Christmas Fun!!!

What a fun Christmas we had this year!! The kids were thrilled with the things Santa brought them. A few weeks before Christmas, Maya would keep saying "I'm being good, right mom?" She was so afraid that she was going to get coal for Christmas!!

Christmas Eve was very festive this year. My mom really outdid herself!! I love going over to their house, it is always so fun. They always make things so nice for all of us. We had the traditional Danish feast... and feast we did!! All I can say is yum and yum! After dinner, we read the Christmas story, and played games. Then it was on to the presents!! Here are a couple of pictures of the Christmas Eve festivities.


More fun on Christmas morning!! A couple of days before, we took the kids to the dollar store and had them each pick out a present to give to their siblings. They were so excited to give each other the presents they had picked out.

First we looked in our stockings...



Then it was time to dig in to the loot!!

Collin got a Nintendo DS, he was THRILLED!!!

Maya got her very own camera!! Something she had been talking about for MONTHS!!

Jensen didn't really care about the presents, he was happy just driving his cars on top of them!!

We had such a fun and relaxing day. We stayed home most of the day and let the kids play with all of their new toys. In the late afternoon, we went over to Dan's mom's house, and then over to my parent's house for dinner.

On December 26th, me, my Mom, Dad, Erin, and Alex woke up early and met at the mall at 6:00 to go shopping!! This has become one of my favorite traditions! We always have to go to Target to get our wrapping paper and get discounted Christmas decorations for the next year-- SO MUCH FUN!!! We were racing about from store to store, and kept teasing Alex that he was getting "Man Training".

LET ME HEAR YOU SAY WHOOP WHOOP!!!!!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS Dan!! You made it! You did it! I am so proud of you!! Dan received the promotion he has been working toward all year. I love you! You deserve it. Now maybe I won't be a single mom anymore...probably not!!

Christmas Eve, 2005

103.5 + 3 days = NO FUN!!!

Jensen has been my sick kid these past few weeks!! On Friday he started with a fever, and I HOPE that it has finally past!!!! I do not like fevers. They freak me out. I know the doctors always say that a fever isn't usually anything to worry about, that it is the body's natural way of fighting infection, but when your baby is BURNING up, that is something that would freak any mother out!! I took him back in to the doctor on Friday morning, and we got the great news that one of his tubes is half way out, and his ear was infected. AGAIN!! So, it will be back to the ENT in the next few months to get a new set of tubes. It's a good thing I really like our ENT, because we visit her frequently! Collin has had tubes five, yes five times, Maya had them once, and Jensen has had them once. I always say that tubes should be standard issue with out kids. They get the vitamin K and Hepititis shot in the hospital, stick a set of tubes in their ears!!
He hasn't had a fever since yesterday morning, so hopefully he is on the ups!

Happy Birthday Collin!!

On December 12, 2000 at 3:24 in the morning after 32 hours of labor, Collin made his grand entrance into this world. He was wiggling around so much that the doctor almost dropped him!! And he hasn't stopped moving since!
On Friday, December 12, my boy turned 8 years old. I can't even believe that he is going to get baptized next month! I am so proud of him. He is such a kind and loving boy (when he wants to be!!). He loves playing outside with his friends and building random things in the sand box. He loves school, and is an excellent big brother.
This year was a family party year, so we went over to Chuck E Cheese and got our Ski Ball on!! We had so much fun!! Collin wanted to get as many tickets as possible. The highlight of the night was when Alex won over 300 tickets on "The Wonder Wheel" which he turned around and gave to Collin. Such a nice uncle!!
Cake, presents, and "Happy Birthday" wrapped up the fun-filled evening.

A Day at the Doctor...

So yesterday I took Maya and Jensen in to see the doctor. Maya always needs a "winter inhaler" because when she gets a cough, she holds on to it for months. Jensen has had a nasty cold WITH diarrhea. Lovely.

Last night after his shower, Collin comes downstairs and says "Mom, look at my finger." And what I saw was a thumb that was twice the size as usual with a strange sore on it. So I pinched it a little bit and A BUNCH OF YELLOW PUSS COMES FLYING OUT!!! Not to mention he falls to the floor shreaking with pain!! So I call to Dan, and he proceeds to get out his trusty red first aid kit. Those who know Dan know that he has a strange obsession with first aid kids and band aids!! We get him into the light, and it looks like there is something in the sore like a piece of wood, or some other strange object. I ended up calling the nurse, and she tells me that she doesn't want us to wait until tomorrow for him to be seen by the doctor. So at 8:45 we treck it back to the doctor's office. While we are waiting in the little room for the doctor, Collin says "Hey mom, it's moving." So I look at it, and sure enough, part of it is sticking out. So I open the door and get the doctor, and by the time he gets to the room, the GIGANTIC sliver is sticking most of the way out! How he didn't know that he had that huge sliver in his thumb for two weeks is beyond me. Boys are definatly a different breed!! So they sent us on our way with some antibiotics and instructions to soak it until the swelling goes down.

Hooray for health insurance, you got a work out yesterday!!

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends. Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, & try not to be a SCROOGE! Copy this entire post & paste onto your own new post! Change all the answers so they apply to you. Then tag a bunch of people you know....Tis the Season to be NICE!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper. What is Christmas morning without wrapping paper all over the place?!?
2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial. I don't want to burn my house down!! Plus my life is crazy enough as it is without having to water a dumb tree every three seconds!! Light a Salt City Christmas Tree candle, and there you have it, real Christmas tree smell!!
3. When do you put up the tree? Well... no comment!!
4. When do you take the tree down? As soon as I can get it down after Christmas. I LOVE to put it up, and I LOVE to take it down and get things back to normal. Once Christmas is over, it is OVER!!
5. Do you like Egg Nog? Some.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? When we were little, Erin and I each got a set of Love-a-bye babies. I think we played with those every Sunday for YEARS!!
7. Hardest person to buy for? Erin's husband, Mark.
8. Easiest person to buy for? Erin or my Mom.
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, and it is my most favorite thing that I put up for Christmas. It belonged to my grandma. She made the ceramic set and painted it herself. It is HUGE! It is amazing.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Um, we don't send Christmas cards. Sorry!!
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I really can't remember.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Christmas Story. It isn't Christmas until I have seen Christmas Story!!
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually in October.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Nope.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Rodkol, Buna and Risalamong. All covered in lots and lots of gravy.
16. Lights on the tree? Yes. Pre-lit Christmas trees are the best thing ever invented!!
17. Favorite Christmas song? I really love Christmas songs. Erin's most favorite is the Christmas Shoes song. She absolutely adores that one!!
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? We go to my parent's house in the afternoon. I refuse to go to Dan's mom's house. It is the most UNFESTIVE place EVER!! I know... mean.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? "You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen. But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all?? Rudolph the red nosed reindeer!" I think if you can't, you had a bad childhood!-- I took this from Erin.
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Well I bought a star after Christmas two years ago, and I was so excited to put it up, but it is too heavy and makes the top of the tree sag. SAD!!
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? I am Danish. The Danes do their big Christmas celebration on Christmas Eve so we open a few presents on Christmas Eve and then wait for Santa to come that night! SO MUCH FUN!! I think I actually like Christmas Eve more than Christmas day.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Those dumb blow up things that people put out on their lawn. And blue Christmas lights. Hmmm... I think there is a certain house up by my parent's house that is the ULTIMATE in annoying.
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Picture ornaments. I want to have my whole kid tree full of picture ornaments showing pictures of them growing up.
24. Favorite Christmas dinner? Christmas Eve Danish feast! Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, Rodkal, Bunacatofla all covered in lots and lots of gravy. Yum and yum!!
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? To go on a vacation without my kidlets!!

I tag Stephanie, Summer, and Angela...

Maya's Dance Recital

Yesterday Maya had a dace recital at The Festival of Trees. She did awesome!! She has been in dance for three years, and this year I think she is really getting it!! They did a darling tap dance. So much fun!! I asked her what her favorite part of the dance recital was, and she said "Getting flowers at the end."
This is the second year she has danced at The Festival of Trees. I had never been before last year, and I really enjoy it. I have a fond place in my heart for Primary Children's Hospital. They were so great with us when we were in crisis mode when Jensen had his surgery. So it is always good to support the cause!!
Here are some dang darling pictures of the little "flapper"

Before...

During...

And the big finish!!

So cute!! Maya-- I am so proud of you!

Ode to the rat tail...

When Jensen was five weeks old, he had to have surgery because he had a condition called pyloric stenosis. After the surgery he lost ALL of his hair. My dad lovingly named him the rubber baby because he had the sweetest little bald head.

This is a picture of him five days after being released from Primary Children's Hospital.

This is the PERFECT picture of the Rubber Baby!!

As his hair started to grow, he had this funny little wisp in the back that was longer then the rest. This piece came to be known as "The Rat Tail"!! Maya would always say "look at his little rat tail!"

The rat tail

Don't you worry, that IS a clip in my BOY's hair!!

Needless to say, we all got very attached to his little rat tail. When the time came to give him his first haircut, I was so sad!! A few weeks ago, I finally took him to get his hair cut.

Before

After

This is the best picture I could get of him. When we got home, he cried for about thirty minutes. He was sad his rat tail was gone too!!

I am thankful for ( In no particular order)...

* My three beautiful, amazing, sweet kids!! I love them. They bring joy and happiness to our lives. I look forward to seeing their sweet faces after they have had baths in the evening. So sweet and innocent. They make my heart sing!!

* My sweet husband Dan. He is such an amazing dad to our kids. He has more patience than I could hope for. He is SUCH a hard worker, and an excellent provider for our family. He is always willing to do any task that I need him to. No matter how crazy it is!! Love him!!

* My Mom, Dad, Sister Erin, and Brother Alex. As we get older, we become closer and closer. We always have so much fun when we get together!

* My beautiful (and crazy!!) home.

* Modern medicine-- without this, my kids would be in pain, and my baby wouldn't be here with us.

* My wonderful friends and neighbors.

* The gospel.

* Fun Day Friday (and "The Bad Chad")! Or Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, whenever it is, it is such a nice break from the monotony of everyday. Erin-- I hope we will always be great friends!!

Well, the list could get longer and longer! I love this time of year.

The list could go on and on. This is my favorite time of year!

Bananas

My kids have been on a banana kick lately. Here are a few pictures of them eating breakfast!! Collin was at school, so I don't have a picture of him, sad!!

Twilight, the obsession returns...

So I was pretty much over the whole Twilight obsession. After I read the fourth book, and with the knowledge that everything was right in the world of Bella and Edward, I moved on with my life. When all the movie hype started, I was thinking yes, I will go see the movie, but I wasn't all crazy with excitement!! As the date came closer and closer, yes, I got more and more excited!

I LOVED THE MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, the most fantastic thing EVER!!! I saw it twice on Saturday ( Yes, I know I'm a freak)!! I went with Erin, Heather, and Jeanna. After we dropped Heather off at her house, Erin and I walked right back in to that movie theater, bought two more tickets and saw the movie again!! SO MUCH FUN! And, we have two of the best husbands in the world for watching the kiddos all...day...long!!! And, I will go see it again! So much fun!!

Confession...

Yep, here we are November 19th, and I started to put my Christmas decorations up! Decorating for Christmas is one of my FAVORITE parts of the season, and since Thanksgiving is so late this year, I decided that I wanted more than three weeks to enjoy my decorations. So I started in the living room with our gigantic 12 foot Christmas tree... It took me all afternoon! One tree down, one to go! I can't wait!

Goin' to the doctor

So I took Jensen for his 18 month appointment on Tuesday ( He is 19 months, but he kept getting sick-- The story of our life!!) Here are his stats:

Head: 49.5 cm-- 90the percentile (HEED!!)
Length: 34 1/4 inches-- 90th percentile
Weight: 27 pounds-- 75th percentile
This kid is SOLID!!

He isn't really a talker. I counted the words he says, and the grand total is... 9!

*Mama
*Dada
*Baba
*Hot
*Juice
*Weeee
*Yeah!!
*Wow!!
*NO

I was starting to get a little worried about his talking, but they tell me is is doing fine. His cousin Gracie talks and talks and talks. She is a CRAZY talker! You can ask her to say anything, and she'll say it not only once, but she'll remember it. She is only 17 months!! I always tell her she is gifted. :)

Some of his favorite things are:

*Cars, cars, and more cars!!
*His blue soft blanket
*Collin-He follows him EVERYWHERE!!
*Mommy!!
*Juice
*Suckers
*Anything with a lid that he can take on and off.
*His ride on car

Some of the funny things he does:

*He walks around with his eyes closed--SO FUNNY!
*He looks at you and starts having a conversation in his "baby talk"
*He copies everything Collin and Maya do.
*When we pass a McDonalds with a play place, he says "Wow, wow, yeah!!!" So stinkin' cute!

I can't believe my baby is 19 months already!! He even got his first haircut on Saturday... pictures of that to come!

Look how tall I am!

This morning as I was rushing to get Collin out the door and to the bus stop, I looked over and saw this:

"Hi mom!"

This baby is HILARIOUS! He is our comic relief!

Proud Mommy Moment...

Collin and Maya got their report cards two days ago, and they are doing AWESOME!!

Collin struggled last year with his reading speed and accuracy. I was in a PANIC because my brother struggled and struggled in school. I was concerned that Collin would have the same fate. He is a whiz at math, but his reading and handwriting were off. His teacher last year worked and worked with him, and he made some progress. She was amazed at his math skills. He even received the President's Award in math. He amazes me. He can do math IN HIS HEAD that is WAY beyond his grade level.
Anyway, that was last year. This year his teacher kept telling me that he is doing great in his reading, and all assessment tests she has given him, he has been above where he should be in his reading. He scored a "5 --Student extends mastery of this task beyond the instructional expectation of the course." What a blessing!! We were both so concerned about his reading, and this year he is doing excellent. I guess kids all learn in their own time.

Maya is also doing well in Kindergarten. She is right at grade level with all of her scores. I guess we'll have to tackle the reading thing with her shortly. She has shown interest, and is slowly but surely learning to sound words out and read on her own. She loves her teacher, and loves school--especially the social part!

Collin and Maya, I am so proud of you, and I am so happy to be your mommy!

Terrible 5's Update

So while I was getting Maya ready to get on the bus to go to school today, I told her that she was being a sweet girl. She says to me "I know, I forgot how to be nice, I just kept whining and whining, but now I remembered how to be good!!" So often my kids say funny things and I think that I will remember to write it down, and I never do. That's another reason why this blogging thing is so fun! She is such a sweet girlie!

Christmas Shoes Song

DISCLAIMER: ERIN POSTED THE CHRISTMAS SHOES SONG. I REALLY REALLY REALLY CAN'T STAND THAT SONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOOKS LIKE IT'S TIME TO CHANGE MY BLOG PASSWORD!

I (Erin-- Ashley's sister) LOVE this song!

I really just love this song. Every Christmas season, I look forward to hearing it on the radio. When I am driving around during the hustle and bustle of the Holiday season, it really reminds me what it is all about.

It was almost Christmas time
There I stood in another line
Trying to buy that last gift or two
I'm really in the Christmas mood
Standing right in front of me
Was a little boy waiting anxiously
Pacing around like little boys do
And in his hands he held
A pair of shoes
And his clothes were worn and old
He was dirty from head to toe
And when it came his time to pay
I couldn't believe what I heard him say

Sir I wanna buy these shoes for my Momma please
It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size
Could you hurry Sir?
Daddy says there's not much time
You see, she's been sick for quite a while
And I know these shoes will make her smile
And I want her to look beautiful
If Momma meets Jesus, tonight

They counted pennies for what seem like years
And cashier says son there's not enough here
He searches is pockets franticly
And he turned and he looked at me
And he said Momma made Christmas good at our house
Most years she just did without
Tell me Sir What am I gonna do?
Some how I've got to buy her these Christmas shoes
So I laid the money down
I just had to help him out
And I'll never forget The look on his face
When he said Momma's gonna look so great.

Sir I wanna buy these shoes, f
or my Momma please
It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size
Could you hurry Sir?
Daddy says there's not much time
You see, she's been sick for quite a while
And I know these shoes will make her smile
And I want her to look beautiful,
If Momma meets Jesus tonight

I knew I caught a glimpse of heavens love as he thanked me and ran out.
I know that God had sent that little boy to remind me
What Christmas is all about

Sir I wanna buy these shoes
for my Momma please
It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size
Could you hurry Sir?
Daddy says there's not much time
You see she's been sick for quite a while
And I know these shoes will make her smile
And I want her to look beautiful
If Momma meets Jesus tonight
I want her to look beautiful If Momma meets Jesus tonight

So, if you made it past that painful song, please note that this is Erin, and Ashley, this is WAR!

Growing up

So Jensen had his very first Happy Meal the other day. He really didn't really like it! He ate the apples and drank some of the apple juice, but he wouldn't touch the Chicken McNuggets!! What a cutie :)

The Terrible 5's???

So when I found out that Maya was a girl, I was THRILLED!! You always hear that girls are more emotional than boys, but I figured hey, cute clothes, bows, and bracelets, I'll take it!! And after raising Collin the wild child, it would be a piece of cake, right? WRONG!! Can we all say EMOTIONAL?!? Now I know what everybody was talking about!! Oh well, hopefully it is just a phase and she'll turn back into my sweet little Maya...

Candy Kids...

A couple of weeks ago Dan went into Collin's room to wake him up for school. Collin woke up, and the first words out of his mouth were "I gotta get me a little taste of candy." Can I tell you I about died laughing when Dan told me this!!!

Last night Jensen woke up with a fever. Of course he did, we were all getting over the last series of disease that hit our house this fall!! It was about 3:30 in the morning, and Dan was downstairs getting him some medicine. Maya woke up and went downstairs and asked him if she could have some candy!! It was 3:30 in the morning!!

I think the Halloween candy needs to find itself in the garbage can...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Here are some pictures of our monsters on Halloween!



Collin was Jengo Fett from Star Wars.


This year I told Maya that she couldn't be a princess. She decided to be a witch. I think she made a great decision!!


Jensen was a stinkin' cute chicken without a hat!! He refused to wear the hat. He pretty much didn't want to get into his costume, so I had to bribe him with candy!! (I'm such a good mom!!!)


We took the kids over to my parents house, and tried to get a picture of them with their cousin Gracie in their Halloween costumes... This is as good as it gets!!
On Halloween, it is a tradition to take the kids to Dan's work and do trick or treating around his office. The kids LOVE it, but it makes the day that much crazier! When it was time to go trick or treating around the neighborhood, Collin and Maya had pretty much had enough--but they would never say so! They were whining and being mean to each other, so they didn't stay out very long... They still got a TON of candy!

I am Esme...

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

This is funny, try it out for yourself!! Click on the link below the "Esme" picture!

Silly Baby!!!

Jensen was being so funny this morning! He was playing in the family room, and I couldn't resist taking a bunch of pictures of him. Look at his silly face!!!

He isn't happy about not being able to go outside and play. So this week he has to "rediscover" playing with his toys. He has always loved cars. One of his favorite things to do right now is take a car and "zoom" it down the arm of the couch. As he does this he says "WEEEEEEEEE" It is really cute.



He kept doing this face, I don't know what it is!!



He is a sweet baby :)

Ain't ain't a word!!!

So my lovely daughter Maya came home yesterday from her friend Kaylah's house, and we were talking about her being tired. Maya says "I ain't tired!" I looked at her and asked her what she just said. I couldn't believe that came out of her mouth!! Hello? We are not white trash!! I explained to her that Ain't isn't a word, and we left it at that.
This morning, as I was doing her lovely hair, she tells me "I ain't going to school today" That did it. I was not as nice to her this time, I told her we do not use that word in our house! And that is a word people use when they don't go to school!! I'm such a good mom...

Cornbellys!!

This last week, my kids had fall break. On Thursday afternoon, we took the crew over to Cornbelly's. We had so much fun!!! Collin and Maya played on everything. They loved jumping on the trampoline. Jensen LOVED going down the big slides. He would laugh and laugh. After we played for a while, it was off to the pig races. Maya got to go up and cheer for her own pig. She loved it! We all went on a hay ride around the pumpkin patch. We had a great time.
The kids had a great fall break. They played with all of their friends, and the weather was FANTASTIC (thank goodness)!! We also had our Daddy home for a couple of days, and that was fun.

Fieldtrips

Okay, so after my fit yesterday about how much I enjoy blogging, I decided to post something much happier. Isn't that the SWEETEST face ever??? I know, I know. Yesterday my lovely sister came over and we had Fun Day WEDNESDAY! We had so much fun going to the "Bad Chad" and trying to figure out how to put a slideshow up on my blog. Needless to say, the slideshow is still in progress (I can't figure out how to put one up)!!
Maya went to Cornbelly's on a school field trip yesterday. She had SO much fun. All she talked about for the week and a half leading up to the trip was going to Cornbelly's. Every morning when she would come into my room, she would ask me "What day is it today?" and I would tell her, then she would say "Are we going to Cornbelly's today with my class?" She had so much fun running around and going on the little rides there. She also got to pick out a pumpkin to bring home. She has been carrying that thing around ever since!!! Such a funny little girlie!
Collin went on a fieldtrip yesterday to a farm here in American Fork. They learned about pigs and wheat. That is what he told me-- He is a man of few words!:)He came home with a couple of rulers, and a pencil with a pig on it, and a cook book for kids using pork?!?! Such a strange combination of stuff!! They both had a FANTASTIC time at school yesterday. Maya said it was the best day ever!

I hate blogging, it's stupid!!!

And that's all I have to say.

Linus!!

Okay, so my DARLING sister Erin told me that she was going to start posting on my blog. Sooo, I decided I better write something for everyone out there to read!! My sweetest baby boy has been carrying around all of his blankets today. He has been so funny with them; he gathers them in a big pile and then lays his sweet baby head on them. Oh how I love that baby!

Fun Day Friday!!!

For Fun Day Friday, my lovely sister Erin conned me into starting a blog. This is an experiment that can go either way!!! We’ll see if I actually have time to post stuff on it, or if it just sits here with one lonely post. Stay tuned, more to come…or maybe not!!!!