You know your little guy is too small when....

He can get out of his highchair when he is buckled. Coen has taken to getting out of his highchair as soon as he gets in it. He loves to stand up and turn around to play with the blinds. So to remedy that we moved him away from the blinds. Did that stop him? Of course not he just got of his highchair and sat on the tray. This kid is something else. He is so busy. He is more busy then my other two. I also have never had to deal with a kid that is under the 80% in weight. This is a totally new thing for me. I had to ask my Dr. if it was ok to put Coen forward facing at a year because he didn't meet the weight requirement. My other kids met that milestone months before their first birthday. His pants fall off of him and he outgrows his clothes because they are getting too short for him before they are getting to small around the waist. I have never had that before. I guess it is true what they say. No two kids are a like and I am going to have to get use to having a little guy. But boy is he cute even if he is little.

PS- I remedied the highchair thing by tightening the straps to the absolute smallest setting the one that you have when you child is a new born and that seemed to work. At least for now.

Our Christmas Festivities

This month has been filled with many Christmas events. First we had Paige's ballet class event. It wasn't a recital it was just to show us what they have been working on the past few months. Paige has only been doing dance for a few months and loves it.

Then we had Johnny's pre-school singing concert. At times Johnny would appear to not be singing and a moment later he was the only one you could hear. It was pretty funny.

And finally last night we started the Gingerbread house. It didn't take only a few minutes for Johnny to break part of the house so it is our special needs house. John kept on trying to make it a catholic church by adding a cross but I would have nothing of it so he finally gave up and started decorating with the kids. I think the kids had fun.

During the festivities this is where I found Coen.

He apparently has inherited the Black family shoe fetish. This month has been fun and tonight we will be having Christmas Eve. dinner at our house. We our looking forward to it. I love the month of December with all the Christmas festivities. I love the Christmas music and the spirit of giving. I am always sad to say good bye to December. But always look forward to the next year.

Charity.. the Pure Love of Christ

During this Christmas session we had the opportunity as a family to give to the Bishop Toy House. This is where you can take new toys and give them to Deseret Industries and they take them to a special room where families can go pick out new toys for their children for Christmas. I decided to take my kids along to show them where these toys would go and to help them understand better why we give things and to feel the wonderful spirit that accompanies you while you do good for others. I was a little apprehensive because I thought that Paige and Johnny would want all the toys and not want to give them up. I was pleasantly surprised when Paige took one of the bags and saw that a Hannah Montana doll had fallen out and quickly put it back into the bag.(She loves Hannah Montana, so this was a great thing for her). There was no fussing or whining for toys. They willingly and joyfully gave these toys away. It made me feel so good that they are learning about giving to others that may not have as much as we do. Today Paige also showed that she understand giving to others. In her classroom they have a class store where you can buy things with tickets that you have earned through out the week. Today she got into the car after school and was so excited to show me what she had purchased at her store today. She had purchased something for her brother Johnny. She knew that he liked lizards and she bought him one (a toy one of course). She used most of her tickets to purchase her brother something. This made me so happy that she is learning this concept of giving. And sometimes giving to others means sacrificing something that we may want. I hope that as a family that we can remember that giving is not only a Christmas thing that there are many others who struggle throughout the entire year and who need our help all the time. I am so grateful for the many blessings I have in my life and I am so grateful for my Savior and what he has done for me. I hope that I can be a little better at remembering his birth all year and not just this season.

It seems there are no more victims...

This past week our family was slammed with the stomach flu. We have never had this happen to us before. It started on Tuesday when I went to Enrichment and Johnny threw up all of the church's hallway and then in the kitchen trash. (Thanks Kristi for cleaning that up, you're GREAT). Johnny seemed fine the next day so we assumed this was an isolated instance and that it was due to his lack of sleep. Oh we were wrong. Wednesday I was just getting out of the car to buy some shoes with some money that I had gotten for my birthday and I open the door to take Coen out and he had thrown up all over himself and the car. He even was throwing up as I drove away. That night I went to YW recognition and thought that everything would be OK with the kids because Johnny had only thrown up once so I assumed that was all Coen would. I was wrong again he threw up all over John this time and John was nice enough to send me a picture. Then comes Thurs and I start to not feel good at dinner time and new what was to come, you guessed it I got it too. Then comes Friday and John's home from work and later that evening he gets it. This thing is so fast moving I still can't believe it took four victims in four days. Paige is the only one that seems to be untouched. I am still crossing my fingers on that one. But it has been two days since the last victim got it. I just love winter and all the junk it spreads around.

No Living Things for Christmas

A while back John told Paige that when we get a fence that we would get a dog. Well, he did not consult me on this deal and frankly I do not want a dog. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE animals. I grew up with cats my entire life and thought that I would want animals when I got a house of my own. But getting older has made me realize that an animal is like another child but no tax benefits!(Just kidding! I would still have kids whether or not I got a tax break. But I have to admit it is really nice). Animals take a lot of maintenance. You have to feed them, give them shelter when it is cold and get them vaccinated. And honestly with the crappy health insurance that I have now it about breaks the check book to get my own kids vaccinated let a lone a animal. Well to get to the point. Yesterday Paige came home with a letter to Santa. I tried to scan it but is was on that big lined paper that has odd dimensions so I was not able to post it. But anyway it said that she loved Christmas and could she please get a dog preferably a brown one and a black one with white spots. Not only is she thinking she is getting a dog in the future she thinks she is getting two and now she is asking Santa for one.YIKES!! I am going to sit Paige down in a few days and let her know that Santa doesn't bring "living" things to our house for Christmas. I hope this will hold her over on the dog issue. Wish me luck!