Christmas Day

Having Christmas morning with 6 little kids is fun and a little crazy.  Hailey really understands that she gets presents for Christmas and was very excited about it all.

Here is where the find their stockings.

Hannah got a little purse with play things for her Santa gift.

Hailey and Robert got 6 books each and a projector. The mainly treat the projector as a flashlight but that's okay too.

Nathan's stocking gift was a polo and mine was the Peacegiver. Nathan did a great job with surprising me and keeping the present a secret.

They also got Little people books and candy. (Hailey got Little Miss Helpful, Hannah got Little Miss Sunshine, and Robert got Mr. Bump.)

There were lots of presents!!!

Hailey got books, a princess blanket, and a digital camera.

I got an electric blanket, a 9X13 pan and smaller pans with a carry case, and the Before they're 12. Nathan got slippers and laptop stuff.

Robert got a big truck with animals, books, and a small red camera.

Hannah, who stayed with Zeke the whole time, got an Ergo baby carrier so she'll never leave momma's side, and a whole bucket of bean bags from Aunt Eva.

I'm also trying to teach Hailey about giving gifts to others, so these are what my kids gave to their cousins.

We had a great Christmas and was glad we had a whole of people to share it with.

Christmas Eve

For our Christmas break, we went to New Mexico to see Amy and Jared and their three cute girls, Abby, Emma, and Kari. Zeke rode with us, with made the trip easier to handle.  Also the time flies by when you're listening to a book on CD.

For Christmas Eve, our kids opened their Christmas PJs. This is the first year where I didn't get myself any pjs. I was a little sad but Nate and I do have a lot of pjs already.

Hello World!

There have been big changes in our lives since I've blogged last. I know I need to blog first about Christmas but I wanted to make a quick summary before I forget the funny events of late.

So for Christmas we went to New Mexico with Zeke to see Nate's brother and family, Jared and Amy.  Hailey and Robert loved having cousins to play with. Poor Robert was out number by 5 girls, but he didn't even notice. 

Our long term plan at that point was that Nathan would get a job for the Fall and finish his dissertation on the side. He got all his papers ready and even applied to a school.  However, the more serious he was about it, the more discouraged I was about the job market.  We decided (and it was tough) to stay in Pocatello for an extra year so Nathan could finish completely in one year and have a better resume then struggling with both duties. 

That decided lead to my biggest concern, how are we going to survive at Ridge Crest for a whole other school year?  The answer was that we couldn't and found a new place to live.

A lot happened on January 22nd.  We had appointments to look at new housing, so had a pretty full day.

Also, while the kids were happily playing in the front room and I was on the computer, Hannah had a seizure.  It was only one minute long from my best guess.  I heard a strange sound, and looked for Hannah. I found her right behind me by the couch, sitting up but folded over and shaking.  I quickly picked her up, to lay her on her back in my arms and called for Nate to come down stairs.  He held her and within 30 seconds, she was out of the seizure but completely wiped out.  Her temperature was only 99 degrees and we started her Keppra again. It's nerve racking because, this means she has a problem and we don't know if the next will be 1 minute long or 45 minutes.  The doctor couldn't really give us more answers but that she has to be on Keppra until she is two before we take her off of it and see if she'll have another one.  I think about our time in the hospital constantly.  It is also very hard for Hannah to get over the seizure and used to the medicine.  She acted loopy and cranky for almost 2 weeks.

And a minor point, was that Jan 22 was the first day of my last period, which means I'm pregnant now and am due the end of October. (more about that later)

The last couple of days before February, we were accepted and got to move into our new 4 bedroom house.  Our rent over lapped a month which made moving over easier because we could slowly move over and then clean later but tough to be in two places.

The day we moved our furniture over, Nathan hopped off the truck and landed on his ankle wrong.  He sprained it badly and will be in a walking boot for at least a month. 

The kids have adjusted smoothly to our new place.  Hailey screamed at night for the first week but that's over for the most part now. 

Last Sunday was our first Sunday in our new ward. It was fast and testimony meeting and there were tons of 6-8 year old kids going up and bearing their testimonies.  Hailey and Robert were very anxious to go also.  Hailey told Nate that she wants to go up and he told her what a testimony was. She beat him up to the stand and didn't want him to stand next to her. She wanted to do it all by herself.  She said, "Do you know that I love my family! And do you know...." She mentioned Heavenly Father and Jesus and ended it like she does her prayers.  Then she walked back to my by herself while Nate bore his testimony and told me "I did a good job, mommy!" Robert jumped out of his seat when he noticed she was up there and run to the front before I could do anything about it.  Robert spoke after Nate and mentioned Heavenly Father and Jesus several times and closed it like his prayers.  I was very impressed with both of them and hope they don't grow out of their boldness. 

Sorry this post is so random.  We just got the Internet back so pictures will be coming soon, whenever I have a moment to sit down.

Hannah's 1 years old

Hannah just had her 1 year old well baby check up and she weighs 18 1/2 lbs and is roughly 28 1/2inches tall. She does all the typically things a one year old does and so the doctor isn't worried about any developmental delays from the seizure. Also, though we try, most of the time we go a few days in between giving Hannah her Keppra. So the doctor and I decided that she could be taken off the medicine.

Hannah is a pro at going up stairs but can't figure out how to stay backwards and crawl down.  She is also starting to throw little tantrums by yelling and shaking her head so fast it shakes her whole body.  It's cute only because it doesn't happen too often and occurs generally when I'm changing her diaper and clothes and she just wants to eat.

Hannah also will walk while holding our hands and will walk along furniture. She also gets distracted and can stand up by herself for a few seconds.

She is a very happy baby and we love her so much.  She has been giving open mouth kisses and says mama and dadda. She signs for more and all done.

Happy Birthday Miss Hannah

Hannah was born 10 minutes into the 16th of December so Nathan and Hannah have separate birthdays. 

For Hannah's birthday, I wanted to make her a teddy bear cake. I remember seeing a picture of my dad celebrating his 30th birthday with a teddy bear cake that my mom did and I have loved that idea ever since.

So first I started with the pan.

 I followed the instructions and the cake came out easily and didn't crack!

 Then I tried my best to get light brown for the ears, paws, and mouth but it ended up having looking more pink then brown to me. Then the eyes and nose was supposed to be a black.  So, I need to work on mixing the colors a little better.  I understand why they wanted me to make the colors first before frosting because I ran out of the dark brown for the fur and got a different shade. However, I'm using my mom's frosting bags that she has had for over 20 years. They kept falling apart on me and I couldn't finish making "fur flowers" on the bear since the frosting was coming out the side on my hands and not through the tip. 

 So after almost two hours, this is the final product.  It ended up being harder than I thought but once I get new bags I think I'll be set to do a train cake for Robert. Overall, I do like how the cake turned out, it's just not like the picture I was trying to copy.

 I wanted to do more of a party for Hannah, so first we played put the heart on the teddy.

 Then we played throw the bee into the bee hive.  Hannah likes putting things in buckets.

 Then Hannah opened her presents.

 However, she just liked the tissue paper. Do you see that the present is out of the bag now and that she doesn't care?!?

 It's an alligator that she can pull around.

 Here's her next present.

 She did okay with the wrapping paper but liked tissue paper better.

 She got little lift-the-flap books about moms, dad, grandparents, body parts, and playing peek-a-boo. Robert and Hailey really like these books. I don't think Hannah's ready yet.

 Then they went to the table to color teddy bears.

 Hannah did a little squiggle but mainly tried to eat the crayon.

 Here is our little neighbor friend who the kids where playing with earlier. We told her family that today was Hannah's birthday and then she insisted to bring Hailey a birthday present (play dough) and a birthday card.  She is such a cute little girl so we invited her to stay for our little party.

 Hannah attacked the bear's foot while we are singing to her.

 I think she enjoyed her cake.

 A lot of crumbs went into her lap.

Happy Birthday Miss Hannah!

Nate's 29 Years Old

Nathan doesn't like his birthday because it falls on finals week and he is generally stressed out.  Trying it keep it low key but special, I cooked salmon and get it over spinach and also baked sweet potatoes for dinner.

Then the kids brought Nate's gift over to him.

 After throwing all the tissue paper out, he finally got to his present...

 which was a robe.  He mentioned once that he would like a robe and I was so excited to finally get him something he would enjoy. Nathan is the hardest person ever to shop for. He really likes it (though he doesn't express it) and they kids kept telling him he looks pretty when he wears it.

 Then, I made him a cookie cake, which the Hailey and Robert helped put sprinkles on it.

 Here's a picture Hailey took of her daddy.

We are sure lucky to have him. He works very hard to get good grades at school and get through the graduating requirements quickly.  He started in the fall working on his dissertation and is also trying to pull all the paper work together to get a job for next year.  Nathan loves the profession he is going in. He loves teaching and tries to find ways to incorporate technology into the classroom and really focuses on how to help his students learn the materials. He is a wonderful teacher, father, and husband.

Happy Birthday Nathan!