January Journal
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McKinley wore pigtails for the first time today. It took 6 elastics to get all the tiny hair in, but she looked gorgeous. She wears shoes at all time and her new favorite activity is taking her own dirty diaper to the garbage in the garage. Once I change her I yell "Stink Bomb!" and start counting down from 10. One of the boys runs in and tries to get to the garage with the diaper before I finish. The other day, McKinley picked up her diaper and said "nine, eight..." and headed to the garage. I guess the boys are relieved of their duties.
Jefferson has been much more pleasant lately. He can still be opinionated, but he will actually consider options I give him. I praise a lot for this change and he is very proud to be good and happy. He likes to help make dinner and plays quietly when the boys are not around. He and McKinley find each other hilarious. She refers to him as JJ pretty clearly.
Truman loves climbing the snow mountains and will go over there alone and stare across the fence at the schoolyard. I imagine he is either trying to catch a glimpse of Lincoln, or dreaming of his kindergarten conquests next year. He loves PB and J no crust and smiles all the time, unless he is crying (thanks to Lincoln).
Lincoln is constantly looking to invent something - crafts out of garbage, imaginary games for his siblings to join in, or the best clubhouse ever. He loves to pretend he is part of a movie he has just watched. Holes is a recent favorite. He asked for an orange jumpsuit when his bday comes in October.
Brian and I do crosswords for fun, or watch the latest thing netflix sent us on ClearPlay. We also have a good time making fruit smoothies since we are treat free for a while. My favorite is vanilla yogurt, a little milk and frozen mixed berries. Sometimes I add 1/3 a banana when I am feeling crazy.
January is quiet so I am cleaning out everything for Baby #5. Recent good finds: a missing Backyardigans DVD, and $60 worth of gift cards I finally checked the balances on. And today I did 7 loads of laundry - ok, tomorrow I will fold them.
Something more...
Here are some pictures we have taken over the last few weeks.
Across the street from us is a church parking lot and a few days ago a
snowplow went into the parking lot and pushed up these huge mounds of snow.
Easily 15 to 20 feet high. The boys had to climb them and here are some pictures
of them doing so.
Truman wants to be a clown when he grows up. He admits as much. The other day
he threw a ball under a raised leg of his and tried to catch it. Good news: He
had to dive for the ball and made a pretty impressive outstretched catch; bad
news: his dive was halted by his head hitting the side of a bookshelf. Luckily
we didn't have to take him in for stitches but we were less than a few
millimeters of skin away from doing so. He can expect a full recovery.
So, McKinley got a BYU cheerleading outfit for Christmas (Thanks
Katie!). She also got a little pony. Jefferson got some batman PJs.
Some of Janelle's Wedding Photo's.
We had a good time at Janelle's wedding yesterday. She looked beautiful. It was really fun and really pretty. Things were very well done and the reception was really nice. Her dress and cake matched very well. It was unique and fitting of Janelle. Here are some pictures to prove it.
What we have been up to...
So, Brian and I have entered the world of facebooking. Hence the reason we have been neglecting our blog. 'Facebooking' is really fun and we suggest you join us if you haven't already!
Here are some pictures we took yesterday of little McKinley. You can see more in the album if you click on one of the pictures.
Thanksgiving Review
I have felt full for three days straight now and I just want to be hungry again and then eat an apple. It is a good full and I wanted to offer my review of the meals we enjoyed by awarding a few of my favorites. First of all EVERYTHING at both dinners was amazing, but a few items stood out to my pregnancy influenced tastebuds this year:
Best Cranberry Sauce - Aunt Libby's homemade sauce
Best Potatoes - Tom made potatoes that tasted great without the gravy - impressive.
Best Turkey - This is a dangerous category...Brian smoked a turkey with hickory chips, Janelle and Brian roasted a turkey after injecting it with cajun seasoning, and Grandma Lou had a good old fashioned turkey. They were all great, but I am boring and for Thanksgiving I prefer old fashioned plain turkey.
Best Stuffing - Grandma Lou (I tried an internet recipe that turned out ok until I tasted hers and now mine seems pretty gross. I didn't think to look in my cookbook from Grandma, her recipe was sitting there wasted in my cupboard!!)
Best Homemade Pie - I win this by default because I was the only one who made a pie from scratch. I tried a Cream Cheese Caramel Apple pie that turned out pretty tasty. However pumpkin is my favorite so I lose in the best pie overall category.
We had a good time playing Rockband at Aunt Libby's with Janelle, Brian, Scott, Libby, Libbi, Brian the boys, McKinley and Brian W.'s friend Ben.
At Grandma Lou's we had a fun time visiting with Oswalds, Robert Doxey's, Schettlers, Bouds, Graham Doxey family minus Graham, and Max Doxey. If I missed naming you I apologize! Just as we were leaving Robert asked Grandma if she was tired out yet and she answered while bustling around, "No, but people are leaving without eating all this pie!" I hope I have that much energy when I hit my 30's let alone at 78!
The highlight of Lincoln's weekend was "winning" a pumpkin pie at Grandma Lou's when he guessed a number between 1 and 20 and was right on. He does not know Grandma was trying to pawn the pies off on everyone - he just thinks he was lucky!
After eating our feast and then playing at Aunt Libby's I left full, but sure enough once we buckled into the car all the kids said, "I am hungry!" I guess they were too busy playing to feast.
Truman enjoyed eating pumpkin pie by picking his piece up and not having to use a fork.
Jefferson ate one bite of turkey over both days and has subsisted on rolla and sugary food.
McKinley liked the sweet potatoes and rolls.
I have not officially noted anything I am grateful for, but the other day I thought how lucky I am that the purpose of my life work is driven by my kids. I would have a hard time working so hard for so long in many of the mundane things I have to do if I did not know the source of all my work was my most precious possessions. Nothing else would be worth this, yet they are and then some. I am grateful for a life driven by an invaluable purpose that constantly challenges me to live up to it. Happy Thanksgiving and bring on the Christmas season!!
Catching You Up On Nothing
I just want to draw your attention to the blog header Brian created today...
And since our pictures are downstairs on the other computer I will just spout some text for you to peruse.
We have not blogged for 11 days which I will blame on the flu epidemic that only McKinley escaped and the piled of laundry we have been trying to get through since the breakdown in "order" I had recently achieved.
The weather has been great so the boys spend most of their time outside on the neighbor's tramp or playing with friends. McKinley follows me around working on whatever is most important to her at the time - unrolling toilet paper, eating toothpaste, "organizing" the tupperware or fighting imaginary people with a light saber, sound effects included.
Brian replaced our toilet that was running nonstop giving us the ambiance you pay for when you buy those indoor fountains and rigged up some impressive Christmas lights. I have nearly finished the Christmas shopping and can't wait to watch old Christmas movies and wrap presents. I also finally splurged on the Little People Nativity set so the kids have one to play with and I LOVE it - as do they.
We are very excited to have Libbi with us for the rest of the week (we went walking this morning) and we just enjoyed a fun game night as prep to our Thanksgiving feasting tomorrow. I plan on trying to make stuffing from scratch and a cream cheese caramel apple pie for Murri's while Brian smokes a turkey outside and on Friday I get to provide Sweet Potato Souffle for Grandma Doxey's.
I hope all of you have a Happy Thanksgiving and know that we are thinking of all the feasts we have shared with you in the past. We are missing you now, but look forward to the Thanksgivings in the future that will surely bring us together at some time or another.