Raclette and Temple lights

Thom and Brittany arrived about a day after us and the next day we all went to church at Jess and Ryan's ward to listen to Jess play the piano for their Christmas program choir numbers and hear Ryan speak! So fun to be with family and experience a big Utah ward: 4 nurseries!  Sunday night we had two of Chris' Aunt and Uncles and their families over for a Raclette cheese night. Between monthly woes and some GI bug I wasn't feeling well and didn't really touch food much that weekend. But it looked good. They finished off the night with some Christmas carols around the piano. 

Edward and Kayla brought over their dogs a bunch during the break. Both ours and Thom and Brittany's kids are pretty scared of dogs so they mostly played outside and only came in the house on leashes for short periods of time. Over the course of 2 weeks, I could see some improvement with my kid's fears. On the second to last day of our trip, Frederick would pet the dogs. let them eat treats out of his hand and be content to have me hold him close up to them, Gwen would hide behind me on the couch but not freak out, Alec would take a few steps out of his room to watch them without screaming. Charlie warmed up the most and LOVED to walk the dogs around the house holding onto their leashes and trying to make them do tricks for treats. 

Monday was Austin's birthday so we opened presents and ate a Tardis looking cake after lunch then we had an excursion planned (on our Archibald family Christmas Google Doc spreadsheet) to ride the train up to Salt Lake City and see the Temple Square Lights! 

Poor Austin and his family missed the train up by a few seconds because of some forgotten gloves and a flat tire in their stroller. :( 

It was kind of full so we had to sit on laps, but the kids did pretty good at keeping entertained on the hour ride. 

We met Jess and Ryan at the mall across the street from Temple Square and let the kids play around the playground at the food court while we hunted down some dinner as we waited for it to get dark enough to see the lights.  

So beautiful. I've seen them before but I'm always impressed with the sheer number of lights... it seems like every twig on every tree is decked out. We lucked out with the weather. It was supposed to rain, but it didn't. I WAS still really cold, but we were dry!

Having timed the train and bus schedule just right we needed to kill a few more minutes so we sat in the Tabernacle and enjoyed the warmth and beautiful organ. 

We're so awesome, we made it to the bus stop (which would take us to the train station) with less than 5 minutes to wait for the bus. 15 min later, we hear from a worker that something is delaying the tracks but we can still just take the next bus which will take us to a different train station but will still work to get us home. 

As we pulled into the train station on that next bus we watch the southbound train pull away so now we wait on the cold platform for the next train 45 later. :( Not so fun for a group of 13 cold, tired, past bedtime kids under the age of 9. This train was even a few minutes late but it came! ... only to stop 1/2 way home and sit on the tracks for a good 20 minutes before telling us that there was a blockage up ahead and  we should stay tuned for an update.  We start going again to the next station and sit there for another 20 minutes when the train driver buzzes over the intercom that we'd have to get off at the next stop, board some buses to take us to the following station and then continue on South. 20 more minutes later - Nevermind! they were clearing it and we could just stay on the train. 20 minutes later - Nevermind! it was going to take longer and would probably be faster to board the buses. So we all (along with 100 other people) get off and wait outside for some buses to appear. 20 minutes later 2 buses show up but they fill up before we can all get on. But it was fun to hear Edward speak Spanish and help a sweet couple from South America figure out what was happening. Finally some more buses come and we were driven the 20 minutes to the next station. We get off and head to the station only to be told by a worker that the trains aren't working still and that they would just drive everyone on buses to the last 3 train stations. We packed our crew (13 kids, 1 double stroller, and 8 adults) into a few seats of another bus (Thanks to the college kids who gave up their seats and stood up so our kids could sit down) and were driven during the next 40 minutes or so to our stop in Orem. Hahaha. Such a long commute. We could have just driven it ourselves in less then an hour but then we would have had to find parking. :)  J/k. We took the train on purpose because we knew the kids would love it. And the crazy thing was... they did! They actually did so well! Not too many complaints or problems. Chris entertained a bunch of them with his silly spur-of-the-moment songs, Grandma saved the day with some jolly ranchers, and Brittany too with some bags of pretzels and they just had fun laughing and joking with each other. It was funny to watch the kids' personalities emerge. Some went quiet as the night wore on, (Mady) or fell asleep (Frederick) and others were ramping up (Alec, Mia, Jackson) ... having a grand ol' time the later it went. I was impressed with the Archibald's make-the-best-of-the-situation positive attitudes. I'm sure lucky to have married into this family. 

Tiffany and baby Henry

My sister, Tiffany was expecting her 5th child around Dec. 21st but she's pretty much always gone early but I was hoping that my little nephew would wait to come until after we arrived in Utah so I could be there with Tiffany for the big event. Five hours after we arrived in Provo, I get a text from my sister, Tiffany, saying that she thinks she's starting labor. I was torn between excitement and trepidation because we had literally just laid down in bed to try and sleep for the first time in 48 hours. I snagged a couple of hours in the car during the previous night but I was really tired, and the roads were snowy and Chris was nervous about me driving 45 minutes north in the middle of the snowy night with only a few hours of sleep under my belt.   I told Tiff as much but told her to keep me posted because I still wanted to come, so I fell asleep holding my phone in my hand under my pillow with it on silent (so it wouldn't wake up Freddy, Gwen or Chris). Around 3:00 am, I woke up realizing I hadn't heard from Tiff but feeling like 5 hours of sleep had done me good and I was able to go if needed. No news from Tiff, so I fell back asleep and woke up every hour or so to check my phone. Around 5:00am I get a text from Tiff and my other sister Sarah that they're headed to the hospital! So I snuck out of bed, threw on some clothes and drove as fast as was safe to meet them. I walk into the delivery room and find a talented midwife, a supportive nurse, a still pregnant Tiff on the verge of being ready to push, a calm Todd and a quietly excited Sarah. 10 minutes later little Henry made his appearance! It was sooooo peaceful and beautiful and exciting, and special.  Tiffany was amazing.  

My job was to film a g-rated version on Tiff's phone because her other kids wanted to watch it. I stayed up by Tiff's head and did a pretty good job with my assignment - as long as you ignore the camera shaking a little bit because I was crying. Newborns make me cry. Everytime. It was sooo fascinating and peaceful to watch a  live natural birth and not be the one doing it! I'm so grateful that Sarah made Tiffany text me and that her and Todd were so kind to include us during this personal, special experience.  I love my sisters and my family so much. I'm glad I got this chance to experience what life would be like to live close enough to my family to be involved with these spontaneous (sort of ) life events. 

He's got the chin dimple like our Dad! 

If I'm being totally honest, the whole experience kind of made me feel a little sad about my labors, since I don't think I keep it together as graciously and as quietly as Tiffany does. In general, where Tiffany is concerned, this isn't a new feeling. She really is that amazing, at everything but I still love her and love to be around her.  After I shared these feelings with Chris, he chimed in to say that even if I do make more noise or am less calm, gracious or beautiful (I added that last one in.. he'd never admit to that) that watching me labor is still the most beautiful and amazing thing he's ever seen. He's pretty good at making me feel better (even if it just proves that that just mean he's never seen Tiffany give birth. ;)

Frederick turns 2!

Oh, this boy. He's such a joy. A major handful, but such a joy.  He's soooo enthusiastic with life. If he thinks he hears a dog he'll look super serious and start chanting "doggy!" If he spies pictures of one of his siblings on the computer or our phone he'll get really excited and shout their name over and over again, pointing to the screen. One of his favorite games is to run back and forth across the largest room available.. but he can't do this alone, he wants someone to run with him and Gwen is usually a willing partner. He loves to play with cars, marbles, duplos, playdo, shovel dirt, throw balls, wack stuff on the walls, and read books.  (I'm very happy that he's outgrown his love for playing in the toilet, but his fascination continues a little bit as he loves to accompany ME to the bathroom.) When he's hurt he needs to come to Chris or I and babble about what happened for a full minute usually using the words "Bonk or Fall down" before getting a hug or kisses and then he scampers off like nothing happened. Its like he just needs to tell someone about it, maybe even cuddle for a moment. 

He has a soft spot for his Daddy. Just the other day he woke up from his nap and looked around and then shaking his head sadly but matter-of-factly said, "Daddy not here. Daddy not here. Work." Or  if he see Chris' car come down the driveway after work and he practically jumps up and says, "Dayay" (He often drops off the second consonant of his words).  He'll then either run to the door, open it and practically run into Chris' car door as he's trying to get out, or he might instead start saying "Go hide, go hide" as he runs onto the couch and hides under a blanket to 'surprise' Chris when he walks in.  He loves getting super close to our faces as he tells us something about what he wants to do or what he saw. His independent streak is growing as he wants to decide what chair to sit in during meals, or what food to eat (chucking across the room anything that doesn't fit the bill ...ie: he doesn't want water from the faucet, he wants water from the pitcher on the table so he flings the offending sippy cup over the counter). He's been getting ear infections and colds a lot this winter and while it makes him fussier, he's still up for some good play time and might even snuggle a bit as he's going to bed.  Its hard to not write all day about how much we all love him. (Yes, the kids still occasionally fight about who gets to get him up from naps, but thankfully those battles are happening less and less.) 

This birthday boy got to sit in a car for 27 and 1/2 hours on his birthday.  Sure made giving him his birthday 'breakfast in bed' easy. The kids wanted to do something special for him so they picked out some toy cars at gas station. 

As soon as we arrived in Utah, they all wanted to play outside. This is Freddy's first experience with snow that he remembers. He never complained about wearing all the snow gear except the gloves bothered him at first until he caught on to the fact that snow is cold and then he would bring them to me with icicle fingers wanting me to put them on again. The kids made snow angels since it was too dry for snowballs or snowmen. 

As dusk hit, we all went inside to warm up, open presents and eat cake the Grandma Dixie had made for our Frederick.  He needed no help with the concept of opening presents and as soon as he could peel away the wrapping, he would jump up with excitement "oh!!"  run to the nearest adult and hold up his present, then before they could really respond he would be off running to the next adult showing it off. 

He loves cake and ice cream but probably prefers ice cream.  He got the concept about blowing out candles but didn't quite have aiming down yet so Chris helped him out. 

I tried to get a cute picture of him looking at the camera in front of his came but he could hardly spare a breath for me. I just got the classic, I'm-saying-Cheeese-what-else-do-you-want-from-me face ..sans smile.  I have the HARDEST time getting a clear photo of this kid. He's constantly moving. But no matter, we love him anyway. 

More haircuts, friend bdays, and secret Santas

I love Freddy's hair long, but it was getting in his eyes a lot and after cutting Chris' and liking it so much I decided to cut Freddy's. I had to do it while he was playing outside because I just mopped my floors and knew Frederick wouldn't sit still anyway. It was fairly difficult and I think I cut it too short up front, but oh well... at least it will last longer that way.  

Before:

After: 

We had a play date with some of Gwen's friends from her class at school on Friday (which was PJ day at school) to celebrate one of the friend's birthdays since we couldn't make it to her party later that weekend. The weather has been SO WARM for December... hence the short sleeves and flip flops.  I loved how the two friends both said, "wow, you guys have the best playground in your backyard." We're really loving the play space. 

Another bday party for a good friend from Gwen's school. 

I was fasting in December for Alec's and Gwen's relationship. They are really similar and were SUCH good buddies when Gwen was 18 months. I know they love each other and can be really good friends but lately they've taken such a dislike to one another, automatically assume the worst intentions from the other, and just like to tease and pick on each other. It escalates to big displays of anger and hurtful physical blows. But there was one afternoon recently where Alec was in his room for a time out and Gwen was needing to write him an apology letter and they (all on their own) turned it into a beautiful evening. Alec liked the note so much he wanted to write one back on a little door sign he made out of K'nex. Then he wanted to make a gift for Gwen (so I suggested a homemade paper Ariel doll) and he spend the next hour make it for her. She caught on and wanted to draw a poster sized picture of a boy playing soccer for him. They exchanged surprises and Gwen slept with that doll for a week and Alec STILL has that poster hanging up on the walls of his room.  It was such a needed and appreciated reminder that they really do love each other and can get along.  The next day they were back at it with the negativity but that afternoon (and an answer from my fast, I'm sure)  gave me an idea. We could do Secret Santas for each other.. Alec serving Gwen and Gwen serving Alec for a whole week! We kicked it off with a Family Home Evening lesson about why we give gifts, referencing Santa's favorite scripture (Mosiah 2:17) and about giving gifts that don't cost money. Then we "randomly" got our assignments. ;)  We recorded on special papers the service or gifts we gave and put them in a small wrapped up box on the piano. I had Chris, Chris had Charlie, Charlie had me and Alec and Gwen had each other.  Here is a sample of the papers we filled out. 

At the end of the week had a little party were we exchanged an actual (< $5) gifts and read out loud the papers from the week. We didn't include Freddy in this, but he still needed a present to open so we wrapped up a banana for him.  He was happy.

Branch Christmas party and hair cuts

Its the most wonderful time of the year! Our branch party was pretty low key but its always nice to gather with friends and eat good food. The kids sang some Christmas songs while eating ice cream cones. :) 

The above picture illustrates how over due Chris and Freddy are for hair cuts (and all the rest of us to be honest... my most recent hair cut was last Christmas!). I've been begging Chris to let me cut his hair for a while now, but he just winces and keeps pulling the "after-two-years-of-baldness-I-just-want-to-enjoy-having-hair-again" card. Come on, the only response to that is, "Well, ok... just let me know when you're ready to cut it." But the time has come, people! He even let me have free reign. I wanted to try a more modern, short sides and long top look. 

The obligatory mid-cut photo of the mullet:

I'm terrible at before and after pictures, I always forget at least one of them! The only 'after' picture I have is one I took two nights ago during family home evening since the long top hair stood straight up after he took off his hat.... only its hard to see in this picture because of our lovely brown walls. Isn't he handsome? *sigh*

Yard work phase 1: bball court and playground

Before we left for Thanksgiving, we had been working with a landscape guy to do a half basketball court and define a playground area and move over the existing playground equipment that came with the house into the new area. They originally were along the back tree line of the woods and totally not visible from anywhere inside the house and pretty much during the winter/spring/fall (pretty much the only times you'd WANT to be outside here in Mississippi) we'd have to cross a muddy swamp to get there.  

When we got back from Texas the cement had been poured and the play area outlined. Then we got hit with tons and tons of rain. It was perfect to check out how the drainage was working. 

(BTW, you can kind of see where the playground used to be in the picture above ...see the yellow slide along the back trees?)

After just 2 more days of work, the playground was moved over and a nice pine mulch put in. Also they moved over the existing old basketball standard for us too. We just have to put a little more cement in over the top and I want to attach some kind of plaque that gives credit for the basketball court to the person who made it all possible: Joel! Chris' awesome, kind and generous old office mate from Canada apparently struck it big when he got hired at a just-about-to-go-public tech company in London. He and Chris met up at a conference sometime later and he said he wanted to give us some money for something we'd need/like. He watched Chris go through the first year of Chemo treatment and I think wanted to help/support him somehow.  At that point, Chris and I just had bought this house and Chris was talking about all the fun projects we were looking forward to doing. Joel loves sports, especially cricket since he's from Australia and him and Chris enjoyed talking about that so when Chris mentioned a basketball court, it seemed a fitting gift! Chris wasn't sure how serious Joel was and obviously didn't push it, but later Joel gmail chatted him asking how much we were thinking the bball court would cost.  Practically the next day, Chris tells me to look into our bank account and it is $10,000 deeper!  We were blown away.  I think we should have some type of ceremony dedicating this court to Joel.  It has already provided almost 24 hours a day entertainment for my kids and we've had it for only 2 days.  The presence of a non-muddy/ fire-ant-hill-free place to play outside will transform our lives here in Mississippi. A million thanks to Joel and his sweet wife for being so generous.