Family Dinner on Jan. 25th

We always have a family dinner for birthdays. The tradition has been that they get to choose what we are having for dinner. Aric usually has to choose something unusual. This year he said that he'd been craving broccoli with cheese sauce. (He was only 2 the first time he picked broccoli for his birthday dinner. Only we didn't eat broccoli when they were little, it was baby trees.) Then he picked roast beef and mashed potatoes - so that Riley and Alexandra would eat, too.
Since he picked a "normal" meal, I found tiramisu and spumoni - so that he could have weird after all. I've never had tiramisu, and didn't realize that one of the layers was coffee flavored. No one cared for it, except Aric. Luckily, Cortney had made brownies as a backup. Alexandra ate 2 big ones. Aric said that he'd never seen her eat that much at one time. Aric and I were the only ones who liked the spumoni. Riley and Alexandra aren't usually willing to try new things, but they did taste them this time.

Dean and Aric were playing playstation after dinner. Aric had brought over a multi-player game. I think they were Marvel heroes. I know that Aric was Wolverine, I think Dean was playing Hulk? Anyway, they were having a good time slicing and destroying stuff.

Riley and Alexandra in their jammies. They were cold, so they put them on early.

I forgot to get a picture of Cortney. She was doing better than I expected. She'd been to church, and had a bit of a headache. And then with all the chaos of dinner and extra people, I wasn't sure how she would fare, but she made it through the whole evening.

Christmas Eve

Cortney had a brilliant idea for Christmas this year. As Dean had to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, trying to do things the best for everyone was a dilemma. So we had dinner about 5:30, just after Dean got home. After we ate, the girls opened their Christmas Eve packages - new pajamas. Got their pajamas on. Then the girls and I went upstairs. We had bedtime stories and songs. Then the 3 of us curled up in Riley's bed and pretended to go to sleep. It was hard to get Alexandra to be quiet, even when we heard Dean coming upstairs to get us. While we were "sleeping," Cort, Dean, and Aric were sorting gifts and stuffing stockings. So then it was "morning" and we could come back downstairs to empty stockings, and start the wrapping paper ripping. Our tradition for unwrapping gifts, is to go around in a circle, taking turns opening gifts one at a time. That way everyone can see what everyone else got. It was fun watching Riley's face when we were each opening her gift to us. She had made the cutest, pom-pom bears for everyone. This was her first year to make gifts (she's written stories and drawn pictures for us for years), but this was different in her anticipation. Cort's bear was green - her favorite color. Riley wrote and illustrated a story about her family at school. Hopefully, Cortney's blog will have the story and pictures posted. It was neat, and touching, and funny, too. After packages, the girls and I had to log-in their new webkinz. Then Dean and I had pie. Cort and Aric were too full of mashed potatoes. Riley and Alexandra had ice cream with chocolate sauce. Then the girls gave everyone hugs and kisses and went to bed. Aric and I drove home. It was about 9:30, so I just went straight to bed. Sometime later in the night, Sunil called from India and had to leave voicemail, to wish us a "Merry Christmas."

Callie's Blessing Day

Callie was blessed on Sunday, Dec. 7. As she is now 2 months old, the bunting that I made BARELY fit. I had to make large size booties for her to wear, as the ones that were done originally were way too small.

Halloween 2008

This is Alexandra as Ariel, holding Riley's black cat.

Riley as a cat witch, holding Skippy John Jones.

Callie in her ghost onesie.

Callie as a pea pod.

Alyssa as a witch; Micah as a pirate; Kendra as a ballerina?; and Jerran as an elephant.

ditto.

Jerran, who got too hot in his costume.

Alexandra with Wesley hanging the bat.

The skeleton in the coffin jumps out at you!

The kids made the skeleton jump out at least a dozen times, and it scared them every time.

Catching Up

I finally figured out how to add pictures to my blog. So I'm catching up.

This was from General Conference on Oct. 4. The girls were playing Conference Bingo.

This was Friday, Oct. 24th, Cort's ward was having their Halloween Party. Riley is a Cat Witch, and Alexandra is Ariel. While the parents are decorating their cars for Trunk or Treat, the Y.M.Y.W. have activities in several rooms to keep the kids occupied. The girls both wanted black cat face paintings.

And we have a new addition to the family. Celeste had Callie Taryn Rose on Oct. 6th. We visited on Wed, the 8th. So Callie is brand new. The one on the left is the first picture of Callie with all her brothers and sisters. Celeste is holding Callie, Alyssa, Micah, Jerran, and Kendra. On the right, Riley is holding Callie, with Cortney watching. Riley wanted Callie to open her eyes. Even at the end of our visit, when Callie got hungry, she still wouldn't open her eyes for more than a peek.

Latest Scam

Aunt Fern just got scammed for $5,000. Someone called, saying that he was one of her great grandsons, that he was in Canada and in trouble and needed money. She sent the money. The person then called back and said that he needed another $2,000. She told him that he would have to contact his grandfather (Fern's son) if he needed more. Fern then called her son, only to be told that no one in the family was even in Canada. So of course, Fern called the police and there is little hope that she will get the money back.

There are so many dishonest people out there - it is hard to stay ahead of all the ways that you can be tricked. But these low-lifes have really hit the bottom, when they call, pretending to be a loved one in trouble. So now before we can help out family, we have to check to see if they really are family!