Christmas 2011

Well, I didn’t quite keep up with posting every day, but I did catch up on the things we did this month.  We are heading to Idaho Falls this week and so as a final post for the year I thought I’d put in our Christmas card for this year.  We sent out a lot of cards and if you didn’t get one, it may have been sent back to us or we may not have your address… SOOO here is your virtual card 

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

It’s that time of year
To let all of you know
The things we’ve been up to
This year -- what a show!

We are all adjusting
Our new log house we adore
We’ve moved all our stuff in
Didn’t really feel like a chore

We love all the space
And the breathtaking views
You all should come visit
You really can’t lose.

Leonard is busy
Doing this -- doing that
He enjoyed some time off
Simply being a Dad

Brooke has a new calling
Teaching gospel doctrine at church
Taking care of the kids
Makes extra time about zilch

Our summer was spent
At the lake every day
While Miranda May
Finally joined in to play.

She learned she could swim
Her eyes lit up with a gleam
We were so very thankful
She stopped her ear-piercing scream!

Kanyon is seven now
It’s just hard to believe
He’s reading like crazy
Always has a trick up his sleeve

He loves his new bike
And rides it a lot
It’s nice to be close
To Grandma and Grandpop!

Kaydra’s in fifth grade
She loves dressing with style
First place for her invention
She came home with a smile

She’s become very busy
Learning to play violin
With church, school, and lessons
It’s hard to fit it all in

Our biggest and smallest
News came in July
Timberlyn Ann joined our family
She makes all our hearts fly.

She smiles so often
And is starting to laugh
But I sure wish the laundry
Would be cut -- like in half!

She is now five months old
And teaching us more
How much we want to live
Forever with those we adore

That’s most of the news
From my family so dear
I love them so much
It’s what has made up my year

We’re happy and healthy
And so grateful too
We just want to say
Merry Christmas to you!

Are you hungry??

Last night Timberlyn was sitting near us while we ate dinner and she was fussing so I fed her some of our dinner.  She was eating mashed up broccoli and peas – she was a little excited!!

Yes, that is Kanyon with a burp at the end....HE thought he was so funny....

5 month pictures

Seriously – I have the cutest 5 month old!  Just try to tell me otherwise

Timberlyn 5 months

Oops!  I missed a couple days this weekend.  I think because nothing worth blogging about really happened.  We had a pretty mellow Saturday, cleaning the playroom and delivering some coconut bread.  Then Sunday we went to church, had dinner, and went to Grandma and Grandpa FitzSimmons house to watch Funniest Home Videos – its become a tradition because we don’t have t.v. and they do.  Plus, Grandma usually gives us something sweet to eat  

Today I went to work in the morning and Leonard went to work this evening so not much going on that is worth blogging about.  We still don’t have snow. 

Timberlyn turned 5 months old a few days ago.  She is still a happy baby and starting to become more involved in the world.  She notices when she is alone – and doesn’t like it.  She also doesn’t like being in her car seat when it’s dark outside.  That’s a problem because in North Idaho, it gets dark at 4:00 in the winter time.  So she cries in the car….

She has only rolled over a couple times by accident but she is starting to reach for an hold things that she wants.  She has discovered her hands but can’t control them the way she wants.  Its funny to watch her try to suck her thumb while she is poking herself in the eye with her fingers! 

She knows that I am her food source and when she is hungry she comes at me with an open mouth, trying to find her milk.  She will start sucking on anything that hits her lips.  An arm, finger, or my cheek…whatever is closest.  It’s pretty funny and I love it!! 

The kids adore her and we are so happy she’s here.  I cannot believe that she is 5 months old.  Where does the time go???  I’ll post a picture of her tomorrow!

Crazy Day

Today was a crazy day!  It seemed to start off okay but it was made a little crazy when Kaydra called me at 1:30 to tell me that she was supposed to play the violin at school for the Christmas program.  Oh – and she needed her violin that was at home --- and the program started at 2:30 – Oh – and I was at Kohl’s which is about 25 minutes from my house!!!! So I had to scratch all the plans I had and head back home to pick up her violin.  I couldn’t find her music and Timberlyn was hungry but I didn’t have time to feed her so I made her a bottle so I could feed her during the assembly at school.  With all the rushing we made it to the school at 2:20 – in time for her to tune up and get ready.

We saw Kaydra and the rest of her strings group perform.  There were only six of them so it was much different from the concert earlier in the week.  Their teacher wasn’t there – he had another commitment.  They had a hard time getting started by themselves – all of them have only been playing for about  four months and found that keeping in rhythm with each other is harder than they thought it would be– but once they got going they did pretty good.  Kaydra also played with Marimbas at the assembly.  This sounded awesome and much better than they did outside last week because it was loud in the gym.  She is doing great with both programs and I feel lucky that they are available to her.

While we were watching the performance I fed Timberlyn the bottle that I made.  She rewarded me by filling her diaper and getting it all over her clothes and mine while we were sitting there.  I just zipped up my jacket to cover my now pooped-on shirt and wrapped a blanket around her to cover her clothes and we finished watching the assembly.  Then we went to the car and changed her into new clothes.  I had to still wear my yucky ones, unfortunately. (Do  I need to start packing extra clothes for me in town now???!!!)

We (Me and all 4 kids now) ran to the post office to get the Christmas cards in the mail and stopped at a couple stores to do some things that I had hoped to do earlier.  We all made it home and I could finally change my clothes.  YUCK!!

All in the day of the life of a mom with FOUR kids! 

Coconut Bread

I love the smells of Christmas.  For me that includes the smell of freshly baked coconut bread.   We have been giving coconut bread away to friends and neighbors for about five years now – ever since we got the recipe from our neighbor, Julie Whitehead, in Idaho Falls.  If you know Julie,  you know that she makes FANTASTIC treats and this is one of my favorites. 

I am going visiting teaching tomorrow so I thought I would get started on the bread so I’d have some to take tomorrow.  Once I was going, and the kitchen was a mess, I decided it would be best to keep mixing and baking ….SOOOO I made FOUR batches of bread and put them in these cute holiday containers that I found.

That gives me 12 medium loaves and 6 small loaves!  They’re even stacked on my canisters in the back!!

Looks like we will be delivering goodies this weekend!

Merry Christmas!

Strings

Kaydra has started playing violin this year in 5th grade.  She is really enjoying it.  Tonight we went to her first strings concert.  They combined all the 5th grade kids from the local elementary schools (10 schools in all) and had them all play the same songs at the same time.  They sounded really good!  You couldn’t tell if anyone messed up because there were so many of them.  The gym was packed because there were about 150 kids there with all their parents and families.   Here is our view – this is only one side of the gym!

My camera doesn’t take a great picture with a zoom, but I did get a shot of Kaydra at the beginning of the concert.

Kaydra had a good time and reports that she didn’t mess up!  We will have to have a personal concert so she can show us all she’s learned.  I am proud of her for trying something new.  I really hope she stays with it, I think the violin is a beautiful instrument.

Christmas cards --- check!

We worked on Christmas cards tonight.  Many of you should have them in your hands by the end of the week.  If you aren’t sure if I have your address, feel free to let me know!   I’ll post the card on the blog later – I don’t want to ruin the excitement of opening your mail!

That’s pretty much it for today.  I worked on my lesson, did a little grocery shopping, a little Christmas shopping, and picked Kaydra up from Strings.  Pretty uneventful – Nice to have a day like that every once in awhile.

Santa and A Book

Every year the kids school has a night they call “Santa and a Book”.  There are crafts, cookies, hot chocolate, and a chance to sit on Santa’s lap and get a picture.  Each child is also allowed to pick one book from a pile of books from Scholastic.  The kids really like it and we have gone every year.  This year it was on Thursday, December 8.  I had to work that night but decided that I would pick up the kids from school, grab some dinner and then head back to the school for the party.  We would stay until 6:00 and then hurry home to drop them off at Grandma’s house while I headed to work to start at 7:00.  Leonard got off work at 7:30 so he picked them up when he got off and took them home to bed.  It was a busy, crazy night.  I didn’t get as much sleep as I would have liked before I had to stay awake all night.  I was tired as I headed to work;  BUT today, I got the picture that they took at the party and it made the craziness all worth it!  See for yourself…..

What a cute bunch of kids I have --- and when did I become a mother of FOUR!!!

Love them all!

Tithing Settlement

Today we had tithing settlement.  We had the chance to talk to our Bishop and declare whether or not we are full tithe payers.   It’s also a good chance for my kids to meet with the bishop.  As we were talking about the purpose and importance of tithing, Miranda chipped in from the corner of the room:

“Hey, Bishop..”

“Yes, Miranda”

“I really like candy, ya know!”

A classic to add to the book…Of course, the bishop had a bowl of candy for the kids and was kind enough to offer my kids some even though they had a round about way of asking for it!!

Marimbas and Tree

Happy Holidays!  Today feels a little more like Christmas!  We spent the morning cleaning and sprucing up the house a bit in preparation for setting up the tree that  has been on my deck for the past week!  Then in the afternoon we went to Fred Meyer to watch Kaydra perform Marimbas.  She is really enjoying this class and does a great job.  I feel lucky that they offer such great programs at her school.  The teacher that helps teach Marimbas is Mrs. G.  She VOLUNTEERS her time at four or five different schools in the district to help the kids learn Marimbas.  We are lucky to have her! 

It’s fun to watch Kaydra and her friends learn new talents!

We came home and had dinner – together, as a family!!!! – that doesn’t happen very often because of Leonard’s work schedule --   We had homemade Barbeque Chicken Pizza. It was yummy!  Then we all worked together to decorate for Christmas and set up the tree.  I didn’t pull out the camera until the end and it took about 10 shots to get a good one!   The kids thought it was funny to make grumpy faces with the tree in the background!   Timberlyn was sleeping the entire time, which, although a little sad because it’s her first Christmas, was a blessing!

Merry Christmas!!

P.S.  I am trying to post a video of the Marimba concert….Hopefully it works and you can see it just below this entry!

Marimba Video

Girls Night

I had to work last night – it is my only shift this pay period – I know, pretty tough job!

That meant that today was pretty uneventful as I tried to catch up on my sleep.  I was able to go to a Girls Night with some other sisters in my ward.  I love my ward right now.  There are some great people in it.  People I know that I will stay connected to no matter where they live.  Every couple of months we get together for a night with just the girls. Everyone’s invited – sometimes we have 10 people and sometimes we have 30.   We bring snacks and play games and just visit and get to know each other better.  It’s great because I can really start to relate to them as people instead of “so-and-so’s mom” or “Kaydra’s primary teacher”.  They are fabulous women and I am grateful for my husbands support in my outings. 

Not much else to report today – that’s what happens when you sleep half the day away!

Happy Birthday Paul - Pearl Harbor Day

First off, Happy Birthday to my brother Paul.  Hope you had a great day!
I know that yesterday was Pearl Harbor Day, but I thought I would talk about it a little today.  Every year the kids elementary school does an assembly honoring veterans on Pearl Harbor Day.  They invite veterans from the community and perform for them.  They have three fifth grade girls lip sync as the Andrews sisters to “The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”.  I wasn’t able to go this year but I heard that it was amazing.  Kaydra said her three classmates did great on the performance and today the local Coeur d’Alene Press honored them with a front page photo.

This is Kaydra’s classmate and friend, Sarena.  Doesn’t she look great?!  The photo was so amazing that The New York Post picked it up!  They are picture 7 of 10 at this link.
http://m.nypost.com/p/news/national/pearl_harbor_remembered_7Fntdzbsukff2octb2y2cO
Kanyon said his teacher told them the photo was in Korea and New Zealand now....   As a side note, a teacher from their school was nominated for teacher of the year in Idaho!  There is a short video on the presentation of this award.  If you have sharp eyes, you can pick out Kaydra and Kanyon...Congratulations Mrs. Lenz! http://vimeo.com/33366739  … all from the smallest elementary school in Coeur d’Alene!

I can only imagine the way America must have felt on the day Pearl Harbor was bombed70 years ago.  I am so grateful for our freedom and for the country we have to live in.  Thank you to those who have served us and to those who serve, protecting our freedoms every day.

We’ve been adopted

Last Saturday Leonard went to the dump and noticed that their was cat poop in a box on the floor of our garage.  He wondered whose cat had been coming into our garage to do its business.  Later that afternoon, we were returning from a trip to town and as Kaydra got out of the car, something tried to jump at her from INSIDE the garbage can.  She screamed and we all peered over the edge of the can and found a little black kitten!

The kitten was mad and scared.  It had fallen into the garbage can somehow and it was stuck!  It kept hissing and growling at us from the bottom of the can.  I put on some gloves and pulled it out.  Once I held it, it calmed down.  It never tried to bite or scratch me – seemed like all the growling and hissing was just talk!

We put it in a box with a towel and brought it in by the fire to get warm.  The best we can figure is someone dropped it off and it found its way into our garage and has been living there for a little while, unbeknownst to us!  The first couple of days we just left it in the garage.  Leonard is very allergic to cats and Kanyon is allergic to them as well.  The kitten dander doesn’t seem to bother them as much but we CAN’T have a housecat.  Anyway,  the kitten stayed in the garage but would run away and hide any time we went out there.  We had trouble finding it at times.  One time I opened the door and the cat ran from under my car, darting under Leonard’s truck and then under our freezer!  I was glad to know it was a cat! 

It’s so cold outside that we can’t just put it out in the yard; however, we decided that we couldn’t have a cat just hiding in our garage, doing its business wherever it may, SOOOO I now have a kitten living in our half bathroom until it gets more acclimated to us and not so scared – hopefully!

As you can see, its making a mess of my bathroom and it stinks pretty good in there too, but it continues to run and hide from us – I don’t want to lose it somewhere under a couch or something.  Plus, the allergy problems….  At least it uses the litter box…..And the kids are in HEAVEN…..

The plan is to let it get used to us and then put it back into the garage until spring – then it will be an outside cat – we hope!

We don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl.  Right now, its name is Ashes.

Christmas Tree Hunting

This past Saturday, Leonard took the three older kids hunting for a Christmas Tree.  Tree hunting for our log house is exciting because we have room for a really tall tree!  I was happy to stay home with Timberlyn, who was sleeping, and make caramel corn and hot chocolate for their return.  Especially since it was a mere 20 something degrees outside. 

They came home happy, cold and successful at finding our tree for the year.  Right now it is on my deck but it will be decorated this weekend!  Christmas time is just around the corner!

Happy Holidays!

A-Post-A-Day

I have realized that I have really been slacking with my posting lately and so to make up for it I plan to try to post every day until Christmas.  My cousin Stephanie posts on her blog every day and I really enjoy reading about her day to day life.  I am realizing that the kids say some great things that I want to remember and even though I can’t commit to doing it all the time, I am going to try hard for the next few weeks to catch up and post on our lives as we prepare to celebrate Christ’s birth.  Hopefully, we will make some memories worth remembering!!

I wanted to start by posting that Kaydra and her friend Makenna are on a winning streak with their invention that they created for the Tournament of Innovation (formerly known as Invention Convention).  They invented a non-working model of a “Grow-a-matic”  Their invention magically grows hair simply by brushing.  First you spray growing spray on your brush and then you brush your head/hair and your hair will grow one inch within 5 minutes.  They thought it would be useful for cancer patients, 2-year-olds who get a hold of scissors, women who are impatient with their own hair growth, balding men, ect…

Their creation and display earned them 1st place at their elementary school and 2nd place in the district wide competition.  They are now eligible to enter the regional tournament that will take place at the mall in Coeur d’Alene in February.   Congratulations and good luck, Kaydra!!

4 months

Timberlyn hit the 4 month mark and if I don’t sit down to write about it right now then she’ll be 5 months before I know it.  Time seems to be flying by!  We are so blessed to have Timberlyn in our home.  She is such a good baby.  I’m not sure what we did to get such a mellow baby.  She is so easy going and very smiley.  She smiles every time I go to get her out of the crib.  She loves to have attention but is often content to be by herself.  Her vision is improving and she likes to lay on my living room floor and watch the fan blades spin.  She is starting to notice when she is alone and prefers to have someone within her vision.  She will lay on the floor next to me for a long time as long as she can see me…but, if I get up to do something, she will start to fuss if I don’t take her with me.  As soon as I return, she is full of smiles for me!  I love this time in a baby’s life when they seem to think that you are the best thing ever and they are so happy to see you. 

Timber had her 4 month check-up and I had to work so Leonard was able to take her to get her shots.  Everything looks good.  She still has a herniated belly button but they think it will close on its own.  She was 13 pounds 13 ounces and 26 inches long.   She didn’t like her shots but Len was able to bring her to the hospital so I could nurse her after her appointment. 

The kids still adore her and fight over whose turn it is to hold her.  She is not rolling over quite yet but has done it a couple times by accident so she is getting close.  I have a hard time leaving her on the floor because she gets mauled by the other kids so she doesn’t get much time to practice.  

Like my other children, she prefers to sleep in her bassinet and not in my arms.  This is great on every day except Sunday when I just wish she would take a little nap!  The other unique thing about Timberlyn is that she poops ALL THE TIME!!  Sorry to be so graphic but, seriously, she rarely has a diaper that is simply wet.  It’s like everything goes straight through her!!  She has started sucking her hands and loves to have them in her mouth.

Most of the time she chews on her fingers and occasionally cries because she bites down a little too hard!  She is a great baby and we love her so much!  I can’t believe how fast our time is going with her.  Don’t grow up too fast little one!

Uh Oh!

Last night I was putting the older kids in bed and I heard Timberlyn crying in my room – she had been taking a little nap.  I finished with the kids and then realized that Timberlyn had stopped crying.  I went to check on her and found she had put herself back to sleep. 

Look a little closer and you’ll see what I saw! 

At least she can soothe herself if she wants to…Hopefully it won’t become habit – although I have to admit, right now it’s pretty darn cute! 

As a side note – look at those eyelashes!  She’s giving Mandy a run for her money!

Family Pictures

I got  a great deal through Groupon for family pictures at JC Penny.  On Saturday we got to put the coupon to good use.  I will post the family pictures later, they turned out pretty good.  It’s nice to have a family picture with Timberlyn in it!  Timber was so stinkin’ cute that I thought I’d take her picture at home after we were done.  Here’s a sneak peak of what’s to come

Kanyon was happy to hold his pretty sister…

Her eyes are still changing.  They are a dark hazel right now – green or brown????

Courtney made this hat.  I have three others in different colors and I get compliments on them EVERY time she wears one – well, Timberlyn get compliments anyway!!!  She doesn’t’ have much hair and what she does have seems to be falling out so these are perfect!  Thanks Aunt Courtney!

Halloween

I am very behind on blogging so I thought I would try to do some catch up today.  We had a fun Halloween this year.  The kids all picked out their own costumes.  I bought Miranda’s on sale earlier in the month but Kaydra and Kanyon put their costumes together from things we had around the house.  I picked up a couple things from the thrift store and I made Kanyon’s vest.  It was fun to see how they turned out.  We had several Halloween events going on so they got to dress up four times!  Making use of those costumes!

Our first Halloween experience was at the Reynold’s Halloween party.  It was fun and gave even the adults a chance to dress up.  Leonard had to work all day and so he met us there.  I didn’t think he had a costume but I was SURPRISED!!  My  husband showed up as Captain Underpants!  Crazy man!  (and yes, I am totally posting a picture!

We had a good time!  Thank you Reynolds!

We didn’t have time to take pictures before the party but we did use black spray paint for Kaydra’s hair that night.  It was a MESS!  Every time she touched her hair her hands were black.  If it touched her face it smeared black on it.  By the end of the night, she had black paint all over everything!  It was even on my walls!  I had to wash her hair twice in my maid sink in the laundry and then she washed it again in the shower - with black paint pouring out each time.  We decided that wouldn’t work for the school party SO…..

We decided to dye her hair black!

I used a temporary hair dye on Friday with Markell’s help to get ready for our next Halloween event…the ward trunk or treat!

Markell and Andre came to stay with us for the weekend.  It was fun to have them here.  Archimedes is SO cute.  He’s a smiley baby, even though he wasn’t feeling very good.  I’m glad they live close enough to come visit for the weekend.   Anyway,  we dyed Kaydra’s hair on Friday night!

Before:

During:

After:

It wasn’t quite dark enough, so we did it again on Saturday morning.  It did get darker but not black. 

Still, many people have commented on her new look!  I think it is finally starting to fade a little bit.

Here are the kids all dressed up for the party.

Miranda as a strawberry, Kanyon as a pirate, Kaydra as a vampire, and Timberlyn as a skeleton

We also managed to carve some pumpkins.  I just realized I never got a picture of the end product.  Oh well, here they are in progress.

On Monday they got to wear their costumes at school and then we went to town to another friend’s party and trick-or-treating.  All-in-all it was a fantastic Halloween!

Before you read the next post…..

Can you guess which one is Miranda and which is Timberlyn?

They must be related!!