December

Back a few months ago we were talking to Grandma and Grandpa Brady on the computer when they asked Heidi what she wanted for Christmas.  Her response was "You!"  Well THANK YOU Heidi because that word got us visitors for Christmas!

 I set up a giant box in front of the door on the evening they were driving in from the airport, and they rang the bell and then hid behind the box.  The girls ran to open the door and the expression on their faces when they went around the side were priceless!  Heidi stood still for about 10 seconds trying to compute what was going on, and Alex attacked instantly.

 On their first day here we decided to try iceskating!

 Grandma had mad skills on the ice, thank goodness, because I was worse than the kids.

 After spending the first 40 minutes clinging to the side of the rink, the kids got a hang of it pretty well!

 It was the closest we got to winter weather in December, and when we left the arena we had to take our coats off because it was 60 degrees.

 While she started out complaining that iceskating was the worst thing ever.....

 by the time we left Alex said she wanted all our family dates to be iceskating.

 Heidi was a bit more fearless, and therefore fell a lot more.  She started out brave and confident, but by the end she was cold and sore and and angry at the ice.

 Everyone ran the gamut of emotions those 2 hours, and our personalities really came out.... especially in the cautious ones.

 Heidi did get the award for best skater- although you can't tell from the pictures.

 I don't know when this child grew up!  But the amount of eye rolling and shoulder shrugging I get pretty close to the amount of babysitting and book reading she does.  She has really taken off in her reading these past months and goes through books a day, reading hundreds of pages an evening!  She loves to haul Tommy around, and play with Heidi on her terms- but Quinn seems to be on her blacklist mainly because Quinn delights in tormenting Alex and breaking into her room more than anything else in the world.

 Santa came to our house to visit and personally deliver gifts on Christmas eve.  The girls were in complete awe.

 It will probably come back to bite me.

 Somehow Grandpa got Tommy to fall asleep in his arms- that hasn't happened since he was a new born.  He has baby skills!

 Tyler worked Christmas eve and got home about 3 am, but still got up with us a 7 when Alex emerged and declared that Santa had come back to fill the stockings!  I was mostly excited to reveal the blocks and box that had taken up my closet floor for the last 2 months.  They are by far the biggest hit and I'm so glad we got them shipped out- best accidental auction purchase ever!

 Heidi loved her cooking kit from me, with all the wood burned details.

 Alex loved her sewing kit from Heidi and the Shopkins and art set.

 Quinn loved the jellyfish but mostly liked the sucker in her stocking.

 Tyler got an iPhone from mommy, 12 new hot sauces and bannanagrams.  The most amazing Christmas of his life I should think.  Oh and the big gift for the whole family was a projector for family movie nights.  Since we don't have a TV and were getting tired of crowding around the computer we decided to do some research and got an amazing deal!

 When it was time to say goodbye we literally had to pry Alex from Grandpa's leg bawling and restrain her so she wouldn't run down the steps after the car.

 We distracted everyone with a movie and popcorn, which helped a bit with the tears.

 Aunt Brianna spoiled them with teddy bears and books and clothes!  They were extra gleefully because I had just told them hours earlier that I would never buy them another stuffed animal for the rest of their lives because we had to many.  Cue a delivery on the porch and box full of bears- the looks on their faces were priceless!

 Not sure how I feel about our summer winter.  Alex picked this flower for me on January 3rd.

 These two are best friends.  Alex NEEDS a good 30-50 minutes of Tommy time a day, which is a LOT of her home from school time.

 They hang out in their room together, and she reads to him and sings him stories at bed time when he is crying.  He has gotten REALLY good at rolling all around the living room and turning himself around on his tummy to point where he wants.  He is trying SO hard to crawl, and can lift his belly up a bit.  last week his 2 bottom teeth popped out, and yesterday his top 2 came in.  My poor little boy's mouth is so sore and he has been so cranky!  Plus I'm a bit sad that those big gummy smiles are no more.  He has figured out how to eat rice cereal finally, and hates green beans, but loves lasagna.

In return he laughs at all her jokes and loves her the 2nd most in the family.  Sorry Dad.

Forgotten un-posted post from Mid- November

Tyler has been working for almost a month now and we are slowly starting to get a hang of the new normal.  It feels weird to know that this could be our new schedule for years to come (although we are still planning a move at about the 2 year mark).  2 years has started to not seem like very long, Alex is so grown up that I don't imagine 9 year old Alex being a whole lot different, and even a 7 year old Heidi isn't too crazy, but a 4 year old Quinn and a 2 year old Tommy are things my imagination can't even conjure up.  Not to mention another 2 years of weeding and Fall leaf clean up here.  Not complaining, just overwhelmed by the time costs that come with living in an area where things grow.
   I can see us growing into our ward though.  We have found some best friends in another new couple and have group dates at least every other week together.  The kids love them and their dog, and they are great with kids.  He is from Idaho so we all get each other pretty well.  Thinking of moving away from them someday already makes my heart hurt.  It's another sign to me that we were meant to be in this ward, after years of feeling adrift and unsure, we are easily and quickly putting down roots here and it's so nice.
   Back to Tyler.  We originally thought that 3pm-1am shifts would be great.  He would get home and be in bed by 2am and then get up around 7am to eat breakfast with us and see the kids off to school,.  Later in the day he could catch a nap with Quinn and all would be well!  Plenty of time for him and I to be together and I could even snag some alone time now and then while he watched the littles.  The only downside being back to back days when he would leave before the big girls got home and they would only have the pre-school hour for Dad.  Things always look so nice on paper.
    The reality of it has been that 3pm-1am working shifts are not a cake walk, and Tyler gets home exhausted but keyed up and unable to sleep!  Then there is the choice between interrupted sleep in bed because of the night waking baby, or sleeping on the couch with a loud 7am wakeup when the kids start to get ready for the day.  There has been a lot of zombie Dad on the couch trying to help with the kids while 1/2 asleep- who then hits the bed once the kids are on the bus and sleeps until noon.  He has a couple of hours to study/shower/eat and then he leaves early because the commute is 30 minutes on a predictable day.  I'm writing this after 5 days in a row of 3-1 where the kids got glimpses of Dad and Mom was solo, except on Saturday and Sunday when it was 8am-7pm.  Not complaining, just documenting.
    I just keep trying to remind myself that we have it really good, and kids don't usually see a lot of their Dads even in the best of circumstances.  Alex has stepped up to the plate by being sole laundry doer (she may be better at it than me) and  she can even make tuna fish sandwiches all by herself.  Today she said "Mom can I help you make dinner so you will have some time and can print out a
coloring page for me?"  I was blown away that 7 years of lecturing finally sunk in and she made the connection between helping Mom and Mom being able to then help her.  Quinn caught onto the fact that instead of crying and whining at my feet, if she says "I want Mommy time" or "I need a hug" she gets almost immediate attention and has been soaking that up.  She really hates to share me with Tommy, but she does love him and REALLY wants to wrestle him.
  I've been raking leaves for nearly an eternity it seems.  When the weather is nice and I'm not doing that we burn the smaller branches of the pinetrees Tyler cut.  The trees have been in a pile on the lawn for a few weeks and we finally finished processing them.  Thank heavens.  But a big wind storm that knocked out our power for awhile also blew our giant pile of leaves from the garden back into the yard.  I was raking leaves at the time and this discovery may have resulted in a thrown rake and a 2 year old tantrum on my part.
   While it genuinly annoys me to be seeing Christmas lights up and songs on the radio since the day after Halloween, we talked about our plan for Christmas and decided to have a homemade Christmas this year and the girls were a lot more excited about it than I ever imagined.  They both came up with really thoughtful gifts for each of their siblings and I've been helping them out with the sewing parts.  Heidi is making Quinn a jellyfish, the fabric she chose was just perfect for it.  She decided to make Alex a sewing kit and sew a bag for that, Alex will be thrilled.  Tommy gets a wooden chew toy.  Alex is making Tommy a blanket, Quinn gets a Selki (It's a seal that can turn into a person,  so she is making a seal body with a human face) and I think she is making Heidi a army of little mermaids.  I tried to tell them the truth about Santa, again, and they didn't buy it.  Heidi seems unable to believe or even understand that Santa wouldn't be real.  We talked about it quite in depth and she still doesn't get it.  So this year it seems we are celebrating St. Nick again.  Sitting by the fire helping them sew while Tommy rolls around and Tyler reads or whittles me my ladle are happy times.

November 2015

 November was still a fairly warm month here, the kids rarely had to wear coats to school although it was rainy at times.  They would come home and play outside before it was time for homework, dinner or swimming lessons.

 Quinn decided to finely mince a cooked carrot one evening while I was helping Heidi with her homework.  I was pretty impressed.

 Tyler was working a normal schedule by November, which meant a lot of 3pm-1am shifts.  He would get up to help get the kids off to school and usually end up on baby duty on the couch.

 But this baby is getting big now!

 Quinn adores him and has upped her rough housing Tommy game to about 95% of the time now.  He seems to be able to take it, but I'm afraid she is training him to be a hooligan.

 He is very much a mommy's boy and I still let him melt my heart when he cries for me whenever I walk by- even if Daddy is holding him.

 It was determined by all, that dressing up little boys can bet pretty fun.

 My hobbits.

 He is starting to roll around a lot!

 Grandma Asay came to visit the day after Thanksgiving, so we held off on our celebration since Tyler worked Thanksgiving day anyway.  This meant Saturday was a day in the kitchen and we had a yummy meal all together that afternoon.

 Alex was in charge of pie and made a delicious carmel apple pie with a flower pie crust top.

 Thanksgiving dinner wasn't even on the table when Tyler started pulling Christmas decorations out of the basement.  We got the tree for free at a garage sale, the trick being that the built in lights didn't work.  So we spent a good hour with wire cutters de-lighting the tree before we set it up. The kids had a field day putting the decorations around the house.

 Tommy kept rolling his way under the tree, it seems that is where all the roads led.  He would kick and grab at the bulbs and lights and it was adorable.

 I had thought of taking the kids out of school to spend the week after Thanksgiving with Grandma, but after the Thanksgiving break, a weekend and an extra Monday off, it was time for some peace at home.  Monday we drove to Cranberry and had some great Cheeburger Cheeburger shakes and then bought Heidi some new church shoes while both the babies decided to have blowouts in the car with Grandma.  We then drove up to Butler to see the big light show and stopped by an amazing toy store shaped like a spaceship!  The light show was AMAZING and the kids couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that the lights were dancing to the music in our car.  Alex declared it the greatest Christmas gift ever.

 The rest of the week sped by too fast of course.  Tyler had to go to work (the ER) because of a weird virus that was causing some crazy vertigo and vomiting.  We didn't know it was a virus at the time and I was convinced it was a tumor.  There are perks to working at the hospital.  Mom helped me make a ton of Christmas cookies to hand out, which was nice and delicious.  We even went bowling!  Mom smoked us and I think all the kids and I ended up within 10 points of each other, even Quinn.
   When it was airport time and we dropped Grandma off it was mass hysteria in the car of course.  It's so wonderful when family comes and so sad when they can't stay forever.