Tis The Season....TO GO NUTS!

There is a specific reason why I don't post as much as I used to: MY LIFE IS NUTS! Good nuts, like almonds, cashews or macademia, but it is nuts!

In a nutshell, the word to describe our family in the past 6 weeks would be "ill." For 6 weeks in row, I missed at least 1 day of work. We have had the flu, ear infections, strep throat and more ear infections. Our baby, Alyssa, is on her 5th ear infection since October. Tubes are right around the corner.

In addition, adding another child to your family makes for more work. I haven't quite figured out how to juggle everybody the most successfully yet. I mean, I have some really great days where each child gets special attention, we read, practice piano, make it dance, make dinner, and even get our rooms picked up while putting away the laundry. Then there are days where it just doesn't click quite right. I can say, however, that my focus is on the progression of my family now more than it has ever been! :)

Here are some of our highlights:Mom and Dad are putting in their mission papers again! We're hoping for a warm, western state. Please dedicate your prayers to this!

New family members: Max and Daisy. I know, I know, about a year ago, I posted that I was ready to move into a different house to get away from the Rotweiler! Dave is making these dogs outside dogs. They stay the nights in the garage with heaters so they'll stay warm. We both really want this to work this time so that Dave can have this dog experience he has wanted all of his life and I can have the dream of not having to co-exist with dogs! :)

THANKSGIVING 2009: CHESTERFIELD, IDAHO!

Here is our annual Risk game. I lost. Period. I would like to thank my husband and brothers Brantly and Jeff and new sister-in-law, Nicole, for killing me off.

Here is Jessica, Melanie and Taylor before the glorious meal!

Kids table!

Alyssa's first Thanksgiving! Oh, how blessed we are to have this child join our family!

Ready to eat! And what a meal it was! Mom went overboard this year! At the end of the dinner, she found the green beans still in the kitchen. She said, "Don't tell dad since he already thinks I overdo the side dishes."

A trip to Idaho would not be a trip to Idaho without Dave getting injured. Yes, my city slicker woodsman had a shooting accident! The gun recoiled as he shot and slammed him in the face. My dad became the nurse and patched him up pretty well. Even Dave was impressed.

Here is Jessica with her daddy, Justin. Please acknowledge the wig on Justin's head, which he found in the basement. He wore it around for an hour or so. Hilarious!

PUTTING UP THE CHRISTMAS TREE 2009

I figure I am about 2 Christmas's out from putting up nice decorations on my Christmas tree! Taylor loved helping me put on the finishing touches. What a sweetie!

Ginger, my youngest sister, becomes a mom! Welcome to the Hatch clan, Zoe Rae Hunsaker! Ginger was in labor for hours at home. When she finally arrived at the hospital, she was dilated to a 9+. In other words, no time for pain killers and had the 8 lbs 2 oz baby all natural! We all STILL can't believe it!

Taylor Dancing at the Poinsettia Festival at Highland Gardens.

What a cutie!

To our joyful surprise, cousin Jasmine also danced at the festival at the same time as Taylor. Jazzy was a natural! What a beautiful girl! What beautiful girls!

To our great surprise, Aunt Cindy and Carson drove all the way down from Ephraim to watch Taylor dance 2 dances in 30 minutes! Aunt Cheri also showed up with Uncle Steve! Grandma Barbie came too. She is always so good to support our children.

Picture with me

After the dance, we went to our home for cake and ice cream as it was Aunt Cheri's Birthday! Here comes Grandma Barbie with the cake!

Happy 40th Birthday!

Advent Calendars! This is a tradition in our family, stemming from Germany of course! The kids LOVE opening their calendars every night as the countdown to Christmas begins!

THS BABYSITTING NIGHT!
One of the perks of teaching at THS is the annual Babysitting night each December! They do this so the parents can go Christmas shopping. The teacher in charge of the pre-school there has the honor's students come in for 4 hours of service and watch the children of the teachers. Personally, I call it "Birth Control Service." Our children had a blast! There were all sorts of crafts, face painting, dinner, choir performance, a visit from Santa and a movie.

And that's a wrap!

(What you don't know about this blog entry is that I started it last night at 11:30 pm when I thought Alyssa was finally down for the night but she ended up keeping me up until 2:30 am because of a stomach ache....)

Beautiful Life, Beautiful Family

Sometimes I focus on how tired I am ALL the time, how HARD the boys are and how much I CRAVE a break from parenting! Perhaps some of you, especially my family, would question how great having kids has been for me.

Well, today, let me yell "LIFE, SLOW DOWN!" Let me enjoy the young children, kissing a yummy baby, having my 3 year old say, "Mom, I need a hug from you!", wrestling my Jaxson to the ground to give him a hug and kiss and to watch Taylor dance with this huge smile to "Party in the USA!" I love this little family and am so proud of each one of them! Dave and I were out last night and talked about how blessed we feel to see each child and their progression in so many areas. Here are my greatest blessings:
Alyssa- the placement of this child was perfect! She is loved and adored by all. I dare say there is not another baby who has been kissed more than her (even strangers want to kiss her chunky cheeks!).




I know I take far too many pictures of our baby girl but I just can't help it! We know she is the end child and we are just licking the bowl.....

Jaxson- this kid keeps us on our toes! He is clever, creative and very bright! Very opinionated too! I'm so glad he is not the oldest since he has many "first-born" tendencies and the combination of both would have given him serious challenges in his life to come! Anyway, he is adorable and we love him so much!

Taylor- this little girl has grown so much in confidence in herself this year! I could not be happier about this for her! She is beautiful and we see talents starting to show in her. She LOVES dancing, enjoys reading and playing "teacher" to her younger brothers and neighbors. I also have her going in piano now and she is really taking to it too.

Alyssa- Yummy, yummy yummy! Crawling all over the place, eating dirt, loves her family to death!

Austin- this kid is the sweetest! His smile is killer too. He loves loud noises, Star Wars, pirates and anything action-centered! He loves to kiss his mom and dad. He is so eager to play sports too! During Jax's soccer games, Austin would run around kicking a ball the entire time. :)

I feel very blessed for my little family. Dave and I are so lucky!

Halloween 2009