Ski Party

Last weekend was the traditional, last Friday in January, ski party. We did the math and figure that my mom has had that party for about 25 years. She was going to give it up this year with Connie, her baby, leaving on her mission. She did it for her kids and they are all gone. I was just a couple of years older than Caleb when she started so I insisted that she not give it up because it is the fact that she has been doing it for so many years that gets her such a great night. If she gave it up we may never get a Friday night again. So I decided to take it over. It was interesting to see her perspective of the stress of having enough people. I tried to presale tickets so I could get a better count, but people have a really hard time committing which makes getting a good count stressful. In the last three days we went from 81 people (if there were less than 80 I would have to pay the difference) to 146 that night, but had the weather or snow been bad we may have gone in the other direction. I hope that in the years to come the stress will be worth it. My moms stress was sure worth it for me. I do have to ask myself why do it for my kids.



Caleb is SO NOT A SKIER. He was so excited for the party and counted down for it all month. All month he talked about doing jumps and what a great skier he is. After spending $27 to get his pass, his rentals, and his lesson he didn't even ski - again! He was excited for the lesson right up to the part where you put on the skis and go down the hill. He is such a chicken! He did enjoy playing on the snow in his ski boots. He called that skiing.



Cara on the other hand did a great job. She is a good sport and was willing to give skiing a good shot. I was proud of her.



The party in the lodge was fun. There was lots of great food, fun people and games. I tried skiing (which I did when I was this far along with Caleb and with Cara). I know some people would object, but I feel like a few careful runs wont hurt. I just have a hard time resisting the fresh air and the beautiful white snow. This time I only did a couple of runs because I was getting terrible charlie-horses in my feet and toes. I must be getting old. Darn!

The day after the ski party we took a little trip down to Temple Square. Connie finished up her visitors center training at the MTC with a trip to Temple Square. Every time she has written from the MTC she reminded mom of the hours she would be at Temple Square. We weren't going to go until on Saturday morning Connie's companion called from the call center to "get a referral." Mom could hear Connie in the background asking why she wasn't on her way to SLC. (Some people may frown on this so if it upsets you please keep your comments to yourself because what is done is done.) We did see her and visited for just 2-3 minutes. It was great! She was so happy to see us and we were happy to see her as a missionary too. We spent almost two hours on Temple Square even though we saw her within the first 30 minutes. We spent the entire time at the North and South Visitors Centers. It has all changed so much, and we did stuff with the kids that we have never done before. I think regular trips to Temple Square can be such a blessing for a family.



The kids just eat it all up and the sisters are so cute with them. Especially this time of year it seems that there are more missionaries on the temple grounds than visitors so we got a lot of attention. The highlight of the trip for me, besides seeing Connie, was when one of the missionaries asked Cara if she was going to be a missionary. She said that she was and the sister put her nametag on Cara. Cara stood so straight and tall with that nametag on. She was really glowing!



Usually we are at Temple Square at Christmas time when there are big crowds. It was fun to be there practically by ourselves and feel like we could take time to take classic pictures like this.

Random Thoughts by Caleb

I don't record the funny things my kids say often enough. Following are three things I have put on FaceBook at the end of last year. The others are just Caleb's random thoughts recently.

Is it a bad thing when your five year old says, "Is dad coming to visit tonight?" (November 13)

Today Caleb was telling us that there will be five kids in our family once the baby comes. Josh reminded Caleb that he isn't one of the kids. Caleb's reply was "oh yah" hence the miss count. (November 14)

Caleb refused to leave the classroom when he was called out for his H1N1 shot today. He came home bragging that he "didn't have to go." He was 100% sure he had outsmarted the system. He wasn't very happy when I took him right back down to the school, lying that we weren't going to get a shot the whole way. When he learned the shot was coming he ran for the door. It took four people to hold him down while the shot was given. (November 24)


For Christmas Caleb really wanted a kitty. (I am not a fan of stinky, hairy pets or really pets in general.) When I asked him what he asked Santa for he smiled and said, "You'll see" with a mischievous nod and smile.

Caleb is about to loose a fingernail. (He will probably loose another one in a month or two.) His fingers got slammed in the truck door after his Christmas program. Anyway, he has been hitting me up on a regular basis wondering if there is a "fingernail fairy" that can come and give him some money when he looses his nail.

Caleb's birthday is coming up and he has a doghouse set up under his bed with a spot for everything. He has a water dish, a food dish, a place for the puppy to go poo, a pillow, and he even has a face drawn on a long skinny piece of cardboard for the puppy to play with. He has been driving me crazy with his requests for a puppy and I am VERY CLEAR about saying no. He just keeps hoping saying, "maybe someone will surprise me." He has hit up both of my sisters who have dogs for one of their puppies. Connie told him he could have one if he has $150 to buy it. NO THANKS!

Recovering from Caleb Trauma

So after just five days of being on a behavior plan at school Caleb is "off." His teacher says that he is doing great, and that maybe all we needed to do is to raise his level of awareness. He seems to be doing better at home too. Also, his teacher informed me today that he doesn't qualify for the reading intervention program. Somehow I just didn't think he would, but it sure stressed me out. I really appreciate your ideas and support. It is nice to have a caring network of smart people out there.



So on with other issues. Andy still isn't walking. I don't think he has a physical delay because he is cruising and taking a few steps when really encouraged. I think he is just scared. The problem is that I hope to have a baby in about seven weeks. Andy will be 16 months this weekend. Don't you think it is time for him to get going. An 18 month space between kids seems reasonable, but having two that don't walk is a problem.

Lest I leave out Cara and let you all think she is perfect I have to mention something that Cara does that makes me look like I haven't taught her to pray. She has been praying by herself on at least a daily basis for months now, but she ALWAYS starts the prayer with "Jesus Father" and ends it with "Jesus Father". I ALWAYS correct her and I have from the start, but for some reason I can not get into her little head that we start by saying "Heavenly Father" and end with "Jesus Christ." I guess they really are one to her. You all have such great ideas maybe you have an idea for this little problem.

Parenting Trauma

Last Wednesday was parent teacher conference with Caleb's kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Coburn, who I think is fantastic. She has over 30 years experience as a teacher and I feel like she knows classroom management and how to teach children as well as any other teacher he could have ever had. Anyway, she was very direct at the beginning of the conference that she is having trouble with Caleb. I went hoping she would have some solutions for me as he has become extremely non-compliant at home. Apparently she is having similar problems. He loves to wrestle, talk out of turn, and sometimes just refuses to participate. She is putting him on a behavior plan where she ranks him 1-5 after every activity and I am supposed to come up with rewards and consequences for when he brings his report home each day. (Problem number one, it is so hard to know what rewards and what consequences are best, and of course the big problem of consistency.)

Mrs. Coburn followed the extremely disturbing discussion on his behavior with a discussion on his academic progress. On his last DIBBELS test in two of the four categories, Letter Naming Fluency and Nonsense Word Fluency (which is a comprehensive skill of sounding out words that aren't words) he is above benchmark. On Initial Sounds Fluency he is somewhat behind, but nothing to worry about. The problem comes with the Phonemic Segmentation Fluency. He scored a 0. Which is a huge read flag, and indicates that he can't do it, but he must have refused to do it because when his teacher and I quizzed him on it he had no problem. When I ask him about school his response is, "I DON'T LIKE TO DO HARD THINGS." So how do I teach this stubborn five year old that we all HAVE TO do hard things. There is no choice.

Mrs. Coburn is suggesting that he should possibly start in a reading intervention group and then it will become easier for him. The thing that gives me heartburn (well everything gives me heartburn right now), but the thing that I am stressed about is that he is "proficient" on every single Language Arts skill required for kindergarten and he still has half of a school year left. Do I allow this behavior problem to be treated with an extra 30 minutes of school each day instead of going to lunch? (He would eat lunch at 12:30 when he gets home from school.) I have been sick about how to parent this child. He is so strong willed and stubborn. I just thought I would share some of my parenting dilemmas and see if you have any ideas.

Holiday Celebrations

I guess I have turned into a blog slacker. It has been almost a month since I last posted. There are so many things I should have written about. Can I blame pregnancy for not? Have I mentioned that I hate being pregnant? Oh, I have, let me just say it one more time (with the disclaimer that it is all worth it and that I am grateful for the blessing I have of having children) I hate being pregnant. I am now full on into heart burn, waddling, inability to get comfortable at night, anemia, retaining water, and constipation, as well as my regulars nausea (which really has been better this pregnancy than the others), picky eating (all I eat these days is PB&J sandwiches and peaches, yes, for every meal with occasional cold cereal) and being emotional. Last week, when after my doctor appointment I added two more medications to my daily dose, I bought a pill holder because I was having a hard time keeping track of all of my drugs. (Thank goodness for modern medicine.) I have gone back to strange cravings and not eating what the family eats. I am mostly on a diet of home canned peaches (ironically something I craved first trimester with Cara) and peanut butter and raspberry freezer jam sandwiches (yes, the type of jam is very important). I also have a sweet tooth like I have never had before. Tonight all I could choke down for dinner was rice crispy treats. I had to restrain to not eat the whole pan. I don't think I will come home from the hospital this time with a net weight loss like I have my other pregnancies. There is a light at the end. I am about eight weeks from baby time unfortunately to me that feels like eight years. I know these mass blog entries aren't the best, but they will have to do for now.

12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS
This year we had a more incredible Christmas than we could have ever imagined. The magic came when someone chose to do the 12 Days of Christmas for our family. It was so fun for all of us. The kids were sure it was Santa, even though they know the wonderful gifts were left on the front porch. It made every morning for 12 mornings magical. Whoever gave us these generous gifts went all out. It was amazing. When people ask Cara how Christmas was she tells them that "it was the best Christmas we will ever have." She is probably right. Thank you to whoever provided such a wonderful experience for us. If you are interested in more details you can click here. Each day I recorded our reactions to the gifts given and gave the letter at the link to the family who did the 12 Days for us. I am kicking myself for not taking pictures of the beautifully presented gifts each day.

CHRISTMAS EVE
I have such a joyful time with my family every year on Christmas Eve. Cathie and her family surprised my parents and came for Christmas even though they were just here for Thanksgiving. The cousins LOVE being together. It was cute to see my mom reading the kids a children's story of the Nativity before family prayer. The kids all love Grandmas attention.


Christie (my sister) did not disappoint this year with her gift to the grandkids. She has a habit of going all out. She waited until all of the other gifts had been opened and then brought out her huge boxes. The first box contained 150 balls which turned into a spontaneous ball fight in the living room with kids running and screaming and grown men trying to pelt each other. Next came the bounce house for the balls to go in. The kids were so excited to get it set up in the dining room. It will be fun to have that bounce house for family events.


CHRISTMAS MORNING
Here are just a few pictures of Christmas morning. The kids woke up at their regular time, about 7:30. We had to drag Josh out of bed, but our Christmas morning was awesome! We were all so happy and grateful!

It isn't hard to tell that Caleb is happy in this picture.


Andy liked every part. He is so fun!


The 12 Day of Christmas stuff made the two gifts each child was going to get seem like so little, but Christmas morning the living room was full. If anyone ever doubted, Santa is real.



CALEB'S CHRISTMAS PROGRAM
Caleb's Kindergarden did a darling Christmas program. It was so exciting for him. Cara came directly to the program from a Speech Christmas Pajama Party. Oh the fun parties of Christmas.

Caleb is top center - the tall one in the middle.


Here he is with his fan club after the concert.


NEW YEARS CELEBRATION
These are the things that I have to blog about so that someday when my kids say, "you never did anything fun with us when we were little" I will have the proof that we did. We had a great New Years. Thanks to a generous friend we were able to get a room a one of the Marriots down town Salt Lake for New Years Eve. So New Years Eve we got a connect pass and had an awesome fun filled day. It started off with a facial at Elase given to me for Christmas from Christina (Josh's sister). While I did that the kids and Josh went to the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy.


Then we went to the Tracy Aviary and saw hundreds of birds. The kids even got to feed the Pelicans, although they weren't too excited about touching the dead fish. After a Little Caesars pizza in the car we went to the Utah Museum of Natural History. I was really quite impressed. This is a location we have never hit with the connect pass before. They had fun activities for the kids and there was an awesome display of rocks that we all really liked as well as a bug display and of course a dinosaur gallery. The kids were excited to check into the hotel and go swimming which gave us a little brake before we headed to phase two of the connect pass which included the Discovery Gateway. (Josh took the kids while I went window shopping.)


Followed by an I-Max show at Clark Planetarium and dinner at the Lion House Pantry. It was a beautiful evening and we enjoyed a walk through the lights at Temple Square before heading back to the hotel.


Could kids ask for a better New Years Eve. We watch a movie at the hotel until about 9:00 when the kids went to bed. I stayed awake to watch the ball drop in NYC (10:00 our time) and then I hit the sack. I did roll over when I heard fire works outside to wish Josh a Happy New Year. We had a wonderful, relaxing New Years Day swimming at the hotel and making our way home. I just love mini family vacations. The kids are such a joy!

ANDY
Andy still isn't walking. He has been taking 2-3 steps for a couple of weeks now, but he just can't muster the courage to really walk. It wouldn't be a big deal except that he is going to be a big brother in a couple of months and needs to get on his feet. The one thing that really motivates him is music. The first time he took any steps the missionaries were over and one was playing the guitar and singing. Andy got on his feet to dance and just decided to try walking while he was at it. He really likes to dance and is so cute trying to dance on his feet. Yes, he can balance and get up from the middle of the floor like a pro. He really wants to be one of the big kids as illustrated in this picture of him playing at McDonalds. Come on walking!


FAMILY CONCERT
Sometimes at night the kids and Josh will put on a little concert for me. I love it. Andy likes to spin on his bum while Josh plays the guitar. Cara dances, sings, or plays the piano. Caleb plays the piano, harmonica, or the guitar. They can put on quite a show!


CONNIE'S GONE
Connie left on her mission. Cathie came home for Christmas so we were all at Connie's farewell. It was fun to be together. Here is a picture of me with my siblings.


Connie did have a hard time saying good-by to this crew of little kids as they are the ones that will really change in the 18 months that she is gone. Here she is with all of her nieces and nephews.

Stuff and Things

Today I downloaded 144 pictures from my camera. Granted probably over 100 of them were of Andy and other random objects around the house taken by Caleb. He likes to take my camera when he thinks Andy is being cute and do photo shoots. Anyway, even 44 pictures is a lot for me because I am really bad at getting the camera out. What it tells me is that I haven't blogged about a lot of events. So this entry will be random "stuff and things". I know I really should do periodic small posts, but it is so hard for me to sit down and get it done. Tonight Josh is in SLC with the Young Men and I have a few guilt free minutes as the kids went to bed surprisingly well.

THANKSGIVING
Thanksgiving this year was awesome! My entire family, some of my moms sisters Mary, Merle, and Vickie and my cousin Emily and her family were all at my parents house. The weather was amazing. We all had a wonderful time. There were as many horse and four wheeler rides as the kids could handle. Grandpa Neil also took the kids to feed cattle and they all enjoyed the farm adventures. Of course I didn't take any pictures, but I have stolen a few from Cathie and Emily's blogs.


There was a house full of cute babies, and my mom got them all matching outfits. Andy (mine) is the oldest at 14 months, Danny (Cody's) is four months younger than Andy, then my cousin Emily's baby Alex is four months younger than Danny at 6 months, and Cathie's baby Dax is within days of being one year younger than Andy at 2 months. (Ironically each four months apart.)


The meal was fantastic. The only picture I have is this one of Andy scavenging food. He would go from table to table stealing anything that had a sufficient amount of sugar. The kids were happy to share their feast.


It is so fun when Cathie comes with her kids. There is something special about cousins. Cara and Corbin have started being really good friends. Corbin is about 10 months younger than Cara.

TEMPLE SQUARE
The Saturday after Thanksgiving we took our little family to see the lights on Temple Square. The highlight for the kids is always the train ride. We took the front runner in from Ogden and then Trax around the city. The kids love it although it makes the trip much longer. We expected tons of people, but I have never seen Temple Square with such a small crowd at Christmas time. (It was also the BYU/U of U Football game.) It was awesome. Caleb hates movies and darkness so the other visitors centers aren't ideal for him, but the I am A Child of God Display at the Church History Museum is awesome.


Here Andy is trying to throw the bean bag into the Celestial Kingdom.


Cara enjoyed the stained glass window puzzle.


And Caleb was into coloring.

ANDY'S MILESTONES

Andy is 14 months. It is hard to get a good picture of him because he always has "something to say" aka grunting and babbling when I am trying to take pictures of him. He can stand from the middle of the floor and balance for a long time, but he is terrified to take a step. He cruises, but he prefers crawling. He loves the toilets and the bathrooms in general. I try to keep them very clean, but mostly I try to keep the doors closed. Everything he touches is a ball and he LOVES it when one of us will take time to play catch with him. He also likes cars. He strangely likes to crawl around with shoes on his hands (as pictured). Anyones shoes will due, but he always picks a matching set. Andy has now been bottle free for about two weeks. He didn't take it as well as Caleb, who had his binkie for comfort and a sleeping cue or Cara who was old enough to pack up her own bottles and give them away to a "baby". Andy would really like a nice comforting bottle, but I figure we take it away now or it will be another year. He has three months to forget that he even wants one. Finally, he has two words that I think he is using in context "go" and "yah". It is fun to watch him make progress. He only need 48 more words to be on track at 18 months (three months away.)

CALEB LOST HIS FIRST TOOTH

Caleb lost his first tooth a couple of months ago at the age of 5.5. It was very exciting to have the tooth fairy come. He has another one that is really loose. He talks about eating hard food or pulling it out, but when it comes right down to it, it will have to fall out on its own. Caleb is really brave when it is ALL TALK.

SLUMBER PARTIES

Lately I have been finding Caleb and Cara asleep on the floor in Caleb's room when I go to check on them before going to bed myself. They just love being together. Tonight while we were reading Cara leaned over and gave Caleb a big kiss on the neck. He wasn't thrilled with it and I had to tell her "no more kisses" but it is sweet to see how much they love each other and take care of each other.


I made the mistake the first Friday in December of allowing Caleb and Cara to sleep under the tree. This year we don't have funds for many gifts and certainly not for expensive things so we are really focusing on creating happy (free) memories for the kids. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to let them have a slumber party each Friday night in December by the tree. THEY LOVED IT, and they want to sleep by the tree every night. Last night at 4:00 Caleb came into my room to say that he had a bad dream. He asked if he could sleep under the tree so that he could think about happy things. In my sleep I agreed. The next thing I knew I could hear foot steps running back and forth down the hall. Apparently he woke Cara to tell her the good news, that he had permission to sleep under the tree. By the time I got out there they had all of the cushions off of the couch to sleep on and blankets and pillows all set up. They were getting some granola and some water. They wanted to know what the presents on the counter were. Someone is doing the twelve days of Christmas for us. It is amazingly fun, and we have no idea who it could be. Anyway, it was the 2nd day of Christmas gifts that came after the kids were in bed so at 4:30 this morning I let the kids open them. One bag had a plush stuffed Cat to go with the story "When You Give a Cat and Cupcake" and the other was a stuffed Moose that goes with the story "When You Give a Moose a Muffin." The books are classics and we don't have either of them. Needless to say, the kids slept (or didn't sleep) with their new stuffed animals while I went back to bed to lay there for two more hours getting my guts kicked endlessly. The excitement of Christmas around here is apparently more that one 5 year old, one 3 year old, and one fetus can take.

Musical Nativity

Last night we hosted the Joy School Christmas Program. (Joy School is the program that we use for our coop preschool.) This year I was responsible for the program, and I felt inspired when I added primary songs to the script of the Nativity. All of the children at the program participated including the brothers and sisters. They picked parts and got into costume as they arrived and then sat with their family until their part in the script. We sang the primary songs that went along with the script. I am excited to do it again on Sunday for sharing/singing time. I wanted to add a link to the script and songs just in case you want to put a twist to the traditional Nativity this year. It took about 25 minutes to do the entire thing singing just the first verse of most of the songs. I did give copes of the songs/music to the adults. Everyone seemed to enjoy. I wish I had better pictures. It really was darling.

If you are interested in a copy of the Nativity and Music you can click here.

Christmas Newsletter

Following is the link to our Annual Christmas Newsletter. Enjoy and Merry Christmas.

Christmas Pictures

I couldn't wait for the annual Christmas card to share some of the Christmas pictures of the kids. I sure love this little crew!

Four Times

I had to be pregnant four times to figure out the following:
1. If I take Zofran in the day and Phenergan at night I get a full nights sleep and don’t get woken up (to throw up) at four or five when my stomach gets really empty. (You wouldn’t think this is rocket science because the major side affect of Phenergan, and the reason why I have always resisted using it for nausea, is drowsiness. It works awesome for me.)
2. If I go to the chiropractor on a regular basis back pain can be minimized. Why did I live with sciatica during my last pregnancy when I could have at least tried chiropractics. When I starting having a problem at about 17 weeks this pregnancy I thought “I can’t live with this” and I went straight to the chiropractor. I haven’t had to live with it, at least yet.
3. If I wait to have my ultrasound until the new-year I won’t have to pay the $400 out of pocket since my deductable hasn’t been reached for the current year. Our deductable is sure to be reached next year. Even if I was anxious to know the gender I could do that for $75. My doctor said that the ultrasound helps them to anticipate problems that may present themselves at birth, but it doesn’t really matter if I have it at 20 weeks or 30 weeks.
4. If I don’t wear make-up for twenty weeks or so my life is simplified and my friends still like me. I have never been confident enough to go without makeup, but when I was throwing up allot it really simplified my life to not deal with mascara. Now that I am feeling better the make-up is back on.

With all of these great discoveries I wonder what else I will discover in the next 16 weeks. (I really have 18 weeks, but 16 sounds so much better.) I am sure to discover yet another way to get labor induced, which is why I am planning on 16 weeks. Hopefully I can figure out a way to sleep at 36+ weeks. I guess this finally figuring a few things out is just one of the many benefits of having lots of babies.

BTW I am using the bead idea to help Caleb and Cara balance their “service.” (See the prior post.) When Cara does something nice for Caleb she gets to put a pink bead in the “service jar” when Caleb does something nice for Cara he gets to put a blue bead in the jar. The goal is to keep it almost even. They only get to put beads in if I tell them they can. Caleb is much more aware. It is really helping the problem from the prior entry.