End of November and Most of December

So I mentioned that Lilly's tumor is non-cancerous, right?  Thank heavens!  The latest drama is that her branch president decided to fix her kitchen while she was in the hospital because it flooded recently, and so after she got out of the hospital she was put in a cabin at a campsite with her family. They've been there over a month now, waiting, and in the meantime, the guy who was hired to fix the kitchen completely gutted it, and the decided it was too much for him and took off, leaving the house unlocked.  So, of course, they were robbed.  Someone made off with their entire collection of chef knives.  There were like 16 of them, and each one cost like $1500 and was engraved.  So sad.  There's always some drama or other going on there.  Poor people.  But now the stake president is involved and hopefully they'll be back in their house soon.

Henry was really super fussy for a couple of weeks leading up to his birthday.  For five days or so he kept waking up around 2:30 and crying for 2 hours.  Nothing seemed to help him.  He was sick off and on, but he just was not a happy camper.  He seemed to be teething on top of the sickness because he had his hands in his mouth a lot.  (Poor guy.  When he was just starting to get his first teeth he had his hands -sometimes both of them- in his mouth all the time, so he got in the habit of putting his hands in his mouth every time he cried.  It was cute and sad.  He doesn't do it anymore, though.)  I finally got him to the doctor on the 20th, and he has a little ear infection.  He's been on an antibiotic since then.  I think tomorrow should be his last day.  Thank heavens!  The doctor said that sometimes teething can cause ear infections too because everything drains more during that time.  Poor fella.  He's a lot happier now!  Phew!  I was afraid because he was so grouchy all the time, and I didn't know whether to chalk it up to being almost 2 or if maybe he had an ear infection or something.  Bubby was such a sweet baby, and then he turned 2 and was a nightmare for about a year.  I was afraid the same would happen with Henry, but I think we dodged that bullet.  I am so glad we found out what was wrong!

Henry still isn't talking much.  He says up for up or down or when he wants me to grab something for him that's up high or if he wants me to pick him up.  He says off for on and off.  He says uh-huh and yes (the uh-huh has a pause in between the syllables).  And he says Mama.  Sometimes it's more like Muh-muh, and when he's crying it's often just Muh.  But he likes to hug my head and squish his cheek against mine and say Mama.  It's cute and sweet.  And dogs and cats both say, "Ow?  Ow?"  I remember Hyrum was a late talker, but so was Timmy.  I'm not sure what to think.  But I do know that he likes to line things up...  Still, that could be an age thing.  We'll see.

This is in the children's area at our library.  You can check out a little box of trains and play with the tracks they have on this table.  Henry usually prefers to play on the little kids' computer, but it was taken this particular day.  He played quite happily here for a long time, though.  Cute.

Timmy did this at school.  I think he had help spelling because.  It's fun watching him lately.  You should hear him read scriptures!  He reads a verse every night when we have scripture time, and he enjoys it, and he only needs help with a few words.  He's getting to be quite a good reader and is coming home with harder books.  Hooray for Timmy!

This is Benji's wrestling hoodie.  He likes the T on it and is hoping I can make him one like that for another jacket he has.  So I took a picture.

Bubby needed a picture of his belly too.

Somebody gave Timmy this sleeveless coat.  He's wearing a jacket underneath.  I don't get the sleeveless coat thing.  What do you do about your cold arms?!  I guess you wear a jacket underneath, huh?

Ha!  Henry has had trouble with his sleeper toes.  We always have this problem!  This year I ended up patching the holes and then putting a whole new sole inside too.  Hopefully it'll hold up for another few months!  His other sleepers are getting holes in the toes now too, though.

Throw out all the toys and climb on in!

 I made this shirt for baby Michael for his birthday.  I used another shirt for a pattern.  I was feeling poor that particular day, but he needed a birthday shirt.  Well, now all his younger brothers have worn it too. :)

I made cookies for the ward party, and Joshua made this caution sign for them.  Ha ha!  He cracks me up!

I don't remember who made this at the ward party.  Lettuce Man!

We had a pajama party for the ward party.  All the little kids and some of the other people wore their sleepers.  And, yes, they did have cocoa. :)

Santa and Bubby!

Jill's turn

Timmy and Henry

I was surprised that Henry didn't cry.  He definitely wanted down, but he did't cry.

Michael

He may be too cool for this next year.  Benji was. :'(

Jill stole my phone and took a very important picture.  You can see me sewing in the background.   Ha!  I love my new machine!  It does so great!  I'm so thankful to have a working machine.  It works better than my old one ever did.

Benji is in the gardening club at school.  He's really enjoyed it.  This particular day he went on a field trip with the club to a local community garden, and this is what he brought home.

And speaking of school, Benji has really enjoyed Fridays this year.  The teachers are there for things the students have to make up, and then they have fun things to do too.  And you can go to classes that you're not signed up for and do the fun stuff there, as long as you're not hanging out in the halls.  It's been lots of fun for him.

Also, he's won about half of his wrestling matches.  He's doing better this year than last year and is definitely stronger.  He added two medals to his collection so far.  He got a medal this year from the tournament he broke his arm at last year (Safford).  It's been good that Jeremy can go to practice sometimes too.

This is what I sewed for little ones and Val for Christmas.  Quite a simple little project.

Jeremy went to Utah for his grandma's funeral.  He flew up there with Aaron, Joe, Rachel, and Susie, and then Aaron drove back with his family who had gone up a day or two early.  So Jeremy drove Aaron's car home from the airport.  That worked out nice, and he had such a nice time.  He really, really enjoyed being with his siblings and seeing all these people he hasn't seen in so long.  I was so glad he could go.  I wish the rest of us could have gone!  I love all those people too, and I wish they knew our kiddos.  It's so hard to keep up with extended family sometimes.

This was in Idaho at the cemetery.  It's such a beautiful place.  And the flowers are just right.  She loved red and pink together.

While Papa was gone someone left the shredded cheese out, and the two little guys had a heyday.  Mommy freaked out, and that made the little guy sad.  We put all the cheese on the table back in the bag, but it was all over the floor too.  So.  Much.  Cheese!

Timmy got this puzzle for his birthday, and we had fun putting it together.

Bubby drew a picture for the wall.

Jeremy had Rachel dye his hair blue for Lilly.  Lilly dyed some of her hair blue because she figured they were going to shave half her head anyway, so she might as well have some fun with it.  Jeremy's dye washed out pretty quickly.  Darn.  It was pretty.

Hyrum's game is so interesting!!

Hyrum needs a haircut.  Also, baby toes on chin...

Hyrum passed this semester.  He feels a little disappointed because he didn't do as well as he hoped.  I hope he learned something from that.  He worked hard, but he could have worked harder.  I'm still quite proud of him.  It was a tough semester.

Happy 14th birthday to Benji!

Batman is his favorite.  This shirt was perfect!

I have a coolest visiting teacher ever!  She is the one who gave me a baby shower for Hyrum!  And she remembers me!  And she brought me a big basket full of Christmas stuff.  I was so excited!  And so were the kiddos!  She brought a few of these kits to make gingerbread man decorations.  Michael, Jill, and Bubby made them. :)

Benji requested lemon meringue pie and lattice top cherry pie for his birthday.  I'd never made lemon meringue.  The lemon part turned out so, so good.  The meringue had too many notes and tips.  I had a hard time figuring it out.  It turned out pretty, but it shrunk after the picture, and it was't as tall as I hoped.  But it was yummy. :) I'll definitely try that again.  I swirled the meringue on this pie and Jeremy did the other one.  It was fun to try. :)

14 candles!

One of Mommy's nativity scenes.

We got Benji an alarm clock.  He has really enjoyed it because he has it play the radio, and that meant Christmas music there for a while.  He sat and listened to that a lot.  It didn't really help him get out of bed.  Oh, well.

Simon game and Sour Patch Kids (yuck!)

Benji needed a Santa suit so he could be Santa for his play.  I was afraid I'd have to make one because Walmart didn't have one.  But one day I went to Walgreens looking for something, and wha-bam!  There was a $15 Santa suit.  Perfect!  Not the highest quality, but it was just fine.

And new shoes!  I just bought him some, but they gave out in less than a month.  Ugh.

I forgot to take a picture before I started cutting!  It came out pretty, though. :)

I had cranberries hanging out in my fridge for a few weeks, so I decided to make cranberry cookies I had a recipe for.  The dough was WAY better than the cookies.  It was so, so good.  But the cookies were meh.  They really needed the frosting that the recipe called for, but I don't like frosting, so...

Like I said - so good!

Little fellas helped Papa and Benji do push-ups

Such a big helper!

Henry also likes to line up all my bread pans on the floor like this.  And then his brothers step in them and walk off like they're shoes, and Henry freaks out because they need lined up again.  Sigh.  Yeah, I really want to wash my bread pans again.

Sleepy Bubby

I made fire!  With one match!

Benji was so worn out.  I told him to go shower after his wrestling tournament, but he fell asleep instead.

And then he got ordained a Teacher!  So glad these handsome fellas could make it!  I got him a new scripture case because his old one was falling apart, and it has a shoulder strap and is roomy inside.  He LOVES it.  I'm so glad!

Ha ha!  Playing with Grandpa Badger's wigs.

They all just want to be like Hyrum. ;)

Aaron borrowed that wig for finals week, and he actually wore it.  Ha ha!

Jeremy with a wig and his driving cap.  Ha ha!

Santa and... other Santa (?)... made an appearance.  And Jocee broke his belt.  What the what, now?

Henry climbed on Grandma's lap and let her read to him for a while!  She got like 5 whole minutes!

Cozy Bubby watching a movie

Our pile of Christmas presents was growing!  The two big boxes were new pillows.  Christmas tradition!  Jeremy and I actually got Purple Pillows this year.  I am kind of disappointed.  It's pretty comfy, but it's so flat!  You have to put another pillow under it.  I was looking forward to getting rid of both of my flat pillows, but no.  And if I got a new one to go under the Purple one it would be too tall.  

See those boxes that say thrift on them?  Those are full of little bags of Goldfish crackers.  Jeremy  and whoever he was driving with at the time stopped at Pepperidge Farms on his way back to Utah from Idaho after the funeral.  It's in northern Utah.  They make Goldfish crackers and lots of different cookies.  They also sell cheese.  Jeremy got a great deal on these, and he also got two huge bags of shredded cheese for like $1/lb.  And its yummy cheese!  Aaron drove it all home for us.  These crackers had little red Lightning McQueen crackers in them.  The boxes are a little longer than one of those food storage boxes that holds, what, 8 #10 cans?

Timmy and Jill both get Book It coupons.  If they meet their reading goals for the month they get a coupon for a free personal pan pizza at Pizza Hut.  I was in my room working on something, and Timmy was ready to go get his pizza.  I hadn't made out Jill's coupon yet, so he made one for her and slid it under my door. :)

This is probably the same day.  Harry fell asleep outside my door.

This made my day.  I found my old college music theory book for Hyrum to look at, and I found this note in it from my good friend Jessica Morton Lutz.  It made me happy, so I took a picture and sent it to her. :)

Sleepy boy

Sometimes he wakes up too early in the morning and follows me around crying while I get his brothers ready, and then he falls asleep again after they leave.

Benji's band concert!  That's him in the back with the orange tie.

Harry came too.

That bruise on his eye is finally gone now!  He climbed on the table in nursery and fell and smacked his face somehow or other.  I had stepped out for a minute, so I didn't see it happen.  Jeremy tried to explain it, but I didn't understand.  I can't picture it.  Something like he started to fall and the table flipped up and smacked him?  I don't know.  Either way, he had a pretty black eye there for a while, and he got a big goose egg on his eyebrow.  So sad.

There's Benji in the back again.  We finally had a clear view of him this time!  He's playing cymbals.  He says he'll be on snare next time.  I hope so!  He's been getting better at it!

Jill and I went to see Timmy in his Christmas concert at the college.  They sang 3 songs.  This is a still from one of the videos.  I guess I forgot to take a picture!  This one was silent night.  He's 2nd from the left on the back row behind some kid's antlers.  (Note to moms next year - don't let your kids wear the freaking antlers!)

Here's Michael at his orchestra concert.  They are a pretty small group, but it sounds like they have fun together and can move more quickly through the book because there are so few of them.

Here's "Santa" and his "reindeer" arriving at the end of Benji's class play.  He forgot a line or two, but he had so, so much fun being Santa.  He was so pleased with himself. :) It was great.

The play was called Jingle Jury and was about a kid who lost his Christmas spirit or something like that.  It was cute.  They had it in the library because they couldn't use the stage for some reason or other.  It was kind of hard to hear some of the parts because there were no microphones.  Teleysha is her teacher.  They really did a good job overall, though. :)

The big man himself

And then his elf needed a picture with Santa too.

And the angel too.

Timmy has made lots of hats at school.  Here's one that needs taped.

This day he also came home with a graham cracker house built around a little milk jug from the cafeteria.  Bubby took some of the graham crackers and stuck them to his face.

"Oh, pook."

I made some rice bags for Christmas gifts and somehow Benji magically had some big shoulder muscles.  Ha ha!

Timmy was helping me wrap presents.  He gave the snowmen hats and big smiles. :)

And he drew this on the other side.

Bubby and Harry not as ready for bed as they should be

We made gingerbread for a little party with Caroline and Jacob and their families.  Timmy made this pirate one.

Benji was burning paper in the fire place, and the sparks burned this little face into the paper. :) He's had a lot of fun building fires.

I found this bus for Henry's birthday.  Perfect!  He loves busses!

Timmy drew this one.  Frosty's hat put flowers on his hat and then he was happy and then kapow!

Happy 2nd birthday to Henry!

This bus cake was pretty easy to make.  Thank heavens!  And he was quite happy with it.

The black frosting turned our tongues black.

Pants!

Tennis balls!

After he unwrapped his presents he reached over and snagged a wheel off the bus (a black-frosted cupcake) and feasted away.  OK, then! :)

And then he sat there picking off the black outlines and eating them.  Ha ha!

Oh, Bubby!

Poor Timmy wasn't feeling well.

We had a little Christmas party at Grandma Burk's church December 23.

This shepherd even has a beard!  Anne was in charge of the nativity, and she did a great, quick job with the costumes!

Baby Gideon (Anne's youngest, just turned one) was so happy patting Grandpa's head. :)

Getting ready for the play.  Jill and Serena were angels, and Bubby and Timmy were shepherds.

That's Joseph (played by Ammon) behind Jill

Timmy`

Celeste was the announcer.

There's Mary (Noel) laying down with Baby Jesus (a doll this time) and Joseph (Ammon) and the shepherds.  And then angels and Jesse. :)

Jesse did a little dance while someone was playing a song on the piano.

Timmy came and joined him.

After this we had a White Elephant, and then Val, who had stayed home sick, called to say that Marshmallow (that silly little escape artist) had gotten himself stuck as he tried to escape from our yard.  He tried to jump through and got impaled on a spike and was just stuck there.  So we hurried home as fast as we could go.  Val and our friend Joe Jarvis were able to get him free.  Then he was limping and bleeding and we weren't sure if he'd make it.  He stopped bleeding mostly by the time we got there, though, but he had a 2-3 inch gouge in his underside near his privates, and his guts were protruding a bit.  It was the night before Christmas Eve, so we didn't think there was much we could do.  I was surprised he wasn't bleeding more.  I guess he got lucky!  Jeremy had some horse medicine that is a disinfectant.  He poured some of that on him and Benji wrapped a piece of fabric on him.  Later Jeremy tried to super glue the hole, just so it would be more closed, but he couldn't get it all the way closed.  It was just a temporary fix anyway.  He did survive, though.  And on Tuesday morning Jeremy took him to the vet.  He's all sewn up now and is doing great.  Silly dog.  We've boarded up all the fences.  I hope he learned his lesson.  He's the reckless one.  Scout is the smart one who likes to hoard all the food and make Marshmallow wait to eat until he himself is done eating.

Jill made this.

Jill's submarine.

The boys were so glad that Santa Tracker was back!  They've waited all year to paint Santa's beard and shave it off.

On Christmas Eve we finally decorated a stocking for Val.  A little lopsided, but oh, well.  The holly was cute. :)

Santa exploded in the living room.

Santa requested Oreos and chocolate almond milk this year, but we forgot the almond milk.  Oh, well.  Jill wrote him a nice little note, and Santa wrote back.

We never wrapped this because we ran out of paper just before we could.  So Jeremy labeled it. ;) He always shares, though. :)

Waiting to go see presents!

Jill got a giant elephant with a baby because her Papa loves it.  She loves it too.

Michael and Benji got computers.

Henry trying to unwrap Benji's tent

Hyrum throwing me a present.  (Turtles!  My favorite!)

Henry's sitting on the tiger chair he got and holding my new oven mitt.

Benji got a toolbox and multitools, along with some screws and nails.  He already had a hammer and a few other things.  Now he has a place to keep them all. :)

Joshua got The Angry Birds movie.  This is funny because he doesn't like that one.  Jeremy thought it was so funny to give it to him.

Wearing the bags from the Purple Pillows

Benji got a hydra that is an incense burner.  The incense smells good until you burn it.  The smoke comes out of one of the Hyrda's mouths.  He also finally has a working phone again.  We gave up trying to fix the one we got from Verizon last year.  The new one is a TracFone.  Way cheaper and actually working.  I hope it stays working!  

Waffles with nutella, strawberries, and whipped cream for breakfast!  I even got some new big metal bowls to make it it. :)

Papa and Benji nerd fighting.

I made this hat for Hyrum because that's what he wanted.  I used Jeremy's for a pattern and just made it bigger.  Hyrum LOVES it.  It was pretty quick and easy.  The only problem I had was that I couldn't get my fusible stabilizer to fuse to the fabric.  I think maybe the iron wasn't hot enough.  I gave up and ended up sewing it all on.

Too much fun.

Jill got an Easy Bake Oven and has had fun making things in it.  She made these brownies with the mix that came with the oven.  And I Googled Easy Bake oven recipes and found a cake that we tried yesterday.  It came out good.  She cuts her tiny things into tiny pieces and shares with everyone.  That's part of the fun for her.  Pretty fun. :)

Timmy got water rockets.  We went to the football field to shoot them off.  That was fun. :)

I love that I got his picture.  This is Timmy mid- uhhh.... whatever that is that he does. :)

Bubby and Henry got chairs.  Henry's tiger chair can be switched to an elephant, and Bubby's dragon can become a unicorn.

Hyrum gave Timmy a Mario mushroom stress ball.  It's just the right size to go with his Mario and Luigi dolls.

Papa put Jill to bed with her elephants.

Grandma Burk gave these guys all fuzzy blankets.

This was last night.  Marshmallow is so spoiled.  He thinks he can only eat people food.  (Uh, no.  I'm not down with that.)  And he follows me around while I'm cooking, just like my little kiddos.  Ugh.  I don't know why he likes me because I don't want dogs.  Ha ha!  Stinker.  He has to live inside while he has his stitches because we can't have Scout pulling them out.  So he thinks he needs babied.  I cannot wait until he can be back outside.  I'm not really a dog person, and I'm definitely not an indoor dog person.  For now, though, it's funny watching him making his way around with that cone on his head. :) Silly dog.  I'm glad he's OK.