My Puppies

The kids sometimes like to pretend they're puppies. They get out bowls and fill them with water and then drink from them like this. I think it's pretty cute so I don't mind the mess. I enjoy watching them use their imaginations.

Christmas 2010 #2

So, funny story... Last night after we got home from the Rogers, Isaac wanted me to hide his presents under his bed "because Santa might see them." I think he was afraid Santa wouldn't give him any more presents if he knew he already had some. Or maybe he was afraid Santa would take them. I don't know, but he was certainly worried about something. :) It was pretty cute.

The kids are all pretty happy with everything they got.

We tried to make it a small Christmas this year, I don't want the kids to get spoiled.

Grandma Westerson gave the kids a lot of fun things. So they got pretty spoiled anyway.

Christmas 2010 #1

We went up to the Rogers house for Christmas Eve and we all had a lot of fun.

The kids made cookies with Grandma and Grandpa...

and uncle Kyle, uncle Grant, and uncle Ben.
The kids got lots of fun stuff, but my favorite were these two quilts that Leslie (grandma Rogers) made.

This is the one she made for Debbie.

And this is the one she made for Cosette, isn't it AWESOME!?!! I love them both. She's amazing.

Cosetty Loves Her Daddy

Because of the snow yesterday, Chad stayed home and just worked on his laptop. Well, Cosette just loves her daddy so she sat there next to him running her fingers through his hair while he worked and she watched sesame street. It was so cute!

Fun With Cousins

I've said many times that I love my nieces and nephews and I'll say it again, "I LOVE my nieces and nephews, they're the best!!" They're so good and take time to play with their younger cousins, it makes me so happy.

Here's Samantha playing with Debbie. Debbie talks about Samantha all the time and it's probably because she's so nice to her.

Cameron very patiently teaching Isaac how to use the wii remotes.

And all these beautiful girls making cookies with their younger cousins.

I love them all so much!

Hospital Stay

I finally checked myself into the hospital last week. Things got pretty bad, I'll spare you the details. I was there for three days and am glad that I made the decision to go. They were very helpful and it gave me an opportunity to just check out of life for a few days. I came home feeling rejuvenated but then quickly got bogged down again. But, I know that I still feel better than I did one week ago. I'll be okay.

I was reading a book the other day, "In the Hands of the Potter" by Camille Fronk (I recommend it), and she quoted President John Taylor who quoted the Prophet Joseph Smith saying to the twelve: "You will have all kinds of trials to pass through. And it is quite as necessary for you to be tried as it was for Abraham and other men of God, and (said he) God will feel after you, and He will take hold of you and wrench your very heart strings, and if you cannot stand it you will not be fit for an inheritance in the Celestial Kingdom of God" (Journal of Discourses, 24:197).

That stuck out to me, I feel like my "heart strings" are being wrenched. But it's all for a purpose and I must "stand it." For some reason that quote gave me hope, hope that I will be able to "stand it."

My family and friends are amazing. My parents immediately came down and got the younger kids. Ellen took Debbie during the day and got her to school and back so Chad could do his schoolwork during the day. My good friend dropped everything so she could come get the kids so my sister could come take me in. And now that I'm home I've had so much support from family and friends. Our meals are being taken care of for the next few days and that is a HUGE help. I just feel so blessed. We're all so blessed to have so much love and support.

It Came Out!

It came out!!

Loose Tooth

Debbie has her first loose tooth! I'm far more excited about it than I ever anticipated I would be. :) We'll take pictures once she's lost it.

Can't Do That

So this morning Debbie was playing with her santa claus puppet that she made at my brother's house yesterday (Shout out to my awesome nieces who are so good and wonderful and play with their younger cousins, I love you Samantha and Danielle!), and she said in a santa claus voice, "Ho ho ho, what do you want for Christmas mommy?" I said, "I want peace on earth." And she says all seriously, "Well that's not going to happen." So I said, "Yes it will, it's going to happen when Jesus comes back." She thought for a minute and then looked at her puppet and said, "He can't do that." Nope, no santa can't do that, but Jesus can and Jesus will. :)

The Train

Chad's mom is here and tonight we went on the train to go see santa. It was a lot of fun!

Cosette and Aunt Michelle

Waiting to board the train.

I love the look of wonder on her face.

Isaac had a great look of wonder too. :)

It's been a lot of fun to have Shauna here. She's so wonderful with the kids and has helped me out SOO MUCH. The kids just adore her and are going to miss her! I'm so grateful for all she's done for us (me, particularly).

New Friend

Isaac: "Mom, I have a new friend named Dinosaurmumble."

Mom: "You have a new friend named Dinosaur tail?"

Isaac: "No, I have a new friend named Dinosaurmumble."

Mom: "You have a new friend named Dinosaur Dan?"

Isaac: "NO, I have a new friend named Dinosaur DAM."

Mom: "Oh, you have a new friend named Dinosaur Dam?"

Isaac: "Yeah, he's a swear word."

A Thank You

I need to write my parents a thank you note, and while a hand-written note is a little more personal, I wanted to do it on the blog so I can have a copy of it.

My parents are wonderful, they do a lot for all of their kids. They're so willing to step in and help out when I need it. This week they took Cosette and Isaac for me to help me out [yes, I'm back to needing help again, grrrrr]. I love having the kids spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Shapiro because I know they are safe and loved and Grandma and Grandpa are always a good influence on them. My mother is so selfless and giving. She's so thoughtful. She browned some meat for me to make cooking a little easier. And it may seem a little thing, but when the kids got home Wednesday evening I opened the suitcase to find it filled with clean clothes instead of laundry for me to do. That meant a lot to me and I was really touched that she went out of her way to help me out even more. It's the thoughtful things like that that define my mother. She's just a genuinely good person. I love that the spirit is so strong in their home. The kids always come home to me a little better than when I sent them.

So, thank you mom and dad, I love you so much, words can't adequately express my gratitude for you both!

[These pictures are from a couple days before Cosette was born, I really need to get some more recent pictures of them with the kids]

Halloween

I've decided I hate halloween. But, well, here're some pictures from our day.

Debbie decided she was 'Angelina Ballerina'... the costume may look a little familiar.

Isaac was a Jedi Knight. I love my wonderful sister!

Cosette was a fairy.

Why do I hate halloween you ask? The same reason most other parents hate halloween. A whole lot of useless candy that's going to rot my kids teeth. I just couldn't get into the 'holiday' spirit this year so the kids didn't get to do many fun things. We did go to the ward party, so at least they got to do something.

So, Happy Halloween everyone. :)

Taxi

I feel like a taxi driver. And I only have one in school [well, two if you count Chad, which I do because I quite often give him a ride home from school]. It plain old sucks having to get three kids in and out of the car 2 - 3 times a day. They hate it. Isaac especially. He gives me so much grief. I don't know what to do, but he's making everyone's life miserable! I threaten and spank and he's just so darn stubborn that nothing works so I end up carrying my 40 lb 4 year old down and up three flights of stairs half the time. I hate it. It makes me so mad. I'm at my wits end and have no idea what to do. It's going to be a long year if this is how he is every day for the next 7 months.

I Don't Want to Grow Up

For a while now Isaac will say, "When I grow up I'm going to be a daddy, huh!" "Yep, yeah you get to be a daddy when you grow up." Well, the past couple days he's changed his tune. "I don't want to grow up. I don't want to grow up and be a daddy." I can't quite figure out why. But he's felt the need to tell me that randomly and frequently throughout the day. I'm sure it's something silly and little like he doesn't want to have to get his hair cut or something, but I can't get him to tell me why. Crazy kid!

Family Pictures!!

A good friend of ours was nice enough to take some family pictures for us this morning and we are so pleased with them, she did a great job!

Thanks so much Suze! We love them!!

Tidbits

We haven't had much of interest going on in our life right now so I figured I'd blog a little about where the kids are at.

Cosette's vocabulary is expanding daily. I think her favorite thing to say is, "Why?" Which can be infuriating... she's only 2! She's also taken to teasing her older siblings and calling them names. I came into the room the other day and found Debbie sitting on the floor sobbing and I asked what was wrong and Debbie said that Cosette was calling her a 'crybaby.' Hahaha! She's so feisty! She hasn't called anyone a crybaby recently so maybe we were able to put a stop to that. :) The other day we were reading a book about princesses and she said, "I a plincess" (she says 'l' instead of 'r') "and you a plincess and Debbie a plincess... and Daddy the queen!" We got a good laugh out of that one. And sometimes, if she gets mad she'll say, "I'm super duper angry!"

Isaac LOVES these blocks. They're awesome. They're called TRIO's and he spends hours each day playing with them. He makes all sorts of rows and patterns. He doesn't ever put them together haphazardly, there's always a pattern of some sort. He puts them into rows of the same color then stacks them up and then puts them back into rows again. And he spends HOURS doing that every day. It's one of the first things he does in the morning (we often wake up to the 'click, click, click' of the blocks) and almost always the last thing he does at night, he falls asleep with the blocks in bed with him. I love these blocks!

I've discovered a new way to keep Debbie entertained. She loves to cut paper. So, I give her some paper, crayons, and scissors and she's content for a long time. She has such an imagination! She writes stories and draws pictures and then dances around the house telling us all about them, she loves it.