Christmas Dance Performance

Madison and her cousin, Lauryn are in dance together and they recently had their Christmas dance program.

Brian was busy trying to watch Taylor, Jordan and Reagan while I was backstage, so the video isn't that great and it comes in two parts. (Reagan was *really* being wiggly)

Madison is in the very middle (just to the right of where the back drop "splits"... she's easy to spot because she's doing the right dance steps. ;) ) Lauryn is second in from the left. Sometimes it looks like she's the end kid though because of where Brian had the camera.

They're coming to take me away, ha ha!

Since the last post, 3 of the 4 children have come down with the flu.

It started out with Jordan calling me from school: "Mom, I don't feel good".

He's a GREAT sick kid. He just lays on the couch, drifting in and out of sleep... I started to feel lucky that it was him that was sick because, hey... I can still get so much accomplished when it's JORDAN that's sick.

He puked right before bed, poor little guy.

Then Reagan puked IN my bed, poor little gal. (But mostly poor me as I notice that I've done most everyones laundry EXCEPT *my* sheets. Friday is bedroom day, therefore sheet washing day and I now realize I should have put my sheets as a priority LAST week.)

Reagan fell asleep, but then woke up puking again. (It is now sheet and towel laundry day.) Madison comes into my room at this point with a fever and talking all weird about how we had to buy her baby sister from the hospital.

I hope to not have to update this post and include Taylor in the fun. I'm hoping his bed on the top bunk keeps him out of germs way!!!

Once again, the tree sits "naked".

I'm so ashamed to admit that my Christmas tree STILL hasn't been decorated.

We made it a tradition long ago to go out and get the tree right after Thanksgiving, and I'm wondering now why the heck we even bother if it sits there. Should decorating the stinkin' tree really be this difficult?

My excuse this year is: The tree skirt isn't done. Now, I don't know why this matters because we've NEVER had a tree skirt for our tree.

Also, it was Jordan's birthday on Monday. I'm a total looser mom for not posting anything about it, but there isn't much to post since we spent that evening at MADISON'S dance recital. I was planning on having a party for him with family on Friday since somethings been going on every day this week, but he's not feeling well. We told him that instead of a BirthDAY we'd have a birthweek. I've tried to do something a little special for him each day: Monday we had cake (thanks to my mom - she made the cake for after the dance recital...) Tuesday I took him to lunch and Wednesday we had family movie night and made homemade pizzas. I think that people with December birthday's TOTALLY get forgotten. I haven't even taken a photo of him now that he's SIX.

Reagan is still sleeping horribly. (Oh really? It's 1:11 AM while I'm writing this... I'd much rather be sleeping but she has different ideas.) I can't really pass her off to Brian at all in the middle of the night because the poor guy has to be to work at 6:30 AM. Not that he took her much before he had to be up early, but he did every once in awhile.

I started making my nieces gifts last night for Christmas. I'm totally excited about it, but obviously can't talk about it here since Stacie is one of my few frequent readers. Can't wait to post pictures of the finished product though! Need ideas for my nephews... just can't think of anything to make for them that they'd actually enjoy, and I don't want to be the aunt that gives totally lame gifts.

Okay, this is totally a whine of a post... but given the hour I think it's deserving. Reagan is finally asleep in my arms but I doubt I'll be able to fall asleep anytime soon... especially now that I have all these "to do's" running around my head.

Do you think it would be too obnoxious to start decorating the tree now at 1:17 AM?

I'm an Auntie again!

Hooray! I'm an aunt again!

I don't have much info on my new niece, but I know she's here and I can't wait to see her in the morning!

A few days ago I decided I wanted to make a baby blanket for Stacie and "new baby". It took FOREVER trying to find the right fabric - I had something VERY specific in mind. I finally found what I wanted last night and spent today making the baby "quilt".

Since Stacie won't be home to read my blog before I go up there tomorrow, here are the photos!

Front of the quilt:

Quilt Back

The quilt in all it's glory! Isn't it lovely?

In a bundle for the NEW "bundle"!

Thanksgiving Babies!

In 2006, we took pictures of the 3 babies born that year: Andrew, Reagan and Lance
Here's what they looked like then:

(Lance, Andrew, Reagan)

And here's what they look like now!

(Lance, Reagan, Andrew)

Look how big our little "turkeys" are! :)

Thanksgiving Eve

The house is filled with yummy scents this evening - preparations underway for a fun Thanksgiving feast tomorrow afternoon!

So, in the spirit of Thanksgiving I decided to sit down with each of the children and ask them what they were thankful for.

We start with Madison!

Madison? What are you Thankful for?

Reagan letting me play with her.
Dance!
Preschool
Miss Terri, Miss Karen and Miss Lisa
Lauryn and Carrice to play dress up
My dance costume
Food
Helping Dad upstairs in my closet (we enter through her closet to our new upstairs master bedroom that's being finished... I thought this deserved some explanation!)
Helping Mom change Reagans diapers
Reagan learning how to walk
Playing on the computer

Jordan? What are you thankful for?

School
Playing
Thanksgiving
Christmas
Every Week
Toys
Our bodies
Halloween
For being Thankful
Helping Dad
Heavenly Father
My sisters and my brother
Playing with Reagan
for us to learn
for us to be smart
Being Healthy
Being like Jesus one day

Taylor? What are you Thankful for?

Animals because they provide food.
Food.
All Holidays
Every Day
Our Family
Cub Scouts
School
Church
Heavenly Father
Jesus
Scriptures
Fire - it's very important to us - it heats up food and can melt metal
Time
The world
Science
Math
School
Trees and plants - our environment - some plants produce food.
Cloth - because it makes it so we can wear stuff and be comfortable.
Clothes like shoes and underwear
Shelter and our house
The Pilgrims and the Indians
Museums because they are a good way to learn
Chairs - because it's nice to sit down
Rocks - They make arrowheads out of rocks and that's cool
Exercise and playing because you can have fun and exercise at the same time
Instruments - they make you not bored.

I'll take liberty at writing a few thing that I'm sure Reagan is Thankful for:

Mom (I'm confident of this one, because it's about the only thing she yells all day long...)
Dad (He's a fun guy to hang around!)
Taylor, Jordan and Madison (Because when they're gone, it's BORING around here...)
Dogs!
NURSING!
Comfy spot to sleep between Mom and Dad every night!
Forward facing car seat!
Baby Einstein videos! (Put this one down on Mom's thankful list too!!!)
Mom's arms and hip
Showers
Being outside
Her Dolly stroller
Two quick 15 minute cat naps each day
Enough hair for two tiny little pigtails

I'm thankful for everything on these lists, but more so, I'm thankful for the precious kids that MADE the lists. My life would be so dull without them! Most of all, I'm thankful this Thanksgiving season for Brian. I'm so terribly lucky to have such a hardworking, thoughtful, POSITIVE and understanding companion! He deserves every good thing in this world plus a little more!

Happy Thanksgiving from our "thankful" little family to yours!

Elf Yourself

Just having a little fun at my children's expense...

Click HERE!

"She's our baby turtle!"

The children were playing so well together in the living room this morning. The giggles of all four were so sweet!

Deciding to check up on them, I walked into THIS:



They explained that Reagan was their "baby turtle"... (the basket is her "shell"). "Baby turtle" didn't mind any of it. In fact, I think she was angry when the game was over. ;)

Brown Day

It was "brown day" at preschool this week. I have too much fun dressing Madison up, especially making the matching hair bows...

The kids were asked to bring something brown for the poster. She chose to bring CHOCOLATE.

Smart girl!

Check out the way cute tights!!!

"Back and Thorf"

The kids were itching to get outside today - so they went. And they went without their shoes on too.

You see... we have this "problem" at our house regarding shoes. Mainly the problem is we can never find them. All this despite my efforts to have a central location, dedicated just towards shoes.

We have a large "shoe bucket" in the living room. Mostly it's just a place where shoes we don't ever wear hang out. That, and occasionally if someone has lost their keys, you might find them there.

Shoes that are just left in the living room or family room get dumped in the shoe bucket.

Each of the children have a "bin" under their dressers for their shoes only. This usually contains 1 shoe (the other nowhere to be found) and hidden pieces of pizza crust or apple cores that have been there for months. (Evidence that I'm an evil mom and despite the fact that the kids are pretty much welcome to eat when their hungry around here, ESPECIALLY Apples, I never feed them enough. The kids must sneak food up to their rooms and hide the remaining pieces in their shoe bins.)

Jordan couldn't find his shoes before school and so the logical thing to put on was the snow boots. (See... the snow boots haven't been worn since last year, so they are BOTH in the shoe bucket in the living room... easy to find.) He just didn't understand why I wouldn't let him wear them. (Nevermind the fact that there is NO snow on the ground and the high today was just over 60.)

So I guess it shouldn't have surprised me that when I told Madison to go back in the house today and get some shoes on that she showed up in her purple snow boots.

We put Reagan in the little car and Madison started pushing her back on forth... And as she did this, she sang out "back and thorf, back and thorf".

"Forth" I say "fffff like fffffish"

"THorth" says Madison.

"No... FFFForth like FOUR fffff" says I.

"Forth!" says she

"Good Job!" I beam

And she begins again rocking Reagan back and forth in the car saying "Back and Thorf, back and thorf"...

P.S. YES. Reagan IS still in her pj's at 4:00 in the evening. She's been in them all day. No - she is not wearing shoes. In fact, she's not even wearing the pj bottoms. Yes again... that *is* dirt all over her face. I.don't.care. :P

"The Good Earth"

Tonight I hosted book club. We read "The Good Earth" by Pear S. Buck.

Brian was a sweetheart and TOTALLY helped tidy up the house PLUS he made all the "goodies" for us to munch on. (He missed his "calling" as a Baker! ;) )

No joke, we had these YUMMY treats called "Naked Ladies with their Legs Crossed". Serious. Sort of donut-ish.

Then he made some really great pumpkin nut bread.


And then Wassail to drink.



And holy cow! He made homemade turtles and we just realized we forgot to put them out!!! Anyone want to head over for some? :)

He's such a great guy! I mean... how many men would be totally willing to make goodies for ladies book club?

smooches to my hunny! ;)

To the Library and back again

We spent a pretty boring evening driving to 2 different libraries today. Taylor has a book report due the middle of November. He is supposed to read a Novel about traditions or ancestry. I think we found a great book for him

Brian has been brushing up on his graphic design skills for a job he's hoping for, so he picked out some computer design book thing with a disk. We found Taylors book and Brian's book at the 2nd library we hit.

Drove all the way home and the disk for Brian's book was BROKEN IN HALF. (I can tell you at this point that I am SOOO glad *my* kids didn't break it... that could have been just my luck, you know?) So we drove all the way back to the library to return it.

I took photos of the children's boredom in the car for your viewing pleasure.





The beginning of the day was spent taking Madison to dance class, dashing home again in time to get Jordan home from Kindergarten, Taylor going off to cub scouts and Reagan walking around the house. The very messy house, mind you.

Wow. We're just a thrilling bunch today, aren't we?

Wheeeeee!

"Girl Humans"

Madison had a busy day today.

First, it was preschool. Today was a co-op day. Since we're crossing our fingers that Brian gets a new job soon, we figured this might be the last chance he gets to co-op with her class, so he took her. When they got home I asked him if it was fun and he said "it was preschool". Then, he proceeded to fall into a deep slumber on the couch for almost an hour... ;)

I needed to run to the store this evening and Madison clung to my leg... "Mom! I just haaaaavvveeee to go with you to the store! Plllleeeease!"

Well how could I say no? ;)

On the drive to the store our conversation went like this:

Madison: "Hey wait! Where is Jordan?"

Me: "Oh, the boys stayed home with Dad and Reagan. It's just us going this time. Won't that be fun?"

Madison: "Oh right! No boys, No babies, just girl humans".

Reagan meets the Piano

The video says it all! Enjoy!

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Timpanogos Cave

Mid October Brian took the boys out of school early to hike Timpanogos Cave. They had a GREAT time! (Hey, boy time is always good!)

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Dear....

Dear Reagan,

I'm so sorry you're not feeling well. Ear infections are never fun, but with the added cough? You've been so miserable today. I've loved the extra snuggles and the 2 showers we had to have after you threw up yet again. It's so cute to see you get all sleepy as the warm water and steam take over the shower. I hope you feel better tomorrow - I'll let you have another lollipop because you like them so much!


Dear Madison,

Oh dear, you're getting Reagan's little cough! I'm sorry you're not feeling well, but you're such a big helper anyway. I know that you think you were sneaky today when you ate all that Halloween candy under the chair - I really do know about it - but it's okay... soon it will all be gone and there won't be any more chocolate to sneak. I hope you enjoy it for these next few days. I promise not to say anything. I'll just grin and look the other way.


Dear Jordan,

That was really sweet of you today to remember everyone who's been sick in our family in our family prayer. You're always so thoughtful. You even remembered that Mom gets really sick when she's pregnant with a baby. I know you don't like to see me that sick so I think it was really sweet when you prayed that I wouldn't have any more babies. You're always so thoughtful and think of things that nobody else really would. You're such a sweetheart and I love your quick kisses as you run by to start some busy project.


Dear Taylor,

My goodness you've grown up. You're doing so well on your piano lessons and we're really proud of you! You've kept your school work up and you're always such a good help to me whenever I ask. I think that your brother and sisters are VERY lucky to have an older brother like you. You're such a great example and we love you so very much! Sorry you bumped your head on the monkey bars at school... that's never fun.


Love, hugs, & smooches to you all, little darlings!

Mom

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween! Busy, but great!

Brian dressed up as a Monk. That's about all I'm going to say about it, you'll just have to let the photos do the talking...

Taylor dressed as a "Knight", and Jordan a "Dragon". They later decided that Taylor could be a "Dragon Slayer"... I'm not sure which one he ended up being at the end of the night.

The boys had a Halloween parade at school. I took photos, but they just didn't turn out. It's fine though, because Jordan didn't even realize that I was AT the school for the parade. He saw "Auntie Stacie and Lauryn", but not his Mum. Next year, Stacie can just go since it seems I'm not missed. *winks*

Madison dressed up for a preschool party as Mulan. Reagan was DRESSED as an Angel, but her personality did not sway that way. In fact, you wouldn't know that she was an angel because I couldn't get a picture of her with her entire costume on while she was awake. She would NOT wear the halo, and pulled at the wings until they broke off. Managed to get a picture of her sleeping in the costume - and in the photo she LOOKS like an angel. (Looks are deceiving people!!)

Anyway, a busy day and lots of candy later! Take a look at the photo slide show for pictures!

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Visit the additional "blog"!

New blog dedicated to our gluten free recipes/findings.

That's Gluten Free?

Thought I'd give you all the *option* of reading instead of FORCING it on you here. :)

Celiac

We think that Taylor might have Celiac Disease. For all the terribly boring details, you can go HERE to find out more about it.

We put him on a gluten free diet on Saturday, and he's been doing FANTASTIC on it. (Honestly, I was hoping that it wouldn't make a bit of difference, but he's feeling so much better...)

We're doing an allergy test on Friday, and blood work in a few weeks. I'm going to say it's about 85% chance he has it. The other 15% chance is just his mom not WANTING him to have it. ;)

Lots of changes going on - You can't believe the labels you have to read to make sure nothing contains gluten!!!

Updates later!

Just another day

Today it was a little cold out, but the kids wanted to play outside anyway. Reagan looked pretty darn cute with her "hood" on!

Jordan spent time riding his bike and has decided his frustrated that it doesn't have a kick stand. He asked if we could go to the store and BUY one. I told him that I was sorry, but I had no idea how to choose a kick stand for his kind of bike, that we should wait for Dad. His reply was: "Mom! I'm a genius! Let's just go to w-w-w dot kick stand dot com!" What a kid!

Taylor had piano lessons tonight and his teacher called to say that he's learning so quickly she gave him more stuff this week because he's just flying through stuff. He LOVES the piano. I'm so glad he does. I think it felt like more of a punishment for me when *I* was taking lessons.

Madison has a birthday party to attend tomorrow. It was fun shopping for a boy with her. She had an idea in mind... wanted to get him a truck.. but when she saw the barbie dolls, thought he'd like that instead. We settled for some safari animals. ;)

And finally, Brian had the fantastic idea to go feed the ducks our stale bread before dinner. (We were waiting for our scone dough to rise...) There were 3 ducks out on the pond we went to, and they wouldn't come over and eat. We had a good time as a family anyway. Here's the photo montage for anyone who wants to see. :)

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Down on the Farm

For Family Night on Monday we went to the Animal Farm. We had a great time!

Right as we got there, they were getting ready to milk a cow. Jordan and Madison decided to participate. Now whenever we ask Madison what she did on the farm, she says "I squished a cow"!

Jordan, Madison and Reagan decided to take a pony ride. I was afraid that Reagan was going to want to take her horse home...




We all went on the hay ride - they have a new horse pulling the wagon named Annie Oakley. The kids didn't know who Annie Oakley was, so we'll have a fun lesson about her sometime soon.

They have a "craft" every Monday night in the barn, and the kids totally enjoyed that.

Reagan got nibbled on by a horse and she thought it was funny.

It was just nice to go an hang out together!

Check out the "smilebox" creation for more photos of our visit. (This one you have to actually click on the arrow to move to the next page, and click on the smaller photos to view them larger.)

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Birthday Party!

It was Reagan's Birthday Party on Friday!

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We can't believe it's been a year! Life without her would be so DULL!

Reagan's Invite

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Ideas of accomplishment

Sometimes, my idea of "accomplishment" for the day would be just the simple act of taking a shower.

Today?

Not so "accomplished". (So sorry to those close around me...)

But the sticky kitchen floor IS mopped and the garbage has been moved out to the street.

We're shooting for accomplishment tomorrow. (Wish me luck!)