Lydia's third birthday

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Lydia had her third birthday on Sunday, January 5th.  She was so excited for her big day.  She is the 7th birthday in the last 3 months at our house.  She has watched lots of birthday celebrations and knew just what she wanted.  She picked out a snake cake months ago.  It was so cute when she came out and saw her cake.  "My snake cake! I love it!" she said excitedly.  It made making the cake on a busy day so worth the effort.  She was looking for presents on Sunday morning.  She couldn't find any and came and told me that we needed her presents.  She had so much fun carrying them out after they were wrapped.  It was  a fun day!


Rebecca was home from Chadron for Christmas the year that Lydia was due.  She was due in December, but she waited until January.  I was getting nervous that she wouldn't be born before Rebecca had to go back on the 8th of January.  I asked Dr. Spomer if I could be induced before Rebecca had to leave.  She agreed and the 5th was the lucky day.  At first, Dr. Spomer just broke my water.  Usually, that is enough to get labor really going, but not this time. Nothing really happened all morning. Contractions, but no progress.  About 2:00 Dr. Spomer decided to start pitocin.  That did the trick and Lydia was born about 4:00 in the afternoon.  She was a beautiful baby.  She is so adored by all of us.  I love her sweet smiles and the little patter of her feet running down the hall.  We are so grateful to have her in our family.

Joshua's 5th birthday! and New Year's Eve

Joshua has such an exciting birthday.  What could be better than celebrating until midnight, watching movies, and sleeping on the floor?  He was excited for his birthday. He and Lydia love looking at all the cake books and choosing their cakes.  He looked and looked this year and finally settled on the robot made of cupcakes that we did last year.  He loved helping me make it.

Some of the Andreasen family came and spent a few hours in the afternoon playing games with us to celebrate New Year's Eve.  They stayed and sang to Joshua and had cake. It was a fun little party.

We went to Pizza Hut for dinner.  Everyone thought that was lots of fun. We don't take the children out to dinner very often. After we came home the children started their marathon movie watching. Our family tradition for New Year's Eve is that the children stay up as late as they can watching movies and mom and dad go to bed at a decent time.  The children love it!  This year they started later than usual so they didn't get as many movies in.  We still have a few left to watch.

Joshua definitely has an interesting birth story.  We found out two weeks before he was due that he was going to have pretty severe heart problems.  That ranks right up there with the hardest things I have ever heard.  It was Christmas Eve when we found out.  I had a regular doctor's visit. She didn't like how his heart sounded and sent me to the Powell hospital to be monitored.  Even with an ultrasound they couldn't decide if his heart was normal or not so they sent us to Billings to see a specialist.  He confirmed that there were definitely problems and told us to go to Denver for him to be born.  We asked if we could go to Salt Lake instead so we would have family support.  He arranged for us to see some specialists in Salt Lake.  The children ate cereal for dinner because I hadn't been home at all to make dinner.  We got home from Billings about 8:00 that night.  We told the children what was happening and called our parents to let them know.  It was hard to focus on Christmas that year and I spent a lot of time in tears.

We left for Salt Lake two days after Christmas and began this heart journey.  Some of the specialists were encouraging, others were not.  The doctor at University Hospital wanted to have him born in controlled circumstances and so scheduled an inducement on December 31, 2008.  I thought things would go quickly, but it was not to be.  He wasn't born until about 4:00 in the afternoon. I remember that there was a football game on and I thought when the game got over I would push.  Oregon was playing, but I don't know who they played or who won.  Joshua was born in a special delivery room with a window to the ICU.  After he was born he was taken right away. I only got to touch his foot as he was taken away.  It wasn't until about 9:00 that night that we got to go over to Primary Children's and hold him for a minute.

It was 3 surgeries, and a long 5 weeks later that we got to bring him home.  I am grateful every day for his life and the tender mercies of the Lord in his behalf.  We love his fun personality and spunk. He keeps us laughing and smiling.  Happy Birthday, Joshua!

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A recap of a busy December

December was such a busy month for our family. I really meant to post weekly and keep up, but it just never happened.  Here's a recap of some of our many activities.

Monday December 9th Matthew turned 15. I can't believe it has been 15 years since the night he was born.  He has an interesting birth story.  I knew at lunch time the day Matthew was born that labor would start soon.  I took a nap in the afternoon and thought that I hadn't felt the baby move much that day.  I had a Primary Presidency meeting planned for that evening and Neil was supposed to take the Young Men to play raquetball.  We didn't do either of those, we went to the hospital instead. When we got to the hospital the Dr. didn't like how his heart rate wasn't fluctuating at all. They decided to shock him and see if that helped his heart rate.  It helped some, but I could tell that the Dr. and nurses were nervous about how things were going. One nurse told me that the baby wasn't liking labor at all.  They started to talk about what we needed to do and the possibility of a C section.  Luckily for Matthew and for me, he was born on the very next contraction.  I just told the Dr. to catch the baby because he was coming now.  He was on tangled up baby! Dr. Ellis said he had never seen a baby so wrapped up in his cord. He must have been turning somersaults.  The only place the cord had pulled tight was around his ankle.  He had a bruised ankle for the first several months of life.  I felt very blessed to have a baby to hold and love.  He was a sweet and good baby.  So loved by his three older sisters.  He has grown into a fine young man.  I really enjoy Matthew's sense of humor and listening to him share his vast trivial knowledge. I also love how he wears a BYU shirt almost every day, just like I used to. I am proud to be his mama.  I love you, Matthew! 

We made his tradition Death by Chocolate birthday cake, and he requested deer steaks for dinner.  It was a fun day to celebrate an important birth. Happy Birthday, Matthew!

Along with turning 15 comes getting a driving permit.  Neil took Matthew to Cody on Thursday after his birthday to take the driving test.  He passed and came home with his permit.  He is a good driver and really likes to drive.  Friday after getting his permit he asked me if there wasn't anywhere I needed to go so he could drive.

December also meant school concerts.  Emma had a concert on December 10th and David's was December 17th.  Both of the concerts fell on evenings that Neil had to teach. He barely made it as the 7th grade band was getting started. Emma was glad he could get there.  He didn't make it to David's because his class had their final that evening and the test went long.  Both Emma and David did great! It was the first time David has done a school concert. It was fun to go back and watch a Parkside program. They still did some of the same songs the older girls did when they went to Parkside.  Fun memories!  Bethany and Julia enjoyed watching Parkside again.  Christmas music and concerts are always fun. I'll include video of the concerts in the slideshow below.

We had a great time decorating the house together. We wanted to have Bethany home to help and with busy schedules we didn't get it done as early as most years.  I love watching the children get excited about getting the decorations out and feeling their excitement. It was a fun evening together.  We made cookies and had hot chocolate while decorating.  Good times together!

Rebecca flew home for Christmas on Monday the 23rd.  We were so excited to have her here with us for a few days!  Christmas could finally come because everyone was here together.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were perfect (at least until we went downstairs to put kids to bed on Christmas night and discovered the sump pump had flooded).  I loved  having everyone here together.  We did our traditional Christmas Eve activities and dinner.  We had ham, potato soup, clam chowder, rolls, cheeseball, red jello and green punch.  It was delicious! We all took part in our annual Christmas Eve concert, even Mom who forgot to practice much and wasn't sure the song she was playing was the one she practiced.  We also read the Christmas story from the Bible.  Next, we headed out to look at the Christmas lights around town in our slippers.  When we got home the children watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas on tv. Lydia LOVES the Grinch! She watched the animated classic every chance she got.  This was the first time she saw the live action version. She was so excited to see baby Grinchy and was enthralled to stay up late and watch.  Our tradition is for the children to wait at the bottom of the stairs for Mom and Dad to come get them for Christmas.  7:00 am is the set time for us to come down.  It is fun to listen to them talk and sing as they wait for us.  I love Christmas morning!  Everyone was happy with what they gave and received for Christmas.  I love to watch the children as one of the gifts they have bought for someone is opened. They get so excited to see how much the person receiving the gift will like it. They love giving gifts.

Eagerly waiting to see what Santa brought

Joshua's wish for his birthday was to hold a real baby puppy.  I mentioned it to our neighbor, Tina, who is a dog lover. I figured she might know someone who had puppies.  She took it seriously that he wanted to hold a puppy. She thought it was the sweetest thing she had heard.  She found a couple from Frannie (about 45 minutes away) and talked to them.  They were kind enough to agree to bring their family and two puppies to our house on Christmas day.  Joshua held the puppies a little bit, but he didn't stay with it for too long.  Rebecca and Emma loved holding the puppies. They were totally surprised when I let the puppies come in the house.  It was so sweet of the family to spend part of their Christmas sharing their puppies with us. They offered to let us buy one at a reduced rate, but we said no thanks.

Friday Neil, Matthew and MaryAnne took Rebecca back to Cody to fly home.  It was so great to have her here with us for Christmas! She had to get home to pack up her stuff and move to another house.  She and her roommates are moving as soon as they can.

December was also busy with clogging performances.  We have one last one today.  Emma and I drove home from the first performance in the worst snowstorm I have ever driven in. It didn't help that the power was out in our subdivision and I couldn't see any houses.  We made it home, but we had to stop a time or two and decide if we should go on or not.

We also made a trip to Bozeman to pick up our van.  Neil drove the van and I drove the Kia.  Matthew, Julia and Emma went with us because we went after a youth temple trip to Billings. Bethany was good to come and stay the day with the younger children. It was an all day trip.  It was interesting that when we stopped to get gas part way home the Kia wouldn't start.  We had to jump it at the gas station.  We had just bought a new battery and it was no good. The store tested it and then replaced it for us.  Now both cars are running which is a good thing.

Here is a slideshow of December pictures and happenings. Hope you enjoy seeing what is happening at the Waite house.  We hope each of you had a Merry Christmas!!

 

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The weather outside is frightful!!

Yesterday our high temperature was 57 degrees, and then a storm started to blow in. Last night was our clogging Christmas recital.  The weather was awful!! At least we were in doors.  We drove home in the worst blizzard I have ever driven in.  I had to stop several times because I couldn't see a thing.  The power was out in our subdivision so there were no lights on to let us see where home was.  The power came back on just as we found our driveway. I was grateful to see the lights and get home.  Our weather forecast is for below zero temperatures all week with wind chills making it even colder.  We will be glad to stay in and decorate for Christmas.  We are looking forward to hot chocolate, cookies and Christmas stories during this frightful weather.

Our weather forecast for the week looks frightfully cold

Our Thanksgiving adventure

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays!! I love cooking and baking with the children the day before so we don't have much besides cooking the turkey on Thursday.  We usually have a grateful tree.  Each of us writes things we are grateful on leaves and we glue them on the tree throughout the month of November.  I love concentrating on being grateful, good food and family.  This year Rebecca couldn't come home so we sent her money to buy what she wanted to eat for Thanksgiving.  We missed her, and are so glad she is coming for Christmas.  We skyped with Grandpa and Grandma in Scotland on their mission.  Being able to keep in touch with them while they are gone is one of the many blessings I am grateful for.  Modern communication is amazing!!

We had Brother Ogburn over for dinner and enjoyed his company.  We had plenty of delicious food.  We made 5 kinds of pies and all the other yummy Thanksgiving foods.  Julia and Emma look forward to pink jello salad all year because we only make it at Thanksgiving.  It was a wonderful day!!

Friday we  drove to Ashton to be with the Waite family. It was fun to see Grandma Karan and Grandpa JimMolly and Scott, Gerry and Valerie, Blaine, Candice and the nieces and nephews.  The children went sledding down Grandma's hill and had a great time together.  There were lots of games played, good conversation and catching up with each other. It was wonderful!!!

We left early Saturday afternoon to get ahead of a coming storm.  It was a great plan, but it didn't work out quite like we planned.  About 5 miles outside of Bozeman, Montana the van made a very loud popping noise and got very loud.  We didn't know what was wrong and decided against heading into a storm not being sure the van would keep running.  We got a recommendation of a mechanic in Bozeman and left the van there.  We called a friend in the ward with a vehicle big enough to bring all of us home.  Julia and Bethany had stayed at home so we asked them to drive the Clark's suburban and come to get us.  We were 200 miles from home so we had quite a wait in Bozeman. Brother Clark decided to drive himself rather than have Bethany and Julia try to make the trip. The girls were very glad they didn't have to drive.  We walked a little over  a mile to Walmart in Bozeman and waited there.  You can find all kinds of things to buy when you spend close to two hours walking around Walmart.  The children did really well and didn't ask for too much.  We were just glad to have somewhere to wait and that Brother Clark was willing to come and rescue us.  It will be a Thanksgiving trip the children won't forget.  The funny thing is that when we drove through Bozeman on our way to Idaho the children said not to stop there because that is where the van breaks down.  We told them that was Riverton where we had problems before and it was fine to stop in Bozeman.  We should have listened to them.  We got home about midnight instead of 7:00 like we had planned, but we made it and felt grateful to be home.  It was an adventure!!!

The four day birthday (Happy Birthday, David)

David was born the day after Thanksgiving eleven years ago. This year his birthday fell on the day after Thanksgiving.  It was kind of interesting timing to celebrate his birthday because we were going to Idaho to be with the Waite family that day.  He decided he wanted to have his cake on Wednesday (he baked his cakes himself), his presents on Thursday, Friday was the real day even though we were traveling, and Saturday Grandma Karan had a cake for him.  He managed to spread the party and fun out over four days.

I can't believe David is eleven. He recently earned his Arrow of Light in Webelos and crossed over the bridge to join the Scout troop.  He is an easy going, fly under the radar kind of boy.  He loves playing with his K'nex and working with his hands. He loves to help Neil with any kind of fix it or build it project. David keeps us laughing and smiling. He is a smart and considerate boy. We are grateful to have him in our family.

Happy Birthday, David!!! We love you!!

Happy 7th birthday, Dallin!!

Tuesday was Dallin's seventh birthday!! He was so excited to have his birthday.  He played his own Happy birthday song on the piano as we sang to him. He did a very good job.  He wanted a three layer chocolate cake with white frosting in between each layer.  He also wanted it to have Happy birthday Dallin on it.  I think it turned out just how he hoped.  He had some friends over to play in the afternoon. We made cupcakes for them and up Happy Birthday Dallin on them.  He was so excited to let them eat cupcakes.  One of Dallin's presents was a new kite.  Neil was such a good dad yesterday and took him out to fly it.  There are a few pictures of  Dallin, MaryAnne, Joshua, Lydia and David flying the kite.Dallin is such a good little boy.  He loves to have things in order and is very list oriented.  He likes to check things off as he gets them done.  He stays caught up in school because he is so careful and concerned about getting things done.  He is an early riser, and can't stay awake in the evening if we do anything quiet like watch a movie or read together.  He falls asleep on the couch or floor most evenings.  He loves to jump on the trampoline and play with his friends, Adam and Stuart.  I can't believe he is already seven and will be ready to be baptized next year.  He is a joy in our family!! We love you, Dallin!!!

Dallin had an interesting entrance into this world.  We didn't want  a repeat performance of barely making it to the hospital, but I didn't want to be there too long either.  Dallin decided it was time to come in the middle of the night.  We got to the hospital about midnight and Dallin wasn't born until a little after 2:00 in the morning.  He was facing the wrong direction so his labor was different than any of the others.  He is the only one I didn't have back labor with.  The doctor remembered hearing about how fast MaryAnne had come and expected a repeat.  He was tired and wanted to go home and go back to bed.  I don't blame him in the least, after all it was 2:00 on a Sunday morning.  When Dallin finally turned he was born quickly.  Neil had to get all the children ready for church and conduct Sacrament meeting later that morning.  He announced Dallin's arrival and said he had a good excuse if he looked sleepy on the stand that day.  We are so blessed to have Dallin as part of our family.