A Lot Like Christmas

We finally got our Christmas decorations up. We usually do it well before now, but we are just slacking this year. At the Black Friday sale I picked up a second Christmas tree for downstairs. As I was putting it up Josh started getting concerned. I could tell he was a little upset about something so I asked what was wrong. He then told me that Santa was going to be confused. I had no idea what he was talking about until he drew a picture telling Santa which tree to put the presents under. Now Santa won't be confused about which tree to use :).

Aaron stayed home from church today because he wasn't feeling so great. It is just a cold/flu with a fever. I braved all four kids by myself. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but we only stayed for primary and the beginning of sacrament meeting. Hopefully, he will feel better soon. This is how I found him this afternoon.

Thanksgiving and Black Friday

We have had a pretty busy few days. Thursday was the ever important Thanksgiving holiday. We have so many things to be thankful for--the gospel, our home, job, our special and unique children, our good health, our families, the chance for an education and many other things. We are truly blessed! We were blessed to be able to spend Thanksgiving with my parents and sister with her family at my parent's house. It was nice to go and enjoy this year instead of hosting like we have done the last two years. We had the tasty turkey dinner with all the fixins and pumpkin pie for dessert. My parents were even kind enough to make the turkey Daniel friendly which isn't always an easy thing to do--Thank You!! We have been piecing off the leftovers all today and they still are yummy. I love Thanksgiving leftovers. Also I have figured out that calories don't count Thanksgiving Day and when eating leftovers :). For some reason we took our camera, but forgot to take any pictures of Thanksgiving. I am telling you it's that momnesia acting up again!!

After dinner we all gathered around for the perusing of the Black Friday ads and mapping out our strategies. Black Friday is a family tradition!! Of course you never know what you need until you look at the ads, right?!? Black Friday is also the holiday for insomniacs. I woke up at 2:30 am and was unable to go back to sleep--not all that uncommon for me. At least I had something to do with my sleepless morning this time. Anyway, I was going to go with my sister who was going to pick me up at 3:30 am. So I got up and got dressed then fed Sarah before I left. Aaron was willing to deal with her screaming while I was gone as long as I fed her before I left. I waited, but my sister never showed up so I went solo this year. Come to find out her power went out last night which reset her alarm. She called me at 5 am with a groggy voice and I put two and two together. Anyway, I didn't get what I specifically wanted, but I got some other fun stuff using the grab now and sort later mentality. Luckily for Aaron, I made it back before Sarah woke up again expecting to eat.

After some quiet time this afternoon for the kids and a power nap for Aaron and me, we went to the Christmas Tree Jubilee in Ogden. It is a charitable event where people and companies decorate trees and donate them for auction. The proceeds go toward helping special needs kids in the community. We went to see all the beautiful trees and were pleasantly surprised to see Santa Claus there. The kids each had a turn telling Santa what they wanted--even Sarah who didn't cry at all just stared at him. Santa had some helpers with good listening ears close by while each kid had their turn :). All the boys have finally reached the age where they believe, understand and are excited about Christmas. It's been a lot of fun.

Not As Innocent As She Looks

Sarah is turning into a girl who knows what she wants and won't settle for anything less. She has very recently decided she will NOT take a pacifier anymore. Also, I went to the store yesterday and while I was gone Aaron tried to feed her a bottle which made her MAD and caused her to scream even louder. That prompted a quick call from Aaron to me telling me to get home ASAP!! I guess she has now decided she will not take a bottle anymore, either. This may cause some problems since I am an avid Black Friday shopper. I either have to take her with me bundled up in the front pack (which she HATES--also I hate to subject her to such viciousness of Black Friday morning), leave her home and let Aaron deal with her screaming all morning starting at 3 am to whenever I get home, don't go shopping this year, or send Aaron out to do my shopping bidding. Oh decisions...WHAT A STINKER!!

Dressed

I was getting Matthew and Josh dressed for school this morning when Daniel decided to go and pick out his own clothes today. This is what he came up with--what a stylish guy! I think this could be a good blackmail picture in the future. He was going for the macho no shirt and no sock look with his "Skechers" on--all sneakers regardless of what brand are called Skechers.

Pretty Boring

This week has been pretty boring because Aaron has been working major overtime and I have been basically a single parent. However, I am happy to report that the kids didn't have a beach party with the sprinkler inside the house this time. I think they learned their lesson from the last time ;). I also have been trying to get over a cold/sinus infection for the last three weeks. I finally went to the doctor--which I absolutely HATE doing--and got an antibiotic, but it doesn't appear to be doing a whole lot at this point. I am still keeping my fingers crossed though.

For a Christmas present for one of the boys we got a game for the Wii--Mario Kart. Just to do my parental duty and make sure it was fun, Aaron and I have been playing it every night after the kids go to bed. Let me tell you it is a big sacrifice making sure it is fun, but I am willing to do my part:). It is a lot of fun just to let you know. It is a racing game that I can somewhat do without making myself look pretty bad unlike many others I have tried. I am horrible at playing video games because I lack that important hand/eye coordination, but this game I can actually play. I will be sad to have to share it after Christmas comes :).

Saturday I was fixing the kids dinner and for a side dish I opened a jar of bottled peaches. Daniel tried some and said, "Mom these are so...strawberry!" I think that meant good because he ate his whole bowl of peaches. They say the funniest things!

We got out the exersaucer this week for Sarah and she loves it. She actually stays in it for a few minutes at a time.

My sister in Ohio had a cute new baby this week. Welcome baby Nick. Congratulations! He is being held by his proud sister Miriya.

Living with Food Allergies

I went grocery shopping yesterday and was pleasantly surprised to find that the cake mix on sale was Daniel friendly. It is a chocolate and yellow flavor Duncan Hines cake mix which is a normal cake mix. As I read the ingredients thinking yea right because I thought I had checked all the mixes before, but I was wrong. I got excited at first, but then was somewhat concerned because there were no natural ingredients for him to be allergic to just stuff I couldn't pronounce or have never heard of before. Anyway, I tried not to worry about the chemical goodness that it contained and just was excited he could have it nonetheless. Yes I would have to finish making the cake mix with egg replacer instead of eggs, but the base cake mix was Daniel friendly. Maybe he doesn't have to miss out on all the good stuff. However, as I headed over to the shampoo aisle I was amazed to find that with the shampoo on sale half the flavors contained milk or coconut milk or some other form of allergens in them. Before Daniel I would have never thought twice to even check the ingredients in anything such as lip balm, sunscreen, shampoo, etc. Silky hair and soft lips are just not worth a $75 dollar trip to the Emergency Room and the anxiety that comes with it :). They also had turkeys on sale so I bought one. I didn't check the ingredients first and brought it home to find it had been basted in butter. I guess I will be donating that one to the shelter. Ah, sigh, maybe someday he will outgrow this!! What we don't do for our kids.

While aunt Jill was here she bought the boys light sabers. They have had a lot of fun playing with them. However, it is all fun and games until Dad gets blindsided in the head by one while he is at the computer. He didn't see Daniel come to have a light saber fight with him until he had been whacked in the head pretty hard I might add. It was hard to keep a straight face.

Poor Daniel

Daniel has had a runny nose for about a week. I didn't think much more about it until he started in a with a fever Sunday night. He was really whiny and you could tell he didn't feel so great. Monday was much of the same. He followed me around the whole house with his blanky, sucking his thumb, needing wuvs (loves) and crying all day long. I decided to take him to the doctor Monday night which was a good thing. He had a really bad ear infection to the point his ear drum was about to burst. The doctor said don't be surprised if it did--poor kid. I had lost my otoscope so I couldn't take a look at home, but I wasn't that great at spotting ear infections anyway. He ended up getting some antibiotics last night after a really bad experience at the pharmacy--which is another story in itself. We are hoping he will feel better soon. This picture is pretty much what he looked like all day.

My friend and I started scrapbooking again after taking a long break over the summer...and I guess part of the fall as well. I am rusty after taking such a long break! I am thinking of starting digital scrapbooking, but don't know where to start. I have a lot to catch up on scrapbook wise, but it was nice to have some adult conversation for a little while during the day.