Christmas 2007

I am finally writing about our Christmas. My camera broke, so these pictures are from my cell phone. They are not great, but the best we could do. Christmas Eve is such a fun time for our family. We all open one gift, which I choose. It is kind of a joke, because everyone knows it is pj's. Then we all get into our comfy new pj's and eat mexican food. This year it was tamales, and home made salsa with chips. After dinner we always read the story of Christ's birth from Luke. Then the kids pretend to go to sleep.



















Christmas morning was pretty fun this year. Our girls, bless their hearts, were in our room at 5 am. We tried to put them off, by saying the boys weren't awake. Of course, they were awake, and the girls proved it by making them come into our room. I always make them wait on the stairs, until James and I go down, turn on the tree lights, some Christmas music, and get the camera's ready. It is so funny to listen to them, as they complain about how long we take to get ready. Of course, there just might be a little bit of teasing on our part. When we gave the ok they rushed down the stairs, and had all their presents opened in probably 5 minutes. The funniest part for me was when they opened the Wii. Kerrie turned to me and said, "mom, you are such a lier." There is a story behind this. I bought the Wii months ago, and the girls actually saw it before I could get it put away. I had them completely convinced that I had bought it for someone else, and I had planned to go back to get one for our family, and when I went back they were sold out. At least it was a surprise.
















I couldn't resist taking a picture of James. It is very dangerous to go to sleep on your daughter's bed. Strange things might happen.

The rest of the day was so relaxed and fun, with a spontaneous invite from the Turpin's to eat pie and play a little Wii. I was really glad, as we were having trouble figuring out all the tricks to the Wii, and Jake is an expert on these sorts of things.

Of course we missed being with our extended family, but all in all a very fun filled magical Christmas.

I'm A Wimp

I have gone through six pregnancy, labor & delivery. I lived through watching stitches, broken arms, an apendectomy & NICU. However, I am the biggest wimp. I cannot watch scary movies. I was all sorts of being brave and agreed to see I Am Legend with some friends. I thought, if I was with the group, I'd be fine, and it would be fun. NOPE! I made James leave the movie half way through. I just couldn't do it. I am sure my friends are laughing at me, and I am laughing too. It was too much for me. At least I gave it a try.

That was the yucky part of the night for me, but we ate dinner before the movie, and that was really fun. I loved visiting and laughing with a fun group of people. So, thanks for the invite to a very fun night.

Walnuts

Yesterday, I made a carrot cake for James' birthday. It is one of his favorites. I had gotten the recipe from my mom, and it was fabulous. It had been a crazy day. I was trying to make the day nice for James, while managing the family. Wednesday, is normally pretty busy, as I am preparing for Scouts. I wanted to make James a cake, and also a good dinner. I managed to pull it all off, right up until all the crazy church activities.

Amanda and Ash had to be to the church at 4:15. Kerrie & Kelsie had to be at a rest home at 6:30, and Nic and I had to be at the church at 7:00 for scouts. I decided to have Nic stay home, because his homework was not done. I got Amanda and Ash dropped off on time. I was running a little late for the rest home, so I pulled right up front, jumped out, and got the girls out, shut the door, and locked myself out. The van was running with the lights on, the radio blaring, and the heater going full blast. Of course, the cell phone was inside also. I had to bum a phone off of someone, and call James. He came to my rescue, and I headed to church only 20 minutes late.

We all got back home about 9:00, and so we ate cake and James opened his presents. Then Kerrie came to me to tell me her gums felt weird. Then in front of my eyes, her mouth started swelling. She said her throat felt funny. I grabbed some allergy medicine, and she was fine in about half an hour. This had happened one other time, pretty recently. Cami had given us a plate of wonderful holiday cookies. There was also some fudge. When Kerrie ate some of the fudge, she had a minor reaction similar to the one yesterday. I called Cami to compare ingredients, and the common one is walnuts. Kerrie is allergic to them, I think. I am going to take her to the doctor to have her tested. The reaction seemed to be worse from the first exposure to yesterday, so it worries me that she will have a very bad one the next time. Made for quite an adventure.

James

Today is a very special day. James turned 43 years old. I wanted to take a minute to wish him a very happy birthday. He has been the best thing to happen to me. It is amazing to me how we match so well. When it comes to very practical things, we have very little in common. We don't like the same music, food, activities, tv shows, decorating tastes, etc. He is very thoughtful, and slow to decisions, and I do things on impulse, and go with my gut. He is very shy and reserved, and I am not. With all of this, our marriage works amazingly well. We seem to balance each other out. For the things that really count, we share common beliefs.

Here are just a few of the things I love about him. He always puts his family first. If there is something we want, and he can give it to us, he does. He works very hard to support this large crew of ours. I love spending time with him. He is so kind and sweet to me. If it is possible, he takes me on a date every week. He does the dishes and laundry. He supports me whenever I need him. He is wonderful with our children. He is interested in what they are doing, and spends time with them whenever he can. He has a funny sense of humor, that is very surprising. He managed to go to BYU without getting married. Of course, I was not there, so he had to come to Arizona to find me. I hope he knows how very much I love him. I am grateful he is my husband. My life with him is lovely.

Nathan

Man, am I glad today is over. Nathan had oral surgery today. He did fine, right up until he was in the chair. He got scared, and I did not blame him. They were attaching wires everywhere, taking his blood pressure, and walking around in surgical dress. He looked at me with these big puppy eyes and said, "I don't want to do this." My heart just ripped in two. Then Dr. Bastacky came in and got ready to do the IV, and Nathan started crying. He said, "I have to get a shot?" The doctor got it in easily, and then they made me leave. I sat in the waiting room nervous the entire time. About twenty minutes later, they came to get me. They told me he was looking for me. When I got back to the room, he was sobbing. He just kept saying, what happened to my mouth? He was trying to climb into my arms, and flopping everywhere. It was awful. The nurse asked if I wanted her to get James, and I said yes. He was able to pick him up and hold him. Then they just let us go home. Nathan cried the entire way home. He was hurting, and saying, "why did they do this to me?" I know he was not quite with it, but it was really hard to hear. In typical Nathan fashion, he asked for McDonalds. I told him he couldn't eat anything, but we would get him a milkshake. Then he asked for the toy. I couldn't turn him down. So he got a milkshake and a toy. This boy really loves happy meal toys. He also told us, he hated "that place." I can't say I blame him, I would have hated it too.

They pulled four teeth from his upper jaw. He only has six teeth left. It is so strange. I have no idea how he is going to eat. He recovered pretty quickly, and I am very grateful for that. When we got home, I gave him a dose of tylenol with codeine. Within a half hour, he was just fine. He has been running around since. Kids are so resilient. I think he may even go to school tomorrow. We shall see. He has needed the pain medication, every six hours, or he starts hurting. My poor baby. I am just really glad to have it over with.

Ward Christmas Party

This year's party was the best we have done. It went so smoothly. I think everyone had a good time, including the activities committee. That has been the problem in the past. We have not worked it in a way that the committee could enjoy the party too. Here are the things we did differently, that made a difference.

-We had roaster pans for the ham, that held a ton, so there was a lot less refilling.
-No sign-ups for dessert and potato dishes. Everyone that came to the party brought one or the other, and that worked out really well.
-We had wonderful volunteer helpers, that made things run so well. We also had them in shifts, so no one was doing it the entire time. Thank you to all the helpers.
-This is a set up thing that may seem silly, but it made a big difference. The kids and I counted out the cutlery, and put them in ziplock bags, that could be thrown on each table. So, there was no carrying around of those really awkward boxes. An unforeseen benefit of this was, we had bags for the leftovers. Score.
-We had volunteers that cleaned up the kitchen afterward. This always seemed to be a problem in the past, as we forgot how much work the kitchen was to clean up, and it was left to committee members that were exhausted. Thank you ladies, you made a big difference.
-I guess we have learned to ask for more help, instead of trying to do everything ourselves. The people in our ward are wonderful, and so willing to help.

I had been worrying about things going smoothly, because my husband made a comment a few days ago, to me about the party. He said, "I hate the ward Christmas party, because I never get to eat dinner with you." After last night, I asked him if he had a good time, and he said yes. I consider that a huge success. I do not know about the other committee members, but I actually got to eat with my family. In years past, I have actually not eaten at all, and ended up going through a fast food drive-thru on the way home. Crazy.

The only bummer thing is, I woke up this morning with a very nasty cold, so I am missing church today. I think I just have been running to much, on too little sleep. I had only gotten about four hours of sleep for several nights leading up to the party. Mostly that was me being very dumb, and choosing fun over sleep. What can I say, I like to have fun.

Here are a few things I thing we need to do differently next year, if I am still involved, which I hope I am. I love my calling.

-Less ham. We had 6 left over. So next year, we will only need 10.
-Less salad. We had 6 bags left over. So next year, I will only buy 6.
-Less rolls. We had 2 bags left over. So next year, I will only buy 13.
-More ice. I only bought 2 bags, and we needed 4.
-I will avoid Safeway, close to church at all costs. That place was crazy. It took me an hour to buy 2 bags of ice.
-I will be a little more organized with lists, instead of relying on my memory. It made me drive more than I should have, and stop at too many stores.

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to get this down before I forgot.

A Simple Thank You Will Do.

It seems like, as a mom, there are many hours spent in thankless jobs. Every once in a while, an unexpected thank you will come. One tonight, brought me to tears. I have been modifying Amanda's Social Studies homework. They were doing it at school, but offered her the choice, in front of the class, whether to do the modified work, or what everyone else was doing. Of course, she would not accept the modified work, because it was embarrassing. Sometimes I wonder what is going on in these adults minds. Do they just not remember what it was like to be embarrassed? Or do they think it is reasonable to let the student dictate what they will do in class? Frankly, I don't understand it. So, instead of me spending hours dictating answers to her that she had to laboriously write out, I spend hours modifying the work, so her efforts are placed in reading the text to find the answer. It is a lot of work, but I am happy to do it, because it helps her learn something. Because of the crazy week, I had not gotten around to modifying her homework until tonight. Two days ago, she had left her book for me, with a paper in it, and the assignment listed. When I opened the book, this is what I found:



I cannot begin to tell you how this made me feel. It was just one of those moments, I will cherish. When things are hard, and I worry, or think my efforts are not recognized, I will remember this simple, thank you mom.

Christmas Cards

I have had my Christmas cards addressed and ready to go for a few weeks. All it needed was a family picture. I had the prints made up today, and they are all ready to go out tomorrow. That is one thing I can check off my to do list.

I absolutely love getting cards. I tape them on one of my doors, and it makes me smile to see them everyday. I get excited everyday for the mail to come, and I can see how many I get. Today it was three. I love reading about the lives of my loved ones that I have not seen in years. For a lot of my extended family, this is the only contact we have.

Busy

This December will be one of my busiest. I wanted to write it down, because I usually forget things the minute after they happen. Which is probably a good thing. I am just going to put in list form, as that is easiest for me.

December 1: Viola lessons, MYSO practice.
December 3: Ashley's Orthopedic appointment
December 4: Kerrie & Nathan's Orthodontics appointments
December 5: Wonderful first snow of the year
December 6: Nathan's appointment with an oral surgeon, Shopped the rest of the day trying to find matching outfits for family pictures. Who knew it would be so hard to find matching reds.
December 7: Ashley's school trip to Philly, that I got to be a part of.(cold, but fun) Finished shopping for matching outfits. SUCCESS!
December 8: Family pictures. (Thanks to our fabulous photographer for dealing with six very wiggly kids) MYSO practice.
December 10: Ashley's appointment for her brace.
December 11: Kelsie & Amanda's Orthodontics appointments. Trip to Aldi's to buy the hams for the ward Christmas party (WCP).
December 12: Deliver hams. Pick up rolls, salad, cutlery & tin foil for WCP. Kerrie & Ashley's strings concert at the middle school.
December 13: IEP meeting. I'm trying to have a good attitude about this. Finish up anything for WCP.
December 14: BREATHE!
December 15: Viola lessons, MYSO practice, decorate for WCP. WCP
December 17: Nathan's oral surgery
December 19: James' Birthday. Youth temple trip.

Things should get much less busy after this, and I will have time to enjoy the beauty of this time of year. I really do love Christmas. I love advent calendars. I love the way the best comes out in people. I love getting actual mail, in the form of Christmas cards. I love the time I get to spend with my family. I love teaching my children about the magic and miracle of the birth of Jesus Christ.

I couldn't resist

This was so much fun. Check it out.

Gartside girls elfed

Gartside boys elfed

Brace Me

Ashley had her Orthopedic appointment today. She will have to wear a brace for the next year and a half. She will need to wear it 22-23 hours everyday. Next week she will see the guy that makes the brace. They will make a body cast, then make the brace to fit her perfectly. The cool thing is, the brace is only about 1/8th of an inch thick, then it has a thin layer of padding. She will be able to wear it under her clothing, and hopefully no one will be able to tell she has it on. I was teasing her on the way home, that she will have perfect posture for the next couple of years. The bummer part is, it will be very difficult to pick things up off the floor, and despite wearing this thing all the time, it may not work. She is taking it very well, and does not seem to mind too much that she will have to do this. She kind of rolls with the punches, and she has had more than her fair share of punches lately. It is a great way to be though, and I admire her attitude toward all this.

As we were heading out of Baltimore to come home, my phone rang. It was the nurse at the elementary school. Nathan threw up at school. Turns out, he told his dad on the way to school this morning that he was not feeling well, but with Nathan we just never know if he is truly ill, or just being dramatic to get out of school. Poor boy. We have some bad germs at our house, and I am going to lysol everything tomorrow. Maybe we can get rid of it.

Tomorrow I am going to the orthodontist to hear the ever fun news of how much it is going to cost us to fix Nathan's mouth. Of course they only start by telling you about phase one. They never tell you there will be a phase two, and possibly a phase three. I think they are preventing heart attacks by breaking it to you gently over time. I've got their number though. It is good that these things come in stages.

Thursday it is a visit to the oral surgeon to get a consult for Nathan, to have several baby teeth removed. Then Friday, Ashley and I get to go to Philadelphia for her eighth grade field trip. That should be fun.

Life is never boring, and that is good as I do not like to be bored.