New Years

I really wanted to go to Times Square in NYC to watch the big apple drop this year, but I didn't have a willing companion to go with me. After seeing the weather report I was glad that he didn't want to go. Being outside for a long period of time in 1 degree weather doesn't sound too appealing. Instead we made our own apple drop (literally). We counted down, and when we got to one, I dropped an apple. We do what we can to live our dreams!

We counted down with England (7:00p.m.) at a friends party for the kids. It was fun to be able to spend that time with friends, and to let our kids enjoy themselves. Plus we had them to bed by 9:00 p.m. having celebrated New Year's Eve!!

Date....mid week

Alan took me out on a fabulous night on the town....on a Tuesday none the less! It was a lot of fun!! We had a friend who was home from college for Christmas break watch our kids (it was our ward youth activity night) while we went to Sakura's restaurant for dinner and than to a Maryland Basketball game! Maryland won 76-50, because we were there I am sure! It was nice just to have the time to be with Alan and to chat about the year that has passed and the upcoming year. It was also very nice that I didn't have to plan it and that it was of his doing!!

Way to go lover boy!

Merry Christmas

What a wonderful day we had!! We gathered bright and early to Dad and Mom's bed to read the account of the birth of the Savior Jesus Christ (of course after discovering that Santa did in fact come....we were contemplating not having him come, becuase we have had such a hard time being good this December). Then it was off to open presents.....Santa could not be more real in the lives of our children and he did it just right once again! We had so many wonderful gifts given to us and had fun unwrapping and seeing all of our surprises!! We even had a couple of intermissions. Eden wanted to go back to bed, plus we need to eat breakfast (cherry turnovers and cinnamon muffins). We also just couldn't wait to get some of the fun gifts out of the packages fast enough!!


The kids were a dream....It was a fabulous relaxing day full of joy and love!

Bethlehem and other Christmas Eve Observations

We just got back from visiting the Washington DC Temple visitor center. While there we got to see the beautiful lights, watch a live nativity, and hear a 40 minute concert by the sister missionaries assigned to the visitor center.

Rebecca left the concert with Eden, who was so excited, she just couldn't sit still.

During the performance I heard:

Peter: This is so beautiful.

Hannah: This is awesome!

Joseph: Dad...did you see the star?
Alan: Yes, I saw the star in the East.
Joseph (hushed and in awe): Are we in Bethlehem?
Alan: No Joseph, we're at the temple visitor center in Washington DC.

His innocence and longing to be near Jesus made my eyes well up with tears. Oh that I could be as childlike, faith-filled, and innocent.

Earlier, however, he pointed out that it was okay if he was bad and that it was fine if Santa didn't come, because we already have a lot of presents under the tree.

Joseph has this knack for burning both ends of the candle...

What's His phone number??

My mom's brithday was today (Happy Birthday, MOM!!) We had gathered the kids together to sing Happy Birthday to her over the phone. I started dialing and Joseph yells out, "You know Jesus's number??" Nope, we are calling Grandma Wendy. It's her birthday. "Well it's almost Jesus's Birthday!!"

Class "Holiday" Parties

Eden and I spent the day at school today to attend and help with any school parties. Lots of people, lots of chaos, lots of sugar.

I am Hannah's class party mom!! We had a Christmas tree piñata, ice cream sundaes, games and really loud music (I forgot the Christmas music). I am trying to get kicked off of the party planning committee buy having a Christmas tree piñata and playing Christmas music. It's one of my irritations with the school system. Why can every other religious holiday be celebrated and talked about except those that revolve around Christ? Although I think it is pretty wishful thinking on my part, no one else wants to do this job!

Peter had a quiet party of doing crafts and eating food. We brought "the best" (thank you Alan and Peter) chocolate chip cookies that I have ever made.

Joseph also had a quieter party with food, crafts, and games. We brought in an easy craft of candy cane reindeer, and really yummy grapes!

It's so funny to me how excited the kids get just to bring something in for their parties. They tell their little friends, "Oh, I brought the grapes, there really good huh?!"

Of course I forgot the camera so no cute pictures were taken of the kids with their friends and classmates. Maybe next time I will remember. One can always hope!

Say What??

Joseph: What does the baby do while it is cook'n in your tummy?
Mom: (with a chuckle) it kicks, swims and...
Joseph: What!! it already knows how to swim?
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Hannah this morning was looking in the fridge, and said "Eggnog, just the thought of it makes me sick!" and promptly shut the fridge. There is currently no eggnog in my fridge.

Frustration!

I am just a little frustrated at "the blog" for the moment. The fonts and colors page hasn't been working and so now all the colors are not to my liking and I had to go in the hard way and see what I can do. No more matching colors in my world until they get it fixed. Curses!!

Slow but sure

My Edy walked!! She didn't just take a step...she walked across the living room! I believe that the most was 9 steps!

Eden has been standing for about 3 months in the middle of the room without support and is really stable. But she has refused to walk, even while holding on to one of those push carts. She just wouldn't move her feet. She will walk a little bit if you hold her fingers, but really she just prefers crawling.

During FHE she made her grand display. Maybe she wanted to make sure that everyone got to see it at the same time. Who knows what goes on inside a one-year-old's mind, but it was really fun! She was so pleased with herself! She did it a couple of times so we were able to get it on video.

It's a......

.......we don't know, but will find out in the spring!

We decided to wait on this last one. We went to the ultrasound appointment and the baby was being difficult and didn't want to be seen. It took almost an hour just to get the pictures they needed to satisfy the doctor. They won't let me look at the screen during that time and they only invite the husband or significant other in at the end so that the technicians aren't distracted by questions. Alan had a moment where he almost caved in. I left it up to him, but he held strong.

So the things we found out from the ultrasound are that the baby is constantly moving and is swimming around, flip flopping, and just being happy. It's head was already down when they first looked, but like I said it wouldn't stay in one position long. I told them that I just hope it's getting all of the wiggles out now! But looking at my other kids, I don't think that is the case. It may have a shy streak in its fibers because it kept covering its face and kept its legs crossed almost the whole time. The baby is measuring at 20 weeks and 4 days which would put my due date at April 5, but knowing the doctors, it won't change my due date. It has ten fingers and ten toes (this has always been important to me). I saw no distress on the techs face which always makes me feel more comfortable. I have a doctor's appointment next week that will give me more information about whether everything is developing right.

Depending on whether the radiologist is happy with the pictures that the techs took, I may or may not have another ultrasound. They were really struggling to get some of their shots and they were the more important ones, like a particular view of the heart, and one of the head.

I wanted to thank everyone who reads the blog for all of your comments and stories. I had so much fun reading them and hearing what you had to say. I think the deciding factor for me to wait was Alan. He really wanted to wait and I thought it would be fun to give him that since we won't have another opportunity to do this again. If I have to have another ultrasound though.....I don't know if I can be strong enough to resist knowing. It bothers me though that there is someone in this world that knows what I am having, and it is not me!! Alan had to ask the tech as we were leaving if she knew. Of course she did. I wanted to say, "I think it's a boy am I on the right track?"

I am going to scan in the pictures and will post them soon!

Sweet Moments

Among all of our sickness and ups and downs of the last couple of weeks, a ray of sunshine has come through....Starting with Alan and ending with Hannah, all but Eden have felt the baby kick and/or roll. Those are sweet tender moments when I am able to share the movements of this little one with those who love this little person just as much as I do.
Eden, of course, is not patient enough to sit there and wait. She will probably feel it the first moment that she actually snuggles with me. I am not holding my breath for that moment, so most likely she will never feel it!

Warning to all....Stay away!!

I hate being sick! I hate it when my kids are sick! I hate it when my husband is sick! It's just no fun, and with our ever-expanding family, it just spreads from one person to the next.

At the beginning of October, Eden and I started with a cold. Then all the kids and I got the stomach flu (which Alan missed, because he was in Germany). Then we got another cold that ever so slowly went through the family. At the end of the month, Joseph brought home pink eye. Eden got it shortly after as well as a double ear infection. Just as she was feeling better, Peter began screaming one night because his ear hurt. Sure enough, a late night doctor visit confirmed he had a bad ear infection.

Just when we thought we were done, Hannah broke out with pink eye and Eden went into round 2. After Hannah was on the antibiotic drops for over 24 hours I sent her back to school looking red in the eyes but with huge improvement compared to what she looked like, only to have Joseph stay home with brand new sickness symptoms. He stayed home yesterday with a fever, headache, and an arm ache. He woke up doing better today (day 2) but then about 10:00 a.m. he came down with pink eye again!!!

What am I missing in my cleaning and sanitizing that sickness keeps going around?

After being to the doctors 3 times in the last week (not to mention the 4 times in the previous 2 weeks), and taking care of sick kids, and cleaning my house, and forcing hand sanitizer on everyone, and washing my hands 40 times a day, I have only two words to say:

I'm done......