Earth to Kristin, Come in, Kristin

What? It's almost 2009?

I haven't dropped off the face of the earth. And to prove it, I will commence to post a massively long, mildly entertaining post interspersed periodically with pictures.

December 3--Aubrey finished Art Class. I was really sad because it was always fun to have her come home with a different project every week. Even though sometimes we got tempera on the car upholstery (shh, don't tell Chad, it came right out), and even though her teacher lost the project of Aubrey's I was most looking forward to (the clay), it still was successful, and I think Aubrey wants to do it again in the Spring. She has a lot of strange and wonderful pieces of artwork, you should come see her portfolio sometime.

December 5-- Ward Christmas party. A really well done affair that was so simple and so good. And I hope Mandy, if you're reading this, I hope you send me the recipe for the chicken, which was awesome. My children went to Santa, Aubrey more than Andrew, which is more than I can say for some other kids. I love watching their reactions-- the cryers are so much more entertaining, even if they are not as photogenic for posterity. My kids have never had Santa phobia, though Andrew's somewhat unsure reaction to sitting on Santa's lap resembles almost exactly Aubrey's at that age. So funny.

December 9-- My mom (and dad on the 12th) came back from India! We see them on the webcam all the time, but we hadn't seen them in person since July, and there's just something about being able to see my mom and dad face to face that is so wonderful. My mom came back a few days earlier than expected, so we decided ahead of time to surprise Aubrey. We went to the school and pulled Aubrey out a few hours early, and she was SO surprised. I could tell by the look on her face when she was several feet from the door of the office, that once she saw her grandma through the glass windows waiting for her, her main objective was to get to her as fast as possible. She all but leapt into my mom's arms and just laid on her shoulder, so shocked and happy to see her earlier than expected. I knew exactly how she felt. The office ladies thought we had said my mom came in from Indiana, and and when we corrected them, "no, India," Aubrey's reaction made even more sense. Aubrey and my mom went home and immediately started playing, and I have to hand it to my mom, because she had just traveled for 24 hrs. and was 12 hours ahead body time, and severely jet lagged, and still she was playing Barbies with Aubs. As much as she could really, because she did start falling asleep, mid Barbie sentence. But that afternoon, Aubrey had a little party so my mom did get a little nap in, I think. That was probably her only nap, because my children kept her pretty occupied all the time they were her. My dad came too, on Friday, and from then on, Chad and I pretty much took a back seat. Which is great by me.

So, the annual kid party, was a success. This year, we made cards and cookies to give away to some elderly/hospitalized/possibly lonely people in our ward. I was really glad we did something that went beyond my daughter's own happiness.

But we did actually have a gift exchange too, which is always exciting. And Andrew did put down his cheese stick long enough to participate as well.

I also went to Bunko that night and I won, amazingly enough. I never win at Bunko, but this time I won some fun Gingerbread Man scissors and cute ribbon, that were well used by the time gift wrapping was over on Christmas Eve.

December 10th-- It snowed! To say the snow was unexpected was an understatement, since the day before, it was about 75 degrees. But, it got really cold and rainy, and then around 2:45, I noticed it starting to hail a little bit, and by the time I arrived at Aubrey's school at 3:00, it was snowing. They were little snowflakes, but they were snowflakes. I think I was definitely more excited than Aubrey or Andrew. Only because they didn't know how rare it was. It did snow a little bit on Christmas Eve about three or so years ago, but it was late at night, and we couldn't play in it, and it didn't snow for that long.

This time, we spent the next hour or so playing in the snowflakes with our neighbors (I can't say we played in the snow, because it didn't really stick to the ground, so we could only frolick around while the snow was falling). We rotated from the house to the yard, and back again, when it got too cold. Andrew thought it was too cold. Aubrey thought it was fun, but not fun enough to stay out and play. I kept saying, "let's go play in the snow! IT'S SNOWING!!!" And by the fourth or fifth time I said that, Aubrey dryly replied, "I know that mom. You've said that already." But we did catch snowflakes on our tongues... ...and even made a five inch snowman from the snow that accumulated on our fence and trampoline.


It snowed again that night, just a little bit, but we only found out when we looked outside after it finished falling, and saw a thin layer of snow on our slide. When I lived in Utah, I wouldn't have batted an eye at the miniscule amount of snow, but here, as tiny as the snowfall was, it was special. (And kind of funny that I was so excited about it).


December 12th-- We had a fun friend party including food, karaoke, and a gift exchange where Chad scored a Callaway golf bag, thanks to some help from Sunnie, who was sitting next to us. (She got it, I stole it from her, and then Chad stole it the second time, so then he got to keep it). We tried to find who brought that bag, but we didn't ever figure it out. I was glad he got it though because plans were already in the works to buy him a nice driver, and they would go nicely together.


December 13th--Aubrey finished her career as a Screaming Gopher. She was the Team Captain the last game, the benefits of which are three-fold: You get to wear the "Team Captain" sticker. You get called first in the team lineup. And, you get the first kick of the game. That's pretty much all there is to being Team Captain, but it's always very exciting when it is your turn. Aubrey wore her sticker with pride. Her name was called first, and she ran up to Coach Dad/Chad and gave him a high five-jump combo, and then neglected to land on her feet on her descent back to the grass. An auspicious beginning, to be sure. She played really well her last game and I can't help but be proud at her improvement of skills. The first few games when she was on the field she didn't even try to kick the ball, even when it was close. When she played goalie, I internally cringed when she twined her fingers into the net and gazed at the clouds when the ball was rolling past. But this last game, she was alert, went after the ball, tried to kick it, and when she was the goalie, she didn't let any balls past her. I still can say with some level of certainty that her favorite part of Soccer Saturdays is playing on the playground after the game, or maybe the team party at Chuck E. Cheese, but in any case, has come a long way and I was proud of her. Proud of Chad too, for toughing it out as the coach, perhaps the harder of the two jobs. He really had no qualms with being coach, except for the last game, when he got called names by the coach of the other team, (which coach also yelled angrily at the our team's parents-- taking out the fun, fairness, and positivity of Fun Fair Positive Soccer). I personally really thought that, as adults, we are past calling each other "retarded" and other derogatory names, but apparently, I was mistaken. But anyway, we were glad to have my parents back from India attending a soccer game with us, especially when Aubrey did so well, and when she got a trophy at the end. She now has almost as many trophies as I received in my whole athletic career. December 16-- Enrichment. In the middle of doing all these other things, I was also getting ready for Enrichment. Being the Enrichment leader in our ward was a daunting task for me to take over last March, but never as daunting as it was for our December Enrichment, because I really wanted it to be special. This is actually one of the first leadership positions I've ever had, so I have felt especially like a newbie, in a calling whose results are very visible to others. And also coming after a very talented Enrichment leader. Getting a new Enrichment counselor and new assistant Enrichment leader, along with shuffling around the Enrichment board in the couple weeks before the actual Enrichment night, didn't make it any easier. Fortunately, the people that were added were really enthusiastic about their callings and we worked really well together. There were a lot of other helpers too, that made things run smoothly. It's always a little stressful for me to give someone a job and then let them do it without my interference. But I realized some months ago that doing their jobs, or doing everything myself, is taking away potential blessings from others. Everyone did their jobs, everything came together, and I think it was really successful. I heard afterwards from several people, that it was one of the most fun Enrichments we've ever had, so I was pleased. We ended up doing a dinner and a service auction. Chad was the auctioneer. I have always loved Chad for his sense of humor, which is enhanced when he is in front of an audience. Anytime there was something he wanted me to bid on, he would just bid for me, or else close the auction right after I made a bid, even if it was the opening one. One thing, I think it was a cheesecake, he really wanted, and I bid everything I had, which was 25 tickets, but I got outbid, which prompted Chad to ask if he was only a 25 ticket husband. His funniness added to the enjoyment of the evening, and I'm confident that Enrichment was a success overall... But it's always a relief to have it over. (I just wish I would have taken some pictures!)


December 18-- Andrew's ECI appointment Andrew has really been making strides in terms of language and physical growth. In the past several months, he's grown 2 or 3 inches and gained over a pound. He finally crested the 20 pound mark, which we have been working so hard to achieve-- by feeding him foods high in fat content. (It also helps that he favorite food these days is Corn Dogs). He is still just in the 3rd percentile for proportion, but he is steadily gaining, so that makes us hopeful. They really wanted us to go see the Gastroenterologist again, but I have had a really hard time getting a hold of them. We may end up seeing a endocrinologist too, since I have hypothyroidism, and so do some of my grandparents. So metabolism could play a part in it as well. In the meantime, we just keep feeding him, among other things, lots of Carnation Instant Breakfast in his milk, peanut butter, ranch dressing, cream cheese, high fat yogurt, and mashed potatoes with lots of butter and sour cream. (The mashed potatoes doubles as a styling medium for hair... this picture is so gross... boys are so gross).
He is signed up for a speech class beginning in January, so that will be helpful as well for his language. He is starting to use more two word phrases, and occasionally he will count to three or five by himself, but for the most part, he is still only saying one word phrases. Hopefully the speech class will help with that as well. He is definitely in the throes of the terrible twos because the most frequent word we hear out of his mouth is, of course, "NO!"



December 24, 25th--Christmas! Probably, Christmas Eve and Christmas should be its own post, but I am on a roll here, so I'll just keep going. Chad's brother Mike and his wife Elise and their six kids came for Christmas. It was fun to have a lot of cousins for Aubrey and Andrew to play with. And it always feels more Christmasy when there's family from out of town. We had a really fun time with them just hanging out. And it's especially nice when Chad has so much time off. I really like him, you know, so it's great to spend some extra time with him. We ate a lot of cookies, fudge pie, yummy stuff, and also played lots of games. Adding to my current list of accomplishments, I can now add Break the Ice champion to the list. (Chubby Bunny champion is also a treasured accomplishment).



I had already gone shopping with my dad to buy the driver for Chad. After doing some homework, I decided on the 2007 Big Bertha driver. I originally wanted to get him some irons, or maybe the woods, but those you should be fitted for, and also they're really expensive. You can buy them one by one, but you maybe not be able to get all of them before they are discontinued if you do it that way. And, I should add that Chad has a tendency to guess his gifts, or spoil them in some way. So I hardly ever get to surprise him. Even getting that Callaway golf bag cheapened the surprise a little for me because I didn't want him thinking I had the idea for a driver only after he got the bag. A lot of the time he winds up with practical stuff, or little things, and this Christmas, I wanted him to have something really exciting and special. And so after I got it, I hid it at his parents' house, in this really long stocking made for golf clubs. The stocking itself was pretty sweet. A few days before Christmas, somehow the receipt for it fell out of my purse and I thought for sure he'd seen it and spoiled the surprise, but he was very surprised and happy Christmas morning to see it. It was probably my best gift giving to him ever in our married life. So that was probably the best part of Christmas for me. Christmas Eve was filled with the normal stuff... Acting out the nativity... This was fun, because this year, we actually had baby cousin Bradley to be Baby Jesus, Aubs got to be Mary and Andrew was a very entertaining shepherd (whose tendencies to ham it up so much resemble his father's). The nativity actors and actresses got a little bit distracted, but it turned out all right. My sister in law Janae and I sang Mary's Lullaby, The kids were bouncing off the walls, and we threw Reindeer food (oatmeal and glitter). Chad read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. This was the only calm moment in the whole evening, and it passed so briefly I scarcely remember it.Eventually everyone went to sleep and Christmas morning came bright and early, and was very chaotic, as anyone celebrating Christmas with 8 children would know. Aubrey was thrilled with her gifts, most notably, Littlest Pet Shop, the Diamond Castle Barbie, and Belle with her own pony to ride. She had some gift money left over so she got the other Diamond Castle Barbie, so now they sing their duets in harmony. She has been busy snce then playing with her many toys. She hardly knows what to play with next because she has so many great ones added to her collection. (I know I will regret the million tiny pieces of Littlest Pet Shop, but oh well). Andrew was very overwhelmed with the whole Christmas morning thing, but he was excited to receive Elmo Live. Elmo is a very cute little guy we have had fun with for a week now. He also got some trucks and balls and other boy toys that have been put to good use already also. We actually went through our old toys several days before Christmas and separated out some old ones we don't play with to donate, so our house will not be overly cluttered. Even I was good this year, and I received some excellent gifts: day spa gift certificate, Hunter Pence Astros jersey (contrary to popular belief, I don't have a crush on Hunter Pence, but he is my favorite Astros player), some awesome items from India, as well as a whole binder of ready made FHE lessons (so awesome-- can't tell you how excited I am about that one) and the traditional yearly family calendar that gets better every year. We had an excellent Christmas.

And now... on to some big news... and it's not that we're having a baby. We finally have put our house up for rent. The news that we are planning to move is not really news, we've been planning on it since about October, and word has spread. But we've finally decided to take obvious action. (the not obvious action we have taken was us privately pursuing a few leads of people we knew who were looking for housing, which leads never panned out). It's kind of sad, but we know it is the right thing for our family, and so we will go. But only once we have someone for our house. So it might not be for a while, or, it might be in a couple weeks. Who knows. We have hopes that if it was soon, Aubrey would still be able to attend Kohrville through the end of the year. Which will be a sacrifice, to be sure, but something we feel we should do also. We still would love to rent it to someone we know, and I guess we aren't opposed to selling our house either, but renting is what we've decided on for now. So if any of you know someone out there, looking, send them our way.

So, we're now just spending the rest of the break hanging out, watching movies, reading books, and that sort of thing. I've read Small Change, which was a really cute book, and cracked open The Christmas Sweater, and am in the middle of The Zookeeper's Wife. Aubs has read a whole chapter book herself over the break also, Holly the Christmas Fairy. We've watched Elf, A Christmas Story, Iron Man, Eagle Eye, Mamma Mia, SpiderMan 2, Enchanted, High School Musical, and still need to watch Prince Caspian, and others. Chad and Aubs go back on Monday, and our routine starts again. We've had a full, fun, and fulfilling December.

What will 2009 hold?