Funly Night!

Sometimes instead of Family Night we like to do a little something we call Funly Night or Funly Home Evening.  To start out the kids earn tokens that they can use to play little games that Ben and I have created for them.  If they win the games they win prizes.  It's kinda like our own mini carnival and the kids love it.  Tonight was a Funly Night...

I only took pictures of 2 of the 5 games we played.  We had a Webkinz toss, putt putt, nerf gun game, Hot Wheels launcher game, and basketball hot shot in a helmet and goggles game.  A good time was had by all. 

Trip to the ER

The night we got all the kids back Q had a little accident.  I'm not sure exactly how it happened, all I know is that he was chasing Alyssa around the kitchen and fell.  Next thing you know he was crying like crazy and wouldn't move his left arm.  We got him to lay down and relax and he fell asleep, but when he woke up he was still in a lot of pain and wouldn't use his arm so we thought...when in doubt, check it out...and headed to the ER.  After an initial examination by the doc we were sent for x-rays.  Qyntn cried and cried and it nearly broke my heart during the photos but everything looked ok.  Since he was obviously in pain the doctor suspected Q had a dislocated elbow (nursemaid elbow).  He started manipulating Q's arm and within just a few seconds he said, "that's it, I felt it pop back in."  I could hardly believe it was such an easy fix.  I'm so glad it wasn't more severe, and super happy to have our smiling happy boy back!

EX-mas

Since this year was an EX-mas (the kids spent Christmas with our exes) we got all of the kids back a few days after Christmas and had a bit of a celebration.  We opened some gifts, played the present game and watched Gremlins.
 

Nice Ayz!



Lickety Split

Christmas morning was a breeze with just one kid.  Qyntn woke up around 6:50 am and lickety split all the presents were opened and breakfast was served and cleaned up.  He was absolutely adorable though.  Each time we handed him a new gift he would open it and immediately want to play with it, so we let him.  He didn't realize more gifts were coming his way.  It was delightful to see him enjoy each present.  We missed the other kids of course, Christmas seemed way too quiet, but Qyntn enjoyed having all the attention.

 

Our Little Shepherd Boy

What a cute little shepherd boy

Look daddy...a star!

Trying to share his milk with baby Jesus

Karen and Grant were kind enough to invite us to their house for Christmas Eve festivities.  We enjoyed a delicious meal and the quickest nativity I have ever seen.  It was lovely!

Top 5 List

These are the top 5 things I hope my kids remember about Christmas this year...

1.  Listening to "Don't Forget the Star" on the drive home from St. George
2.  The story about the "Candy Bomber"
3.  Delivering Christmas cookies to our new neighbors
4.  Shopping for this sweet family...

These kid's dad died last May.  Tiffany has been
 struggling, working at a gas station, to support them all. 

5.  That Christ was the first gift of Christmas and the greatest gift they could ever receive.

O Christmas Tree

This year

Last year
This little tree served us well
 for 4 years!

Q for Christmas

This year we only have Q for Christmas.  He doesn't really get it yet, but I've enjoyed watching him learn about baby Jesus and Santa Claus.  He loves the Christmas tree, our elf Spizbee, he's curious about presents, and really likes sprinkles on sugar cookies...

No tears this year!

No frosting, just sprinkles

On Christmas morning I couldn't find baby Jesus.
I finally found him later in Qyntn's bed.

A Child's Prayer

Our family sang in sacrament meeting in our new ward.  I just happened to sit next to the music coordinator on our first week in the ward and she asked if I would be willing to throw something together.  I happily agreed, because we already had something prepared, but I knew Ben wouldn't be happy about it.  We sang "A Child's Prayer," just like before. 

On the day of the performance we arrived early to practice, but our pianist was a no show.  We tried to practice a little without her, but Qyntn kept grabbing the mic and pulling it to his mouth to scream into it.  When we pulled him away he cried and cried.  I was a bit of a nervous wreck after that, worried that if we took Q up to sing with us he would throw a tantrum, not to mention we didn't get a chance to practice.

I said a lot of silent prayers during the first part of the meeting.  Qyntn calmed down because a nice woman behind us kept putting stickers on his hand, he loved them.  When we got up to sing he brought them with him.  To start the song all of the kids sang the first part in Spanish and it was beautiful. Last time we sang, listening to them sing in Spanish made me cry, but this time I was able to hold it together, no tears and sang my part with Ayzha, Alyssa, and Reyn without any problems.  Ben was holding Qyntn in his arms.  Just as his part started Q started putting stickers all over Ben's face.  I tried to help out by taking Qyntn away from Ben, but Q dropped the stickers and screamed out.  I prayed it wouldn't turn into an all out tantrum.  Luckily the speaker behind us picked up the stickers and handed them to Q and he quieted down.  The whole time I was thinking...just keep singing.  I tried to hold Qyntn in my arms during the last part, but he was squirming so much that I finally set him down.  Next thing you know, his little head popped up in front by Tiago, happy and a clam.  Somehow we made it through and it turned out awesome.

The Bishop remarked on how impressive it was to hear the kids sing with such enthusiasm. So many others remarked that it was their favorite musical number ever.  Very entertaining for sure!

That night Ben received a text message from a friend in the ward that said, "Daughter prayed tonight and said, "Thankful for the family that sang in sacrament, that was my favorite song and it made me feel good and smile."  You never know how good of an impression a song can make on a kid.  Thanks to you and Shannon for doing it."

 I loved HIS child's prayer!

SHhhh..Don't Tell Ben I Told You



 Ben pulled out his viola again the other day.  He and I are working on a piano/viola duet... Pachabel's Canon.  Maybe someday it will be good enough to perform...we'll see.

Christmas Recital

Believe it or not the girls are STILL taking piano lessons, HOORAY!  It has been a rough road!  Persuading Alyssa and Holly to sit down and practice every day is a challenge, but somehow we've made it through another year.  They played beautifully at their Christmas recital!  I even got to play a duet with each of them.   


Festival of Trees

We went to the festival of trees again this year.  The trees are awesome, but it's the gingerbread houses that I love the most!

 



Odds & Ends

I'm a proud momma!
Alyssa and Holly were picked as student of the week
for their class in consecutive weeks.  Unfortunately,
by the time I got to the school to snap a photo,
they had already taken down Alyssa's picture.  

They did a great job on their
African Savanna habitat!

Reyn had a great basketball season!

We are two of her biggest fans

And this one was taken after a pillow fight...just love his smile!

Abundantly Blessed!

Our family has been abundantly blessed this year!  We had 3 baptisms, a baby blessing, bought a new house, had a wonderful trip to Washington, Ben and I went to Dubai and Hawaii AND this week Ben got a job offer with less travel!  We have much to be thankful for!

I have always loved Thanksgiving.  It's important to recognize the good in our lives.  Even when things are hard (the past 7 years have been no picnic) you can find something positive in any situation, and when you do, it brings peace and joy.  In an attempt to help our kids develop an attitude of gratitude we had them tell us one thing they were thankful for (no repeats) each day in November.  I enjoyed it so much it may become a family tradition.

This year my brave sister Angie invited us for Thanksgiving at her house.  I'm pretty sure she was surprised when most of us said yes.  Tara and her family couldn't make it, and Julie is still in the clink, but the rest of us headed to St. George and made some fun Thanksgiving memories.  Angie was an awesome hostess, Ryan smoked some succulent ham, Jenny thrilled us with her pretzel jello, Ben candied some delicious yams, Dad's turkey popped right on time, and David "the matador" made an excellent gravy.  The rest of us helped where we were needed, and it was miraculous that it all came together right around 2pm.  Success!  The rest of the weekend was filled with hiking, pickle ball, sunshine, nerts, and fun times with the cousins.  Thanks for everything Angie and Ryan!

Dixie Rock

Everyone but Ben made it through the "crack".