Annie's Bum - Kiss it!

So whenever Annie gets her diaper changed or gets out of the bath and Jeremy is home, she runs around the house teasing Jeremy saying, "Dad, don't try to get my naked bum bum." So Jeremy teases her and chases her all around the house trying to bite it as Annie runs for dear life. She is all giggles and it has become our favorite part of the evening.

Annie is also going through the phase where every owie is made better by a kiss. I love it and hope she never grows out of it. Well last night Annie fell on her bum. She stuck it out and yelled at me, "Mommy, KISS IT!" I told her no way was I kissing her butt and she stuck it out again and repeated, "Mommy, Kiss it!" What's a mommy to do, but give in to her princess. I kissed her little bum, and she was magically all better.

Abby's Tent

So while Jeremy and I were out tonight, Jeremy got a message from Abby. It said, "Hi Dad, this is Abby. When you and Mom get back, the umbrella that's on the ground with a bunch of blankets on top of it, that's where I'm sleeping. Bye." Mind you, it was her best unintentional Forrest Gump impersonation ever! Anyway, we got home and sure enough, there she is in the middle of her room sound asleep in the sauna created by blankets and her little umbrella. Now the question is, do we let her sleep like that all night long? I guess I should feel grateful that she is doing this in the comfort of her warm home and not being forced to do this under a bridge somewhere in the freezing night air.

The Platt's Get some Culture

So our fabulous neighbor, Julia, called us on Saturday and left us a message saying the Dutton Family was in town performing and that tickets were only $5. After a busy week I figured we needed to treat ourselves. So I called and got our family tickets to watch their performance at AJ High.
I told Jeremy our family needed some culture. I didn't realize how true that statement was until I told Jake we were going to watch the Dutton's perform and he asked me, "Is that a football team?" When I said, "No, it's a family that plays a ton of instruments and sings," I got the most exaggerated groan I've ever heard from him. But we dragged them to the auditorium and from the first second we were all mesmerized. It was pure entertainment. I don't think Jake blinked once during the whole show. Abby was all giggles. Annie slept through part 1 and then sat so still for the second half (now if they could make sacrament meeting that entertaining, I think my kids would be better behaved) Hannah only made it through the first half and then crashed. Unlike some movies I go to see, I stayed awake through the whole thing - easily. I loved watching them fiddle so fast and watching the hair on their violin bows breaking off. We laughed, clapped, and sang along a bit.
There was a lot of great music, including The Devil went down to Georgia, The Orange Blossom Special, and the song where they all line up and play each other's violins. But the the topper for me, as always, was the patriotic tribute. I bawled when they sang each of the military branches' anthems and the vets from each branch stood with their song. It gets me every time. I feel so grateful for all those who have served our country throughout the years.
I'm glad our family got a bit of culture last Saturday night. It was great and much needed!

My Shout out to Hannah Rose

Hugs, kisses, dancing, haircutter, cheerleader lover, love, affection, Maddix, special - Hannah!

Happy Birthday Hannah! This morning as I held Hannah, I told her the story of her birth. I still remember driving home from NY feeling so nauseous the whole time thinking, "Man when did I become the sissy that gets so car sick?" Little did I know in my wildest imaginaton that I was pregnant! Hannah was definitely a surprise for us. When I got sick (that's what I tell her, cause how do you explain that I was bleeding so much) and I thought I had miscarried her, I was so devastated for the next day. When I finally got into the doctor, I saw the ultrasound with the little heartbeat and I swear it was one of the most reassuring calming things I have ever seen. She is definitely our little miracle baby. She was meant to come to our family when she did, there is no doubt in my mind about that. Heavenly Father knew we needed her, and I'm so glad to have her.

There is no one in the world who will give you her all like Hannah. She hugs and kisses with so much love. She will wrap her arms around me with no fear and just embrace me so tight, but she is also the only one of my kids that will do that for all her family. She even is not afraid of her Great Grandma and Grandpa Goodman. Without prompting her, she will always give them the best hugs and kisses when she goes over to their house.

There is no one who can overcome fears like Hannah. She has had a long list of fears, including elevators, clowns water (swimming), and especially animals. When she was only a baby, she wouldn't even look at or touch a book about animals. But then the fateful day came when we got Bodgie and she was forced into being around our new dog. She cried and peed her pants for weeks, but then it clicked and she is the best pet owner in our family. She will now pet any dog and plays with our dogs more than any of our other kids.

Hannah is definitely our little performer. Jake and Abby were always so stinking scared to even raise their hand in primary or to speak to an adult, not Hannah! She will dance like no one's watching and shake her booty hard! At her little performance last month, she was "the one". You know how every performance has that kid that shines because she is so not shy, well Hannah was standing there waving at all her fans even when her group was already exiting. Then later she was seen on the side of the stage just cutting a rug like no one's business. I wish I could do that. She hears music and wants to dance.

I love how Hannah will talk to almost anyone. Sometimes that's a bad thing, sometimes it's cute - like the time she was walking in to church and the most proper woman in the ward was walking in in front of us and Hannah just went up to her said hi and then slapped her right on the butt! Jeremy and I were mortified, but now after the fact, we just laugh 'cause it is so Hannah. At Walmart she will walk up to complete strangers and offer to let them smell her gum, gross, but old people at Walmart eat that stuff up!

Hannah and her best friend Maddix. These two are together from sun up to sun down every single day. They usually greet each other with the biggest embrace as if they haven't seen each other in ages.

My Little boy is growing too fast

I love that everyone in the family was in their church clothes, but the boy who they came to honor, who got baptized. Fitting that he would put on his Suns jersey

I can't believe it was already 8 years ago that I was holding my first born precious son. He was perfect to me, except all the yellow poop, and his peeing problem (he liked to pee all over me and Jeremy). He had perfect ears (that was what I noticed first in the hospital, weird, huh?) and always smiled so easily. Now fastforward 8 years and he is still such a pleasure to have around. He is intense, but kind hearted. He loves to win and will analyze any sporting event to figure out the moves that all his favorite players make. He works hard at school and his reading has come so so so far. He doesn't waver on what he thinks is right, and I love that about him. He still has a smile that will light up a room, but his peeing problems have gotten better (now we just have to make sure he always lifts the seat up). He likes to tease his sisters, but will be their best friend and biggest protector when he thinks they are wronged.

Jake got baptized on Saturday, Jan 9, 2010. I felt a little bit nervous about him getting baptized. Have I taught him what it means? Does he get the responsibility associated with being now accountable? Will he remember to repent? I felt so stressed and like I didn't teach my boy enough, but as I've taken the time to think about it, he was ready to be baptized. He is young, and will continued to be refined over the years. Aren't we all?

He got to have so many of his family members be a part of his big day: Grandpa Goodman talked on the Holy Ghost, Grandpa Platt got to say the opening prayer, Grandma Platt got to lead the music, His Dad, Jeremy, baptized him and then confirmed him a member of the Church. He had so many family members in his confirmation circle. It was definitely a special day, and I hope he remembers it for the rest of his life. I love my boy!

ISMS

So over the years, Jeremy and I have always laughed about the silly things our kids say, we call them -isms, such as "Oh my gosh, I got a new Abbyism today."
Anyway, since I haven't written any of them down, I know I've lost a lot of them in my scrambled brain, but the more recent ones that I can remember, I will write here.
I am hoping this can be an ongoing post, if I can figure out blogging and if our children continue cracking me up, but we'll see...

Hannah: as I changed baby Drew's diaper, it became apparent that we haven't seen any little boys naked in our house because she said, "Look mom, he has a tail."

Annie: A few weeks ago, we were sitting down as a family to dinner. Annie and Hannah sit next to each other across the table from me and Jeremy. For some reason, Annie was mad at Hannah and stood up and was absolutely wailing on her. We scolded her and the sternly told her to SIT DOWN! She, without skipping a beat or a hit on Hannah, responded: I can't. I hitting Hannah. So how do you get mad at your kid when you are hysterically laughing. For weeks now, we've all been saying, "I can't I hitting Hannah".

Jake: During our family prayers, I will sometimes ask a blessing to be on our local church leaders, such as our bishop and stake pres. Well one night we were watching "Flicka" which is about mustangs. In the movie they refer to the mustangs as "loco horses". Jake asked me, "what does 'loco' mean?" I told him in Spanish it means crazy. He said, "so we pray for our crazy church leaders?"

Abby: This is an oldie, but a goodie. When Abby was only about 3 years old, I used to help her with her prayers. I'd whisper the prayer to her using the word "I" thinking Abby would repeat back to me the words exactly as I said them to her. So when I'd say, "help me to have good dreams", she should have said "help me to have good dreams" but instead she'd say "help my mommy to have good dreams"... get it? But my favorite was when Grandma and Grandpa Platt were staying at our house one weekend, and I helped Abby pray that night. I whispered, "thank you that Grandpa and Grandma could come over and play with me." so of course she said, "thank you that Grandma and Grandpa could come over and play with my mommy." So innocent, but very funny.

Karrie: Only because I have learned to laugh at myself, can I post this one. It was my dumbest moment of my life and I am so grateful that I have a husband that didn't kill me and is easy going. So on our way up to Bear Lake, Idaho this summer - I was driving - we were north of Flagstaff by about 40 minutes when I swore I saw a sign that said "Road construction: USE 160". about a mile later, we came to the 160 and all the cars in front of me were turning, so I followed suit, thinking it was a detour - hence the sign, USE 160. About a mile into our drive we hit some killer construction. We were stopped for about 20 minutes, and I kept thinking to myself, "this is the better alternative to staying on our straight road north to Paige?" But I was patient as we continued through a ton of construction through the rez and I think through Tuba City and all sorts of reservation towns. Kind of a two hour inconvenience, but I didn't think much more about it until our way home. I saw the same sign as when we were headed up, but this time I read it more clearly, it said "Road construction US 160" not USE 160.

What I love about Christmas

In no particular order (mainly because I can't quite figure out how to move pics yet on this blog)these are the reasons I love Christmas.

I love the music, the past few years, we have practically worn out 259 and Josh Groban' s Christmas CD's.

I love the lights, every year we go driving around to see some of our favorite lights, like the house on Harris and Hermosa Vista that plays music as the lights flash.

I love shopping for my family. As my kids have gotten older, Christmas is more fun for me. I love trying to get them the perfect gift, keeping in mind that I'm a bit cheap, which makes it a fun challenge.

I love all the Christmas specials on TV. Who doesn't love the classics like the Grinch, Rudolph and Charlie Brown, as well as the more recent Polar Express. I also love watching Home Alone, though it is not technically a Christmas movie, just set during the holidays. Who can resist laughing out loud when Kevin sabotages the bad guys.

I love the pj's the kids get from Grandma Platt. It is no surprise that they are going to get them each year, but the surprise is what they are going to look like. This year, Koe offered a treat to the grandchild that got the pin. Though Cyndi swore that no one would get one this year, Parker had a pin in the back of his pj's - he was the big winner! Also, it is fun to hear why the kids are special to their grandparents and then to hear why their grandparents are special to them.

I love decorating the tree. This year we finally broke down and got ourselves a fake tree. It was nice having it up for the whole month instead of having to wait til mid Dec. so our tree wouldn't die. It cracks me up watching the kids each subconsciously pick their spot on the tree to put all their ornaments. No matter how many times we tell them to spread them out and look for a hole, they each have their one spot they are drawn to. Some day, I'll have a perfect tree, but I wouldn't trade what we're doing now for anything!

I loved our ward party this year, and the service gift exchange our ward took part in. Each family picked one or two families off the Christmas tree and did service for them. It was fun having our kids involved in thinking of ways to serve others around us.

I love baking for family and friends. One day, I made about 100 sugar cookies and a few pans of yummy mint brownies.




I love Christmas morning watching the kids' expressions as they open their loot.

I love all the family parties and the spirit and fun being with the people I love most. I especially like the white elephant gift exchange on Christmas night at my parents, always a surprise and always tons of laughter.

I love that Jeremy has extra time off around the holidays and that we get to see him more.

I love the Christmas program the sunday before church. Linda Peterson did such a fantastic job with the music. I love (and envy a bit) great singers.

I love doing the nativity and trying to hopefully teach my kids the true meaning of Christmas. When the kids dress up in costumes and pretend to go visit baby Jesus, they probably aren't focused on what it means, but I hope it has planted a seed for them for the future.




I love my Savior and his humble birth. I love His example of goodness and service and love, and everyday, I hope I can be a little more like Him.