Our Christmas Letter

I've solved the-no-time-to-do-it-all-because-it’s-Christmas dilemma. All one has to do is address and write your name in all your loved one’s Christmas cards, and never mail them. So come December of the following year, your Christmas cards are ready for the stamp to be adhered and put in the mailbox. Lot’s of time saved.

I’ve also discovered, that as hard as one might try, the kids keep growing up. 12 months is a long time and a lot happens.

Ceily is 11 this year. She’s obsessed with books. We find her at all hours of the day and night engulfed with a good read. She’s not as obsessed with swim team, but she’s there 5 days a week. She was voted the prettiest girl in her class.

Eddie is almost 9. He’s a very responsible guy. He enjoys sports. His soccer team was the “Cinderella” team this season. He’s a good friend, a good brother and a good Elvis impersonator. His Christmas list was short. iPod, Elvis calendar, and an Elvis costume.

Lana is 6 and as cute as can be. She’s become a handful. We keep getting notes home from her teacher. They aren’t the good notes. I have actually been quite surprised that my quiet, soft, docile Lana has become “quite active, and very busy” at school. I think she’s just discovered there is more to life than sucking her thumb and rubbing warm skin.




Noah tells anyone that will listen that he is 6. He’s really only 3 but he’s definately CRAZY. That’s all I can say. He keeps me busy and laughing and crossing my fingers he doesn’t jump off the bridge just because his friends were doing it. I do still melt when he stops, in mid sentence, spreads his arms and says- “Huggie?”

Chris and I continue to grow older as well. Chris is in Boston snowed in. The kids hope he gets home before Christmas. I'm hoping he returns this minute. Three of the four kids have strep. I'm feeling a little snowed in myself.
We love you and wish you good things for the coming year.

Conversations With A 3 Year Old

Today Noah and I were in the car driving to Preschool. Earlier in the day - 7:15 am to be exact - he had devoured TWO chocolate advent calendars while I was taking the other children to school (Chris was sleeping...) So, he was not allowed to watch television or movies today. That means that we had A LOT to talk about during our 25 minute drive.

'Mom. I have something yellow in my nose.' 'A booger?' 'No.' 'Then what is it?' 'I think it's a piece of corn.'

'Mom. If I had a little person in my head I would turn my eyeballs around and tell him- Little person! Get out of my head!' (This is where I became a bit worried. Was Noah describing to me the "voices in his head that make him do bad things?" Is my three year old already schizophrenic?) 'Noah, do you have a person in your head talking to you?' 'NO MOM!!! I said a little bug!'

'Mom!-You-do-not-talk-to-Santa-everyday!-Mom!-You-do-not-see-Santa-everyday.-Little (Y-ittle to be exact)-Elves-are-not-real.-They-are-not-real-Mom!-NO!-Santa-does-not-have-a -cell-phone.-You-can-not-talk-to-him.-He-can't-see-me-Mom.-He-doesn't-know-if-I'm-naughty.'

'Mom. I went on a date.' 'With whom?' 'I'm not telling.'

Ceily Turns 11!

Ceily Jayne has succesfully turned eleven years old. Celebrations began in October when I took her to New York City. We met Mom, Merry, Kasi and Madie, and dined, shopped and saw two Broadway shows. The American Girl Store sang happy birthday and Kasi almost lost an eye when her very old camera shot sparks instead of flashes. We rode the roller coaster in the Toy's R Us store, discovered Jamba Juice, stayed up all night, and didn't take any pictures because I forgot the camera.

The birthday celebrations continued as we traveled to Virginia for Thanksgiving. We stopped in Powhatan and had yummy cake and presents. We traveled to Arlington, and had yummy cupcakes and presents. And then we saw Enchanted with cousins. Fun.

I'm looking forward to this year with Ceily. She's grown up a lot. She's fun to be with and a good sister. She shared her birthday with Lana this year and never a complaint. She's fun and funny and smart and a great babysitter. Ceily Rocks!

She has been grounded for the last three weeks, but that's another story.

Noah's getting big but not quite this big

Lana Turns 6!

Today during Sacrament meeting, when all my children are suppose to be perfectly still and reverent, Lana was not. She turned to me at one point, standing and facing all the reverent families behind us, asked, not in a whispered voice; "Mom. Tell me the truth. Tell me please. Do I really turn six tomorrow?"

Yes, Lana turns SIX tomorrow. I asked her this morning what she wanted for her birthday. She said she wants a Little Mermaid Make-Up Kit, and an American Girl doll. Ooops. Good thing Target is really close.

She keeps telling me that she never wants to grow up. She just wants to stay a kid forever. She has been telling me this for a while. (I finally got a reason why. She said she doesn't want to have to do all the stuff that a mom does, especially cleaning.) I told her today that she could be my baby forever. She then curled up on my lap and fell asleep. I couldn't ask for anything better from my almost six year old.

Errata - Chris' turn

So... Jayne has been very excited about the blog. She spends a lot of time putting stuff up. And I love it. But it has taken me a bit longer to actually write something. It probably says something about me - and probably nothing good - that what finally motivated me to write was to be able to correct some of the falsehoods that have been presented as facts in this blog. It's time for some equal representation.

1. I never presented my wife with a list during the courtship process. Never. No list. Never. ( This is Jayne- It wasn't a numbered list. It wasn't even on a clean sheet of paper. But It was a list.)

Yes, we did discuss things that we both thought were important in a marriage. We covered the most important life issues (like our testimonies, her support of my rock career and pets.)

YES there was an agreement on pets. WE were clear - NO PETS!!! Anyone who knows anything about Jayne's history with cats would probably not be surprised that she was even more adamant than I was on this point.

Not only has Jayne begun to waver on this point, she has completely betrayed me. It happened when I got a call this Summer from the kids in Virginia. 'Dad, Dad' I heard over the phone, 'There are kittens and Mom says we can get one if it's okay with you.'

I was officially the bad guy. This is just like how she sabotaged my rock career...

2. The Hermit Crabs did not die. It's actually Eddie who wanted this point corrected. They were alive when we took them out in the canoe and 'released' them to Crab Island. But Jayne is right - they did stink. (This is true. I forgot the Hermit Crabs were taken on a fun canoe ride with the family, to be left behind.)

3. The weird thing about the Halloween knick-knacks is how Jayne gets them. Apparently she buys them and stores them for a year before putting them out. I know this sounds strange but it must be true because I come home and see more and more new little things on the walls and the counters and I ask when she got it (and how much she spent) and I'm always told that she bought it last year. I never see anything that she just bought. There must be some secret place in her closet where decorations for 2008 are stored.

__________________________

So that's it. Just two. And one was Eddie's and one wasn't really a correction. So, Erratum I suppose. But it was really important to clear up the whole list thing. Otherwise you all might think I am obsessive and geeky...

So as long as I'm writing let me confirm what you're already thinking about it's primary contributor: Jayne is pretty awesome. Great mom and wife. I'm so glad that she's doing this and I hope you all enjoy it.

Kitten Update

Ok, so I admit it. I bought an actual bag of cat food today. It's true. It was even kitten food. I was careful to buy the kitten formula. I actually stood in the "Pet Aisle" of the grocery store, trying to choose the best food for the cats under the house. I certainly did not have to have the "Indoor" formula. Because the THREE kittens will not be coming inside!

And if you have happened to bump into any one of my four children, you already have heard the wonderful news. We will be babysitting, or should I say, dog sitting for our friend Joey. We will be pet sitters and not pet owners. How great is that?

Lana was hanging out the car window today telling my friend Faith that tomorrow is the best day ever. Just picture Lana, all in Faith's face, her hands in front of her, shaking them back and forth. "I am sooooo lucky! Tomorrow I have two so exciting things happening. I get to go to a birthday party AND Joey is coming over for 5 days!!!!" Ceily has informed me that she already has a play date scheduled for tomorrow as well. She will be taking Joey on a walk with her friend's precious doggie. Noah continues to remind the older three that he gets more time with Joey because he does not have to go to school full time. I am already worried about what I'm going to do with Joey the dog as I have to be in Lana's classroom from 9:30 til 10:30. Maybe Chris can take the morning off...

More Halloween 2007

Eddie and Noah- ALWAYS!! in character. Dead guys are not suppose to smile, and Spidey is ready to fight the "Bad Guys!"

Pets or No Pets- The Best Pet Belongs to Someone Else

When Chris and I were dating, he came to me with a list. On this list were a few questions. One of the questions; Do you want pets? (Another questions was if I was going to use cloth diapers.) My answer to the pet question was , NOOOO!!!! He was thrilled. We made a promise we would be a pet free home. FOREVER!
Well, years have gone by (13 wonderful years!) and we have added members of our family. Four children who do not share our resolve about pets. I use to have the excuse that when all the babies were done coming to our home, we would talk about having a pet. One year Eddie was really hoping Lana was the last baby. I wasn't going to have a baby AND a pet, because we all know who takes care of the beloved pets. It's usually the one that does not love the pet.

Through the years we have tried to pacify our children. I bought the cutest battery operated guinea pig that even had its own ball to roll around in. It was so cute, rolling down there with our feet. That didn't last very long. They realized it wasn't real. One year I bought the most realistic pug you could ever see. Rachel even sat at the door, looking out the window, waiting for the kids to come home from school. Rachel didn't last very long either. We tried hermit crabs. They died. And they were stinky. We tried goldfish. They died. And they were stinky.

Each of our children have begun to beg. They ask for pets. They pray for pets. They want pets.

Last night Ceily discovered a treasure. Baby kittens under the neighbors house. She has secretly taken bowls of milk to them. I found her outside today, clad in bathing suit, (she was waiting for her ride to swim team) sitting on the lawn, waiting for the kittens to emerge.

Now my question is- Should we get a pet for Christmas?

The Day After Halloween

"I love Halloween." This is what Noah said as we were driving the kids to school. Yesterday I had actually been thinking the very same thing. I love watching all the kids have so much fun. Ceily had decided to be a tooth fairy, Eddie was some kind of dead person, Lana was the cutest cat alive, and Noah was Spiderman. The big kids have graduated from going hand in hand with Mom and Dad, to finding friends and going with them. So, Chris had the pleasure of taking Lana and Noah as I stayed and watched scary movies. I mean I stayed home and handed out candy.

Yesterday, we had been talking and I was telling Chris how the kids had complained we didn't have any decorations. Chris made the comment that he was going to have to make a shelf for all the Halloween decorations pretty soon. Remember, I love Halloween too. "We will be the Knick-Knack family pretty soon." Not true, but we do have a few decorations around the house. Apparently, they are not the "right" kinds. AND apparently, Chris doesn't appreciate them either.

Now, we have 50 million pounds of candy that the kids think needs to be consumed at one sitting. My friend has the best idea. We will be having a bon fire at the beach next weekend to cook Peanut Butter Cup smore's, and Snickers smore's and Baby Ruth smore's and 100 Grand smore's and I think we will be trying Crabby Patty smore's on our side of the fire.

The Start of Something New

So, what do you do when you only have 10, 20, 30 minutes, maybe an hour to do something? Well, apparently, many sit down at the computer and write about what they are taking a break from. And I'm thinking, this is a good thing. We love our families so very much, even when we are taking a break, it has something to do with them.


I've spent a week alone. Alone, away from Chris, not the children. The children really noticed his absence this time. Maybe it was because the week before he was gone for a few days, and the back to back trips seemed too close for comfort. Maybe I wasn't as nice this time? Who knows. But, I will admit, I missed him more too. He's a good dad and a good husband, and he's missed when he is gone.

My little Noah has lots to say. All the time. He's very much in love with movies. I think he must go to bed at night and think of ALL the titles of ALL the movies he would enjoy watching the next day. It starts pretty early. He'll wake up around 6:30am, and by 7am, when we are loading everyone in the car, as I am buckeling his seatbelt, he ask; "Mom. Is this a day I can watch a movie?" "We'll see, Hon," I reply. "Well Mom, my head hurts because I really need to watch a movie." This phrase use to be; "My eyes hurt and they really need to watch a movie." He's become more cerebral lately I guess.

He's quite active as well. He was pretending to be "Spy Kids" during Family Home Evening. He has a backpack on and crouching down, with his arms spread wide, jumping from one piece of furniture to the other, he's looking for enemies. Not too conducive to the spirit we want during gospel disscussions. But, I must admit, I smiled.