Christmas 2008

Christmas this year was fun- we enjoyed being with Mom and Dad, and we are especially loving the no-school thing. Dad even has this whole two weeks off, so we've just been having one big party here. Well, kind of. I didn't take a lot of pictures, but here's what I got:

Christmas lights- do you like the unlit N and L? The first night after we put the lights up, some teenagers came and messed with them in the middle of the night. A couple of bulbs must have been knocked around, and we never got around to figuring it out. We decided to tell people that "OE" is portuguese for Merry Christmas. So there you go: "Oe!"

The whole ward does luminaries, too- the standard is 6, Dad bought extra materials and we did something like 42, with an extra 20 at the cemetery. We win!

We were so glad to have Grandma Shipley with us for Christmas Eve. The little girls couldn't get enough of her- she read to them for a long time, and they kept running back over to sit next to her. She is a good grandma. I should know!

Christmas morning! All the kiddos with their quilts from Grandma Steele. She made 19 of those all together!

Emma with her new art set. She's not hard to buy for... just make sure it has Disney princesses on it, and she'll like it.

Price and Josh playing Nintendo DS. We did not buy these for them- the big ticket items are all from Aunt Merle. We love Aunt Merle! Unfortunately, she won't have us for Christmas again for another seven years. Bummer.

Ethan with Josh's DS- he actually got a really cool remote control helicopter and an awesome Lego Rescue Helicopter set, but I didn't manage to take pictures of those.

Annie and a bunch of her presents- she says her favorite is the tent. The girls were extremely excited to sleep inside it Christmas night.

Rebekah's favorite present, by far. Thanks again, Merle!

Not Christmas morning- this was today, the 27th, but isn't it beautiful?

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Okay, everyone. I just enabled anonymous comments, which means that you don't have to have a google account to leave a comment on this blog. You don't, technically, even have to tell me who you are. Although I would really hate that. So what are you waiting for? I would love to hear from some of you who I know read this religiously. Okay, maybe not, but it would be fun to see who reads about our family! So hey- if you are reading this, just leave a comment. If you choose the anonymous setting, make sure to put your name in so I know it's you. Thanks for humoring me!

I'll post Christmas pictures tomorrow- I tried to do it today, and it shut down Tim's laptop prematurely. Oops.

All I want for Christmas...

is to be able to spend the day out of bed!

It's a good thing I didn't completely procrastinate Christmas, because I got strep Sunday afternoon, finally went to the doctor Tuesday morning for antibiotics, and am feeling slightly human again today. Having a mom with strep is not the most fun thing for kids at Christmas. It's a good thing they have a fun Dad who builds snowmen, and two great sets of grandparents who do things like taking them out to Arctic Circle for ice cream and help them deliver gifts to neighbors. I also had a "secret Santa" from Relief Society, who brought us dinner on Monday night (she didn't know I was sick). That was so nice, since I definitely wasn't up to making dinner.

Anyway, instead of all the fun Christmas stuff I usually do, I've been sleeping a lot. And reading. That's been kind of nice, actually, although even reading gets old after the second day. The good news is that I've been up all day today- although I think I'd better go lie down for a little while so I can survive the evening. Hopefully I won't be too much of a grouch for the festivities tonight!

Sledding at the Pit

This is Anna's first winter of sledding, and she LOVES it.

Snaggle-tooth Ethan and the Snowy Paws of Death.

Climbing back up the hill...

Post Wipe-Out

Again, climbing back up the hill... it's lots easier to get pictures coming up than going down!

Tweaking the snow jump

Uh-oh... time to go home! She'd already wiped the snow off her face at this point.

Jr. High Band Concert

Does the title of that post strike fear into your heart? Well, it shouldn't- at least not if the band belongs to our junior high. We attended Rebekah's band concert last night, and they sounded so great! I was extremely impressed by the quality of every band that played. The band instructor here is talented and very enthusiastic, and I am so glad that Rebekah is at this school for this experience. I even found out that this junior high has a flute choir- the only one around, apparently.

Tender mercies are real. When I am trying to do what the Lord would have me do, I am taken care of in ways that mean so much to me. This gives me hope for the future, too. No matter where we end up, it will be the right place for each member of my family.

14 years... continued

Marian was concerned that my last post didn't have any pictures of Ethan. To avoid any possible issues involving therapy in a few years, here is my addendum to the anniversary post. Besides that, they're just really cute pictures. Being a parent creates very conflicting emotions: on one hand, I can't wait for my kids to grow up. On the other, I want them to stay little forever. No matter how hard I try, I just can't have it both ways.

Look! It's Ethan!

The family at Yellowstone, June 2005. That's Ethan there on the right.

14 Years?!

A few images from those long ago years...

Wow- we were so overwhelmed during those first few years (and I do mean few- on our third anniversary, I was 8 months pregnant with our 2nd and 3rd children. Crazy. Life has settled down a little since then, even with the addition of 3 more kids. I am just starting to realize how blessed I was to marry Tim- I'm not sure how I was so smart, or how I qualified for such blatant divine intervention, but I am very grateful. Tim is wonderful. He loves me. All the time. Even when I'm hormonal. He thinks I am beautiful, and tells me I'm crazy when I don't believe him. I am slowly learning from him what it means to be a good spouse. Maybe one of these years I'll finally get it.
I look forward to growing old together.

Joyschool Christmas Program

I really lucked into Joyschool this year- thanks for inviting me, Meredith! We have a great group of moms and girls (7 of them!), and they are so fun to play with. Our Christmas program was Tuesday, and the girls were great. We had one sick, but still ended up with Mary, Joseph, a shepherd, a wise man, a star and an angel. They also sang Christmas songs for us, and entertained everyone by being generally adorable. And the cookies afterwards didn't hurt, either.

Our finest gifts we bring...

Annie the wise babe!

Jennifer needs...

I've seen this floating around: Google your first name, followed by the word "needs", and see what you come up with. Unfortunately, there are two Jennifers who are always in the news: Aniston and Lopez. This definitely skewed my results. Here are my top 10:

1. Jennifer needs to play by the rules. (I'm trying, I'm trying!)

2.Jennifer needs to give birth in the next week. (Um, no. But thanks for playing.)

3. Jennifer needs help! (So true.)

4.Why Jennifer needs a cane. (I probably slipped on the vomit last night.)

5. Jennifer needs to lose some weight! (Not news to me.)

6. Jennifer needs your support. (Definitely)

7. Jennifer needs a muzzle. (Yep.)

8. Jennifer needs 2 1/2 cups of sugar to make cookies for 15 people. (Don't I always.)

9. Jennifer needs to develop age-appropriate language for social situations. (It's good to have my suspicions confirmed.)

10. Jennifer needs a home! (this was for an animal shelter... but it is strangely appropriate)

I guess everyone pretty much has the same needs...

Ward Christmas Party Nightmare

This is going to be one of those things my youngest daughter will wish I had never recorded for posterity, but it's just too good to pass up.

Our ward Christmas dinner was last night. These are not generally my favorite church activities of the year... too many people, roving bands of kids in the halls, and to top it all off, my family is so large that I never really get to talk to anyone else... I'm too busy supervising/sitting on my children all night. This particular ward dinner was very well planned and executed, but still... I prefer the outdoor, summertime dinner and swimming party. Or the Relief Society dinners. You know, the ones where you leave your kids at home.

Anyway, we were eating and trying to corral the kids, but had briefly lost track of Annie. Suddenly, there she was... walking (make that waddling) towards us, with her pants pulled most of the way down. I flew out of my seat, pulled the offending pants up, (ignoring the titters around us) and whisked her to the bathroom. She was trying so hard... just hadn't quite made it in time. So...

I sent Emma to get the car keys from Tim and took Annie home to change her, hoping to make it back before my Dad sang in the program. We got back fairly quickly, and I snuck into the back of the cultural hall, intending to listen to the rest of the program. Then came the second (infinitely worse) surprise of the night:

Annie: "My tummy hurts, Mommy!" Followed by retching sounds.

Can I just tell you? I have great, self-sacrificing reflexes. My hand went up to her mouth, I turned her toward me, and I was out the door. We made it outside, throwing up all the way. It was pretty bad. And chocolately. But you didn't want to know that. Sorry.

I was soooooo grateful that I still had the car keys, because there was no way I was going back inside. When Annie finally finished ridding her stomach of dinner, she said, "Sorry, Mommy", in this sad little voice. Then we passed under a streetlight, and she said, "Look at us!" She was right, it was pretty scary. Both of us were covered... hair, shirts, pants, hands... when I undressed to take a shower, it was on my chest.

We drove home, I plopped her into the bathtub and ran to the other room to take a shower. We did not go back to the party again. I did have Tim make sure we hadn't dripped on our way out the door, but I was seriously good- he didn't find anything.

Later, I found out that Dad had sung while we were gone the first time. Yep. Next time, maybe I'll just quit while I'm ahead.

Stake Choir Concert

Every December, for the last 10 years, my mother has called me around this time, telling me how wonderful their Stake Choir Christmas concert was... how much fun it was to participate... what great music they sang... how amazing their director and accompanists were. Not fair.

This year, I didn't have to hear her say it, because I got to participate myself! It has been a very long time (since I was at BYU, 15 years ago) since I got to sing with a really good choir led by a very talented conductor. It was so much fun. I loved the rehearsals, and the concert was a spiritual experience for me. I am so glad that I am here this year!

I am extremely grateful that music is one of the things that will continue into the eternities.

Potty-Training Update

It's over! My days of changing diapers are gone, never to come again (I should probably knock on wood when I say that). I don't think Annie's had an accident for a week. The best part is that she is so proud of herself. For ages, I have been telling her that she's not a baby anymore... that she's a big girl (this was to convince her to potty train herself). She would always say that she wasn't a big girl, she was a small girl. Today, while we were at Walmart, I was talking to her about how well she has been doing at staying dry, and how big she was. I could see her thinking about it. When I needed to get milk (our normal 8 gallons) out of the refrigerator case, she wanted to help. I turned around to see her holding two gallons of milk- one in each hand. She looked at me and said, "I'm a little bit big." Yep- but I hope she still stays my baby for awhile longer (except for the diaper part, obviously).

Success!

I have been struggling for months... maybe even years... trying to get Annalise potty-trained. This was due to a number of things:

-Emma didn't need potty-training. Not really. She watched Ethan learn, and then did it herself. I got spoiled.

-Annie is my sixth child. I was tired of the whole potty-training process. I kept hoping she'd train herself.

-When Annie was about to turn three, I kept saying, "I wouldn't want to start potty-training now- we're about to move overseas. It would just cause problems."

-After we got to the Azores and Annie was three, I was lazy.

-We were moving back to Utah (see previous reason about moving overseas).

-Annie didn't want to. And honestly, at this point she didn't really think she could do it. I mean, I had started potty-training her multiple times for a few hours at at time. She had been programmed for failure.

Annalise turned four in October. I decided (hesitantly, because I was pretty much programmed for failure too, at this point) that we really needed to get this done. So yesterday, I had Tim take the older kids to his parents house for the day. My Mom and Dad were out of town, so I had the whole day to just concentrate on Annie. I had read up on lots of different methods and combined a few, so we had a new drink and wet doll, little presents to open, and lots of drinks, movies, and stickers. And I prayed. I didn't think I could handle another disappointing failure.

Finally, with my undivided attention, it worked! Annie had 7 successes and 1 accident yesterday. We are both ecstatic! Today, even with the long trip to the zoo/museum/Temple Square, she did great. I am sooooooo happy.

She is very proud of herself. She shows her sticker chart to anyone who cares, and she's actually excited to go sit on the toilet.

And I have one less parenting failure to worry about.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Okay, so the weekend's not officially over yet, but I'm pretty sure we're not doing anything out of the ordinary tomorrow, so the HOLIDAY weekend is over, at least.

Thanksgiving Day was spent at Tim's sister's house in Evanston. It was a great day- lots of good food, all the right people, and weather conducive to kids playing outside! To add to the fun, Sandy had a new kid-sized four wheeler, so the kids were busy pretty much the whole day. Food? Who cares about food?

Tim spent the day splitting wood and playing football. Isn't he cute?

While the big kids did most of the ATV riding, the younger kids had a blast with cousins Logan and Junior. I believe they were saving puppies from a fire.

Friday was an experiment... I'll talk about it in my next post. I'm thinking it worked, though!!!!

Today we spent the afternoon/evening in Salt Lake. We started at the zoo (have to get our money's worth out of that zoo membership!).

On the teeter-totter at the zoo playground. Emma's face is in response to me sitting on the other end. Flattering, huh?

This picture was unreasonably difficult to get. Just getting all of my kids in the same place at the same time, looking the same (general) direction was a joke today!

After the zoo, we parked downtown and walked over to the Church Art Museum. They have a children's exhibit there right now called "I Am a Child of God". It is an interactive exhibit, so of course the kids loved it.

Emma taking care of a baby in the hospital nursery.

Wise men and shepherds. Sorry you can't see Mary and Baby Jesus.

When it got dark, we made our way across the street for the lights on Temple Square. They were beautiful, but you won't see much of that from my pictures. I was trying to use the "nighttime" setting on my camera.. Evidently I need a tripod or a steadier arm.

Hmm... Rebekah must be almost a teenager. There's that scowl again! Just kidding, Bek- I'm glad that as you get older you are growing into my friend as well as my daughter.


I guess it's time to get in the holiday spirit!

Indoctrination

We had planned to go to the zoo today, but Tim ended up working a volunteer shift at D.I. for the whole afternoon. Instead of the zoo, I took the kids to BYU... I figure exposure is good for their future plans (or should I say MY future plans?)

Anyway, ulterior motives aside, the Bean Museum on campus is a very cool place for kids. Mine love it. And did I mention it's free? We have a winner!

Ethan scaring the lion?

Staring contest.

Josh was very happy to have me take his picture.

Emma: "Take a picture of me, Mom!"

Price getting trampled by an antelope.

Price with the liger.

Look at those teeth!

It is seriously impossible to get a good picture of Anna these days. She just doesn't hold still long enough for me to catch her with her eyes open, looking the right direction.

Hey- we were at BYU. I had to get a picture of the cougar.

Not sure what this is, but he sure is cool looking.

We came out of the Bean Museum just a few minutes before 3:00, so we stuck around to hear the carillon bell ring. Hearing "Come, Come Ye Saints" on the hour really feels like BYU to me. The kids were duly impressed.

Next, we headed over to the Earth Science Museum. Not nearly so entertaining, but still worth the admission price (yeah, it's free too).

Is that an awesome set of antlers, or what?

We came home for peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and dinner (in that order).

Tomorrow we're off to Evanston, for Thanksgiving with Tim's family.

Today, I'm thankful for my kids.