We Wish You a Merry Christmas

Christmas this year was spent in Arizona. At the beginning of Christmas break I took a whirlwind quick trip with the kids to Las Vegas to see my parents. I left early Monday morning and was back to AZ by Tuesday night. Quick, but well worth the trip. Then we spent the rest of Christmas nice and relaxed. I love Christmas time. Seeing my tree up just makes me smile. I often spend quiet evenings once the kids are in bed with all the lights off and the Christmas tree lights on, just staring at the tree. Our tree is full of memories. The majority of the ornaments are ones that have been gathered over the years. So each year, we take a family picture in front of the tree with our Christmas Sunday best. The kids are getting so grown up!

The traditional Christmas family picture.

 Here are some pictures of our day spent together.

Looks like we have a nice treat out for Santa this year!

Christmas morning before the kids came downstairs. Thanks Santa!

Adam trying to be a present.

Santa brought things with wheels this year. The girls are getting used to the roller skates....
I think that'll take some time.

We enjoyed a nice quiet morning in our home with our little family. Then we joined the rest of Chris's family for Grandma's Christmas and yummy food. I love being with family all day! Thanks to all for a wonderful Christmas day.

Dance, dance, dance - Christmas show

It wouldn't be Christmas time without the Jeanne's School of Dance Christmas show! The girls did a great job. This is probably my favorite dance show of the year. I loving hearing all the Christmas music. Thanks Katelyn and Megan!

These are the girls cute costumes. Cute girls!

Adam was happy to be on the grass playing after the show.

Merry Christmas - This Year's Christmas Card

Merry Montage Christmas

Shutterfly Christmas cards

View the entire collection of cards.

Thanksgiving

This year we went to my parent's in Las Vegas for Thanksgiving. As always, the trip was filled with fun, family, and food! My sister was able to come too and so all of us were there. It was quite the full house! We enjoyed yummy food, ate too much...ate more and enjoyed everyone's company.

Katelyn and her cousin Eliana

 All the Chesnik cousins! We are only missing Hailey (Missy's youngest) in this picture

I want food!

My Grandma McFarlane crocheted hats for all of her grandkids (my group) and her great-grandkids (my kids). Everyone wanted to wear them all the time!

I love this picture of Adam with Chris

On Friday evening, we went to see the lights at Ethel M. Chocolate Factory. They have a cactus garden which during Christmas time is displayed with lights. Of course everyone wore their hats! All the kids had a great time.

Saturday was my birthday. Normally I'm not a morning person, but I decided that for my birthday I wanted to go to the temple in the morning with my mom. It was so relaxing and a perfect way to start my day. And it was early to fit everything else in that day! When we got back, we got everyone ready for Chesnik family pictures. They turned out great for the amount of kids we have. We had the huge group posed and ready, and then Katelyn turns to me and said she didn't feel good. She looked absolutely green. I said sorry and excused the 2 of us and got her some water. I think she was just getting really hot. She felt a little better and took some pictures, although you can still tell she was a little green. At one of the breaks when we were sitting down and smaller groups were doing pictures, Katelyn threw up all over the carpet. So sad that she felt so crummy during picture time. In all we managed and got the pictures done.

Here's everyone! All the kids are getting so grown up.

This is a three generation picture with all the girls.

After picture time, we went to a movie to continue celebrating my birthday. Chris and I took our kids plus my sister's girls to Tangled. I love that show! The kids (5 in all!) were great and we had a good time.

Then of course a birthday could not be complete at my house without homemade ice cream. Mmmmm. Thanks to my family for a great Thanksgiving weekend and birthday party!

Adam's first trip to the ER

Adam's first IV....well this is a picture of his hand wrapped after the IV got taken out. He's got his train blanket and apparently a show on so he's not too concerned about the bandage on his hand.

Adam is officially my first kid to need to go to the ER (knock on wood...don't want to start a trend). As I was packing upstairs to get ready for our family to go to Vegas for Thanksgiving, I heard Adam scream downstairs. The way he screamed, and even worse when I picked him up, I knew something was really wrong. I did my nurse head to toe assessment but couldn't find anything out of place. It seamed when I held him he calmed down. But I really knew something was wrong when my VERY active toddler didn't want to be put down. After a while of not getting better, we asked Chris' dad (a doctor) to come do his assessment. Nothing was really found either other than, yes, Adam was not acting normal. So, then it was a trip to our pediatrician for a night time pediatric check. We were thinking anything from a fall (but there was no evidence of one) to a scorpion sting (which there was also no evidence of one). The doctor couldn't really find anything either...so much for modern medicine! (Can you tell I was getting a little frustrated?) She said if he couldn't sleep that night then to take him to the ER. By this point it was late and so Adam was tired. I thought he would possibly just sleep it off, but he woke after only a few hours of sleep. So then it was off to the ER, with many tears from me worried about my baby, and tears to my mom that I might not be coming for Thanksgiving. As a nurse, I have to say that you would think I would be great with sick kids. I am. Just not my own. By the time we were at the hospital it was appearing that Adam was guarding his stomach when we would pick him up and he didn't like his underarms touched. The ER doc decided it was most likely abdominal so we went for x-rays. They then did blood work and an ultrasound of his abdomen to rule out anything bad. Then a LONG time later it was decided that maybe he was just full of a lot a stool. Great. An ER visit for poo! Adam seemed to be better after an enema so we just left it as that, even though he was still acting not completely normal. We had a follow-up visit with our pediatrician on the Monday after Thanksgiving. He felt it was possibly a cracked collar bone...so off we were to more x-rays. No crack. So we have a mystery that was never solved. A few days after the incident I did notice some bruising on the right side of his shoulder/neck area, so I am convinced it was a fall. In all, after a week Adam was back to normal. Glad he's OK!

"Don't eat the church!"

Today we went to Amy and Scott's ward for the kids Primary Program. The boys all did a great job. At one point during the program, Brock turned around to talk to Adam. Adam for some reason was licking the bench or just had his mouth up to the bench. Brock said to Adam, "Don't eat the church Adam, don't eat the church!" Brock was very concerned and said it several times. I love how little minds work and sometimes the funny things that come out of their mouth!

Megan's parent program - Ocean unit

Again, I am amazed at all the things the kids are learning in Club. Megan now knows the difference between a vertebrate and invertebrate, she knows about sharks and whales and fish, and tidal waves and how they are formed, and sea stars and so much more about our ocean. To add to that, she can name all the oceans in the world, and point them out on a map. A lot of what they learn is put to song to make it easier to remember. I think this is why Megan loves it so much. I even learned something new from Megan that she had learned. Did you know that sea stars (commonly referred to as star fish, but they are not a fish) take their stomach out to eat? Then if they don't like something that they've eaten they just leave their stomach there and they grow a new one. Nice. Kind of wish I could do that sometimes.

Club has a small loft. Megan is showing me her shark puppet.

Megan smiling during the classroom portion of the parent program.

This is the small playroom that is decorated like a submarine for this unit.

Dancing in Disneyland! (cont...)

So to keep the tradition alive...Saturday had a clothes color assignment too. It was "grey day." To start off the day we got ready to dance! We were so thankful that our time slot to dance was first thing in the morning (well, late morning, but the first show). It made it easy to just get ready in the morning to dance, and then we had the rest of the day to enjoy in the Park. The girls all danced really well. Good job, Katelyn!

Waiting with the group to enter the Park with their Disney escort.

Megan is too young to dance at Disneyland, so she started climbing letters while we waited to drop off Katelyn.

I love this picture of Katelyn and her sassy dance moves. She's the cute one on the right of the picture. Swing those hips, Katelyn!

 The rest of the day was spent enjoying the Park again. Here's the "grey day" collage.

This was a pretty adventurous day for Megan and me. To preface this story, I have to say that I don't do the rides that have a big drop. I don't really like them. As I drop and am in the free-fall state, I kind of hold my breath and stop breathing. Not a good idea, but I'd have to say, better than throwing up! I learned this as a teenager and have avoided those kind of rides ever since. I don't mind going on fast roller coasters, and I don't mind going upside down. It's just that free fall that gets me. So, now the story. One of Megan's favorite rides is the Jumping Jellyfish in California Adventure. It's an easy drop. Just enough to have your stomach do a little jump but not enough to get scared. For some reason, I mentioned to her that the Tower of Terror was like the Jumping Jellyfish, just bigger and faster. Well, then she wanted to go on that ride. We tried to convince her that she would not like the ride and that it would be too fast. I think Chris and I were hoping that she'd be too short to ride the ride, but as it turns out, she's not. There was no good reason to not let her go on the ride, so we said we could try it. So, of course Megan wanted me to go on the ride with her. I told Chris he had to come too to help me! In the end, for me the ride wasn't too bad. Not my idea of fun, but I'm still breathing! Megan on the other hand said she never wants to ride the Tower of Terror ever again. She held on to Chris pretty tight and screamed her way down. I think she'll be sticking with Jumping Jellyfish from here on out.

Dancing in Disneyland!

Katelyn is finally old enough to dance in Disneyland! I know, your thinking, "but weren't you just in Disneyland in August." Yup. Thanks to Jeanne's School of Dance and Katelyn and 2 amazing sister-in-laws who teach dance, we got to do Disneyland a second time this year. The dancers were scheduled to dance on Saturday morning, so we got to the Happiest Place on Earth Thursday night so we could have one whole day in the park. If you know my family, you know we dress in the same color. So much easier to find your group in the crowd! So, Friday was "red day." Then I had the happy surprise to find out that my family had decided to celebrate my birthday. When we met at the fireplace at the Grand Californian, I was given a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse style adventure to collect my presents throughout the day. It was so much fun!

Here's our best family picture as we wait to enter the park. (Megan really was excited to be there even though she's not smiling in this picture, and Adam just wanted out of his stroller already!)

Here's a picture of all the birthday treats and presents I got throughout the day. Thank you Kaley and Amy for your crazy, fun, creative brain! It made me feel special all day!

I just love seeing the kids in Disneyland! Here's a collage of our fabulous "red day."

One of the presents I got was to have 3 hours with just Chris in the park and the rest of the family would watch my kids. We chose to leave just after dinner and enjoy a date! Chris chose to take me to Captain E-O because I had never (to my recollection) seen it before. It was definitely interesting! We then went on some rides. What a difference it is to stand in line without kids!

Super Halloween

This year for Halloween I decided to go themed. I somehow convinced the girls they wanted to be superheros to match Adam who was Superman. Katelyn chose Wonder Woman and Megan chose Supergirl. I think in the process I agreed to let Katelyn get a Dorthy from Wizard of Oz costume sometime in the future. I think all she really wants are the red ruby slippers. That's easy.

It was a little tricky with Halloween falling on a Sunday this year. Saturday we just pretended it was Halloween. The girls really didn't know any different and we were able to keep our Sabbath day just for Church and family. So, Saturday, we finally carved our pumpkin to start off the Halloween festivities.

Then we went to Chris' parent's neighborhood Halloween party. It is always fun, hot dogs, chili, and carnival games for the kids. Even Adam figured out that if he did the cake walk he would get a cupcake. Then we chose about 10 families from our Ward that we knew would let trick-or-treaters come on Saturday and let the kids go trick or treating. They had fun and it was so nice to not have a huge load of candy at the end of the day. Turns out when you only go to about 10 houses you only get about 10 pieces of candy! Then our last trick or treat stop was Chris' grandparent's house. I think the kids had a really good time.

Then Sunday, we went about our day like a normal Sunday. After Sunday dessert night at Chris' grandparent's we let the kids dress up in their costumes again so they could show my parents on Skype their Halloween attire. In the process they were able to help pass out candy to trick or treaters that came to our door. Again, it was a great hit and the kids didn't even ask to go out on Sunday. They were satisfied with passing out our candy.

Dance, dance, dance

Along with the new school year, Katelyn and Megan have started a new dance year. They both grew so much as dancers last year, I'm excited to see what this next year will bring. The first two performances in the fall are the Zoowalk for Autism and the AZ State Fair. Chris had to brave the Zoowalk by himself with the kids this year playing the part of "dance mom." I had to be at the Primary program practice since I'm in the presidency and funny thing is I haven't figured out how to be in two places at one time! The girls performed dances from last year, so I tried not to feel too bad that I missed a show. Chris did a great job being a dance mom and the girls did a great job.

This year at the AZ State Fair, we got the royal treatment. Amy (Chris's sister and director of the dance company) road in our car with us and so we got the special fancy parking pass that let us park pretty much right next to the stage. We were there early and got to watch the other studios dance before it was our turn. I may be a little biased, but I think our company is the best! The girls had a great show. Then after the show we let the girls pick a couple rides to go on and they all got snow cones while the adults got pineapple ice cream....yum....can't wait for more of that next year!

Cute Megan getting ready to dance her favorite "Tiana" dance.

So, not the best picture of Katelyn, but it was a sunny day! I realized I didn't have any other good pictures of Katelyn that day in costume.

Adam enjoying a snow cone after the show. I love the look on his face. It says, "really Mom and Dad...yellow snow?"

A much happier Katelyn. And who doesn't love having blue teeth!

Katelyn turns 7!

Wow, Katelyn. 7. Really?! Here's my Katelyn at 7. Beautiful, tall, kind, friends with everyone, possibly a wee bit emotional (can't wait until 13!), a wonderful helper at home, smart, and loving. I decided that I didn't want to do "friend birthday parties" every year, so my plan is 5, 8, and 12. Random? Maybe a little bit. :) Nonetheless, even without a big friend birthday party celebration, we still had a lot of fun this year. Katelyn requested that I come have lunch with her at school and bring Sonic. It was so much fun to see her at school with her friends, and she was absolutely beaming that it was her special day to eat lunch with me and Megan and Adam. We invited Chris' family to come over for a family party the night of her birthday. Katelyn chose the family favorite Texas sheet cake for her birthday cake, so after opening presents, we enjoyed wonderful cake and ice cream.

Then Saturday I let her invite 2 friends over for a "late night" movie night and girl fun in lieu of a big party. Katelyn loved it and I love that it was no stress and way low key. I love the late night party. It's the fun of a sleepover in pjs but none of the staying over at someone's house (which isn't allowed in our home.) Katelyn and I went to Wal-mart and bought pretty much every movie candy she liked. Then when the friends arrived, we played for a little bit, then we did pedicures (OK, I did the pedicures...not too bad) then we watched Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses, ate more candy than we all should have and then ate popcorn. I'm not sure how much movie was watched, but I know all of the girls had a great time!

Megan's parent program - Space unit

At Discover Club at the end of each unit, they have a parent program. This is where they can tells us all about what they have been learning and show us around their Club room. I love Discovery Club! Megan has grown so much over just a short time. She loves going to Club. She is learning so much. She has learned the names to all the planets in order, she's learned about gravity, astronauts, and so much more! And she's finally learning how to write her name...and she's wanting to do it! I was feeling a little bit like it was my fault as a parent that she couldn't do that yet, but really, she didn't want to do it and I didn't want to push her and make her hate it. Yeah for Discover Club for showing her that she can do it and it's fun!

Each day when they come home from Club, they bring home an information sheet. On this paper, there are questions we can ask about the things they learned that day. It is so nice to have that instead of the usual "What did you learn today?" (kid responds) "I don't remember, or nothing or I don't know." I'm amazed at all the kids are learning.

Here's some pictures of her club room. I also have some video of a couple songs in the program. Megan is in a pink BYU shirt with the big Y on the front.

Megan is in the pink BYU shirt with the big Y on the front. Here the kids are getting ready to start their program.

This is a special playroom off the main Club room. It is changed for each unit. This one is the space ship. Inside the cabinets there are space suits for the kids to put on. So fun!

The ceiling was covered in the kids foil body outlines. This one is Megan, of course.

Happy Birthday Grandma Long

Chris' grandparents took the entire family to Red Robin for Grandma Long's birthday. It was, as always, a huge hit. Chris didn't get there in time from work to eat at the restaurant with us, but we got him a to-go box. I'm always a little nervous at a restaurant with small kids because you never know if it's going to be good or bad. Today was good! I had Bradley next to me helping with Adam. He was a huge help because Adam loves Bradley. I think it's the first name Adam learned how to say besides mom and dad. It's still not completely understandable to someone on the "outside" but it's definitely his name.

After Red Robin, we went to Chris' grandparent's house for cake and ice cream. The kids played outside and the adults got to visit. So as to not break the nice silence of the kids playing outside, each great grandchild was invited inside one by one to get a picture with grandma and her cake. Then they each got to blow out the candle with her.

Then Saturday, the girls got to go out to our favorite restaurant Crackers. It was great food and great company. And the best part is spreading out the birthday celebration over 2 days. Happy Birthday Grandma!