Decorating

Well last night we finally pulled out the Christmas boxes and started decorating.

This is what is going on as I am pulling out all the boxes.

Will was awesome with the garland. and the shatterproof ornaments.

Sorry it is fuzzy.

Annmarie is learning the art of hanging up the ornaments

I think this was the only one Jeffrey put on the tree. all the other ones he pulled down.

So now all things on the tree are 3 feet and up. Love toddlers :)

Here is what Jed did. I know this is a wow close up photo but I love it

This morning Will woke up and asked where the presents were. Yeah like we are gonna put them out before Christmas morning. The kids have been going though fun stages lately.

Actually Will has been doing awesome. He is being really good. I keep waiting for him to change back but hopefully he will only get better. His Pre-school teacher told Chris on Tuesday that he is one of the best behaved kids in the class and that she thinks he would do good in Kindergarten next year. We will decide on that one later but it is nice to know that he is good for others.

Annmarie has been continuing her screaming stage. I am hoping this stops soon. Other than that she is doing well. She asks to help me do things when she doesn't want to play in the room with the boys. Not that I blame her.

Jeffrey got a hair cut yesterday. Someone said he looks like Mark Harmon on NCIS. Wow could you pick my favorite TV character!!! also we (yes Chris also) noticed he has the looks where he looks just like his cousin Matt Rapier. Jeffrey also thinks he doesn't need naps anymore. Just ask anyone in a 5 mile radius of our church on Sunday. I was outside (all the way outside) for 45 min with him screaming. This is because he was so tired yet refused to go to sleep while I was holding him!!!! most days if is a huge fight to get him to even sleep during nap time. We are loving all of his stubbornness. We are still trying to figure out who he got that one. Neither will admit it is from our side. I think this might answer the question.

Jed is doing Awesome. Last night he slept from 10 - 6!!!! I feel almost human again. Isn't that a song on beauty and the Beast? Monday night we had our angle tree activity. Lots of people brought homemade treats. The sugar cookies, snicker doodles, and peanut butter chocolate things were too much to resist. (way to go Sage and Samantha). I decided this would be a good test to see if Jed really didn't like dairy or if it was all in my head. Yeah he really doesn't like dairy. At least now I'm sure sure and know it wasn't all in my head.

Exciting news with Chris. Today they bid shifts again and he got to go to the Day shift!!!!! yeah help at night!!! Can you tell I'm a little excited!!! Yeah heard today 12/4 that they took away a day position so Chris will be staying on swing shift. That's what happens when you get too excited.

Me . . . I am back at the gym and loving it!!! I am slowly returning to normalness and feeling actually like I can keep my house clean (Karen clean) again.

Cuties!

Yes we had a good thanksgiving. But the exciting thing is we as a family went out shopping yesterday on Black Friday! Why did we take the whole family you ask. well. . . . we first went to the gym (so glad to be back to the gym, some feeling of normalcy has returned) Then we did it we hit the store with all they crazies. Where did we go. Well walmart . . . was never a consideration, neither were a lot of other stores mostly because we don't NEED a whole lot this year. So we all got out of the car and had found a pretty good parking spot. Got 3 kids into a shopping cart and headed in to . . . Costco. yes I know this is so exciting. But hey the most exciting is just to come. As we were going to just get bagels (yeah right we all know how that turns out. the curse of having Costco within 2 miles) and guess what I found in the fruit section? Cuties!!!! oh how I love these tiny little oranges. Another great thing all my kids love them and eat them like candy!!! I have to say no more oranges until after . . . etc. Hopefully you all found such exciting things on black Friday, but it will be hard to top my great find.

Call out

Hey there as the time approaches for Thanksgiving this week. I realize how little time I have to take a photo of the kids. Yes this year will be just the kids, wonder why? send them to Costco, address them and mail them. Hopefully this will happen sometime before 09. If you all could help me by emailing me your addresses. Regardless if you think I have them or not. That would be wonderful!!!! karen_scott24@yahoo.com

side note. I love the photo at the top of my blog. Will and Jed are just staring at each other. Will is an awesome older brother and really really loves his siblings. We are so thankful to have him and all our other wonderful kids.

An awesome talk some 30 years ago

Sunday night I was sitting at a fireside about our up coming Pioneer Trek in WY this summer. A member of our stake presidency got up and gave this long quote from Elder Maxwell back from 1978! oh my how it applies to today. Enjoy!

"Make no mistake about it, brothers and sisters, in the months and years ahead, events are likely to require each member to decide whether or not he will follow the First Presidency. Members will find it more difficult to halt longer between two opinions. President Marion G. Romney said, many years ago, that he had 'never hesitated to follow the counsel of the Authorities of the Church even though it crossed my social, professional or political life.'"This is hard doctrine, but it is particularly vital doctrine in a society which is becoming more wicked. In short, brothers and sisters, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the prophets of Jesus Christ. . . . Your discipleship may see the time when such religious convictions are discounted. . . . This new irreligious imperialism seeks to disallow certain opinions simply because those opinions grow out of religious convictions."Resistance to abortion will be seen as primitive. Concern over the institution of the family will be viewed as untrendy and unenlightened....Before the ultimate victory of the forces of righteousness, some skirmishes will be lost. Even in these, however, let us leave a record so that the choices are clear, letting others do as they will in the face of prophetic counsel. There will also be times, happily, when a minor defeat seems probable, but others will step forward, having been rallied to rightness by what we do. We will know the joy, on occasion, of having awakened a slumbering majority of the decent people of all races and creeds which was,till then, unconscious of itself. Jesus said that when the fig trees put forth their leaves, 'summer is nigh.' Thus warned that summer is upon us,let us not then complain of the heat." --- Elder Neal A. Maxwell

here is the link for the entire article

Where has the time gone

OK so yes I have a new baby etc. But I think this has been the longest time in between posts. What have we been up to? well. . . blessing Jed, playing, pre-school, seeing family, no longer eating dairy, playing at the gym and riding bikes. I'm sure there has been more and I will explain some in a little more detail.

My mom came 2 weeks ago today and left on Monday. Yes I was spoiled for almost 2 weeks and these last few days have been an adjustment. Jeffrey is very sad his personal playmate is gone. I am sad because I have had to listen again for Jed at night and make all the food, clean, wash clothes, fold them. Yes I was very very spoiled. Chris and I even got a few outings alone while she was here!! not sure when that's going to happen again but we were so grateful for the chance to be alone even if for just a few min.

On Sunday 11/9 we blessed Jed. We were lucky to have all of Chris's family here. We also had My mom and bro-in-law Owen here. We were so grateful for all who made the effort to come. we really appreciate you being here for Jed on one of his many big days.

Jed . . . well lets just say that he is a little picky. Last week I took him to the drs because he was spitting up all the time and was having stomach issues. All of my kids have been spitters but Jed was way way beyond that. The Dr (who is the best Dr ever. . . OK close 2nd to Dr Broadbent) gave me a prescription for Acid Reflux meds for Jed. After 3 days of giving him the meds and no change, we said what could I be eating that is effecting him so much. I had already cut out chocolate and garlic. What else could there be. Only something that I eat multiple times a day!!!! Dairy!!!! So within 24 hours a stopping all dairy intake Jed's spit up decreased by a huge margin. I guess I got my answer. I was kind of excited because I said well at least I can eat chocolate again. Where has my brain gone. Almost all chocolate has milk in it. The as I was looking through the grocery store yesterday I found that everything has dairy. To drowned my sorrows I bough a family size bag of Cheetos. Then after I had a few I said I wonder if there is cheese in there. There's no way it is a processed food, there is nothing real in it. Wait!!! there is cheese. so I couldn't even drown my sorrows in it. Looks like saltines and sherbet will be my new best friends.

So I am now looking for meal's that do not include dairy. (The Dr said that around 4 - 6 months is when he should be able to handle it. . . 3 more months)

This is where Annmarie can almost always be found. She loves coloring and puzzles.

Jeffrey is showing off his beautiful black marker lipstick. Who's kid is this? he must be Chris's

Will has amazed me with his willingness to help. He is always wanting to hold Jed. Sometimes to much but hey he is willing to help.

a whole lotta photos

Here are photos from the past few weeks. They include Jeffrey's new hair do. Annmarie's pumpkin carving party. Riding bikes, and just having fun. Enjoy

we might let his hair grow out a comb it more often

Jed at about 2 weeks

Helping carve pumpkins

Jeffrey was the only one of my kids to put their hands in

Jeffrey on his manly big wheel (guess who gave it to him when they got their big bike?)

Riding off to see the world

Day 1 with no training wheels. Happy happy face.

Day 2 doing a little better huh

3 weeks old

Look what we found?

well the last few weeks have gone bye a little fast. Amazing how this has happened. We have been busy with life and other holiday activities.

First off Annmarie had a birthday. Yes she is now the big 3. you should see her make a 3 with her fingers she does the ASU pitchfork. She got a new bike and is so excited to have her own bike. She has learned very quickly to ride it as is evidence by the movie. This was only the 3rd time. She had a small party where we carved pumpkins. ate cake and played a few games. She got some girly things which I realized that hey she might need some toys other than cars. She got a stroller with a baby and oh man oh man. She loves this thing.

Will has been busy with pre-school and life being a oldest brother. He will hold Jed anytime he can. There are times that he just wants to hold his fingers etc, which tend to be during feeding time or while Jed is sleeping. Will had his first primary program on Sunday. He knew the songs thanks to a CD from the ward that had all the songs on it which we have listened to the last month in the car. He memorized his line and spoke it great when it was his turn. ON Monday Chris took the training wheels off his bike. There was a lot of disagreement from Will on this but as seen in the video 3 times later Will is doing great on the bike.

Jeffrey loved spending so much time with Daddy, (he just went back to work yesterday). He likes to hold Jed on his own terms. He is talking and talking and talking. We are not sure of what he says most of the time but hey he is trying.

Jed is doing great. He has had 1 night of 1 wake up. and is usually just 2 times. Hopefully the 1 night feedings become more regular. at his 2 week apt he was above his birth weight and was 8lbs 4 oz. so he is getting bigger. He seems to have an aversion to chocolate and Garlic, much to my dismay.

Chris was wonderful the last few weeks. He did a great job being Mr. Mom the taxi driver, cook, and amazing husband. We are sad to see him go back to work but hey someone has to earn some money to pay for our crazy family.

if only I had a camera close by . . .

Funniest thing happened today. I was feeding Jed on the couch, with Chris hold Jeffrey next to me and Jeffrey wanted to hold Jed. I told him he was eating. So Jeffrey leaned over and bit Chris on the chest. Then started to lift his shirt up. Oh man I was laughing so hard. Probably not the most appropriate thing to blog about but it was way to funny not to.