White Christmas 2010

We had a great Christmas. Lots of parties. We received some lovely gifts and had the chance to relax and be together. We have had a crazy year and needed some time out, especially Rick who has had a lot going on. Last Christmas we got a dusting of snow and we were thrilled about it. This year we got an even bigger treat when we got about 2 inches of snow on Christmas Eve! It was not a ton but it was enough to go sledding and make the world a winter wonderland. This was what our yard looked like Christmas Eve.


The kids had to wait a while for us to get out of bed Christmas morning as Simon and Rachel had a restless night and we were up late finishing the wrapping etc. As you can see they were anxious to open presents.


Ammon with his Pokemon Wii game. They combined his two loves!


Ricky with his Sonic Wii game and controller. He had a great day playing video games with Ammon and Bridgette


Bridgette on her skateboard?? This was the one request I was confused by, she wanted a skateboard so Santa granted her request. We shall see how this turns out.


Simon with his Thomas the tank engine set, he loves it and will not be separated from his trains now.


Rachel with her little activity centre. She was busy getting into everyone elses toys on Christmas day.


I made homemade eggnog and Rick was trying to polish it off. This is a joke by the way, he just wanted to illustrate how good it was. I made it for a party we had gone to the night before and everyone was loving it. It really is a once a year treat as the calories are off the charts.

Christmas morning videos for the grandparents. The last video was taken after I set up the nativity sets and Simon was playing with them, it was so cute.

Surprise!

So about two weeks ago we get this phone call from Rick's parents saying they were on their way to see us. We were in shock but so excited. We had not seen Rick's Dad in three years or his Mum since she came to help after Simon was born. We decided not tell the kids and let the Grandparents surprise them. It took them a couple of days to get here from Utah so I was dying to tell the kids but I held it in. Rick on the other hand was relishing it all and even had them outside writing notes to Grandma and Grandpa on the driveway saying it was to imagine what they would say to their grandparents if they could see them today! The kids still didn't catch on. It was a sweet moment when they saw their grandparents and even Simon seemed to know he was supposed to love these people instantly. Rachel needed to some warming up though.

We headed to Nauvoo the next day and spent the night there and the day after seeing the sights. We had a wonderful time, we love Nauvoo Illinios, it is an LDS church history site and it has a very special feeling I can't quite explain but I think it has a lot to do with the temple.

Grandma and Grandpa stayed on another night but we had to get back to St Louis. It was a quick trip but I am grateful for those few days and what it meant to our children.

Our children have only seen my parents a few times in their life, Bridgette has only met them once and of course Simon and Rachel have not met them yet so it makes me very happy to have seen them with their Utah grandparents. I have come to realize how important it is for children to have people in their lives besides their parents who adore them or who at least take an interest in them.

Here are some pictures of the Nauvoo trip. If you ever come this way we would be happy to show you this wonderful place.

Tots, trees and toes!

Our Ricky has been battling with an infected ingrown toenail. Last week he had it taken care of at the podiatrist and is much happier. We have to soak it day and night which is a little challenging before seminary but it's looking good. The bandage came off after one day but he had to soak it to get it off. We thought it looked like a clown nose.


2010

2008

The tree I see from our kitchen window is a real treat each fall. It has grown a bit in a couple of years


A video for the Grandparents of the babies.



By the way it takes a long time to download a video to blogger. I unloaded the dishwasher, folded and changed a load of laundry and picked up the living room which is in the process of being trashed again by Simon! All while the video downloaded.

Highland Games

St Louis Scottish Games. We all loved it. In fact we keep talking about it. Rick and I love the bagpipes and there was plenty of that going on the whole day.

One field was devoted to the pipers and drummers and they played the whole day. It was amazing.

This was part of the games, the log toss, it has a more technical name but I don't have time to search for that right now. Look close and you can see the log in midair.

Re-enacting a black knight fight.

The parade of clans with a military parade as well. Some of the veterans were very elderly so there was a little difficulty with the turns! They were proud scots!

The english car club trotted out the MGB's. My Dad passed on his love of these gorgeous cars to me.

Release the hounds.There were scottish terriors there as well.

I wish we had taken more pics. There were birds, sheep, dancing, and most importantly cornish pasties and sausage rolls, fabulous. It reminded me of Australia and made me think of my family and our scottish heritage, is that why the bagpipes sounded so good to me? Whatever you did this past weekend was not as wonderful as what we did. Okay, maybe you had a great weekend too but I had to show you what we did (Besides listen to an excellent General Conference of course). Here are some videos we took if you need some bagpipe therapy.

Tenacious

Forged in the fires of Anne's belly, tested in the hospital rooms of St Louis and St Charles comes a new breed of warrior. Small, wiry(?) stubborn, tenacious even. He will test even the most hardened parent. Parents who have survived the great sorceress Bridgette, or the relentless warriors, Ricky and Ammon, who have survived many imaginary battles (and a few real ones). Who is this conqueror? It is Simon. His name strikes fear into the hearts of all men but most especially his siblings. His Mother may even cry "Uncle!" His own Father, a hardened warrior himself has even been known to cry out for mercy in his presence. His Mother at this moment is weak with relief as this ball of fury rests after a mighty battle that included dogs, a dentist's waiting room, a recently immunized sister, sand box fights, Buzz Light-year and Rex.

Pray for this Mother!

19 pounds 9 ounces!

Please excuse my family's kitchen but they were heading out the door for church without cleaning up. Also they put me in a bumpo on a kitchen counter which is very irresponsible even though they say they only do it when they are working at the kitchen counter. I wouldn't say anything to my Mummy about it though as she may blow up. Anyhow just wanted to let you all know that I am so big and chunky I make the other babies all wish they were me. Yes, I am 19 pounds and 9 ounces and only 5 months old, I am also 28 inches long which puts me at the 100% percentile. I am such a high achiever! Now I must get some rest after fussing all day over my shots. I am not amused.

P.S. My mother seems to be in a "Devil may care" attitude today. You were warned.

5 kids

This photo blew me away, all of these children are mine! How did this happen? I looked at them all and think they are beautiful and can't imagine life without them (I can imagine more sleep perhaps).

Simon is Two!

So here is the birthday boy. The tricycle picture was taken about a week ago. His gift was discovered in the basement as it was not hidden from view by his brothers. Ricky and Ammon sometimes forget that Simon is very curious and manages to get into everything. He still had a bit of bruising from his fall down the basement stairs on July third, ouch, it was a very painful as those stairs are very unforgiving.

So his birthday is not even over yet but since both Rachel and Simon are sleeping right now I had to post what I had from this morning. The duel naptime rarely occurs so I feel like I could take on the world right now or at least download a few more videos!






This is a video of Simon in front of his gifts this morning trying to figure out how to hold up two fingers. Very cute!

For the Grandparents

So I am not the greatest photographer but these are a few photos I took about a month ago.

Eye Candy

Rick started his PhD the other day and needed a photo for school. I love looking at this handsome man. How did I get so lucky!

Who invented Bad Luck?

Ricky and Simon meditating on the back steps

The day started out well. I was showered and dressed by 6:30 am and had studied for my upcoming Sunday School lesson next Sunday. I was on roll, which hasn't happened much these past 2 & 1/2 years.

Then Simon awoke as I was making school lunches for the eldest three. Rick found him with his head on the stairs crying. He has not been feeling good for a few weeks and the last few nights he has been coughing constantly and then screaming in pain. I knew I would be heading to the doctor as soon as I saw his sad face. Rick and the kids left for the day and I began cleaning up, dressing Simon and doing as much as I could while Rachel slept. Within an hour I had Simon and Rachel on my lap screaming, Rachel screaming because she wanted to nurse but was being interrupted by her very irrate brother who wanted Mum's full attention.

The phone rang, it was Ricky calling from school because he was feeling very ill, probably from his allergies flaring up along with half the population of Missouri this week! I had to tell him it would be a while and that I would pick him up on the way to the doctors. By 11:45am I had dragged the babies in and out of the middle school and had big brother in tow and was headed to the Dr. The Dr found Simon had a raging double ear infection and after numerous trips to the ER and Dr this past year determined Simon has Asthma. I just wanted a night of sleep so I agreed to all of the interventions and drove to Walgreens to pick up all the items necessary to help Simon.

Now this day may sound pretty good to some of you so far, some of you would say it sounds terrible, for me its about normal, maybe a little worse. I have to say these past 15 years have been great but also exhausting, today I was trying to "bear my journeyings without murmuring". I was thinking all of this as I loading up the van when my very wise eldest son said "Mum who invented the concept of Bad Luck?" (I was wondering if he thought we were having a little at that moment) I told him I didn't know but I said there is probably no such thing although sometimes it feels like it. But I told him that if today we are having it I would rather have bad luck than some of the trials others have. Real trials like living in Haiti, having cancer, losing a child, having the love of your life leave you, losing all you had to a corrupt banker. I could go on. So today is great, today is just a little bad luck. I am blessed and I hope if you are going through a real trial you will get through it without bad luck to boot, hopefully some good luck will come your way. Here are some fists of fury to help you out.

The Little Lady

These photos were taken a couple of weeks ago so I need to add more but in order to satisfy the crazed mobs calling for photos here are a few I had downloaded already. Matilda or Rachel (we can't decide on what to call her) is a joy, we just love her and are so glad there was intervention (divine or not)to get her here. So much has happened since she arrived in mid February I should have been more diligent in recording it all but I hope to be a better blogger from here on out.