A Different Christmas

For the last several years we have tried to spend Christmas at home, but this year it wasn't quite as exciting of an idea. I spent most of December like this, and the week of Christmas probably ended up being my roughest week of being sick. It was bad. Not the worst Christmas ever, but definitely the worst I've ever felt over Christmas. One morning it was bad enough that I was just hanging out in the bathroom for a while, and Shawn was excited that I was out of bed, so he kept bringing me toys to play with with him.

I managed to leave the house here and there (even making it at least sacrament meeting most weeks!) But mostly I just laid there and hoped it would pass more quickly! Jeremy was amazing and did most of the finding/cooking food, cleaning, and keeping things afloat. He is great that way. Being pregnant is a big sacrifice for me, but also for him in a different way.

We managed to all make it to our ward Christmas party, which was fun for the kids. The had a "Grinch Stole Christmas" theme and all got to wear funky colors/clothes. We kinda hoped to sneak out before Santa came and things got crazy, but we were too late. (Though I had to leave before they actually got to see Santa, I think) The food, which I didn't have to make or think about beforehand, was very good. :) Several different kinds of soups, lots of rolls (many homemade), and dessert. Yum. Reilly and Jaina sat on Santa's lap even though they had asked/discovered that "Santa" was more of an idea than a person this year.

A few days before Christmas we drove down to the Gila Valley to spend Christmas at my parents' (where my mom could at least feed us and the kids would have a little more excitement). It was really nice to be there, even though I actually felt worse that week than any other, I think. At least there were more people to visit with, and to be excited about all the Christmas fun with. Christmas Eve we even managed an off-the-cuff nativity scene (Spencer was so thrilled), and I can promise that wouldn't have happened if we were all home alone. Shawn wouldn't leave his costume on long, but he was the cutest little shepherd. :)

Christmas morning was fun, and everyone was exciting about their toys. Shawn was way into Minions (he referred to them all as "Bob-bob" and was excited to get a dancing "Bob" from Santa. There were many Legos, some dolls, a Star Wars chess set, and snacks to enjoy. And super tasty "Grandpa's waffles," which always seem like Christmas morning to me. I was just glad I was able to eat some of them! That afternoon we went to Jeremy's mom's house to exchange presents and eat Christmas dinner. I was feeling pretty icky by then and didn't take many pictures. :-( It was a good day though, and I'm glad there was some extra family around to make sure the kids had a good week.

Jeremy was able to keep the kids pretty busy during the rest of Christmas break. They did a couple movies, used a few more things on our POGO passes before they expired (including Makutu's Island), smoothies, the mall, etc. It was nice to have him home a lot that week to help them get out of the house and have fun. Definitely not my best December ever, but we mostly pulled it off, I think.

Jaina's Baptism (and 2 birthdays!)

The highlight of December was probably the 12th. It was Jaina's 8th birthday, and her baptism, and since we had a bunch of family in town and were having a party, we celebrated Shawn's 2nd birthday as well. A few weeks beforehand we had taken some nice pictures of her in her white dress (eBay, friends, and it was beautiful!) for some announcements.






















The morning of her 8th birthday we did the traditional birthday number pancakes for both, and got ready for the baptism (about 2 pm?) and for having everyone over. I felt pretty icky, but thankfully wasn't so bad I couldn't make it through the day.
















It was so fun to have just her baptism (vs a stake one, which had already happened for the month) and to have most of our family there. The only sad part was that Emily and Jason were planning to be there, and had tried to leave the morning only to encounter lots of snow that was making the roads worse and worse. After about an hour, for safety, they had to turn back. :-( Aunt Ashley also ended up really sick and couldn't make it down. (and of course David and Nicole and family were in Kentucky...) We really missed all of them, but were glad they stayed safe, and tried to get well, and yeah... Grandma Weech gave the talk on baptism and Grandpa Weech filled in for Aunt Emily and gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. Jaina was very excited to have so many people there to support her. (And yes, those were the best family pictures we could pull off...)

Somehow we don't have a picture of Jaina's cheesecakes (they weren't much to look at - they turned out kinda lumpy...maybe on someone else's phone?) but here is the one I made for Shawn. He was very impressed with it (He was way into minions, or as he called them all, "Bob-bob") and even more impressed when he got to eat it. I think he had three pieces. Between his milk and corn sensitivities, he didn't often get any of whatever dessert was going around. They both got some really fun presents. Jaina loved all of hers, and Shawn picked different days afterwards to love each of his. But his favorite that afternoon was the Little People Disneyland set. He had also recently gotten excited about Mickey Mouse. :) (Oh, and we also made our announcement that afternoon - he and his cousin were supposed to have matching shirts that we would send them in wearing, but it didn't quite work out that way. :) )

Jeremy had to rush off to Stake Priesthood Training or something similar, and the older 3 kids were going to the martial arts dojo for a fun "Polar Express" pajama party that evening from 6-9. Shawn and I grabbed a special birthday dinner for him - his favorite, french fries, and we wrapped up a very long, very fun day. :)

Early December

Early December was a whirlwind. The kids were excited to have all the Christmas stuff out. I was feeling a bit bewildered, knowing I was pregnant again and trying to figure out what they meant for our year. The weather was really nice at least, and we tried to spend a lot of time outside, and going and doing for the first week or two before the "morning" sickness really set in. I was able to do several fun outings at least with Katy and Shawn, which they really enjoyed. I also got up the energy to put some Christmas lights up outside one day after we'd been walking, which is always a bit of an adventure for me. Jeremy was probably wishing he had gotten around to it by the time I was done. It wasn't much to look at, but I love Christmas lights, inside or outside. They make me really happy. :)

The kids had their Winter Sing for school, which was a bit of a fiasco. They usually have it at Westwood High, but they had it at Dobson this year instead, which they said would seat more. Maybe it technically did, but when we got there like 15 minutes early there was mass chaos and standing room only. They finally had to have all of the first grade classes go backstage and wait for their turn, which freed up -some- seats. It was crazy. We had come in two cars, so Jeremy actually stood with Shawn in the Tula (backpack carrier) and then left after Reilly's first song (he saw the other two performances, but it was super crowded and already 30 minutes past Shawn's bedtime. It was Katy's first performance of any kind (except church) and she was pretty excited. :)


Here is also a random picture of Shawn and Jeremy when Jeremy was analyzing x-rays. One of Shawn's favorite things is to visit Jeremy at his office. :)


The rest of the month is a little blurry. I got pretty sick pretty fast and it's worst the first 4-6 weeks that I'm sick. I mostly lay in bed during that time, and Jeremy took care of feeding everyone, cleaning and laundry, while still trying to keep things going at the office. A little crazy for all of us.