Sledding

We have a hill right across the street from our house where the kids can go sledding. Terry took them all out one day and I love this picture of Ainsley going down the little hill. The look on her face makes me feel happy. Ellie is the one behind her.

Loughmillers

We just had our good friends the Loughmillers from Oregon come and stay with us on Friday and Saturday. In Oregon these were our ice cream and cookie friends that would come over frequently and just hang out. And there was always a lot of laughing with them. We haven't seen them since we moved although we have talked on the phone. It is funny because Terry and Russell probably call each other more than Jenny and I do.

We had a fun visit which included the adults going to an Italian restaurant called Buddy's while two girls from our ward babysat all the kids. It was nice being able to visit without interruptions from the kids.

Terry's sister Cheryl was also visiting us at this time. She is the one taking the picture.

Isaac

Isaac is growing so quickly it is really kind of sad. I love when they are so scrawny to begin with, and he is already plumping out. He has been a really good baby. He loves to be snuggled with a blanket and almost always drops off to sleep as soon as I wrap him and hold him close. He is a decent sleeper at night and will usually let me get some sleep. He is starting to smile a little and has such a sweet little smile. He also smiles a lot in his sleep. Must be having some good dreams.




The kids are all doing really well with him. Ainsley is such a spazzy little girl, but she is so gentle with him and I can safely let her hold him for long amounts of time while I try and get things done (checking on her periodically of course). Actually all of the girls are really helpful and like to hold him which helps out so much. Sam loves Isaac too and puts his head down on Isaacs face to give him a little love. He is gentle for the most part.




So I am surviving with having five kids, but it really takes me a long time to get things done each day. My house is quite a bit messier than usual and holy cow, there seems to be double the laundry than we had before. A little baby sure goes through a lot of clothes and blankets each day. But having a sweet baby is worth having to do some extra laundry

Books Books Books

I have been a crazed reader lately and always wish I could get everyone to read the books I read so that I can talk about them. I have been into young adult novels and have read some really good ones. So here they are and if anyone reads them or has read them, let me know.

Slumming by Kristin Randle (she is an LDS author, but her books aren't LDS books)
Breaking Rank by Krisin Randle
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech (this is an excellent book and had me crying in the end)

I love these young adult books and wonder why I didn't read better things when I was a teenager because it seems like there are so many really good, edifying books out there for teens. Anyway.

Christmas

Luckily for us we had no last minute shopping to do on Christmas Eve--well almost no shopping. On Monday morning we cleaned up our house and then headed up to Rexburg where we did have to stop at Mom's Kandy Kitchen for a couple of purchases. There was a long line.

After our stop we headed up to Tetonia where we were planning on sledding with Terry's brother Tom--who runs BYU-I's outdoor recreation center. The weather was snowy and the roads were awful and I kept telling Terry we should turn around. But he didn't think they were bad enough for that so we continued on. We made it without problems and we sledded with Tom and Kerry and their family for a few hours. I stayed in the lodge with Isaac. Kerry was also there along with one of her friends and their babies. I have some pictures of Sam and Ainsley and their rosy cheeks. They didn't last on the sledding hill for too long.




After sledding we sped back to Sugar (not really speeding because the roads were bad) and made it just in time for the Gee family caroling. My extended family always gets on a trailer with hay and carols on Christmas Eve every year. It is getting very crowded because we are multiplying and replenishing. Again I stayed at my mom's house with Isaac while Terry took the kids. They all had fun.

After caroling we went over to Uncle Jeralds for some soup and goodies and a little program. It was mayhem because there are so many little kids. We did the nativity story and had a Mary, Joseph, donkey, shepherds, wise men, and about 20 angels. It was pretty funny. I left my camera at Uncle Jeralds so unfortunately I didn't get any Christmas day photos.

Christmas morning started at about 4:00 AM when Ellie came in and asked which presents were hers. She had already gone and looked everything over that Santa brought. We told her to go back to bed until 6:00. But the next thing we knew Abby was up too, looking things over. We still didn't let them officially get up until 6:00.

It was a fun morning and I was so happy my kids were happy and didn't complain at all about what they got or didn't get.

We spent the day watching some videos they got (High School Musical 2--anyone else have kids who are crazed fans?--and Ratatoullie) Then we again headed up to Sugar City where we got together with my family and my Grandma and Grandpa Shirley and Uncle Lyle and his family, who were visiting from Massachusettes, and had dessert (not so appealing after a day of sweets). It is always fun to get together with my family. Suzette livened things up by making a video of everyone singing "Oklahoma" so she could send it to my mom and dad on their mission. I haven't seen the final product, but I have heard it is hilarious.

Overall Christmas was fun, but I have to admit it was not a very spiritual time for me. It just seemed there was so much going on with Isaac being born and birthdays and just trying to survive, that I didn't take much time to sit and think about the reason for the season.

One thing I do want to say is that this new neighborhood we live in is a fun place at Christmas time. Almost every house decorates with lights and it looks so festive. One night I counted about 15 buses driving through the neighborhood to look at the lights. There must be some special tour people go on to look at Christmas lights. We put up some lights, but it wasn't anything spectacular.

This Christmas I also discovered a new favorite song. It is "The Spirit of the Season" from Polar Express. I think it will become a classic. Anway. That sums up our Christmas.

Abby's Birthday

Abby's birthday was December 17th and for one reason or another she gets short-changed on her celebrating. So this year we decided she could have a little party even though we had just had Isaac barely a week before. So we invited a friend from preschool and then some friends from the ward. I will write down the activities we did and you will know that I am a little lame at doing creative things.



First we had those punch balloons (thanks to Terry who insisted on getting them) for them to play with. Then Terry had the idea to do the chicken dance with them so he found the music on the internet and they did the dance. Terry is more of a free spirit than I am.





After that we made little rudolph-the-red-nosed-reindeer crafts, then had a pinata, then did gifts and had cake and ice cream. Oh and we played pin the nose on the reindeer.

It was a fun little party and the girls were all crazy.

Making Lunch

One of Ellie's favorite things to do at school is to help serve school lunch and she often comes home with hair nets and gloves that she used. She likes to put them on. Well one morning we were rushing to get her out the door so she didn't miss the bus. But the next thing I knew, she was putting on her hair net and gloves. I impatiently told her to stop messing around and she impatiently said she was making her school lunch (yes, she sometimes has to make her own lunch). I was ready to be annoyed, but then the funniness of the situation struck me so I just took a picture.