Hannah - 4 months old

Yeah - I'm back! Between Jon using the computer most of the day for the past week in order to put a presentation together and then having to completely blank out our computer and start over, I've not had much computer time! (I don't have any good pictures on the computer yet).

Back at the end of November, Hannah turned 4 months! Boy - where is the time going? She is still such an amazing baby! She loves, loves, loves watching her older siblings. It's cute when she finishes nursing, I sit her up to burp and she looks around to see what is going on. Her little life is never boring!

She had her appointment last week and she weighed 14 lbs. 12 ounces (70th percentile for her age), she's in the 70th percentile for height and 60th percentile for head size. She's also about 10th percentile for hair growth!! (Okay - that I'm not sure on, but she's pretty bald!). Her other new trick is sucking her thumb!! If she is laying on her back on the floor, she'll turn to her left hand and get her thumb in her mouth. She sucks on a pacifier, so we're hoping to just keep it at that (much easier to throw away than a thumb).

We love you Hannah! Thank you for being such a sweet girl - although very much a mama's girl!

Christmas Tree & Lego Display

One of our favorite Christmas traditions in Ohio is to go cut down our Christmas tree over Thanksgiving weekend. We had found a really nice old man who grew them on his property and then let's you come and cut them down. His wife also makes wreaths, so for the past 5 years, we've gone to his place to get our tree. Beth & Jeff have also come with us and so we get 2 trees, tie them to the top of the van and drive home like the Clampetts.

The kids love picking the tree and I must say, we've gotten quicker. The second Christmas that Jon and I were married, we went to get our tree. He dragged me to 3 or 4 lots in search of the best tree at the best price. I swore I would never Christmas tree shop with him again! But, he's gotten quicker & less picky! We found one we like and the kids helped Jon saw it down.

After we got our tree, we went to McDonald's and then the Rasmussens were able to meet us to go on yet another adventure - to a Lego display! On the freeway though, our Christmas trees were getting more and more air under them, so we did have to pull over once to tighten them down.

There is a town about 25 minutes away called Groveport and they had a free Lego exhibit at their art gallery. I love Lego exhibits, and secretly would love to be one of the people to assemble them, so we decided to go. It was really cute! They had a huge table that was full of houses, stores (including McDonald's and Pizza Hut), farms with animals, buildings, a boat area and train that was going around it. It was great!

I loved the details (including a little Lego man of Karl Malone in a Jazz jersey)!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving this year! I always miss being at home with family, but we have our wonderful Ohio family that make holidays wonderful! Jon had the day off on Wednesday and we (or rather he) spent the whole day making pies. He made apple, pumpkin, chocolate cream and cherry pie. I love that he is so good at making them and that they taste so good! (pies and bread are the two things that I just am scared to make). We were completely exhausted by the end of the day, so we went and got Sonic for dinner. Our area finally just opened a Sonic and it was fun to eat some yummy food that I didn't have to cook!

Thanksgiving Day was great too! Jon didn't have to work until that night, so he got up and played football with members of our ward. He loves playing in the Turkey Bowel and always complains of soreness for 3 days afterwards. He got home and we got everything finished up. We had Beth & Kyle, the Rasmussen family and the Arrey family over! (Our friend Heather came over later that day too, after she got off work). I love squishing everyone in our kitchen and eating Thanksgiving dinner. Kirsten & Beth made so much of the meal that it was easy to put it together. Everything tasted great! We had two turkeys, mashed potatoes & gravy, stuffing, rolls, creamed corn, green bean casserole, rainbow Jell-O, and strawberry Jell-O salad. I think as the years go by, Jon eats less and less for Thanksgiving dinner (he calls himself a "lightweight") and I eat more and more. Wow!

We then just got to enjoy each other's company. The kids played and watched "Babes in Toyland" and the girls chatted and worked on projects and the men...well, the men slept. Jon HAD to sleep because of his overnight shift and Ammon crashed in the living room too. It was a great day and always makes me stop and think about ALL that I have to be grateful for. Thank you to our dear family and friends for making another Thanksgiving so fun!

Ammon & Kirsten with their famous rainbow Jell-O (which takes hours and hours to make!)

Hailey, Brynlee & Kate at their table

Ethan, Emily, Lindsey (and Jack) at the "medium table"

Ahhhh, the sign of a good meal!

Grandpa in the movies?

My dad is a well-rounded guy, who is talented in more ways than can be counted. My kids are realizing this more and more. The other day, I checked out the old Disney movie "Babes in Toyland" from the library. Jack was looking at the back cover and saw a picture of the Toymaker, played by Ed Wynn. (He's also the actor in Mary Poppins - the uncle that floats to the ceiling by laughing). He pointed to him and asked me "Why is Grandpa in this movie?" I laughed and laughed.

My dad is a great actor (he's actually once starred in a commercial for the Salt Lake Buzz - the baseball team)! But, I must say, he is much more handsome then Ed Wynn! I tried to find the same picture of Ed Wynn that was on the back cover of the movie, but I couldn't. But, here is a picture I found.....Does anyone else see the resemblance?

My Pride & Joy

I wake up every morning and am amazed at these 5 little individuals that I love so much!

Jon & Kate Plus 8

Okay, actually it's "Jon & Jeannette Plus 8." (If you don't know what Jon & Kate Plus 8 is, it's a show on TLC about a family with 8 kids. I think it's a fun show to watch and Jon thinks I'm crazy for watching it because our own lives are chaotic enough and why would we need to watch someone else's chaotic life). Anyway, we lived Jon & Kate Plus 8 this last week.

We had three of the Rasmussen kids stay with us while Kirsten went to her sister's wedding reception with Karli (their youngest). We had them from Wednesday afternoon until Monday night (but their dad, Ammon had them all day Saturday and most of the day Sunday). Ammon had to work and was amazing at taking care of the kids whenever he could!

Ethan, Brynlee & Hailey were GREAT! They were so good and we loved having them with us. I think the only part they didn't like was being squished in the van a couple of times. In the mornings, I'd get Emily, Lindsey & Ethan to their respective schools, Jack and Brynlee to Covenant Preschool and then Hailey & Kate to their activities. We did ice skating lessons, dance lessons, gymnastics, piano lessons and a trip to Graeter's for icecream.

The kids were great about going to bed at night and we never heard a peep! We loved playing Play-Doh, building Legos, coloring pictures (I think the kids literally used up an entire coloring book), and playing games. There were lots of drinks of water and snacks to get, coats to put on, bathrooms to use and lots of smiling faces (some with dimples!). Thank you Rasmussen kids for being super duper good!

Kate & Brynlee playing with Play Doh

Ethan, Jack, Lindsey & Emily playing "Ticket to Ride"

I had a lot of good help!!! Emily reading a story to the three girls

Quick trip to Utah

Kate, Hannah and I had a great trip to Utah last week. We went to see my dad receive his award (see previous post) and it was such a treat to be there. We got up really early on Wednesday morning and flew out (this was all thank you to Kirsten for taking Emily, Lindsey & Jack the night before and for Beth and Kyle getting up at the crack of dawn to drive us to the airport). Kate and Hannah were perfect on the flights! We got to Salt Lake by 11:00 in the morning and enjoyed that day at my parent's house. That night was the award ceremony for my dad.

On Thursday, we went and visited my aunt and Grandma. It was fun to see them again and visit with them. Then, we treated ourselves to a trip to the quilt store (always a Utah favorite!). Since I only have 18 unfinished projects in my quilting closet, I thought it was necessary to add 3, no 4 more to the stash. (Hey - it keeps me sane - well, sort of). I made my mom drive through Crown Burger for lunch and then it was naptime! (Kate had been up since 4:15 in the morning for the second morning in a row). Then we went and visited my dad and friend Emily at work. Kate brought my dad a pack of Smarties ("Parties" as she calls them) and they ate them together.

On Friday, we visited my brother Peter at work and then headed to another quilt store (yeah!). Then, that afternoon, my mom, my dad, Kate, Hannah, Candy (my sister in-law) and I went to the Disney on Ice show. My cousin's husband got us tickets (Thank you so much Paul!!!) and so we went. I love these ice shows and it was wonderful. Kate was thrilled to be sitting there and when my mom asked her who her favorite was (meaning what princess was her favorite), Kate pointed to my dad. It was a great show! Then we all went to Sizzler for dinner. We then had to get up super early again on Saturday morning to catch our 6:30 a.m. flight. Once again, the girls were great! I was worried because Hannah got my cold while we were there, so I worried that her ears would hurt, but she was great and Kate was great too!

What a treat to be at home with my family for a couple of days! Thank you mom and dad for letting me come! Thank you Becky, Peter, Michael & Candy for spoiling the kids! Thank you Jon and Kirsten for taking such great care of the older kids so that I didn't have to worry about them at all! (I think they're all a little sad that mom is home and all the fun is over!).

My grandma, Kate, me, Hannah & Aunt Camille

Kate waiting for Disney on Ice (she looks so grown up!)

The best sports - my mom, dad, Kate and Candy

A Proud Daughter

I feel a little guilty blogging right now because I'm in Utah with Hannah and Kate and my other kids are being watched by Kirsten and Jon. They are doing all the hard work while I'm being spoiled by my family!

I am in Utah because my dad received a Distinguished Service Award from the Federal Bar Association and so I came to see him receive that award. We flew out yesterday morning, bright and early and then we'll just be here a couple of days. The girls were great on the flight. Hannah didn't make a peep and Kate happily sat in her seat and watched Dora and did stickers. Wow!

The award dinner was last night and it was wonderful! My cousin Meg watched Kate (Thank you again Meg!) and then the rest of us went to Little America for the evening. All of my siblings were there except my brother Richard (We missed you Rich!). They had dinner and then gave the awards. Two attorneys and two judges were honored. My dad's boss & long time friend introduced him and did such a great job. No amount of praise is ever suffficient in talking about my dad. He is a man of honor, wisdom, humor and humility. Then my dad spoke for a few minutes and did a great job. He had everyone laughing! I felt so honored and proud to be there to celebrate this with him. I have to be the proudest daughter in the world!

(Thank you so much to Kirsten and Jon for making it possible for me to come. Having responsibility for three extra kids is not easy thing to do! I appreciate it SO, SO much!).

Me, my dad, Hannah & Becky

My wonderful parents

My brother Mike, with his cute wife Candy

My dad accepting his award

Best of friends!

This picture is kind of small, but this it's a picture of our kids with their cousins the Rasmussen's. One of the great blessings of living in Ohio, is that our friends have become our family. We celebrate holidays, birthdays, major events and every day life with them. These 9 cute kids are best of friends and between Emily and Jack's birthdays, were all different ages beginning with 8 (Emily) all the way down to Hannah (0). Our lives will forever be blessed because of these incredible kids and their incredible parents!