Christmas 2011

Christmas Eve had come. We were so excited that the Sorensen gang (Grandpa, Grandma, Corbin, Kyra, Preston and Jesse) were going to come down to spend Christmas with us. They were going to leave on the afternoon of the 23rd, but the roads were so icy all over the state of NM, so they didn't want to chance driving through the night with roads like that. They left super early Christmas Eve. And then the fun began: they ran out of gas, then the battery died while they were waiting for Grandpa to get back with the gas, then they felt a vibration so they had to stop to get a new tire, then something blew in the engine which eventually led to them getting a rental car (a little 5-seater Prius for the 6 of them and ALL their stuff). They finally made it at about 11:45 Christmas Eve night. Meanwhile we were at home getting regular updates on their progress. When we found out they were going to have to rent a little car I knew I was going to have to go out and shovel the driveway down to our house as well as a little parking place for them in front of the house. The van had been stuck in the same place for almost a week (we got some serious snow earlier that week), so we tried to move it...and it got stuck. We finally got it going again and it got stuck in another spot. We resorted to buying chains so that it could get some traction on the ice and snow. While we went to get the chains we decided to check out a hill that friends had told us about - a great one for sledding....and it was. We spent an hour sledding down the hill (fun). Then we got home and tried to get the snow chains on, which became a bigger project than we anticipated since the van would not move at all. When our fingers were frozen (and Sean's toes) we decided to let it sit for the night and next day and we went in to do our Christmas Eve festivities. I had decided earlier that day to save the nice dinner for the next day when the family was all here. So that night we had appetizers for dinner: 7-layer dip, little smokies in barbeque sauce and deviled eggs (not the fanciest meal ever, but it was fun). We ate it all together in the living room and then had our Family fireside reading scriptures and stories and singing songs and ended in the bearing of testimonies. The kids got treats put out for Santa and they all dressed in the matching PJs and then we put in "Muppet Christmas Carol." We sent them off to bed when it was over and they were all asleep within a half an hour. The excitement of the Sorensens arriving woke most of them up, so it was a pretty late night for the adults, but it was great. Christmas morning came and the kids waited anxiously for the music to start and then they hurried into the living room to see what they had gotten. The big gift was a spring that Santa left in each of the kids' stockings, which went to a trampoline that was in a box covered in the back of the room. I'm sure Santa wished he could have put it up, but it just didn't quite get done in time....he he he. We ate breakfast casserole and then got ready for church (we were saving the gift opening for after church). I led the choir, which sounded WONDERFUL (there were lots of voices and the spirit was there and strong), plus all my family got to sing with us. Kyra and I sang with two other women in a rendition of "O HOly Night." I was so happy Kyra made it so that I didn't have to sing the high notes. We came home and shortly after had a phone call from Caleb, the missionary, which was wonderful (especially since my dad can get a conference call going with the whole family). Then we opened presents. We ate a tasty dinner that night: ham, funeral potatoes, sweet potato casserole, raspberry jello, Gullivers corn and sparkling apple cider. It was a wonderful day filled with music and worship and family and good food and fun.

Thanksgiving 2011

We had a lovely Thanksgiving yesterday, minus the knee blow out that Sean got during his Turkey Bowl (football game) that morning. Poor guy can hardly move. We had our friends, the Bucks, over for dinner. Our feast included turkey, gravy, sweet potato casserole, green beans, peas, homemade rolls, raspberry jello salad, corn souffle, stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce, apple-ginger ale, and party punch. Later we went to some other friends' house for dessert (the table was packed with desserts: probably 15 options). It was a great day. Earlier this month we had a Family Home Evening on Gratitude. Throughout the rest of the month we wrote down things we were thankful for on popsicle sticks and put them in our "Thankful Jar." Here are some of the things on the sticks: Church Running vehicle with no payment Missionaries Veterans Jesus Priesthood (and that we can be healed through it) Food God Austin Holy Ghost Clothes Nature Daddy and Mommy "Best Wife and Mom ever" Holidays Family I also did a little photo session with the kids. I wanted to do family pictures for our holiday card, but then Sean broke himself and I didn't want to make him have to move around all over outside (we'll have to do the family one later).

Salmon Snagging

Sean really wanted to try for better luck at the salmon snagging excursion (he had gone a couple weeks earlier with the scouts and got stormed out) so we decided to take a little family trip up to the lake for the weekend. We headed up after the kids got out of school on Friday. We stopped and had Blake's burgers and fixes the tail light on the van (after getting pulled over and given a warning for it) and then made our way to El Vado Lake. We reserved a little cabin right there by the lake. It was a cute two bedroom wood cabin right along the river. We hung out that night. Sean took Caelan and Ben over to lake and through in their line a couple of times. The next morning we got up and made breakfast right there in the cabin: eggs, potatoes and sausage. We caught two deer fighting in front of the cabin, which was pretty entertaining to watch. The kids played with a few dogs that were wandering around in front of the cabin. Then we headed over to the Lake Heron and fished. Sean helped the kids with their rods. We stayed in one spot for a couple of hours with no luck (there were probably 20 other fishermen around us and no one was catching anything). We tried another spot and there was no luck there either. We drove by two other spots and asked around, but apparently the fish weren't out and about that day. We decided to head home. The kids had a blast playing along the water front and climbing the rocks. We stopped in Santa Fe at a Spanish foods store and picked up some spanish sausage and then got dinner in Albuquerque before we arrived home. We'll have to try it again next year. It was a fun family getaway, even if we came home empty handed.

Halloween 2011

We did all sorts of celebrating this year: Fri: Rt 66 School Parade and class parties. That night was the school Fall Festival Sat: Carved pumpkins, Sean made his chili and we went to our ward Trunk or Treat party (and came home with all sorts of extra candy) Sun: Just ate candy Mon: Megan's preschool Halloween performance and potluck. That night I took the kids trick-or-treating to Walmart and Beehive Home Assisted Living. That night we had Family Home Evening and talked about the Holy Ghost (appropriate, don't ya think?). And I think we went through about 15 costumes between all the events: Sean and I were Fred and Wilma Flinstone. Caelan: Taylor Swift, a Vampire (gone soft - she didn't want to wear the collar or teeth) and a witch Ben: Ninja and the Grim Reaper Megan: Clown, Princess and a donkey Nathan: Bob the Builder, Shrek and a pirate Austin: Bat, an alien and Tigger She looks so grown up in this picture. Yikes.

Lost Tooth

Ben knocked into something last week which made him cry (he's not usually a crier when he gets hurt, so I knew it must have hurt in just a certain way). He said his mouth hurt. I looked in his mouth and noticed that his bottom tooth was loose (whatever he hit knocked that tooth loose). I told him that if he wiggled it around it would probably come out in the next few days. The next morning he woke up with a hole in his mouth - his tooth had come out during the night. Caelan helped him find it in his bed. He was so excited to get to put it under his pillow. Our tooth fairy isn't very punctual - she missed the first night, but did come the next night. Ben found a silver dollar under his pillow, plus she even left the tooth too. He was thrilled. And he is looking so great with his little toothless smile.

Big Brother....Again

Austin Thomas was born on Oct 2. He came very quickly into this world. I labored off and on all morning (the Sunday morning of General Conference), but it never got very hard or consistent. When I had several contractions in a row we decided to take the kids over to the Pearce's house and then we headed to the hospital. I checked in at 12:33 PM and Austin was born at 1:00 PM. Super fast. Dad brought the kids back to the hospital that night to meet their new little brother. They were in love. Ben has always has a soft spot in his heart for babies. He loves to watch them. He loves to get close to their little faces and touch them. Even as a tiny little guy he has always been very gentle and sweet with babies. He was in love at first sight with his new little brother. Since we brought him home Ben loves to hold him. He is so careful - he never tries to get up and walk around with him (which pretty much all the other kids do), he is happy to just hold him in his arms and watch. So cute.

First Day of School 2011

Today is the first day of school. No more staying up late and sleeping in the loft watching movies and having sleep overs with friends and playing in the jacuzzi all day and having no schedule. Back to the grind. We prepared last night with haircuts, root beer floats and Father's blessings (which even Nathan wanted to be a part of). Then this morning Caelan and Ben got breakfast in bed. This tradition started a couple years ago when Caelan asked me on Father's Day, "When is kids' day? You know - where we get breakfast in bed?" I told her I would give her breakfast in bed on the first day of school....and it's become a tradition ever since. We got ready and loaded up the crew and drove them to school to find their classrooms and teachers: Caelan (3rd grade) has Ms. Coffee, and Ben (1st grade) has Ms. Fox. They were both excited to be back. Goodbye Summer.

Summer

We actually got a garden planted this year. Our squash plants have taken off, especially the zucchini. Ben likes to come out and help me pick the vegetables when they are ready. We have tomatoes, peppers, beans (although not very many), yellow squash, zucchini, cucumbers and some cilantro. It's not a huge garden. We wanted to just do a moderate sized one this year. Lots of people have to take all sorts of precautions with their gardens; chicken wire underneath to prevent ground squirrels, a fence around to keep out rabbits, lots of fertilizer because of hard earth, some even had to put a plastic covering over because of birds. I wasn't sure what to expect so we did nothing just to see what would happen. Our dog keeps out the rabbits, we haven't seen any ground squirrels, the birds aren't a problem and our ground in actually pretty good. Next year we'll have to do something a little bigger. We have also gotten a lot of good use out of our jacuzzi this summer. We just turned the heat off and run the filter. The kids go out and swim almost every day. It's great: shallow enough to not worry when the bigger kids are out there (I still watch carefully when Nathan is there), but big and deep enough to cool off and have fun. They had their friends over the other day. I think a total of 7 kids were playing in that little jacuzzi. Good times.

Independence Day 2011

We had a pretty simple 4th of July this year. Sean left early that morning for Scout Camp, so he wasn't with us for the festivities. We had our traditional barbeque with homemade ice cream on Sunday as a family. On the actual holiday the girls painted our toenails in patriotic style, the kids swam in the jacuzzi and then we went to the home of a family in the ward. We had a tasty barbeque, the kids jumped on the trampoline and in the jumper castle. They also played on a slip and slide and had a blast running around with all the other kids. We didn't want to leave early to go to Albuquerque to see the fireworks, so instead we just headed home and put a couple of mattresses out on the deck and slept under the stars. We saw a few shooting stars and satellites, so that was our sky action for the day (it was the first time in LOTS of years that we didn't see fireworks, but it was a great day anyway).

Memorial Day at Duck Creek

*Cabin in the mountains with the whole Dick clan *Riding quads and the 6-seater along trails, through running streams, down mountains, etc *Exploring caves *Seeing deer and deer and more deer *Barbequing and eating tasty food *Going to church in Alton *Family Home Evening about being kind in word and deed *Family talent show (of sorts) with singing by Caelan and Ben and dancing by Corbin and Bee and Hailey (and really, all of the kids) *Swinging on swings on the porch *Taking naps *Playing on the tree-trunk teeter-totter *Fishing (even though it didn't last long - it was cold and windy) *Doing puzzles *Having lots of FUN!

Kindergarten Promotion

Ben "graduated" from Kindergarten (that always seems like a funny way to put it). His program was actually referred to as "Kindergarten Progression" - which seems more appropriate to me. Anyway, they had a cute little program with lots of songs, and then the teachers gave out the certificates

. And we ended the morning with cake and snacks. On to first grade.

Father and Son Camping

This weekend was the Father and Sons camp out. Ben was counting down the days all week long. I told Nathan on Friday that he was going to go camping with Dad. I don't think he really knows what the word, "camping" means, although we've been several times before, but he was pretty excited about the idea. When Sean got home and we were packing up the truck, every single time I walked out there he waved at me and said, "Bye Mom." He was ready to go. The boys grabbed dinner at McDonalds and then headed to the campground. It was really close, so it didn't take long. They had fun setting up camp and playing around. There was a fireside that night. Sean let the kids have a graham cracker and a piece of chocolate (because they couldn't build fires to make proper smores). Eventually they headed off to bed. That night Ben woke up at around 12:30 and had thrown up all over his sleeping bag (poor guy). Sean got him cleaned up and the sleeping bag out of the tent. He let Ben use his bag, which meant he now didn't have one. He tried to go sleep in the car where it was warmer, but Nathan woke up and FREAKED out because Ben was sleeping right by him. Sean went back to the tent and calmed him down and tried to lay down by him, but soon realized he was going to freeze all night long like that. So he quietly packed up the boys and their stuff and headed home at about 2:00 AM. They were bummed they couldn't stay the whole time, but they did get some good playing time in on Friday night. And Ben was totally fine for the rest of the day. It must have been something he ate.

Mother's Day Tea

On Friday I got to go to a Mother's Day picnic that Ben's Kindergarten class was putting on. Aunt Carolyn graciously took Megan and Nathan for the hour, so that I could just hang out one-on-one with Ben. When we got there Mrs. White had all the Mom's get their food (bagels and cream cheese and fruit) and then take a seat. The kids all came in, stood in a line and sang, "Skidamarink" while doing sign language hand motions. It was very cute. Ben was so excited to see me - his smile was awesome! Then they got to sit with us and eat too. He had made a card and a bookmark (with a flower made from their fingerprint) that he gave to me. It was special - I loved it (and what I loved even more was how much Ben loved that I was there - makes a Mom's heart happy).

New Baby

Hello Baby Boy Dick. Yes, I am pregnant. We are expecting baby #5 at the end of September. The due date is Sept 28th (right in between Nathan and Sean's birthdays - we're getting a little crowded right there). We had our ultrasound on Tuesday. None of the kids knew that we were having another baby. We took them all with us. The room we were in had an extra screen on the wall, so the kids all took a seat and looked at the images on the TV screen on the wall. We told them to tell us when they thought they knew what they were looking at. Megan said, "It's a volcano. Is it Mom?" Ben said, "Space." So then we specified that what they were looking at was inside of Mom's tummy. Caelan guessed a baby. When we confirmed it Megan got so excited, "It's a baby? You're having a baby?" It was cute. They were all excited. The machine the technician used even showed some 3-D images, which we have never seen before on an ultrasound, so that was fun. They were much easier for the kids to distinguish than the other images. They loved the tiny picture of the foot and of course the face views. We're really excited to have another little kiddo to add to the bunch.

Tee- Ball

Ben had his first tee-ball game on Saturday. Very entertaining to watch. In tee-ball there is no score, there are no outs, there are no strikes. Everyone gets to hit and run. They love it....and they love the cheering. Ben whacked his ball a couple of times. Our favorite part is watching him run the bases: he gets his arms pumping and everything. I especially love it when he gets up to bat because he looks over at me first and smiles and then gives me a "thumbs up" before he swings.

Birthday Money

Ben got some money for his birthday. He saw the "lava guys" at Ross that he really liked but decided not to get them but see what was at another store. I told him that it was likely that he wouldn't be able to find those same toys anywhere else (and that they might be gone the next time we got to that store). Two days later he decided he really did want them. I told him he's have to wait until the next time we were in town. So today (6 days later) I ran into town and dropped by the store while I was there...and that same single box of "lava guys" was sitting right on the shelf. Ben was tickled!

Ben's Birthday

Ben turned 6. He has been asking about his birthday for the past three weeks. He's has repeatedly asked me when "President Conference" is (General Conference) because he knew that his birthday was two days after it. He has been so excited. He woke up and said, "It's my birthday. Am I 6 right now?" He chose to have hotdogs and chips and fruit for his birthday dinner. We had waffles that morning (another of his favorites). I asked him if he wanted to have a party or go somewhere fun. He wanted to go to Hoots (this little jumping place in Albuquerque - Megan's preschool class went a few months ago and I thought it would be fun for the other kids). He got to bring one friend with him (plus the family), Aaron Buck, and they had a blast sliding down the huge slide, playing in the jungle gym, racing through the blow-up obstacle course and laughing themselves silly. He wanted a Mario cake (it's so fun to hear him say "Mario" with the rolled R - I love it), so we had fun concocting that. He got a Toothless dragon, a pirate sword, a set of walkie-talkies and a couple other little things. It was a fun little celebration. Some Fun Things About Ben at Age 6: Favorite color: blue Favorite movie: The Chronicles of Narnia (all of them) Favorite Food: fruit (strawberries, watermelon, blueberries, apples), waffles Food he doesn't like: He is probably our pickiest eater, but he will still eat most things put before him. Onions, peppers, tomatoes, mashed potatoes (most of the time - so weird) Favorite treat: Kit Kat and ice cream Favorite animal: penguin He loves to play with Dad's new I-Pad (especially the Minion maker and the racing game). He likes to play on the Wii, but usually only stays interested for 20 minutes or so. You will almost always see this little boy with some kind of small toy in his hand. We have tons of little characters and he is usually carting around a handful of them at any given time. He likes to explore the backyard. He recently started tee-ball and is loving that. He is a really good student - he got awesome scores on the last bit of testing they did at school and his teacher really likes him. He LOVES babies (always has). He's so sweet to get right down on the floor with his face close to a babies face and stroke its face. He loves all things BOY: swords, guns - we only have Nerf style guns at our house(one day he made the crusts from his sandwich into a gun), knights, pirates, super heroes (of all kinds), cars, etc. He is a very sweet boy. He still asks me if he can "get cozy" with me while we are watching a movie on the couch, and then he snuggles up in my "boat" or right next to me. He started the "tucking in" routine at our house. He had about 4 blankets that he has to have spread over him every night along with a hug and kiss. He loves the water: the beach, the jacuzzi, swimming pools, etc, and he can take the fastest shower in the whole house (hands down). He is a good little singer and has started piano lessons. He is thoughtful of other people anywhere we go (family members, kids at school, friends, etc) and he is great friend to both his sisters and his little brother. He is an easy, mellow, very happy kid and we love him to pieces.

Bill Goat's Gruff

On St. Patrick's Day Ben's Kindergarten class put on the play, "Three Nanny Goats Gruff." They did such a cute job. There were little lines here and there, and a lot of songs. I was so impressed at how the kids had all the words memorized and they were singing out. Ben played the part of Billy Goat (one of the nanny goat's sisters). He was so cute. I even remembered my camera, but when I went to turn it on I noticed that the memory card wasn't in there. At least I had my phone....

Freezing

What have we been up to the last two weeks?....Keeping warm. We've had a couple of weeks of some record breaking temperatures. Freezing, I tell ya. I'm not sure that even in all my years in Utah we ever got as cold as we got here last week. There were a couple of nights down in the negative twenty degrees (before windchill, which made it feel about 10 degrees colder). Thank heavens our house is pretty well insulated and our pellet stove works well, because our heater decided to stop working. We managed to stay warm enough though. The cold temperatures came in with a snow storm (not a ton, but a decent amount). School was canceled for 4 days last week (and since it was so cold and the roads were pretty icy, we were pretty much confined to our house). Then there were parent conferences on Mon and Tues of this week, and wouldn't you know another snow storm came on Tuesday afternoon, which meant school was canceled on Wed too. If we would have known, we could have taken a week long trip....to somewhere nice and toasty. I'm really lucky to have kids that LOVE to play together so much, because after days and days of staying inside it's hard to not melt down. We played games, made cookies, played with play dough, made Valentine's for Megan's preschool class, watched movies, danced and sang and tried to keep busy. The weekend temperatures were nice, so I took the kids to the cheap theater to see "MegaMind" which was pretty fun. We are supposed to have several days in the 50s this next week. I'll take it.

Sledding

We had absolutely nothing on the schedule on Saturday. NOTHING - pretty nice. So, we took the kids and headed up to Sandia Peak and found a fun snow-playing area. We wanted to try out our new sled that we got from Santa, but at the organized place there was no metal or wood sleds allowed. So, we took several runs down the hill with our plastic sled. All the kids LOVED it. Then on our way home we found a picnic area with a couple decent hills where we could try out the new sled. It was a hit. It kind of resembles a very miniature snowmobile: a seat, handles, place to put your feet on the side ski's and even brakes. It was easy for the kids to steer and control. We all tried it out. Very fun day.

Christmas

This was the first Christmas that we spent at our own home with just our little family....and we LOVED it. I'm not sure we'll ever be convinced to travel again (well, maybe not NEVER). So this year we got to mix and match traditions from the Sorensen and the Dick family as well as starting some of our own. Here are some Christmas time traditions that we have: *Putting up the Christmas decoration (sometime during the week after Thanksgiving) *Making fudge and taking it to friends and neighbors (we delivered bunches this year) *Watching the First Presidency Christmas devotional *Going somewhere to see Christmas lights (sometimes this is just around neighborhoods and sometimes this is to temple grounds or to some other community display) *Making and decorating sugar cookies *Watching Christmas movies throughout the month (these are the ones we watch every December: Home Alone (1 and 2), How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street, Charlie Brown Christmas, It's a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, Muppet Christmas Carol, The Polar Express) *Read Christmas stories at night (not necessarily every night, but quite a few throughout the month) *We try to enjoy other holiday activities throughout the month: Christmas parties, Christmas parades, creche displays, holiday music performances, etc. *And of course Christmas music on throughout the entire month (in the house and car) On Christmas Eve: *Open one gift (the same gift) - matching PJs for the whole family (my sewing machine was on the fritz this year, so I purchased them. Usually I make fun PJ pants for everyone) *Have a Family Home Evening where we sing carols and read from the scriptures about the birth of the Savior. Last year the kids dressed up and acted out the nativity. This year they used our crocheted nativity dolls and used them to play out the scene. *Eat a candle-lit dinner (pretty fun for the kids) of ham, hashbrown potato casserole, homemade rolls, a vegetable and fizzy drink. *Watch "Muppet Christmas Carol" right before bed (and more times than not the kids fall asleep to this). Christmas Day: *The kids have to wait to go into the main room until they hear music playing (Sean played the Hallelujah Chorus this year). *Santa leaves balloons all over the floor along with the gifts. When the kids are young, this excited them more than almost anything else. *Everyone can open the little things surrounding their stockings that are wrapped as well as the unwrapped bigger things. (This year Santa left Caelan and Megan a three story doll house, Ben a series of Star Wars characters and Nathan a construction truck.) *One person plays "Santa" and passes out the gifts from under to the tree to their recipients. *We open presents one by one starting with the youngest. *The traditional food on Christmas day is still be tested. This year I made homemade tamales and we ate those with homemade beans and salad and tortilla soup on Christmas (pretty traditional for New Mexico, actually).