Christmas fun

So instead of being negative and making a list of things that drive me nuts about the holidays, I'm making an effort to be positive... here we go

Now for the top 10 things Mom likes about the Christmas Hoidays:


10- mmm, yummy Sticky buns!

9- staying in my sweats all morning long because I want to and not because I got too busy to remember to get dressed.

8- finally being done with making wash cloths and other craft items for Christmas

7- Motivating kids with "no presents for you unless you get the chores done"

6- almost a whole 2 weeks of not having to take the kids ANYWHERE unless we want to or are going to a party

5- new toys=no bored kids (for at least a day anyway)

4- a "no guilt" eating binge for a week... I'll hate myself later for it :)

3- knowing I wont have to listen to another Christmas song until next year!!

2-spending time playing games and doing puzzles with the kids

1- taking the time to remember Jesus' birth and giving to others



Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Piano recitals, parties and more, Oh My!

It has been a busy couple of weeks around here, as I'm sure it is for most everyone at this time of year. Last Friday night we had the ward party and then Saturday, Emma's Christmas recital. This last week, Bekah's class had a Christmas open house and Emma did a presentation of her favorite tradition that I needed to help with. Saturday night was a family party ( the first of TOO many) the girls all got to see Santa and get a present from him. Leah just loved Santa and was way excited to climb in his lap and hug him. She called him "My Santa".

As for me, I must say that my stress levels have been a little off the charts lately. The kids are outnumbering me by many and I'm having a hard time keeping up. All of the kids are so inquisitive and have questions, need help with projects, or homework, or they need to be places. I often hear the complaint "Mom! I don't have any clean pants!" at 8:15 in the morning, before school. Someday I hope to be caught up with the laundry. I also often wake in the night with a numb arm only to discover that Leah has climbed into bed with me and fallen back to sleep on my arm, or that I got up to feed Joey and didn't get him back to bed and my neck will hurt from the weird position that I was sleeping in trying to feed him. Someday I hope to get caught up on sleep.

Bekah started meeting with a tutor the last couple of weeks too. She is doing awesome, but it requires me to go to Layon twice a week and sit with kids in the car for 30 min while she has her lesson. It has been quite interesting. There isn't enough time to drop her off head home and then turn around to head back to pick her up, and I don't really feel comfortable leaving Emma in charge yet with me being gone that long. Luckily there is a park near her house for the kids to play. Poor Joey though, spends a lot of time in a carseat.

I just have to keep reminding myself that someday I will miss all of this excitement. Already Joey is growing so much. Thanks Natalie for saying it so clearly in one of her last blog posts .. "YES I do have my hands full- but my hands are full of darling little angels that make me smile and bring a special joy to my life that I never would have had if my hands were "empty." "

Anyway here's some pictures for the viewing enjoyment:

Bekah's class open house.



Joey in his Sunday Christmas outfit (Sorry I didn't get picture of the girls in their dresses yet)

Fun with Santa:

Sarah wouldn't get too close.... sigh

Emma's recital--I only got to see one of the songs, Leah was misbehaving. She was trying to grab the camera while I was filming her play too... which is why the video is so jumpy. I had to leave and take her home.

Video will be coming soon ( I need to format it to make it smaller)

Merry Christmas everyone.

Playdough Party!

No, we don't have fun at all while the older girls are at school....

Cute as a .... Pancake?

So it has become quite the thing lately to be holding Joey and be surrounded by little girls cooing over him. I can't seem to keep them away from him. Of course it's because he has become aware of them and will crack a grin quite easily at them and even giggle.

The other day as all this was happening, Sarah said "Oh Joey! You're so cute! Like a Pancake!"

I think she was getting confused with pie..you know "cutie-pie". But I thought pancake was funny so we went with it.

Here's our little pancake!

Anyway, so sorry we havent updated much lately. We've just been stuck in the routine of school and there really hasn't been anything extra exciting happening. The kids are doing well in school. Emma is excelling in her class and I'm looking for extra things to challenge her with to keep her entertained, she even has started to learn to crochet, she's been watching me make washrags for Christmas gifts so I gave her some yarn and taught her a little and she sat right to work making a wash cloth herself:

Not bad for her first go at it. I dutifully used it in the kitchen the next day :)

Bekah has been making great strides in school as well. she has been so far behind in reading it is taking some catching up. I believe she is catching on though. I just hope the class doesn't move on too fast without her. We're working on it every day.

Sarah is quickly learning lots as well, she knows all her letters now and can recognize a few "sight words" now, such as "I see a cat". Her biggest struggle is playing a little too loudly during class time.

Leah has been my little shadow now, she will follow me everywhere and wants to do everything with me. The only thing she won't do is pee in the potty! So we're putting that on hold for a few more weeks. She's also discovered that it's really funny to put her finger in Joey's mouth. She's gagged him a few times. I just can't get her to leave him alone.... she is quite the boss. She loves music class, and in fact gave me quite the fat lip last week in class while we were singing "bounce a long" she smacked the back of her head into my face on accident, Ouch!

As for Zack and I we are just doing the usual, I've got all my christmas shopping done, (minus a couple things that have to wait for next months budget) and Zack is working hard paying for it all. The house is a mess, there's marker on the toilet, socks in the toy box, toys in the pantry, and food in the dressers, but we're having fun.

Have a good Thanksgiving week everyone, We are thankful for so much and lucky to have all that we have. It's great to have this time of year to reflect on those blessings. There are many that have lost and are struggling right now and our hearts and thoughts are with them.

A new pet

Well, this spring we said goodbye to our gerbil Tommy. We had had him since Emma turned 6. So with the little prodding from the kids we went out last week and got Abraham Lincoln "Abe" (named so by Emma for his black beard and hat... don't you love kid's logic?)

Smile Abe!

Halloween Fun

Here's some pictures from Halloween. The girls wore their costumes all day, which resulted in Leah having to change to a different costume before Trick-or-treating (her UoU outfit got chocolate all over it).

And brace yourself...yes, I actually dressed up too to take them out... a first for me, but I guess I was in a goofy mood. I get queasy now looking at the pictures... how dumb of me... hahah

Dimples!

I don't want...

...to wear underwear or pull ups!!! I want a diaper!!!


Oh boy! This potty business is going to be tougher than I thought.
Wish me luck

Photo session for Joseph and Leah

Back to the usual

This week, Bekah's 2nd grade class had a story telling day and Bekah chose the story of Cinderella to tell her class using costumes and props. She had fun getting ready for it and did a great job of presenting it to her class.

We haven't really had too much going on the last few weeks, so I haven't updated much, but here's a couple of pictures of Joey.


We had Joseph's baby blessing yesterday. I am waiting on some more pictures. As soon as I get them I'll post them here so check back later.

It was a great day, all except the fact that it snowed! We had lunch afterward at our home and when it was all done the girls all went out to the backyard to play in the snow.

and yes, Leah really is wearing her dress and tights still instead of snowpants... she didn't care one bit.

October Flashback

In the spirit of the season, here's a flash back to the kids Halloweens. Enjoy!

Another couple of milestones...

So the last couple of weeks I have somehow managed to function on not much sleep. The days are sort of blurred together by screaming kids, cleaning up messes, doing homework with kids, doing laundry and...well I would say making dinner but honestly I didn't really start cooking again until the last few days. I have found enjoyment walking the kids to school in the morning with Leah in the stroller and Joey in the sling wrap. It gives me a good hour of crisp morning air and exercize that probably keeps me sane for the rest of the day.

I hit a few milestones this last week, first I turned 29.2 ( that's 31 for those that didn't hear that I wasn't having anymore "real" birthdays)

Here I am as a baby and a 3 yr old and as a 5 yr old. (I posted these so Mom and Dad can have a sentimental moment when they see it... the rest of you can get a good chuckle)

Also this week, Zack and I celebrated our 12th anniversary. We got to go out for a nice dinner at our favorite Chinese food restraunt...mmmm walnut shrimp! But our real anniversary outing is in a couple weeks, we are going to see one of our favorite bands in concert ( Great Big Sea)

Gee, it doesn't seem like that long ago:

The girls have made it through their first month of school. I think they are doing well, I can already see an improvement in Bekah's reading, and Sarah is doing much better with her letters as well. They all like their teachers. Sarah says her teacher is just mad at her all the time, but I think Sarah just doesn't understand you can't play tag with your friends during class time yet.

Leah has been my biggest trial lately. It takes constant, diligent watching to keep her out of trouble these days. I'm wearing myself out averting little disasters, but even then she still gets away long enough now and then to color the couch, or herself with marker, or put neosporin ointment all over the TV set, or drink enough of Joey's Mylicon (anti gas drops) to give her a good case of diarrhea. Her favorite exploit lately has been to sneak into Bekah's room and paint her finger and toe nails with her nail polish (at least it's not the real stuff, its part of her play make up... yet still messy) Ug! I'm using up my patience by the bucket load.

Emma had a check-up last week with Joey's 2 week appointment. Of course, the biggest hang-up I had with naming Joseph came true that day when the nurse came out and asked for "Joseph and Emma" and I got a few strange looks... only in Utah LOL. Oh well, I still like the name :) Joey weighed in at 9lb 4oz at 2 weeks and I'm guessing he is over 10 now, he's gaining weight like a champ!

Well that's it for this update. Thanks again everyone for the kind cards and gifts, our family is getting spoiled this month :)

One week old, my baby is growing up (sniff sniff)

It has been a great first week home with Joey. He has been sleeping well so far, though I think most of that is typical newborn sleepiness. We'll see how he does in the coming weeks. We have appreciated the meals from friends and neighbors and the many very cute baby gifts. I have been feeling good considering all my body has been through. The last few weeks of pregnancy were quite miserable so I'm glad to have that part done.

Joey's trip home from the hospital. ( He did great! no fussing! Even though he was in the car seat for about 3 hours between a stop for lunch and picking up his siblings)

Joey's first sponge bath at home



Here's a picture of Joey this morning after a "blow-out" landed him in a new cute outfit.

Emma is 9!

With all of the excitement of having a new baby in the house, Emma celebrated her 9th birthday. In pure Emma-like fashion she was excited to have the perfect party. Uncle Nick and Aunt Natalee were glad to have everyone over to their house on her birthday. They have a beautiful new home to show. So we celebrated there with an ice-cream cake of Emma's choice.

Emma is lucky to be surrounded by so many people that love her. Every day she has loved to check the mail for birthday cards, and has loved every thoughtful gift, thank-you everyone.

Welcome to the world little one

Yesterday we welcomed the newest member of our family, Joseph Zachary Nilson! He came quickly into the world at 5:41 PM weighing 8 pounds even and 20 in long. He is adorable and his sisters just love him to death.


The girls come to see their new little brother, bearing gifts.


little Joey




Dad and his son (he really was grinning when they said "it's a boy!")


Fresh from the "hopper".

All is well with Mom and baby and we should be coming home from the hospital on Friday morning.