Avocados and Annalee

It is love, true love. She loves Avocados. She devours them. She thinks they are the greatest. She smiles when she sees them coming. I love that she loves them.

Oh! and look at her poor eyes. In this family we are all about sharing, even Pink eye. First Mara shared with Emma and now Emma has shared with Annalee. She has it the worst though. Both eyes. Both goopy. Both pink and swollen. Poor Baby!

What I Never Want to Forget! {Annalee}

This little lady is the most cuddly, snuggly, happy baby we have ever had. All my kids have been happy, and so much fun, but there is just something different about her. She is content...not just content, so happy about everything. She is patient with me. She knows her needs will be met, even if she has to wait a minute. It is like she knows when I am busy with the other kids, and patiently waits her turn. I have tried to figure out what is so diffrent and why, I think maybe her calm, gentle birth has much to do with it, I think maybe all those school classes I took on newborns and how they respond and communicate with their mothers changed me, but truly I just think much of it is her.

At night when I lay next to Annalee she scoots right up next to me. If I move over so I am not touching her, she picks up her little body and uses her chubby little legs to scoot her body sideways to snuggle up right next to me again. She is a snuggler. When she is ready to eat, she reaches out her leg and pushes against my body again and again until I am brought back to consiousness and she grunts at me until I can roll over and fed her. Maybe she is so content because there are so many who love to hold, entertain and play with her. Maybe she is just happy to be here, at least that is what I feel most from her huge spirit...She is just happy to be here! And I am so happy to have her!

Two whole Hands for Caleb!

Ten
Nine


Eight

Seven

Six

Five

Four

Three

Two

One

Love Caleb for his great sense of humor, his caring attitude, his cute smile, his compliments, his infectious laugh, his smartness, his love, his excitement for life and his love for animals...among lots of other things!

Happy Whole Decade!

Christmas Morning!

We found Santa's Footprints in our fireplace!
We had to be at the Church at 10:00 since I was in charge of the Sacrament program and Sam had to play the bells.

We didn't want to rush opening presents, so we woke up, opened stockings, ate a nice breakfast, got ready and went to church before opening presents!

It was so nice.
Everyone just before church.

On the way home, Ryan drove slow, teasing the kids, it took them along time to notice, they were so busy talking and excited. After a few miles of going 25mph, Caleb finally said "Hey, How fast are you actually going?" We giggled and Ryan went slower while everyone moaned and yelled at him to speed it up. Max finally pushed on his leg to make the gas pedal go down. Then Ryan pretended he was going to take the long way home. It was so fun to drag out the suspense.

We finally made it home and opened the presents, one at a time.


Emma got an Innotab, and she has used it so much that we have had to change the batteries 3 times.

Caleb and Mara got rollerblades

The favorite gift of Noah and Caleb was bomber hats and 5-finger shoes!

All Caleb wanted for Christmas was a Kindle Fire. It was hard to make him understand that we don't always get what we want.

Thing is Ryan wanted one really bad also.

His parents completely surprised us and Ryan opened a Kindle Fire up amid screams from Caleb and gasps of surprise!

What a fun surprise.

Max's favorite gift was his Vikings football set.

I can't wait for August to use my gift....Tickets to WICKED in Salt Lake City!!!

Christmas Eve~Traditions

*Nice Christmas Eve Dinner including....Crab legs.

*Nut in the pudding! Gift this year...Gift certificate to Chili's and two chocolate oranges...

Winner was: Shirlee Jacobson!

*Christmas pajamas from Yiaya and Papou*A little goofing around


*Annalee's first Christmas , first Christmas pajama's, first all nighter (and first time screaming for an hour-teething, cut her first upper tooth on Christmas Eve)

*Posing in Pajamas

*We invited Our Bishop and his wife over to eat with us. It was so fun to have them! We read the Christmas story and talked about Anna and Simeon who searched their whole life for Christ, and because of that long waiting and searching, they knew Christ when Mary and Joseph brought him to the temple.

It was such a fun night!

Sam's {L}ogic

At breakfast today Sam says:

"Annalee's name doesn't fit. Her name has three syllables. Everyone else just has one or two."

"Sam, No-ah, Ca-leb, Max, Mar-a, Emm-a, Ann-a-lee." See three (I especially liked how he had to spell it all out for me...like my brain couldn't figure it out without him.)

Then he says...

"That's why I will call her stinky...Stink-y."

Duck {E}ggs

I came upstairs after Noah had been out to collect eggs and I found this....

Apparently the ducks we got last spring are girls...at least one of them is...Now it begs the question...What do we do with them?

Question answered. I boiled them and Caleb ate them this morning. He said they taste exactly like chicken eggs, but are just a bit bigger.

Yep-{a}-doop!

Emma has started this Yep-a-doop thing. Whenever I ask her to do something she says yep-a-doop! She is a independant thinker, and not amount of coaxing from me can make her move faster than she wants to. I think she is my lesson in patience. She certainly knows what she wants, and how she is going to get it. She is forever in Annalee's face, and thinks that she is just as big as all the others, and should be able to do all they can...like hold Annalee while standing up, staying up, reading, riding a bike, holding the chickens, ect.

Her spirit fills the room, and she is not afraid of much. She is especially not afraid to talk to anyone, or ask questions about someone...really loud! Love her much!

Side Tra{ck}

That is my new name for him! He gets up at 5:55am every school morning so that he can sit in front of the heater and read by the Christmas tree! He sets his alarm and is sometimes up before me. You would think that getting up two hours before the bus comes would certainly give him plenty of time to get ready in a slow, leisurly pace...not usually the case. He is still the last one ready, and running out the door after the bus has arrived...Why? He is sidetrack! I tell him to do one thing and on the way he finds seven other things to do. I tell him to do the same thing multiple times, and I try my hardest NOT to lose my patience with him.
On the other hand, he is such a great big brother. It is usually with Annalee that he gets sidetracked, or Emma, or because he is helping Mara find something, or do something. He is ever aware of me and is by far my most observant kid. He gives the best most sincere compliments, and has such a funny personality! I am so grateful I have him to spice up my life and keep us all laughing!
So here's to the waking up early phase...may it always be so!

Intercom

I asked Caleb to holler down the laundry shoot to tell Noah to come upstairs (don't be jealous of our intercom system) This is what I heard:
"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
"Moooooooooooooooooom Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaays
Toooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Coooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooome Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuup Staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaairs riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight Nooooooooooooooooooow"

Noah responded with:"Oooooooooooooooooooh Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay"

Caleb immediately pipes in "Thhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaannnnnnnkkkkkkkk. Yoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooou"

Goooooooooooooooooooooood, Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye."

Just a little smile in my day!