Gender Check Ultrasound

Hello Hello. I am waaay behind on the blog. Maybe cause it's Christmas-time (not that I've done a ton of Christmas preparation... I haven't sent any of my missionaries their Christmas packages yet!!! I think I need deadlines)... maybe it's cause I have a large family and it's getting harder to do the things I want to do. Last week I did prepare a lot for gospel doctrine yesterday - a discussion on the Family Proclamation. I haven't practiced violin as much as I want. I haven't been exercising. Maybe I'm anemic. I did lab work today, so we'll find out about that soon enough. 

Ok, so I did actually write that above on Dec 20. Now it is Feb 3rd, and it is still true that I am way behind on the blog. Only a few more entries until I'm done with December... When it was Dec 20th, though, we had not told most our children that we were expecting. I did go in that day to a doctor appointment, where I had a gender check ultrasound. We were excited to be able to deliver to Lily one of her Christmas wishes - a baby sister. Yes, it's a girl. I went by Zurchers on the way home and picked up some "It's a girl" pencils and I also got this hat for Peter, and we gave it to him on Christmas Eve as a reveal present to him and an early Christmas surprise for all the kids. 

We are all excited and looking forward to welcoming this little girl into our eternal family. Two more pictures for "today" (aka Dec 20th) - a cute little boy named Owen who is excited for Christmas - 

And a letter he wrote to Santa. He was getting it ready to give to him with the milk and cookies on Christmas Eve - 

"To Santa From Owen. Santa you are nice. Thanks for the presents. Thanks for the treats. To Santa: We gave you cookies. Star cookies too and Christmas Tree cookies too. You are sweet. I love you and you love me too."

Church, Goodies and Plastic Wrap

Today was a good day. There was a musical program at church. Sophi and her friends from Activity Days group sang together, Sophi did very well! I sang in a small choir too and spent a half hour this morning singing the song over and over, trying to wake up my voice. I stayed up late last getting ready for teaching Gospel Doctrine class today, and that went well I think. We discussed the Family Proclamation, and after all I learned and studied this week (Elder Christofferson's talk "Why Marriage, Why Family" and Sister Beck "Teaching the Doctrine of the Family") I love it even more that I did before. Go listen to Follow Him Episode 51 - Part 1 and Part 2 - so good. The guest Jenet Erickson was also the guest on the Book of Mormon Central and she's become one of my new favorite people! Amazing articles and lectures by Jenet Erickson here. So after nourishing our spirits, we had a nice day at home. Peter was sweet playing cars after church. He's so cute. 

Natalie and Owen playing spies.

Sophi joined them and we got a big kick out of her Spy Identification card. 

Although it seems, to me, if you're a undercover spy, you're not going to want to have an ID in your wallet or pocket that could give you away... but maybe they thought of that, hence why they used the 2 month old photo to throw people off? Hilarious. (I remember that little baby face!! <sniff>)

Today the kids had planned to make Christmas goodies to give to neighbors. They went with Corey to buy more stuff for it last night, and today they got them all together and delivered them and they did it all without me! Sure they had a few mistakes. The cookies didn't turn out. Abi had asked me "what is 3/4 plus 3/4?" and I asked her "What is .75 cents plus .75 cents?" "$1.50?" Yes. "So one and a half?" Yep. A while later I saw the finished products. They were very flat.

"That batter had too much butter..." I commented. They were also very crispy. Abi said she just isn't good at making cookies, and that the recipe on the back of the bag of choc chips was no good. She turned to making brownies instead

...but she kept thinking about the batter, then a few minutes later she said "Ohhh..." and realized her mistake - She had put one and a half CUPS of butter into the recipe (3 sticks) instead of one and a half STICKS, which would have been 1.5 cups of butter. So little mistake there of accidentally doubling the butter... So they were basically toffee cookies. 

The kids slowly nibbled away at the bits of cookie toffee and they continued their work. 

And not that I want to give the impression that I'm not in the Christmas Spirit, but it was really nice to not do it. I'm sure they spent a lot more money than I would had I helped and participated, but the extra cost might be worth the not participating. 

I bet soap would be less expensive though. It's definitely be easier. Maybe I'll look into that for next year. After they were back from delivering, we watched the 1970 Christmas Carol, which was great. I've put it on my calendar for the Sunday before Christmas next year, to watch it again. Tomorrow we're going to watch "The Man Who Invented Christmas". When I tried to watch the Man Who Invented Christmas with them a while back, they didn't know what heck was going on cause they didn't know the story of Scrooge. So we did it in proper order this time so they would understand. This was the first time most of our kids have watched the Christmas Carol movie and so now that they know what it is about, they're ready for The Man Who Invented Christmas tomorrow, which really spoke to me when I first saw it in 2017 because of a particularly stretching trial we were facing. So yeah, I love it. When that was done, and it was time for bed, most of the little ones were sent off but the older kids got distracted with the saran wrap that had been left out when we were wrapping goodies. Joseph started it - 

He was remembering Mel and the fun she had with broken glass years ago.

Wesley followed Joe's lead - here's video of him

And then here are two more videos of Wes discovering how to make the plastic pop, which intrigued Abi: "I wanna try..."

And then we were all laughing so hard together. 

Abi looked like the screaming guy in the Edvard Munch painting. It was really funny. She finally got the plastic to pop! 

It was great to have such a good laugh together. They are fun kids. I'm looking forward to more fun together over Christmas break. 

First Day on the Slopes

Today we enjoyed our first day skiing as a family. We went to Alta. 

It was a lot of work getting out the door and there was lots of complaining once we got there, but we persevered! Lily didn't want to go and so there was a little cajoling going on there. For the kids that were willing to go, they were still dragging their feet and moving super slow. We were all awake at 8, but it still took like 2 hours for everyone to get ready and into the car. Once we arrived up at Alta at 10:30, we realized we had left Peter's coat at home. Darn. Lily was crying about her boots being too tight, we had told her that the socks she had on were too thick, but she wouldn't listen. We planned for this moment and I brought an extra pair along and she was a little put out that we solved that excuse. Her last attempt at protesting in the back of the van.

She wanted me to take her back home when I went for P's coat. But Corey got her boots on and she left with him and I drove home, grabbed his coat, then back up. When I got back to the Wildcat parking lot, Peter was moaning that I made him walk as I carried our skis and my poles. I tried to carry him for a little bit and my bicep was burning. Back down he went. We shuffled along very slowly and I was relieved to find Wes. He took Peter while I went and got P's ski pass. 

Then it was time for fun. I ran into Corey and kids and we went on the Snowpine lift for a few runs. Corey took Peter and spent the rest of the day with him. I had Daniel.

Owen went with Abi and Wes, and we ended up splitting up but found each other for lunch. Corey forgot to grab the Pringles, but we survived. Peter was sitting by Wes and told us "I like skiing." Lily was in a better mood, but accidentally didn't make it to the bathroom in time (#1) and so she wanted to go home and get a change of pants, but we said no. Sorry Lil if you'd rather I not document that, but I think it will help you all understand, when you read this post later in life, the kid of trials and adversity we endured. It was like the kids were pulling out all the stops to make us quit and leave, but we were laughing about it.

After lunch, Wes and Abi took off and the rest of us headed to Sunnyside. Corey and Peter in the line for the lift. 

Pretty impressive, sweetheart!

Corey got Owen and Daniel poles this year. They love skiing.

After a few runs, it was getting darker, and I asked them "Should we go one more time, or two? Or three." Daniel said "TEN more times!" Owen replied "One Hundred!" I think we got in two more before our last run when we met up with everyone - that was when I saw Peter skiing for the first time. Corey had spent the afternoon with him, and when I saw him going down by himself I laughed with delight, sooo cute! 

Corey's comment at the beginning of that video was referring to Lily's accident. We all headed down the big hill. 

Wow Peter! You've come a long way since January! 

Corey's a pro teacher of toddlers.

Peter laughing as he comes at Corey 

We're excited for this skiing season. After we got home, everyone helped put things away, I started laundry, and I put the little boys in the tub while Corey left with the other kids to go gather things for Christmas goodies tomorrow and to pick up Joseph. I spent some time reading to get myself more prepped for a lesson tomorrow that I'm leading on the Family Proclamation. I never feel ready, but I stand up there anyway with a prayer in my heart and the Lord backs me up, and we all are edified and rejoice together (D&C 50:22). I trust that will happen tomorrow too. I'm going to go do more prep.

Ready for Winter Break

We withdrew Wes from school on Monday, it was all official on Tuesday, and then I didn't get around to enrolling him at BYU on Wednesday since it was a snow day and I was busy with kids using the computers all day. SO, I finally got online yesterday morning to fill out his application for enrollment at BYU high school, hoping he could get started on classes. But as I applied, I learned that there were a few things that needed to be done first... I needed to send in all his high school transcripts, signed and sealed, before his application can be submitted, so I called Skyline and Brighton to do that. Wes was getting ready to go outside to play in the snow with Peter.

...which was super cute, but I also didn't like it. We're anxious for him to catch up and stay on track for graduation in 2023... there no time to be playing when other kids your age are in class!

Still, I loved to see them playing in the snow together.

Peter is adorable. 

So I called and left a message with Skyline about getting his transcript, and set up an appointment at Brighton to come by and pick up his official transcript at 2:30. Wes also needed to do a 500 word essay, and Corey and I need to do one too telling what we hope BYU High school will do for Wes. Ok, not too hard... anything else? I continued to read some of the details and then I panicked, cause it said that it was a 6-8 week process for admission!! That's not until February?!?! Is he not going to be able to start until February?!?! He could be done with the second trimester at Brighton by then if he stays in class, which would mean less work to have to do with BYU... doh, maybe we withdrew him too soon? Oh dear... I messaged Corey "I think he can't start until he's accepted?" I called BYU and my fears were confirmed, so then I called Brighton to tell them I jumped the gun and to see if he could come back, cause we didn't want him just sitting around here waiting for two months. They were very nice and said he could come back today. That's great, and hopefully means he didn't get too far behind, since he only has missed a day and a half, maybe 2 days of school. It was 9:45 am and Wes was outside digging a tunnel for Peter.

"Hey Wes, I just called Brighton, you're going back... you have an appointment with your counselor at 10:30." Wes was sad and collapsed on the ground, dejected. "It's one thing to tell me I have to go back. It's another thing to say I have to go back in 30 minutes..."

Sorry buddy. But you can't stay here and playin the snow for next 8 weeks.  I don't mind if you play during the next 2 weeks when were all out for Christmas, but you might need to catch up on math during that time too. Sigh. He was not happy but hurried and finished making a tunnel for Peter. 

Climb though, little Pete!

Good job Peter!

Ok Wes, go get ready. 

Peter kept climbing through his toy tunnel.

Now it's Friday night and school is out for the year and the kids are really excited for a nice two week break from school and for Christmas next Saturday! The elementary kids got to wear their pajamas today for school parties. Owen made this reindeer head that I thought actually kinda looked like him, especially the cute little smile. 

Cute Owen. The day started off a little rough for Sophi and Natalie. They had one more violin performance today with their orchestra at Park Lane. I dropped them off at 7:20. They have been going there early before school twice a week since September. It's usually Tuesdays and Thursdays, but this week it was Tues and today Friday, since their performance was today. I usually pick them up at 8:25 and take them to school, but they stayed today since their performance was at 9. I took D and P and we went to go pick them up. Peter is still playing Spiderman. He's been Spiderman since Tuesday.

But it was really slow going and didn't start on time... we found a chair to wait.

I could tell Sophi and Natalie were starting to feel super sad to be stuck at Park Lane performing for their Christmas sing-a-long and to be missing their own school's sing-a-long at Granite. I was glad that Natalie still smiled for the camera.

I was praying for them that the orchestra was performing first and not near the end...

Luckily they did, and we ran out of the room as soon as they were done and ran to the car, so even though they were late, I don't think they missed much of the school sing a long and I didn't hear any bitterness or that they had a bad day after they got home, phew! The kids had fun in the snow today and we're looking forward to a nice break.

Snow Day and Ballroom

We got a ton of snow last night, so today was a snow day! Hooray!! We were able to sleep in, which was good cause I didn't sleep great with this kid kicking me. He wakes up in the middle of the night and crawls in bed with us. I don't want him to fall off the bed, and I can't hold him cause then my arm falls asleep, so I put him in the middle of the bed, but try to keep him from bugging Corey, and last night he didn't bug Corey cause his feet were on me. My head was there between his legs. So funny to see his little sprawled out body this morning. 

Cute little boy. Corey woke up and plowed and blowed the snow for over an hour. 

The boys went sledding in the front yard.

We got like a foot of snow! Here it is on top of our garbage can...

The kids had fun playing with friends today. 

And playing outside on the big piles of snow. Owen is king of the world!

More sledding. I like Owen's gardening hat

Abi was lucky that things cleared up enough that they still held her ballroom peformance tonight. They were also supposed to perform for an elementary today, I don't know if that is just cancelled or if they are rescheduling it to tomorrow. Abi with some of her ballroom friends. 

I was still a little wiped out from my full day of violin shows yesterday, so I didn't go to the show tonight. Corey represented the family. 

Abi and her friends all feeling pretty with their deep red lipstick.