December 14, 2014

Tommy has had a tough week.  He woke up Monday with a yucky cough and lots of drainage from his nose and eyes.  He had dark purple bags under his eyes.  He didn't sleep well due to the cough.  So Mommy spent hours sitting in Tommy's room on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights of this week.  He liked being held upright and sleeping on Mommy's shoulder so he could breathe better.  It was an exhausting week.  We tried everything we could think of to help ease his symptoms.  Finally the cold ran its course and he started to improve on Friday.  He took a three hour nap Friday afternoon and then slept peacefully all night Friday and Saturday!

In spite of Tommy's illness we still had some fun this week.  For Family Night we went to a local Christmas light show in Ucon.  Four families donate their lights, land, and time to coordinate the show.  Cars can drive up and park across the street, tune their radios to a local station that plays a Christmas music program computer coordinated to the lights.  The lights "dance" and flash to illustrate the songs.  This year they have a Frozen music program.  Oh boy!  I wish I could have taken video of the girls dancing in the van to the songs, but it was too dark.  The amazing lights and Frozen music were totally fun.  The kids loved it.

On Tuesday I got a call that our Christmas cards were ready for pick up.  I bundled up Tommy and Annie while Lily was at school and went to Sam's Club to get our cards.  Poor Tommy was so happy to be out but I could tell he was exhausted.  Just look at his sleepy eyes and runny nose.  This cold was a doozy!  We hurried right back home and stayed snuggled on the couch the rest of the day.  I even had to cancel my visiting teaching appointments.  Hopefully I can still see my sisters next week.

We stayed close to home and didn't have any friends over so that Tommy and I could rest.  Thankfully I never got sick even with all the late nights holding him and being coughed on.  The girls managed to stay healthy too.  By Thursday we were all ready for some time out of the house.  I took the kids to story time at the library.  Lily and Annie were so excited to see Santa....Tommy.....not so much.  He stayed at least six feet away from Santa all through story time.

Santa brought each child a wrapped present and a candy cane.  The girls both received a Tinkerbell sticker book and Tommy got a lullaby book.  The library also gave our family a silly Christmas songs book.  Four free books and a visit with Santa!  It was worth the trip to the library.

The weather has been around 50 degrees here in town.  It feels like Spring!  The kids wanted to walk around the library after story time and enjoy the fresh air.  Tommy loved this helicopter in front of Me 'n Stan's restaurant.  Since we were out, I made a quick grocery store run.  Tommy loves driving the car carts at our grocery store.  He's not smiling in the picture - and you can see his huge purple circles around his eyes - but he was really happy to drive.  This outing wore him out and he crashed at home for two hours.

 We stayed home the rest of Thursday and all of Friday to rest.  Our neighbor took Lily and Annie for a couple of hours so Tommy and I could get some sleep.  The quiet house was just what we needed.  Tommy took a three hour nap and woke up much improved!

Saturday morning, Lily had her first clogging performance in Rexburg.  It was held at an elderly care home.  Before the performance each child made a Christmas card to give to one of the residents in the home.  Each class danced to one or two songs and then all the students sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".  It was a sweet morning.  Lily was super excited that Daddy was there to watch her.  She was smiling like crazy.

 Lily is in the front row, third in from the left, blowing us a kiss

 Lily is in the back row, knees bent, third in from the left

 Lily is on the far left, back facing us

Lily is on the front row, third in from the left, look at that smile

We had so much fun watching her.  She really loves the fast pace and rhythm driven routines of clogging.  And she was tickled to dance in front of an audience.  We asked her what her favorite part of dancing is, she said, "hearing the people clap for me".

 

  After the performance we took everyone out to lunch.  Lily chose Chik-Fil-A which was awesome because we had coupons for five free chicken nugget meals.  Daddy is always happy about a free lunch!  While Mommy and Daddy were getting the food, the girls played with the camera.  I found these silly ones they took this morning as I sat down to write this post.  I love my silly, beautiful girls!

The kids really enjoyed lunch, walking around campus for a little while, and just being together as a family.  Tommy especially loved drinking the ketchup.  Gross!

We passed this beautiful nativity on our way back to the car.  Lily wanted to stop and look at it for a while.

We took the kids home and Tommy and Annie wanted to rest.  Mommy took Lily out to help me finish up our Christmas shopping.  Lily loved the hustle and bustle in all the stores.  It seemed to me that everyone around us was grumpy and stressed.  I was thankful that we were just enjoying our time together and having fun selecting gifts.  Lily told me that gong shopping together was more fun than playing with friends.  I guess the love of shopping skipped a generation.....right Puna?

Lily's Artwork

Here are two pictures Lily did at school last week:

 This one was for an assignment to draw what she wants to be when she grows up.  She wants to be a mom.  That's her holding a baby.  She said the man sitting on the couch is her husband watching t.v.

She is learning to identify the words "I" "Like" and "My" this week in reading.  This assignment was to draw something she likes. Then write a sentence to describe the picture.  This is Lily coming home from school and Annie running to her to give her a hug.  Annie is in the green pants and Lily is in the black skirt.  The sentence below the picture is supposed to say " I like my sister".  Since Lily was uncertain of how to spell sister, she wrote is phonetically - "sis-dr".  So precious.  She is growing and learning so fast.

Annie's Artwork

Annie wanted me to share two of her recent creations:

 This is a self portrait Annie did.  I love the violet red hair and huge blue eyes.

This is a drawing of Elsa and Anna from the movie Frozen.  Anna is in the red/pink and Elsa is blue/purple.  Her drawing and coloring skills have come a long way recently.

December 07, 2014

Christmastime is here!  And our children are enjoying every second.  They asked if we could build gingerbread houses for Family Night this week.  It went really well.  I assembled the houses earlier in the day so they would be hard set for decorating.  Each person chose the house they wanted.  Lily wanted the biggest one.  Tommy liked the triangle chalet.  Annie wanted the little house.  Mommy and Daddy just took what was left.

 

 

 The only hang up of the night was when our decorator bag exploded all over my hand while I was piping the Christmas trees for the village.  Green frosting everywhere!

 Our whole Christmas village

 Tommy's house - he placed all the little colored balls and the candy corn on the roof by himself!

 Lily's house

 Annie's house

 Daddy's house

Great way to spend Family Night!  We listened to carols and talked about Christmas....and tried to keep Tommy from destroying his sisters' gingerbread houses.  Mommy and Daddy were worn out when the night was through.  And we had three very sticky children to bathe and calm down for bed time.

 Jeremy decided to build me a shelter for our outdoor Nativity.  I love it!  We haven't figured out how to secure all the other pieces so they are not on display yet.  I've had a lot of neighbors tell me they enjoy driving by our house and seeing the Nativity.

 

Here's how it looks in the yard.

 Story time was super fun this week.  Lots of jingle bells and singing.  And we got to decorate paper trees with sticker ornaments.  Tommy even did a tree and was really good at doing the stickers.

 Lily's clogging class has a recital on December 13th.  They have been practicing very hard.  I can't wait for Jeremy to see her dance.  It is a hoot.

 Our ward Christmas party was wonderful this year.  The dinner was great.  Tommy and Annie were partial to my cupcakes.  Lily got to sit with friends - which made her feel so grown up.  I was asked to do a musical number.  It was the first time I have sung in over a year.  I was nervous.  The program was a little too long.  But the night was very special and I think our kids could feel the Spirit that night.

 

Saturday morning our friend Hailey was baptized.  Lily and Annie were excited to go and support Hailey on her special day.  They made Hailey cards and a necklace.  After the baptism our family was invited to a brunch with Hailey's family.  Tommy fell in love with their puppy Bella.  She wasn't so sure about him.

Saturday night, Jeremy and I went to the BYU Idaho Christmas concert featuring the King's Singers.  The kids played at home with a babysitter.  They dressed up and ate pizza and watched movies.  The kids had so much fun.  We loved the concert.  We were also treated to a before concert dinner which was amazing.  Everyone had a great time Saturday night.

Sunday night we had Brady and Madison over for dinner.  And then we watched the Christmas devotional together. It felt good to have our little family gathered around the t.v. to hear the leaders of the church and enjoy the beautiful music.  Fresh cookies and hot chocolate were a plus too.

This week I got a new calling.  I will now be serving as the 1st counselor in the ward Primary presidency.  I am serving with Jodi Bozung who is my Zumba instructor.  I asked the bishopric to allow me to stay on as the ward choir director a little longer.  I finally have a choir of about 20 regulars and 10 who show up occasionally.  I'd hate to lose that momentum going into the new year.  I hope I can handle two callings and three kids all at once.

Lily got her report card from school.  She is doing great and progressing just like she should.  She wants to read and gets frustrated that it is not coming quickly to her.  She gets especially upset when Annie can recall a word faster than she can.  But we're not worried.  We just practice every day. 

Tommy is still not talking!  The only really coherent thing he says is "Uh-Oh".  One day he'll probably start talking and never stop.