Revisit traditions

This is more like the "pre-nativity" :o) I really like it. A symbol of the love and sacrifice Mary and Joseph had/made for each other and God.

So, I mentioned before that I collect Nativities. This year I received 2 more, both from my Mom. I wanted to document them here, since I posted my collection last Christmas here.

Christmas Day

Daddy's home! Waiting at the top of the stairs!

Clothes from Grandma and Grandpa Stubz

Piggy banks from Mom and Dad

Hats and scarves from Auntie Jody

BUZZ!

The snow started falling just past midnight. At 4 am I awoke to freezing rain/snow pounding on the house and panicked that Josh would not make it home. I could not sleep. Tristan woke at 530, followed by the girls at 6am. I kept them upstairs with me watching tv and cuddling, waiting to hear from Josh. He called to say the morning doc could not make it in and they wanted him to stay but he said no. The hospital lot and streets had been plowed so he headed out at 7am, waiting for some more daylight. He was able to drive east and then up 35 from the South and get home at 8am. The kids were super-excited and everyone rushed down the stairs to see the presents. Asher new right away that his was the trike and Tristan loved all his books. Delaney clapped and smiled and just wanted to unwrap presents. The girls liked their toys too.

Tristan: Wimpy Kid books, skateboard, LEGOs

Melina: camera plus scrapbook, Barbie computer, BOB reading books

Mara: dressable dolls, Pink and Purplicious books, Pet Shop figures

Asher: Trike, Toy Story boots, Toy Story book

Delaney: Baby art station, Ball toy, Book with animals

Dacia: GIANT bone and cookie treats

Daddy: dress shoes, fridge for office, scanner

Mommy: winter boots, earring and necklace, CRICKET

Surprise for everyone: NIKON D90 camera (That Target commercial flashed thru my mind of the woman opening the giant TV and telling her hubby Santa doesn't need help doing "his" job-- yep, I love the surprise, and I hope Santa was very thrifty.....:o)

We had Sausage Medley and Eggnog French toast for breakfast and then an early dinner of traditional Thanksgiving-type foods. Everything was yummy and fun! We are truly blessed!

Christmas Eve

The stockings...not hung due to weight issues: candy, pop, radios, video games

The loot left by Santa after the kids were asleep!

Gingerbread house

Eating Chinese...Girls...Laney loves Chinese.....

and Boys. PF Changs has a Gluten-free menu!

Daddy was home so we started the morning with Egg casserole and decorating our traditional Gingerbread house (No, I do not bake the Gingerbread. I buy the kit at Costco because I have 5 kids and I am busy enough wrapping and baking....:o) After the Gingerbread house we watched a movie and played some games. The blizzard was on its way and Josh got a phone call from Winterset offering too much money to turn down to go be the Er doc for the night since the other doc could not make it due to the blizzard. We thought about it and decided to take our chances. If we had known sooner, we would have just packed everyone and everything up and stayed there for a few days for the money, but at last minute? I had too much prepared,so we sent Josh and prayed real hard for less snow.

So, since he had to leave at 5, we ate our Chinese dinner (to celebrate the Magi/three Kings from the East :o) early. Josh left and the kids and I bathed, changed into Christmas jammies, read the Christmas story and watched the "Nativity story" on DVD. Then off to bed for the rascals!

Santa worked hard into the night assembling toys and making sure all was right! Darn batteries! Santa totally forgot triple AAAs for the walkie-talkies, but otherwise things went off without a hitch.

12 month Comparisons

Delaney's Birthday Party

Delaney's Birthday was Saturday December 19th. However, I had been up all night very sick and then Saturday we had framers, Tristan's swim meet (he got 1st in 50 yd breast!), Delaney's pictures at Target, and I had to cook a ham for the Christmas party for our Ward that night, so we celebrated Sunday when life was less hectic and we all felt better. Delaney was not sure about opening gifts, but now she wants to open every single one under the tree! She thinks every day is her birthday now! She got a bitty baby, tea set, wagon/stroller/ride-on, a music box for her bed and money! She cried thru most of it and I think she was tired but the last few days she has enjoyed playing with her toys. At her doctor appt she was 19 lbs (20%) and 31 inches (90%). So she is our tall, skinny girl. She drinks from a sippy now and feeds herself. She wants to do everything by herself too from eat to play to go to sleep. She is not walking yet but cruises behind her walk-toys. She says loads of words and screams whenever Asher comes near :o)

YMCA Preschool Christmas Concert

Asher with the 2 year old class

Ciomara walking up to perform

The preschool held it's annual Christmas concert last Friday. They had a morning brunch and music program. Josh was not able to attend so just Laney and Mommy saw Asher and Mara perform. Mara did great and was a pro in front of the crowd (being in Primary helps). Asher did not know quite what to do but he caught on and had a smile on his face the whole time.

Melina's 1st grade concert

The music program here in Iowa is grand compared to what I had in California. Show Choir is a huge deal and they prepare kids young. Every grade performs their "concert" throughout the year and 1st grade had a Holiday Concert last week. Melina loves to perform and did all the moves and sang loud. She may not have the best singing voice :o) but, she is fun to watch!

Waukee Ward Christmas Party

Tristan

Asher

Ciomara

Melina

Delaney

Saturday night, after a crazy busy day, we celebrated with our ward. We love the Waukee ward. We have also loved the Spanish branch and 7th branch too. It is so great to be surrounded by people who care for you and treat you like family. I love being a Member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, because I know wherever I go in the world I have instant family....we had a great time eating and singing and umm, visiting Santa. Well everyone but Delaney! I cooked a 25lb ham! Crazy! 5 hours but it tasted delicious! I love Christmas food!

Basement Remodel FRAME

Bottom of stairs, storage left, bedroom door ahead

Closet for bedroom behind what will be some built in shelves/cabinets, bathroom door to right storage far right of pic

Looking from living room area to media wall and behind media wall is safe room/exercise room/storage

craft area. here you can see the white-washed/waterproofed walls

I am behind with a dozen posts to do, but wanted to quickly say a few things about our basement. We have planned to finish it for two years. We finally got to it. We hired a contractor and we are making progress the waterproofing, framing and now electrical sometime during the break. Step 2 will be some plumbing and heating/cooling as well as drywall, but that will probably start in February. We would like to finish by summer, but if it was all done by Christmas next year it would be perfect for anyone who wants to have a White Christmas/Happy Holidays with us!

Delaney is 1!

It's my Birthday and I'll cry if I want too!

Lots more pics and posts to come soon!

Christmas Letter 2009

Stubblefield Family Football 2009
Final score Kids 5: Parents 2 Go COUGARS!
(A quick note: family football is unlike American football in that points can be gained and lost according to who is in charge for the moment)
First Quarter: It started with the kids pulling ahead after the late December arrival of a new baby sister, Delaney Faye Stubblefield. Mom spent most of her time adjusting to 5 kids! doing laundry, cooking meals, and entertaining children while it was cold outside. Papa and Grandma Stubblefield came in February for Delaney’s baby blessing, upping the score: Kids 5: Parents 4.
Second quarter: The Parents lost then gained 2 more when Papa and Grandma Price came for an Easter visit. We had fun playing in the snow and visiting local attractions.
Half Time: A series of friends and family made special appearances during the summer. We had a blast with the slip n slide, swimming at the Aquatics Center, Chicago with Grandma Angie and playing with friends.
Third Quarter: School started again. Hooray! On Mondays the score is even Kids 1: Parents 1 as everyone but Laney and Mommy is at work or school. Kids are busy, busy, busy! Tristan is in 2nd grade, swims on the Waukee Rays team and plays piano. Melina is in 1st grade, does gymnastics and plays piano. Ciomara is in her last year of preschool and she dances. Asher started preschool this year, just 2 hours each Monday. He is having trouble adjusting and is our holy terror. At times, he commits several personal fouls with his tantrums and antics: hiding in the store, cutting up his clothes, smearing poop on the floor, waking the baby, leaving the house, climbing the counters…..(see blog for more :o) Laney is a perfect angel who keeps us all smiling and loves to wave and say “hi!” to everyone.
Fourth Quarter: The score briefly went 5 to 1 as Josh went to Kansas City to lecture at a medical conference as well as present 3 research posters he facilitated. Fortunately, the parents pulled ahead with a trip to California for Thanksgiving, a family reunion and Tristan’s baptism. Even though total number of kids outnumbered the adults most of the time, Josh and I got some downtime which brought the score to Kids 5: Parents like 15 (that includes grandparents and aunts and such who watched kids for us so we could shop, and go to the movies, the Temple, and dinner). However, we find ourselves again outscored by the kids as we return home to cold, snowy Iowa for the holiday. We love it here! And we couldn’t be happier with the final score (this year :o).
Merry Christmas! May the Lord bless you with peace and joy in 2010!
Josh, Courtney, Tristan, Melina, Ciomara, Asher, Delaney, and Dacia
Note change to address: 1130 SE Brentwood Drive Waukee IA 50263
515-401-6310 Courtney’s cell 515-314-6193 Josh’s cell 515-314-5906
Check out the blog: http://www.thestubblefieldstory.blogspot.com/

Traditions

So, I went to a Christmas ornament exchange on Friday night and we discussed traditions. I am writing our down form posterity :o) Our traditions (new and borrowed) are:
1. eat Chinese for Christmas Eve to celebrate the wise men LOL
2. eat Christmas sausage medley and eggnog french toast for Christmas breakfast and traditional "Thanksgiving" dinner for dinner
3. make treat plates for neighbors and friends and deliver them for FHE (I buy the plates at Target the year before, Christmas clearance, so they are really nice plates for like a $1 each)
4. exchange jammies with cuzzies and open and wear Christmas Eve
5. get a new nativity scene each year. We have a collection for our decorations.
6. get new ornaments each year. Each child has their own box and when they grow up and get married it is theirs to keep for their family tree.
7. write a Christmas letter and take a themed picture. We pick a theme every year and try to follow it thru with our writing too. (We did Football/BYU this year :o) We have done pioneers, scrubs, Scooby-Doo....)
8. Santa brings three gifts to you plus a stocking. He brings a book, and two toys, one you ask for and one you might need/want. Santa wraps each child's stuff in different paper so you things can be recognized. You "asked for gift" is left unwrapped.
9. Go see Christmas lights for FHE the Monday night before Christmas
10. Youngest child puts the star on the tree
So...maybe we will develop new ones as the years pass, but for now these have been pretty consistent. I have even been known to drive more than an hour each way on Christmas Eve just to make sure we eat Chinese!
12/23 edited to add: we always make a Gingerbread House on Christmas Eve day

Broadlawns Christmas Open House

Saturday we went to the BMC Open House. Mel was at Delaney's (neighbor) birthday party so she missed out. Gary, our friend from the hospital played Santa and he is awesome. Laney and Asher were both very unsure, but by the end of the party, they both hugged Santa goodbye.

Blizzard of 2009

So, if you have not heard, Iowa got dumped on this past week. Worst snow storm in a long time they say. We have never had this much snow at once in horrible windy conditions. We were just lucky it did not include an ice storm too! Crazy! It started to fall Tuesday so the kids got out early. Tuesday night was real bad with the majority of snow falling and drifts up to six feet! Josh had to go to Winterset. I was scared for him the whole drive there, as they closed I-80 and were diverting traffic and had a no-tow ordinance. We piled his car with water and snacks, chains, cat litter and a sleeping bag. He made it safe and even made it to Broadlawns the next morning. However, he could not come home because of the snow pictured above. They would not even clear side streets and we don't have 4-wheel drive. So Later Tuesday I went out and plowed a little path from the main street just to our house so he could come be with us. Wednesday was the "big dig" so school was closed again. By that time the kids were tired and bored and fighting and spent all afternoon sledding.....

So what do you do stuck inside?

1. have the fire going constantly

2. sing Christmas carols

3. finish Christmas card

4. dig in the snow (for a few seconds)

5. bake

6. bake

7. drink hot chocolate

8. wash loads of things

9. vacuum and scrub stuff

10. read

11. watch movies (we became really acquainted with A Christmas Carol and the new Harry Potter!)

12. nap

13. roller skate in the basement

14. pillow fight

15. clean up lots of poop (yes, that would be Asher making that mess :o)

So, even though I was spent, it was a productive few days completely stuck at home. The kids were glad to go back Friday and frankly so was I, but at least we baked all our Christmas goodies and mailed out our cards!

11 month comparisons

Delaney 11 months (ok, 3 weeks late)

Man, we love this little girl!

Trip to California: Goodbyes

With Grandma Laurie Stubblefield and Grandpa Bud Stubblefield (see the splint on Laney's leg?)

Wednesday we said our goodbyes. It was sad, but we were also ready to be home in our own beds. The flight left Sacramento around 4 pm but with delays in Denver we did not get home until 2amish.....It made for a long day with very little food because we sat on the plane in Denver for over an hour and could not get out to eat. The kids were ok going to Denver but horrible on the second flight. I can totally understand why. They cried on the drive home from Omaha and were confused when we tired to put them to bed. The house smelled lovely when we arrived and warm (since it was snowing outside!) I can tell we are back because my lips and hands feel really dry (good ole' Iowa winter). Laney had cried for 2 nights because of her leg. Hopefully we will take her in next week for a follow-up x-ray. We got right back in the swing of things, although the kids have been late to school because we are still on California time. Today we slept in, trying to catch-up and have been working on the tree and other decorations, plus the Christmas card, grocery shopping and of course the blog! We had a great time and cannot wait until Feb and March when the grandparents will visit us!

Trip to California: Bowling

Grandma with Brielle and Laney and one of the twins

Tristan and Kelman

Tuesday after Papa came home from work we went bowling. It is hard to bowl with 9 kids. Everyone kept fighting and crying and disappearing on us. But, we toughed it out. Tristan got some strikes which made him excited and Melina and Mara even figured out how to throw the ball. Josh won, but I came in 3rd by a hair!

Trip to California: Bird Sanctuary

The kids in the BIG van

eating lunch

Monday was Emily's birthday so while the girls (Emily, Andrea, Megan and I, and baby Brielle)enjoyed New Moon Mom and Josh took 9 kids, yes 9! to Grey's Lodge to see the birds. They all fit in our big van: Kelman, Carter and Brechin Lyon, Amanda Runyan, and our 5. Then Monday night we got a sitter for the kids and enjoyed "Better than Sex" cake and a game of Balderdash along with some funny Youtube videos at the Lyons.