No More Monkeys Running in the House

I am constantly telling the children to stop running through the house. First of all, it drives me crazy because they sound like a herd of elephants and they can't do it without yelling and screaming. Second, it often ends in tears because inevitably someone falls or runs into something.

The Monday after Christmas was one of these occasions. I was half asleep in the lazy boy, enjoying a much needed break from school when Sam came running through the living room. Bam. He smacked his head, which is at just the right height for the video cabinet. I woke to the sound of him writhing in pain on the floor nearby.

I sighed, "How many times do I have to ask you to stop running in the house?" His wailing continued as he held a hand to his head.

Come, let me look at it...

He climbed on my lap and I pulled his hand away from his head. It was covered in blood. I calmly yelled for Scott. He came and helped me clean it up so that we could assess the damages. There was a pretty bad gash that wasn't bleeding too badly, but was fairly deep. I decided it need some medical attention, so off we went to the doctor's office with Sam still in his PJ's at 2 in the afternoon.

Thank goodness I insisted that Sam take his gameboy with him. He calmly sat and played while the doctor told me that he thought staples would do the trick. I laughed as I looked at Sam, listening to our conversation and yet pretending not to while he played. If it had been Sierra or Spencer, just the mere mention of the word "staples" would have sent either of them into massive hysteria.

"Guess what, Sam, staples in your head, like in 'Get Smart'!" Sam smiled to acknowledge my comment, not even looking up from his gameboy.



The worst part was the local anesthic shot, but all he said was "ow" a couple of times. While they were putting in the staples, he kept saying, "darn it! I keep dying in the same place!" Yes, he was still glued to a game, not even flinching for the procedure.



Getting the staples out was a bit more tramatic, with a few tears and such. He had the staples for a week, just long enough to show them to his class at school the first day back.

Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas...


...and then after what seemed like a few minutes of sleep for the parents, the wrapping paper and cardboard packaging was all stuffed into a garbage bag. The fun of opening gifts never seems to last long enough, even when there are always a million new dvd's under the tree to unwrap.


Spencer's stash


Simon's haul


Simon asked for a "peanut butter sucker" and then the next thing we knew, he was asleep. He must have been really tired.


Santa brought the doll house for mom. She has always wanted one, but she decided that she is too old to play with it much, so the kids have a blast with their dolls and stuffed animals; they especially like to give them rides in the elevator.


A photo of Sam wouldn't be complete without his signature cheesy grin.


All that new stuff, and all he wants to do is play with his old gameboy and his old gameboy games. Go figure! We could have saved lots of money!


Later that evening, bright-eyed Simon and sleepy grandma are playing on his new Leapster.

A fun day was had by all!

Ornamental Tradition

A few years ago, we started a family tradition of getting each person in the family an ornament while we are on our summer vacation. For example, last year we got adorable trolley cars in San Francisco. This year on our vacation we did not have much time to shop for ornaments, and when we did get a chance to look, we couldn't find anything we liked. I checked online for ornaments of the Nauvoo temple, but they were a bit expensive, so I just got one of those for Scott and me. Anyway, I have been pondering for a few months if we could make some kind of ornament that could represent our vacation. Finally, this week, I put something together. Each of us got a "Prairie Diamond Ring" at the blacksmith shop in Nauvoo. (They are just horse-shoe nails bent into a ring shape.) Then I stole some awesome photos of the Nauvoo temple off the internet. The children each chose a photo and a color of ribbon for me to use. Add some large glass marbles, and this is what I came up with. The rings from the blacksmith shop are tied into the ribbon bow.


Spencer's


Simon's


Sierra's


Sam's

How Beautiful!

Last Saturday Scott and I met some friends for lunch at the Garden Restaurant. This was the view from my seat at the table. Breathtaking, isn't it? Imagine it in person! I was really glad that I had my camera!

Hallelujah!

Sierra and I sang this year in the combined Midvale Stakes' production of the Messiah. Next year we might try the orchestra. I performed in this starting at about age 11, first by singing for a few years, and then playing in the orchestra starting at about age 14 until I left for college. Every year since that I have attended the performance I have said "I have to be IN it next year!" Finally, I did it, and I am grateful that Sierra and I had a chance to bond and do this together. Scott "sacrificed" his desire to also participate with us by sleeping in and then tending the boys during our rehearsals. :)

Sierra thought she could get extra credit by taking a program to her English teacher, but then when she did, she found out that she could only get extra credit if she was not a part of the performance--kind of messed up logic, if you ask me. We emailed the teacher about it, but she won't change her policy. Oh well.

FHE in SLC

For family night last night, we went to dinner at the Olive Garden and then toured the lights on Temple Square. The kids were surprised and excited that we had invited a friend to come along with us. Dallin's family lives in Arizona, so we adopted him for the evening. He made the perfect big brother for the kids and we all had a blast.

Our waiter at Olive Garden was really annoying and it took forever to get out of there. The kids began to entertain themselves by taking their hats on and off to see what kind of laughs they would get from the rest of us.

I think the snow was one of the highlights of the evening. Of course we haven't had much snow yet this year, so all the kids were making snowballs and throwing them at each other. Finally Spencer made a huge snowball and carried it around with him. I think he would have taken it home with us if we hadn't refused to allow it into the car. Spencer said we should put a photo of the snowball in our christmas cards with a poem from Shel Silverstein:

I made myself a snowball
As perfect as could be.
I thought I'd keep it as a pet
And let it sleep with me.
I made it some pajamas
And a pillow for its head.
Then last night it ran away,
But first it wet the bed.

Samuel, Sierra, Dallin, Simon, and Spencer

I Like my Birthdays

Exciting day! Samuel turned 8 last week and was baptized on Saturday, Dec. 6th. He seemed a bit nervous at home, but at the church he was jumping up and down. Then, when the spotlight was on him, he wouldn't talk, just shrug to any questions he was asked. On Sunday, the Bishop called him up to the front of the chapel and told everyone how happy Sam was to be baptized. Sam just stood there with a straight face. Everyone knows him as such a happy child. The whole congregation chuckled at his stage fright. Poor kid. :)




Simon, Sierra, Samuel and Spencer. (For some reason, Spencer decided to wear his Halloween tie.)



Sierra gave a wonderful talk. The bishop was impressed that she would say that Sam is an "awesome" brother. She talked about how at her baptism the primary president said it felt like angels were there, and we thought that the angels might include Grandma Cheri and great grandparents that have passed away.

Apparently that choked Aunt Jodi up a bit, who was on the program to sing right after the talk. I didn't even notice, because she sang beautifully as usual.

For Sam's birthday the week before, he requested a pumpkin pie instead of cake. When we said no (because we were tired of eating leftover pumpkin pie from thanksgiving) he decided on a chocolate cake instead. Instead of making a kids cake, Scott decided to make a bunt cake. Then we forgot to take candles with us to grandma and grandpa's house, so grandma marsha found us some big candles.

It ended up looking like an exotic candle holder with the glass cake stand it was on. Since I had been reading Twilight a few days before, it made me think that it would be a cake fit for vampires. Sam had a hard time blowing all of the candles out.


(It is a rare thing to catch uncle William in the background of a photo. He always avoids the camera!)