UnExpected New Year's Plans

On New Year's Eve, my in-laws surprised us with a great idea: "Hey, if we come over to play with your boys, would you and Mike like to go out to dinner?" It was too perfect to pass up! So, when they arrived at 0ur house, after completing their dinner date, we headed to Outback Steakhouse. Mike had received a gift card from Mom & Brent, for his birthday, so it made the date even more perfect - free dinner along with free babysitting, what more could we ask for?

Of course, the place was packed, so we sat at the bar. Mike was oh so happy to be surrounded by three flat-screen T.V.'s, each tuned to a different game he'd love to watch! I liked it because we were keeping the seats occupied, thus preventing two other people from getting drunk (well, at least we kept them from getting drunk at that restaurant, at that time.)

When we returned from our fun, Grandma and Grandpa said it was time for them to go to bed. We thanked them and they left, just as more family were arriving. Levi had said that he didn't have any real plans yet, but that he would probably stop by for some part of the night. He ended up coming just as Janice & Dale left, and stayed the night.

Kathie and Henry picked up Jase and Brooklyn from their babysitter (Heidi & Will were invited to a party w/o kids! :-) Hurray for them!), and they all came over for the night! We were so surprised to find that Jase and Andrew had the same pajamas! They also brought their projector; so, we cleared the pictures off the wall, and watched a movie while the kids ran around having fun! I had made my a Cheeseball (my mom's recipe, and one of my MOST favorite traditions), and there were plenty of leftover goodies from Christmas. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if we had played more games. The boys played some XBox, and Henry and Levi played a few rounds of Pictureka Card Games with me, but at the end of the night, my hunger for games had not been satiated. Oh well. At least Mike roused himself from his weariness long enough to kiss me at midnight, and have a little sparkling juice (another must for my New Year's Eve celebration).

More Christmas Pics

**The Monday after Thanksgiving is when we traditionally put up our Christmas Tree. All of our lights on our pre-lit tree were out, so this year we spent that Family Home Evening night painstakingly removing all those wonderfully attached lights. An hour and a half later, it was too late to get the ornaments out. So, Mike agreed to let the kids do it without him the next day. Our sweet boys didn't want Dad to feel left out, so they decided to save 13 ornaments for Dad to put on when he came home from work (Don't ask me why it was 13, that's just what Andrew said, and the others agreed!)

**The train, however, is Mike's department. I never had a train around the tree growing up, but it was one of Mike's favorite parts. Our boys love this tradition with their Dad!

**The following FHE, we went to see the Lights on Temple Square with Bridgette & Josh, and their baby Jesse. It was a bitter cold night! About like Pennsylvania's cold weather, but without the wind. We went inside to see the Christus - it's so wonderful that we can drive down and see it whenever we want! It's always awe-inspiring to me. Then we watched the Nativity presentation, and walked around a bit. But before long, we were too cold to continue. We were glad we had done it, though.

**The First Grade at Andrew's school always does a Christmas Program. Andrew grew more and more excited about this performance as the day drew nearer. He began to sing parts of the songs to us, even though he had originally said they were supposed to be a surprise. His two favorite songs were "No 'L'" and "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas." They were cute! Andrew looked right at us the entire program. He even blew a kiss to us with a different hand than everyone else, since we were on his left instead of his right! (And I had thought it was because he's left-handed.) Another day, at the Larsen Christmas party, Andrew sang some of these songs for Uncle Gavin and Uncle Andrew on cassette tapes. He had his Aunt Jayni and Aunt Annie laughing so hard they almost couldn't finish their dinner! It was great!

**The Chase family Christmas party almost didn't happen this year. Grandma Chase has had such a hard year and a half, she just wasn't sure if she was up to having it. (Among other trials, her twin brother and her father passed away within months of each other, her son, Kevin, came home from the MTC after only one day there, and this time of year is alreay so hectic.) However, with a little prodding from me, and calls from our favorite Santa's Helper, we had our party on Dec. 19th.

The kids listened well to Santa's story he always reads I Believe in Santa Claus, even though they had already heard the same Helper read the same book at the ward Christmas Party the Saturday before.

They all got to tell him what they wanted for Christmas. Ethan was near the beginning.

Then, after a few people had had their turns, Alex just figured he'd like a turn and went up to stand between Santa's knees, waiting to be picked up. Miraculously, Alex's gift was the next one he pulled from his bag. It really was his turn!

Andrew was the last one to receive his gift, but he sat patiently and didn't say one complaint!



Sammy, Tyler, and Alex (of course, my own kid is the one I didn't get a picture of! lol) al got the same kind of stuffed dog from Grandma and Grandpa Chase (or was it Grandma Donahue?). Sam really wasn't sure if he liked it - obviously - Tyler liked it, but Alex LOVED it! He's been really into stuffed animals lately!

Carina got Dad and Danette a scanner/printer that could scan slides, since we all know that all of Dad's mission pictures are slides. We went in on it, along with several others of my siblings.

I received pictures from each of us that have kids and put together photo books from Snapfish, for Danette and Grandma Bertie (Donahue). (We also mailed a copy to Nana and Poppy! They loved it! And, I printed out all the pictures that were in it and made a photo album for Grandma McClellan, or G.G. as my kids know her, and one for my brother Bryan.)

Grandma Chase loves to play with the babies!

**This was my puzzle for the year! It looks big in the picture, but it's actually fairly small, and the puzzle pieces are VERY small. We got this "World's Smallest Puzzle" from Dad and Danette for Christmas last year. This was my distraction from having sick kids. They actually enjoy watching me work on it. Ethan would often ask me, "When are you going to know where this piece goes?" Or, "When will you finish that roof?" It was fun for all of us - except Alex, who was banned from getting near it, for obvious reasons.

**Although it was the 25th Annual Christmas Carole Sing-in, this was the First year we'd ever heard of it. We went for the free Jazz tickets, and other free stuff, but we had a really fun time too. Even Ethan enjoyed, despite leaving with a fever of 102.3, (at least, that's what it was when we got home and checked it.)

**Since Andrew was sick again on the third Sunday, when everyone else was at the Slades', we went over there on Christmas Eve (which I have another post about, or will soon). It turned out that everyone, except Kathie and Henry, was there too. It was lots of fun - despite the dangers the kids experienced! Here, Uncle Will has Jase and Ethan upside-down:

**On Christmas Eve, like many people, we let our kids open ONE gift at home. This year, there was no choice - the only gifts there were the ones from Mike and I. Alex's light-up wiggle worm was a hit for everyone.

Ethan got "Feetie Jammies," since he wants to wear the one other pair he owns every single night (despite the fact that his drawer is overflowing with two-piece pajamas). He said, "That's not what I wanted." Later I learned that, while he did want more feetie jammies, he didn't like the UFOs and rocket ships on them. He wished they had trains on them.

Andrew had been feeling and shaking his gift all day! He was POSITIVE it was an XBox game. (Mike was given an XBox 360 Arcade for his birthday from his siblings, thanks to Will. :-) ) When it was finally his turn, he tore into it. Mike and I braced for the moans of disappointment once he saw that he'd unwrapped his own hardbound Book of Mormon, for which he had been asking. But, surprising us as usual, he beamed when he saw it! Not only that, but he hugged it, hugged us, and started reading from it that very minute. What an awesome moment for us!

**Skipping ahead, now, to the day after Christmas: Grandma and Grandpa Larsen made the rounds among their grandchildren's homes to see what they'd received, and came to our house around 2 p.m. It was wonderful to have them all to ourselves. The boys each took turns showing them what they got, and spending some time with them with some of the toys. We fed them lunch, since they hadn't eaten anything yet. Alex's favorite thing was getting "rides" on Grandma and Grandpa's legs!

**That night, we invited my brother Kevin, and his fiancee, Kylie, to come to dinner with us. We had yummy Chinese! Then we put the kids to bed and played The Office Trivia card game with them. Then, Mike fell asleep on the cuddler, but I stayed up talking with them until 11:30 p.m. I'm sure it put them right to their curfews by the time they got home, but we had some great conversations! In my mind, it was totally worth it!

**The next Monday, Mike returned to work, and Grandpa Slade brought the desk they'd given to Ethan, and the mini trampoline they'd given to Alex. He wrestled with the boys while I put the desk together. Alex wanted to help me, but when I insisted that he use his new tools from Santa, as opposed to the screwdriver I was using, he was very upset! He pushed away his tools as if to say, "No way! These things aren't even REAL!" It was cute, but sad.

Ethan couldn't wait to get started on his paint-by-number, once the desk was finished.

**That night for FHE, being the last Monday of the month, we had Game Night. We've been trying to institute the last Monday as Game Night since September or October, but there are so many holiday things we've been doing at the end of each month, that it hasn't happened. Ethan was in charge this time. He chose to have us play Whack-a-Mole, and Star Wars Risk (which, when we play it, isn't really Star Wars Risk. We use the directions that Andrew came up with when he was 3. Luckily we have them written down, and it's actually fun! It does take a while, though.)

For the treat, Ethan wanted to make the Ice Cream Cone Christmas Trees we'd seen at one of the preschools we've been scouting out for him, for next year. (One day he could have made them at Elliott's house, but he took too long to complete his chores, despite my nagging and urging, so he missed out on the fun. - Kim said he could still make one, but I didn't let her have him do it, to teach him a lesson. I can be such a mean mom sometimes. But, I guess that's all part of the job!)

So, those were most of our holiday celebrations. (At least, the ones I remembered to bring my camera to! I wish I had brought it to both the Larsen Christmas Party - Dec.19th, and the McClellan Christmas Party - Dec. 27th.)

Merry Sickmas, er, uh, Christmas!

Andrew now completely believes that he will ALWAYS be sick on Christmas! (Read last year's Christmas blog, if you're confused.) We don't know what's going on with him, really. He got a stomach flu on Dec. 17th, and missed his Christmas party at school the next day, but then he was fine. Ethan and Alex got the same bug two days later, but again, it passed and all were well again.



For a few days.


Alex began to be very irritable, and rightly so, since we discovered he was cutting two molars at once. Then, one night, I checked on him and found he was burning up with fever and panting to get breath. A trip to the doctor the next day revealed something like Bronchiolitis (the doctor never really said what it was, just that his bronchioles were constricted, but that it wasn't Bronchiolitis, nor Pneumonia - thank Heaven!) He was put on an antibiotic, to kill any bacteriall infection that may have brought this on, and a steroid to help open his airways. We (Mike) also had to dig through every box as yet unpacked (I'm ashamed to admit there are quite a few - Office stuff, you know, my Nemesis!), to find his Nebulizer. Alex is better for the treatments than he was as a baby, but one day he turned it on by himself and it scared him so much that he now calls it the "Loud."

The day I returned from that doctor visit, Ethan began coughing. The following Tuesday, the 23rd, I went back to the doctor to find out more about what might be causing his 102.3 degree fever that accompanied his now constant cough. The doctor who saw him, (not his regular pediatrician, since he was booked already), said he definitely had Tonscilitis. The Strep Throat culture came back negative (again - Thank Heaven!), but nonetheless, we left with a prescription for amoxicilan (his best friend would be so jealous, since he loves the stuff and didn't even get it when he was diagnosed with Bronchial Pneumonia that same week, poor guy!), and a cough syrup that Ethan loves so much that he's now faking coughs to see if he can get more of it.


Finally, I thought, "We've had it all. The drugs are in the home, and in their systems, we can peacefully enjoy our Christmas!"

Not to be. On Christmas Day, Andrew threw up in the car between Grandma & Grandpa Slade's house and Grandma and Grandpa Larsen's house. We tried to push it off as having eaten too much junk food, (which he really hadn't overdone) or getting motion sickness as he played his new Leapster game in the car, but when he did it again once we were home, we figured it must be a real bug. The thing is, after a while, he was FINE. There were no more incidents at all, from anyone, Saturday or Sunday. Then, yesterday, he threw up in the morning, got better in the afternoon, then was sick again at night. This morning he threw up again, but by 1 p.m. he was FINE again.
We made our now weekly visit to see Dr. Amann, and all he could tell me is that it must either be a virus that his system is having trouble getting over, or several individual flu viruses, one every few days. The strangest thing is that I haven't heard much of any of the people he's been around getting sick. We just have to give it more time for him to get better, I guess.

Aside from all that, we did have a WONDERFUL Christmas! Mike and I had to actually wake our kids up (by turning off the humidifier, ha, ha) at 7:30 on Christmas morning. Mike read the Christmas Story from Luke 2, before we began unwrapping. We took nearly two hours opening only a few gifts each, since they wanted to take each present out of it's theft-proof packaging. (Mike's multi-tool got more use than ever!) We were all very happy with what we received!

We had a delicious brunch at Slades', around noon, and were spoiled with presents! (My personal favorite being a significant boost to our Food Storage, including such things as Toilet Paper, Soap, Toothpaste, and Sanitizer!)

Then we made it to the Larsens' in time to say a few words each to both of my brothers currently serving missions - Andrew in Argentina, and Gavin in Mexico. The boys had a blast with all their cousins, and we munched on all the goodies Grandma Larsen always has at Christmas time! (We had already done all of our gift exchanging with that side of our family at the Christmas party on the 13th.)

We even got home with plenty of time to play with our new toys afterward. We're now looking forward to New Year's Eve, though all we're planning to do is the same thing we've been doing for many days now, with the exception of Christmas - keeping to ourselves until we're sure the "ickiness" is all gone! At least we have a lot of fun new ways to entertain ourselves now!!


We haven't made it down to Grandma and Grandpa Chase's house since the Christmas party on the 19th, but we're hoping to get well enough to visit them soon!

Here are each of us with our goodies from Santa:
Andrew has a ring-pop in his mouth. He got Night-Vision Goggles, a Spyder Trap, which he's attached to all his gifts, a Glitter Ball, a Webkin, and a Batman Leapster game, which teaches math skills on a 3rd-4th grade level. (He loves to multiply and divide!)

Ethan played with his "dragon castle" for nearly two hours straight. He got new goop for his Bug Maker, which Santa brought last year (when he opened them Ethan exclaimed, "How did he know I have a Bug Maker?" LOL). He also got a webkin and, yes, Thomas the Train train tracks and a set of cars to be pulled by his motorized Percy car. We knew the day would eventually come when our house would be littered with train tracks, and it's finally here.

Alex dropped his ring-pop, forgot completely about the Hershey kiss he'd been crying for, the very second he saw that the present he was opening was his very own "Mawn Mower!" Luckily it was the last thing he opened, or he wouldn't have gotten around to opening anything else. He enjoys his new broom, (" 'weep"), his toolbox full of tools, his puppy dog, and his motorized train (which he owes to Ethan's comment after arguing with Alex over his own motorized car, "Santa should bring Alex a train car of his own. Only it HAS to be in his stocking!" Santa aims to please!)

I love my new cooking supplies and the boots that will keep my feet warm! We had fun playing the Office Trivia game with Kevin and Kylie one night, and I'm just getting into the book.

Mike and Andrew have made great use of the new XBox 360 controller, and we're anxiously awaiting a respite from illness so we can use our new two-seater snow tube!

Moments that Melt a Mom's Heart!

I have a thousand other things I could be doing right now, but it's getting to me that I haven't posted these thoughts yet, and I'm afraid I'm going to forget them, so here goes:

At Andrew's last basketball game, last Friday night, Grandma and Grandpa Larsen came to watch, and they brought my nephew Sam. Sam brought two swords with him. Grandma said that as he was headed out the door with one, he stopped and said, "Wait, I need to grab another one for Ethan!" Awww, how sweet to think of his cousin!

Well, with TWO swords and THREE boys watching the game (Sam, Ethan, and Alex), there were a few opportunities to practice sharing. Once when Alex had a turn with a sword, another little boy came up and asked for a turn, to which Alex replied, "No, mine," and swiftly hid the sword behind his back. (This was probably a good thing, since the sword wasn't really his to share in the first place.)
Anyway, shortly afterward, Ethan started to take the sword from Alex. I quickly stepped in and reminded Ethan that there's a better way to ask for a turn. Of course, then I was getting ready to help Alex hand over the sword, if Ethan asked nicely. But to my amazement, when Ethan sweetly asked, "Can I have a turn please?," my 19 month old kindly handed him the sword! I couldn't believe my eyes! No coercing, no need to explain that his turn was over - he simply gave it to Ethan. In that very moment, the spirit whispered to me that Alex had done it because of all the times Ethan has set a good example for him by sharing his things when people ask nicely! I made sure I told Ethan that the only way a nearly 2 year old child shares ANYTHING is if someone else has done a very good job of willingly sharing with him, and I thanked Ethan for being that someone. My motherly heart was just brimming with pride for my two sweet boys!

As if that weren't enough for one night, at the end of the game, Andrew was awarded the Sportsmanship of the Game Award, by the coach of the other team, for the second time this season. As the coach was handing him the treat, I explained that he's already received the award before, if he wanted to give it to another player. The coach just said, "No, he earned it." Then, Mike suggested that maybe Andrew could share the Skittles (one of Andrew's most favorite candies) with his teammate, Wyatt, who had helped another teammate up when he fell during the game. I passed this idea on to Andrew. Without hesitation, Andrew went right over to Wyatt and said," Here, you can have this. I've already gotten it before." Wyatt's dad said he didn't have to do that, but Andrew insisted. The thing that really got me was watching the joy on Andrew's face as he witnessed the joy he'd brought to Wyatt. I'm so grateful for a son who truly understands that it's better to give than to receive!

Ah, now I can sleep, knowing I've preserved a record of these small acts of kindness by my children.

Our New House

Many of my friends in Pennsylvania have been asking for pictures of our new house. I completely understand, because I really like to have a visual image for where someone is, when I picture them in my mind. Otherwise, they're just Out There in some unknown void. So, here are the pictures of our new house, starting from the top floor, down to the basement.

All the bedrooms we use are upstairs. Beginning in our bedroom, here is our master bathroom:

Here is our room (you can see the door to our walk-in closet - we've never had one before and it's soo nice!):

The picture of the Salt Lake Temple, above our bed, was what I saved for as a house-warming gift to myself. I love it!
Next is Andrew and Ethan's room. Their dressers were from my childhood, and Mom and Brent gave them to us for them to use. We're probably getting bunkbeds for them for Ethan's birthday, and we'll put the toddler bed away for a few months, 'til Alex is ready for it.

Right next to their room is Alex's room:

The main bathroom is also on this level, along with a good-sized closet for storing medicine, extra toiletries, towels, humidifiers, etc.

This picture is taken from the top of the stairs looking down into the Front Room/Living Room. I wish I would've gotten a better shot of the ledge on top of the wall above the piano. I love to decorate up there!

On the other side of that wall, is the Kitchen: (It looks so bare to me in this picture because now I've had so many other decorations for the holidays up there. I took these pictures a long time ago.) Mike's parents gave us the bar stools, and they work so perfectly! Someday I want to rcover the seats with a fun maroon or something.

The Dining Room can be seen through those bars. Off the Dining Room is a sliding glass door onto a deck (you can see it through the Family Room window) This picture was actually taken before we moved in, so the desk and couch are not the ones that is there now. We liked how they had is set up, so we copied them:

Here is the furniture that is really there. One the wall, above our family pictures, it says "Family; A Journey to Forever," in vinyl lettering, which was a gift from our friends, the Pitcavages. We LOVE it!

Here are the stairs to the basement. Of course, we don't always have Andrew's tent set up, this was just a fun activity for a day when we had Elliott and Quinn over. (It's Quinn you can see at the bottom of the stairs.):

The first door on the right as you reach the bottom of the stairs, is the Laundry Room. It is the only part of the house that is unfinished. It's small, but just perfect for what we need. We love our new washer and dryer that we had to get!

The next door is the Office. Obviously, it's the last room we have left to unpack and really set up. We have way to much junk (mostly thanks to me), but someday we'll get through it all.

The playroom is next. It has no real door, which is actually a good thing for a playroom, we've discovered. It is still considered a bedroom, since it has a closet and a window. Someday it will become the Office and the Office will become Andrew's room.

There are two other closets down there - we love having room for storage! And a Bathroom with a shower:

This is a bad picture of the backyard, since I took it from my bedroom window through the screen), but you get the idea. The swing set/slide, was built by the previous owner's father. Getting that was an awesome bonus! We are excited to use the garden, after three years of not having a place to garden. The shed is where we keep all our extra clothes, holiday decorations, and the yard stuff.

So there you go. I'm glad to have all these "before" shots to look back on, years from now, when we've changed things so much that we can't remember what it used to be like.