Cute Christmas Princess

I just had to post these cute pictures of Charlee in her Christmas outfit.  We took her to my work party in it, and of course everyone thought she looked adorable.  

James had his Christmas presentation at school the other day.  I had my friend Alicia's kids with me, so it was a little crazy, but I enjoyed seeing James sing the songs he learned.  Unfortunately, my camera was being naughty, so the pictures didn't turn out good at all.  I did get most of it on video, though.  

Jason and I were planning on going out tonight to celebrate our anniversary (eight years on Monday!!) but the weather may not allow that.  We have huge snow drifts and the temps are below 0.  I just hope the weather behaves closer to when we want to travel to Idaho for Christmas.  I would be absolutely heartbroken if we couldn't go.

Anyway, enjoy the pics.  

School news

So I finally heard from the Midwives College of Utah today and I got accepted into the program.  Hooray!  Now I can finally get going with things that have been on hold while I've been waiting to hear back, like getting my apprentice license.  I attended a couple of births last week at the Birth Center, and Elaine the midwife there started teaching me a few things.  It was very exciting to start learning new things.  I know I have a really long way to go, but I love learning and expanding my skills.  It's kinda weird to be a college student again.  It's definitely not going to be the same the second time around.

Christmas lights

So I am very proud of myself.  I hung Christmas lights for the first time this year...all by myself!  It was kinda scary when I was hanging them at the highest part of the roof, but luckily I didn't fall off the ladder.  Now I just need to figure out an easier way to have them turn on and off, cuz I get sick of going out every evening to plug them all in and out.

We went to the Christmas stroll and lights parade last night.  The kids had a lot of fun at the parade.  They collected a lot of candy and got excited about all the lit up floats.  Afterwards, we went home and watched the Grinch on TV and they ate all their candy.  I figured, hey, it's the weekend, it can't hurt, right?

The kids

Here are some pictures of what the kids have been up to.  James is playing indoor soccer.  I don't think he likes it very much.  He obviously stays away from the ball and doesn't even try to kick it unless it is right in front of him.  After a while in the games, he just walks aimlessly around the court and says he's tired of running.  :)  I guess he won't be a professional soccer player.  Sigh.  Just kidding.  He reminds me of me.  I never could get into playing sports when I was young.  I was always confused about the rules and afraid of the ball.  I do want to encourage him to participate in some kind of physical sport in his life, but maybe that will be something like biking or snowboarding rather than organized team sports.  We'll see.  The other pictures are of us at the festival of trees.  It was really fun.  They had lots of rooms with different activities for the kids, and the main room had lots of beautifully decorated trees.  I think this will be something we will do again next year (if we are still living here next Christmas, that is.  Can you believe we are counting down months instead of years until we move again?)

Thanksgiving

Well, I was a dork and forgot the camera during our Thanksgiving dinner, so you'll just have to read about it instead.  It was so nice to have somewhere to go since Jason was working.  Me and the kids and 4 other families and the missionaries gathered at the church for dinner.  We all made food to bring.  I made a 24 pound turkey (the biggest and, might I say, the best I've ever made so far) and stuffing, gravy, sweet potato casserole, and pilgrim hat cookies for the kids.  There was all sorts of yummy food there.  It was  a lot of fun.  We just ate and talked and one of the families brought Wall-E for the kids to watch.  All of us there live far away from our families and so we just became family for each other.  I am so grateful to live by really wonderful people who care so much about each other.  It makes living far away from family bearable.  If any of my Great Falls family (aka my awsome friends) are reading this...I love you!!

Update

I hadn't posted in a while, so I thought I'd update.  Not a lot has happened that is worth mentioning.  I went to Twilight with my friends Shar and Tiffany today.  I definitely love the books more than the movie, but that's not surprising.  It was super fun to get out and spend time with friends without kids, though.  Jason was a sweetheart and stayed with the kids for me.  

I haven't got called in to a birth for the last 2 months when I have been on call.  I am finding that I really miss it when I don't go to a birth for that long.  I really love what I do.  Also, I need to be saving birth money for school, so hopefully I don't have too many more "dry" months like this.  I don't know if any of you watch the Today Show, but they featured doulas last Thursday.  I was pretty disappointed with their segment.  They had a doctor who claimed that doulas are only a luxury for women with means.  That is very much not true, as many doulas work for barter, low fees or for free.  They mentioned a few other things that just put doulas in an unfairly negative light.  I just hope that women who are considering a doula do their homework and don't just take the media word for it.  There, I'll get off my soapbox.

Well, I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving.  I wish we could be with you all.  We miss our friends and family!

Christmas freak

OK, I'm an official Christmas freak.  I've been listening to a Christmas radio station on itunes since 2 days after Halloween.  My kids kept pressuring me to set up our Christmas decorations, so today we set up our Christmas tree.  There are two rows of lights out, though, so now I have the fun duty of going through each light to find out which one has gone bad.  Yeah.  :(  So, I know that whenever friends come over between now and Thanksgiving, they will make fun of me, but oh, well.  Christmas music and lights just make me happy and put me in a good mood, and who doesn't want that?  So, Merry early Christmas everyone.  Plus, since Jason is on alert during Thanksgiving, I am not really excited about that holiday, so I'm simply skipping over it.  :)

Halloween

Halloween is so fun with kids.  They were totally excited all day.  Charlee was a big hit with everyone in her little devil costume.  We took them to the mall to trick or treat, which was pretty crowded and chaotic.  Then we took them around a neighborhood on base.  We hardly got any trick or treaters because our neighborhood is clearing out and they are not moving anyone else in (our houses will be torn down after all the people move out).  So now we have too much extra candy.  Anyway, enjoy the pics.

Home Sick

I'm totally bummed to be home sick today because we missed the Primary program.  James diligently practiced his line and had it down perfect!  I was so proud and excited to see him say it and sing in the program, but then I woke up at about 4 this morning and knew I wasn't going to church.  Jason is on alert, and so the kids just had to stay home with me.  I have practically no voice.  I had to call my friend Shar to come get some crafts to display at church for our enrichment group coming up, and I'm sure she loved hearing my crackly "man voice" over the phone.  

In other news, I had my official interview with the midwife college this week.  It went very well.  My only concern is that I think they have lost a couple of my application materials.  She asked me if I was going to send in another recommendation letter and I told her it had been sent in and marked as received for weeks!  So, she ended up just calling my friend for the recommendation, which ended up being good cuz then my friend totally bragged on me.  (Thanks, Marie!)  

The kids are doing great, besides the fact that Charlee is totally bugged at me right now for not holding her.  She is spoiled and likes to be in somebody's arms at all times.  James is loving school.  It is fun at the end of each school day to see him come off the bus and be all excited to tell me about what he did that day.  I check his school work and am very proud of him because he always does such a great job.  

Jayden is in a joyschool (funny huh?  Remind you of the 1980's, anyone?).  My week for teaching is this week and it's my first time.  Wish me luck.  There is only 3 kids, though, so it shouldn't be too bad.  

Holidays this year are going to be lonely.  Jason is on alert on Halloween and I just found out yesterday that he is going to be on alert during Thanksgiving, too.  If they schedule him for Christmas on top of that, I might freak out.  So, maybe we just won't do turkey this year, cuz there's no way I'm cooking a whole turkey dinner just for me and the boys.

Help!

OK, I need help.  I've just spent the last couple of precious child free hours trying to look up ideas for our Christmas enrichment.  I have gotten nowhere.  It seems the internet has a vast amount of information today, just not the information I need.  So if ANYONE is reading this blog, please give me ideas on memorable Christmas HFPE nights or anything that might spark something in my brain.  As of right now, I've got nothin'.

Here's a few more pics

I just have so many pictures I love and want to share with whoever actually reads this blog.  There's a couple more of the corn maze and some of Charlee in a really good mood.

Corn Maze

Once again this year we had a great time at the Corn Maze.  We didn't even go through the maze, but there was so much fun stuff for our kids to do.  They had some corn boxes (like sand boxes) that our kids just loved.  Even Charlee loved them, but we had to watch her close so she wouldn't eat it!  Then they had a tube slide and a cow train and lots of fun stuff.  This is one of the highlights of fall for me.  It was windy out, but not too cold.  Happy fall, everyone!

No husband today

So, Jason was supposed to come home from alert today.  But, instead, we have another day without him because it decided to snow today.  Yes, it is still not halfway through October yet, but the snow was coming down hard all morning and Jason is clear out in the middle of nowhere.  He called me this morning asking about the weather, and I knew it could be a bad day.  Then right after church, he called again with the bad news.  I hope the snow lays off for a while so that my husband can come home tomorrow!  I'm spoiled now that Jason isn't working the 3 day alerts anymore and I can't go 2 days without him.

Our life on pictures.

I was sure that Charlee was going to take to solids like a champ, since she loves eating so much (thus the adorable chubs).  But, like my other babies, she has some reservations when it comes to taking food from a spoon.  She much prefers grabbing the spoon out of my hands and banging it on the high chair, causing bits of rice cereal to fly everywhichways.  But hey, as long as were having fun, right?

Our quick trip and the ER adventure

So, we went to Idaho for my Grandpa's funeral.  I was so grateful that I chose to go.  The funeral was really spiritual and I learned a lot of things about him that I didn't know before.  I was also really good to see so many cousins that I almost never see.  But then, we had a really awful experience.  Jayden found a pill on the floor (we think) and put it in his mouth.  He started throwing up.  At first, I thought it was just a stomach bug or car sickness, until he started passing out and became unresponsive.  So we took him to the ER, where we spent the next several hours.  Getting the IV was pretty traumatic for him (and me).  He is fine now, but it was one of the most scary experiences I've ever had.

The big leap

So, I'm finally going out on a limb and applying for midwifery school. I am really excited, scared, nervous, and hopefully ready to do this. I started my application yesterday. I really hope I'm doing the right thing by doing this. Wish me luck!!

Charlee

I decided I needed to post a picture of Charlee, since there are several already of the boys. So, here's my happy girl.

First Day of School

James was really excited to start school. I had mixed feelings about it. I knew it would be nice to have one less kid to chase around during the day, but I also wasn't feeling ready to let him go just yet. I cried when I dropped him off. Jayden was really sad and we cried together. But after we cried together, we had a fun day and I was happy to have that time with Jayden (and Charlee, of course). James has now been in school for over a week and things seem to be going great. We had one fiasco with the schoolbus, but I think that is all worked out now and the bus driver even agreed to drop James off and pick him up right in front of our house. Score!

Fun with Grapes

So, my kids get silly sometimes, like all kids. This was hilarious to them...to stuff grapes in their mouths and try to talk and smile. Luckily, I got in on camera.

OK, this is cool

I had my friend Shar Coleman come over today and she showed me some cool things about blogging and so far...this is the result! I am way excited to have it set to music! So, now I have to add stuff so this blog is actually worth looking at!

How does this work?

I am trying to figure out blogging. Since I am computer impaired, it is not going too well. I'll have to enlist a friend to help me out here.