Merry Christmas

I need sleep.... after an exhausting couple of days, I am hoping to be able to take it a bit easy the next couple of days.... well maybe after we finish cleaning up from Christmas and after we get ready for company....

This week has been just insane. I looked at the calendar on my phone and we had things going on almost every day this week!! We started the week off by joining some friends for a Christmas Family Home Evening. We had a great time with friends eating treats and playing games and talking about the meaning of Christmas.

Tuesday was the kids last day of school - the girls were so excited about all their Christmas parties and crafts and such (and of course the candy they brought home from school.) After school we went to piano lessons. The girls both really seem to enjoy them and after a tough first week with Anna, I hardly have to pester the kids at all about doing piano lessons.

Wednesday, I had an ultrasound. My doctor wanted to double check on the baby's size and make sure that we had the right due date set. This was the latest ultrasound I have ever had, and it's funny how much more cramped the poor kid looks in there than he did last time. Also - the baby is head down and I'm starting to sit really low. Dan took the time off for the holidays, and we spent the rest of the day trying to get ready for Christmas.

Thursday was another day of getting things ready and cleaning and wrapping - lol - even when each kid is only getting a couple things, when there are 4 kids, it really adds up! I also had a doctors appointment (separate from the ultrasound with my normal doctor) I am down to appointments every week now - kinda crazy to think I'm that close!!! The doctor said I am doing fine and we sent an induction date for January 24th. So come rain or shine the baby will be here by then! Thursday evening we headed down to Great Grandpa's house (despite getting nearly a foot of snow that day) to go caroling. The kids had fun singing and ringing bells - and no - even with all that snow it really wasn't that cold - we bundled up in hats, gloves, scarves and warm coats and were just fine! We then had some yummy chili at Grandpa's.

Friday morning, we went out and looked at washing machines and dryers. We have been wanting new ones for awhile now - the old ones (and they are OLD - they were used when we got them, and the we got the washing machine when we were married over 9 years ago) We have also been having problems with the washing machine just stopping mid cycle - that makes it rather hard to get everything done!!! Plus with another kid on the way - we have really been wanting the extra capacity so that I don't have to increase the number of loads that we have to run each week. We found our new appliances and enjoyed snagging the holiday sales and are looking forward to a delivery next week! Friday also became a bit of last minute shopping day - Dan took the kids to the dollar store to get each other gifts - Aaron didn't quite understand the idea of getting stuff for other people - he just wanted to get stuff for himself. The girls had fun picking out stuff for each other - lets just say that a lot of glow sticks were involved....

Saturday and Christmas Eve were all about cleaning the house, and cooking food. This being our first time really hosting a holiday event in our new house, I was a bit anxious about everything going well and being perfect. For dinner, we headed down to Frank and Tina's for Bagna Caulda (Francone family tradition - yummy Italian dipping sauce....mmm) We had fun singing and eating and chatting and finally headed home to get the kids in bed...late...again.... which was then followed by Dan and I staying up even later stuffing stockings and setting up the Christmas stuff.

After a late bed time for us all - morning came very early!! We had church at 9 am and Dan and I had decided that we would let the kids do the stockings before church and then would do the rest after. The kids knew this and thankfully the only trouble we had with it was Aaron complaining most of the time about wanting to go home - but part of that was him being tired too. The kids didn't wake us up at the crack of dawn to open presents - in fact, we ended up having to wake most of them up. The kids had fun opening stockings and eating pop tarts and sugar cereals for breakfast. Evie was so excited about the pop tarts that as soon as she found them, she forgot the rest of her stocking and took them to the kitchen, blessed her breakfast and started eating. After church, we stuck around for a baptism that I had been asked to sing at. (Aaron's complaining was getting MUCH more frequent by this time) Then we finally went home to finish opening presents. The kids had a ton of fun, and were happy to spend the rest of the morning and afternoon playing with their new toys. Dan found a slot car set for Aaron and the boys had tons of fun setting up the track and racing cars. The girls got a bead set from Grandma and Grandpa Jones, and had fun making necklaces. Then some last minute cleaning and cooking and the company started arriving. We had a full house with Grandpa, Frank and Tina, Doug, Mark and Julia, Newell and Becky, and of course the kids belonging with above mentioned adults. Dinner was yummy and was followed by a semi-chaotic opening of presents. The kids loved their gifts and loved being with friends and family. And loved eating dessert. LOL - oddly enough, most of what the kids ate for dinner was the veggie appetizer tray we had out. Not going to complain when it's healthy though :P The girls each got one of these adorable dolls from my Great Aunt Joan, and have been carrying them around ever since.
Plans for next week? SLEEP, finish a few more Christmas Presents, SLEEP, Play, SLEEP, set up guest rooms, SLEEP!!!!!!

What am I most grateful for this Christmas?
My Savior, and the chance to think of him a bit more often.
My family, and getting to be surrounded by them during the holidays
Sleep....

Holiday Cheer

Well it is officially feeling like the holiday madness is begun. The kids are still in school until the 20th, but with all the holiday stuff going on (and the Christmas music on the radio) and the rush to finish presents and get them mailed off, life has been busy. We had Zoe and Jacob over on Thursday to play. The girls have so much fun together and Jacob is amazingly patient with 4 giggly girls. Dan treated him to a game of Stratego when he got home to help make amends. :)

Then Saturday the whole Bessendorfer family came over to help decorate Christmas Cookies and have dinner. The kids had lots of fun. Evie was only allowed to do one cookie because all she wanted to do was eat the cookies and the frosting. :) After, the kids went and watched the Grinch while the older people played a game together (which I WON - for once) :)


Sunday was our Church Christmas program. which included the choir singing - and so we had an extra choir practice on Saturday morning. Christmas seems like it's always about the music for me - but I LOVE Christmas music :) The program went well - then we had a Stake music fireside tonight where we sang again. It was fun to sing and see friends from the Peoria ward. Is it really only a week until Christmas??? Where did the month go? I wonder when life will start to slow down again... and realize that it won't.... :)

Christmas

So Anna's middle name is Noel. I have loved this name for as long as I can remember, and wanted to use it in one of my children's names. Anna was very excited this year when we explained to her that Noel means Christmas in French. She matter-of-factly informed us recently that she wants to be called "Christmas" now instead of Anna.

Yey for no Travelling

Well - this Saturday Dan returned and will be home until at least the end of February! Yey!! Probably just as well - I don't think any of us would survive with me pregnant and no hubby again. 8 months pregnant is too big for moving boxes that got soaked by the snow melting off the car in the garage. It's way to pregnant for me to be out shoveling our driveway and side walks. It's too pregnant for me to be cleaning out the fridge to find out what that foul smell is. And it's too pregnant for me to be chasing the kids around cleaning up after them...only to find that they made a new mess while I was cleaning the old one.

We are now about 6 weeks from the due date. I have an ultrasound and another appointment in about a week and a half. Right now every thing seems to be moving right along - though I feel (and look) a bit like a beached whale. It's a good thing the CMC concerts were not any later in the month, or I would not have fit the dress. :) Dan is ever the sweetheart and told me last night that from the back and even from the side with a hand up to cover the baby belly - I look the same and I haven't gained any weight at all - I'm married to such an awesome man :)

LOL - now to back track a bit - Monday was piano lessons - Anna is taking a try at it (we will see how long this lasts - she had better figure out how to practice with out my forcing her to if she wants to keep it up...) so we drove out for piano lessons and then, since we were on that side of town, we stopped by Grandpa's to play and chat and have dinner. We had a nice time and were glad to see him and glad to not have to go home to a daddy-less house.

I've realized this last week that being 8 months pregnant means I cry over everything. Whether I'm frustrated with the kids, upset over the damaged stuff in the garage, singing a Christmas Song, saying a prayer, typing a blog post or the sweet little notes I found under the Christmas Tree, I cry at everything!! Poor Dan has to deal with it long distance while he's out of town. These are what I found under our Christmas Tree by the way. :) So after a crazy, rather stressful week - we are very grateful to have Dan back - to have our house getting back to some semblance of normal and Mommy is putting herself on bed rest (or craft room rest) for a day or two... I was planning on it anyway, but I seem to be coming down with a cold which is making it all the more necessary.

Sleep? What's that???

Yeah you are probably thinking.... just wait until her baby comes - then she will REALLY know sleep deprivation. Yes that is probably true, but somehow not having Dan home is always more exhausting than I expect it to be.

Monday for Family Home Evening, we decorated our Christmas tree and talked about some of the symbols of Christmas and why we celebrate it. The kids had fun decorating, though here we are a week later and we have broken like 5 of the "not easily breakable" ornaments. We keep the kid friendly ornaments separate for the kids, but they have still managed to break a rather large amount of them.... Aaron LOVE to have the lights on - the hard part is making him ask me to plug them in so that he doesn't try to do it himself.

Dan left on Thursday for Hawaii - just as it was starting to snow here. It has been snowing on and off ever since. The kids are loving playing in it. I'd rather not drive in it, but it is awfully pretty!


This weekend was the beginning of my concert season with the Colorado Mormon Chorale. The concerts were a lot of fun and went well, but my back wasn't fond of standing still with a music folder for an hour straight. At least I have a week to recover before the next ones.... :)

Church today was wonderful - the kids were fairly well behaved, the lessons were wonderful! Eileen saw the Ward Choir notice in the bulletin that said "Singers of all Ages" and decided that meant her too, so she decided to come sing with me today. She is so sweet and I love hearing her voice join in the group.

On the way out to our car today, I was carrying Evie and cautioning the kids about being very careful walking on the ice, when I managed to slip and fall on the ice - the fall was not hard, and the grand total of my injuries are a few small scratches that aren't even worth a band-aid and bit more soreness than usual. The fall really didn't hurt much and Evie was just fine (having landed on me) but I felt a bit like Bambi in his first time out on the ice..... Thankfully nothing damaged but my pride!