallway with totally deserted and quiet and Nate and I stood there looking confused for a split second before Charlie and Sandi jumped into view yelling "Happy Birthday!" and setting off party poppers. Nate loved it, but I was so surprised that I let go of the door and it slammed in their faces. Apparently my face was pretty funny. Anyway, they had been planning the trip for weeks and had flown in that morning. It was such a great birthday surprise. After we all calmed down and got some lunch Nate got to open his gifts from his grandparents.Soon we had to start setting up so Robert and his dad went down to the pool and set out the decorations while I finished the food upstairs. After everyone arrived we had dinner. We had oven fried chicken, potato salad, pasta salad, watermelon, brontosaurus shaped sandwiches and capri suns for the kids and fun sodas for the parents. It was so fun to see all our friends and we were so grateful that they'd come help us make Nate's birthday memorable. I have to say that Charlie and Sandi's surprise was awesome because they helped us so much with the party. Sandi took care of Scarlett the whole time and Charlie was the photographer. I know I couldn't have had such good time with out them. Thank you!I love that Houston is perfect for pool parties. It makes for choosing party venues very easy. The kids absolutely love it! Nate is a little fish. I love this pic.After dinner and swimming we pulled out the T-Rex pinata. All the kids took a few swings.It was one well made pinata. The poor kids didn't even make a dent.We had to get some dads to help. It was fun to watch the parents get into it too.Pure chaos ensued after the candy made it's appearance.I'm pretty sure that our friends are going to think twice about attending a birthday party the Ross' throw in the future because we give their kids too much sugar. After they filled their bags with candy and dinosaur tattoos, we did the birthday cake and ice cream. Not to mention the cupcakes, suckers and giant gummy dinosaurs we sent each of the kids home with! After the party and clean up (thanks again to all who help us!) we went up stairs and Nate was so happy. I'm glad he had a great time. If any of you are aware of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse you'll understand this photo of him doing the "Hot Dog Dance".One of his gifts was a Transformers umbrella. He also got an Ironhide transformer, Star Wars action figures, and tons of puzzles. The next morning Nate and Robert and his parents went to soccer practice while I headed off to a stake volleyball tourney. Nate loves to go play soccer with his friends.Robert is one of the coaches and I think he really enjoys it. He coached young kids before his mission as a volunteer. In this picture Robert and Nate have exactly the same posture.On Sunday we finally remembered to get some pictures with Grandma and the kids. Nate's showing off his cool dinosaur tattoo. Nate had a great birthday weekend. We are so happy to have him in our family. We are also grateful for our families that make him feel special and remember his big day. Finally, we are constantly amazed at how generous and wonderful our friends are. We couldn't have had such a memorable weekend without all of them!

This August we got a long weekend and headed to San Antonio with our friends Brekke, Matt and their daughter Audrey. We planned a full day at Sea World on Saturday. We had breakfast in the room, packed lunch into the cooler and set out for the park. Audrey was very attentive to Scarlett and loved to talk with her.
Once we planned out what we were going to do for the day, we grabbed a quick family photo.
Robert's sister Becca and her husband, Jr, met us at the park and came to some of the shows with us. It was Scarlett's first time meeting her Aunt and Uncle.
Scarlett was a trooper through all the heat and humidity. As soon as she'd fall asleep in her stroller we'd have to wake her up to take her out for a show. She was still a really good girl and was so happy for the most part.
Matt introduced us to feeding the dolphins. It was so fun to watch how excited Nate got. He had a hard time reaching the dolphin to touch it. We had a really nice lady next to us that would get the dolphins over to her and let Nate try and get a pet. I would say this was a highlight of the day.
Nate and mommy picture.
Nate and daddy picture.
The shows were a lot of fun. Nate loved them. This one was especially fun. The kids were riveted.

We took the kids on the kiddie rides. It was really fun to sit and talk to Nate as we went around the Egg Ferris Wheel. The sun was direct on the ride and we got roasted!
Nate's favorite ride is the kind where there's a drop. He rode this one a couple of times in a row. He takes after both his parents when it comes to his love for rides.
The little kiddie roller coaster was so fun. Nate had such a good time. Robert was grinning the whole time. Taking kids to parks is so hard because it's a long day and it was hot. We had a few melt downs for both kids and parents, but it is so worth it when you look back at the pictures and everyone is so happy.
At the end of the day we made a stop at the gift shop. Audrey got a stuffed shark and Nate got a Sea World hat with Shamu on it. Aren't they cute?
On Sunday, since we'd forgotten to get a picture with all of us at the park, we posed in the hotel lobby. It was such a fun trip. I just have to point out Brekke. Isn't she so cute pregnant?
So this last photo is not during our trip, but it's so funny I had to put it up. We were at Matt and Brekke's and we were watching Project Runway. Robert was not a fan and was making so much fun of us and the show. Eventually, he and Scarlett fell asleep watching it. Pretty sweet.