Christmas Party in Elise's Class

Friday, December 19th--I got a call from one of the room moms to come and help in Elise's class today. I happily accepted and enjoyed helping the kids out with the crafts. The first one was a plate the kids had fun painting. The purpose was to make a plate to hold Santa's cookies on Christmas Eve. A great idea...........just probably not for 1st graders. Most went a little crazy and kind of missed the point of the craft, not to mention all of them were as hyper as could be and had a hard time focusing to begin with. The other craft was a making a festive candy lei. All the kids did great on this one and were constantly asking if they could begin to eat some of the candy rolled up around their necks. Some were sneaky and others decided it be best to listen to Mrs. Mair and wait till they got home. At the end of class Mrs. Mair passed out gifts to all of her kids--they each received a cute Christmas book and some stickers and such. Then Elise passed out some goody bags she and I made the night before, to all the kids in her class. By now, the kids were pretty wired (all 29 of them!) and that is when I made my exit. I noticed there was only 20 minutes left before school was out so I took Elise with me. The first thing she did, when we got home, was open her new Christmas book and begin to read it. So sweet!
Aahhhhhh, now two weeks of no school begins! I hope it's a blast.......I really, really do!

Elise's 1st Grade Christmas Concert

Thursday, December 18th (Evening)--It took me all day to get over missing Brady's preschool concert but I was able to smile again as we made it to Elise's 1st grade Christmas concert in time. Our wonderful neighbors saved us seats just a few rows back from the front. All the 1st graders look so cute as they sang all the fun songs they've been practicing for a long time. They sang: "We Wish You a Swingin' Holiday", "I'm Gettin' Nuttin' for Christmas", "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth", one of the songs from "Polar Express", and a few others. There was also an adorable slide show of all the 1st graders played to the song, "Believe" from "Polar Express". All the 1st graders dressed in pajamas. A week ago I got some snowflake pajamas for Elise, from Childrens Place. For the song, "I'm Gettin' Nuttin' for Christmas" the kids wore hats and sunglasses to give that "rebellious" look as they sang. It was pretty funny since they also bobbed their heads from side to side. Great job, Elise, and all the 1st graders at Pony Express Elementary!
We came home after to drink some yummy hot chocolate with crushed candy canes. Nate's dad, Dan, was able to come and watch too. We all had a great night and it more than made up for the upset this morning.

When Brady Says "Listen To Me!"......You Better Listen!

Thursday, December 18th (Morning)--Oy vey! What a crazy morning! I got Elise and some neighbor kids to school just as the snow was coming down and turning drivers into retards. Shortly after it was time to get ready to go to Brady's preschool Christmas concert. And, of course, with only 20 minutes to get ready, Brady decided to throw a tantrum. We managed to get out of the house on time and driving was great till I got to the main road. A massive back-up for miles (thanks retarded drivers!) As Brady and I waited for traffic to pick-up he said, "Mommy, take the back road." So I said, "Brady, I think the back road will be just as bad because a lot of people know about it now." He said, "MOM! You need to take the back road." Well, being prideful and thinking there's no way a 3-year-old could know what he was talking about, I chose to stay on the backed-up road. When we finally got to the intersection where the back road and the main road come together I noticed something really bad for my ego---there were NO cars on the back road! And to make matters worse, Brady noticed too. Next thing I heard, "MOM! I told you to take the back road and you didn't listen to me!" Rather than the hour it took to get to the concert, it would have only taken 15-20 minutes. And, sadly, we missed the concert all together. We walked in just as people were leaving. I started to cry and tried really hard to compose myself. We took some pictures with Brady in the car he was suppose to sing a solo in. Then we wished Mrs. Petersen a "Merry Christmas" and were back in the car. I was so upset......at myself! I asked Brady if he was sad he missed his concert. He said, "Eh, no. I didn't want all those people to hear me sing." (he has a really cute singing voice!) It made me feel a little better but I still asked him to sing me all the songs he would have sang with all his preschool friends. Next time, Brady-bear, I'll listen to you!

Haagen-Daaz....you ROCK!

Tuesday, December 16th--Last night we went to see the lights at Thanksgiving Point. They were pretty cool then off to Albertson's to see if they had any fun Christmas-type ice cream flavors. I was on the hunt for a specific flavor I discovered at Primary Childrens Medical Center. After visiting my nephew, a few weeks ago, we went down to the cafeteria and they had a Haagen-Daaz flavor I hadn't seen before: Peppermint Bark. I bought it and it was YUMMY! So I found it last night and also saw another flavor I hadn't seen before: Creme Brulee. So amazingly good too! So here's two flavors I HIGHLY recommend. Creme Brulee is really rich, a few spoonfuls and you're good to go.

And if you've discovered an ice cream flavor that is incredibly yummy please share with me! Like I need it! But hey, ice cream is just one of my favs!

Yes, Elise & Brady, There Is A Santa Claus!

Sunday, December 14th--Yesterday was pure madness! We made plans to got to South Towne Mall and see Santa Claus, then off to Sweet Tomato's for dinner, then downtown to Temple Square to see the lights. Well, all I can say is.......dinner was great! We got to the mall and the line to see Santa seemed not so bad. Nate got in line with Brady and Elise and I headed to "Childrens Place" to do a little shopping for one of the nieces. We got back and everyone in the line looked a little annoyed. I guess Santa had to go screw a new lightbulb in to Rudolph's nose or something like that. We waited in line for 45 minutes and no Santa. Brady was done but Elise still wanted to wait. I bribbed her by telling her we'd go to the "Hello Kitty" store if we could get out of line. She said, "Sure!" So we went there and then off to dinner. We love Sweet Tomato's. It's such a fantastic salad bar buffet. Our tummies were full so we headed downtown Salt Lake to Temple Square to look at the lights. I suggested we take Trax but Nate thought it be best to drive down. How wrong he was!!!! On our way we picked up my niece, Samantha. We circled the square for almost an hour before giving up--no parking! The kids were pretty bummed by now so we tried to think of something to do to cheer them up. As we were driving back to drop off Samantha at her house I remembered a little Santa house in Sugarhouse. It's a 6' x 8' shed-like building that sits outside in Sugarhouse's town center. We drove up and prayed they would still be open, if it was still around at all (it was already 8:00 pm). It was there and the lights on. Nate ran out to see if Santa was still around. He motioned for us to run over. We did and Nate came up to me with a big grin and said, "They close at 8:00 but said they don't turn down any children that are waiting at the door." How sweet! No lines and a wonderfully, friendly Santa that hung around well after he was suppose to. He made the kids feel so special and I was very touched.

SO, if you can't bear the thought of waiting in long lines to see Santa at the mall, go down to Sugarhouse and visit Santa in his little house. He's right across the street from the old "Blue Boutique" (so hilarious!). AND, take Trax if you're going downtown to see the Temple Square lights.

My Little Metal-Mouth

Saturday, December 13th--Elise got her expanders in on Tuesday, December 9th. They went in quite easily and haven't bothered her much--only when I have to crank them. She is still adjusting to talking, eating and swallowing. She doesn't want to try and eat anything, we kind of have to force her. I've never had expanders in but I can imagine it's not very fun to have food caught in the metal. She's constantly trying to pick it out. The drooling gets a little annoying. She wipes it on her blankets so I'm washing them often. We've noticed she's lost a pound or two so it's time to get tough. If she had her way, she'd be happy to drink milkshakes and chocolate milk the whole time! The expanders will be in for about 6-9 months. In 3-4 months she will also have braces put in on the front 4 teeth--top and bottom--to bring the teeth back in to alignment. Once she's lost all of her teeth and the permanent ones are in then she'll get a full set of braces. Oh joy..........not!

Weird Sleeper!

Monday, December 8th--I forgot to post this a few days ago. After we left Nate's parents house, after taking our family Christmas photos, we noticed it was quite late and were certain both the kids would fall asleep on the drive home. Well, Brady did and he made himself quite comfortable!

Happy Birthday Pops!

Thursday, December 11th--Today is my dads 59th birthday. Next year is the big 6-0! Hmm, what to do, what to do? Well, not sure yet but I have a whole year to think about it! Dad, hope you had a great birthday and have a wonderful year. Think positive! Happy Birthday! We love you!

**This pic is of my dad, Cal, and my niece, Samantha in July, 2008.

New Family Christmas Photos

Monday, December 8th--YES!! We went over to Nate's parents house tonight for some fun visiting and for his fabulous mom, Rosemary, to take our family Christmas photo. We send our photos with Christmas cards every year. I'm so happy I can work on getting my Christmas cards out now. I've got a long list! Here's the finished products:

Jacob Be Strong!

Sunday, December 7th--I got an update from my sister, Alishia, about my nephew, Jacob. Primary Childrens is keeping him for 1-2 more days (he was suppose to be released today). While he was doing fantastic last night, as we visited with him, he began to do worse in the middle of the night. The on-call endocrinologist talked with Alishia and explained what the problem might be. Jacobs liver is storing sugar and not releasing it with the response of insulin, like it should. His body seems to be resisting insulin. Little by little, the liver is releasing the sugar on its own, causing crazy glucose highs. The endocrinologist says this is common for people with Type 2 Diabetes (Jacob has Type 1). So does this mean he has both? Is that even possible? What the crap?! Tonight he is being started on some medication Type 2 Diabetics take, in hopes it'll do the trick. Tomorrow he starts a long day of being re-educated on dealing with diabetes. As much as he'll hate it, he needs it. He's been a slacker in taking care of himself (he's a teenager, nuff said).
Hang in there, Jacob! Fight the good fight and have faith! We love you and pray for everything to be okay!