A Very Merry and White Christmas

We had a very merry Christmas. Our neighbors came over, we had our fondue on Christmas eve, then we decided we would perform a live nativity. The kids loved it. We performed for ourselves, then the kids wanted to do it again and switch parts.

Finally, we all went to bed and santa came. I had told them not to get up until 7 am. I heard them at 6:30, but they didn't come and get us out of bed until my clock said 7:01. How nice of them to give me an extra minute. The kids were happy with all their gifts.

We woke up to lots of snow. Spalding borrowed our neighbors snow blower and cleared the driveway. Then we borrowed another neighbors 4 wheeler and pulled the girls around the nieghborhood in the sled. As you can see in the picts, the girls were happy to be out in the snow. Spalding on the other hand, well you can see how excited he is from the pictures. So lots more snow has been falling and we shovel A LOT! I am not feeling so bad about all the cookies I ate since I feel like I am shovelling them off!

*** Advice to other women: never shovel near your husband while he is using the snow blower. You might get a nice snow shower! (He will say it was an accident, of course, but do we really believe them?)

Tradition #3

FONDUE!
Our family loves this one. Every Christmas Eve, we fix a fondue dinner. We usually invite other people over for dinner as well. We cook chicken and beef in one pot. We have used oil in the past, but over the past few years have switched to broth. It takes a little bit longer for the meat to cook, but I think there is less mess to clean up at the end. We also have a cheese fondue. This is my favorite and I love dipping bread into the cheese. For dessert, we have a chocolate and caramel fondue. We dip fruits into these: bananas, apples, pineapple, and strawberries. YUMMY! Growing up this tradition started when my mom did it once, then we all loved it, so we continued it. My married sisters and I now continue on with our own fondue with our families.

Sledding

We have been getting lots of snow over the last couple of days. The kids love to play in it. -K-'s limit is about 45 minutes, while -N- could be out there for hours. I am also a fan of sledding. I think it is great fun. We did it all the time growing up. I have to agree with my mom, it is a wonderful day when kids can pull their own self and sled up the hill. I am not quite there yet, but maybe next year. Right now I get my exercise lugging -k- up the hill while she is in the sled, then walking down after she has had a good ride, then pulling her back up. Hey, if you have to live somewhere with the snow, you better learn to enjoy it right! The thing we are not enjoying is shovelling the driveway. Thank goodness the neighbors come and help us out with their snow blower!

Here is -K- ready to hit the sledding hill.
Here is -E- enjoying a ride down the hill. Here is -L- trying to walk in my footsteps . The snow was up to my knees, and she could barely walk in places. Here is -N- at the end of our sledding. Nothing like long eyelashes to hold onto the snow, and nose hairs that freeze when you breathe!

Tradition #2

We like to make cookies and candy during Christmas time. This year we made fudge, oreo truffles, and pretzel turtles. All were yummy, and everyone we gave them to really liked them. I made the oreo truffles for a cookie exchange, and lots of people are excited to have the recipe. -K-'s favorite part of making fudge was licking the spatula when I was finished.

Tradition #1

Our family has developed some Christmas traditions. They stem from many of my childhood experiences. They are things that Spalding and I want to keep doing. I have great memories of them. I found this great quote in an Ensign magazine that sums it up for me.

"Family traditions are like spiritual and emotional cement in the foundation of a happy home. They create fond memories, and these memories bond us together as nothing else can."

Thanks to my own parents, my sisters and I laugh and talk when we get together. Remember When........? We love to go over our memories and recall events. So in an effort to provide some spiritual and emotional cement to our family foundation, I am trying to pass some of the things we did as kids, down to my own kids.

So here goes Tradition #1. Building Graham Cracker houses.

We have shared this tradition with many friends. This year, I let each of my kids invite one friend over. 8 kids was plenty to handle.

So they took this:

and made it into this!

Lots of fun and sugar. Somehow we did it with minimal mess. The kids had a great time.

In the Past 10 days...

Well, like lots of other bloggers I know, posts have been scarce. Can you say "BUSY"! So in an attempt to keep you up to date, here is what has been going on.

Last week, we had a bout with the stomach flu. Get ready for this one. Sunday -L- had it, Tuesday-E- had it, Wednesday -N- had it. Wednesday night, Spalding called from the doctors office, he was headed to the ER. His blood pressure was really high. It was a nerve wracking evening. After some tests, and his BP going down, we went home. During the night, Spalding got the flu. So he had it Thursday. Next, I got it on Friday. Luckily, it was only a 24 hour bug, but YUCK! I do feel we were blessed since -K- was recovering from Tonsil surgery and never got it. It would have been really hard on her and may have caused some problems for her. I count my blessings with that one.

So this Tuesday we went back for Spalding's test results and his diagnosis was that he had an anxiety attack brought on by stress and exhaustion. He has been busy at work, and was finishing a paper for a class he was taking this term. He wasn't sleeping much. Plus, he was starting to get the stomach bug that was floating around in our family. FYI, stress anxiety attacks mimic heart problems/strokes. Now you know.

Wednesday was -E-'s orchestra concert. Sorry no picts since there are 100+ students in the orchestra and she was in the back center section. Good thing she was wearing a big flower clip in her hair or we would not have known where she was at all. They played 4 songs, including Jolly old St. Nicholas, and my favorite Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.

Thursday has brought some sanity back to the house. No where to go. Thank goodness since there is snow everywhere! Slick roads and cold icy wind. Hello winter. I am working on a jean quilt for -N-, so that was my project for the day.

Tomorrow the kids get out for Christmas vacation. They look forward to sledding and playing in the snow. It will be a nice break. We will definitely have a white Christmas around here.

It's beginning to look like Christmas

So our tree is up, the lights on the house are up, and guess what-snow fell too. So it is starting to look like the Christmas season. I decided to make some goodies for neighbors. My kids think it is a little early-but hey-I'm in the mood right! The newsletter is typed up, the pictures are printed, next a trip to the post office. I'm sure it will look like Christmas there too--Long Lines!

Tonsillectomy and Danimals smoothies

On Thursday, we had a scheduled Tonsillectomy for -K-. I had taken her to the pediatrician and asked him about her snoring. Yes, like her dad, she snores. He said her tonsils looked big and referred us to an Ear, Nose, Throat specialist. We went to the appointment and found out that on a scale of 0-4, (0 meaning no tonsils) -K- had size 3 tonsils. He also said she had lots of evidence of infections. She has never really complained of throat pain. Maybe she just thought it was normal. so we decided to have them removed.

During the surgery, the Doctor also removed her adenoids, which were blocking 90% of her nasal passage. The surgery went fine, but during recovery, -K- got an irritation in her throat and coughed. This caused her to start bleeding, so she was rushed back into surgery and given a few more stitches. After this they let me go into to the recovery room when she was waking up and the sight about made me cry. (I did cry when I told my mom about it.) It wasn't the blood, but the look in her eyes. She was scared and just wanted me to hold her. I just wanted to comfort her. After we were able to work around the IV cord, she finally got situated on my lap and was calm.

This was originally scheduled to be a day surgery, but because of the bleeding, we ended up staying in the hospital overnight. I really hope none of the other kids will ever have to have any type of surgery. -K- was really good in the hospital. She took all the medicine she was supposed to and ate her jello and Popsicles with no problem. then we came home. Something about being home made her not want her medicine. She was prescribed a pain killer and an antibiotic. If she didn't want the pain killer, I guess that is ok, but I really wanted to get the antibiotic in her so she wouldn't get any infections. Here comes the bad part. We tried and tried to persuade her to take her antibiotic. This stuff doesn't even taste bad. Pink amoxicillin-my other kids drank it up whenever they had to take it. Finally, we resorted to force. Yes-forcing her to take medicine. Spalding held her legs and arms down, while I held open her mouth and made her drink the stuff. Then she started crying and coughing. That made me worry about the stitches and bleeding. No bleeding, good sign, but we decided to find another way to get her to take the meds.

I went to the store for some suckers and gum. -K- could have these, it stimulates saliva and strenthens the throat muscles, helping them to heal. I saw Danimals smoothies in the refrigerted section. These have been a life saver! They are 3 oz yogurt smoothies. I added the pain medicine and the amoxicillin into the little container and stuck in a straw. She drank it up! so advice to all moms-if you have a sick child who refuses to take medicine, mix it in with Danimals smoothies!

-K- is doing well and is wanting real food now, not just popsicles and jello. Looks like healing is on the way.

My Jet fighter pilot

Any one who has been at our home while Spalding is sleeping knows he is a very loud snorer. After 13 years, I am mostly used to it. Of course, I have to fall asleep first, so I don't hear him snoring. I finally talked him into getting a sleep test done. Drum roll......The results: Spalding has severe obstructive sleep apnea. He stopped breathing 36 times an hour during the test. Scary! So now he gets to wear a mask to help his breathing at night. He looks like a fighter pilot without the helmet when he wears it. He says he feels like he should be scuba diving with it on. I hope it helps him. He should be able to get some good deep sleep, which he has been missing for who knows how long.

Out with Thanksgiving, on with Christmas

We had a very fun Thanksgiving. Crystal and her fam came from UT, Mom and Dad came from OR, and Megan was with them returning to school here after a long weekend visit home. Kelly came from UT also and was with her boyfriend, Casey. Dinner was yummy and we scarfed nine pies over a two day period. The kids played wonderfully together .

Crystal and I attempted to do some Black Friday shopping. She was looking for a laptop computer. We pulled an all nighter and left the house at 2:00 am to get in line at Best Buy. We were probably between the 100th and 150th people in line. We were shocked to see people in tents! Yes, pitched tents, outside the front doors! 12 to be exact. Some were said to be there since Wednesday. Needless to say we did not get a laptop. We will send the men to do the electronics shopping next year. Wal Mart was also crazy at 4:30 am, but we were in and out of there pretty quick. Toys R us had a check out line that wrapped all the way around the back to the front of the store, so I skipped that stop on the list. We were in and out of the mall quickly and got home and in bed again at 7:30 am. Later we wandered around a craft store, imaging all the craft projects we would like to do.

Saturday, everyone left and we went and cut down our tree. I was surprised to see some snow there. It was alot of fun and the kids loved picking the tree out in the woods.

Just to finish filling our day, and to give Spalding some time to study for his final exam, The kids and I went to see High School Musical 3. I thought it was cute. Even -K- sat all the way through it. She liked the singing and dancing.

Now the tree is up, and the countdown to Christmas is going. The kids are excited!