Sami's World

Well, it’s been too long since I have updated you all and so this entry will be too long too!! :0)

Monday December 17, Niah had her 3 year check up. She passed the test with flying colors and was sent to get blood work done and immunizations. I also had to find out Alix’s test results and find out if they wanted her to start taking medication for her toenail fungus. Niah’s appointment was at 9:45 and we left Kaiser at 12:30. It was a LONG morning. Then, since I was out, I ran a TON of errands and finally ended up back home at 2. The rest of the day was low key. We did a little bit of school, chores, dinner and FHE.

Tuesday was catch up day for Monday. We did LOTS of school and LOTS of chores.

Wednesday I babysat a little boy for the first half of the day and then just normal routine the second half.

Thursday was piano and Jaime practiced for her song she was singing in the Stake Christmas Fireside. While she was doing that I ran a couple of errands and then picked up Jaime and ran a few more. We ended the day with school and chores.

Friday I was hosting a baby shower. After a crazy morning we had a fun shower. Then I had to pick up my daycare kids early because school let out early. We went to the park after that and just played till their dad came and picked them up. Then we ended up staying at the park for another couple of hours before finally coming home and getting dinner ready. That night I had to go pick up bread. The stake is in with a local bakery and every Friday night someone goes and picks up the bread they would have just thrown away. We are then responsible for making sure it goes to people who could really use it. A good friend of mine was in the rotation but she is having a baby in a couple of weeks and so I am taking her place till she is up for it again. Friday was my first time picking up. There was a ton!! At least 20 whole loafs, another 10 already sliced loafs, 20 dozen bagels, pasteries, bagets,….. It was amazing and our car and house smelled heavenly!

Saturday, December 22 was Scott’s first official day off of work for Christmas. I gently reminded him that it was a vacation from Google, not home….. We spent the morning separating the breads into individual packs for easy delivery. Then I gated myself upstairs for two hours while I made some sense of the confusion up there (in other words, I CLEANED like a mad woman!!). At 11:50 I left to meet the sister missionaries. They were teaching a lesson to a young man and needed one more woman there, I was the lucky candidate. It was an enjoyable time and I think I was a little forward on a few of his questions. He still came to church the next day though…… After that I made a few bread deliveries and then came home. I spent another hour upstairs finishing up my job and then we all got dressed and ready to go. We spent the next two hours delivering bread to all kinds of people and really enjoying it. We got home in enough time to find some hot potstickers on the door step from Rachel Tan and family as a birthday present for me. YUMMM!! The night ended with me going shopping for last minute things.

Sunday December 23, my birthday. The kids really wanted to do breakfast in bed, but Sunday mornings make that really difficult. So they all just gave me big hugs and kisses and told me happy birthday. I spent the next 3 hours at church getting teased about hitting the big three ohhh. We left church and I got to have a nap while Scott tended the kids. Then another sweet friend, Jen Hansen, brought dinner over. She said no one should have to cook on their birthday. It was very kind of her. Ironically enough when she brought it we were out the door to go to a dinner invite at the Dertings. So we put her dinner in the fridge and headed out. It was a yummy dinner, as usual, and then Joey and Jaime left to go practice early for their performances. The little kids were too wiped out to attend, so Scott stayed with them at Joey and Gayle’s while Gayle, Alix and I went to watch the performances. Jaime did AWESOME!! It was her first real singing performance and she did great. She practiced hard and you could tell. She was sitting up toward the front and after everything was over she came to where I was sitting and she was in tears. I asked her what was wrong, through her sobs she said that the music just touched her heart so much. It made her think about how much I loved her and she just couldn’t help but cry. It was a sweet moment, one I shall never forget and I hope she does not either. After that we went back to Joey and Gayle’s and enjoyed birthday sundae’s and a couple of movies. We made it home by 2:30 am and CRASHED!!

Monday was a late morning. We spent it cleaning up and getting ready for the Sister Missionaries to come for lunch. We had planned to spend the evening at the temple seeing the lights and enjoying the spirit. We served my birthday dinner to the missionaries, so I didn’t have to cook!! After they left we put Afton down for a nap, did some quick clean up and left for errands after Afton woke up. Around Friday Afton started not feeling well, then Niah and by Monday Alix didn’t feel good either. They all had a pretty bad cough and runny noses. So we opted out of going to the temple. It’s pretty cold up there and we didn’t think the night air would be good for them. So we ran a few last minutes errands before Christmas morning and then came home. We got the kids to bed early and then we did some cleaning, because Santa can’t come to a dirty house. After much preparations, we finally retired around 11. Not bad…..

Christmas morning was a delight for all! Niah was the first up, followed by Jaime and Alix. It was about 7:30 so we started the Joy to The World movie to help the kids be patient and to help them remember the true meaning of Christmas. After all the kids were awake and the movie was over we read Luke 2 and had family prayer. Finally Scott went down to see if Santa had come. Sure enough he had and all the kids ran down stairs. It was a really fun time for everyone (except Afton who was still sick and thought this whole present opening thing was boring). After a good two hours of presents and stockings Afton went down for her nap and the rest of us played and enjoyed time together. About noon we started cleaning up and preparing Christmas dinner. We invited another family over, the Salcido’s, and ate about 4:30. They were very fun to spend Christmas afternoon with. They left by 7 and we put our kids to bed. All in all a very successful day.

With Scott home I really put him to work in helping me get school done with the girls each day and even do some catch up. So Wednesday, we were back to the daily grind. We both would work with them and that makes it easy to get a lot done. We did chores and just got ourselves back to reality really quick! In the early evening Scott went out to run a couple of errands and look at some cars. We are trying to add another car to our family, but we are finding it very difficult. We hope to get one before January 9 (when we have to drive into S.F. for Milo’s appointment) but so far things are looking quite grim…. By the time Scott got home all kids were fed, bathed and half in bed!

Thursday, December 27, was a hard day. We all missed dad and found it hard to go at life on our own!! We somehow managed though and I even had dinner on the table before he walked in the door…..

Friday Scott got up early and got to work 2 hours early so he could leave two hours early. That worked out great. When he got home he went right to bbq’ing, in the rain!! We have had such beautiful weather that we planned a bbq. But of course it rained the night we decided to do it, and we had to so the meat would not spoil. Oh well, he seemed to enjoy it!! After a very yummy dinner, Scott stayed home to put the little ones to bed and I took Jaime and Alix out for a date. Originally we were going to go as a family but the little kids are still just feeling icky and were not in any position to go out in the cold and rain. So Jaime and Alix and I went for ice cream, yummy, and then we went to Target. Jaime was given some shoes that did not fit her and that she just didn’t need and so she was allowed to use the money how she wanted. She had $11. So she ended up buying some new warm p.j.’s(which she does need) and some snacks at the snack bar (a pretzel and an icee). Alix got some new p.j.’s too because she didn’t have any warm ones. She was just wearing her regular clothes to bed because they were warm. We got some really good deals, all the Christmas p.j.’s were half price. That was good! We got home around 9:30. The girls showed off their new p.j.’s to dad and then were off to bed. Scott and I were close behind.

Here it is Saturday late morning. The kids are still running around in p.j.’s, Scott is at the temple and I’m typing like mad on the computer. We love you all and enjoyed Christmas very much. Thanks to each of you for making it super special. We are now getting ready for the new year and all the wonderful things that will be happening in January. Our love goes out to you all.

Well, my attempt to write a weekly update took back burner yesterday because we were putting together our Christmas letter and addressing envelopes. But I am up this morning with the determination to not break my goal.

Last week was my busy week. I enjoyed Monday very much because I had nothing planned or scheduled. We just stayed home and did school and chores and played here. After Scott got home we went out and delivered 13 tea rings to families in our ward. We focused mostly on the old and widowed. We delivered the treat and sang a couple of Christmas carols. It was really fun for us.

Tuesday Jaime and Alix had their first dentist appointment. They did really well. Alix didn’t care at all, Jaime was a nervous wreck. Both girls have amazing teeth and the dentist said to keep doing what we are doing. We spent the rest of the day doing school and chores.

Wednesday Alix had an appointment in the afternoon. We spent the morning doing chores and school. Then we went to the appointment. It was a dermatology appointment. Alix has had some toenail fungus that has been giving her the fits for about 3 years now. They can’t seem to get rid of it. I guess we are going to try something else starting today. We shall see what happens.

Thursday Milo had a CT scan done in preparation for his upcoming appointment in January. Scott decided to take half day and go with him. I had already used up two of my babysitters and was going to use another one on Friday, so Scott took off. Scott says that Milo did great. They tried doing it without sedation and Milo was awesome. He laid right down on the table and didn’t move a muscle. They got the pictures they needed and he was off the table in no time. What a great kid! It just gives me confidence that he’ll do great with his surgery this coming year. Since Scott didn’t get to work till noon he worked till 9. It was kinda sad not seeing dad in the evening but it was necessary. I’m glad that is not an everyday occurrence! He made it home safely and went to bed.

Friday the girls had a field trip to Color Me Mine. It’s a ceramic place that you can go and color your own thing and then they fire it for you and it’s all nice and smooth and easy to use or display (depending on what you decided to paint). Anyway, in the morning I watched my friends kids while she went to an appointment, then she watched mine while Jaime and Alix went on the field trip. It was super fun. Alix painted a Santa clause and Jaime painted a Santa bear. After picking up the kids we met another friend at the park and played till almost 5. We then came home and made dinner and then did the going to bed stuff. Oh ya, we did pick up Scott too, he had dinner with us!

Saturday started out early. We had breakfast and then Scott was out the door to fix someone’s computer. He got home in enough time for lunch and helping to get the kids ready. We left the house about 1 and went to Audrey’s house and she took our family pictures for us. I think she did a good job, but that time of day is not good for outside pictures. I think they came out too sunny. We got a good one of just the kids and so we are going to send that out as our “family” picture and she’ll redo our family one sometime after the holidays. After taking up an hour of her afternoon, we loaded in the car and headed to Brentwood for our annual Christmas Eve dinner with my friend Erika and her family. I know what you are thinking, ‘it’s not Christmas Eve’. Well this year they are going to visit her family in Hawaii and be gone for Christmas Eve and so we had it early. Now we aren’t quite sure what we are going to do for Christmas Eve!! Anyway, it was TONS of fun. We had a wonderful dinner of homemade pasta and bread and salad. We brought cheesecake (which came out awesome) and peach cobbler (which came out questionable) for dessert. After dinner, desert and clean up, they built a fire outside and we went out there and talked by the fire while the kids ran back and forth between playing and warming up by the fire. We left about 9:30 pm. It was a late night but very fun and the kids had a great time.

Sunday morning was not as crazy as I thought it was going to be with such a late night. We made it to church on time, I got the primary room set up and sat down before the meeting started. However, the kids were not happy to sit there. I ended up taking Afton and Niah to the mothers room so they could throw their fits in there and not disturb anyone else. They finally both calmed down enough to sit in the foyer and be somewhat well behaved. They just couldn’t take sitting in the Sacrament room. But whatever works. The rest of church seemed to go without mishap and we made it home and ate leftovers from the night before. We spent the afternoon creating the yearly family letter and picking the picture we wanted to use for it. The kids just played and did crafts and whatever else. We watched a short Christmas movie then had more left overs before putting little ones to bed. They were happy to go. They were very tired from the night before and the long day. Jaime and Alix went to bed late because we let them stay up and help us with the yearly letter. It was a fun time for all of us. Scott and I finally retired sometime after 11.

Here it is Monday morning. The kids are just starting to wake up and so I better say goodbye. It has been fun hearing from many of you already this Christmas season, we hope to hear from you all and you should be hearing from us very soon. Our letter should be out by Friday (we hope!!). Much love.

Monday and Tuesday were stay at home days. We did school and chores those two days and that was about it. With all that has been going on with holidays and appointments, we got behind in school. Jaime is pretty much caught up and Alix is working diligently to catch up.

Monday night for FHE we went to the Creche exhibit in Palo Alto. They put on a pretty good display from all over the world. They made if VERY kid friendly and that made it nice on us. We didn’t take a stroller because a few years ago when we went, it was so crowded the stroller did us no good. But Monday night was not busy at all. At the door they gave the kids a paper with clues on it. In each room they had to find the Creche that was being described by the clues. It was so fun and the kids looked diligently for each one. They were VERY good about looking with their eyes and not with their hands. Not one kid touched one creche. It was awesome. They also had this very cool kids room. We must have spent close to an hour in there. The kids had so much fun. It was fun to be together as a family and enjoy seeing the Christ child depicted so many different ways. Outside they had a couple of fire pits with blazes going and hot chocolate. It was truely a great evening.

Tuesday Jaime had song practice. She is performing in the stake Christmas music fireside and needed to practice. She is doing a great job but, since she comes from me who can’t hit a note to save my life, is struggling just slightly with hitting the right notes. According to her piano teacher, she is improving.

Wednesday was another stay at home day with the kids. I did watch some other kids in the morning so their mom could go to a doctor appointment. In the evening I went to an Enrichement activity. That was Christ centered and very enjoyable too.

Thursday was piano, school, chores, dance and pick up Scott late. It started raining here on Tuesday and that slows everything down. Well Thursday was the worse!! I picked up Scott 20 minutes late and it was pouring rain. By the time we made it home and I put dinner on the table, I had to leave to do a baptism meeting with a family in our ward. The meeting went really well and I’m excited to see him get baptized in a few weeks.

Friday was my busy day. I had lots of stuff to do so I arranged with a friend to have the kids go play at her house. I was gone about two hours. By the time we got home and got lunch and got settled down, it was too late for school. O’well, more catch up next week!! After I picked up my day care kids from school, a friend came over with her little ones and we went on a walk. It was too wet and muddy to go to the park so we just walked. It was a site!! 2 moms and 9 kids!! We got home in enough time to get chores done. We had a late dinner and the little ones got to bed late. Scott stayed up with Jaime and Alix and they disected a fish together. Earlier in the day I went to the Chinese market and, with the help of my friend Li-LI, bought a fish with all the guts still in tact. Usually things like this don’t bother me, but for some reason I was not up to watching them disect this fish. So I left to go buy a dishwasher. However, once I got to the store I realized I forgot my wallet. So I just looked around a bit to get an idea of what we might be interested in and then went over to a friends house. The next evening we were going to the Google “holiday party” and I thought it might be fun to wear a new outfit but didn’t want to buy one. So she said she’d lend me one. I was there a bit late, but that was ok. By the time I got back the fish was all cleaned up and the kids were in bed.

Saturday was a busy day. We got up and had breakfast. Then Jaime and I got dressed and ready to go. First we went to a baby shower, then we went to a mini dance recital for Jaime. She performed perfectly and we were back home about 2. We spent the next two hours cleaning and organizing the garage a bit more (we had to clean up from our visitors. We’ve caught two at this point. If there are more, they are not coming near the traps). After that, we bbq’d ribs and ate dinner. We bathed all the little ones, put on jammies and put them to bed. Then Scott and I started getting ready. It was kinda fun. We felt like we were going to the prom or something. We cleaned up more than usual, I curled my hair and we were all ready to go by 7:30 pm. The baby sitter showed up and all she had to do was make sure that Jaime got to bed by 8. She was able to make a tree skirt and do her Young Women’s lesson while we were gone. She said it was a very productive time and she was glad for the quiet of our house. I was glad we could do her a favor while she was doing us a favor.

Anyway, the party was amazing, should we have expected anything less? They said that they were not going to serve a meal, just appietizers and that we should eat before we go. We ate an early dinner anyway so we were prepared for anything. They had TONS of food. We would not have needed to eat before going. They did a space theme. They had three different rooms (they were huge, combined they could hold 5000 people). Each room was a different space theme. Walking in you were walking into a space station. They had robot like talk telling you to check your coats and other belongings. Then you walked down this hallway that looked as if it went on forever. Off to the right was a room that gave the illusion of being on another planet. Off to the left you felt as if you were in a space ship. Things kept floating by the “windows”. Down the “never ending hallway” was another room that was the space station lounge. It was quieter and had HUGE screen T.V.’s playing reruns of Star Trek, The Jetsons, Science Theater 3000 (that’s not exactly the name of the show, but I can’t remember it right now). The two rooms off the main hallway had different music playing. The “space shuttle” had a live band, space related arcade games and a place to take a picture. The “planet” had virtual flying, massage therapy using sound waves (don’t ask), a D.J. playing music from when we were teenagers (Micheal Jackson, Bon Jovi, etc….) and a place to take a picture. The lounge had “relaxing” things to do; mind games, plush couches and bean bags, and a place to take a picture. There was different food in every room and an open bar in every room. Dancing was going on in both side rooms and enough bathrooms that I didn’t have to wait in line once!! Things stayed very tame for having an open bar policy and, because of the cold night, the dresses were more modest than we had prepared ourselves for. It was a nice evening. We did everything except the virtual flying (too long of lines) and the massage therapy (too weird for us). We were able to laugh and “play” and enjoy each other’s company. We had the best time we’ve had in a long time. It was awesome. We got home about midnight and all was well. We finally crashed about one a.m.

It was hard to get up this morning but we did make it to church on time. Yay! Church was low key and easy. We are home now having “quiet time”. We have tithing settlement in about 20 minutes. Then we will try to stay warm. It is cold around here and getting colder. We haven’t turned on the heater yet. We are a little afraid to. It was installed in this house before I was born. Not sure of the integrity of the machine. We’ll see what happens.

We love you all. Hope life is well. We are grateful for the gospel and for our children. We love our little family here and are so blessed by our children that it is amazing.

Not to gross anyone out or anything but…..

The kids wanted Top Ramen for lunch today (the lunch of champions) so I went out into the garage to get some. Apparently we don’t eat Ramen very often. I grabbed a package and it was completely empty. I thought that was weird and grabbed another one. It was then that it accured to me that we had some unwanted guests making themselves at home in our garage.

I promptly called Scott to let him know the situation. I am completely unsettled about the whole thing, Scott is like a kid in a candy store. He got home and walked out in the garage to find some traps and saw one of the “guests” run down a hole. He came in all excited, ‘I knew just where to put the first trap’. About an hour later, we are sitting here in the living room just talking and he goes ‘I just heard a snap’. He jumps up and runs to the garage. Sure enough we hear a sqeak, sqeak noise.

Scott comes back in and says he’s only caught by a foot and has to get “tough”. If you want to know the rest of the story, ask him. This just happened. He came back in and said the mouse’s buddy was trying to help him but dashed away as soon as Scott came out. He’s out there setting another trap. I wish I had his enthusiasm for all this. All I know, is that I’m staying out of the garage till all the carnage is cleaned up.

Hope you all are having a good night…… :-/

Thanks Denita!! This poem was thought provoking, so I thought I’d share it with all of you. Have a Merry Christmas!!

‘Twas the month before Christmas
When all through our land,
Not a Christian was praying
Nor taking a stand.
Why the Politically Correct Police had taken away,
The reason for Christmas – no one could say.
The children were told by their schools not to sing,
about Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.

It might hurt people’s feelings, the teachers would say
December 25th is just a ‘ Holiday ‘.
Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit
pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!
CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod
Something was changing, something quite odd!
Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa
In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.
As Targets were hanging their trees upside down
At Lowe’s the word Christmas – was no where to be found.

At K-Mart and Staples and Penny’s and Sears
You won’t hear the word Christmas; it won’t touch your ears.
Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty
Are words that were used to intimidate me.
Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen,
on Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton!
At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter
to eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.

And we spoke not a word, as they took ‘way our faith,
forbidden to speak of salvation and grace.
The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded
the reason for the season, stopped before it started.
So as you celebrate ‘Winter Break’ under your ‘Dream Tree’
sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.
Choose your words carefully, choose what you say
Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS, not Happy Holiday!

We’ve had a pretty busy life lately. The week of Thanksgiving I was suppose to have my daycare kids. I talked with the mom and dad and only had one of them Monday and Tuesday. Scott took off Wednesday so we could get ready for Thanksgiving day and the trip to my moms Thanksgiving weekend. On Wednesday morning I went to my friend Laura’s house and we made pie crusts together. Actually she did most of the making and I did most of the messing up. But in the end I came home with 6 pie crusts. I ran to the store for last minute things before heading back home. I got home in enough time to have lunch with the fam and get going on chores. Scott did some outside chores while the kids and I did inside chores. We all went to bed on time, it would be an early morning.

Thanksgiving morning started at 5 am. I started the stuffing and then had a good 45 minutes till I needed to do anything else. So I started reading Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh (Jaime had to read it for school so I thought I better read it too so that I can help her if needed). Scott got up about 6:30 to start rolls and I was well into getting the turkey ready when all the kids woke up. Because of the nature of kids we had to halt our current preparations and get breakfast ready and get them settled and then we started back into our preparations. We had the turkey in the oven and the rolls rising in good time. The rest of the day was spent preparing everything else. We had mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, fruit salad, deviled eggs, layered jello, stuffing, rolls and turkey. It was quite the meal and very yummy. We also had 4 pumpkin pies, banana cream pie, apple pie and boysenberry pie, plus ice cream and whipped cream. We invited two other families over which brought the total of people eating 20. It was fun!! After the guest left we cleaned up and finished our preparations to go to Fresno and visit with Grandma Ackerman and Auntie Sara.

We left Fremont at 6 am and headed to Fresno. We had considered stopping at some stores and taking advantage of their after Thanksgiving sales, but decided it would be better to get on the road. Our purpose in going to grandma’s was to help her get her house in order. They have been so sick that they have not been able to do much in the way of unpacking and organizing. Plus they realized that the arrangement had to change a little. So while Auntie Sara was busy with five little children, Scott and I rearranged rooms while Mom went through boxes and sorted through her stuff. We got all the moving accomplished the first day and 7 boxes gone through. Saturday started early and once again Auntie Sara was put to the test. We went through 6 more boxes. By the end of the day only 5 small boxes remained. Everything else had either been thrown away, put away or given away. It was a good feeling for all. While we were there we also had a birthday party for Niah. Thanks grandma and Auntie Sara, we all had fun. We arrived home about 9 pm Saturday night. After unloading the necessities we crashed. We were pretty tired from the long weekend of work, but it felt good.

Sunday was crazy with me being in Primary and Scott in Sunday school and Afton not wanting to be in nursery. We seemed to cope though and all was well. We lazed around and relaxed most of the day. About 3 we got up and started preparing dinner for the missionaries. I made two different enchilada recipes to see which one they liked best. It was a fun evening.

Monday was easy and low key. Just school and chores and FHE.

Tuesday Scott took the day off of work. I had a ton of things to do and I planned them all for that day. Jaime and Alix had a field trip at the the local In-in-Out burger. They give early morning tours and then everyone on the tour gets a free meal. For those interested, during the tour they said they have purchased some land in Utah and if all goes well, they are planning on building two there by next year. Anyway that went from 8:30 – 10:30. We jetted home and I picked up Milo and took him to a doctors appointment. I got home at noon, dropped him off and met up with a friend who was going to help me pick up some more water barrels. There were enough people asking that I did one more small order. I got back to Fremont around 1:30 and made some deliveries. I got home by 4. After putting dinner in the oven, getting Jaime and Niah ready I headed out again. Jaime was suppose to meet at a friends house at 5:45 to practice a song they are suppose to sing for church. So I dropped her off and Niah and I headed out for her birthday date. It was pretty fun. We went to the book store and she picked out a new book, then we went to the ice cream store and enjoyed an ice cream together. We made it home in enough time for Scott to head off to a meeting. I put all the kids to bed and then waited up for Jaime. As soon as she got home the two of us retired. It had been a long day and I was tired!! After Jaime practiced with Maranda for their song, they went to Achievement days together. Scott reported that his meeting went well too.

The rest of the week was pretty normal and mundane. School, chores, cooking etc. On Wednesday Jen Lease and I put on a baby shower for a sister in the ward. She is from Peru and doesn’t speak English too well. She is such a great lady but doesn’t know too many people because of the language barrier. But we had about 12 ladies show up. It was a great turn out, for this ward anyway. She got a TON of gifts and it seems as though she felt very welcomed and loved.

Saturday Scott and I were suppose to go on a date. We’ve arranged this with another family in the ward. We’ve babysat their kids and so it was their turn. Unfortunatly all of our kids had been sick during the week and it just keeps getting worse. So by Saturday morning I didn’t feel good about exposing her kids to the sickness so we called and cancelled with them. I was pretty bummed because we won’t get another opprotunity for a while, with Christmas being crazy and all. But it turned out fine. We did our Saturday chores in the morning and then decorated for Christmas in the afternoon. We then ran a couple of errands and then came home and had dinner. The kids were not healthy at all but endured our day anyway.

I kept the kids home today from church. They are all sneezing and coughing and boogery and I didn’t feel good about exposing all the kids at church. We’ve spent the day watching Christ centered Christmas movies and resting. I hope the kids get better soon. This confinment is no fun!!

That is the news for now. Alix lost another tooth and now has 3 missing teeth, the adult teeth haven’t poked through yet. Afton is doing well with talking, she says ‘up’, ‘down’, ‘out’, ‘drink’, ‘no’ and ‘ahhhhhhh’. Such good vocabulary!!!

Hope all is well with everyone. We love you and miss you much.

Some things I keep forgetting to mention, or maybe I have and have just forgotten…..

Alix has lost both her front teeth. She lost them about five days apart right before Halloween. She looks pretty cute and talks with such a lisp it’s hard to understand her sometimes!! People keep asking her who stole her two front teeth. It’s pretty cute.

Afton took a pretty major spill last week. She was on the front porch and took a spill off the side face first into a bed of rocks. The initial fall seemed to leave a couple of scratches, but as time went on her black eye got blacker and blacker. The poor kid looks like she has been in a fight!!

Last week on Wednesday we went to visit with our friends who used to live in the house we live in now, The Adams-Hart’s. They live on six acres and the kids were free to run. What fun they had!! They got their “hiking” gear together and set out on an “adventure”. They were gone for about 2 hours and were pretty tired and hot when they got back, but boy did they have fun! Jaime collected acorns of various sizes and she gave them all faces and glued them to a paper and made an acorn family. It was pretty cute. They went on lots of trails and went swining on a tree swing and looked for berries at “blackberry bog”. The kids were exhausted but it was good and when we finally went home, they all fell asleep, except Jaime of course!!

So far I’ve had two primary presidency meetings. They have been very productive and short, I like that. We have a long way to go and will probably meet every week for the rest of this year, but hopefully we’ll be in a routine at that point and only have to meet once a month.

Scott did another all night fishing trip. He also had a fun day at work. He’ll have to tell you all about those adventures.

Jaime has learned to play some simple primary songs on the piano and it’s been nice to have the house filled with gospel music. It’s been wonderful.

Milo is Milo and there isn’t much to report on him. The most I can say is that he is a boy and all that entails! We love him so much.

Niah celebrated her third birthday, although I’m pretty sure she just turned 5 or 6!! She is such a good girl. We took brownies to nursery on Sunday to help celebrate Niah’s birthday. That went over really well. The kids and leaders loved them. Niah seemed to have picked up something and wasn’t feeling too well on Sunday afternoon and layed around most of the day. We thought we’d give her some medicine right before bed to help her sleep better. The only thing it did was wake her up. She didn’t go to bed till 10 pm!! Monday, her birthday, she still was a little lathargic but seemed happy and ready to celebrate her birthday. Whenever we asked her what she wanted for her dinner she kept saying ‘candles and cake’. I finally convinced her we had to eat dinner first and she chose McDonalds (perhaps we should have just eaten the cake!!). The kids had a great time. We went to a playplace and they enjoyed that. We came home and did cake and presents. The kids got to bed late but it was worth it. Jaime and Alix really wanted to give Niah a present. So each girl went through her “special” things and choose out a few gifts to give. It was an awesome thing to watch. Niah getting really excited about getting the things her sisters usually have and Jaime and Alix’s joy in seeing their sister happy. It’s what family is all about.

Guess that is the news. Hope you all are well and have a great Thanksgiving. We love you all.

Scott has called me to repentance!! :0) He informed me last night that I had not made an entry since the 4 of November. I guess I better head the councel of my husband and write an entry……

Tuesday November 6 was the Stake Roadshow. We volunteered our van as a way to get kids/props from one building to another. They took us up on our offer and the busy day began. I took Scott to the shuttle in the morning with the assurance he would call me when he was ready to come home. He called about 11:00 and said to come get him at noon (becuase of the roadshow he would not be able to take the shuttle home and be in time for roadshow and I needed the car to take and pick up kids from school, so this was the only solution). When I arrived to pick him up he said we could go to the main cafe and he’d get me some lunch. So as I drove up to drop him off, I realized I was dropping him in a “shuttle zone” and had a few “Googlers” try and get in the van. Opps!! The same thing happened 5 minutes later when I circled around to pick him up again! It was worth it though, the food was AWESOME. We got home and Scott locked himself in the room and did work from home. Jaime and Alix’s teacher came to make sure my children are recieving a proper education. We passed with flying colors. I then had to go get my daycare kids from school. We did homework and chores and then we got all the kids ready to go and headed out. We figured it’d be easiest to grab some burgers, so we did and then headed to the church. I dropped Scott and the kids off at one place and took Jaime to the starting place. They did a great job and I don’t think the audience stopped laughing the whole time. We quickly gathered everyone up and headed to the next building. They got the same response and we were sure we were the best! When it came to handing out awards we got a courtesy award. I was told later it was because we broke all the rules! We went over time 3 minutes, we only had 1 youth (the whole skit was suppose to be only youth) and we didn’t stick to the theme. Oh well, we were still the best! We got home pretty late but it was a fun night and everyone had a great time, especially Jaime.

Wednesday we had an Enrichment meeting. We were having a Thanksgiving dinner. Each sister brought their favorite dish that they make at Thanksgiving. I made the turkey and stuffing, my favorite part. It came out perfect and was GONE. It was such a nice evening and I really enjoyed sitting and talking with all the wonderful women in my ward.

Thursday was Milo’s dentist appointment. He has no cavities and his teeth are healthy and strong. Yay! We went to Jaime’s dance class in the evening and then came home and enjoyed a night free of business.

Friday, Saturday,Sunday and Monday were EASY days. Nothing planned and nothing done! We did the usual chores and such, but really, it was a very relaxing four days.

That brings us to yesterday, Tuesday November 13. Milo had an eye appointment in Oakland. So we spent the morning doing as much school as possible. I dropped off the two little kids and the rest of us headed to Oakland. Milo had been complaining of his eyes hurting and the doctor said he wanted to see him if he ever started doing this. So I took him in. He said he is having a little more difficulty with his eyes but things are still OK. The doctor said he’s “getting a little impatient with his colegues” about when they are going to do the face surgery. For the first time he mentioned that he will definitly have to do eye surgery in about 3 years. That’s the first time he’s actually commited to having to do it. Milo is pretty blind in his left eye, but doing glasses before the surgery would be pretty silly. So he will reevalute a few months after surgery and decide about glasses then. After that appointment we went home and grab the little ones. We played for a few minutes and then did an errand and then came home. I made a quick dinner, we picked up Scott and then I headed out for the cannery. The young women had taken on the assignment and we met at the church. They piled into the van and we headed to Santa Clara. It was a great time. The girls LOVED it and were glad they had come. I always enjoy the cannery. We canned 200 cans of sugar in 1 hour. It was awesome! As soon as I got home, we emptied the van and then went to bed. While I was gone, Jaime went to achievment days and reported that she had a great time.

Some other news……

The other day the kids were telling eachother jokes. Alix says, ‘why did the chicken cross the road?’ Milo says ‘why’ Alix says ‘to get hit by a car’. They both just crack up laughing. Then Milo says ‘why did daddy cross the road?’ Alix says ‘why’ Milo says ‘so he could get hit by a car’. Again they both start cracking up. Think what you will, all I could do is laugh.

I got a new calling on Sunday. I am still the Provident Living Leader till they find a new one, but my new current calling is 1st councler in the Primary presidency. I’m very excited about the calling. I’m working with two women, one old enough to be my mom and the other one old enough to be my grandma. They are amazing women and I can’t wait to see what the next year will hold for the three of us. I’m going to miss going to R.S. every week but being with the kids will be worth it. They are amazing.

Niah continues to amaze us. The nursery leaders stopped me on Sunday to tell me she had to break up kissing between Niah and a little boy. We already know that Niah and Logan LOVE eachother, but we didn’t realize it had gone this far….. She is going to be our next dancer. She’s already got most of Jaime’s dance moves down to a science. I’m very impressed at her abilities. That is the way Jaime was at this age.

Alix continues to be ‘left out’. We can’t find anything she really wants to do or is interested in. She is struggling in piano and has decided maybe she should wait till she is 7. I was glad she decided that. It makes things easier for all of us. But now she has no extra cirricular activities. I’m not sure what to do for her.

Afton is getting bigger each day. She is trying so hard to use words and communicate. She won’t self feed herself, but that’s mostly my fault. I don’t want to clean up the mess. So I’m bound to feeding her myself. At least I don’t have to feed anyone else. All the other kids have that down. She is still my skinny minney. She is still in 9-12 month clothes. I guess that’s “normal” I’m just used to my big kids.

We love you all and are so grateful for you all. Especially at this time when we think about thanks so much, we can’t help but think of how you all have blessed our lives greatly. Thank you for all your love and support. We love you and miss you all a lot.