Terrificle and Extraordinary

(Hannah's new bday outfit)

Yesterday Hannah turned 5! She is a little obsessed with "Ramona and Beezus," to say the least. She quotes entire scenes from the movie and it is stinkin' cute. I'm a little tired of the flick, but not tired of Hannah quoting it. Two of our favorite words from the movie are terrificle and extraordinary. Hannah is truly terrificle and without a doubt extraordinary.

She had a wonderful birthday. She got just what she asked for, clothes and money. Yes - she's 5 not 15. We threw in a new Barbie just to keep her young.

She had a great party in St. Johns. The other thing she asked for was a trip to SJ so Grandma Platt could make her a cake. She didn't disappoint with a darling Strawberry Shortcake cake. It was a fun weekend with nice weather and still snow on the ground. Hannah, and all the other kids for that fact, totally wore themselves out. Hannah was the worst though. She even opted to go to sleep instead of having her party. That was at 6:30 and she slept through the night. She had been waiting for months for this party and so I was shocked she wanted to sleep. We had to postpone the fiesta until Sunday afternoon.

(Jeremy got a cake too - his truck - since his bday is tomorrow)

Five years later, I'm still full of joy with the miracle of you. I'm glad you came to our family. Happy Birthday to an EXTRAORDINARY girl! I love you, Hannah!

More Hannah-isms

Do you remember when Hannah saw her first naked little boy, and she said, "Look, Mom, he has a tail!"? Well, last night at our second Goodman girls party at Jim and Diane's house, Aunt Diane busted out a doll she got her grandkids for Christmas. It was a little boy doll in just a diaper and very lifelike. Under the diaper it had little uncircumcised boy parts. Hannah took a look, so we asked her if he had a tail and she answered, "No, I broke it off." Oh crud! We cracked up, but upon further review, his parts were all still there. I was getting very nervous there for a while.

On another note... Tonight after dinner, Hannah got Jeremy's coat, put it on backwards with the hood over her face and sat there hiding. We couldn't find her, she was so still until we saw little feet sticking out from under the jacket. She giggled a little bit to let us know she was awake, but before long, she was sound asleep. She stayed in that position for a couple of hours. She woke up happy and refreshed (she' s probably still awake in her bed) What a goofball. I love her silliness!

Merry New Year

"Merry New Year!" "In this country we say, 'Happy New Year'" (That's from Trading Places) We had a very merry New Year. We woke up on Friday (New Year's Eve) and decided that our kids were finally healthy enough to take a snow trip. Jeremy had been off the whole week and was pretty bored with his time off. Shoot, we all were a little stir crazy. So we gathered every single long sleeve, beanie, mitten, boot, jacket, scarf... we could find. You name it, we packed it (except our sled, which would come back later to bite us in the bootay) and we headed up to Prescott. The kids loved looking at all the snow. It was still quite fresh and so pretty. We walked around the town square and looked at all the little shops. Then it was off to find a sled, which evidently did not exist in that lovely little town. We decided that Jeremy's irrigation raft would have to do. It did. That is until I decided to use it and I popped it. I stuck my foot right through the front of it. My bad. But the kids had a great time, well at least Jake and Abby did. Annie was absolutely miserable. I went so far as to make her put on snow pants, boots, a warm jacket, mittens and a beanie. She couldn't move. She was kinda like that kid in Christmas Story that is so bundled up he can't bend his arms. Hannah just got cold after a little while. We must be slow learners because we go through this with all of our kids, assuming they will like the snow but it never happens if they're under the age of 5. Anyway, the hill was perfect for sledding. It was perfectly steep, had bumps and wasn't too long for the walking back up part.

After sledding and thawing out, we filled up on hot chocolate at a gas station. Good stuff. Then it was time to head home.

Annie fell asleep in the car after all the tormenting in the snow - that's her happy meal toy in her mouth.

We got almost home and decided to head Julie's way to our annual party / get together. ( I took no pictures of this wonderful night - crud!) Usually we are the only ones who show, but this year the Ricedorff's graced us with their presence as well as TT and Kyley's friends and Julie's friends. It was of course a great time watching Loren's fireworks and the Christmas tree bonfire that lights up the night. We were home and had the kids in bed in time for Jeremy and I to have our New Year's kiss. We kissed in front of Jake and started right before the clock chimed 12:00. We told him we were kissing for two years straight. He thought it was pretty amazing.

We spent Saturday recovering from Friday (I've never quite embraced the day of New Years as much as a holiday, more of a vegging/recovering/football day)

Who do you Hate? That's your date!

I love the things my kids learn at school. Actually it makes me very nervous, especially when Jake, the oldest and only 6 at the time, came home one day from KINDERGARTEN and told me that boys can marry boys in Massachusetts. That one really freaked me out. But since that shock, they've come home with new jingles, jokes and tricks, and all a lot less scary. Such as:

"Lemonade, Iced tea, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, turn around, touch the ground, kick your girlfriend (boyfriend) out of town - Freeze!" Every time we have lemonade with dinner that song surfaces.

Or,

"Open the gate. Pick some flowers. How many flowers did you pick? That's how many boyfriends you have!"

Or,

"Open the gate. Who do you hate? That's your date." I used to always say, I hate nobody, but the kids wouldn't stand for that as an answer. I had to name someone, so I've learned that if I say Daddy, then he's my date. But I feel like I always have to follow up with "I don't really hate him."

Today, Hannah must dropped that gig on Annie, because she came into my room giggling so hard I could barely understand her, and she told me, "I get to go on a date with Daddy. I said I hate him (giggle, giggle) and I'm going on a date with him." She was getting the biggest kick out of it. Lately we've had a battle over who gets to be married to Jeremy. Annie insists she gets to when she's older (who can blame her), but I always argue and tell her he's taken so back off and leave my man alone! So after she announced her date with Dad, I said I want to go on a date with him and she agreed that we both get to date Dad. Then I told her, "I get to kiss him, not you, and I planted a big one on him" Then she tried to match me and kiss him on the lips, but he wouldn't stand for it and kept giving her his cheek. Ha, Ha I win!

I sure hope Annie finds someone as great as her daddy to marry. He's a real catch!

The Christmas Hangover

The Highlights and Lowlights of Christmas 2010

High Lights

Soups and breadbowls on Christmas Eve

Hearing the Christmas story twice - Christmas Eve and Christmas Night

Jeremy getting to be King Herrod, saying "Foiled!" when the Wisemen went the other way -leading some adults (Jarred) to make Scooby Doo comments

The other actors were pretty good too: Abby - Mary, Jake - Joseph, Hannah and Annie - Angels, Kalicia and Devon - Shepherds, Oliver, Simon and Talmage - Wisemen

Watching the kids open their loot on Christmas morning

Jake got a remote control car, Abby a camera, Hannah a Go-Go my Walking Pup, and Annie a new bike (Sorry, Jake - somehow I missed your picture)

Hearing the Dutton's perform two nights before Christmas

New Christmas PJ's from Grandma Platt

Sharing Christmas breakfast with Mom, Dad and Matt

Pigging out on Red Vines and Whoppers - my favorite treats from Santa!

Jamming out with Rock Band - we finally got a Wii with Rock Band -as it turns out, none of us have a lick of rhythm, but we enjoy every minute of failing out of the songs

Learning how to bowl a strike in Wii bowling

A great White elephant exchange - always a surprise and great fun (this year some KY made it into the mix of gifts - good job, Joe) . We scored a framed quote and picnic blanket

The annual rendition of White Christmas by the Goodman Brothers and Dad (The tradition started out with Grandpa Goodman and his 3 sons). My bros and dad do it as passionately as the older generation.

A delicious Mexican feast on Christmas night.

Low Lights

The Christmas hangover when the house is trashed and the anticipation and excitement is gone

Annie being sick the week leading up to Christmas and even a few days after

Hannah being sick this week, not able to enjoy her new loot

That's it for the low lights. Not many. It was by all means a wonderful Christmas and we hope for many, many more.

Christmas by the Senses

I love Christmas. I love the anticipation on my kids faces waiting for the big morning, and I really love that all of my senses get hit during the Holiday season.

I love the smells of the season. The gingerbread men ornaments, the yummy goodies that I spend hours baking and my parents' fresh real tree (that used to be my favorite smell of the season in my house until we got ourselves a fake tree).

I'm definitely a fan of food and eating. I get giddy just thinking about all the yummy flavors and treats. I love the soups and bread bowls on Christmas Eve, Whoppers, Red Vines and all the plates of tasty goodies delivered to our house.

Last night we went on a hayride around my parents neighborhood. Their neighbor has the best light display set to music, it's truly a sight to behold. My other favorite sight is our decorated house. We don't have a lot of cool decorations, but my kids don't know that. They think our house is amazing at Christmas, especially the tree that they get to decorate, in all its mismatched glory.

I just read that December is statistically the coldest month is AZ. It definitely makes it feel like Christmas when I get to get bundled up in a sweatshirt and sneakers instead of flipflops (cold is a relative term - I mean it gets to be about 115 in July, so a freeze warning seems downright Michigany to me). We even get to burn a few fires in our fireplace. But sipping hot chocolate and burning a fire makes it feel like Christmas for sure.

I think my favorite part of Christmas is getting to hear so much music. Some I can do without, like the Santa that Grandma Taylor gave us that sings Jingle Bell Rock until my ears want to fall off, but I'll take that sound with gratitude that my ears work, so I can hear the music of the performers at the temple or my ward choir singing with such passion at church. There are amazing voices everywhere, and though I wasn't one born with one, I sure can appreciate others. I cry at least 5 times during the holidays when I listen to amazing music, such as the song, "I, said the Donkey..." which is my fav this year, or any rendition of "O Holy Night". I love singing along with all my favorite songs or even singing without them in the background, until Annie tells me to stop singing because it's ugly - gotta love that honesty.

The sense I love the most is the feeling of love and gratitude that abounds (I don't know if that counts as a sense, but it's my blog, so I say it does). I'm thankful to my Heavenly Father for giving me His Son, so that I can live again. I love the feeling of joy when I get to serve others and when I feel like I've successfully taught my children the importance of serving others. This week Jake has attempted to make me breakfast in bed twice. The first was Mini-wheats with milk and a cup of Crystal Light fruit punch. The second was this morning when he started making me waffles, but I foiled his plan when I came into the kitchen. But the happiness on his face because he was serving someone was so priceless.

Merry Christmas!

Jake's 9

Today, my dear oldest child and only son, Jake, turns 9. It seems like just yesterday I was being called to go to the hospital to be induced with him. I brought a deck of cards and my mom insisted that I would not feel like playing cards in the hospital, I'd be in too much pain. But alas, no contractions for Karrie and at around 3:00 after lots of games of gin, and hours of pitocin, Jake's little heart was distressed and he couldn't take much more of this long labor (at that point I was dilated to a 2, and I got to the hospital at a 1), so Dr. Layton recommended a a c-section. I don't remember much after that, just being scared. At that point things moved really fast. I was given some medicine and about 2 minutes alone with Jeremy, then off to the OR. By 3:30 Jake was here, with his loud hearty cry, big mouth and what I thought was red hair. I was taken back to my room without him where I got to start making calls. I was super cheery because I was totally numb and my family couldn 't believe I had really had him. It was quite funny. I hadn't even really gotten a chance to hold him and soon everyone started showing up to see the cutie.

It wasn't until the next day that I felt like I really bonded with Jake. We had a lot of alone time and it was cherished. He was perfect and, oddly, I fell in love with his ears. To me they signified how perfect his tiny body was.

Jake has been such a great boy over the years. He is cute, smart, very coordinated, a fiery competitor, a vigorous teaser, avid sports fanatic and a gentle soul all at the same time. Happy Birthday Jake, I love you!

Jake went through a mad Superman phase. He wore his cape ALL the time. He would go to Walmart in it and ALL the old people would comment on how safe they felt knowing they had the Man of Steel protecting them at the store. This picture is of Jake being Clark Kent with his cape sticking out of his shirt and tie.

Jake at the end of this soccer season. He is a really good soccer player with some amazing moves. He's a lot of fun to watch when he drives up the field for a score.

Jake had his first piano recital last night. He did really well. I'm so proud of him. He only sometimes complains about practicing and he's learning so much. Way to go!