Christmas 2009

We read and acted out the Nativity Scene with the kids. I love this part of Christmas. The kids are so sweet in remembering our Savior!! Its like the quiet before the storm of Christmas morning.

This year, we pulled off the ultimate surprise for the kids. Santa actually delivered Papa and Nana to us on Christmas morning!! I cannot even describe to you the excitement exhibited by our children. When they all settled down, Jesse asked if Santa brought presents under the tree too.

It always amazes me how quickly we go from perfect presents under the tree to "after the storm hit" the family room.

This was the first year I took the girls to see the Nutcracker Ballet performed by the Moscow Ballet Company. Hopefully we can make it an annual tradition. Although, Elle said she liked the movie better.:)

We sent Elle to a week of Horse Camp for Christmas. She filled her soul with the equine experience!! A week well-spent, then it was back to the real world of second grade.

We took Mom and Dad on a lunch cruise in the bay...

...then to the beach. Nothing says "beach day" like a parka and ear muffs, but they didn't want to waste a minute of sunny Florida time.

We also went to see the manatees at the TECO power plant. There were plenty of them and tons of sharks and rays. The sharks were jumping out of the water!! We stayed for hours and enjoyed the view...

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas in my bathroom. Can you guess what my favorite store is? I do 90% of my Christmas shopping on amazon.com. From my home. Usually while my children sleep. Then its magically delivered to my front door step. Tax-free and shipping-free. Now that's a gift!

We worked on the children's room for our church's Festival of the Nativity. Jarin built this creche so children could dress up and have their pictures taken. The festival was beautiful and truly got us into the spirit of Christmas.

Our friend Matt painted these super cute animals for the Nativity scene. Aren't they adorable?
Our Christmas tree.
Thank you Dora the Explorer. 2 is typically the age where kids cry in fear of the jolly man in the red suit. But this year, Dora has a new movie about Santa and Nate was totally primed and ready to meet the big guy.

Elle's Christmas program

Elle had her second grade Christmas program. She sang and danced her little heart out with her classmates.It was a little too loud for Nate, who listened with fingers in ears.

This is Elle with her friend Victoria after their performance.

Thanksgiving 2009

We shared Thanksgiving with our friends, Robert and the Patrick family. We had a combined total of ten kids between our 2 families. Dinner was great and we truly enjoyed the company!!


After Thanksgiving, we went to Pompano Beach to stay in our time share near the beach. I think we officially declared November "vacation month."

This was the view out our back window of the intercoastal waterways. The other side was across the street from the beach. So nice to relax and enjoy some family time!!

Girls' Weekend 2009'

As often as we can, my sisters, my mom, and I sneak away and take a girls' weekend. This year, they all came to Florida and we rented a condo on Lido Key. It was perfect. We laughed, shared stories, ate yummy fudge, walked on the beach. We even sewed a little. We left 14 kids behind with loving and devoted husbands. In the last 12 years, we've managed to have 8 of these wonderful weekends. This was the first time in a long time it has just been us girls, with no babies. It was just a small, lucky window of time in between baby seasons. This spring, we'll have 3 new babies added to our growing family, bringing the total to a whopping 21!!!

Bil and KT

When Jarin and I went on our cruise, my amazing brother and his darling wife came and stayed with our kids. They are the current superheroes at our house. Our kids had such a great time with them and we knew we could relax because they were in good hands. This was a good practice run for them because they're expecting a baby boy in March. Yay!!! We can't wait to meet him!!

Carnival Cruise

Jarin and I escaped for 5 days and took a cruise on the Carnival Inspiration to Cozumel, Mexico. It was wonderful!! The ship had great service, great food (really great food, probably too great), and so much to see and do.
The only problem was that Hurricane Ida was in the Gulf of Mexico for almost our whole cruise. High wind advisory. The top deck of the ship was closed. We never even got to go on the waterslide. Our excursion to Grand Cayman was canceled. But in spite of that, we had a blast!! There is a hot cocoa machine in the dining room. We made good use of it!!
We did have a nice sunny day when we ported in Cozumel.
We took a boat to Playa del Carmen, then took a bus to some ancient ruins. They were so amazing!! And we went to a beautiful beach.

This is Jarin killing some time before we went back to the ship. I think he definitely relaxed on this trip.


In this picture, I think we actually look fatter than we did in the earlier pictures. You can see why if you look on the table. We ate their very delicious chocolate melting cake every night. Jarin ordered 3 lobster plates when they had the formal night. CRAZY!!! I just have to add that we had a server named "Fathor." Jarin liked to ask him for things just so he could call him "Fathor", then try to keep a straight face.

Halloween

Happy Halloween 2009!!

Hannah's tonsilectomy

Poor Hannah. She had her tonsils out in October. Almost 2 weeks later, just as I was about to send her back to school, she started bleeding. Really bleeding. At the site of one of her tonsils. Jarin rushed her to the ER, where they called it an "arterial bleed" and sent her straight to surgery. It was a long night for all of us, as Jarin and I waited in the OR waiting room while the doctors worked diligently. She missed a month of school and lost 8 lbs from her tiny body. I made a lot of shakes for her. We called them "calorie bombs" and filled them with as many high calorie foods as a blender would take. She is well now. She has gained back her weight (finally) and is healthy and strong again.

In hindsight, we were so very blessed. We have a great hospital here with amazing doctors. Two pediatric ENT's who were in the hospital at midnight. A friend who rushed over and took over all "mom" duties in an instant. A healthy vibrant girl. (This picture was taken just a day or two after her second surgery.)

Work hard. Play hard.

Nate is so active. He is always going, doing, finding, talking, playing. He is so fun and so funny!!


Then he mysteriously grows quiet and disappears. And sleeps just as intensely as he does everything else. I love it.

Safety Scissors

We were sitting in church one day when Jarin noticed that Jesse's eyelashes looked a little weird. Upon closer inspection, we learned that he had cut them with scissors. To the best of our knowledge, this picture was taken about a week after he cut them. Which means he cut them even shorter than what you see here. Crazy!!!

When we asked him about it, we were upset about the idea of scissors near his eyes. We asked him if it was ok to use scissors on his eyelashes, to which he replied "don't worry mom, I used safety scissors!" You know the scissors from fiskars with the blunt tip and really sharp blades. Those ones. We were cracking up at how sincerely he tried to comfort us. He was extremely careful. Obviously.

When we asked him why he cut his eyelashes, he simply replied "I don't know" with a shrug.

I am happy to report that his eyelashes have grown back fully. I think it took about a month to grow them back.