Oh My Good-ness!

It's a Christmas Miracle!!

2010-01-18T08:40:00.001-08:00

Our family is seriously lacking in any kind of family photo. Being that I usually have the camera, I am missing from most of the group shots. We just never got around to having good photos taken. Maybe it is because taking the kids for their individual photos once a year was such a fiasco that I stayed clear of trying to do more than one kid at a time.

This year, just before Christmas, Grammie (my mom) decided that since everyone was in town, we would try for a group picture. My friend, Diane Gardiner, agreed (last minute and very generously) to get her camera and see what she could do. This is a large group--10 adults outnumbered by 13 kids under 8, so we weren't really expecting perfection.

Henry was a gem. He is my best picture taker as far as behaving--although he ruined his fair share of the group shots with funny faces. I love his toothless smile (there is really no sign of those top teeth coming in anytime soon).

William had the most fun when Diane was paying him all the attention and trying to get a good individual shot of him. He is quite a stinker and made her work really hard to get them.

Regan was not the best behaved picture taker in the family. She got a couple of okay shots in the beginning and then tired set in and her patience was gone. Even Dan's bribe of $2 at QuickTrip didn't do it for her. Diane spent some time finessing her too and we managed to get some really good shots. The peek-a-boo pics were the best.

Arden was our model. I guess she always is. She loves having her picture taken and knows just how to tilt her head to get her desired effect. What a beauty she is becoming--just like her mommy!

Finally, this was our Christmas miracle. Everyone was smiling. Everyone was looking at the camera. No one was picking thier nose. No one was sulking. I don't think that I should mention that the magic word that produced all the smiles was "snot balls".

The "Bishop-Brick"

2009-05-30T08:22:00.001-07:00

At our house we ALWAYS pray for the Bishopric. It has been so for years. At least as long as Dan has been a member of ours. It has become clear through this story that our children have absulutely NO IDEA what that concept means.

I served my mission in upstate NY at all the church history sites. While I was there, they began the massive project of renovating the Grandin Building where the Book of Mormon was published. As one of the "site sisters", I got lots of perks one of which was this brick. This is one of the original bricks that built the Grandin Publishing Building. Kind of a fun thing that has been sitting on a shelf out of sight and mind for some time.

The other day I was cleaning off some shelves. Arden came in and asked about the brick.

"Mom? What is that brick for?" I readied myself to show off one of my church history prizes and teach her a little, but before I could respond--"Oh, I know. That is to remind us of the bishopbrick."

William Gets in Trouble...Again

2009-05-17T14:14:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago I got tired of my long haired boys and took them to my sister-in-law, Vanessa, who is a wonder with scissors for "summer hair cuts with shape". They were fabulous! I could do the little spikey thing in front when I felt like it, and it was off their ears, and they looked like little boys!

Just this past Thursday, I found little chunks of hair on the bathroom floor--never a good sign. I didn't have to look far for the victim. William had some nice sized gouges. I went into detective mode and started asking questions. I asked William who did it and he told me Arden. Arden vehemently denied it and was supported by her friend who was visiting. I asked William again who did it and he told me he didn't know or "I forgot" or "no one". I told him he could sit in the kitchen chair until he could tell me who did it.

It didn't take long sitting in the chair for him to spit it out.

"Mom, the person who cut my hair's name starts with a W."

I thanked him for his honesty and told him that we had to give him a hair cut. He hates hair cuts so I thought this would engender fear and teach him a lesson. He was really pretty good through the whole thing and afterword, I couldn't deny that he looks pretty good almost bald. I guess his "punishment" was for mom to call him "cute" and 'hot" instead of his preferred, "good looking".

Dan thinks he looks like one of the little Ethiopian kids only white.

Henry is Usually so Good at School

2009-05-17T14:04:00.000-07:00

I am going to let this one pretty much speak for itself. Short version, I helped out in Henry's first grade class every other Monday this past year. I am always proud to see Henry's work. He tries so hard to do his best and has a natural gift with letters, numbers and all things academic. One day I was putting their spelling tests up on the "Bravo" bulletin board and I was naturally proud of my child's 100%... until I looked at his name.

Christmas in April

2009-04-02T16:25:00.000-07:00

Someone just came to the door and William snuck out. Our guest left and I tried to get William back in the house. He said, "No, I want to sing you a Christmas song." Then he made me shut the door.

He rang the doorbell and I opened it to a grubby faced 3 year old singing...(to the tune of Happy Birthday)

"Happy Birthday to you.
You live in a zoo.
Christmas is coming,
And you are a Christmas tree."

Ahh, Christmas in April! It would have made a great April Fool's joke if it had been a day earlier.

2009-03-12T14:48:00.000-07:00

I was complaining to Dan last Sunday that I don't have any pictures of the kids with ME. I am always taking the pictures, so we have lots of the kids with Daddy, but Mommy is conspicuously missing. Like a good hubby he took the camera from me and snapped this little shot of me and my crew. Regan is holding the ever present "baba"--which she has finally learned to say but only if she is commanded. William is almost always smiling. When he is in a good mood, he is the single happiest kid I have ever seen and a joy to be around. When he is in a bad mood... let's just say that the mood pendulum swings to the extremes. Henry is back to wearing the eye-patch for his lazy eye for 4 hours every day. We have been pretty good this round since we have started bribing him to remember. Arden is easily distracted by shiny objects so it is appropriate that she is proudly displaying her "pet jewel".

Man! I have the greatest kids in the world. Each one is a treasure. Almost makes me want to see if we can make another one just as great... ALMOST!

Finally!!! He LOST one!

2009-03-03T16:35:00.000-08:00

After 5 years of having teeth taken from him, Henry lost his first tooth naturally!

He has been missing his top front teeth for some time. The first came out when he was about a year an a half old. Mom and dad were going to the temple and dropped Henry off at our wonderful neighbor, Joy McKnight's, house. We hadn't even arrived at the temple yet when we got a phone call from Joy saying that Henry had had an accident and knocked his front tooth out on the bathroom sink. Dad took Henry to the ER to make sure he was fine and Henry made it out with a fat lip.

The second upper front came out when Henry was about 4. He was jumping on the trampoline with his cousins at Grammy's house. Henry's face collided with Rex Cole's head and Henry's tooth snapped in half and got shoved up into the gum. Rex was fine (hard headed little bugger). Henry went into the dentist (they were good friends by now) and had to have it removed. Henry was a champ and didn't mind the minor surgery because he was mildly sedated. He even looked at me and said, "Mom, this isn't so bad."

So, at last there is some normalcy in the world of Henry's mouth. May the rest be as painless and event-less. We don't need any more dental bills.

Dieting 2009

2009-02-25T13:45:00.001-08:00

So, Dan and I have done it. We have started dieting... again. This time we have a different strategy--we are going to do it together! What a novel concept right? It seems like we have been on different motivation curves for most of our married lives (with the possible exception of the Atkins fad in the late 1990's). This time we are doing it together. No messing around! We are couting points, we are watching portions, we are working out!

Between the two of us we need to drop almost 200 lbs. It is pathetic how fast we spiral out of control. After several bouts with Weight Watchers, I thought I had a handle on portion size and how much I was eating. Two days later and the cut in the number of calories that I am used to is making me light headed and CRANKY! I had no idea I was so out of control. I have been going to the gym religiously for a year with nothing to show but a 20 lb loss in the first 3 months. I have tried dieting alone and I have tried exercise alone. I guess there really is something about doing the two together. This is the year!

The time of spending countless hours at the gym killing ourselves and not seeing any results because we come home and gorge ourselves on whatever junk food is withing easy reach is OVER! So help me this is going to work or it is going to kill me.

I am so hungry.

"The Orange of Destiny!"

2009-02-03T15:35:00.000-08:00

The date stamp on the picture says that this happened on January 25th.

It was early morning and Dan was having his breakfast which consisted of... an orange. We eat light at our house in the mornings (and only in the mornings). William came in and asked Dan if he could have a piece. Dan broke a section off for him. William took the orange, looked carefully at it, and handed it back to Dan and said in a very serious voice... "Daddy, this is your orange of destiny!"

Just Like Riding a Bike...

2009-02-03T14:56:00.000-08:00

We had an enjoyable Columbus Day. We rarely do "family outings" but we decided to meet up with Dane's family (all their kids got bikes for Christmas) at Grammy and Papa's house and ride bikes.

Our kids took their old sad and sorry looking scooters (we only have one "bike" and it is rusty and too small for even William). It was pretty clear that the scooters were not going to cut it. Jesse and Wyatt were very generous with their new bikes and Henry learned to ride.

We started by going down the grassy hill in the "park" across the street from my folks' house. The trick was getting to go fast enough to keep balanced and still keep the feet going on the pedals. It didn't take too long before Henry had it. Dad took him up and down the street a few times and he finally figured out how to get the speed he needed to stay vertical. There were a few falls, after a bit of practice, Henry and Wyatt took off around the park.

We finally had to put a stop to them going because Henry was taking off by himself and didn't yet have quite the control to stay far enough to the side of the road to avoid being a traffic hazard.

Arden was next and did the hill a few times. She decided that was enough after both Daddy and Papa failed to sufficiently stop the crashes. She decided that she would rather use Gracie's bike with the training wheels.

William wandered around and alternated between the training wheels and the scooters and enjoyed going down the hill.

Regan slept through most of it, but joined in the fun with the help of Arden.

Thank you Grammy and Papa, Dane, Al, Wyatt, Jesse, and Gracie for a very fun Family Outing.

Meet the Family

2009-01-13T19:35:00.000-08:00

This is the Good family. Nicole (aka "Mom"), Regan, Arden, Henry, Dan (aka "Dad"), and William.

Mom and Dad are Shakespeare enthusiasts and therfore went with the theme for the kids' names. Henry is "Henry V", one of Dan and my favorite plays--definitely my favorite of the histories. Arden as in the forest of Arden from "As You Like It"--it was also Shakespeare's mother's maiden name (we are, admittedly, geeks). William--as in Mr. Shakespeare himself. Regan is from "King Lear". She was one of the nasty daughters, but we really liked the name and thought Goneril and Cordelia would just be mean.

It is sad that this picture is the most recent "family photo" that we have. It was taken back in May of 2008 which makes the ages of the kids as of this picture: 6, 3, 2, and 10 months. They get big way too fast.

Everyone Else is Doing It

2009-01-13T19:22:00.000-08:00

So, everyone that I know is into this blogging thing. I am a scrapbooker, but I haven't been able to keep up what with the kids, the house, the chauffeuring, not to mention the mess that scrapping creates. I just don't have the heart to be the one making the mess--kids are so much better at it anyhow, why compete?