Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

We had a lovely Christmas. I didn't get many pictures but I took a lot of video. Ryan and I finally gave in and got the kids a PS3, up until now we haven't had a "gaming system" which I was pretty happy about but we played Rock Band at Ryan's cousin's house over the summer at a family reunion and since then we've warmed up to the idea. It's been really fun but yesterday Jefferson said, "my thumbs hurt". They've pretty much been playing for like 6 hours a day the past few days but that will all come to a swift end when school starts again next week, so I don't feel too bad about their rotting brains and muscles.
I got the American Idol game and we have two microphones to sing with so we can do duets and I was really excited about it but on Christmas Day I lost my voice (which is probably what Ryan asked Santa for) so I haven't been able to really play it yet. Kent and Katie (Ryan's sister and her hubby) came over last night and we played Band Hero and American Idol for like two hours, I played the guitar badly and sang like two songs which hurt my throat a lot, and everyone else's ears too, but it was still lots of fun. Ryan is amazing at the singing and a handy guitarist, Kate rocked the microphone and Kent is a masterful guitarist, I can't even believe some of the things he managed to do with that thing.

And today is Jeffey's birthday so I've been making his cake, he asked for yet another dragon cake. I think we've had a string of 7 dragon/dinosaur cakes in a row for that dude. So he got a lego dragon cake. The dragon is attacking the castle because the lego people stole two of it's babies (they are in that cage thingy inside the castle), poor dragon.
Oh, and while I was getting the frosting tip out of the piping bag and my hand was covered in frosting Peter barfed on the couch which is why Leah is not sitting on the cushion in that picture, I got the frosting off my hand, washed the cushion and now it is drying and Peter's been bathed and tossed into bed. Good times. Ryan meanwhile took the day off today so he can go play in a big sandbox (the Dunes) with his brothers and ride quads. I hope he comes back un-broken.

So that is what is going on around here. We are excited for the New Year and are looking forward to 2010!!

Christmas Performances

Above is Tessa and her classmate Allison singing the 2nd Graders in for the big show. Tessa is quite the performer and loves nothing more than being up in front of people belting a song. More about that later.


Alana is in that herd of kindergartners. Oliver was in the performance too but not in this picture. I got video that I can't get to upload because it is too big. Sad. It sounds like a lot of kindergartners singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

And today at church our family (Ryan, Jeff, Leah, Tessa, Alana, and I - Arnon played for us) sang "Oh Hush Thee, My Baby" from the Children's Songbook in Sacrament Meeting. We had Tess sing the first verse as a solo and Ryan and Jeff sang alto for all the rest of the song and I sang the descant on the third verse. Well, I tried to sing the descant, I was all choked up because I was singing with my family, and Peter was waving to us from the front row. And Whitny came all the way from Chandler with her family to see us, and Samantha, Phil, Val and Zeke came, and Tessa did such a good job on the solo, I just couldn't make the right sounds with my voice so I mostly just stood there. But the kids and Ryan did great. It was a lovely program and I think everyone liked it. I'm sure blessed to have such a wonderful family. It was just what I needed to get really excited about Christmas, I'm ready now - Bring it on!

Decade

All weekend I was thinking about what I was doing ten years ago. I know exactly where I was within about a 20' by 20' area and I can probably guess what I was doing. I was either cross stitching, reading, playing cards with Ryan or watching the A-Team on TV. I was probably hooked up to the monitors to keep track of my babies' heart rate and my contractions, although as time went on I stopped wearing them because I knew I wasn't contracting and if I was worried about the baby I just took a drink of cold water and he immediately kicked me always in the same spot, plus he had the hiccups a lot. I was probably talking on the phone to one of my sisters or parents or friends reassuring them that everything was fine and totally believing that since the calm feeling I'd had ever since I received a blessing from my wonderful husband in late November. I had recently been on a wheelchair tour of the hospital's newly built NICU, the best NICU this side of the Mississippi, where I saw two pound babies in incubators and where I should have been terrified but I wasn't. Jeffey's due date was February 19, 2000 and I had been told that he would be in the NICU until at least then, if not longer. I had been briefed about how big he would be if he was born now, about lung immaturity, about disabilities and long term health issues that come with a very premature baby. But still that peaceful feeling stayed. My amniotic fluid kept dribbling out at random times and would surprise me and make me laugh. But I figured that if I kept drinking lots of water maybe I could make up the difference.

So now, ten years later I marvel at the calm sureness I had. Was it because I was young and didn't know better? He was my first baby so I couldn't have known how much I would love him. All I know is that I have had that calm feeling before and I know it didn't come from me. I am grateful to have our Jeffey safe with us where I can be frustrated with him and wish he could spell words correctly and not shout at his sisters, and I can blow him a kiss every morning when he goes to school (he keeps turning back and blowing them to me until I return the gesture, he never forgets), and I can have long quiet talks with him about making good choices and being kind.



I am overwhelmed with gratitude.

Fun

Yesterday Peter was having fun with the chickens so I got a little video. He really likes chasing them and I think they are equally fond of the game.

Mooning

So a few months ago my Whitny sister asked if I wanted to go see "New Moon" at a special sneak peek the day before it opened (aka last night). I'll admit that I was not super hot on the idea, spending twelve bucks for a movie makes me cringe, but I said I was in since she seemed so very excited and I thought it would be fun to hang out with my sister. Then I started seeing previews and I thought, 'huh, I'm going to go see that in the theater before it opens instead of waiting to see it on Red Box like I normally do. That could be interesting.' And last week I started to get excited about going out in the evening time to see a movie with Amanda and Whitny, and Ryan would stay home with the kids and I would be fancy free. . . I was warming to the idea. Amanda and I discussed the book on the way out to the Chandler Fashion Mall last night and she is on Team Jacob and I am on Team Edward and we had a mild debate (I totally won). We got to the theater and there were girls in their black Twilight t-shirts and pajamas on chairs and blankets lined up all the way around the theater waiting for the midnight show. Our show started at seven. We felt a bit sad for them that they were HUGE crazy fans who would wait in the chilly evening air for hours and hours while we who were mild fans with a comparatively low level of excitement about the whole thing walked blithely into the theater and waited in line for about ten minutes, our seats were assigned. The theater was abuzz with excitement, and the ten men that were there were excited too. When the movie finally started there were excited shrieks and cheering. Amanda and I decided that Bella definately wouldn't be shreiking and cheering about a movie, even her own movie. But the energy was palpable, she might have been hard pressed to remain stoic. I gotta say, I LOVED that movie. Seriously. I laughed, I cried drippy tears (pick your jaws up off the floors). It was like reading the book only faster and that made me really happy. Now I have to go back and read all four of them again.

even though, "you can't really run with vampires."

-Bella, "New Moon"
(she said that in the movie and I know that because I totally saw it,
last night, not at midnight, so I got to sleep.)

Hiking and Leah's Lament

The kids didn't have school today, we love Veteran's Day! Thank you Grandpa Johnson, Uncle Chris, Uncle Jake and all the other Veterans. You rock. So we went to North Mountain and hiked. It was a lovely cloudy day, perfect weather for an outing.

Tess and Pete at the top. Maybe someday her front teeth will grow in and she will begin to look normal again. . .
A well deserved rest after we reached the top. I made them sit there and Alana was very frightened that she would tumble off into the chasm.

The crew.

I found this the other day and took a picture of it for posting. Leah wrote it. Pretty funny.

Public Service Announcement

Roo

Dracula

Mermaids

It's the Monday after Halloween, the children are at school. . .
Did you hide all the Halloween candy yet?

Photos by the Whitny sister (thanks Whit)