Christmas

Christmas has come and gone and for the first time in years I don't feel like a tornado just passed. I'm not sure what was different because we still celebrated 3 different times on Christmas day, but it was just a nice restful fun day. Christmas eve was a break in tradition. Instead of the traditional dinner and Santa letter with Thad's family, we went to a movie and dinner with my family. We actually saw two movies over the weekend, which is totally abnormal for us. Anyway, then we came home and put the kids down early and set up the gifts and just relaxed. This was the first year Andi wanted to put out cookies for Santa, so we did, and she made sure to put out a carrot for the reindeer. In the morning Andi came running into our room asking if Santa had come, so I told her to check and she came back squealing. I just thought it was funny that instead of running straight out to the tree she still came in to our room to ask if he'd come.

Here is Andi with her robot dog that she's been asking for since September, and wearing her super hero cape that I made because she said she needed one.

Here is Sammy with his new computer, also sporting his cape. They have their initials on them in cute fabric, but no, I don't have a good picture of them.

After we opened everything we got ready for church, which Sammy protested the whole morning. Even during church he sat there saying, "I can't wear this. We can't go to church."

Then we came home and headed to my parents, where we made enough food to feed 100 people and ate too much of it. Then we opened gifts with them and laid around because we were all still too full to move. We had all of my siblings here this year, which hasn't happened for a little while. The only person missing was Kelsie's husband Cameron who is still in Kuwait. There were lot's of pictures taken, and video as well, but none with my camera ;) This year for the family gifts I made each couple an outdoor blanket. It's a quilt on the top, but backed with vinyl so it's waterproof.

That afternoon we went to Thad's parents to have dinner and do the Santa letter. We had another lovely big meal, then sang some carols, read the letter and opened gifts. Again, lot's of pictures, only a very few taken with my camera.

This year for Thads family we took on a huge project. We got the all the Santa letters from his grandparents, which cover 1972-2007, and we re-typed them and scanned pictures and had them printed in a book for his parents and siblings. It took us a while, but was totally worth it.
We also got to surprise both of our families with a little announcement. We are expecting our 3rd child at the end of July. I had the 10 week ultrasound today and everything looks great. They even did some of it in 3-d which was amazing and weird to see. Thad was mostly just glad to see that there is only one in there. I don't know why, but he always stresses about that till we know for sure.
So Christmas was grand, 2011 was lovely, and now it's on to 2012 and a whole lot of new adventures. Happy almost New Years!

8 Years Later

Yesterday was our anniversary, and I think we get less sentimental about it every year. Shame on us, I know, but we just get busy this time of year. Last night was Thad's office party so we went to dinner with a bunch of people I don't know. We were planning on making a long night of it and going to a movie after the party, which was over by 8:30, but we were lame and went home early instead. Here is the yearly comparison shot for your enjoyment.

December 20, 2003

December 20, 2011

Excuse the picture being completely washed out. We were talking last night about how quickly the time has gone, and where we are going to be in another 8 years.  The weirdest part was realizing we'd have a 14 year old and an 11 year old at that point. It just does not seem possible. Regardless, 8 years later life is good and we are happy, and I don't think we could ask for much more than that. Happy Anniversary!

Getting Festive

We have had quite the festive week. Monday evening we went Caroling with my family, and the kids loved it. Andi is quite the ham and loves to perform so every house was like a new opportunity for her to shine. Tuesday we went to dinner with Thads family for his Grandma's Birthday. And Thursday we took the kids to see the lights at CALM. They have been asking since Thanksgiving to go, and Thursday was great. We got there before the crowds so we were able to ride the train and the carousel with very little wait time.  And no that's not snow falling in the pictures, that's the dirt everyone was kicking up on the paths.

 This Carousel  is crazy. It spins faster than any carousel I've ever seen, you really have to hold on to the horse.

We even stopped in to see Santa and Andi kinda freaked out his little helper. The lady was asking her name and how old she was and all that while we were in line. So Andi walks up and whispers something in her ear and the lady's face went blank, total deer in the headlights, and then it was Andi's turn so she sat on Santa's lap and we took a picture. The lady just looked at me a little panicked, so I asked her what Andi said. Apparently she told the lady, " I know that's not really Santa, it's just a guy in a costume." And the lady couldn't figure out what to say in response, so I told her to go with Santas really busy this time of year so he has helpers to visit the kids while he gets ready for Christmas. She did, and Andi was fine with it. I was just impressed with the fact that Andi knew to whisper to the lady so she wouldn't ruin it for the other kids in line. She really goes back and forth on whether she believes or not. But here she is talking to Santa.

And this is as close as Sammy got, and only because he was holding out a candy cane.

Saturday my moms family came in to town and we had an early Christmas dinner with them, but I have no pictures of the event, as usual. We ate at the church building because there are just too many of us for one house, and while the girls cooked the boys played dodge-ball and volleyball in the gym. Thad always get a little too into dodge-ball and has been a bit sore since ;) The last of the gifts is finished and wrapped and we have a week to relax before all the fun begins. 

Born With It

I talk a lot about the kids on the blog, and mostly I talk about how insane they are. That's because most days this is what I get from them.

Lately though they are really starting to surprise me, in a good way. Whenever my Dad get's a compliment on his family, or his children he always gives the same response. And that is that he can't take the credit for how well we all turned out, that we all have had the desire to be good and do good from the beginning. I remember being a teenager, and I'm pretty sure I did not always have that desire, but the last few weeks I've started to understand what makes him say that.
Andi's most frequent question is, are you proud of me? She asks it about everything, from cleaning her room without being asked, to learning to crochet, to being nice to Sammy. "Are you proud of me for doing that?" with big puppy dog eyes hoping my answer is yes. It makes me feel like a crappy mom that she even has to ask, I guess I spend more time correcting her than complimenting her. But she continues to ask, and she tries her best to be good at everything so she will make us proud. A few weeks ago she earned a couple of dollars for helping my mom, after a lesson on tithing we went to the dollar store so she could spend her money. She picked out two things for herself and one for Sammy because she felt bad he didn't have any money to spend. I talked her in to saving it and giving it to him for a Christmas present. She has been so excited about the little dollar gift all wrapped in her closet, she can't wait to give it to him.
Sam is not as quick to do good, but he is quick to repent. He can tell from my tone of voice when he's in trouble and he immediately hangs his head and says "I sorry Momma."  Now if only he didn't have to say it so many times a day. He is also very loving. I was having a cranky day this week and Sammy walked up and said, "Can I hug you Momma?" and he did, and it helped.
Don't get me wrong, most days they are still crazy little beasts, but I am starting to see more of the inherent good in them as well, and we are having more sweet days.

Toothfairy Fun

The tooth fairy made her first visit to our house this week. Andi has had a "wiggly tooth" for some time now and Monday it finally came out. Once And showed Sammy the missing tooth he wanted one too and has been asking me ever since to take out one of his teeth. The fairy brought Andi a dollar and she could not wait to use it. Most days Andi would lounge in her jammies all day if I let her, but Tuesday morning she ate breakfast in record time, got herself dressed, brushed her teeth and hair and by 8 was ready to go to target to spend her dollar. She even picked out my clothes to help me get ready faster so we could go to the store sooner. Here she is in all her holey-grin glory.

She spent her money on a plastic horse in the dollar section at target, she even paid for it herself at the register which was super exciting.  The horse sits with her at mealtime to eat, she "brushes" it's hair and teeth morning an night, she puts it down for naps. On Wednesday when she went to school she left me a list of things I needed to do to take care of the horse while she was away. Seriously, that whole theory that kids who have to earn/pay for their own things take care of them better is so true. She has taken better care of this dollar horse than any other toy she has, because it was her money, and she bought it.
Sammy has turned meal times into a battle lately. He takes forever to eat anything and ends up in time out at least twice a dinner. Tuesday night I just left him at the table and didn't keep pestering him to eat and made sure no one else went in the kitchen to distract him. Really I just wanted to see how long he would drag it out, but then it got really quiet. And I found this.

 

He was out cold and almost fell out of the chair while Thad video taped him bobbing around. So maybe he's just really tired by dinner time and isn't in the mood to eat? Whatever it is, I hope he grows out of this phase soon.

Thanksgiving 2011

 We were lucky enough to have two thanksgiving dinners this year. We celebrated with my Mom's family at my Grandpas last weekend and had about 30 people at the shin dig. Yesterday we were with Thad's family at his grandparents, again with about 30 people.  Go big or go home right? In fact yesterday there were separate children and adult rooms for eating. Here's the older kids table, the 3 year old's had their own table in the corner.

16 children ages 12 and under! We were there a while before the cousins came and Andi and Sammy were getting a little bored, so Grandpa taught them how to stand on their heads. They didn't really get it, but we got a great picture of Grandpa demonstrating ;)

After we stuffed ourselves with the most amazing turkey ever and all the fixings, we had a little F.H.E. with a talent show and jeopardy game. It was a lot of fun. Andi represented the talent in our family by playing old MacDonald on the piano.

Once all the clean up was done the adult girls started going through ads and planning their black Friday strategy.  They were trying to talk me into joining them, but shopping in crowds of people is not on my fun least even at reasonable hours. That late, forget it. But their excitement rubbed off and Thad decided he needed to go with the girls just to see what all the fuss was about. So off to wait in line at Target they went at 11 pm.

Thad came home underwhelmed with the "deals" and shocked by the complete insanity of the crowds, but had a great time hanging out with his sister and cousins and laughing at everything for several hours. Today we are setting up our Christmas decorations, minus the tree, because Andi just could not wait one more second to start the Christmas countdown. I am loving her enthusiasm this year. Once we get rid of the kiddos for the night, I will be doing my version of black Friday shopping, on-line. This time tomorrow I should be 90% done with Christmas prep!

Under the Weather Adventures

Thad has been sick this week. Monday he took the day off to go to the Dr and get an antibiotic. The kids did their own exam as well.

I'm not sure why he has not learned that the living room floor isn't the best place to lay down and rest. The kids see that as the sign to pounce and tackle. Luckily for him they realized he was not feeling well and just played Dr instead. When Daddy was recovered a bit we decided to go for a picnic and the little zoo here in town. Hart park is a pretty decent size park, with a couple little ponds where people go to feed the ducks and geese, who sometimes charge and attack the nice people throwing them bread. So this trip we avoided the ponds and headed to an area full of peacocks. I have no idea why they are there, or how they got there, but we have peacocks in the park.

The kids tried to feed them, but they weren't interested in the bread. But it was really cool to just sit in the grass as they wandered around us.

After the picnic we headed to calm to see more animals. When we got to the mountain lions Thad has the kids run back and forth in front of their cage so he could get a video of them running around. It was kinda scary to see how they watched the kids. They were not interested in Thad or I, but they locked on to the kids and followed them as they ran.  The kids favorite is always the deer, they pick up random leaves and feed them, and the deer are very friendly.

Thad liked this guy.

It was a fun lazy afternoon with Daddy home.

Birthday & Halloween

It has been a fun filled weekend. Friday we celebrated Halloween. Andi got to dress up in her costume for dance. And we went straight from dance to the ward party. Sammy refused to wear his costume, in fact he was screaming I'm not Buzz, as I pulled the costume out of the closet. So he went to the party costume-less, but enjoyed himself none the less. Here is Andi in all her dark haired Snow White glory. We used the spray stuff on her hair and are still trying to wash it all the way out. She won the costume contest for her age group.

 

And with her dance class. 

Saturday was Sammy's birthday, the big 3.  He's been asking to go to pizza planet since he began his toy story phase a few months ago, and since he doesn't understand the concept that there really is no pizza planet, we took him to chuck-e-cheese as the next best thing. He fully realized that we were not at pizza planet when he saw the mouse on the sign and no giant robots or rockets, but he had a great time.  We went early in the morning so we had the place mostly to ourselves, and didn't have to buy their food. The kids were running around like crazy, so this really is the only shot of them we got together while we were there.

Sunday we had dinner with Thad's family at his Grandparents, and then my family came over for cake and ice cream and we celebrated Sammy some more. This is the first year he really got what "birthday" meant. He was so excited for cake and presents.

 He made out like a bandit and loved all of his presents. He tried to sleep with half of them, and has been carrying as many as he can hold all over the house.

Since it's actually Halloween today Thad went to work ready to win the costume contest. I present, Safety Jack. 

Pumpkins and October Fun

We've been checking off some fall festivities from our list the last two weeks. We visited the pumpkin patch with the cousins, but Kelsie took all the pictures on her camera, and left for Europe before I could get them from her. I do have one, but hers turned out better.

The kids had fun, and we brought home a couple of pumpkins for the porch. I almost bought a giant pumpkin like we did a few years back, but they didn't have one big enough to stick a kid in, so I figured it wasn't worth it.  We carved pumpkins last night for F.H.E. complete with caramel apples and baked pumpkin seeds. All day Andi was telling me that she was going to carve a pony and Sam should have a rocket on his. But we couldn't find an easy pony pattern, and I am not creative enough to figure that out on my own. I just don't have the vision. Here they are at work.

And here they are with the final product. Andi actually did a lot of the work on hers with some help from Daddy. Sam on the other hand spent his time stabbing the pumpkin with the little carving knives over and over while I cut out his design. But they both enjoyed themselves and were proud of their pumpkins.

Yes, it's the end of October and my kids are still in shorts. It's still hot around here! Here is our spooky porch. The kids kept going outside to look at the pumpkins and make sure they were still lit.

We have also been working on potty training the last few weeks. It's going to be a while before I can say he's really got this, but we've made some progress. And because of this we've had a lot of captain underpants lately, and he pretty much loves the freedom of no pants.

 We had our Primary program on Sunday, and as usual I'm relieved it's over. Andi did really well, especially considering that she was sick and coughing her head off the entire time. Poor thing. But our primary is so small, and she sings so loud we still needed her.

Family Journal

Another picture less post. I feel like I've got lot's to update on with the kids, but nothing that required any photo's, just funny tidbits to record for journaling purposes. I'll start with Sammy, who's voice has settled, and is much higher than it used to be. It's very cute. The interesting thing though is that without those massive tonsils he is peaking much more clearly. It's like he couldn't make his tongue work properly because it kept hitting the tonsils or something. That's just my theory. But I hear him repeating words to himself trying to say it correctly, and he can hear when it's off. So That has been a big improvement. Plus he doesn't snore anymore. The first few nights it made me nervous and I had to check to make sure he was breathing, but now we are enjoying the silence. We started attempt number two at potty training ysterday, and though it was a very rough long day, I feel like this time he understands what we are trying to do. Don't get me wrong, there were accidents galore, and I might have had to go to my room and throw a fit, but I'm hopeful he'll get it this time. We are bribing him with a trip to Pizza planet(Johns incredible pizza) so that might be helping. I have also discovered an entirely new side to this kid. When Andi is not around, like when she's at school or piano, Sammy is the sweetest, mellowest, most obedient and talkative kid. I don't know why he can't behave like that all the time, but I really enjoy our one on one time. Andi's a bit the same way though. If I go somewhere with just her, she is so much more cooperative and peaceful. When they are together though it's madness. For some reason the car make it worse. We can not be in the car for more than 15 seconds before they are yelling and hitting and fighting. Sam's favorite thing to do is to wait till Andi starts talking to me and then yell "Don't talk to Mommy. Andi stop whining." And then she yells back that she is allowed to talk, and then proceeds to tell me what Sammy said, as if I did not already hear him. They are insane. Sammy is totally obsessed with Cars and toy story right now. He likes Nemo and the Incredibles too, but he would watch Woody and Lightning every day if I let him. Multiple times a day actually.Oh, and he's still totally OCD about story time. We now can read The caboose that got loose, or the little red caboose. That is all. Every day.
Andi is doing really well with her school work. She loves reading and math. She does not love science or social studies, mostly because they are a little boring. I need to put some effort into making those more interesting for her. She started Piano lessons a few weeks ago, and it's been frustrating for her. She is used to things coming easily to her, and Piano is not. There are a lot of difficult concepts, and she is really having to work at it, which bothers her. But when she hears pretty piano music she knows she wants to play like that, so she keeps practicing. She is also doing well in Ballet. I can see a big difference in her this year already. Cathy is really challenging these little girls, but they are doing well. Andi is really trying to be a grown up these days. She wants to do everything without help, from making her own sandwiches and snacks, to going  places without me. After school one day I asked if she wanted me to come help in her class. "Um, no. I miss you when you aren't there, but I like being there by myself." I reminded her that some of the other kids moms stay to help, but she said, "That's okay mom, I don't want you to stay." You'd think I'd be offended or something, but Andi came that way. She has always been independent and we kind of like that about her. With Halloween coming she has decide she wants to be snow white, and she would like me to cut her hair and dye it black so she can look just like her for reals. So now I need to find a wig, because that is just not happening.

Going Under

Sammy survived his tonsillectomy Monday, and I survived the day that followed. I think I said this when Andi had hers out, but it was the longest day ever. We had to wake Sammy up at 5:15 to get to the surgery center, and he was surprisingly cheerful. I carried him out to the car thinking he'd stay asleep on the way over, but the moment we walked outside he was wide awake. "Mom, look at the stars! Lot's of stars!"  He chattered at us all the way there, and we played and read books in the waiting room. I felt like such a jerk because he had no idea what was coming. when we went back to do the vitals he started realizing something was up and got very quiet and pouty and wouldn't even play with Thad, he just sat in my lap holding his blanket. Oh the guilt. In recovery he was upset of course because he was in pain and didn't understand why,  but he was totally ticked about the IV in his hand. It was all I could do to keep him from ripping it out, and finally the nurse said if he would drink his sippy then she wouldn't make him finish the bag of fluids and she would take the IV out. So he downed the sippy and she took it out. There was a bit of a struggle when it came to taking it out and a very small amount of blood. Some of you might not know, but Thad is a needle wuss, and that was all it took for him to get all wobbly. So while I was gathering our things and trying to comfort Sammy, Thad was being taken care of by another nurse and drinking juice and "resting" in a chair till he was more stable. So then we were waiting on Thad to recover so we could leave. I think I'll bring different reinforcements next time I have to go in for something like this with one of the kids.
The whole day was rough. Sammy refuse to swallow anything, including his own spit. I'll be cleaning the couch cushions this weekend when he's back to normal. So I was a little worried because they tell you to make them drink all day to keep the throat moist and keep them hydrated. He wanted nothing to do with that. But he slept all night and drank a whole sippy first thing this morning, so he is much better today. We've still had to pump him full of pain meds, but at least he' drinking and eating pudding.
Andi has been very jealous the last two days and keeps saying she wishes she was Sammy. Sammy gets to eat in the front room and have pudding and milk shakes whenever. I told her she got to do this when she was his age and that pacified her a little.
The best part is Sammy's new little voice. His deep little husky voice is gone and is much higher pitched and almost baby-ish. We'll see where it settles when his throat is healed, but Andi's never went back to her old voice, so we'll see.

Big Day

Today was a big day for both the kids. It was Andi's first day of going to school. For those of you who might be confused as to why our 1st grader is just today going to school, we home school. This year we are going through a charter school and they have enrichment classes for the kids on Wednesday mornings, so we signed her up and today was the first class. She was very excited to pack her backpack and wear her name tag, and go all by herself.. As she headed off with her class though she looked back at me with a definite nervous face. At that point Sammy started crying because Andi was going without him. But when we came to pick her up she was all smiles again, and didn't stop talking all the way home. She made lot's of new friends, none of whose names she could remember. She's terrible at that. But she can't wait to go back next week. Here is the first day of school picture, but for some reason I could not get her to smile normally. We took several, this was as good as it got.

After we dropped Andi off it was time for a milestone for Sammy. His first blood draw. Joy.  The poor kid is getting his tonsils out Monday morning, so we had to get his labs done today. He did much better than Andi does with needles, which is easily done because she becomes a hysterical lunatic when the needles come out. The lady poked him and he cried for a second, but then stopped and looked at what she was doing. It would have been super smooth and easy if she had not knocked the needle out before the vial was full and had to stick him a second time. That time he was just mad, and he let her know. It is amazing the healing powers a chocolate milk shake can have, even at 9:30 in the morning. Yes I'm that mom, the one who makes it all better with chocolate. Then we ran some errands and went to the Kern County Museum to look at the trains. It's right next door to Andi's school and was a great way to entertain Sammy while we waited to pick her up.

It was a big day for us all, and it went better than I expected. Now if only Monday goes this well.

Family Pictures

We've been meaning to get a new family picture up on our wall for a while now. The one that is there is a little old, ya know, back when Sammy was just crawling.

We've tried a couple of times and had nice ones for the Christmas card, but nothing worthy of being blown up on the wall. So last night we went to Thad's parents and had his dad take some for us. I think we got some cute ones.  The kids turned out well, and surprisingly we didn't have to take a million to get a good shot.

 The group shot was good, but Thad and I are both picking ourselves apart. "Why are my eye lids drooping?" 'Why does only my left eye squint?"  There will always be something I'm sure.

And then Thad decided he wanted one of the two of us for his office, which for some reason I felt weird about.  Especially when he got all creeper in this one.

This one is better, but we'll see which ones make the frames at our house.

Emotional Day

If you've ever been a teenage girl you've learned the art of writing notes. It was pretty much the main form of communication in jr. high and even into high school. That was way before texting and cell phones at school. Do kids even write/pass notes anymore, or is it all digital? At any rate, Andi seems to be jumping in to teenage girl world a little early. I got my first note from her today. She is constantly coloring pictures, or making cards and things, but this was the first legit- no pictures- note.  Written of course to inform me of her feelings. "Mom, I am going to stay in my room for ever."  As you can guess, I unknowingly offended her spirit and she wanted to make sure I knew. When I ignored the note and didn't come back to her room to ask about it, she came out to make sure I had seen it. I said I had, and asked why she was going to stay there forever. Instead of answering the question like a sane person, she ran back to her room and wrote me another note to explain. "You know why. You didn't let me help with the groceries."  Since she had already run back to her room and shut the door again, I had to call her back out to the kitchen to remind her that I said she could help, but she needed to wait till I finished wiping down the shelves of the fridge first. At which point I told her that if she wanted to stay in her room she could, but that she could come out and eat lunch if she wanted. Que water works and running down the hall to slam the door. WHAT?! So this time I followed her and asked what she was crying about. "You said you don't care if I stay here all day!" To which I could only respond, "You're right, I don't care if you stay here all day because you are acting crazy!  If you would like to stop crying you come out any time you want."  I get the whole willfully misinterpreting someone's words bit, if you are doing it to be funny. But she was not being funny. Let's take a second to remember that Andi is only 5. I'm not looking forward to teenage years with her.

Reception #2

Remember how I said family weddings are a lot of fun, well they are also a lot of work! Everything came together nicely after a day and a half at the church setting up and I think our "vision" was accomplished. I will say though, I don't want to see tulle again for a long time.  Originally we tossed around the idea of having an outdoor reception here, but Bakersfield in September is still in the 90's-100's and we thought indoor with AC a better option. Indoor was the right choice, but mostly because of the crazy thunder/lighting storms we had Friday and Saturday. It was so weird, and yucky, because it was raining but still in the 90's.
We were a little busier with this reception and didn't take nearly as many pictures, but here are a few I stole from Kelsies blog.  The whole Family, minus Cameron who is in Kuwait.

With the nieces and nephews, who are all miraculously looking at the camera.

I'm not sure if this was supposed to be their prom picture, or some sort of male modeling attempt. . . whatever it was ended up a little creepy.

I was mocked  for bringing my basketball shorts, but after trying to clean up in skirts and heels I think the mockers realized my wisdom.

 It was a little sad that what took us so long to put together was torn down and boxed up in a hour flat, but nice too that we weren't there all night cleaning.
Now that weddingpalooza is over we are back to normal life. Andi started her piano lessons today and her only comment was how hard it was. We meet with her teacher today to turn in our first round of school work and make sure I'm doing this right. Tomorrow we take Sammy and his huge tonsil to the ENT for a consult. I'm no Dr. but I'm predicting those bad boys have to be taken out. but hey, he's kept his a year longer than Andi did.