Pre-Christmas Frivolities

I have been hit and is this month in posting. Here is a catch up of all of our pre-Christmas hoopla.

Carl was baptized on the 22nd. It was a wonderful experience and the program went really well. Carl chose me to give the talk, and it all turned out well. Of course it was supposed to be about 5-10 minutes long and it was more like 2, but that was all I could do! The Missionaries in the picture with Carl are Elder Robins in white, then Elder Tams and Elder Francom. We love these guys like they were our own! We are going to be so sad when they have to move to their next district. You can't really tell, but Elder Tams is in this AWESOME pin striped, nearly plastic polyester suit. It was so wicked! He said he got it for like 5 bucks at a store in Detroit. The boy has taste!


On Christmas Eve, we had "Taco Fiesta Night (w/pirogies)!!" We had the missionaries over and that is what was requested. It was so fun, I still laugh thinking about it!! We had FHE (family home evening) together. I picked charades for our activity, so that was crazy. 5 Adults, and 2 kids trying to guess what the other is acting like can't be anything but fun! It got to the point where after our turn, we had to inform the next person what they were going to be doing. That is how I got the privilege of acting like I won the lottery and then how I made Elder Francom be a moose! The fun continues when they come on Wednesday to play a new board game my folks sent called "The Missionary Game". Only Mormons folks...only Mormons...

Getting ready for the New Year

Unfortunately, our camera is out of batteries, so we have no Christmas pictures to post. Carl and I decided though that instead of stressing out about it, we would just make sure that we took pictures with our mind. :)
Jacob's favorite thing from this Christmas has to be his new microphone that he got from Carl's Mom. It has been banished to his room because it comes with applause, drum roll and laugh track buttons. That is the really annoying part! ha ha This picture isn't the exact same product, but it gives you an idea of what I am facing. yes, his also has a disco ball that lights up!



Alex is loving the Parts books he got from Aunt Jenny, Uncle Rob, Jocelyn and Delia. He has me read them to him at least once a day and I have to admit, I catch myself reading them without him. They are super silly fun. They are by Tedd Arnold, and we highly recommend them. I will admit though that the first is the best, the second is good and the last is alright, but not super.

We are digging our new Bookshelves that we got from Carl's Mom. We got two of these, so I have been busy this evening putting all my hundreds of books on them. I have a lot according to Mandy who, while she was moving them, commented to me that she "hates me and my books!". Of course they weren't just "books" as I typed, but I won't expound further due to the delicate natures of some of my readers. :)

Wow, it's been a while!

Hello all! It has been a really long time since I posted something. Let's see...school is finally over for me. I have passed all my classes, but I am not sure of a final grade yet. I am glad to be done since there is so much to be done. Christmas is coming, and I still have TON of boxes to unpack. It is also nice to be able to read something non-school related and not feel guilty!

The first big snowfall came day before yesterday. I really wanted to take some pictures to post on here, but my camera was out of batteries, and the others are still packed! ha ha We got about 7 inches. The kids loved it. They got to stay home from school yesterday, so all he boys and Lauren were out playing in it for a good part of the day. Poor Jacob took a snowball right in the face from one of the older neighborhood boys, so he was not too happy about that at all. We had a hard time convincing him to go back out later!

I guess out biggest news is that Carl is getting baptized! It will be on Saturday, and we are both really nervous! I am going to be giving one of the talks, so I have been trying to work on that this week as well. The missionaries have been over quite a bit getting uus both prepared, and also just having some good old fun! We love having them over, and the boys think that they are the coolest guys ever! Soon, I hope to get some of the pictures they have on their cameras posted on here. They have an awesome video of Jacob singing his Talent Show song, so stay tuned for that in the future!

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Scarlet fever recall...

Well, after a fantastic blessing by the Missionaries, and a trip to the doctor for confirmation, we are now scarlet fever free! Doctor says that the rash they had couldn't have been scarlet fever, because it just doesn't disappear that way. But Carl and I know after going through it so many times, that it was indeed the fever and we had ourselves a miracle. Of course the boys are still sick with a sore throat, and have been home from school, (today being day 3...ugh...) but we are grateful that they don't have to go through the fever anymore. It is so not fun!

What's wrong now? Scarlet Fever...

As the tittle of our blog suggests, it seems our family is blessed with many trials and tribulations. This time it is Scarlet Fever. This is unfortunately nothing new for us. The boys seem to get a case of it every year for the past 3 years or so. I know that many of you are questioning if we somehow traveled back to the 19th century, but this is not the case. I guess Scarlet fever is caused by the same bug as strep throat. So, it seems to be a case of strep gone ugly.
Our first victim is Alex. He has been fighting a fever and a sore throat all weekend. The rash that is the sure tell symptom showed up this afternoon. And this evening as I was putting Jacob to bed, I asked him about his throat. He said it hurt, and low and behold, he has a low grade fever. Hooray!! Wish us luck as we quarantine ourselves. Luckily adults rarely get Scarlet fever, but it is extremely contagious to other children.

Here is some more information for anyone interested. Click

Taco Contest

Tonight we had a "taco contest". This, as anyone who knows my family will confirm, was all Jacob driven . He came up with this idea about a week and a half ago. He decided that we needed to have a contest to figure out whose soft tacos were more delicious, mine or Taco Bell's. It was decided that this grand event would take place on the 1st of December. Behold the results.


As you can see by the last photo, my children are traitors!! Taco Bell won 2 to 1. (Carl is not a big Mexican food person, so he conducted the secret balloting) Of course, as they say, the proof is in the pudding. When both left the table, the taco that was left on their plates was not mine, but the winners. Carl suggested that if I had better advertising and wrappers, I might have won, and I believe him! Just goes to show that if you want to win a campaign, advertising is essential!