Kylie, Brie and Sean

We hadn't seen the girls since September so a visit was long over due. Sean was going to sleep at their house but because of the hives I wanted him to stay home so the girls slept over for two nights. They have grown so much and are such delightful little people. I love them. They have started calling Don, Uncle Grandpa.

 Kylie is in resource for reading and math and she gets speech therapy. She was getting a fourth service at school but I don't recall what it was. Brie is in speech as well.

We hadn't taken down our Christmas tree so I got to take a picture under the tree. When I took that first picture I had no idea that those kids would become permanent parts of our lives. What a gift they are.

Sean and Kylie both lost teeth on Friday. Kylie's dad, Troy said Kylie pulls hers out. According to the girls "Sean spit his tooth out at McDonald's." That is the fourth tooth Sean has lost and Kylie's ninth.

Kylie made me this cute little card and she drew a picture of herself with Brie and Sean. They stayed up late both nights giggling and looking at pictures. They are so easy now. No drama, no messes. It was truly a joy to have them spend the weekend with us. I had to work on Friday. When I walked in the hall all three of them were standing there. Kylie said "Sean peed on us." The next night they made him sleep at the bottom of the bed.

 When we drove them home all three kids fell asleep in the car. They played so hard they were exhausted.

The kids ran around in the backyard chasing Pieko. I picked the dog up from the kennel on Saturday because AJ, Steph and Khloe were supposed to get home on Sunday. They sat on the plane for three hours. Eventually the flight was cancelled. They offered them a flight on Monday that went through Cancun and then Denver but couldn't guarantee a flight out of Denver. Tico's love their New Years and don't like to travel that day. They got rebooked for a flight for next Sunday. That adds a week to their trip. AJ was stressed They were on the plane emotionally ready to come home and got a long delay. I'm sure they will have fun during their extended stay. Steph hadn't been home for two years.

 

 Peiko keeps pooping in my house and today he peed in the house twice. I guess he is upset about being left but I can't deal with it and I took his little doggie butt back to the kennel. I didn't call to see if they could take him I just dropped him off. When I walked in with him they were all excited to see him. I am just NOT a dog lover. I'm glad there is a reasonably priced kennel I could leave him at. I don't think I could stand to keep him another week. If the weather was nice and he could stay outside all day it would be fine. He slept in the garage the last two nights it has gas heat so it's warm. I am sure he is happier at the kennel with other dogs to play with and people who enjoy him.



Christmas

Christmas morning was quiet. Alex and Loreal were in St George. AJ and Steph were in Costa Rica. That just left me, Don, Sean, Grandma and Carter. Alika and David came over just a few minutes after we were done opening presents so we were all still gathered while they opened theirs.

 Sean REALLY wanted a 3D DS and was quite excited when he unwrapped his first present and there it was! He kept asking me to look online and see if they were too expensive. I love that face!

 Don gave David a juggling set. We thought maybe he could become a clown. It wasn't his main gift but it was amusing. He gave Alika a origami kit. We figure between the two of them they should be able to entertain us.

 Trying out that new gaming system.

Sean made Alika a story board for Christmas. Here he is reading her the story.

 John and Julie Warehime stopped by in the afternoon as they made their Salt Lake rounds. Caleb is crawling all over the place and pulling himself up.

 Larissa and Hailey checking things out.

Alex and Loreal came to town on the 28th for the weekend. I found a Hello Kitty toaster for Loreal. That really amused me. Alex's company wants him to get his CDL. He needs it to move up to terminal manager. He will be coming to Salt Lake in February for five weeks to take the training. The irony is he wanted he wanted to do the training when he was in Salt Lake and his company told him no. Now that he's moved they are willing to send him back to Salt Lake and pay for it. 

Ginger bread house party take 2

 

I was going to by pass posting about the second ginger bread party and then I downloaded this.The kids all look so happy and were having such a good time. Ultimately all hell broke loose (among adults not children) and the party became a bust. Alas, such is the life of a large family. When my kids were little and they would fight I would sing, "There is beauty all around when there's love at home." I thought about breaking out in song but mom had given everyone "worry stones" and I was scared I would get stoned and not the good kind of stoned.

Christmas Hives

Sean got hives for Christmas. It was worse than a lump of coal. They didn't come until afternoon. He was playing on his DS3 and he started scratching. At first I blamed the new detergent even though it was Tide with Downy and I've used both Tide and Downy. Don blamed his new stuffed toys. I briefly blamed his new Wii remote. Lastly I blamed the camphor in his humidifier though we had used it for a week. There was a little that has spilled on his table and I thought maybe he touched it and broke out. Alika pointed out she used to put Vicks vapor rub on him and he never had a reaction. It happened three more times. My final verdict is it was some sort of virus. We had no cortisone so Don went to Walgreen's which is the only place open on Christmas day.


 

We've been two days hive free. Hopefully he's done reacting to whatever he was reacting to. 

'Tis the Season

'Tis the season for bad air and respiratory crap. Sean had to miss the last two days of school because he had a cough and fever. He feels yucky but isn't 100% miserable. He's had a couple of bad nights. When he gets a fever he throws up. Friday night he woke up throwing up. I was so tired I decided it wasn't particularly odoriferous barf so I threw a towel over it and we went back to sleep. Oh the joys of motherhood. Saturday morning I washed all the sheets, blankets, pillowcases and even a couple of pillows. Saturday night he got sick again. Poor kid.

 

His Wii has been at the repair shop for a week. Don picked it up yesterday. That made him happy. We spent a lot of time playing Mario.

Snowy Day

Sean really enjoyed reuniting with Nate. Nate spent Friday night at our house. It was the final sleep over before they flew back to N.C on Sunday. The boys made these hats. They are "Bowser's crown." They wanted to play chess. Their idea of chess was setting the pieces up and then knocking each other's pieces off the board. The boys had so much fun. I think we might try to take a trip to a North or South Carolina beach this summer so Sean can spend more time with his cousins.

It was a snowy cold weekend. We got about a foot of snow.

Sean LOVES to shovel snow. I wonder how long that will last.

I went to Catherine's stake center for a luncheon after Jameson's baptism.

The boys working on their projects. They were making "plans" and then constructing according to their plans.

Happy Birthday AJ

"What is this" Khloe wonders? Wizardry! We went to dinner for AJ's birthday then came home for cake.

Sean has nightly homework from his English class. The work usually involves a picture and a sentence on the back of the page. The sentence he had to finish was "I will be....." That little boy cracks me up.

 

Sean lost his third tooth last night.

Ginger bread houses take 1

Khloe is growing up so fast. She likes to wave her arms and say da da, ba ba and a variety of other two syllabul combinations.

Khloe also enjoys playing with my spatula and other nifty things from my kitchen drawers. Giannini has been watching Khloe since Steph went back to school. She's going back to Costa Rica next week and AJ and Steph won't have any relatives living with them and helping with the baby. It will be a big change.

I know I'm biased but seriously, that is a gorgeous baby.

Steph wanted to make ginger bread houses. We have a ginger bread date set for later in the month so we are going to do two house nights this year. Levi enjoyed tasting all the candies. He drools a lot.  The entire kitchen and everything he touches was sticky. Levi loves to play with the Thomas the trains. Later that evening I was trying to find Sean's glasses. Sean insisted he had set them next to his Wii. I looked everywhere to no avail. Eventually I was putting toys away and when I opened up the drawer of trains I found Sean's very sticky glasses next to some very sticky trains. Can't be sure but I'm guessing it was Levi! Funny little monkey.

Steph and Giannini took decorating very seriously.

Centerville Christmas Lights Celebration

Monday night was beautiful. The temperature was low 50's. It was the warm before the cold front. The perfect night to be outside. We went to Centerville park to watch them turn on the lights. They did a count down and then the lights came on. Sean loved it. Santa was there. It was the same Santa that Sean saw when he was just a few weeks old. 

Char being cheesy.

Steph being purple.

Jacob came too. Jacob is a big believer in Santa. We have to keep reminding Sean not to tell others that Santa isn't real. He can't understand why other people believe in Santa. Now he doesn't tell kids that Santa isn't real. He ask them "do you believe in Santa?" When they say yes he rolls his little six year old eyes. He is a funny kiddo. He is SO competitive. On Wednesday Jake stayed with us late because his parents were out. He did homework at our house. Jake struggles academically. Don read a Dick and Jane book with Jake. Sean then had to read a Dick and Jane book to me at the same time to show that he could read it faster. Sean has turned in three or four reading pages. Each page represents about sixty books. Jake hasn't turned in any but has one page about half done. For some reason that bugged Sean and he stayed up until after 10 reading. He wanted to get his page completed so he could turn it in. I am glad he likes to read but he could pick someone a little more challenging to compete with. His little "kindermance" Samantha is a prolific reader. Samantha is in our little car pool now and Sean loves that they get to ride to school together. Samantha lives just a few blocks away with her grandparents.

Levi and Art.

Levi and Penny.

 

Hanging out with the man. Nate has spent a couple of nights at our house. It has been a lot of fun for him and Sean to get to know each other again.

Khloe takes a selfie

Khloe takes her first "Selfie." I would say it's in preparation for her teenage years but who knows what new technology  we will have by the time she is a teenager.  

A selfie with Grandma.

Seriously, the indignity of it all. Forced to wear a diaper on my head for the amusement of adults. 

Birthday Pictures

We went to Red Lobster for lunch on Sean's birthday. I had to work at five so we couldn't have dinner. I went to school in the afternoon for his "Star Day" to help him present his poster and tell the class all about what a great kid he is.

A dinosaur ice cream cake.

Sean's dinosaurs have been a little roudy lately. They got into his inhalers. Sean had a cold last week and missed a day of school. Fortunately he never got a fever.

The dinosaurs helped Sean with his homework.

Sean is all about Mario! This is a picture he drew of Bowser's Castle.

Don's contract with the VA was supposed to be up in October but it has stretched through November. His supervisor told him that the termination letters are coming out. He will get two weeks severance and benefits will go through December. We can sign up for insurance through the health care exchange which is good. With Don and Sean's pre-existing conditions we couldn't even get health insurance through open market. The Select Med plan is $950 per month, eek! The plan has a $750 deductible and a $10,000 total out of pocket. Some of the plans are over $800 a month with a $5000 deductible. Crazy! I'm glad we don't have a house payment so I can afford our insurance payment.