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!!