January so far

Well I am finally caught up blogging, so this is actually a current post! I am due with baby #5 two weeks from tomorrow. AH! Crazy. So our little peanut will be here sometime in the next 4 weeks! Very exciting. This month has been a little crazy. We have had 3.5 snow days, plus a holiday, and with all the cold everyone was getting a little wild. Luckily we got a lot of snow the last week, so the kids were able to get a lot of energy out by playing in the snow! They have spent hours out there in the freezing temps sledding, building forts, making snow angels, and so on. Meanwhile, I prefer to stay indoors with Grace (she couldn't go out with her cast) where it's nice and toasty warm.

Here we are having a dance party on snow day 2. Get those wiggles out!

 This was on Sunday, January 7th. We made goals the previous Monday for Family Home Evening and one of the ones the kids made was to read their scriptures on Sunday mornings. We have 1:00 church now, so we were talking about how we can keep Sunday feeling like the Sabbath even when we don't start church until so late. With no reminding from us, we came downstairs Sunday morning to find them all in the family room reading their scriptures! It was a very happy sight and made my mother heart swell. :)

 These next pics are from last Saturday. We got a bunch of snow on Friday night was it was fun to have Jeremy home Saturday to go sledding with the kids. I did come out, but decided sledding at this point probably wasn't a great idea, so I just took pictures.

 This last week was also a little crazy with the baby. I went to my 37 week checkup last Thursday, and baby was thought to be breech, so I came back on Friday for an ultrasound, and sure enough, her head was up and her bum was down. So I had to go to the hospital on Monday for a cephalic version, where the doctor literally grabs the baby from the outside and tries to turn her upside down. As crazy as it sounds, it actually worked! And so far baby is staying put.

 My very exciting bedside companion. ;)

I was a little terrified since I heard it hurt like crazy, and while it did hurt a lot, it only took her a few minutes and wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected. We were in the hospital for about 4 hours, since they had to do blood work on me before, monitor the baby, and have me on an IV in case they needed to do an emergency c-section right then (lovely). Then after it was done the doctor wanted to monitor the baby for another hour just to make sure she wasn't too distressed. Once that was done, we were free to go! I went back yesterday for a regular check-up and my midwife was only 95% positive baby was still head down, so I went back later for yet another ultrasound where they confirmed that she was. Whew. I am hoping she stays that way so we can be done with that drama!

Then today we went back to the doctor for Grace to get her cast off! That was a happy event. Well, Grace actually was terrified and screamed and shook like crazy, but once it was done it was very happy. She will probably be limping around for awhile, but it is so nice to be done with that!

Happy New Year!

After traveling all of December, Jeremy had December 22nd - January 1st off and it was HEAVEN! It was so nice to have him around and just all be together. We played lots of games, drank lots of hot chocolate, were extremely lazy, and were totally okay with that. It was well below freezing that whole week between Christmas and New Years (and most of the time since), so it was a good time to stay inside!

 I did venture out with Grace to get her cast on and we took a family trip to Jungle Jim's one day, but that was about it. The kids also went out in the snow a couple times, but it was pretty chilly.

The nurse gave Grace's baby a cast too, which was very sweet.

I'm not sure how she expected to push all those babies at once, but they are ready to go!

 These were the best mandarins I've ever had outside of California. They tasted just like the freshly grown ones there and they were delish! Thank you Jungle Jim's!

New Year's Eve we had our traditional snackies for lunch and then we spent most of the afternoon playing games. That night we had shrimp and vegetable tempura for dinner (we did that with Jeremy's parents last year and it was a hit!) and then watched the London countdown and fireworks with the kids (which we also did last year - they put on quite a production! way better than NYC).

 New Year's Day was much of the same, with our again annual spring roll making. We really need to make these more often. They are so delicious and healthy and the kids devour them. We do an assembly line and everyone helps make them. Yum!!!

Christmas

Christmas Day was lovely! It was a bit of a blur because Grace was literally awake until 2am Christmas Eve night because of her broken leg, and then she woke up at 6am and was quite cranky, but other than that, it was a great day! The kids were anxious to go downstairs!

 Everyone was excited about their new things. Connor and Eli had been requesting a basketball hoop and a drone (respectively) for months, and neither one thought they would actually get them, so they were very pleasantly surprised! Anna wanted a swingset, but that's a little difficult in the winter, so we got her a slide and she has been enjoying it! It was going to be for both the girls, but then Grace broke her leg, so we were happy we had stashed away this little rocking horse from our neighbor thinking we might give it to her for Christmas or her birthday. That worked out great!

 It was a beautiful sunny day and looked so pretty with our little dusting of snow. This is the closest we've ever had to a white Christmas, so we were excited!

 Grace got several new baby dolls for Christmas and has been loving on them lots.

 Knowing how much my husband likes soft cuddly things I got him the world's softest shirt (it's like a thick blanket made into a shirt) and a plush throw blanket. He was pretty happy!

 Weee!

 The Weaver cousins got Eli this pentomino puzzle and everyone was obsessed with it for the first few days! My mom literally spent hours on it every night after the kids went to bed, it was hilarious.

 Along with the Bop-It. Haha.

 We got lots of new fun games too! And yes, everyone's wearing shorts and it was super freezing outside (I think this was actually the day after Christmas). They think as long as we don't have to go anywhere that day, they can wear shorts. Whatevs.

 Handsome man.

 My dad took this picture. It was one of a few smiles we got from Grace on Christmas Day! Poor baby. Glad she got to enjoy her horsie!

It was a great Christmas! We just hung out at home playing games and resting Christmas Day and the day after and then on the 27th, Jeremy and I went down to Louisville to go to the temple. My parents watched the kids and we were able to go do sealings in the temple together, which we hadn't done in a really long time. After, we went to lunch and then headed home and then my parents left shortly after. It was a good visit!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was on a Sunday this year which I thought was perfect. It was nice to get all ready in our nice Sunday clothes and go enjoy a meeting filled with Christmas music and messages. Then we came home and enjoyed being all together as we prepared for our special Christmas Eve dinner and evening.

 My parents drove down that day and joined us until the 27th. I also invited my friend Jami over with her two kids. Her husband started a new job out of state and she has a toddler and brand new baby and was alone for Christmas. :( We enjoyed having her with us Christmas Eve. Her daughter and Grace are only a week apart.

We were hoping for a white Christmas and late afternoon, it started to snow!

 We had a delicious Christmas Eve dinner - ham, roasted potatoes, rolls, Brussels sprouts, carrots, broccoli cauliflower salad, spinach strawberry salad, and Christmas jello. It was delicious!

 More snow coming down!

 Connor had fun holding baby Kamden. Good practice!

 After dinner we cleaned up and prepared for our annual nativity reenactment. It was fun to have a few more participants this year and a live baby Jesus! :) Last year we added Samuel the Lamanite to our lineup and it was a hit again this year. Connor was Samuel and we all had fun throwing stones at him (and missing, of course).

 Grandma was our angel appearing to Mary.

 Jeremy was the donkey and Eli was a disgruntled Joseph (haha, neither of the boys ever want to be Joseph).

 Our baby Jesus wasn't so sure at first, but he settled down and was so good!

 Connor was sore afraid of that angel!

 The three wisemen:

 After the nativity, we had lots of tasty treats for dessert. I went overboard as I do every year, making goodies all month for friends and neighbors and freezing extra to pull out on Christmas Eve. We had fudge nut cookies, fudge mint cookies, snowball cookies, fudge, Monster M&M cookies, ginger cookies, cinnamon sugar almonds & pecans, and Jami brought some cream cheese brownie bites. Pretty fun!

After dessert, we got the kids to bed and began Christmas morning preparations. Jeremy got to work on Connor's new basketball hoop!

 I love seeing everything set up and ready right before we go to bed, anticipating the excitement of the next morning. It was a great Christmas Eve!