Lemonade

Here is a picture I took of the girls on December 1st:

And here is a picture I took just a month later on January 4th:

What a difference a month can make!  We went from playing with cardboard boxes on the front lawn in a jacket (I believe that green stuff is grass, if I remember correctly) to bundling up and playing with giant icicles in the freezing snow.  Is that something along the lines of making lemonade out of lemons.....?

The Book of The Past Month

Someone help me out here.

It's 2013?  Isn't that supposed to be the year in some kind of sci-fi movie made in the 80's where it seemed so far in the future it would never really come?  And now January of 2013 is already half over?  Oh heaven help me I'm already behind!

It's only been a month since I last posted, yet it seems I could post an entire book on the past 4-5 weeks.  I didn't think our life was all that adventurous, but due to the amount I need to catch up on it seems that apparently it is.  I'm ready for the adventure to slow down a bit.  Guess to catch up we'll take it one chapter at a time.

CHAPTER 1:  CHRISTMAS.  Actually, we'll back up to the week before Christmas. 

'Twas the week before Christmas and all through the house....

....Okay, so really there was nothing cutesy or poetic about the week or so before Christmas at our house.  We were all sick.  Sick sick and sick.  It started with Kenna whose regular old cold turned into croup and earned her a decadron shot at the Dr.'s office.  Anyone recall her stint with croup last May?  You just go ahead and search that in my archives.  You will just love it.  Ya, we were a bit fearful, but fortunately we didn't have an encore presentation of our 6-hour ER visit.  She missed almost a week of school and lost her voice for a month.  Absolutely no exaggeration on that.  However, she is in full voice again.  We can hear her.  LOUD.AND.CLEAR.    

The cold quickly spread to Allie Gal.  It seemed to be the mutated cold which managed to wreak some serious havoc on the poor little lady.  She also missed a week of school.  And just when we thought we were out of the woods she managed to get an ear infection.  Let me just paint a little picture here for you.  Allie really is a sweetie.  We love her dearly.  However when Allie hurts, we definitely know it.  She has a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde syndrome, and we all suffered with the ear infection.  And of course it came on a Saturday night.  A huge and much appreciated THANK YOU to our beloved Aunt-in-law JULIE (oh how we love you) we were able to get an antibiotic.  Allie was finally on her way to recovery.  We thought we all were....

... until my little angels shared the horrific mutation of a cold with their mother.  It was the cold from the underworld which culminated in my dear husband taking 2, count them 2, days off work and taking me to the Dr.'s office.  Once again, an antibiotic came to the rescue.  The beloved z-pac worked its magic on my bronchitis helping me feel a bit human again.  I haven't felt that yucka in a long time.

You can probably guess despite my over-zealous efforts of sanitation, the rest of the gang ended up with the cold.  Fortunately Ty and Lexi didn't seem to get it near as bad, but we managed to clean out a warehouse full of Kleenex.  Absolutely no exaggeration on that.  Jacob was the cold caboose, and compared to the rest of us he got by relatively unscathed.  His halo must burn a bit brighter than the rest of us.  Or maybe he earned his halo taking such good care of the rest of us the angels took pity on him!  Perhaps the angels took pity on all of us because just in the St. Nick of time we were all better and ready for Christmas.

Christmas Eve we ventured to the theater to catch a matinee of "Rise of the Guardians."  We followed it up by a trip to Applebees.  Merry Christmas Eve to me, I wasn't cooking!  After filling our bellies, we slowly worked our way home in a blizzard where we prepared for our traditional reading of the Christmas story out of Luke.  We have quite a cast of characters:

The angels (who most impressively recited nearly the entire angel monologue by themselves):

   
Our Baby Jesus, played by Lexi.  Set design by Kenna.  Never have you seen a more impressive manger:

Don't forget Ty the shepherd!

And of course just use your imagination for me playing the part of Mary and Jacob as Joseph.

The rest of the evening consisted of exchanging family gifts followed up by arranging a plate full of cookies for Santa- complimented by some carrots for the reindeer.  We of course couldn't forget filling a glass of milk to go with it all.   Finally we got the kiddos dressed in their Christmas Eve jammies and off to bed.  The girls were so excited.  But knowing Santa wouldn't come unless they were sleeping, managed to fall asleep before too late.  And really, Santa appreciates that.  She, I mean, He likes to get to bed at a decent time too after he's gotten all his work done.  It is so fun to watch the excitement of little children at Christmas.  It truly takes it to a whole new level.  The girls managed to wake up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 6:15 Christmas morning.  I'm sorry to say that their mother made them wait until 7 to head on out to the living room to let the unwrapping begin.  Hmm, actually I'm not sorry.  I have a feeling in just a few short years I won't be able to prolong it even that long.  Oh come on, don't judge, it was still dark!

Let the Christmas madness begin!

I thought I was being such a good wife to give Jacob a new little collection of western movies for Christmas.  Way to go me, I got roped into "enjoying" most of them with him.  I think maybe he belonged to Louis L'Amour's Sackett family in a previous life.

I am happy to say I did redeem myself in the kitchen Christmas Day.  We had a rather delicious Christmas lunch, if I may say so, and then let our bellies settle so we could head out for some sledding.  It was cold, but we had a blast!


 Bundle up the baby.....

Load up the dog....

 And we're off!

Who says you can't go surfing on Christmas in Utah?  Certainly not us!

Yes, let it be known I too got on the sled.  My derriere was frozen upon our return home, but we had fun nonetheless!  We headed home to end the day with a nice cup of hot chocolate.  And a good western, of course.

A Letter From Santa

With little ones, it's easy to get caught up in all the fun that goes along with the season and, like most parents, we try to find ways to make sure we focus on the reason for Christmas- Christ.  So this year I took a few different ideas I've heard of here and there to put together something that we will do this Christmas to help out in the "true meaning" department.  So as we were putting up the Christmas decorations, the girls discovered a little package in the mailbox from Santa.  In it was a little stuffed Santa Claus who has served as our house elf the past few years and a copy of this letter.  So far it has been going well.  Not to mention it has made my shopping and budgeting so much easier!  Merry Christmas to everyone!  We hope you all can feel the love of our Savior this time of year and remember the greatest gift we all have received.

Dear Israelsen Family,

          Merry Christmas!  I can’t believe it’s that time of year again!  What a wonderful year it has been.  You have a new baby sister, that is so special.  Kenna, Allie, and Ty, you have all been working hard to be such good helpers to your Mom and Dad, I am so proud of you.

          This year I have something very important to tell you.  As Santa Claus, I have a very special job.  Christmas is such a wonderful time of year, for it’s the time we remember when Jesus Christ was born.   Christmas is the time to celebrate our Savior and to help share His love.  Heavenly Father wants all of His children to know how much He loves them and how much Jesus loves them.  Unfortunately, there are many who have forgotten this.  This is the special job Heavenly Father has given me: to help the world remember Jesus this time of year.  I hope when people think of gifts at Christmas, they remember the greatest gift we have ever been given- our Savior Jesus Christ.  So this year, I want to work extra hard to do my job and help you remember why we celebrate Christmas. 

          When Jesus was born, there were three wise men who came to see Him.  They each brought Him a gift.  Do you know why they were wise men?  Because they knew exactly who Jesus was and how very special He was.  They knew that He would show us the way to live and that someday He would die for us so we could live with Him and Heavenly Father again.  The wisest people in the world are those who look for and follow Jesus.  So this year, you will each be getting 3 gifts from me to help you remember the wise men who found the Savior.  I pray that each of you will continue to follow Jesus and keep making good choices this next year.  So guess who I am sending to come to your house?  Brumphy!  He is so excited to be back at your house!  He loves the Israelsen house because he knows they are such a special family.  He has a very important assignment from me this year.  First of all, whenever you see Brumphy, I want you to remember that we are celebrating Jesus this Christmas season.  And when you think of Jesus, you will want to make good choices and choose the right.  When Brumphy sees all the good things you do, he will report back to me.  I can’t wait to hear of all the wonderful things you will do!  

          Thank you for being such a great family.  I love you and am so excited to bring you 3 gifts this year, just like the wise men brought to Jesus.  I am most excited to hear all the good things you do!

Much Love,

Santa Claus

  

7th Heaven

I'm afraid I have a major birthday lover in my crew.  To say Kenna was excited for her birthday last week is a major understatement.  Perhaps an appropriate word would be elation?  We have (or rather, she has) been counting down for her birthday pretty much since Allie's birthday in August.  The day finally came and we now have a 7-year-old in the house.  The requests for the day:

For breakfast, pancakes with sausage and bacon.  Yum.

For her gift, she really wanted some Stompeez slippers-the unicorn ones to be exact.  The eyes pop up when she walks:

She had a little pile of gifts waiting for her on the table when she got home from school.  She kept looking at them and tried her hardest to refrain from ripping in to them so she could wait for Dad to get home from work to join in all the fun.  You see, brand new 7-year-olds can exert great patience.  She waited.  And waited.  And finally just couldn't stand it anymore so opened up "just one" gift.  The smallest one, of course.  Then about a half hour past, and she kept staring at the rest of them.  Trying to keep from drooling.  Then just couldn't wait any longer and opened another.  To sum it all up, basically about a half hour before Dad got home she had them all opened.  The problem was Dad had told her in the morning that she could go ahead and open them before he got home, so that was just rolling around in her brain taunting her!

For some evening birthday entertainment, Kenna wanted to go.....drumroll please....rollerskating!  A friend had a birthday party at the roller rink a few weeks prior, and ever since Kenna had been beyond excited to take the family skating for her birthday.  Fortunately, on a Thursday evening, we basically had the rink to ourselves.  Which is best, because a certain member of the family HATED rollerskates:

We now know Ty does not like roller skating.  However, take off his skates and let him run around and chase us all over the rink?  Now that is more his style.

The girls were sure troopers, bruises and all.

We topped off the birthday festivities with some birthday "k"ake and ice cream.  A "K" shaped chocolate cake with strawberry frosting, as per birthday girl request.  Dad got a little to anxious to get it served up before we could sing and blow out the candle, so we had to put a few slices back together for a pic.

Happy Birthday Kenna D!  I will forever remember the very first day you joined our family.  It was so fun (albeit a bit exhausting) to share another birthday with you!  Looking forward to number 8. 

And since little Lexi Lou didn't get a picture, I have a darn cute one to throw in the mix here.  She loves to use her elbows to push herself up in her chair and sit up straight and tall.  Such a cutie!  I just love how her little ears poke out.  At her 6 month check up last week, we learned this little future basketball player is in the 99.25 percentile for her height.  Way to go Lulu!

Thanksgiving Checklist

Turkey...check.

Potatoes....check.

Rolls...check.

Pie...check.

The flu....check.

What?  The flu?  UNcheck, UNCHECK!

To sum up our Thanksgiving weekend, we were sick.  We drove 5 hours to get sick.  Jacob spent Thanksgiving in bed.  I think he had some ginger ale and a few bites of apple for Thanksgiving.  Then he managed to share the love with pretty much anyone who so much as even looked at him.  I, being the lucky one who gets to sleep next to him, was a benefactor as well.  The only good thing was that it didn't hit me near as hard.  And at least waited until after the actual Thanksgiving feast and a bit of absolutely ridiculous why-do-I-do-this Black Friday shopping.  I at least got to enjoy turkey!  Sometimes a crystal ball would come in so handy.  We could have avoided being so generous.

Again to the Israelsen clan:  WE ARE SO SORRY!


Here are the two lone pictures I took of Thanksgiving lunch with the extended Israelsen crew.

Kenna and Allie feasting on candy corns with some cousins:

And Lexi with the gorgeous Aunt Connie:

Overall, we loved being with family (even if they didn't love us so much by the time it was all said and done).  We topped off the weekend with hearing Uncle Benson speak in Sacrament meeting prior to his departure to the MTC in a few weeks.  He did a superb job and will be a fantastic missionary.  Watch out Mexico, here he comes!  I won't even attempt to pronounce, or spell for that matter, the name of his mission.

Us and Benson:

Benson and the two newest grandbabies:

We had lunch at the Caine Dairy in Logan, and the mini cows in the front entrance were a big hit with the kids:

Another Thanksgiving down for the books.  Very....memorable.

And I need to throw in another little memory- Kenna's first little tumbling performance at a local Christmas Craft Fair.  She's a future member of the Fab 5 US gymnastics team.  Well, okay.  That's a stretch.  At least she's fabulous to us!

 

Happenings

October.....gone.

November....almost gone.

2013 seems to be just about halfway over.

Before I turn 40 I better get another update in, huh?

For some reason, we manage to get people to drive south for 5 hours to visit us every so often.  Our good looks?  Our charming personalities?  The beautiful expanse of cedar trees?  Hmm, must be our good character because cedar trees are nothing but overgrown sagebrush if you ask me.

Well, no matter the reason, we LOVED having family come down the past few weeks.  Our first visitors were Grandma and Grandpa Israelsen.  We get plenty of love and attention when Grandma and Grandpa come, and we are always sad to see them leave.  While they were down we managed to head into town for the annual Sheep Festival complete with a parade of tractors, sheep camps, horses, and of course, sheep.  Kind of fun to see a whole bunch of sheep trotting down mainstreet.  It was a perfectly beautiful fall day to spend together as a family.

The following weekend Uncle Karl and Aunt Julie came down to visit.  We laughed and ate and had just a great time together.  I would love to show you it all, but well, I didn't take a single picture.  I was so engrossed in all the fun!  Thanks so much for coming to see us Karl and Julie!  We can't wait to meet our newest little cousin next year.  Another little lady- go figure.  Looks like Ty man is going to have to work overtime to keep the Israelsen name going strong!

And of course I need to throw in Halloween.  Halloween Israelsen style, that is.  I'll let the pictures do the talking.

And let us not forget another visit from the toothfairy.  One of my favorite parts of being a Mom is watching my kids encounter each little milestone.  And have maybe just a twinge of sadness that tooth by tooth, my little girl is quickly becoming my little lady.  I'll just enjoy these baby teeth as long as I can, I suppose.

Intelligence

During a visit with my dear Visiting Teachers a while ago, I was discussing with them about my two oldest ladies.  When Kenna and Allie are in public, such as school or church, they really are good little troopers and are actually quite a bit on the shy side.  When they are at home, however, they are two big balls of energy who seem to have more personality than their sweet, kind Mother knows what to do with.  The one Sister said she had read somewhere that when children exhibit this kind of behavior, it actually is a sign of intelligence that they can differentiate between times of needing self control and others when they are able to let loose a bit.

Well, yes, of course!  My children are extremely intelligent!  Please, I don't need a study in a journal to tell me that!  For example-

The other day we were in the van riding back from town, and it just so happened that the girls had switched booster seats to sit in.  They were having one of those afternoons where they just kept getting on each others nerves.  Here is the conversation in the van:

Allie:  "Kenna, I just farted in your booster."

Kenna (trying to be oh so non-chalant):  "I don't care."

-silence in the car for a few moments as Kenna is deep in thought-

Kenna:  "Oh yeah Allie?  Well that's a fart-switching booster so now it's in yours."

Yes I do believe that's intelligence right there.