New Year Woes

Sometimes the best plans just fall to pieces.

Last Thursday night, I bought a car. We had decided to try buying from ebay because we thought we could get a great deal and figured the risks were minimal with all the protections ebay offers. We did get a great deal (so far we think it's a great deal anyway) and were able to buy this nice 2005 Toyota Corolla for 30% less than blue book value.

The tricky part is that the car is in Florida so we had to either pay to have the car shipped here or go there to pick it up. Since it's winter and since winter in Florida is pretty nice and since I have some time off for holiday break and since driving it back is much cheaper than shipping it, I decided to take a quick trip down there to pick it up. We decided to let Adam come with me to keep me company.

So here was the grand plan:

- Greg and Adam would fly to Tampa, Florida this morning (Dec 31).
- The guy from the car place would meet us at the airport and deliver the car.
- Then Adam and I would head to Busch Gardens (a big amusement park) and spend the afternoon and evening. They are staying open until 1 am to celebrate the New Year so we planned to ring in the New Year on a roller coaster.
- Tuesday morning we'd go to the beach and then go back to Busch Gardens for some more fun (the tickets are good for two days entry to the park).
- Tuesday afternoon we'd start back and finish the drive on Wednesday evening in time for Adam to get back to school on Thursday.

Grand plan? You bet! We were so excited!!

So here's how things worked out last night...

- 10:30 pm - everything packed ... off to bed

- 11:15 pm - phone rings ... Tammy answers to an automated computer telling her our 6 am flight out of Moline was canceled due to heavy freezing fog.

- 11:15 - 12:45 pm - Greg on the phone talking to computers trying to get on another flight to Chicago or make other arrangements to get there for our connecting flight. After more than 1 hour of frustrating calls, he finally gets connected with a human. "Hello, this is Shirley" she says with a very thick Indian accent. I explain the situation to Shirley. "Okay, sir, we've rebooked you on a flight out of Chicago at 9:30 in the morning." "I don't need to be rebooked out of Chicago, I need to be rebooked out of Moline". "Oh, you need to fly back from Tampa to Moline tomorrow?" "No, I need to get from Moline to Chicago." "I'm sorry sir, there are no available flights from Tampa to Moline tomorrow." After several more attempts to explain it, I finally groan and say "Should I just go to the airport and talk to someone there?" "Oh, yes, sir, that would be the very best." So I go back to bed with nothing resolved. I decided to get up early and go to the airport and talk to someone there. I thought maybe they would give me a rental car to drive to Chicago or something for our connection.

- 1:20 am - phone rings again ... Tammy answers again (she's quicker out of bed than I am). "Hi, this is ... from United Airlines. Can I talk to Gregory?" It wasn't Shirley, some other agent with United. This one knows what she's talking about. She tells me that she's rebooked us on another airline leaving Moline at 5:55 pm today arriving in Tampa at 11:30 pm. "11:30!! It's New Years Eve. We have plans for tonight." "I'm sorry sir, that's the only flight I can get you on." After a few more minutes of futile discussion, I finally agree. By the way, they wouldn't give me a car to take to Chicago since it was a "weather related" cancellation. Back to bed.

- 2:10 am - Harry Connick Jr starts singing "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" from our downstairs stereo at full volume. Ben likes to play with the controls on the stereo and had managed to turn on the alarm clock somehow. I crawl back out of bed again and trudge downstairs to turn off the stereo.

- 3:05 am - Jacob wakes up to eat. Tammy falls asleep feeding him, but finally gets back to bed at 4:15 am.

- 4:45 am - Ben runs into our room and climbs up on the bed. "Ben, why don't you go lie down in the chair?" He often comes into our room in the early morning and sleeps on our chair. "But I can just sleep here in the middle. I'm going to jump." Leap. Crash. He smashes between Tammy and I. We just roll over and try to sleep.

- 5:30 am - "POPS! POPS! We're late!!! We missed our plane!!" Adam runs into the room in a panic. We should have been boarding our flight by now.

- 6:00 am - All the kids are up and so am I.

So, after a nearly sleepless night, here's the new grand plan:

- IF we can get out of Moline, we'll fly to Tampa arriving just before midnight.
- We'll ring in the New Year in the luggage area at TPA. Then we'll catch a cab to our hotel.
- At 9:00 New Years day our car guy is going to pick us up at the hotel. Hopefully it won't take long to get the car and then we'll still TRY to get to Busch Gardens for some fun before hitting the road to drive home.

Not such a grand plan anymore, but we'll still try to make the best of it. Right now, I should be in 80 degree Florida weather getting my new car. Instead, I'm at home looking out the window watching the snow fall. I wonder how the snow will affect our afternoon flight?

Merry Christmas!

We've had a very nice Christmas holiday here in our home. This year we chose to have a very low-key, slow-paced, relaxing time.

Last night we had our traditional Christmas eve singing Christmas carols, reading scriptures, acting out the nativity story, opening a few presents (including pajamas!) and enjoying some Christmas treats (which we had made earlier in the day). We also finally tried out our fireplace for the first time (we finally took time to get it cleaned a couple of weeks ago).

Here are some pictures of the candy making.





Here are the kids sporting their new pajamas on Christmas Eve.



Most of the kids fell asleep quickly, but Adam stayed up WAY too late and ended up somehow injuring his nose in bed around 10:30 pm last night (just about the time Santa Clause was loading up the stockings). So he jumped out of bed crying and we almost ended up with a trip to the emergency room on Christmas eve. In the end we decided it wasn't serious enough to go to the hospital and are just hoping now that it doesn't scar! Jake also had a rough night and we were up with him until about 1:00 am.

Even with the late night, all the kids were hopping around our room before 6:00 am excited to go downstairs to open presents. Tammy and I reluctantly crawled out of bed and we headed down.

Here are the kids making their way to the great room where the presents were:


Tammy got me a really nice gift - a mini, hand-held digital video camera. We've not had a way to record videos for our blog before (other than short sound-less videos) so this is perfect. You'll now hopefully get to see a few more videos of our family.

So, you can watch to learn about the rest of our Christmas morning!



We hope that you all had a very peaceful and enjoyable Christmas morning!

Busy busy week

It seems that December is a very busy time of year for most people. We've felt especially busy this past week.

Last Saturday Adam had his annual Christmas piano recital. It is so fun to see him up in front of people performing. The Christmas recital is always a duet recital, so Adam played a couple of songs with Tammy. They both did really well. Tammy gets more nervous than Adam at those things and I think was more relieved when it was over than Adam was. We had a nice time out for dinner with him afterwards (the other kids were with a babysitter).

On Tuesday we had a big ice storm. You probably heard about it on the news. It didn't turn out to be such a big deal around here. Mostly just rain freezing to trees, but the roads stayed pretty clear. It made the trees and plants and shrubs look beautiful though.

On Wednesday I drove with my work team to Kansas. On the way down we drove through southern Iowa and northern Missouri where the ice storm had done a lot more damage. It was sad to see the hundreds of trees that were split and fallen because of the weight of the ice. It seemed like nearly every tree had some damage.

The time spent in Kansas was enjoyable. Our business partners took us out for a nice night on the town. We got to go to a really nice restaurant in the Country Club Plaza area of Kansas City and to enjoy the Christmas lights there. After some meetings on Thursday we made our way back home just ahead of the next big snowstorm. We were lucky to have good driving conditions both ways.

On Friday our family hosted my work team for our holiday party. There were around 10 adults and 11 kids (including our family). It was fun to finally meet some of the families of the people I work with. There was a lot of work to do around the house to get things ready (especially with me being out of town much of the week), so this added significantly to the busy-ness, but by the time the party time arrived everything around the house looked great. I think everyone had a good time.

Saturday arrived with another snowstorm. We decided to brave the snow and drive to Iowa City to visit Todd and Deanna and their family. The kids made sugar cookies and had a nice time with their cousins. Saturday afternoon I had to go shopping for a new dryer - ours had finally given up after 9 years of hard labor.

Here are some pictures from the week:


Anna and Ben building their first snow fort together.

Lizzy smiling in the snow. It was very cold that day, but the kids had a great time.


Adam built a rather elaborate snow fort only to have it destroyed later by the snow trucks when the plowed after the next big snow.


Lizzy in front of the Christmas tree.


My friend Carl from work at the work party holding baby Jake. We're trying to convince Carl it's time for him to have some kids. If baby Jake can't convince him, no baby can!


In foreground is Bill from work and background is my manager John and his wife.


John's son is in Adam's grade and goes to the same elementary school as Adam. They knew each other a little before, but had a great time playing at the party and I think will be better friends now. By the way, we got a new air hockey table this week as an early Christmas present. We've all had a great time with it so far!

Sweet moments with the kids

Some of the best things about being a parent are the tender moments with your kids where you feel really close to them, or where you really feel like they understand something that is important. I have had a few of those lately, and wanted to share them with you. I should write them down more often because these are the moments that make it all worth it.

I will start with Adam. Over the past few months we have been practicing some Christmas duets together. It is always fun to play together, and feel like he actually wants me there practicing with him. It won't be much longer until he is better than I am! This past Saturday was his recital where we performed these duets together. We got a sitter for the other kids, except Jake, and then took him out to Chili's (his choice, his favorite, he loves their ribs and molten chocolate cake) after the recital. It is always just so wonderful to be with them more one on one. He just seems so grown up to me right now. There is nothing specific he said, but it was just the closeness and enjoyment I felt out of our relationship. He and I sometimes butt heads, so I just feel so much relief and happiness when I know he knows I love him. It is a great feeling. I like knowing he actually loves me too, even if I don't know everything.

With Anna, it was a very specific incident. Every Monday night we have Family Home Evening. It is a time we set aside for our family. Everyone participates. We sing together, we pray together, we have a spiritual lesson, a fun activity or game, and, of course, a treat. So far it is something our kids look forward to every week. This past Monday, for our lesson, Greg talked a little about Christmas, and why we celebrate it and then we watched this great DVD called Joy to the World. It has the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing, words read from the Bible of the Christmas story and scenes from that have been portrayed. It also includes words from the Book of Mormon, and tells of the sign the people in the Americas saw at the time of the Savior's birth. It is really well done, and just makes you so grateful for the Savior and this wonderful time of the year. As we were watching this, Anna, who was laying on the floor, gets up and comes and sits by me on the couch. She was crying. She seemed surprised by this, but wanted to be with me. I leaned over and whispered to her that she was feeling the Holy Ghost. Then after we were done, Greg asked everyone what they thought. Anna was quick to answer in the most sincere and loving voice, "Papa, I felt the Holy Ghost while I was watching that." Greg asked her how she knew that. She said because I just felt so happy inside, that Jesus was born. She was just so sweet and sincere about it. It wasn't the answer she thought we wanted to hear, it was from her heart. Being the person I am, I am crying, and just so full of love and joy that this is my little girl. She has such a sweet and sensitive spirit, and already she is starting to understand one of the things we most want her to understand, that the Lord loves her.

After Family Home Evening we put the boys to bed, but Monday is the girls' stay-up-late night (the boys night is Tuesday). This is a time when we get some of that all important one on one time, or two on two time as the case may be sometimes. The kids get to choose what we do, but it has to be interactive, no TV or whatever. Well recently we have started taking the kids out on "dates" on these nights. It was my night for a "date" with Lizzy. She wanted to go to the store. I had some things I needed at JOANN's so we went there. She loved that place! We had to look at everything. Look mom! Isn't this so pretty. OH, how cute. She just went from thing to thing and went on and on about everything. At one point she takes a big breath, and turns to me and says, "I'm a talker tonight!" I just burst out laughing. Yes, she was, but I loved every minute of it. #3 of 5 is a hard place to be in a family. I think Lizzy sometimes struggles to find her place and to shine. It is great to see her at ease, being able to be herself. She is fun and bubbly and playful, and when given the chance, loves to talk!

With Adam and Anna at school, and Liz going to preschool 3 mornings a week, I have more chances for "moments" with Ben. He has become my little buddy. I love that he is always singing. Today he was singing 5 little monkeys to me while I was feeding the baby. Then he decided to change it to five little Jakies. He has such a great voice too. While we watched that Joy to the World DVD last night, he sang along with Angels we Have Heard on High. He picked up on it because that was one of the duets me and Adam have been practicing. It is the cutest thing ever. Sunday the Primary children, ages 3-11 went up to sing a Christmas musical number. He is still in the nursery until January, so he starts crying, because he wants to go up to the front and sing so badly, "Why do the girls get to go up all the time and I don't?" His music brings a lot of joy to our home, even if half the time he is singing "Clementine". By the way when I took him to his 3 year well check, he was 38 lbs., which is 95%, and 40 inches, which is 90%, a big boy.

Are you sick of moments yet? I do have five kids ya' know! Jacob has been the sweetest baby so far. He is the kind of baby that makes other people want to have another baby. Last night he woke up at 3. He wasn't even really crying, it was more of this cute little cooing whine. It's like he is extra gentle with me in the middle of the night. So I fed him, but I had to change his diaper too, so he got good and woke up. Even though it was dark, there was still some light and I could see him smiling at me. I just thought to myself, "I love this baby!" I have been so grateful he has come to our family. After I was done feeding him, I laid him down even though he was still wide awake. He just laid in his bassinet and "talked" to himself until he fell back asleep. I just lay in bed listening to him. Those are the sounds a mother loves, sweet, baby noises. It was just one of those times, where you know it is all worth it.

I don't get to blog as often as I would like so when I do, they tend to be way long posts. Sorry! I would love to hear some of your moments with your children. Being a parent is hard a lot of the time, but also so rewarding.

Teeth and Testing

The tooth fairy visited our house three times last week - each time for Anna. She is now very qualified to sing "All I want for Christmas is my FOUR front teeth!".

So, now Anna is convinced there is no Santa Clause. Here's why. On Tuesday, she lost her first tooth of the week. Tuesday night, she diligently put the tooth under her pillow. Somehow, the tooth fairy must not have heard about her tooth because she forgot to come (this is the second time the tooth fairy has missed poor Anna!). So, Anna has this idea that the tooth fairy would never be so irresponsible as to forget about her (twice!), so the tooth fairy must not be real and it must be her irresponsible parents who forgot about her tooth and they just pretend to be the tooth fairy and therefore, Santa Clause is not real. Very logical.

Here's a picture of my toothless little girl.




This is a picture of Anna with the last tooth just ready to fall out.


This is Ben trying to look like Lizzy with a pink headband. It somehow doesn't make him look quite so pretty as it does Liz.

In other news, today the kids got their results of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS). How many of you took those when you were kids? I remember clearly in grade school taking the ITBS and thinking how important Iowa must be that they got to test the kids in Kansas and I clearly remember each time the scores came home. Now that we live in Iowa, I guess it's no surprise our kids take the ITBS (and yes, Iowa is important).

I don't like to brag much, but when it comes to my kids, and considering this is a blog about my family, I figure it's okay to brag a little (or a lot). My kids are smart. Adam is a little genius (no surprise to anyone that's known him a while). The ITBS has two scores, one is called the Iowa Grade Equivalent which shows what grade level the child is performing at in each of the categories of the test. Here is a sample of Adam's grade equivalent scores (keep in mind he is in the THIRD GRADE!!):

Reading Comprehension - 7th grade, 1st month
Spelling - 7th grade, 8th month
Language usage and expression - 8th grade, 4th month
Problem Solving & Data Interpretation - 7th grade, 9th month
Mathematics total - 7th grade, 3rd month
Core total - 6th grade, 5th month

The other score is the Iowa Percentile Rank which compares him to other 3rd graders. Here are his scores:

Reading Total - 97th percentile
Language Total - 99th percentile
Mathematics Total - 99th percentile
Core Total - 99th percentile
Composite Total - 99th percentile

We always tease Adam that he sometimes acts too much like a teenager (mostly referring to his attitude on those "off" days). Maybe it's because he really is thinking a lot like a teenager. We're hoping that means we'll get through the teenage years with him before he reaches puberty, then he'll be easy when he really is a teenager. Wishful thinking!

Anna did really, really well too. They don't give quite as many tests to first graders, but on the ones she did take, she scored at or above her grade level on all of them. She was very consistent in her scores which shows that she is comfortable in all the different areas of learning that they were testing on. It's been fun to watch her really take off in school this year. She loves learning and does very careful and thoughtful work. She loves her teacher this year and that is a huge help to her.

We really love watching all our kids growing and learning. Lizzy shows a lot of the same kinds of quick thinking that Adam has. She is reading well now and loving preschool. Ben is more like Anna, much more careful and deliberate about things and interested in doing quality work. He loves music right now! Last night he was telling me that he was afraid of the dark. I told him that when he feels afraid, that he should try to think of something that makes him happy. Then I asked, "What makes you happy, Ben?" He thought for a moment, then said, "Music makes me happy!" And he makes us happy!