Ringing in the New Year

Some of the kids posing with their horns, hats and "2009" glasses. Every time I took a picture H would jump up and block K.

H and K with their sparklers. H said she got burned by hers and wasn't too happy about it. K LOVED them.

The balloon drop started the outdoor festivities.

M with his "2009" glasses (and Grandma)

For New Year's Eve my younger sisters threw a party for the grand kids. We met at my parents' house at 10pm (really it was only 7pm--they set the clocks ahead). The kids made noisemakers, played and ate snacks all night long. Then, at "midnight" we went outside and rang in the New Year with horns, yelling, confetti poppers, a balloon drop and sparklers provided by the Las Vegas cousins. The kids all had a great time and it was so fun to see Michael, Allison, Adam and Grace.

Riding The Rail

On Monday N and his parents took H and K to ride the Light Rail. It was free and N thought I could use a break from all 4 kids. They left at 10am and didn't make it home until 5:30pm! It took a little bit longer than anyone had anticipated. N said H fell asleep on the way out and K fell asleep on the way back (I think they rode it all the way out to Mesa). The kids had a good time and I was able to get our Christmas stuff down without "help" (even if it was earlier than I would have liked to take it down).

Hey Rosalyn!

If you happen to see this...What is your blog address? I tried to get there by viewing your profile, but it wasn't listed. I'm so happy you responded!

Baby R is Here!

So, here's how it all went down. I went to the doctor last week and talked about scheduling my induction for Sunday or Monday. He told me Monday was not doable because the hospital was already completely booked, but he thought Tuesday was still open. The only problem with that would be that I tested positive for group B strep and some pediatricians make the baby stay a full 48 hours after delivery if the mom has group B. That meant we wouldn't be released until Christmas day. After discussing our options, N and I decided we'd contact Santa and see if he could come to our house early this year and I would stay in the hospital until Christmas day.

Monday morning I called my doctor because we still hadn't heard anything about the induction. They called me back and said the hospital was booked all week, but I was on standby for that day. Seeing as how the hospital already had 9 inductions scheduled for Monday I really didn't think we'd be getting in. We celebrated Christmas that morning and then I started to make cookies for a family party. The phone rang and N said, "It's the hospital!" They told me that if I could be in within the hour they'd get me started (we're thinking some strings might have been pulled to get me in, but we're not sure). Now, I hadn't taken a shower, my bags were no where near packed, and I was in the middle of baking cookies. I raced around the house trying to get everything ready and I left for the hospital. I made it and got checked in around 3pm. By 4pm they started all my patient in-take stuff and at 5pm my doctor broke my water and started the pit drip. I got my epidural and my labor continued to progress. At about 10pm my nurse said I was ready, but she wanted to wait half an hour to see if the baby would come down a little more. She called my doctor and at 10:45 he came in. The nurse asked if she should call the nursery and he said, "First let's do one push just to see where we stand." About 3 seconds into that push he said, "Quick! Call the nursery! The head is already out." Then he made a joke about something and I laughed the baby out the rest of the way. So, at 11:01pm, baby R made her debut. She had a true knot in her cord, which is kind of rare according to my doctor. (In case you are wondering, a true not means that she made a loop and swam through it to make a knot in the cord.) She weighed just over 7 pounds and was 19.5 inches long. She has a full head of dark hair (my first child to be born with hair).

I think it is a little early to say whether she is a "good" baby or not, but the kids are completely smitten with her. And, since I know you are all wondering: I'm doing pretty good. I'm not in a whole lot of pain and really it has been an easy recovery so far. Cross your fingers that it continues that way.

I Swear My Kids ARE Supervised...Most of the Time

Sunday as we were getting ready for Church, H and K could be heard up stairs playing together happily. Every mother's dream, right? I guess that would depend on what said children were doing to entertains themselves. I mean, playing a game together? Great. Playing with their toys together? Wonderful. Reading books together? Love it. Dumping 7 boxes of baby/kid clothes on the floor, emptying two bags of diapers on top of said clothes, and then making it snow with a bottle of baby powder on top of that? NOT SO MUCH!!!!

At least my house smells good now!

My Favorite

This is my very favorite Christmas decoration. After years of coveting one that my mom has, Santa brought me this for Christmas. I love that it has Santa (an important symbol of giving) reverencing the true reason we celebrate Christmas--the One who gave us the greatest gift and did it unselfishly.

(Oh, and thanks to N, who also claims this as his favorite decoration, for taking the picture.)

Grandma's Ornaments

Every year my mom makes all of her grand kids a tree ornament. I'm sure it was a lot easier when there were one or two kids, but now there are 14 (with two more on the way!) . Each year the kids love getting their Christmas bags from Grandma that have, amongst other things, their ornaments. I think it is something the adults love seeing as well--we all want to know what the ornament is each year.

These are pictures of the ornaments we have received since H's first Christmas, and yes, she made them all.

The Letter Block--I know she had trouble finding Christmas themed pictures for some of her grand kids:



The Bear:



The Nativity:



The Spider--legend has it that spiders created the first tinsel. This story is an old family favorite.



The Letter to Santa holder:



The Quilted Ball--I've been told it took her about an hour for each ball:



Can't wait to see what she comes up with next year!

N's Work's Kids Christmas Party

Does that title make sense?

Every year, N's work has a Christmas party just for the kids. Some times it is at the station and sometimes it is at Encanto Park and they let the kids ride all the rides for free. This year it was at the station. Santa came and brought each of the kids presents and posed for pictures with them. There was also a coloring table, cookie decorating table and donuts, cookies and hot chocolate. With the exception of actually sitting on Santa's lap, my kids totally love going.

This year Santa brought H a Playmobil Nativity set. I swear I thought her face would break from all the smiling. A little back story: I have a Precious Moments Nativity that I let the kids play with. It truly is one of the highlights of H's Christmas. She actually started asking me before Thanksgiving when we would get the "Jesus play set" out. She was beyond thrilled to know that Santa had heard her when she said she wanted a play set of her very own.



K was the only one of my three that actually sat and listened to Santa's stories/songs. However, when Santa asked him to come up and help out, K buried his head in his hands and said, "No." He wanted nothing to do with Santa until he learned that Santa had a present for him. Then he was a little more willing to sit on Santa's lap. K got a set of tools that he really enjoys playing with.



We actually thought M would be the easiest of the three. And he was...until he saw that Santa was holding him. Then, his bottom lip stuck out so far and the tears started to flow. He got a ball tower thing-y (I have no idea what to even call it) and he loves throwing the solid wood balls all over the house.

Today when I went to pick H up from school her teacher brought her out to me and said, "She just told me this as we were walking over her." My first thought was, "She's had an accident." But, no. Her teacher continued, "She told me that one of the boys in class kissed her." I looked at H and said, "Was it Zander?" She and the teacher said, "Yes." Then her teacher told me that she would be talking to Zander's mom about the whole thing. (FYI: Zander is a boy in our ward and H's primary class. She has been talking about him being her boyfriend for a while now.)

So, on the way to the car I started asking H some questions.

me: Where did he kiss you?

H: By the double doors. (Cute, right?)

me: No, I mean did he kiss your cheek, your mouth, your arm...?

H: My lips. But mom, he broke up with me.

me: Well, you are a little young to have a boyfriend. You shouldn't be kissing boys either.

H: I DIDN'T kiss him! HE kissed ME!

We got home and I called N at work to tell him that H had her first kiss. He said, "Are you trying to kill me?" Clearly, he is not ready to deal with this and I think he is ready to lock her in her room until she's 30.

When H heard me telling N about the kiss she got kind of angry and told me she didn't want anyone to know. She even told her friend at school (who is a girl, by the way) not to tell anyone. I'd like to be able to tell her that I didn't tell anyone but dad, but really this is too cute not to tell!

K's Nose

This morning N was checking out K's nose. They had been playing and I thought maybe K had a bloody nose or something. N took care of whatever it was so I didn't think too much of it. Then a while later I noticed this red mark on K's nose. I asked him what happened and he didn't know. N chimes in and says, "I pinched him. It was actually pretty close to a shark bite." I stared at him in disbelief. Luckily, it doesn't seem to bother K.