My greasy baby and other notable events

Last night after tub time I guess we lost track of number four for a few too many minutes. She likes lotion, I mean, she likes TO EAT lotion. I still haven't checked the jar to see if it isn't good to eat. Ainslers was ok, so I am guessing it's fine to have a few tablespoons each day. My real problem is that cetaphil cream is expensive! I might as well let her eat spoonfuls of caviar daily, but I guess that would make her smell fishy.

Jason tried to rub an entire cup of cetaphil cream into Ainsley's tiny bird legs, huge malnourished Ethiopian belly, his arms, Amelia's cracked and bleeding dry hands and a few globs of it got into the carpet too. Ainsley loved it and posed for a whole bunch of really cute nudey baby pictures that I am not going to share. Oh, and YES her nostrils were packed with the cream too, yummy boogies to pick later!

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It's been a while since I posted. Having my guts cut out took a lot more out of me than I expected, it also cost a lot more than I had planned. Jason has been working extra hard to pay the extra bills. I've been working extra hard as a single mom while Jason works all of his days off away. I can officially say that I am caught up now! There are only 3 loads of dirty laundry downstairs, all of the clean stuff is folded and put away, and all of the beds in the house have been made everyday for at least a week. That all might not be so impressive, but listen to this (SARA) I have been cooking too! My kids even said my cinnamon rolls were better than Rhodes!

I've been able to catch up with a few friends the past month....

We had a sisters lunch with the gals from my mission. President & Sister Kohlert showed up and and surprised us. They are all amazing girls! We really need to do that more often, but with ALL of the girls!

A few friends and my sis Sara and I had a girls weekend in Saint George. We went to the parade of homes and skipped on down to Mesquite to play bingo with the senior citizens for the night. A couple grannies taught us how to play and told us about the free drinks (hot cocoa & diet coke) and helped us keep up with the old folks. It was highly entertaining, and cheaper than going to a movie. I will definitely do it again next time I'm in sin city... or at the senior citizens center.

My Ranch family who now lives in Hawaii came to the mainland to drop off one of their sons at the MTC. They joined us at our house for dinner and lots of memories and updates. We didn't have near enough time to catch up on the past way too many years. Maybe it is my turn to visit them? Hawaii here I come! Thanks for the love Todds!

There will be more catching up to do in the next couple of weeks! Em is coming up from Vegas for her Bday, and My Danielson is getting married! I really have the bestest friends! Even though sometimes we go years without seeing each other, SAD.

One more exciting event. Jason's mom retired! We thought about getting her gift cards that said stuff like, FREE SLEEPOVER WITH THE GRANDKIDS! and FREE NIGHT OF BABYSITTING YOUR GRANDKIDS! Instead we decided on surprising her with dinner with the family (minus the grandkids), flowers, and a couple of books to keep her busy with family history. Next week Amelia is putting her to work as a second grade field trip helper, good luck Pam!

I know there are lots of fun family activities that I missed. It's late, this post is long, and there will be no catching up for me, sorry you missed it.

Thanks Ainsley for motivating me to break out my camera, and inspiring me to blog again!

The rumor is TRUE!

This little plot of farm country that is four blocks West and five blocks South of my humble home, will within the next couple of years hold a TEMPLE of God.

I had heard the rumor and it had to be true! WE. NEED. A. TEMPLE. HERE!!! When I heard where this rumored temple would be my hopes were dashed. I knew there was no way that they would put a temple there, in this humble neighborhood! Today they officially announced that this rumor is true! It might just be worth it to stick around this scary neighborhood for a couple of years. I can't wait to look out my living room window and see Moroni glowing in the sky!

SLEDDING!

One late afternoon a couple of weeks ago we decided to take advantage of the last hour of daylight by going sledding. I didn't realize it at the time, but I think this was the first time our kids have ever been sledding any place other than the front lawn or driveway. Don't feel too bad, there are plenty of neighborhood kids who come to our house to go sledding in our yard. Our driveway is a nightmare to get up in the winter, but a blast to fly down on a sled (I wouldn't recommend going down on your butt, I've done it many times accidentally).

Ainsley and I sat in the warm van eating Lorna Doone cookies. She had as much fun watching as the others did sledding.

Grady didn't even have time to look at the camera, only time to smile (a little bit) as he walked by.
Amelia is by far my most adventurous kid! I don't think this idea turned out so well, but I can always count on Amelia to try!

I love this picture of the kids jumping and running up the hill while Jason is just dragging himself up. Jason was having fun, but the kids were ecstatic!

Here was an attempt at fitting all four on together, poor Amelia wasn't really on all the way and her pants were filled with snow at the end brrrrr!

One thing I missed last year...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRADY!

When your birthday is two days after Christmas you always get the short end of the deal. This year Grady's birthday fell on a Sunday so we partied it up at Chucky Cheese on Saturday night. We stopped by Target on the way home to buy the traditional yearly birthday gift, another baseball bat. Grady also picked a 'soft throw in the house' baseball and a baseball T. Everything and everyone in our house is at risk of being nailed in the head with a 'soft' baseball.
Mom and Dad picked a cap gun for him. Grady wasn't too sure about it, he didn't even want to pick it up. It's heavy, made of metal and I think he thought he'd shoot someone if he touched it wrong. (I'm sure I've made him terrified) After Dad help him shoot it and it smoked he just wanted to watch dad shoot it for a while. I think he needs to strengthen his trigger finger and nerves!

I love my little man!

Yesterday when I couldn't get the van up the driveway, and there was no way I could shovel, my sweet Grady came to the rescue! He spent a long time freezing outside and did a dang good job shoveling the snow into a huge pile. Thanks for always taking care of me Grader!

I know you hate me to kiss you buddy but, MMMMMMWWWAAAAAA!!!

I love you Grady Jay!

Christmas Memories...

I really can't believe that Christmas is over already! I haven't gotten all of my Christmas decorations up yet. Here are the pictures to document our CRAZY Christmas...

Sydnie with her graham cracker house. Grandma Strong puts these together for us every year.

Grady started eating his house before he even put frosting or candy on it.
Amelia takes decorating her house very seriously! It turned out practically perfect!

On Christmas Eve Amelia wasn't feeling very well so Jason took the kids to his parents house while I stayed home with her. After a couple of hours of just laying in bed on Christmas Eve Amelia was 'feeling better' or more like, 'feeling left out' so we decided to head to grandmas. When we got there I realized she really wasn't doing so well still and I called the doctors office. They advised us to head to the ER to have her checked out. After 'stealing' her blood and a cat scan the Dr. decided that her appendix had ruptured and she would need to have surgery. My Bro Nate and his sweet wife Airaka agreed to put our kids to bed and Amelia gave them strict orders that if they saw Santa they would tell him to come back later! The Surgeon came to the hospital from his Christmas party to check Amelia out. After an examination her told us he thought that she didn't have a ruptured appendix, but instead some big word I don't remember, that meant she had swollen lymph nodes that were causing her pain. To us it was a Christmas miracle! We were so happy that he had figured it out. The nurse told us the same thing had happened to her son, but they didn't figure it out until they had already done the surgery unnecessarily. We are so blessed! Our greatest Christmas gift was having everyone home together on Christmas morning!

We have a silly tradition of blowing up tons of balloons for Christmas morning. We couldn't disappoint the kids, so thanks to Nate and Airaka for staying at our house till after 2 AM making sure we were ready for Santa to come!

Grady's Santa stash...

It looks like Santa was a little cheap this year. I was worried that the kids would be disappointed, but the girls saw our gift to them in the family room downstairs before they came upstairs on Christmas morning. They were really excited about the wii and couldn't really focus on what Santa had brought.

Ainsley loves her new bike and tiny puppy. Sydnie was amazed that even though Ainsley didn't ask Santa for a bike, Santa new that she would love the bike.

Amelia would have been happy with just balloons and her necklace.

Grady with his Laser gun from Grandma and Grandpa.

Sydnie LOVES beads, and the pink Sparkly dress that Santa brought to her. I think Santa must have had a hard time finding a pink Sparkly dress that Syd could wear to church or school in the summer or winter. Good job Santa!

We hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas too!

When the dog bites, when the bee stings!

Our talented and adventurous Amelia Joined the school choir, and a couple of weeks ago we were able to go and watch her sing her heart out for us and all of the students parents. Her favorite song was a little tune from the Sound of Music, My favorite things. We had to borrow the movie from Grandma so we could sing it over and over and over.... They did a great job! Even Dad found an extra 30 minutes to spend with the family this Christmas season!
Grandma & Grandpa Strong came to watch also. Even active Ainsley sat still staring strait ahead at the kids the entire time, I wish Church could be that short and entertaining!

The next day Grady was playing quietly in the living room, (quiet is never a good sign in our home) suddenly the quiet ended and the screaming began. Grady was screaming and holding his foot forever before he finally was able to calm down and tell us that a bee had stung him. Usually Grady is pretty honest, but I wasn't going to fall for that lie! It's the middle of December! While looking around the house for evidence of his crime I was pleading with him to tell me the truth so I would know how to help his foot feel better. The only evidence I found was crawling across the living room floor, a WASP!

Ever since watching the Bee movie I have tried to be more kind to all insects (besides spiders) so we let this guilty bug go... outside in the snow. Grady had a red splotchy swollen foot for a few days, but he is all better now. I tried to help Grady remember a few of his favorite things but Grady hates me to sing to him, good thing Dad was home!

Birthday boy.... uh... MAN!!!

This is my HUNK a HUNK of Burnin' LOVE, at the ripe old age of 33. No longer can you pass for 26 my love! Thanks for sharing 10 of your 33 years with this lucky lady. I love your guts!

Hope you enjoyed your early morning meetings, teaching Elders quorum, eating leftover turkey sandwiches and opening your red rider BB gun. I'm so glad I could be a part of making all your dreams come true!