Christmas 2009

We had a lovely Christmas. In fact, I think it is one of the best Christmases we have had. John is unemployed and has not had a paycheck since September. We did not think that we would have much if anything for Christmas. But  lot of very kind people helped us either by buying gifts on the kids gift list or by giving us money. My parents bought each of our 7 children 2 very nice gifts. John's sister, Mary sent us a $50 Wal-mart gift ard (They are and have been very poor. We know this was a sacrifice for them.) John's sister Emily and her family gave us around $800 for bills and presents. (We know that they had to dip into their savings for this.) John's brother James sent him some nice things too. We also had a very nice gift from John's sister, Amy. My sister Amy paid our rent for January. We have experienced a lot of miracles this Christmas season and because of the love and sacrifice of our family members, we had a very nice Christmas.

Here's a bit of what we did:

On Christmas Eve we went to Grandma Robertson's with all of the cousins for a BIG yummy breakfast, sledding, graham cracker house building, and visiting. It was really fun. Then we had a dinner at our house with Uncle Seth. Seth left promptly after dinner, and we read the Christmas story, sang carols, hung up stockings and put the kids to bed. We said they could get up at 7am. They were in our bedroom right at 7. We opened presents slowly, played for a while and then had another BIG Christmas Breakfast. We then just played all day, did an easy dinner and sent all of the kids to bed. It was a VERY very lovely and calm Christmas.

Here's the scoop on gifts:
Favorite/most played with gifts: toy swords, dart guns, Plants vs Zombies, baby born
Most Frustrating Gift: Toy swords that began breaking on Christmas day,chocolate candy every where.

Returned gift: PC game for Dad (it had bad reviews and he always wants what he doesn't get. That is why we always wrap the receipt too.)

Ruth with all of her stocking gifts

Here I am with my big nose in the sun glasses (I needed these) from my sweet Ruthy

Joseph loved this gift. We haven't had such a young baby so excited and alert at Christmas as Joseph was.

I just think this is an adorable picture of Kate. I think Johnny gave her the glass cat.

Dart Tag!!!

John thinking about whether this is a gift worth keeping :). It failed the amazon user ratings test. He has until next Monday to replace it or I will buy him another gift.

Anya loved unwrapping. She is a pro too. Gotto love the morning hair !!

Kate unwrapping a DS from Grandma and Rachel dancing in her new dress from Grandma.

Johnny getting ready to shoot.

Adam got dressed right away so he could have a good place to keep his sword.

Ghosts of Christmases Past

Our Christmas nativity 2008

Grandpa told Adam to put all of the bulbs back on the Christmas Tree Christmas 2008

Opening Presents Christmas 2007

 Christmas Nativity Play 2006

Christmas Presents Christmas 2005

Christmas 2004

 Johnny and I Christmas 2001

Ruth and Kate Christmas 2000

Something About Bananas

I tried feeding a little bit of a banana I was eating to Joseph. He seemed unsure and spat some of it out. This is the conversation that pursued:

Johnny: Finally some one in the family who hates bananas besides me.
Me: I think he is unsure. Sometimes babies just have a hard time swallowing.
Ruth:Actually, Johnny, not very many people like bananas.
Me: I think lots of people like bananas.
Johnny: Bananas are disgusting.
Me: Well, your dad does not like bananas.
Ruthy: Johnny I think more people hate bananas than beans.
Me: Really?
Ruth: Yeah, it is true.
Johnny: How do you know?
Ruth: From the data I've collected.

Opinions on Kisses

When I kiss Rachel on the face she says, "Yuck. Don't do that yucky thing." On the other hand, Adam has informed us that his cousin, Mariah, loves him more than anyone else because Mariah kisses and hugs him "SO MUCH". When Ruth sees kissing in a movie she says "yuck, that is so disgusting." When Kate sees kissing in a movie she sighs and thinks it is nice and romantic.

A Viable Solution and Other Funny Things

Rachel asked me if we could buy her something that she wanted. I said, "mom and Dad don't have money anymore." Rachel thought for a moment and asked, "Could we buy some money?"

Rachel said that she wanted to get her presents from Mom and Dad and not from Santa Claus, because, "He is fat." Kate and Ruth said that when Dad's whiskers turn all the way grey I have to make him  grow a beard because he already has the bowl full of jelly and a little round, red face. :).

Sharing

I overheard this conversation while the little kids were building with blocks.

Adam: Anya's being like Jesus.
Rachel: I'm being like Jesus too.
Adam: No your not, because Anya is sharing.
Rachel (dismayed but resigned): OK, I'll share.

Am I the Only One

Two Questions

1. Am I the only one who after cleaning for 3 hours looks at my messy house and thinks, "I am tired?"
2. Am I the only one who after cleaning for 3hours looks in the mirror and is astonished that my husband could possibly still love me?
   

What Will Happen If...

I was wasting time watching TV Saturday night. Adam, who was supposed to be asleep in bed came out and accusingly said, "Mom, your brain is going to get rotten!"

Christmas Poems

I asked Ruth, Kate, and Johnny to write Christmas poems that Rhyme last night. The did marvolously!!!

Christmas Time Rhyme

By: Johnny

This is a little rhyme

About Christmas Time

Joy is toy

It is Candy

And dandy

It is carol

From angel herald

It's tree

It's glee

For me.

Christmas

by: Ruth

The wind blows

Carrying lots of snow.

Children play

Others pray

For Christmas soon will be here

Bringing good and cheer.

People singing

others bringing

gifts and help for the poor.

So please do not ask for much more.

For this is when we do not scorn

But celebrate for Jesus was born.

For remembering the life He had

For not being sad, but being glad.

Christmas Tree

by: Kate

Christmas Tree so green and bright,

How you shine tonight.

We will put a star on top,

After off the top we chop.

We will trim you fairly fine,

For it is Christmas time.

Christ is Born

By: Johnny

Listen for the angels horn.

For Christ the Lord is born.

For angel herald gave the news,

to the shepards

Then a carol

the shepards came.

Following yonder star,

the wisemen heard the news

And knew it was not lies.

they saw yonder star far,

But followed it to Christ the Lord.

Christmas Rhyme

by: Ruth

I have to write this rhyme,

About Christmas time.

There's joy in the air,

The cat has lots of hair.

People are singing songs,

That are really Very Long.

Oh how I like Christmas,

It is not a FITmas.

Singing at Temple Square

Ruth and Kate sang with their school choir at Temple Square on Monday. We all went a long with them and saw the beautiful Christmas lights too. It was a neat experience for the girls to be able to sing there.

Why I Do 3 to 6 loads of laundry 6 Days a Week

Besides the fact that I am washing clothes, sheets, towels, blankets, etc for 9 people, Rachel wore every single pair of her pants yesterday as well as several shirts and 6 pairs of underwear. Oh, and she never wet her pants, spilled her food, or anything that would merit a clothes change.

What Works

I wanted to write down some of the ideas for discipline or rather ideas to promote changes in my children's behavior that have actually worked. First,  I'd have to say that my natrual inclination to yell, nag, and spank don't work long term. The tend to give us an immediate change, but make things worse over time.

Here are a few ideas that we have been pleased with because they seem to have made more permenant changes.

When we moved here, Adam began acting out a lot. He would yell in anger when he didn't get what he wanted, and he was being physically more aggressive with his brother and sisters, and making huge messes for no reason. After a couple weeks of saying, "Adam, why are you being so bad?"  or "you are a bad boy." We turned things around and started saying, "Adam, you are a good boy." Every time we noticed him doing something right we told him he was good for doing that. When we saw him acting up we said things like, "Good boys say sorry and you are a good boy." "Good boys help clean up their messes." etc..  Well, it really worked. After about a week Adam started saying, "I am a good boy." He hasn't made a huge mess since then without cleaning it up himself. He does his chores without screaming, he is not getting angry when I say he cannot have or do something, and he is not hitting his sisters anymore.

Ruth and Kate began picking on each other and fighting again. They had been pretty contentious-free for a while. But a couple of weeks ago, they started picking on each other, hitting, and yelling. One morning when I saw Ruth grab a toy angrily out of Kate's hand and defend herself by saying, "It is mine and she took it without asking." I said, "So Ruth, does that mean when I take Dad's laptop and use it without asking him first, he should come in, grab it angrily out my hands and yell at me for taking something that is his?" Ruth and Kate thought about this. (I knew that they would cry if they saw an exchange like that between their parents.) This illustration helped them realize the ridiculousness of their actions and we haven't had trouble with them sharing since. However, they were playing a game and breaking the rules and pushing each other down. John said to me, "They keep hitting each other. What should we do?" I said, "okay, Ruth and Kate we will make a deal with you. If you get to hit each other when you are upset and angry then Dad and I get to hit each other when we are upset and angry." Of course they said, no way. But the point is, they are old enough to understand that this is just unacceptable behavior. They have the ability to reason and to chose right and wrong. I was able to help them to see this a little more clearly, and they haven't hit for some time. I suspect we will have to keep reminding them over time, but it is working. Along the same lines, we remind them that their mom and dad's best friends are our brothers and sisters. There are no other adults besides each other and our families that we spend a lot of time with. We have told Ruth and Kate that they are and should be best friends. They really have taken that seriously. They sit together on the bus and eat together at lunch and play together at recess. This really does work for children who are a little older.

Johnny had been telling Adam that he is really stupid and behind for his age and that he doesn't do anything right etc. I thought about this for a while and realized that when I was a little kid it really did bother me if my sisters and brother weren't doing as well as I thought they should. I can honestly say that I wanted my younger siblings to be smart and to do well. So I said to Johnny, "Do you really want Adam to be dumb? Do you think you will feel happy if he is having a hard time learning?" Johnny said, "Oh. No." So I said, "Well, if he doesn't know something that you think he should know, then why don't you teach him." That worked, Johnny has been teaching Adam how to add and how to spell different words and how to play board, card, and ball games. Now Adam has been coming to me and saying. "Johnny and I are buddies," in a very happy voice.

My First Thumb Sucker

I wanted to get some pictures of Joseph sucking his thumb. But everytime I tried, Anya, Rachel, and Adam had to pop into the picture too. To my surprise, I actually did catch Joseph with his thunb in his mouth a few times.

Joseph only started sucking his thumb about 2 weeks ago at 4 months. We thought would be free and clear of all pacifiers and such with Joseph. But he fooled us and his thumb sucking was not a one time thing. John thought we should try and force a pacifier now. But it is too late. He is hooked on his thumb.For now it is really cute. 3 years from now, I am sure I will not feel so kindly toward this little habit.

Drawing

Rachel draws at least 60 pictures everyday. Mostly she draws pictures of herself. Occasionally Adam will sit and draw with her. Yesterday he sat down by her, asked what she was drawing and began teling her different parts to put in the picture. I heard this conversation:

Adam: What are you drawing?
Rachel: I am drawing a picture of Rachel in a dress.
Adam: You are wearing pants. You should draw a picture of Rachel in pants.
Rachel (Screaming): I don't want to draw Rachel in pants. I want to draw Rachel in a dress.
Adam: You have yellow hair. Draw Rachel with yellow hair.
Rachel: okay.
Adam: Your nose doesn't look like circle.
Rachel: Yes it does!!!
Adam: You have boogers coming out of your nose!
Rachel just screaming.
Adam: You have boogers coming out of your nose. Rachel, you have to make boogers coming out of your nose because there are boogers coming out of your nose.
Rachel really screaming a lot now: No I don't. I don't have to. That is disgusting, Adam.
Me (Clue-ing in a bit): Adam, Rachel does not have to draw boogers coming out of her nose.
Adam and Rachel: laughing and rolling around on the floor.

Kids are crazyyy...

The Poopy Diaper Game

About a week ago, Adam and Rachel came up to me and asked if they could play the "poopy diaper game". Immediate Panic hits. "Stop right there!!! What is going on now??  Please oh please let it be nothing disgusting," I thought.

Instead I asked, "Do you have a poopy diaper?" They said no. I asked, "What are you planning to do in the 'poopy diaper game'?" Adam explained that it is rolling down the stairs with blankets. "Few...that sounds like a good game."

This is what they do: They roll and spin down the stairs pulling each other away from a blanket (the blanket being the poopy diaper. If you get touched by the blanket before you get to the bottom of the stairs you lose. They play this game almost everyday. But it still terrifies me to hear them say, "Ewww-- the poopy diaper is getting me!" Especially since Anya will just take off her poopy diaper.

Memories of Kate

In January 2003, when Kate was a mere 3 years old (a little younger than Rachel is now), I had a very surprising conversation with her. Ruth, Kate and I were painting pictures at the table. Ruth asked about what she should paint and we started talking about magic. I sang some of an old song "do you believe in magic in a young girls heart" Ruth really liked the idea of magic in her heart, but Kate very solemnly declared, "I do not believe in magic." I asked her why, and she continued, "I do not believe in magic because I can see it in my movies, but I never see it in life. So I think magic is not real." Ruth mentioned that fairies are real and Kate said, "I do not believe in fairies because I cannot see them and they are magic. I do not believe in Santa Claus because he is magic and magic is not real. I do not believe in Heavenly Father because I cannot see Him. But I think Jesus is real because he is in my movies." (I know that her logic is a bit skewed, but she was only 3). I felt rather astonished, and secretly pleased with her three year old reasoning skills. I told her that Heavenly Father and Jesus were indeed real and true, but that she was right about magic not happening in real life. (Ruth disagreed on the no-magic point.) That was the end of things for a while.

The Christmas that Kate was 4, almost a year later, Kate asked if Santa Claus was real. Because I wanted to keep Santa Claus alive a little longer I avoided the question mainly by telling her that she could believe in whatever she wanted to.  I think Kate agonized a little over this answer, but with being at Grandma Pardon's house and all of the goodies and presents, she let the topic go and enjoyed Christmas.

The following year, we had moved to Wichita, and Kate was 5 and in Kindergarten. As it got toward Christmas, Kate started asking me if Santa was real again. The same trick that I tried the year before was clearly not going to satisfy a 5 year old Kate. After a few times of the answer, "you can believe what you want," Kate came to me and stated, "Mom, I need to know the truth. Is Heavenly Father real? Is Jesus real? Is Santa Claus real?" Well, given the introduction I told her the truth. I also told her that other little kids believe in Santa Claus and that is a fun thing so she could not tell other people. But the next day Kate brought Ruth to me. Ruth complained that Kate said Santa was not true. Before I could respond, Kate looked me in the eyes and said, "Mom you have to tell the truth." Now Ruth no longer believed in Santa Claus. Then Kate brought Johnny to me and said the same thing. So Santa Claus was all over for us very early  on.

Not too long after this, John came to me and said he was so glad that we were being honest with our kids and that he was glad not to be lying to them about Santa Claus anymore. I was totally shocked because John's family holds Santa Claus in very high reguard. It turns out that John as a 10 year old fifth grader had an argument with his entire class about Santa Claus. He believed still, and the clincher of his reasoning was, "I know that Santa Claus is real because my mom and dad told me he is, and they do not tell lies." Poor John. I guess he still felt a little upset about this whole thing.

Kate did not stop her crusade. She told her entire kindergarten class that Santa is not real. No one believed her, though. That following summer, John and I were confronted with an angry sister Mary because Kate told her 7 year old cousin, Elizabeth, that Santa was not real. I do not know if Lizzy believed Kate or not. Last year when I said to Adam, "Santa Claus is coming to town." Kate said, "Mom!!! You cannot tell lies. Now tell Adam the truth." I said, "Okay, Adam Santa Claus is just pretend." But for a boy who very thoroughly believes in monsters and talking dogs (Scooby Doo), no Santa Claus did not fly for him. Adam very solemnly declared, "Santa Claus is real and so is SCooby Doo." So that is where we are at. I think Kate has calmed down a bit on her crusade to rid the children of the "Santa Claus lie", and no matter what we tell Adam he believes that Santa Claus, monsters, and Scooby Doo are completely real and true.

Thanksgiving 2009

These are cookies Kate made from the left over pie crust.

Video Game DazebakingJohn's second favorite activity

For the first time in years I did not have to make the entire dinner by myself!!! We went to Grandma and Grandpa Robertson's with all of our Utah reletives. There was tons of food and we had so much fun talking that we stayed until after 11pm. We are thankful for a Thanksgiving dinner that we do not have to cook and eat all by ourselves.

Officially Over

It is officially over. The company John has worked for seems to have gone under. A week ago, they "restructered" the company and would only give back pay to those who were still employed and "working for free." So we stayed on. But they did not get any funding with the restucture, instead they have basically died. John is still officially employed because for some weird reason they will not lay you off until you ask to be laid off. I think John will do that today or Monday. Now there is a lawsuit starting to retrieve back wages and other money they took out of the paychecks but did not pay the places they were suppose to. (We tried to find out if they paid the taxes the check stub said were paid, but they never answered that question. They just said they did not know of any laws that would make the employee have to pay the government back.) One would think it would have been better if they were just honest with their employees from the start?

Anything I can ACtually Remember

My brain has been mush this past week. So many times one of my children have said something or did something that I think, "That is cute, I must blog it." Then when I sit down to the computer I cannot think of anything. It must be those outrageuos piles of laundry creeping up the wall extending to my brain, or the unending dirty dishes, or the toys everywhere etc.. Or maybe I just need to get back into running :). It's about time anyway. Joseph just hit the 4 month mark. I am sure pathetic!!!

But since my brain seems to be on vacation I racked my husband's brains a little bit last night and have a few of the things my kids did or said that make me smile to post here.

1. Adam joined his father in the bathroom. Before John washed his hands, he accidently bumped Adam in the head with his elbowed. Adam complained, "Hey Dad!! Now I am going to get sick!"
2. Anya kept getting out cat food and carrying it away through the house. Feeling a bit annoyed I followed her to see where the cat food was going. She was taking it to the cat who was hiding under the couch. So I switched from annoyed to cutified. 
3. We have been playing Age of Empires II a lot-- everyday. We seem to have done this about every two years since Ruth was 6. Then we tire of it and don't play it for two more years. Ruth and John were playing a game together. Ruth got a villager stuck between the woods and the house she built. Since this person was no longer useful Ruth decided to kill her. John, feeling compassion for the computer generated villager and probably some concern that he had Ruth playing a game that was too violent, said "Don't kill her." Ruth then clicked the kill button and said, "Sorry Dad, she died of boredom."
4. John was playing 
   Bach Sonata No 1 in G minor BWV1001: I. Adagio from his laptop while working in our bedroom. Adam came in and said, "This is sad music. This is very sad music. Some one died in this music."
   Joseph spits up a lot!!!!, and not just after he eats. I typically refer to him as a leaky faucet because he seems to just constantly seep spit up. I am not sure he even has sphincter muscles between his stomach and esophogus. So I smell like sour milk a lot right now. On Saturday, John held Joseph a lot while I did a bunch of house work. When Kate came over to John she wrinkled her nose and said, "Dad, you smell like Joseph!" I guess that is my usual perfume these days.
   Saturday night Kate said, "Mom, you have to talk to me tonight.When I was babysitting something embarassing and kind of private happened to me." John and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes because of the demand for a personal night time discussion on a night when we were going out on a date, but we also felt a bit confused at the introduction. Then Kate just came out with it and whispered, "Something funny happened here and here," she then pointed to her armpits, "It was wet there." We felt relieved and humored. Then the next morning Ruth came to me and said, "Kate had sweaty armpits when we babysat. Isn't that funny. It has happened to Kate before it has happened to me."

The Lord's Hands

How things Are:

As I wrote in an earlier post, John's company has not been paying him or any of the other employees. Late last week we found out that not only have we not been being paid, but all of the time that we thought we had health insurance we did not. The company had taken the premiums for health insurance out of the paychecks (until they stopped paying) but then never paid the insurance company. The company also had told us that we did have health insurance. But apparently they have not paid it since July or so. So now we have no income coming in and about $700 worth of unexpected medical bills that we would not have had if we knew that we did not have health insurance. (If I knew that we had to pay cash for the kids vaccinations I would have postponed the vaccinations until we had the money to pay for them.) We do not have any bad pre-existing conditions, so we, unlike other employees with chronic conditions, are okay that way. John has been applying for jobs since the first paycheck in October had not come through. (We are still without any job offers.) John is planning on asking to be laid off and we are going to apply for unemployment. This morning I applied for free lunch for the kids for school. Once John is officially laid off we will consider applying for health aid and food aid, but I think we will wait a couple more weeks and keep living on loans before we go that far. We really feel like God is watching over us and that John will have a job soon.

The Lord's Help:

Besides having a fairly consistent feeling of peace and assurance, many people have been praying for us and helping us in amazing ways. John's parents who are in the same situation that we are in have been sharing their food storage and food from their yard that they worked hard to produce. They have also been allowing us to borrow from their low interest home equity loan to cover our rent and bills. My parents gave us $100 for food last month, bought Ruth and Kate winter coats, and most recently they have bought some warm pajamas and sweaters for the kids. John's sister Emily and her husband Ben have given us $300 for Christmas presents for our children. Our next door neighbor has given us left overs and last night brought over dinner. We are very grateful and very blessed to have so many people help us and take care of us when we have not been able to do that for ourselves. I know that these people have been the Lord's hands in taking care of us during this difficult time for our family. I only ask that we too can be His hands and pass on His blessings.

Ready To Potty Train

Anya is ready and I am not. Before Anya gets into the bathtub, she insists on trying to go potty first. When she can get to her diaper (we try to make it unavailable to her with different clothing) she will take it off as soon as she pees or poops. That can be a very yucky mess! If she cannot reach her diaper, Anya will come to me and say, "It's disgusting." She usually does this when she has pooped. When I was listing off things that she may possibly want for Christmas the only item she said yes to was underwear so she can go potty on the toilet. Should I start????? I guess it will save us about $20 a month on diapers--but I will need to buy underwear.

A Family Home Evening Story

Last night we had family home evening down stairs with our pillow couches, the soft carpeting and toys because Rachel wasn't feeling well and had been laying on the couch. While John was trying to give a lesson, Ruth, Kate, Johnny, Adam, and Anya were tossing the pillows, getting out toys, wrestling, and talking. At one point Rachel said she had to go to the bathroom. I picked her up and took her upstairs to the bathroom. She looked at me when we got up the stairs and said, "I am listening to Dad. No one is listening to Dad, but I am listening. Ruth and Kate are big. They are not listening. I am little, but I am listening."