Cause for Concern?

Anna has moved from the bear crawl to scooting and now onto holding hands and walking all too quickly for us! But as she's been on the move more and more, I've noticed her left foot pigeon toes inward. Any of you had similar experiences with your kids? The doc said they're not concerned and will look at it at her 1 year, but my thinking is that if this is something that needs to be corrected, wouldn't it be better to start correcting now, before it becomes habit over the next 2 months? Or is it not a big deal, and she'll correct it on her own?...

WaTeR FiGhT!!

This water fight was started, dominated, and finished by Daddy. Once James was able to get daddy back, he decided it was funny... Unfortunately the fight didn't end at the park though. On our drive home, the kids and Jim were threatening me with a tickle war. I ran inside and locked myself in the bathroom. After several minutes, I unlocked it with 2 shaving cream caps full of water (there were no cups!) Jim came by and I was able to drizzle him with a few drops, but he was already prepared with a glass of water waiting in the nearby closet and drenched me. Luckily the kids somehow understood that this was a one-time thing and there have been no repeat water fights indoors...

Pretty in Pink

A Great, Humble Man

Gordon B. Hinckley, the dear prophet of our LDS church has just passed away. He has been our prophet for nearly 13 years and was the oldest prophet in these latter days. Hearing this news and looking at this picture bring so many thoughts to my mind- one of the first of which is the great reunion he is having with his sweet wife Marjorie in Heaven right now! Oh, how special. I love his gentle and encouraging tone. His quick wit and complete humble attitude. He had incredible optimism and taught with such love. Hearing his voice and strong testimony always strengthened my own testimony and encouraged me to be a little better. In this brief tribute, I am just recommitting to his encouragement to "resolve in our hearts to do a little better than we have done in the past. We can all be a little kinder, a little more generous, a little more thoughtful of one another. We can be a little more tolerant and friendly to those not of our faith, going out of our way to show our respect for them. We cannot afford to be arrogant or self-righteous. It is our obligation to reach out in helpfulness, not only to our own but to all others as well. Their interest in and respect for this Church will increase as we do so."
Somehow losing a prophet, especially President Hinckley, feels like loosing a family member; a dear grandfather.

WANTED:

Wanted: GENIUS. I want to know when I can burn my blogging pages and pictures onto CDs or DVDs. Does this program already exist? -You'd think someone with a Master's in Technology would know... Really though- is that possible? I oughtta bring this up with Jeff and Quinton- they seem to always come up with inventions and schemes.

We're Done

Hurray, Anna has just completed her last dosage of amoxicillin!. After 3 weeks of steam showers and a humidifier, we finally took her in for her persistent congested cough which was diagnosed as a sinus infection. Wallah, it's gone. Oddly enough, we should have 3 more 1 & 1/1 tsp doses left, but she finished off the bottle this morning. The nurse I called was perplexed but wasn't concerned about not meeting the 10 day guideline, so I suppose I will just be happy we don't have to jam any more pink medicine down Anna's little throat.
Speaking of, why IS this stuff PINK?! Clear would look much nicer on her variety of jammies and shirts, although I must say, there are few stains -we're quick! All in all, I have to be grateful. This has been our first experience with the 10-day (or 8 1/2) procedure in 4 & 1/2 years of child-rearing. Don't know how you Moms deal with it on a more frequent basis.

Mistake?

After noticing a full moon two nights in a row, James explained "maybe Heavenly Father made a mistake".
He was also singing along to some Primary songs in the car and began the chorus with "Oh Santa, Oh Santa" when it was actually "Hosannah, hosannah"... we've got some 'splainin' to do in our home...

peek-a-boo

What started out as this... has turned into this...

Anna LOVES playing in the cupboard full of plastic utensils, plates, bowls, cups and tupperware.

Temple Trip

We made a trip up to the Mesa Temple on Saturday with some friends from church. The guys were able to do a session in the temple while we took the seven kids to the Visitor's Center and picnicked and played on the Temple grounds. No, I did not let them climb on the Christus statue (James jumped up to touch His feet as I took the picture) but they did enjoy seeing the statue, two videos and a mini display of Jerusalem. We look forward to returning next month.

And a BIG thanks to Uncle Jeff for the pool access, too! We love visiting him and swimming at his work. Oh, and who can make a trip to Mesa without stopping at Bahama Bucks. mmm mmm good.

Buddy It Is!

Tonight, Jim received his call sign. He was concerned it might become bologna because that happens to be a word he uses (although his flight buddies assure him he could say other words). But no, they went with Buddy. Yup, as in Buddy the ultra friendly, happy-go-lucky, abnormally large elf. As the Squadron Commander shook Jim's hand, he said that he'd never given a more fitting name. I'd say it is a compliment, actually! Jim is always so positive and optimistic. Of course being nearly 6'5 in the cockpit of an attack airplane may bring images of Buddy to mind as well... The other guys there also received assignments of where they'll be stationed next. We are anxious to get back home with family and friends, but watching our friends get assignments to Korea then on to Spain is pretty exciting. (Congrats, guys!)

our doggie

Anna was hanging out under the table during dinner and James decided to feed her a bone from his chicken. She seemed to enjoy the crockpot lemon chicken flavor...

Puppeteers

The kids decorated puppets this afternoon of Lehi, Sariah, Nephi, Sam, Laman, and Lemuel from the Book of Mormon. It made for a fun Family Home Evening!

Pea Soup, Anyone?

Yup, yet another potion. These are concocted at least twice a week, so I didn't think much of this scene when I walked inside from spending 10 minutes cleaning out the van. But after listing its ingedients to aunt Katie, with whom I was on the phone, she expressed interest in a post- so here it is, Katie. Come over anytime.
Ingredients:
lime yogurt, water, dried split peas, baby strawberry- banana chews, lemon bar mix.
Not a cheap activity...
Yes, we made Lemon bars for FHE dessert and despite being short 1/3 the mix, they were mighty good.

budding photographer

No doubt James takes after his uncle Nate and uncle Jeff. Check out his work-

Life Goes On

I hesitated posting for a couple of days
a) priorities
b) I loved seeing baby Anna's briliant face when I logged onto the internet! Ahh, but life goes on and there will be more darling pictures to post...
So I've decided to take down the rest of my Christmas decorations- the ones on my blog- and found this fabulous site: http://sjhblogdesign.blogspot.com/ where I also came across www.shabbyprincess.com . Super cute! -and there's my plug. no, i did not create this template on my own.

The SUN

While driving home from church on Sunday, I was explaining that it was later than it used to be when we came home from church. Noticing that there wasn't much between "get home and change" and "go to bed" on my list of what would be happening when we got home, James asked if it was almost night time. I confirmed his suspicion to which he discouragingly mumbled "stupid sun."
Yesterday he put on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, all ready to go out and play. I explained that it was too cold and cloudy to wear that combination, but maybe later in the day the sun would come out and he could change. Blaming the clouds for blocking the sun, he reasoned "If I was in outter space, then I could wear these!"

All I Want For Christmas

Anna's greatest Christmas wish came in on Christmas Eve- her left front tooth! One more tooth has been added to her collection since this picture, and last night's fever and fussiness leads me to believe more are on their way......

Who Knew

Whew- just about done journaling my memories of Christmas '07. Despite a 24hour bug that hit nearly all of us, we survived the week + together and had a great time! But who knew a can of slim fast or simple breakfast fruit smoothie could be so traumatic? Yeah, Matt took a can to his head, but the wound has healed quite nicely. Although Jim did not cause the head injury, he was the one who jokingly brought the can into the room. So Matt took revenge the only way he knew how- he slipped a deadly mango into a drink of the Slim Fast jokster's wife. However he must have had some conscience because he was kind enough to leave some Benedryl in the house to prevent me making a recommended trip to the ER...

Super Surprises

There were some fun surprise gifts Christmas morning. The kid's excitement over Papa and Granmama's new fire truck was only slightly greater than some adults excitement! And Papa surprised his Swedish girl with an upcoming trip to Sweden! I was very grateful for the thoughtfulness behind my favorite Christmas surprise- receiving addressed Christmas cards! All 100 of 'em! To appreciate this gift, rewind 2 months in time to when I had our friend, Debbie take a picture of our kids in front of Jim's plane, so I could send out "Thanksgiving cards". I was excited to get them done before December and also wanted to get our new address out. Debbie helped me find an online postcard site, which I wanted for ease and cost of postage. But after many hours of trying to figure out the details of the site, and even hours of attempts by Jim and his mom, I was unable to get my now Christmas cards sent out. I was dissappointed, but had spent so much time trying that I wasn't willing to fool with it anymore. I decided I'd figure it out in time for Valentine's cards. But Christmas morning I opened 2 boxes of addressed envelopes, cards and even stamps. Thanks for your time and thoughtfulness, Jimmy snd Jan! (ok, to be completely truthful, I still have a dozen or so cards to get mailed b/c Jimmy didn't have access to some addresses... so check your mailbox this week...!)

Christmas Morn'

These are a Few of our Favorite Things

Elizabeth can't get enough of her new princess dress ups. We hoped they'd be a hit- but wearing them to the gym and park? James' giant dinosaur went over well, despite the fact that it didn't come with rollerskates as he had specifically requested from Santa.(?) I don't have a picture of Jimmy with his favorite Christmas gift- his new high powered vacuum he bought himself, but he seemed pretty happy with his National Parks book. And Anna is delighted with her new little feeder. She can feed herself without gagging- it's GREAT!

Jimmy stalls bedtime yet again

Blogging is one of my many forms of journaling. In nearly every journal I have, I can just about guarantee an entry on January 1st. EVERY year I resolve to be a better journal keeper and every year, I continue to try... Last year I really didn't do the New Year's Resolutions thing. It seems a bit silly. Can't we resolve to improve whenever? If I reserve it only for January 1st, I miss out on countess opportunities to improve throughout the year. However, while on our 5 hour detour through Sedona on New Years Eve, Jimmy had me document his New Years resolutions in our Travel Journal so I decided to document mine. (After he offered to make some for me...no thanks.) One of which is to stay on top of things. For me, this is key. If I stay on top of laundry, dishes, working out, I ultimately feel less overwhelmed (would that be underwhelmed?) and more in control of various aspects of my life. Back to journaling- I often get intimidated by writing in my journal because I feel like I have so much to catch up on that I spend so much time writing about past events that I never get to the point of what I was siting down to write about in the first place. Wow, this probably isn't making any sense whatsoever. BUT- since this is MY journal entry, it's okay because I (how do you emphasise the word "I" -it's already capitalized?) yes, IIII get it! Anyway- Purpose of tonight's post: 2 conversations Jimmy had with James an hour ago (while I was typing a friend a letter and couldn't exactly post the conversation right away- but typed it into James' journal so I would remember it). And here are the 2 conversations:
(side note- i secretly love when Jimmy gives into James' stalling at 1/2 hour past bedtime feeds him a yogurt and shares stories with him... Here is a Daddy who LOVES loves LoVeS being a dad. This is what he had to say tonight...)
1-3-08 8:46pm
Jimmy: “James, let’s get on your shoes and sneak out and go on a bike ride.”
James: “Um, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“why?”
“because we could run into something and there are nocturnal animals. But we could drive in the truck to the light store and hook the lights onto our bikes.”
---------- conversation evolves into:
“You go to kindergarten not next year but this year! Mommies get sad when their kids got to kindergarten. Do you know why?
"Why?"
"Because mommies want their kids to stay small. Do you know why?"
James: “So they can stay mommies and don’t die?”
THIS is why I would home school. I can't stand the thought of missing out on so much of my children's lives!!!!
And now that I've posted something for the "now" I will hopefully finish my Christmas posts before the week is over...

unequal time

I know. These pictures are rediculously filled with large amounts of Kemptons and very few Hawkes. One reason is that cameras were in abundance at the Kempton household, and I don't always remember to take mine to the Hawkes. James enjoyed every minute he had with Jayden, especially our trip to the Bean Museum. But really, we did spend more time at Kemptons. Mesia and Kristin were the only two out of all 15 of us who managed to not get sick. So although we would have loved to have played with Hawkes cousins more, we're sure they, especially Mabel (4 days old in Christmas Day photo below), appreciate our absence.

Wrestle Mania!!!

We took it upon ourselves to take this favorite pasttime with Daddy and introduce it to aunt Kristin, uncle Rob and uncle Jeff.

Christmas Eve

Eating dinner, popping English 'crackers' (with accompanying crowns and toys), blowing out candles, matching jammies, songs and scripture reading. Love traditions!

all that fun white stuff

Who can resist fresh, pure white snow?! Love the sound and feel of it crunching under my boots. The soft cold taste of it on my tongue. And of course being just 3 seconds away from warming up by a fireplace inside.

Helpers

Granmama could hardly wait for her eager tree-trimmers to arrive and decorate