Christmas time is here!

 

It's the busiest most wonderful time of the year! I must confess that I have not been in "holiday mode" this year for some reason. I blame it on two things: 

1. I have been working a lot at the gym and for KitchenAid.

2. there is no snow (and no, I don't count the snow in the above picture. I'm talking FEET of snow that has to be shoveled and allows for sledding and fort-making).

Despite the busy schedule, we have done some fun things the past few weeks.

Kensie & I went to see Annie at PTC with my mom, Andrea, and Leah. It was fantastic!

 

Jaime hosted our Christmas Gourmet Dinner Night and it was so great! We exchanged fun gifts, ate delicious food, and of course, talked until the wee hours! Love these girls!!

We went to Thanksgiving Point to see the lights and talk to the reindeer. It was excellent, as usual! And no trip to TG Point would be complete without ice cream!

The kids had their Christmas Sing at school. I was too busy wrestling Landon to get pictures of Kensie and Lincoln, but they did awesome! The Fifth Grade sang a super funny song about Mistletoe, and Third Grade sang Christmas Is A Feeling. Preschool was last, so most of the parents had cleared out and I was able to get to the front row to watch Jackson. They were SO cute!! They sang The White Song and danced to a snowman medley that was so cute I am making all the kids perform it on Christmas Eve for the family! Even Landon gets in on the action. Stay tuned for that video!!

Kensie also sang two numbers in my dad's annual Songs Of Christmas program this year. She sang Away In A Manger with some other girls from my parents ward, and I'm Trying To Be Like Jesus all by herself. She did great! We look forward to this program every year. The boys LOVE the saw player (yes, he plays Christmas songs on a regular old saw using a violin bow. It's pretty amazing!), Matt looks forward to the Schneider brothers singing Prayer Of The Children, and I always get chills when I hear the bagpipes! This year The Brunson Brothers came and woke us up with their amazing trumpeting!

Oh, and I mustn't forget the two trips to the Emergency Room...

On our way out from my dad's program Landon fell and hurt his arm. It was 9:00 on Sunday night, and I was tempted to try to wait it out. But he was crying so much that we decided we'd better take him in. Thank goodness for the new Lone Peak Emergency Center!! So close, and no waiting.

They got him back and the Dr. thought it must be Nursemaid's Elbow (which Kensie had twice) so he tried to pop it back into place about a billion times (really 6) but no luck. They did x-rays to make sure nothing was broken (nothing was), splinted his arm, gave him lots of toys and stickers, and sent us on our way with the number for an orthopedic specialist to call in the morning. I opted to see my pediatrician first.

He decided that it was probably just a really bad sprain to his elbow and told me to watch him for a few days.

I took off the splint and wrap yesterday, and today he's starting to use it normally. Poor kid!

Three days after that visit I was back to the ER again. This time with Jackson. He stuck something up his nose (a white hard ball, as he discribed it). I looked in his nose but couldn't see anything. The pediatrician said if it's not visible to take him to the ER. Blah! I did NOT want to go back there!!

I kept asking Jackson if he still felt it in there and he said yes, so off we went (not before trying a home fix that the nurse told me to try which involved giving him mouth to mouth! I was laughing too hard for it to work properly!).

Of course the same doctor took care of Jackson and totally recognized me. And, of course, he couldn't find anything in Jackson's nose (the little stinker!). He must have swallowed it....

Thanks goodness my insurance doesn't require an ER copay!!

And I wonder why I'm not full of Holiday Cheer......