Lots to say

But is it really necessary?! We just went through a "heat wave" and all the snow is melted. We spent this last week hauling wood from the backyard to the basement so it is full and hopefully we have enough wood to warm our house through the rest of winter. The kids really enjoyed the time off from school so we'll see how well we all get back into the routine of real life.

Thursday before Christmas Grandma and Grandpa Nichols came over with gifts - 2 for each child. (We have adopted them from Church and they are more than happy to fill the role.) They were headed out of town but wanted the kids to open one of the gifts before they left. We all gathered in the living room and Kevin gave each of the kids one gift - even Domonique in the baby swing. When we said open they all opened their gift. There was much squealing and smiles and laughter as they pulled out their new blankets. Grandma and Grandpa Nichols had asked each child what their favorite color and animal was a few weeks ago. The kids wondered what it was about. Well, they each have their favorite color and animal on their new fleece blankets. They are absolutely fantastically wonderful! I have always loved this type of blanket but I have never made one. Now we have 6 of them! It was a wonderful night! Grandma and Grandpa even brought cookies and other treats! Delicious!

From left to right: Emily (pink with cats), Domonique (purple with baby theme), Ben (red with dogs), Kemiah (white with penguins [she only said white so the Nichols picked the penguins]), Marissa (black with cats), Xiomara (green with elephants [she said black but there weren't any elephants to go with black so her new favorite color is green... really, it is]).

Friday we went over to a friend's house to gather with other medical student friends and have a Christmas Eve party. We all had a very fun time! I wasn't a very good Mom, though... I didn't take anything for the kids to eat and they weren't interested in the soup and stuff that was there so they didn't eat much, but they watched several movies and played some games.

This is what happens when you keep a three year old out past 11 pm. She was completely out and went to bed in her clothes.

Christmas morning was like most any other morning around here. We didn't open the gifts until after breakfast, which was later than normal because we got to bed late the night before. The first gift they opened was their gift from Grammy - their new pajamas! Usually we open those Christmas Eve but that didn't happen this year because of the previously mentioned event.

Great work Grammy!


Our little tree with lots of homemade ornaments, and some ornaments that have been given to us, and gifts all around.


The second gift from Grandma and Grandpa Nichols was a game, so now our game collection has grown to include: Sorry Spin, Hoopla Twister, UNO Tilt, Operation, and Hedbanz. They are all very fun games so check them out at your local game distributor. I won't give the details about all the other gifts but here is some present opening fun.

Domonique received a wooden walker toy - the kind that helps the child learn how to walk. (The one we had when Ben was born and used with all the other kids broke in Dominica so we left it there.) She'll use it eventually but she really enjoyed eating the wrapping paper. (Note: don't worry if your baby eats paper... it goes right through them.)

This cute outfit was given to us for Kemiah but I thought it was too cute not to have the baby wear it this year. So Merry Christmas to all....

Following with family tradition

We have had these two baby accessories since Ben was born. All the kids have done these two things: fallen asleep in "the farm activity center" and sucked their thumb (or fingers) in the swing. I am happy to report that she isn't that serious about sucking her thumb and doesn't have to have a pacifier. She usually just chews on her thumb but will suck on the pacifier if we give it to her. Maybe she'll be the first one to not have this horrible habit.

Most Delicious

I just finished putting the kids to bed, 30 minutes ago, and thought I'd enjoy a cup of hot chocolate. I warmed up a mug full of my husband's whole milk (normally I drink skim). Once it was hot I dropped in a mint Hershey kiss. Then I added the hot chocolate packet with mini marshmallows - Cold Stone Creamery Smooth Cravings, made with real chocolate (as if others are made with fake chocolate). I stirred and was amazed that the kiss actually disappeared. It smelled wonderful and tasted even better. What a treat! I guess I could enjoy the snow if I drank that all winter long... Then again, I'd really need to start exercising to keep from weighing a ton at the end of winter so maybe I won't do that every night.

Where's the line to see Jesus

I thought this was a great song to help us focus...

Abracadabra!

Marissa's warts are going away! I noticed the two on her face yesterday are finally gone! Her comment when I mentioned it, "Now my face won't be ugly." I told her she was beautiful anyway, but I am glad they are gone. Even the ones on her fingers are fading! What a relief. She did have two cryo sessions that were really painful (4 the first time and two the second) but I guess that kicked her body into killing off the virus. I'm really glad because the duck tape on all her fingers just wasn't working - it wouldn't stay on - and the tea tree oil smelled so bad I wasn't using that either. It is such a relief to see them fading. I'll have to check her toes to see if those are going away, too. Now I need to focus on the little ones that Kemiah and Emily have to nip it early on instead of waiting until they are a big issue. Oh, and Ben and Xiomara's warts are still gone as well. Although Ben did have one on the bottom of his foot that we had to have frozen twice but it is gone now as well! I guess I shouldn't be surprised if Domonique gets some, too.

Rolling right along!

She has done it! Tomorrow she will be 5 months old and she is rolling from back to tummy. I haven't seen her do it until tonight. A couple times on Monday, when I left her on her back, I came back to find her on her tummy. So tonight I decided to try and watch her and catch it on "film" but I thought I might have to wait awhile. Maybe she was trying to trick me. Fortunately, she performed like a champ so it was easy to record it both on video and pictures! Thank you baby! What a milestone.

Before her Daddy went in to work he said he put her on her tummy and she rolled to her back. That is the first I know of and so I'll be watching for that trick, too. She has one more month to work on sitting up on her own so that she'll be ready for her pictures at 6 months.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just thought I'd toss in a little post to say how thankful I am for all I have - family, friends, health, love, the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, a living prophet of God to lead me, scriptures so I can teach my children the way home to our Heavenly Father, the atonement of Jesus which makes it all possible, and so much more. It's a wonderful day to really focus on what we have been blessed with and all the potential yet to be!

Adorable

Just thought I'd share my cute kids! I don't know where Xiomara and Kemiah were - probably upstairs playing.

What to do?

While Emily was writing in her journal tonight, she stopped and said to me, "Mom, I just caught myself being unspecific."

We have really been working with them being more specific when they ask for things, talk about things, answer questions, write in their journals, and so forth. I just thought it was funny to hear her say that from across the room.

I also realized my kids lead a very task oriented life. We expect them to do things right away - good, it helps them to learn to use their time wisely. Bad, they don't have much fun enjoying simple pleasures of daily activity. Example: Before Emily sat down to write in her journal she was "wasting" time by tilting the chair back on two legs then letting go so that it fell forward. She did it several times and I was just getting annoyed because she wasn't just sitting down in the chair to do the task at hand. Then she looked at me with a big smile on her face and said, "Look, Mom, the chair can walk." she did it again to show me that the chair would "walk" as she dropped it and it bounced forward. I felt bad when she slinked into her chair because I was looking at her in a "sit down and get to work" sort of way. I smiled and she smiled. I wonder what way is the right way? Do I worry about right or do I worry about better? Are they the same? How many of these things will work them selves out as the kids get older and mature and how many of these things do we really need to work on to make good habits as early as possible?

Fiber is the best!

A long time ago (back in May), Emily came home from Church a couple weeks in a row with a Fiber One bar from her Primary class. Kevin and I thought it was strange - although her teacher is an older lady. Kevin started to talk about the bar like it was the best thing in the world. After a little while Emily seemed to be smiling and the other kids appeared to be a little sad that they didn't get a Fiber One bar. As Kevin talked about how great it was Emily said, "I can break some off for you." She is so good at sharing. It is now a funny thing in our house to compare things to fiber. The kids will ask about the amount of fiber in the cereal they are eating. Nothing quite matches the Fiber One bar. I have even heard Kevin say, "Not like it's a fiber bar," to let them know it's not quite as awesome as that Fiber One bar. All in all I think it would be great if our kids kept eating fiber in their diet. Kevin will tell you how much it helps keep your colon clean and healthy. Anyway, today I bought some fiber cereal because we are trying to find something new to eat. When the kids finally noticed it in the cart they said, "Dad will love that." It was a wonderfully funny moment for me and I smiled a little more the rest of the trip.

Playing at the park

I had my camera, and my video camera, and I didn't take any pictures. Kevin has to work tonight so the kids and I left the house after lunch in hopes that he would be able to get some sleep. We went to Walmart, then to a park for the kids to play. It would have been a great time if Kemiah hadn't fallen off the merry-go-round twice and ended up with a cut on her forehead (and she still wanted to get back on). She was cranky and kept getting hurt so it was a little hard for her but everyone else had a fun time running around. I was planning on stopping by Kroger for more shopping (and dinner) but Kevin called me (yes, I had my cell phone and it was on and in my pocket). He said he was awake so we could come home whenever. We did stop by Kroger for groceries but went home for dinner and Family Home Evening. We worked together moving the wood pile in the basement. After we were done working together we talked about what lessons we learned and made our own parallels to the gospel. It was nice to see the kids understand and make their own connections. So, although there aren't any pictures, I just thought I'd let you know we are doing lots of really fun and interesting things.

Amazing!

After the kids were in bed, Kevin was off to work, and Domonique was nursing, I dialed my parent's phone number tonight. To my utter amazement it rang! Normally I get three busy signal beeps and then silence. We have magicJack and I am not always trilled with it but it is really annoying when I can't call my parents. I have contacted magicJack at least three times and they could never tell me why. Anyway, I was happy to hear my dad answer the phone... only to hear him say it was a terrible connection so he had to call me back. At least I was able to get through! That's certainly a step in the right direction. We'll see how long it lasts.

Now she's 3!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEMIAH!

How can she possibly be 3 years old already? That went by so fast. We had a great day celebrating her! She went shopping with her Daddy the Monday before her birthday and picked out her cake and ice cream. She told me all about it when she got home, "The big chocolate one is mine." We had smiling pancakes for breakfast, cream of wheat for lunch (she really doesn't like many "lunch" type foods), and Mexically soup for dinner - it's probably her favorite food.

I ran out of pancake batter but already had smiley faces on the griddle so this is what we ended up with. She is licking her lips, ready to enjoy them - especially the ice cream.


Here is what the pancakes really looked like. Don't they just make you smile!


Holding the card that her Grammy and Gaffa sent her.

She was a big helper with the cake and frosting. I think you can see chocolate in the corners of her mouth.

Gathered around the table, ready for the fun to begin. I love that you can just see Domonique's head at the end of the table.

Waiting for the happy birthday song to end so she can blow out the candles.


She stuck the candles in the cake. I thought it was strategy because they were so close together but it still took her three blows (one for each candle) to get them all out.

She was very happy when they finally went out!

Her doll came with a pacifier and she loves it all.


She really liked the frosting but wasn't happy with the cake. Try to remember that she doesn't like Devil's Food Cake.

All the family enjoyed the cake!

She's playing with Charlie, her new baby doll.

Here are a few funny things about her:

-She is a sucker for fuzzies. She still likes to hold them when she sucks her thumb.

-She is still very shy around people she doesn't know, but she warms up much faster now.

-Her attachment to the doll named Logan is not nearly as intense, especially now that she has Charlie.

-She likes to pick up box elder bugs and carry them around in her hand saying it is her pet, but she is quick to say "Can I flush him down the toilet?"

-Her favorite place to play is where Mom is - she's a Mommy's girl.

It's Autumn Time

The leaves are falling down! This tree in our neighbor's yard seriously dropped all it's leaves the other day during lunch. The kids went out with grand ideas and raked some up. I'm so glad my kids are willing to help others.

Big helper

After dinner, Emily noticed all the dishes and said, "When I'm done with my journal, I'll help you with all those dishes." True enough, she finished her journal quickly and came to the kitchen to help. She did a great job and didn't stop until they were all done. She didn't even mind the wrinkly hands... and she didn't believe me when I told her the skin would fall off her hands.

Feeling the joy of service!

4 Months Old

She is growing too fast. She still sleeps and eats well. She is starting to be interested in toys. She still loves to smile and be held. She prefers to sit up. She likes to stand while supported. She recognizes her Daddy's growl/snarl and will turn to find him. We all love her!

Trying to find a balance

Between mediocrity and excellence... with my kids. I have found that I swing from one side to the other. I expect greatness but then they don't give it their full effort so I drop the ball and figure they can't do it because they are too young. There has to be some nice place in the middle, where they are challenged and their efforts are genuine. I just hate it when they come to me with a question about their work that tells me they are trying to do the very minimum to complete the work. So do I try to get them to reach farther or do I let them settle? I think it might be one of those learned things... If they are never challenged then they won't like being challenged and they'll never reach beyond on their own. But I need to find a way to challenge them, allow them to succeed or fail, learn, try again (if necessary), feel good about doing something they didn't think they could, and then they'll want to be challenged again (or at least maybe it won't be so scary because they know they can do it with a little effort/work). Kids have to learn to work, just like they have to learn to walk. I need to know when they are putting forth true effort so that I can praise it, and when they are trying to slide by so I can give them an extra push to try a little harder.

One last post for October

I almost forgot to post about this one because I was supposed to get more pictures but it never happened. Anyway, our farmer neighbor told Ben he could ride the harvester when it was time to take in the corn in the field behind our house. Ben was so excited. One morning (10/13) we heard the harvester going. Ben was all done with his school work, so I let him go outside to see if he could get a ride. He finally got the farmer's attention and was invited to go out. I got a few pictures before it started to rain on me. Unfortunately, due to the rain, the ride didn't last very long because it's not a good idea to harvest the corn when it's wet. Oh well. He was happy with what he got and that's important.