Holiday Fun

I'll admit it, I was ready for the kids to go back to school today.  We did have a great Christmas though.  My mom has been very sick and couldn't make Christmas Eve happen at her house this year so we ended up having the Owen Family Christmas Eve celebrations here.  It is just so different without dad.  I think it would have been more sad if we were at my parents home but having Christmas Eve here allowed us to have it a little different without the obvious difference of no Grandpa Neil.

There was a major snow storm so we took advantage by going sledding.  We gave the kids their new sleds a day early and we had a fun time braking them in. The kids were so hyper we needed to do something to ware them down and to get them out of the house!

We kept our fun traditions of the candy bar game as well as a gift exchange and my mom reading Christmas stories, but we added a nativity.  It is so easy to loose track of the true meaning of the holiday in all of the excitement.

Of course my mom gave us all awesome presents.

Merle, Christie and Kate also spent the night which added to the excitement of the holiday.  Ali was SO FUN to watch.  She LOVED everything she opened.  She would squeal in excitement and run to Merle for help getting it out of the box.  It was a wonderful morning.  

We spent Christmas afternoon at the Kirks and enjoyed more presents.

And, of course, more great food.

The rest of our holiday brake was really quite lazy and unstructured.  I tried to do something fun with the kids every day.  We went sledding at my mom's one day with the runner sleds in honor of my dad.  He loved taking the kids sledding.  We had a great time!  The best part about sledding there is that we use the truck to get to the top of the hill.  Andy was the cutest little sledder.  He had more than his share of crashes insisting on driving himself.  One time he was sitting on top of Caleb, who was laying down.  Caleb turned sharp and Andy went flying off.  He just laughed and laughed and went running after the speeding sled as Caleb continued down the hill.  Andy also decided to do everything Mia, mom's dog, did.  Mia would jump into a snow bank, Andy would jump into a snow bank.  Mia would eat snow, Andy would eat snow.  What a cute boy!!

Josh and I each had major accomplishments on December 31st.  First, Josh accepted an offer to work for Harris Research (the ChemDry corporate team).  He wasn't really looking for a change, but he had been subcontracting for them.  They were looking for someone full-time and made Josh and offer that was good enough to accept.  I am excited to see what changes it will bring into our lives.  Off the bat it will bring benefits, and a steady income.  Two things we haven't had for a really long time.  Josh is excited about the people he is working with and the challenge the job will bring.  It is not a graphic design position with is strange since he is so talented at that.  It is more of a mid-level management position helping all of the the current franchises get onto a new data-base program.  He was the perfect candidate being techie and personable.  It should be a wonderful new chapter for us.  

My accomplishment was reaching a milestone rank advancement with my business.  I love the good that essential oils are doing in the world and I am thankful for those I have been able to share them with.  It is wonderful that I can make money doing something that I am really passionate about.  Hitting the rank of Silver is a sign of great things to come.  

  

New Years Day is the day that dad usually took us sledding, but we didn't make it back up to moms for New Years.  We did go sledding on the hill by our house.  The kids were all so happy.  They never even complained about the hike, they just loved the ride down. 

I just love to listen to Andy laugh.  My dad would have loved watching how brave the kids were.  They were probably a little too brave!  It did end with a near emergency trip when Caleb landed on his face braking his glasses and gouging the bridge of his nose.  He could have used a couple of stitches, but he and Josh talked me out of taking him in.

Ali preferred to watch more than sled, but she was happy. Life is good!  We are so blessed!

The MAGIC of Christmas

I've always believed in Santa and in magic, but nothing makes me believe more than watching the excitement of my kids at Christmas time.  I must admit that it feels a little wrong to celebrate Christmas without my dad around and with my mom in such a sad state.  In an attempt to keep my spirits up I have started some new traditions this year that are blog worthy.  The first and best, one that I recommend to every parent, is the Elf on the Shelf.  This is our Elf Ruby.  She watches the kids during the day and then she reports to Santa at night.  She comes back in a different place each morning.  The excitement of waking up to see where Ruby is has not gotten old.  Cara talks to her, and Caleb and his friends have written a few letters.

Yesterday started the 12 days of Christmas.  I have tried a few different versions of this in the past, but I am really excited about what we are doing this year.  Each package has some kind of Christmas activity.  They are mostly things that we would be doing anyway. For example, Saturdays bag has all of our Christmas cards and we are going to work together to stuff and label them while listening to Christmas music and eating a christmas treat.  Another bag has gifts for the neighbors that we will package and deliver on that day.  I love the idea because it isn't adding significantly to my Christmas work load, but engaging the kids in helping by making it a game.  It also forced me to plan and schedule all of the remaining Christmas projects so we can get them done.  Each day also has a scripture and a song to help turn our minds to the Savior.

I was really busy in November sharing essential oils and wellness products.  This picture is two of my good oil friends Deonne and Caroline at a holiday gift show that we participated in.

It has been a year and a half since I was first introduced to Essential Oils. It has been a wonderful journey and they become a significant part of my life.  

Somehow in the craziness of the last 6 weeks Ali got potty trained.  She changes her pants and under-ware every time she goes, but other than is doing pretty good.  There are just two things that I hate about potty training, #1 and #2.  Just glad that is over!

This picture is an example of what happens if I don't give my kids enough attention!  Note to self, don't ignore the kids or you will pay for it.

Speaking of which, Johnny is in the phase where he needs to get moving.  He is no longer happy laying around.  He just started reaching, but he wants me to entertain him.  Not my style.  Good thing he is cute as can be!

Family Pictures

Today we took family pictures in my parents barn.  (In honor of my dad.)  I couldn't wait to post them.  The family pictures were a bust, Ali wouldn't stop crying, but we got beautiful pictures of each of the kids.  They were so good that I haven't even made a single edit.  It was really hard to narrow it down to a handful of each.  Enjoy!

Johnny is 5 months old.  He is practically perfect!  He is flexible.  He is happy.  He sleeps 10 hours at night.  He self soothes by sucking his thumb or rocking himself.  He loves to eat his rice cereal.  Really, what more could I ask for?!

Ali is a little fire cracker.  As long as any given thing is her idea she is perfect, but trying to get her to do something she didn't decide on herself is next to impossible.  Her determined and strong soul is going to get her far in life.  Some kids talk to themselves, not Ali, she SINGS. She is 2.5.  

Andy loves to play and to rough house.  I am constantly telling Caleb to stop picking on Andy and Andy replies, "mom, I like it."  What can I say?  Andy is 4 now.  He says the cutest things.  A few nights ago we took a dessert to a friend who is in his late 50s.  He told the kids that the treat looked so good he was going to eat them all himself.  As we were leaving Andy got the attention of this man and told him, "you can share some with your mom too."  I love this kid.  

Cara is 6 years old and in 1st grade.  She is awesome at the monkey bars and loves playing the piano and violin.  As you can see she is also very photogenic, even with her missing two front teeth.  I love that she is so helpful with her siblings.  No one can make Johnny smile and laugh like Cara can. 

Caleb optimizes an energetic 8 year old (3rd Grade) boy.  We can't even finish one fun thing before he is wondering what we are going to do next.  He continues to be obsessed with sports and is currently playing basket ball.  He is also getting quite good at the piano. 

Following is our attempt at family pictures.  Most of them looked like this.  Ali really wanted to wear her hood, or at least cry. 

But we did get one that just might work for our Christmas card.  Oh the adventures of having five little ones.  Family pictures are bound to get better when we don't have a two year old, right?!

My Favorite Holiday

Okay, so who am I kidding, Halloween is NOT my favorite holiday, but I am trying to embrace it rather than resent it.  I am good at being a Halloween party pooper, but with the help of pintrest I was a little more festive than usual.  I guess you could say that I am holiday challenged.  It isn’t just Halloween.  Since I am so holiday challenged I have to celebrate the little things.  I was really proud of myself for making ghost pancakes.  Cute, don’t you think?

The best story this Halloween comes via Andy.  He has been praying for weeks for a Green Power Ranger costume.  He says, “thank you for letting Ethen (his cousin) come over and bring me a Green Power Ranger costume.”  I looked at all the stores and there were NO Green Power Rangers.  About a week before the big day I checked Amazon and Ebay and Green Power Ranger costumes were around $70.  Josh decided to put it on FaceBook.  His friend who “never gets on Face Book” happened to respond.   She lives here in Cache Valley and the costume she had fits Andy perfectly.  She only has one boy so she sold it to us for $12.  AWESOME!  Andy has only taken the costume off for baths.  He loves it.  Although we were trying to answer his prayers it really did take divine intervention.  It was a tough one.  

He wanted to be like his cousin Ethen the Red Power Ranger.

The biggest shock of this Halloween was the fact that I dressed up.  I should have gotten in the group picture with my kids.  I was “the queen”.  Not to be confused with a queen.  Unfortunately I am the queen that weights on everyone hand foot and finger.  I don't think I sat down the entire day.  I did get a picture of me with Johnny, the puppy.

Caleb had a Halloween party last weekend.  He is at the age where he is beginning to care what other people think.  My sister Connie helped him come up with an “Army Guy” costume.  He was excited about it right until someone teased him.  He refused to go as an army guy to school on Halloween.  I had all kinds of fund ideas for him, but he thought they were all dumb.  He ended up as a cowboy on Halloween.  It’s too bad kids can’t just be nice to each other!

I think Cara and Ali were the cutest witches in town.

In fact, I am pretty proud of my cute little crew. 

We ended up having a full-blown house full of family for the evening.  The weather was beautiful and we always enjoy hanging out with our family’s.  All in all, Halloween wasn’t that bad except for the piles of candy. Even looking at all of that candy is enough to make me sick!  Sometime I wonder if I will ever get all of the sticky spots from little fingers all wiped up!

Andy is either a photographer or a good old thief.  Almost daily I find a bunch of pictures on my phone of random things he has photographed.  Most of them are of him and look very similar to the one below but every once and a while he captures a few other people. 

Andy caught this picture of Ali.  I am potty training her this week so she wore a princess outfit just in case she had an accident until the evening when she and Cara wore the darling witch costumes that my mom made them last year. Potty training is going quite well.  I think she would be accident free if I would take her more often.  I forget that she is just learning until I see an accident.  Fortunately she has been "poop trained" for 6+ months so we don't have those accidents.  I wasn't up to potty training her when I was preggo and then I didn't want to train her in the summer because I didn't want to deal with her playing outside and not wanting to come in to go.  I was planning on training her in September and then my dad died.  She has been ready for a long time so it isn't too bad for either of us. 

Andy also captured this beauty of Johnny.  I like it because it reminds me how John's tung is often out.  He is perfect in every way except for the drool factor.  He has begun soaking himself in slobber.  It is quite disgusting.  I think he may be sporting a bib for the next year or so.  He is finally giggling, but still not rolling.  He loves to be talked to and talks back.  He is so attentive to all of the hustle and bustle around him.  He is such a joy.

Josh's sister Christina had her first, Rory, this summer.  He is about 8 weeks younger than John.  This was the first time they got together, on Rory's blessing day.

That day we also thought we would take a family picture.  Isn't it a beauty.  Classic!
Since I'm a mind reader let me tell you what everyone is thinking:
Josh: "Hurry and take the dang picture."
Me: "Shoot me now" or "when did I become the mother of five uncontrollable kids?!"
Caleb: "I'm sure I could get Cara to scream."
Cara: "What you want me to hold still?  Impossible!"
Andy: "Johnny, stop crying for the picture."
Ali: "I think I saw a kitty I've got to get out of here."
John: "I'm hungry! Doesn't anyone hear me?"