Just What the Doctor Ordered

Today was precisely the day we needed around here. Maybe we won't have to cancel Christmas and maybe I won't be forced into early retirement. As it turns out when my kids get some sleep and actual food (as opposed to subsisting wholly on sugar) they're quite delightful.

I spent the morning walking with a good friend who also happens to be my aunt, and then visited with some other friends. That's always a great way to start things off. Then my sister and her kids came over and I helped Eliza and my girls make these:

I know you can't tell from the photo, but they're actually hairclips, cute huh?

Anna made the ones on the left and Abby's are on the right

It was fun to teach my girls and my 24 year old sister how to thread a needle and do a little hand-stitching. :) We both felt very uncharacteristically crafty.

After Lizey and Abe and Belle left the kids and I settled in and watched Polar Express. Brennan came home a bit early and took and nap with Joshy while I went into Ben's room to help him find the pair of pants he wanted (he decided around 4 pm to change out of his jammies). While I was in there Nate's bed looked so inviting I gave in and took a nap in it.

When I woke up the boys were playing happily, the girls were outside playing barbies in the snow and so I made dinner accompanied by my very favorite Christmas music and assisted by Nate and Ben. Seriously, if you've never heard of Cori Connors, you really should. She has two Christmas albums and I'm completely in love with both of them. There's something kind of melancholy about the first album "Sleepy Little Town", but it's also deliciously cozy and comforting. The new album is called "One Small Boy". LOVE them.

After dinner the 4 big kids went outside to sled on our driveway. After that Brennan got the boys to bed and I let the girls watch part of White Christmas with me and then sent them to bed and started wrapping gifts while I finished the movie. Lovely day.

Here are some recent photos:

Here's how the kids entertained themselves yesterday, dressing up and posing

Family Christmas party
Molly, my neice, sweetest angel EVER!

Another niece, Belle, the cutest and craziest camel, EVER.

Benny the Shepherd


Abe the star

a photo of Brennan smiling, just look at those blue eyes!

What I Did Today

What a day, what a day. It started with reminding Anna somewhere between 44 and 63 times to grab her teacher gift and card, loading all 5 kids into the car for carpool, realizing I forgot Ben's beep (pacifier, yes he still has it and no he can't drive for 1 1/2 miles without it), coming in to find the beep and seeing Anna's teacher gift and card on the counter. Sigh.

Benny, Joshy and I then enjoyed a few quiet hours where I was going to get all kinds of things done but somehow managed to get almost nothing done besides feeding, bathing, changing, nursing Joshua. Kids get out early on Fridays, so before we knew it it was time to pick them up. We ran to Smith's first to get more eggs so Anna could make cookies for her friend's cookie exchange party. Picked up kids on the way home from grocery store then came home and helped Anna get started on cookie dough. I had to run Abby to her friend's house so I left Anna in charge of Ben and Nate and told her to finish the dough by adding 5 cups of flour. Joshua and I ran Abby to Paige's and came home to find Anna trying to mix dough that was much too thick and flourery. Dumped dough in the garbage and started over. Finally got dough done, and into the cookie press then into the oven. Finished cookies and ran Anna and her friend to their party. Came home to get more done, managed to sort of clean out the car and pack Nate for his overnighter with his cousin.

5:10 Pump. Anna walks in from party, load her, Nate, Ben and Joshua in the car and go pick up Abby. Swing by Arby's for kids' dinner. Drive to our nearby "big" city (while using my double jointed arm to reach back and feed Joshy his bottle) to meet my brother to hand Nate off for Rex's birthday party. Drive to sister's house to drop off girls to watch her kids, drive home.

6:45, get home, greet Brennan, feed Joshua baby food, get him ready for bed, nurse him while Ben sits with us to stroke my hair.

8:00, all is quiet, Brennan laying with Ben, Joshua asleep, Anna and Abby not home yet, Nate at Rex's. I start organizing choir folders for tomorrow's rehearsal.

9:00, girls come home, get ready for bed in a flash, okay that was wishful thinking, really it took 45 minutes.

10:00, finish folders, start cleaning the kitchen.

10:30 sitting at the computer wondering why on earth I felt compelled to write this rather than just going to bed. I guess sometimes I just need to see what I do all day because based on what I have to show for today: a batch of cookie dough in the garbage, laundry still unfolded, messes as far as the eye can see, memories of impatient things I said to the kids all day, and about 4 days' worth of stuff to do tomorrow -- I think I should fire myself or at the very least force myself to resign :).

Update

I'm kind of dying because tonight Brennan said, "Uh, did you know Joshua has been teething?" "No." "He has a tooth." My little 5 month old baby boy totally has a tooth poking out of his gum. I had no idea. I kind of got this rush of sadness and pride. As strange as it sounds I was proud of him because he seems to be just this darling little blob, but he's actually been being productive growing a tooth for who knows how long and hardly even fussy. I felt so sad because I don't want him to grow up so fast. In 2 seconds he'll be moving out and I want to hold on to all my kids! Okay, yes now you know how completely neurotic I am. We love Joshua.

Benjamin very patiently ran a lot of errands with me today. At one point he was ready to be done and wanted some food. I promised him if he could get whatever he wanted to eat if he just let me finish. By the time we were finally checking out Ben told me he was totally out of energy. I bought him some lunch and an Icee. As we sat down to let him eat he took a few sips of his Icee and said (with an enthusiasm in his voice that you just have to hear to believe) "MOM, I'm starting to get more ENERGY!" Today he asked me, "Mom, what's Abe's first name?" I said, "Well it's Abe, or Abraham." "Oh yeah, Abraham, GREAT job, Mom!" We love Ben.





Speaking of teeth, did I mention Nate lost one of his top front teeth? I love how he looks. He wonders why whenever an adult notices his missing tooth they start singing "All I want for Christmas is my one front tooth, my one front tooth." (The other one is loose and I'm really hoping he'll lose it before Christmas so we can sing the song correctly). Nate has been really worried about the fact that there aren't any presents under the tree. He asks me every day if I've bought any yet. I really need to get wrapping so the poor boy can relax. We love Nathan.

Can I tell you how nice it is to have a child that reminds me about the things she has going on. So often as a mom you have to just sort of be the brain for everyone in your family and keep track of where 7 different people are supposed to be and bring and do and eat at all times. Actually I only have to do that for 6 people because Abby is on it. She's also such a little nurturer and LOVES it when I ask her to get Joshua dressed or hold him when he's drinking a bottle. We love Abigail.

Anna and Chloe had their class here yesterday and our cute little neighbor girl (she's 4) got to stay after a little bit so her Mom could finish some errands. Both Anna and Abby were playing "doggy" with her. I was heating up leftovers for dinner and Diana didn't want any. I knew her Mom would be here to get her soon so I didn't worry too much about the fact she wasn't eating, but Anna wouldn't rest until Diana finally ate a bowl of cereal. I love how much she loves little ones. We love Anna.

Update

I know I say this all the time, but Anna is our festivity queen. She gets so into each and every holiday and is way better than me at making them special. She'll be such a good mom. Anyway, she and Abby basically single-handedly decorated for Christmas this last weekend. I refused to pull one Christmas decoration out until we did some serious cleaning, so Anna really pitched in and then carefully and lovingly went about the house decorating. She's also always on the hunt for things she can talk me into letting her have for her room. I love how child-like she is that way and hope she always will be. We love Anna.


Abigail went to the grocery store with me the other afternoon. When we walked out she noticed a man ringing a bell and asked me why he was doing that. "Well, he's trying to collect money for..." before I could finish she blurted out, "WHAT?! You mean he's wants people to give him money just for ringing a bell?" I quickly explained it wasn't for him, he was doing it for other people. Anna walked into Josh's room the other day to find Abby having a tea party with her dolls. She grabbed the camera and took the following pictures. We love Abigail.

Every day Nate asks me if I've bought him any presents yet. He is so excited for Christmas and all the parties and festivities. He was also so excited to decorate the tree. This time of year is truly so much more magical with children. The highlight of his life though is a Christmas chocolate advent calender I bought for each of them and our upcoming Christmas tree party when they get to sleep under the tree. We love Nathan.

My sister watched my little boys yesterday so I could do some shopping. Ben gave Eliza instructions on how to make a bottle for Joshy. He's just so dialed in and takes himself so seriously I can't get enough of it. A few nights Nate came in to tell us he was scared. Ben followed him in and after he heard Nate he looked at him and said, "Nate, Jesus is with us." Oh, so sweet. We love Ben.

Joshua is beyond words. Honestly, I feel so lucky to have him at this age this time of year. I got the big kids off to school, Ben was playing happily and I fed Joshy his baby food while we listened to one of my favorite Christmas albums. There's just nothing that makes me feel the Spirit more than an innocent smiling child and music. Heaven truly can exist in our homes, maybe for just seconds at a time (at least here) but I'll take it. Here's a sampling of the joy Joshua brings.

Joshua Laughing from Andrea W. on Vimeo.

We love Joshua.

Thanksgiving Weekend

First of all, if you haven't already, be sure to check out a new blog 3 of my brothers just launched. They're not good for much, but they're always good for a laugh :)

Wow, what a great Thanksgiving weekend we had. I kept meaning to post a grateful post, but never got to it. I am so grateful though, for so many things. It seems almost everyday I hear about someone, usually a friend or neighbor or family member who is going through something really hard. I then usually regret that I can't do something more than pray for them and then I realize that's the best thing I can do. I'm so grateful that I know about and believe in the power of prayer.

I'm also so grateful for my sweet family. To have 5 children can have its challenges, but it's far more rewarding than hard. I love my children and husband so very much. Having a baby around is a particular blessing, there's just something about babies that is irreplaceable.

three 3 year olds "helping" my saintly mother make muffins

We celebrated Thanksgiving with my Dad's family. It was a smaller group than usual, but so nice. It was festive and fun. After the big feast and some socializing we headed to my parents' home for some schmoozing with my parents and siblings and families (Christian, Rebecca, Oliver and Amelia were in town).

Friday we met my family at a forest park nearby for a fire and roasted hotdogs and s'mores. The guys and the kids played a fun football game and the rest of us sat around the fire. That night the adults went out to eat at a yummy Mexican restaurant.

Ryan's coon-skin cap that his wife loves so much

Brennan always looks unamused in photos, but he loved it, I promise

Saturday we got the house clean and hosted a football party to watch our local rivalry game with my family. It was a fantastic game and great company. Towards the end we girls got a little chattier than our husbands would have liked, and many a kid was told to get out from in front of the tv and lovingly invited to go downstairs. But all in all, definitely a great time.

Sunday I went to church early to rehearse with our choir who sang our Thanksgiving song for Sacrament meeting. It went really well, I'm so grateful for such good supportive choir members. It still is really hard and scary for me, but I also genuinely love being part of it too.

That evening we met at my sisters' neighborhood clubhouse for my niece, Belle's, 2nd birthday party. I love this quirky little imp of a girl. Eliza had some darling games for all the kids and lots of treats. The adults sat around chatting and laughing with Josh's family. We left happy and tired.

the birthday girl

More Update

Here's super baby! Joshua has discovered his voice and loves to squawk and squeal and we cannot get enough. He is ready with smiles and giggles except in the middle of the night when he wakes up hungry and I have the nerve to change his diaper first, he screams in pure fury and it cracks me up. We love Joshua.

Benny loves our neighbors, we all do, but Benny is obsessed with them. They have three kids named, Tyler, Diana and Will and Ben has sort of lumped them together and refers to them collectively as Tyana. Anyway, he always wants to play with them and the other day he asked if he could go see if they could play. I told him not right then because I had to go shower and then we needed to run some errands. He said, "Okay, I'm just going to go outside to look for bugs." "Okay, but stay in the back yard." The phone rang and after chatting for a few minutes I peeked out back to check on Ben who was no where to be seen. I got off the phone and then called my neighbor and sure enough Benny was there. What a little stink! Also, lately he will get Joshua in a headlock or some other less than gentle gesture and when I tell him to stop he says, "But Mom, he loves me" "Yes he does love you, but you still can't put him in a headlock." We're working on it. We love Benjamin.

The other day Nate walked into my room where I was making Joshua laugh. The baby got giggling so hard and it was so cute. Nate stood there with the biggest grin on his face and then said, "We are sooo lucky." "Why are we lucky?" "Because we have Joshua". I love that my 6 year old gets the magic of our baby. Then again, the other morning he came into the kitchen carrying Joshy and said, "Here Mom, Patches woke up." "Uh, Patches?" (Patches is our guinea pig) "Oh, I mean Joshua!". We love Nate.

For Abby's parent teacher conference the other day I had to bring Joshua with us. When Abby became aware of that she reassured me that she had already talked to her teacher about the fact that even though parents were supposed to try to leave siblings home, there was a possibility her 4 month old baby brother would have to come. I had never mentioned anything about any of this, but found it so funny and so like Abby to have thought it all out and discussed the possibilities with her teacher. "Don't worry, Mom, Mrs. Sutton said it would be okay to bring a baby if we needed to." In so many ways she's about 5 steps ahead of me. If I need to be sure I don't forget something I ask Abby to remind me and can count on it. She's a huge help. We love Abigail.

Anna and Chloe are in full swing of their latest creative venture. They managed to get a good group to sign up for their play. They've scheduled 2 hours each week in our basement for play practice. (When I say "they've scheduled" that's exactly what I mean, I asked to look at the flier right before they went to pass them out). I told them I just couldn't be involved this year, even to answer the door because there's a good chance I'll be feeding the baby. They agreed and so far have kept their word. The first week they did auditions which took about 10 minutes, but they somehow managed to keep their wards entertained for the rest of their 2 hours. They're desperate for boys, but Nate isn't interested so they had to settle for Benny He was willing, but got uninvited after the first hour when he kept trying to sword fight with pool sticks. They are basing this play off a barbie movie of The Princess and the Pauper. In the script they put together based on that movie one of the characters was "Mrs. Madamecarp." They're very cute and very serious about this and I can't wait to see the play. We love Anna.

Update

Last weekend Brennan took the girls down South so they could hang out with Grandma Jamie and Grandpa John while he played in a golf tournament. They left around 4 am Friday morning so they could get there in time for his 10:00 am tournament start time. Around 8:00 Brennan called me to report that they had been in an accident. Thankfully they were all fine, a little shaken up (Anna thought it was pretty exciting, Brennan and Abby were traumatized.) They hit some rough weather and started sliding off the road. Brennan corrected and they slid sideways off the other side of the road which was a big ditch in between the freeways. Miraculously they didn't roll and they and our car, except for two tires, were fine. Also miraculously a passerby happened to have a winch which he managed to pull them out with and an air compressor to get their tires to make it to the nearest town to buy new ones. I am unbelievably grateful that my family was spared. They managed to get to their destination 20 minutes after Brennan's two day golf tournament started. The girls had a great time with their grandparents and Brennan managed to golf, catch up with old friends, and enjoy the girls and John and Jamie.

The boys and I met Macy, (my SIL) and kids at the zoo to freeze to death and see some adorable baby animals. There's a baby elephant and monkey and tigers. I think our favorite was the baby monkey, so tiny and so cute! On the way home Benny was in an exhaustion induced coma, Joshy slept so Nate and I chatted. It was so much fun to get a real look into his life. He told me all about his friends at school and what he does at recess and all those things that I'm always trying to get him to tell me about. We stopped for dinner and grabbed a movie to watch at home. It was so great to be with my boys.

Saturday Nate got to go to a football game and sit in a box with my Did with yummy food. He LOVED it.

Sunday we were happily all reunited and topped off the weekend with dinner and my parents. Life is good.