Christmas, Tanners Big day and sledding

I haven't been much into updating my blog lately. I don't know if its just that I'm too stressed and in the evening when I do get the time to blog, I'm tired, but for whatever reason, I didn't blog about Christmas in fact, I hate to admit this, but I didn't take many pictures either. Sorry. I did get my Christmas tree though. As oddly decorated as it looks, its with the kids help and you can't just go and undo all their hard work.

So, here are the last few weeks leading up to this great day. Monday, December 15, I had my piano recital. That was my first major stress. It was in our home, so once that was over, we were able to get our tree. For the last month and a half, Tanner has been involved in a Draper City play, which has taken a chunk of our time every Tues-Thurs and Saturdays as well. Then for the two weeks prior, it was Mon-Thurs and Saturdays. I'm telling you, I have been SO grateful that gas has gone back down! So last weekend, they put that play on and then we were ready to begin Christmas Crazyness. On the 23rd, we had Tyson's grandmas family party, then it was Christmas Eve and we had my family party.
Then came Christmas. Oh Christmas!!! Yes, so my kids finally got to the point where their own excitement was what woke them up, instead of us waking them up. Well, that awakening came at 2:15am!! Yes, Tanner and Tyler woke up on their own that early! You might ask what we did at that point. Well, I think part of the reason I heard them, was because Jefferson was waking up to eat, so for the first little bit, they showed me what Santa brought, then as he was finishing up, I told them when I was little, I liked to get my pillow and sleep with all the toys Santa brought. That worked for about...it didn't work, they were still too excited to sleep. So I went back to bed while they kept looking at the new stuff. Well, for the next hour, they came in every 5-10 min. asking if it was time to open presents. At that point, Tyson told them to go down and turn on Disney Channel. That worked for about an hour. At that point, we figured 5:30 was good enough, so we let them encourage Jake to wake up. We opened presents and toys and in about 15 min, this long awaited event was over. Tyson's parents came over at 9am to see what Santa brought and at noon we went the their house for Christmas Ham and roast beef. YUM! Then we headed down to my families to open presents. That night, I went to bed only to wake up at midnight and bow to the porcelain God for the rest of the night. I hate the stomach flu! But I have to say, nothing brings off the Christmas poundage like throwing everything up and not being able to eat anything of real substance for the next 30 or so hours. Despite the little flu, everything was great. We had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to a great new year.
Jake proudly showing his elmo knee pads Santa brought. He got a helmet as well and a Hulk Big Wheel bike. Sadly, this is the only picture we got of the gifts santa brought. We were so tired, I don't think it occurred until after the matter to take pictures.

Today, I decided to call the dentist to see if we should have one of Tanner's teeth pulled. So we headed down to Alpine so my mom could watch the other kids. So, this long awaited day has finally come for Tanner. He has now lost his first tooth and is very proud of it. I was very impressed with his reaction to the whole thing. They did numb the area of his tooth, but that tooth was out in less than 20 seconds. I have to say though, unless we have some real serious tooth issues, we won't be taking that route again. Not only does the tooth fairy have to deliver, but this tooth cost $54 to pull out! I wish I made $54/min. :)

Tanner looking horrified, but this is just because we couldn't get a picture without him looking drugged because his eyes would be half shut as the picture took.


Saturday, Tyson decided he wanted to take the kids sledding. I didn't go with them, because Jefferson has been trying to kick a cold and I didn't want him out in the freezing cold!! So there weren't too many pictures taken, but enough to show we do like to have fun with our kids. This was also Jakes first experience. He was so excited, but from what Tyson said once he got on the tube, he had other ideas of what fun was.

Where do they come up with these things!

Today, shortly after Tyler had arrived home from school, I received a phone call from the school. My first thought when I saw it pop up on caller ID was, oh great! Tanner is calling me sick! So, being the good mom that I am, I picked it up, braced for the request to pick my child up from school. It, however, was not Tanner, but Tyler's kindergarten teacher. Today, she had told the class that since tomorrow would be the last day of school for the year and they would be off track for the next three weeks on top of that (not looking forward to that one!), that they would have the fun job of taking shaving cream and washing the tables in the class room. To which Tyler quickly replied, I'm allergic to shaving cream, and my mom says if I touch it, I get really really sick. You can imagine my reaction when her teacher called to see if she was in deed allergic to shaving cream. For all those wondering, NO she is not. Tyler's way of dealing with something she doesn't like is to quickly add she's allergic to it. I hear it pretty close to daily, especially if we are trying something new for dinner. So I told her teacher this, and we came up with a solution to Tyler's problem of not wanting to touch the shaving cream. Anyway, I just thought it was funny that she would come up with an excuse, that isn't real, but she knows gets a reaction, rather than just saying, I don't like to touch that stuff, I'd rather do something else. Anyway, I'm putting this on my blog because I thought it was funny. And when I called Tyson to tell him, she started crying because she didn't want everyone to know about it. Does this make me a bad mom since I'm posting it where many more people will read about it? I just thought it was cute. Kids say the dardest things!!

Early bedtime...or not

I love wintertime. I love getting ready for Christmas and the anticipation of Christmas morning, the smell of Christmas trees, wrapping presents, everything. But I have to say, one of the things I like best, is daylight savings. Don't get me wrong, there are days that I'm not a huge fan of it, but on days when I'm ready for my kids to go to bed, its a good thing. It doesn't matter what time it is, I can tell them its time to get ready for bed, and we're on our way. Even if that time is 7:30. My kids aren't to the point of being able to tell time, while Tanner can tell time, it means absolutely nothing to him. For some reason, tonight at 7pm, it seemed a lot longer than it was, but that didn't stop us from getting ready for bed, so by 7:30, we were all ready for bed. Jefferson was already on his way to lala land and the kids were headed in that same direction shortly. So, by 7:30, all four kids were in bed, and we were good to go for the day.
Imagine my dismay however, at 9:30 when I got home from grocery shopping, and all but Jefferson were downstairs watching a basketball game with Tyson. After putting the groceries away though, I went downstairs and Tyler and Jake had just dozed off. I couldn't resist taking a picture, because not only were those two asleep, but Jake decided he didn't want his pj's buttoned up, so all but the top button were undone. Yeah baby! So here is that picture.

Also, while my husband doesn't read this, I still feel that I should just let him know how much I love him. I seriously don't know where I would be without him. He can tell when I'm nearing an anxiety breakdown and steps in and helps me think things through. The last few month of the year can be a bit hairy for primary presidency's and he's taken it like a champ, picking up my slack and helping out with the kids when I have primary things that need to be done. I just feel as though the last few months we've become so much closer! I know this is really sappy, but he's so good to me. Today while I was out shoveling our freshly fallen snow, (he tried to come out and take over, but I love shoveling - I'm crazy, I know) but since I was outside, he swept and mopped the kitchen floor and took care of things inside. Like I said, I don't know where I would be without him. I love you Tyson!

All Grown Up

By some definitions, this will probably put us in the bad parent category, but Tyler was persistent, and she's daddy's little girl, so those two things combined pretty much sealed the deal. Last night we went to the mall to get the kids shoes and Jake some winter pj's. Well, for a while, Tyler has been begging to get her ears peirced, so while we were there, we got her ears peirced. I know, we're crazy. But let me just tell you, it was 100% her decision. And when the girls did it, she didn't even flinch! Tyson was very impressed. When we got to the mall, she said maybe she wanted to wait until she was 7. Which we were fine with, but as we were passing the store, Tyson told her that's where she'll go to get her ears peirced. She then just wanted to go in and see what kinds of earrings they had. Once she saw the pink studs, she asked again if she could get it done tonight. Then she saw the pink flowers, and that pretty much sealed it for her. Tanner was more scarred than she was. He was pacing around the store plugging his ears, saying "tell me when its over." Like I said, she didn't even flinch. Anyway, its kind of hard to get a picture with both ears showing, and she was totally wanting to pose as well, so these are the best I got.