A Christmas to Remember! (part 2)

Christmas morning we still only had partial power. We got up about 7am and the kids checked out what Santa had left. They played with their Santa gifts for awhile. Then we had breakfast and got dressed and waited for Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Nathan to come over from my sister's house. Once they arrived we opened the wrapped gifts under the tree. It was fun to have them here for Christmas. This was the first time I have spent Christmas with my parents in 10 years. That's a long time.

Whitney really enjoyed the present opening this year. She was even trying to open presents that weren't hers. She would just go grab one out from under the tree.

Tyler's favorite present was this autographed photo of Brandon Roy (his favorite player) that my parent's got for him.

Shannon with her gumball machine that Evan gave her. The kids draw names and buy a gift for one of their siblings. They love going out shopping for their gift.



Evan unwrapping his new p.j.'s - probably not his most exciting gift.

Lauren unwrapping her present from the Phelon cousins.


It was fun to watch Whitney unwrap. She would tear off a little piece of paper and then run over and throw it in the garbage bag. Needless to say it would take a while for her to unwrap a gift. At least she cleaned up after herself.
We just spent the day at home, enjoying each other's company. We actually had an electronics/media free day (no computer, TV or Wii), since we didn't have enough power to run them. The kids were disappointed because they received some new Wii games and then couldn't play them. We weren't able to cook our Christmas dinner. We had to get a little creative and cook all our meals on the barbeque and the burner on the barbeque. It worked and we had hot meals for the day.

There was lots of cheering when our power finally came back on mid morning the day after Christmas. We enjoyed our Christmas dinner on Friday night - one day late.

All in all we had a good Christmas. Just different from the usual.

A Christmas to Remember! (part 1)

Christmas this year was definitely different (in more ways than one) from our usual Christmas'.

*First off it was a white Christmas. We have lived in our little town for over 13 years now and have never had a white Christmas before. We were also basically home bound because our road isn't very snow friendly.

*Second, it was the first Christmas that we didn't have power (or at least full power).

*Third, it was the first Christmas that we had my parents here to celebrate with us.

I also didn't take very many pictures. I'm not sure why I guess I was kind of preoccupied with all the snow and power issues. I didn't even take my camera with me to my sister's house for our Christmas Eve get together.

Our Christmas celebration began on Christmas Eve. We spent most of the day at home just having a relaxing day. It snowed off and on most of the day and we weren't sure if we should try and make the drive over to Vancouver or not for our Christmas Eve dinner at my sister's house. We finally decided to just go, knowing that we would probably not be able to drive the van up our road when we got home that night. (We had just gotten our van back home the day before after having left it parked on Barr Ave. for three days.) As we were getting ready to leave the power went out (about 3:30pm). Once we got past our neighboring town the roads weren't really too bad just a little slushy.

We had a nice evening with our family. My sister made homemade pizza (our Christmas Eve traditional dinner) and we had pop to drink. After dinner we had a little program where some of the kids read stories, my nephew played a couple of songs on the piano, and we sang Christmas carols. We also reenacted the Nativity story using the puppets that Kirk's Mom made us several years ago. (I don't have any pictures of the evening.) The kids opened one present that evening and the we headed for home. We were hoping that the power would be on when we got home. The roads weren't too bad until we got onto the neighborhood streets leading up towards our street. Just as we thought, we couldn't get up our road, so Kirk dropped the kids and I off at the bottom of the hill and we walked the rest of the way home. It was really icy and slippery and I had a hard time staying upright as I carried Whitney up the road. We finally made it home and at first it seemed that we had our power back. We soon realized, though, that we only had partial power. Some of the lights would turn on, but they were very dim. Other lights wouldn't turn on at all. For some reason this freaked Lauren out. She started crying and said "let's get out of here and go somewhere else." (According to our neighbors the power came back on about an hour after it first went out and then it went out again about 6:30pm).

We got the kids put to bed and then Santa had to work by dim lights and lantern's to get all the presents put out by the tree. Luckily Santa didn't have anything that needed to be assembled. Everything was so out of wack from our normal Christmas Eve that our kids forgot about putting cookies and milk out for Santa and they never forgot to do that.

I decided to divide this post into two posts, so it wouldn't be so long. So part 2 will be coming soon.

Finger Painting

A couple of weeks ago Whitney got into the container of diaper cream and decided to do a little finger painting on her legs. She put it on pretty thick and it was tough to wash off. She had nice soft, greasy skin for a couple of days.
Of course she had just taken a bath that's why she's just in a onesie and is sporting a beautiful hair do. She is also wearing one of Shannon's socks and one of Lauren's socks that she put on all by herself.

I make my own diaper cream and keep it in a plastic container. I didn't think she could get the lid off, but she proved me wrong. Now I'll have to keep it out of her reach, which is getting harder and harder between her climbing skills and her rubber arms.

Who Me? I'm not getting into any trouble.

Thank goodness for leather furniture. I've decided it's the only way to go with little kids. It's nice to be able to just wipe off the mess.
Whitney helped me clean up the mess off the couch. She loves wiping and cleaning things.

Buried in Snow

After having snow on the ground for over a week I am extremely sick of snow. I am ready for it to warm up and to return to our usual wet, rainy weather. At least in the rain you can still get around and you don't have to shovel it. We had a couple of snowstorms hit last week. On Saturday morning we probably had 5-6 inches on the ground. It snowed all day Saturday and a good portion of the day Sunday. Sunday evening Kirk went out and measured the snow. We have between 16-18 inches of snow on the ground right now. It depends on wear you measure. This morning I was watching a deer walk through the snow on the bottom of our property. The snow was up to his belly and he was having a hard time walking through it. The poor thing was probably looking for some food.

Kirk took all of the photos above on Sunday morning. We ended up getting more snow all day Sunday, so we ended up with a few more inches by this morning. Sunday we just stayed inside all day and didn't even go out and try to shovel the driveway or walkway.

This afternoon we finally went out and shoveled the driveway. Kirk, Tyler and I all worked on it for about an hour. It was back breaking work. I'll probably be sore tomorrow. The snow was over a foot deep and we had shoveled it on Saturday. Below are some pictures of what it looks like around our house this afternoon.
This photo was right before we shoveled the driveway.

We thought the swings looked cool with all the snow piled on them. Notice the snow comes up to the bottom of the swings.

Here are photos of after we shoveled the driveway. Notice the huge piles of snow along the driveway. They are about 3 feet high.


I think this pile in front of the garage is about 4 feet high.

The problem with so much snow around here is that they don't have the equipment to handle it and to remove it. This is the most snow we have had in 40 years. Usually when we get snow we get 2-3 inches and then it is gone in a day or two. Not this time.

After shoveling the driveway Kirk tried to get the van up our road, but was unsuccessful. He could only get it halfway up. It even has studded tires on it. So it is still parked out on Barr Ave. where it has been since Saturday evening. I really need to get out tomorrow and get some errands run. I'm hoping for temperatures above freezing tomorrow, so we can start the thawing process.

Whitney's First Time in the Snow

After Whitney's asking to go outside several times last week I finally caved on Friday and let her go out in the snow. Whenever the other kids would go out she would want to go to. She says "side, side, side" when she wants to go outside. She will even get her shoes and coat to help plead her case that she really wants to go out. Finally on Friday I decided to bundle her up and let her go out with Shannon. It probably took me 10 minutes to get her all bundled up (that's why I kept procrastinating letting her go out) and to get her boots on. Once outside she loved the snow. She seemed to have no problems walking around in it and loved to pick it up and of course taste it. She probably stayed outside for 20 minutes or so. She wasn't ready to come in until her Dad decided to take her for a ride down the hill on the tube. He said she didn't cry, but when they got to the bottom she immediately said "I want mommy!" So he brought her inside and that was the end of her first snow experience. Maybe we will take her out again tomorrow, but I don't think she will want to go tubing again.

Winter Wonderland!

*We have had lots of snow this past week. It all started on Sunday during church. It wasn't snowing at all when we went in to church and by the time we came out everything was covered with snow. I was a little worried about getting home when I saw the road covered. We live on a road that has a steep hill you have to go up. It is nearly impossible to get up our road if it has snow on it (even only an inch) unless you have a 4 wheel drive or studded tires on your vehicle. Unfortunately we hadn't put out studded tires on our van yet. Sure enough, we tried a couple of times and couldn't get up. The kids and I all got out of the car and walked the rest of the way home. We were wearing our church clothes and shoes so it was an interesting walk. I'm sure it would have made an interesting picture to see us all walking down the road. I was in the lead carrying Whitney and all the other kids were strung out in a line behind me. Tyler had Lauren by the hand and I kept turning around trying to get them all to hurry up. It was snowing pretty good the whole time we were walking. By the time we got home my shoes were full of snow. Dress shoes and nylons don't keep your feet very warm in the snow. Whitney's hair was covered with snow and she kept saying "hair, hair". About five minutes after we arrived home Kirk came driving down the driveway in the van. I was wondering how he had made it up the hill and Shannon said "Mom, I know how he made it up. I said a little prayer when we got home that he would be able to drive it up the hill." Kirk said he just kept trying and trying until he finally made it up. I'm glad I wasn't with him because sliding backwards down hills terrifies me. (I was a passenger in a car that rolled down a hill and into a tree when I was a teenager and have ever since been terrified of going down hills backwards.) Needless to say Kirk put the studded tires on the van that afternoon so we could get out if we needed to.

*Monday was a snow day for the kids and school was cancelled. Kirk and I took advantage of having Tyler home to babysit and we went into town to do some shopping. We went to Winco and then did a little bit of Christmas shopping. It was fun to get out and the roads weren't really all that bad. They were a little snow packed on the way in, but by the time we headed home they were mostly clear.

*Tuesday the kids had school but it was a two hour late start. Late start days are nice because we get to sleep in, but the kids still have to go to school. I used my day to get caught up on laundry and cleaning. I also took Whitney and Lauren to story time at the library. Since they were predicting an even bigger snowstorm for Wednesday, I decided we needed a little outing.

*Wednesday school was cancelled again. It snowed all day long. We got about four inches of new snow. We rolled out and cut out Christmas cookies. The kids did a little tubing down the hill between our house and the neighbors house. They had a blast. I was hoping the storm would come later in the day, so Lauren could go to preschool for her Christmas party. I guess they won't have a Christmas party this year. If there is no school on Friday I guess none of the kids will have Christmas parties.

*Thursday (today) school was cancelled again. (I think I am beginning to sound like a broken record.) I am definitely ready for the kids to go back to school. We haven't even made it to Christmas break and they have already used up all their built in snow days. Today we finished our cookie project and got our cookies all frosted. Then the kids went out and did some more tubing and sledding. It is kind of nice to have our own hill to sled on, so we don't have to travel anywhere. When Kirk got home he went out with them again to sled some more. I tried to take some pictures but it was getting too dark and they didn't turn out very well.

Hopefully there will be school tomorrow. I am hoping for at least a late start. I have lots of cleaning I need to do to prepare for my parents arrival tomorrow afternoon. It is easier to get it done with most of the kids in school. I am hoping that we don't get anymore snow, so my parents can drive the rest of the way here without any problems. I am excited to have them here for Christmas. It has been 10 years since I have spent Christmas with them.

There is a lot going on over the next week, so I hope the weather gets better, so we can go to everything over the next week. My nephew is getting baptized Sunday evening and we are planning to go to my sister's for Christmas Eve. I would love for this snow to go away and come back in January when there is nothing going on and we need some excitement.

Decorating the Tree

I am getting a bit behind, but here are finally some pictures of us decorating the tree. Kirk had to cut about a foot off the bottom of the tree, so it would fit in the house. Then we couldn't get it to go all the way down into the stand, so he had to cut off some of the branches around the bottom. The kids enjoyed playing with the branches he cut off, while they were waiting for the tree to be ready to decorate. Needless to say we had pine needles every where and had to do a lot of vacuuming afterward. Evan and I put the lights on the tree and then the kids put the ornaments on. We definitely don't have a picture perfect tree, but the kids have fun. They love to be able to put the ornaments on that they have made over the years.

It looks so pretty in the dark room with just the tree lights on. I think that we are one of the few families who put colored lights on our tree.

Our Hunt for the Perfect Christmas Tree

Last Saturday was the perfect day to go get our Christmas tree. All week I had been decorating the house and Evan and Lauren kept asking me when we were going to get our tree. Saturday was a beautiful day with blue skies and sunshine, so it was a great day to trudge around the tree farm looking for a tree. We hadn't had rain for a few days, so it wasn't even very muddy. We live in a great place to get Christmas trees with several tree farms just a few minutes from our house. We always just go to the same place, though. This is one of our favorite traditions. I know the photo above isn't very good because of the bright sun in the corner, but I think it is such a cute photo of Whitney trying to walk in her boots. She has such a hard time walking in her boots that we ended up carrying her most of the time.

We spent quite a bit of time scouting out trees and picking our favorites. There are definitely lots of opinions on which tree is the favorite. We finally came to an agreement on which tree was the perfect tree for our house this Christmas.
Evan always carries the saw. He thinks that is his official job.

We finally found "our" tree. I didn't take a good picture of the whole tree before we cut it down. It is tradition that each of the kids takes a turn and tries to cut the tree down. They don't make it very far. Kirk always has to do that job. The photo above is Evan trying.

Lauren makes an attempt. I think she just reached under and touched the saw and then she was done.Here is Shannon making a good effort at it.

Last Tyler tried.

Then Kirk did the actual cutting. He had a hard time of it because the saw was so dull. He finally got it down and then carried the tree on his back to the truck. I should have taken a picture of that. It is a big tree.

Whitney was entertaining herself with a stick she found while we waited for Kirk to cut the tree down. She was having so much fun with it.

Here we are (minus Tyler - he took the picture) with the tree right before we cut it down. When we first moved to the Northwest I was kind of wary about having a real tree. My family growing up always had a fake tree. I have learned to love this tradition and definitely think it is worth the pain of the messy needles and my aggravated allergies to have a real tree.

Coming soon, Part two - Trimming the Tree

Drama at the doctor's office

Lauren has been sick most of this week. She started off Monday telling me that her head hurt. Then on Tuesday afternoon she started complaining about a sore throat and started running a fever. Last night after running high fevers off and on for a couple of days and her moaning and groaning half the night, I decided I was going to call first thing in the morning and get an appointment to take her in and get tested for strep. This morning she was pretty lethargic and as I was helping her get dressed I noticed her torso was covered in a rash which felt kind of like sand paper.

When I told her she was going to the doctor she immediately got upset and said I don't want a shot. I told her she wouldn't have to get a shot, but decided to refrain from telling her about the throat swab they would have to do. I personally think that is worse than a shot. We get there and the doctor took one look at her throat and said that they were going to have to give her an S-H-O-T (she spelled it so Lauren wouldn't know what she was talking about. She said her tonsils were so swollen that they were touching, so they needed to give her a shot of dexa . . . something or other (I can't remember the big name of the steroid) to help shrink her tonsils down so she can breathe better and be able to drink. So unfortunately I had to eat my words. She did great with the shot and the throat swab, but then they gave her some liquid Tylenol with codeine to help with the pain she was in because her throat is so sore. This is where all the drama took place. She took the medicine fine, but then wouldn't swallow it. I tried everything to get her to swallow it (tipping her head, back massaging her throat, squeezing her cheeks, bribes, pleading). No matter what I tried she would not swallow it. She gurgled it several times and I thought for sure she was about to swallow it. This went on for what seemed like forever (probably only 10 minutes). She finally spewed (probably not spelled right) it out all over my hands. I was so embarrassed by her whole performance. Afterwards when I asked her why she wouldn't swallow it, she said that it tasted bad and was hurting her tongue. I felt like saying, "Hello, if you would have just swallowed it you wouldn't have had to taste it for so long and it wouldn't have hurt your tongue plus your throat would feel a whole lot better".

She has a very bad case of strep. Luckily she loves the taste of the Amoxicillan they prescribed for her. She told me it tastes like lollipops. I will not be giving her Tylenol with codeine again anytime soon. I would rather let her suffer in pain than go through that again.

Creative Climber!

Whitney has been driving me nuts lately with getting into everything. Earlier this week she figured out she can drag the chairs from the table into the kitchen and then climb up on them to get into the drawers that she can't reach from the floor. The first time she did this I was sitting on the couch and I looked over and I could see her big smiling face up above the bar in the kitchen. She was grinning from ear to ear and definitely very proud of her new accomplishment. Now she is in those drawers all the time messing them up and making big messes for me to clean up. Yesterday she pulled a bunch of sandwich bags out of the box and spread them out all over the counter.

The photo above is from the first time she did this. I think the smile on her face says it all. Notice the nice mess she made out of the drawer. Rearranging the contents of the drawer did keep her occupied for 30 minutes.

Yesterday she figured out a new way to get herself even higher when she wants to reach things on the counter. The next two pictures illustrate her newest climbing technique. First she pushes a bar stool over to the counter she wants to climb to. Next, she pushes a chair right next to the bar stool. Then she climbs up on the chair.

Here she is up on the chair. Notice the arrangement of the bar stool and the chair. (Kirk took the photos and he said she was pointing at him but as he took the picture she lifted her finger up. To me it looks like she is saying Shhh! don't tell anyone what I'm about to do!)Lastly she climbs from the chair to the bar stool. Then she is up where she wants to be. I'm afraid the next place I will find her will be standing on the kitchen counter. She has definitely proved to me that where there is a will there is a way.

Hopefully she doesn't end up falling and breaking her leg or arm.

On the Good List for Today . . . .

*The sunshine! (so nice to see this morning after several gray foggy days)

*Whitney sleeping through the night last night! (the two previous nights were horrible up for 2+ hours during the night)

*Six uninterrupted hours of sleep last night! (much better than the 3 I got the night before)

*Getting out of the house today for a few hours!

*Playgroup at church

*Gas is only $1.72 a gallon today (I can fill my van up for about $30 - never thought I would be able to say that again)

*Christmas decorations - they make the house look cheery and festive

*The joy a colorful string of Christmas lights (hanging in my younger kids bedrooms) brings to them.

*Cute little pigtails on a cute little girl (actually these pigtails are from a couple of days ago).

As I was driving around this morning enjoying the sunshine and beautiful blue sky, I started thinking about some of the things I had to be happy about today. I decided I needed to take the time to write down some of the good things in my life right now. This is something I need to do more often because there is generally some good in everyday and I just need to take the time to acknowledge it and look for it.