Once in a Blue Moon

Last week, according to my husband, who is the king of random cool information, was a blue moon. This means that there was an extra full moon this year, which is rare. I thought it was fitting that it happened on Jane's birthday, since now it is verified that girls like her only come along once in a blue moon. Also, that's about how often I've been updating my blog lately, so I'm going to try a super-post to wrap up 2009 and recap things that have happened in the past while.

We'll start with the birthday girl Janiecakes, who is now the big 7.
Received almost all things Littlest Pet Shop for Christmas and her birthday, and therefore got exactly what she wanted. Informed me that even though we usually light off fireworks for her since her birthday is on New Years Eve, she doesn't really like it that much, so we skipped it this year. Likes coloring, doing crafts, and being read too, but does not like writing in the journal her teacher asked her to keep over the break. Loves hot dogs, sausage, and bacon. Got strep throat on Christmas day and had to wait it out since for some reason we couldn't find a doctor's office open anywhere that day. Likes to eat snow, no matter where she finds it.

Jonathan. Who is called Jono so often he may not even be aware that he has a full name.
Learned to pick bathroom/bedroom doors with a butter knife resulting in no privacy as well as a strange trail of cutlery scattered throughout the house. Loves pretending to turn down his hearing aid whenever someone does the Junior Wilderness Explorer call. Is the most fearless of all kids on the local sledding hill. Hits people in the face to get their attention and then promptly apologizes as though he had no idea he was going to do such a thing. Would rather be visiting his Grandparents than anywhere else in the world.

Jef. Who finished his first semester of his EMPA program, as well as his leg lamp. The real question is, which was he more excited about? Got to (had to) be home with us the last two Wednesday nights and didn't even have homework to do the rest of the time. Helped Santa get Taylor a snowboard and therefore gets to take Taylor to the slopes at least once this winter. It's about time he used the skiis in the basement. May have started a new Christmas tradition by shooting his marshmallow gun at the kids shortly after they acted out the Nativity. As of last week, has been married to me for 10 years.

Taylor. Has started a "slopes" jar to save money in so that he can help Jef pay for the big event. Saved up $6 last month and asked to be taken to the dollar store so that he could buy us each a Christmas present. Loves his new Wii Resort game and begs to have someone play it with him - he does not enjoy "alone" time. Has discovered that he likes reading and vows to have Percy
Jackson read before the movie comes out next month. Is quite the little comedian and does not believe in straight faces, or even just regular smiles in any photograph taken of him.

Logan. Rang in the new year with ringing in his own ears and will probably have to get tubes put in soon. Can pretty much crawl now, but adapts to our wood floors with his own kind of bum scoot/crawl. Discovered that wrapping paper is not only pretty, but absolutely delicious. He loves other solid foods as well and is very advanced for his age in his eating abilities. After months of sleeping in his own bed, decided that this being sick business causes Mom and Dad to hold you all night, which is much, much better. Apparently, requires a very small amount of sleep to keep highly energized. We think he much have some kind of new lithium battery that allows him to keep going with little recharging. Loves his older siblings, but is also learning to antagonize Jono and they fight over mom and dad's lap space. Likes to clap and his favorite place is the bathtub.

Julie. Thanks to Jef even her children refer to her as Bruce some days. Would like to know how to replace her batteries with some of Logan's. Doesn't want Christmas Break to be over yet. Is waiting for her new present of blinds on the front windows to be installed so that they neighbors can't see her walking around in her PJs much later than is socially acceptable each day. After all of the illnesses passed around our home so far this winter, is thinking about going back and getting a Medical Degree. Did almost all of her Christmas shopping online this year and recommends it to anyone with small children and a long way to drive. Thank you sister, for informing me about Walmart's sight to store.

Hannah Banana. May be one of the only people I know who wears dresses and skirts under her snow pants. Idolizes her primary teacher. Can quote movies with the best of them. Has learned from Jane every song and rhyme that a 1st-grader comes home with, and is getting impatient to start school herself. Loves to dance and pose. Is the excuse queen for reasons not to go to bed and apparently has magical powers as well. The other day after she told me that cleaned her room, she somehow enchanted all of her toys to scatter themselves all over the floor again. She swears that she really did clean and that somehow they did this all by themselves, so I can come up with no other explanation.

Anyway, Happy New Year! We hope this next year brings as much fun stuff as the last, and maybe even more.

A Whole Handful

Hannah turned five this week. My Grandma Callister used to tell me that when I got to be five I would be a whole handful, and Hannah loves this story. She's been telling everyone that she's now a whole handful, but I think she has been for a while! This afternoon I took her to get her five-year-old check up and shots. She now thinks that she needs to start Kindergarten immediately, and asked me tonight if she will be going to school in the morning. It is hard to explain to her that she will start when she is five, but not until next fall.

I've decided that since Jef and I have 5 five kids now, that means we have a whole handful. I admit (and you may have sensed from my last few blog posts) that I've been feeling a little overwhelmed lately and sometimes I get a little sarcastic/whiny about it. But I want everyone to know that I am thankful for this life I have, for my family, for our blessings. I wouldn't change it. I am thankful for the peace and love I always feel during this Holiday season . I am thankful for our Savior and all the ways I can see his hand in my life.

Now, here's some pictures of the last little while:
Logan isn't crawling, but seems to get around pretty well. He has learned to do the old scoot backwards-and-get stuck under the couch bit, and so I took a picture of it.

The other night Logan pulled himself up to standing in his crib. Jane and Hannah called for us to hurry and get in there and see. We all cheered and laughed and took pictures and even lowered his crib mattress to be safe, but he hasn't done it since. I talked to Jane about it again the next morning and she admitted that she may have "helped" him. Taylor used to do the same thing with Hannah - telling us she could roll over, but somehow she only seemed to be able to do it when we left the room. Ah well, at least we got some cute photos.

Here's one last shot of Hannah as a 4-year-old. Just posing like she always does.

Thanksgiving dinner with Jef's family and Jono at the head of the table (with his shoes and socks off - his latest obsession.) I don't think I've ever been out to eat for Thanksgiving before, and I must admit, it was pretty awesome to get lots of good food and fun and not have to cook anything or wash any dishes. We also went out to a movie afterwards, something we haven't done in ages. Thank you Jef's family for a fun day. And Jay, Taylor has been bragging to all of his friends that he has ridden in a mini-cooper AND a Scion.
Everybody loves parfait.

Jane thought that the food coloring I always put in when I make birthday cake frosting was what made it so good, so she tried drinking some. I think she was quite surprised to find that it doesn't taste nearly as good as it looks. Somehow we didn't believe her when she first told us that she didn't do it - the purple mouth might have given her away.

The birthday bash with my family. Hannah came out all dressed up, so we spread the word that everyone else who wanted to was welcome come in costume. Apparently, all of the kids wanted too. And they looked awesome.
I always refer to these as "cousin parties," but Hannah kept asking when all of her "friends" were coming over. I'm glad that her cousins are some of her best friends. Yea for cousins.
Cousins pictures. I loved these shots.

In the midst of all of the holiday/birthday excitement, poor Logan had a rough couple of weeks. He had a cold and an ear infection and then had an allergic reaction to his antibiotic. He got hives all over and his his entire face swelled up. I know this picture is so sad, but this was actually taken after he was doing much better. I didn't even put the saddest ones on here. I am happy to report that he looks and feels much better now, and we are so relieved to have him almost back to himself.
Jono really love the movie "UP" and keeps putting lotion in his hair and saying, "I'm Mr. Fredrickson." I'm not sure how the two connect, but it is always cute to hear a 2-year-old say the words "Mr. Fredrickson," regardless.

Taylor showing how we have mostly decorated for Christmas. We still need to put the finishing touches on Jef's leg lamp.
The stockings were hung by the chimny with care - in hopes that a mantle soon would be there...
Jef got some new home improvement-type tools for his early Christmas presents. He has already made some awesome improvements to our kitchen cupboards and uncompleted wood floors. We have great plans to start finishing the basement, but we've lived in this house almost a year now and are just getting to this point, so don't hold your breath.
Hannah's real birthday. (We had her party a little early.) She really loved this 5 candle. She made me put it in the hot dogs she was having for lunch and sing to her.
Since the kids get so many wonderful and much-appreciated presents from their Grandparents, cousins, and even Great-grandparents, Jef and I don't need to buy them much. So way back when Taylor turned two, we decided to start a tradition of using the money we would've spent on presents to go do something fun - we went on a steamboat ride to be exact. The tradition has kind of evolved to simpler things and we don't even spend much money most of the time, but we still try to do something around each kids birthday. On Hannah's birthday night we went out to eat and then to see the lights on temple square. It was a really fun and special night. We love you Hane-bo-daner.