Christmas 2011

We had a wonderful Christmas, mostly due to the generosity of our children's grandparents.  We decided to have a more modest Christmas this year and had a Family Home Evening to explain this to our kids at the beginning of December.  We talked about the 3 wise men, that they brought the Christ-child 3 gifts.  Then we told them that they would each receive 3 gifts from us, their parents.  Santa brought one gift and their stockings and grandparents gave them many other nice things.  They also exchanged gifts with cousins and received gifts from Aunts & Uncles so they were very satisfied.  

Having Christmas on Sunday was a nice experience for our family.  It became less about what we were going to GET and more about the Spirit of the season.  We let the boys see what Santa had brought (Razor scooters) and go through their stockings before Church.  Then we were off to Church for a wonderful Sacrament Meeting.  We came home from Church, ate a fantastic brunch, opened the wrapped gifts, and took a little nap before heading out to see the Styer Family.  Uncles Dave, Doug, and Tom were at Grandma & Grandpa Styer's...my boys love their uncles.  We enjoyed a delicious dinner and exchanged gifts before coming home.  I only took a few pictures of Christmas...

The Other Half of the Story

This is the other half of what happened on Cameron's birthday...

After Cam had picked out his new bike and drove it up to the front so we could continue our shopping, Gavin announced that he had brought a $5 and he'd like to buy something for Cameron with his very own money.  We went up and down the toy aisles but couldn't find anything Gavin was satisfied with.  I had both babies in the back of the Wal-Mart cart because, honestly, what are my other options?  Strap one in the seat of the cart and carry the other?  Okay, that would've worked but it's hard to say the least...

Anyway, we drove past the clothing area and Gavin spotted some shirts on Clearance.  He got so excited and started jumping up and down.  We went over to them and began looking for Cam's size.  All of a sudden, Harrison was on the ground, crying.  I'm not sure if he was reaching and overextended and fell out or if Madi pushed him out or what.  But he was on the ground.  I picked him up so fast and immediately there was an employee asking what she could do to help, "Should I call a doctor?  Do you need ice?" etc.  Harrison wasn't screaming, just crying, and he settled down quickly so I really didn't think there was anything wrong.  But that employee got another employee who called for her manager to check out the baby who'd fallen out of the cart. They all offered to call a doctor or get ice or anything else I thought Harrison might need.  By this time, though, Harrison had quit crying so I said he was fine and continued our shopping.  We purchased the bike & other items and came home.  I fed the kids lunch and put the babies down for their nap.

That evening, while I was working, Gavin sent me a text that said Harrison was sick.  I called Spencer and asked if I needed to come home.  He said Harrison had just eaten a lot at dinner and eaten it quickly and had thrown up a little.  No biggie...

Two days later, December 22, I got home from work around 8 pm.  As I walked in the door, Spencer said, "I need you to feel something but don't freak out."  Then he had me feel Harrison's head, which was, for lack of a better word...squishy!  We immediately knew we needed to take him to be checked out and went straight to an InstaCare.  Both of the babies were ready for bed and Madi had a fit when we thought about leaving her home with Spencer so we left the boys, with Cam in charge, and took the babies.  The InstaCare staff was fabulous! I can't say that enough.  They took us into the triage area where both of the doctors were standing.  They both inspected Harrison and then told us that if it was their son, they'd take him to Primary Children's to have a CT Scan done to make sure there was no bleeding on the brain.  They told us that there is something about the height of shopping cart baskets that cause serious injury when fallen out of and, although Harrison was acting perfectly normal, they wouldn't take a chance.  They kept saying it was probably JUST a skull fracture but they wanted to be sure.  JUST a skull fracture?  On my little boy?  They also told us they would refund our $20 copay!

So off to PCMC we went.  Meanwhile, I started calling friends and family to see if anyone could go sit with the boys, not knowing how long we'd be.  Callie & Mike were on their way to Idaho. Emily & Jeff were already in Idaho.  Dave & Tisa were in bed (they get up at the crack of dawn on Friday mornings to go serve in the temple) but we woke them up and they got ready quickly to go to our house.  I got in touch with my friend, Whitney, whose family was in town for the holidays but said she could go so that my in-laws didn't have to drive over.  We told Dave & Tisa to go back to bed and were thankful that Whitney's family was understanding of our emergency.

When we arrived at PCMC, they were waiting for us.  Because of the time of night we had to go to the Emergency Room...scary!  They started looking Harrison over in a triage room and asked us what had happened.  Then they moved us into a real room and we were seen by another set of nurses, doctors, interns, residents, etc.  Seriously, we told the story of what had happened no less than 6 times.  Harrison was getting pretty bugged by this point and they wanted to do the CT Scan.  They explained that they would try to do it without sedation but if he didn't calm down we could either sedate him or wait for him to fall asleep.  He needed to be perfectly still.  So Spence kept Madi in the room and I carried Han down to the CT Scanning room.  I've never seen a CT scan performed and was quite surprised at what it entailed.  They strapped Harrison's arms down and secured his head between some supports, then Velcro-ed it so he couldn't move.  Then they wanted him to quit crying so they could get clear pictures?  The tech told me I could touch him and talk to him or sing to him, anything I could think of to calm him down.  I started talking to him and then decided to try and sing.  First I sang "I am a Child of God" but couldn't really get through it (I'm an emotional wreck!) so then I started singing the lullaby my mom made up to sing to her babies..."Don't you cry my Harrison, Little Tiny Baby.  Mama loves her baby, Mama loves her dolly.  You are very pretty and Mama loves you so.  So don't you cry and don't you sigh, my Little Harrison.  Don't you cry and don't you sigh, my baby boy."  Not sure how I could get through that one but it worked and Harrison held still long enough to get the scan done.

Then we started waiting for the CT scan to be read.  They told us that there could be three results: 1- If there was no bleeding, we would be released.  2- If there was a small amount of blood, we would be admitted overnight for observation.  3- If there was a blood clot, he'd be rushed to surgery.  After waiting over an hour for the results, I finally went out to the nurses station to find out what was taking so long.  They'd gotten the results back and forgot to come tell us!  Grrrr.  After all was said and done, it was JUST a skull fracture!  I never thought I'd be happy to hear it was JUST a skull fracture...but we were released and told to follow up with our normal pediatrician after Christmas.

Harrison has healed extremely quickly.  The swelling went down within a couple of weeks and he is perfectly healthy now.  We are so thankful that it didn't end up being more serious.  We are so thankful for friends and family who helped out that night.  We are so thankful for the many prayers that were offered in our behalf.  We hope we never have to spend time at Primary Children's again.  That is such a sad place but we are grateful that we were treated well there.

By the way, our pediatrician later told us that when a child goes to PCMC with an injury like Han's, the parents are asked numerous times to tell what happened so that they can make sure the story doesn't change.  Little did we know, we were being investigated during this sad time!

Cam's 10th

Cameron's 10th birthday was on Tuesday, December 20th.  Since it was a pretty big birthday and his birthday is so close to Christmas, his grandparents (on both sides), aunts, and uncles all sent him money so that he could buy a mountain bike.  He found one that was in his price range and was super excited about it.  So that morning, I loaded up all 5 kids and went to Wal-mart.  Cam quickly found the bike he wanted so we rolled it up to Customer Service & continued our shopping.  (This story has another part to it, but since this post is about Cam's birthday, I'll stick to the birthday part...)

Cam was so excited to get home and try out his new bike.  Lucky for us, we haven't seen much snow this winter so he was able to ride it up and down the road.  He is anxious to take it on the trail near our house, since it is a Mountain bike!  Gavin bought Cam a scratch 'n sniff t-shirt.  Can you believe they make such a thing?  It smells like popcorn.  I think it's horrible but the boys think it is great and that's what matters, right?

Cam's actual birthday was a pretty busy one for us so we celebrated his birthday even more on the following Saturday.  We went to see Puss in Boots in 3D and went to a new diner called Virg's.  They serve a giant hamburger with fresh-cut fries and tots.  We shared it between all of us and even had leftovers to take home!

Cam is such a responsible boy.  He has recently become our babysitter on occasion.  He is a good student, an ambitious Cub Scout, and a best friend to his brothers.  He loves coming home from school and playing with Han and Madi.  We sure love him and are glad he was our first-born!

Christmas Lights on Temple Square

Our friend, Kami called me a couple of weeks ago and said that she wanted to bring her girls to Utah to go see the lights on Temple Square.  She asked if we could meet her and, of course, I said YES.  I quickly called the Anderson's in Logan and we made a plan to meet for dinner in Layton on the 10th.  Kami & girls, Tristan, Abbie & girls, and our family met at Red Robin within minutes of each other.  Although we've had some poor customer service at this restaurant before, we were pleasantly surprised when we were seated quickly and taken good care of throughout the entire meal...seriously, our waitress was FABULOUS!

After laughing through dinner, the Anderson's headed back to Logan and the rest of us went to Temple Square.  Callie & Mike had also planned to go see the lights so they met up with us and helped wrangle the kids.  Gavin insisted on having a picture taken by the green tree (his favorite color).  Cam followed suit and had his taken by the red tree.  We attempted a family picture at the very end but the babies were ready to go home, the boys were sick of the crowds, etc...

Kami & girls planned to stay at our house that night.  We got home and put all the little ones to bed.  They were exhausted and went right to sleep.  Kami, Spencer, and I stayed up late talking, reminiscing, etc.  The Jordan's left the next morning to go visit another friend before heading back to Wyoming.  We sure enjoyed our short time together and are planning a trip to see them in the Spring.

Preschool Christmas Program

Owen loves that it's finally HIS turn to be in preschool and was especially excited to be part of the Preschool Christmas Program.  They sang songs, recited a couple of poems, and Santa & Mrs. Claus came.  Each child said a line into the microphone...as they spelled out the words "SANTA CLAUS", Owen said, "A is for All we get if we don't cry."  He was very serious about saying his part, it was adorable.  Callie & Mike and Emily & Miley joined us for the program.  The kids all took turns sitting on Santa's lap (or Mrs. Claus') but my camera chose that moment to run out of batteries so the only pic I have is this one that Callie took of Owen:

Twin-isms

Twin-isms: a word I'm making up to describe things that our Twins do that I think they only do because they are twins.  Things I want to remember...

Harrison and Madison generally wake up around 7 am.  They start babbling in their cribs, first one twin, then the other, as if they are having a conversation.

We recently hung a curtain between the piano room and great room to add a little privacy for both rooms.  Madison will sit on one side of the curtain, Harrison on the other.  One will press their face in to the fabric curtain and then the other will start giggling.  Their laughter is HILARIOUS and so CONTAGIOUS!

A lot of times when the babies need a treat, I'll give them each half of whatever...half a banana, half a piece of bread, etc.  Two days ago I gave them each half of a granola bar and let them walk/crawl around with it.  Silence! (Sigh)  All of a sudden Harrison was screaming!  I hurried to where he was to see what was wrong.  Harrison is only crawling, Madi is walking.  And there was Madi standing over her brother with BOTH granola bars...just tall enough that he couldn't grab his back!  She was almost smirking as he screamed bloody murder!

A few nights ago, Harrison was at the top of the stairs on the main level.  Madi came climbing up to the top.  As she reached the top, she bonked her head on the hard wood.  She looked up at Han in shock and almost started crying.  Then Han bent over and bonked his head and started laughing!  So Madi bonked her's again and started laughing!

And how are they doing with the Christmas tree?  Madi was scared of it at first but now they like to take off the largest ornaments and then try to put them back on.  We have a few ornaments that look like candy.  It is common to see Madi take one faux lollipop off the tree and hand it to Han and then take another for herself.  Luckily the "lollipops" are wrapped so even if they try to eat them, they aren't hurting the ornaments or hurting themselves at all.

They are so lucky to have each other and we are so lucky to have them!  Honestly, what a blessing!  We hope they will continue to have a special relationship.  I will continue to post the cute, funny, amazing things they do :)

Gavin's Birthday

Gavin turned 7 on November 30th.  He had some very specific things he wanted to happen on his birthday.

#1- Although I already had the treat ready for his class so that he could take it when he went to school that morning, Gavin insisted that I bring it down.  He wanted his class to see the babies...However, when we got to the school, the teacher was in the middle of something else so it was pretty anticlimactic as I just handed the bag to Gavin and tried NOT to disturb the class.

#2- He wanted to open his gifts so that "if I get new clothes, I can wear them to school."  Because Spencer leaves for work before the kids wake up, I wasn't sure how this could be accomplished if we wanted the entire family to watch him.  We decided to let him open everything the night before and it worked out perfectly.  He did get a new shirt & sweatshirt from Grandma Tisa & Grandpa Dave and two new pairs of pants, one from us, one from Granny Jane & Grandpa Rick.

#3- He wanted to eat school lunch.  I make the boys a home lunch most of the time.  But he wanted to eat the Nachos at school, so I let him.  He loved it!

#4- He knew he didn't get a party this year but he really wanted the family to eat out for dinner.  I usually let the kids choose either the restaurant we go to or what's on the menu if I make something at home.  Luckily, Gavin chose Chili's and we happened to have a coupon to that restaurant where the kids could eat for free.  Callie & Mike really wanted to see Gavin on his birthday and since the day was pretty crazy, met us at Chili's for dinner.  We all ordered our meals...Cam & Gavin had cheese pizza with fries, Owen & the babies had grilled cheese & fries.  Spence & I and Callie & Mike each ordered the 2 for $20 deal...appetizer to share & two entrees.  Our appetizer came out pretty quickly.  Beidler's appetizer took a while.  Then the food arrived and everyone started eating.  Everyone except Spencer and I, because our food didn't come out.  No biggie, we helped the kids get started and kept working on our appetizer.  Then the waiter came out and asked the standard, "How is everything tasting?" without noticing that some of the food was still missing.  The kids all said it was great and then Callie said, "It's all good but they never got their food!"  So the waiter ran back to the kitchen and then came back to our table and explained that he'd made a "mistake" when putting our order in and out food hadn't been ordered.  The kitchen was rushing it.  No biggie.  Then the manager came out and apologized and told us the food would be "on the house" and would we like soup or a salad to start us off while we waited.  Sure, why not?  And then our main dishes came out pretty quick too!  But our waiter NEVER returned.  We all finished eating and waited and waited and waited for the check.  But since our waiter didn't come back to our table, we just kept waiting.  The kids were getting restless and the babies were ready to go home so I told Spence to wait for the check and I'd take the kids out to the car.  As soon as we walked out of the restaurant, I saw our waiter rushing to our table.  He'd brought Gavin a Birthday treat...but we were already out in the car!  So Spencer asked if he'd box up the brownie part of the treat and get the check so we could go.  The waiter brought out the check and it was $25!  They'd comped our portion of the food but charged us for the kids...even though we had the free coupon.  Callie asked if they could put the kids' food on their ticket so that they could still eat free.  So they did whatever they had to do to enter the coupon code, blah, blah, blah.  Somehow we still paid $5, but that was a lot cheaper than what I was expecting!  Gavin enjoyed his Birthday Brownie the next day.

Gavin is such a great part of our family.  He is so smart, eager to help, and has such enthusiasm for life!  We sure love him and enjoyed celebrating his birthday as a family,

Free Day at the Aquarium

That's right...today was a totally FREE day at the Living Aquarium in Sandy.  We took the kids to the Aquarium shortly after we moved here but had not been back.  A few girls from the ward decided we should have a little field trip with our preschoolers and off we went. 

Ally, Colton, Owen, Madi, Kama, Harrison, Me, Halle, Audrey, Cora, Addi, Brooke, Berkley, Whitney, Sovie

Addi, Ally, & Owen trying to pet a sting ray.

Checking out a cockroach (or maybe this was the tarantula?)

Owen, Madi, and Addi watching the penguins.

 Owen was so interested in everything this time!  He touched a cockroach and a sting ray.  He looked at a shark, giant turtle, boa constrictor, African gray parrot, lots of penguins, and an octopus.  But his very favorite was the Jellyfish exhibit...which was very cool! Madi wanted to walk around independently (yes, she started walking this week.)  Harrison wasn't very excited about being in his stroller.  We were glad Kama & Brooke were available and willing to carry him around or follow Madi.  I fear we are entering the chasing phase with the babies...

Black Friday

I'm relatively new to the tradition of Black Friday.  I usually opt out, preferring to sleep instead.  But this year, my good friend Whitney asked if I wanted to hit the stores that were opening at Midnight.  She was looking for one particular item at Best Buy but after driving through the parking lot at 8 pm and noticing how long the line already was, decided to try a few other stores instead.  We wanted to check out the craziness of Wal-mart.  And it was PURE chaos.  We didn't even get out of the car...we couldn't even find a parking spot!  So we went to Target.  A couple of things I wanted were on sale, marked down almost 50%!  So we got in line at 10:30.  Yes, 10:30!  We waited and waited and waited.  Then we made friends with the people in line behind us (who actually is a police officer for our city and said he'd let us off with a warning if he ever pulled us over.)  It was cold, but not snowing, so we made the best of our waiting time and laughed a lot!

We finally got into Target, a little after midnight.  My items were still available but Whitney's wasn't :( .  We left Target and went to Carter's.  The entire store was marked down 50%, plus an additional 10% if you paid before 5 am.  Add to that the 20% off coupon I had and we were in business!  We each got a bag full of clothes for our little ones.  Then headed to the mall.

By this time, it was between 1 - 2 am.  There were SO many teenagers at the mall.  Whitney and I were a little shocked but not as much as when we saw little kids, like babies - 5 year olds, with their parents shopping!  Seriously, it was close to child abuse!  The poor things just wanted to be in bed.  We even saw one sleeping on a bench with no parental supervision.  We felt so bad for them and were extra grateful to our husbands for letting us have a little fun and join in the Black Friday insanity!

Thanksgiving 2011

We had a very nice Thanksgiving this year, spent with the Styer Family.  Tisa prepared a wonderful, traditional meal.  We took pretzel salad, green beans, and three pies.  After the meal, Spence, Chopper, Dave (the dad), and Cam watched a little TV.  

Dave (Spence's brother) was totally captivated by the babies, especially Madi.  He took one look at her red hair and started calling her his "Little Ginger Pie."  She quite liked him too.  Dave also let the kids play games on his iPad.  Tom napped.  Tisa & I visited with everyone for a few hours before Dave, Chopper, & Tom headed back home.

  We stayed for a little while longer...the boys helped Grandpa build a  picnic table for the play room and Spence & I challenged Tisa to a couple games of Scrabble.  All in all, a relaxing day with great food and good company!

Reader's Theater

I'm not sure if I've already mentioned it but Gavin is in a French Immersion program at school.  Basically that means that he goes to an English-speaking teacher for half of the school day and a French-speaking teacher for the other half.  Because of this, their curriculum is quite a bit different from the other 1st graders in the school.  On November 16th, the two teachers put together a little program with both of their classes.  The kids sang in English & French, recited a Thanksgiving poem in English, and showed off a few other things they have learned in French.  It was quite impressive.  

We were glad that Grandma Tisa, Grandpa Dave, and Emily & Miley could join Owen, the twins, & I at this "Thanksgiving Reader's Theater."  Unfortunately, Spence had a busy day at work and couldn't break away.  

We really enjoyed watching Gavin...he is such a HAM!  Seriously, the boy may end up on Broadway someday.  His expressions and movement really steal the show!  This video is a portion of a French number they did.  If you take the time to watch it, you will see that the kids were supposed to sing most of the lines but let the recording sing alone through some of the difficult words...Gavin sang the entire song!  He said he knew the words, so why wouldn't he sing???