Misc Christmas

 

Seth gave his first ever talk in Sacrament meeting.  He was very against it, did it anyways and passed with flying colors.  He spoke confidently and smiled at Evelyn and I the whole time.  In the same meeting, Ada, Sam and Evelyn sang with the youth.  Jeremy, Ada, Sam and I sang with the ward choir.  It was a fun Christmas program.

Ada hosted a Christmas party at our house.  It was mostly so that her friend Martha could do some American Christmas things.  It's fun. Ada even made homemade gingerbread to make gingerbread houses.  It was yummy.

Seth made a candy house at school.

Seth competed in the whole school spelling bee.  He got 9th place!  How cool is that!  The funny part is that the word that he got out on was Khaki.  Seth spelled it with a C instead of a K. When he got home and we were talking about it, Sam, my 16 year old that's taking AP Language tried spelling it.  He also missed it and spelled it with a y instead of an i. It's not exactly a word that commonly used now.

Our new family tradition is doing an at home Messiah Sing in.  We invite whoever wants to sing and we have so much fun. 

The cats are so excited about the Christmas tree being back.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

It's Evelyn's last week in Primary next week.  I'm sad and excited. I'm sad that the little kid phase of our life is ending so soon, but I'm excited that she's going to be in Young Women's with Ada and I.  I think she will love it and she's so good at serving others.  Our YW's group can use someone so happily enthusiastic as this sweet girl.  The Primary song leader, Virginia, had each of the primaries draw the nativity.  I think she said that the one on the right was the senior primary and the one on the left was the junior Primary.  How cute is this.

I'm so happy in this moment.  Sis Wheelhouse assigned a duet between Sam and Seth; also between Ada and Evelyn.  I love hearing my kids play music.  I love even more when they do it together.

Jer is amazing.  He knew I wanted one of these and he made it happen.  Instead of the very slow filtered water thing that we never use, this is a bottle sprayer.  You put a bottle or cup upside down and push.  It sprays out the inside and you can put it into the dishwasher.  With the daycare cups, sippy cups, bottles, cocoa cups, applesauce bottles, etc... it's very handy.

Even with a dead van outside, a messy house, dirty dishes in the sink and a grouted tile floor that needs to be sealed... we had to take time to start our Christmas tradition of stories on Dad's lap.  Ada had the flu and a friend that needed some emotional support.... so she's on the other side of the room. 

Sam showing his style.  We were getting ready for our Stake Music Night.  Sam and Dad sang marvelously.  Ada was so sick, so she had to sit it out.  I only had concussion brain once during the song which is really great!  It was a very spirit filled night that ended up with a light induced headache. 

Sam and Dad also got up at 4:30am yesterday to go to do baptisms at the temple with the youth.  I'm so proud of Sam!  He didn't even hesitate when I asked if he was going to go to the morning one. (Our ward had one scheduled for before school this week and one evening one for next week.) So proud of you kid.   

 

Easter 2020

Easter was pretty low key.  We dyed eggs the night before, I stuffed the plastic eggs that my sisters brought over with jelly beans and Ada was super cute.... she got up early, got dressed and did her hair to hide eggs for the kids to find.  She is a cute Easter Bunny.

Sam is so funny about his hair.... he hates when I cut it short, he says that he looks like a q-tip with short hair.  I think that's backwards.  I think he looks more like a q-tip when his hair gets fluffy like this.

We're all a bit of a mess, but we did our yearly Easter family picture.  These guys are growing so fast.

The dog decided to be part of our picture and even looked at the camera.  That made the kids laugh for sure.

Christmas Morning

I loved this part of my Christmases growing up.  I loved all piling into my parents room and giggling with anticipation.  We always came in youngest to oldest, so that's what we do in our house too.

His favorite thing was this chocolate truck.

The "Xbox"

We had a very good Christmas.  We got time with both sides of our families and had time with just us.  Christmas Eve we had some fighting, but that stopped when I threatened to take away presents.  Christmas morning was presents and family time.  Christmas evening was games with the Tarkingtons.  I mostly wanted a nap after all was said and done, but I enjoyed being with all these wonderful people.

Evelyn wanted an Xbox.  That wasn't going to happen so Ada gave her an "X box" a box with an X inside it.  Evelyn thought it was hilarious and still has the box with all her Christmas candy in it. Evelyn's main present was a stack of books.  She gets the Amulet books from the school library almost every week.  Now she can have her own. (We got them cheap through the school scholastic account). Ada's favorite present was a pair of Llama pajamas that she's been wearing constantly and a set of water color markers that are rather fun.  Seth got some dress ups that he was pretty excited for and Sam got a couple of big stuffed animals to replace the ones that Seth has stolen from him.   We got some Lego sets that were a big hit, and I'm grateful that we were able to find some sales on those.  Finding Legos for even $10 off is rare so we were pretty lucky. 

Jeremy spoiled me.  He upgraded my computer.  My old one kept turning off while I edited photo shoots and I'd lose a lot of my work.  He put together a Black Friday sale computer that I love and has run very well.  My parents bought each of the kids suitcases.  It will be nice next time we go anywhere.  For now, they've all put their gifts into their suitcases and have been wheeling them everywhere they go.  Grandma Robertson gave the kids money.  Sometimes they keep the money, but most of the money they get goes into a savings account.  Sometimes the kids would rather have money for candy, but usually I show them how much they've saved so far and they want to keep saving.  Yesterday we biked to the bank together (Yeah, no snow at this point) and I taught the kids about savings accounts vs CDs.  The oldest three decided that they wanted to buy 5 year CD certificates.  I was really impressed with Sam's math.  I asked him how much money he'd earn in 5 years and he told me $60, in a savings account he'd earn $20 in the same time.  I did the math and he was right.  Seth doesn't have enough money in his savings to really make a difference between a CD and a savings account so we left it in his savings. All the money that they earn/save will either go to a car/house/wedding or to school/mission.  I figure that by the time they're that age they will have about $1500 each.  More if they're careful and find jobs.  That doesn't seem like a lot, but I'm hoping that they will learn how to save and about long term investments.  My Grandpa Wilcox was very good at that and had many of the physical blessings that I want for my kids.  (Retirement, Senior missions, enough money for medical emergencies, etc...)

Money is crazy. When we first got married, between Jer's and my income and all our expenses we had about $2000 extra every month for paying off Jer's student loans, fixing cars, house projects, computer upgrades, extracurriculars and travelling (A lot of that went into savings that paid for our fertility needs over the last 11 years).  I knew that was a lot more than most newlyweds and tried to be wise with it. I've loved working since I was little and never really had to cut out most things.  Now is different.  Jer makes about twice as much now than when we were first married, I don't work except for the one piano student and the few photoshoots...but between having 4 kids and house needs, that extra has turned into about $430 a month to pay for fixing cars, medical bills, clothes, piano lessons, sports, road trips, and house projects. We are still so blessed, but this year has come with a lot of financial belt tightening.  Next year will be similar.  Christmas has turned into a smaller affair and the kids are okay with that.  One more year and we will have Jer's car paid off and the money that we've been paying to Ada's orthodontics will probably go to Sam's.  (The dentist thinks that his airway and mouth are too small and that's why he is so sensitive to smells and textures in his mouth.  Apparently the shape of his mouth and throat plus his sensitivities are symptoms of the same thing.  His panic attacks at the dentist and over foods are because of having a hard time breathing properly and his allergies combined.  They are recommending that he goes to a TMJ specialist and have his jaw widened.  The orthodontist did that with Ada, maybe we can just do it there.  Our insurance covers $2000 of orthodontics where they wouldn't cover the TMJ specialist.)  We will have to buy Ada some more shoe orthotics (Ada apparently also has skewed foot that only started to cause a problem now that she's growing so much.)  The orthotics that he gave her are only $50/pair, but they wear out after 3-4 months.  Evelyn has $400 orthotics that have solved most of the pain that she's had, and he tried to make sure that he made them longer so that hopefully she'll fit them for another year.  The biggest challenge for both girls is making sure that I can get them good shoes that fit their orthotics that aren't terribly expensive and have to be replaced every time they grow a tad.  They went from having 3 pairs of shoes each to having one.  They have been wearing their tennis shoes to church and I remember when I was little and wore mine to church too. I didn't mind and the girls don't seem to either.  Ada tried wearing her old Sunday shoes last Sunday.  She brought the tennis shoes in the car.  She lasted for about an hour and decided to switch shoes after sacrament meeting.  As they get more grown up, I'll have to find good and pretty shoes that will do the job. The good news is that so far I have noticed a difference especially in Evelyn.  She runs like a kid instead of on her heals and only complains of pain if she hasn't worn her orthotics that day.  Ada doesn't stand with her ankles turned in so much and hopefully this will help her enjoy hiking with Dad longer.  The very first question that the podiatrist asked her even without knowing that she liked hiking was, "How far into a hike before your feet hurt?"  Not if her feet hurt or how often.  He knew that they hurt just by looking and just wanted to see how much she could do before they hurt.  I'm grateful for a podiatrist that knows what he's doing.

Messiah sing-in

We took our whole family to the Messiah Sing-in.  We weren't sure how it was going to go, but I think it went well for having a 4 year old with us.  Ada sang really well most of the time and Sam sang a couple.  He loved singing the Hallelujah chorus though.  Evelyn and Seth played on my phone and with the gum out of my purse.  My favorite moment was walking out of there and asking each kid which was their favorite song.  I loved listening to all of them singing snatches from the songs.  I think that Sam liked the trumpet and Seth loved "Hallelujah!".

A week after this, Ada, Sam and Evelyn sang in the Stake Christmas Primary Choir.  I loved seeing them up there, all three did so well.  Ada and Evelyn both found friends from their soccer team.  I actually teared up a bit.  But they performed about halfway through the program and decided that they were done and wanted to go home.  I wanted to stay and do the sing along songs.  Seth and Sam tried to wrestle, Evelyn tried to fall asleep on Jer's lap and Ada read the book she brought and sniped at Sam every time he got too close.  She got up to take Seth to the bathroom for me because our friend was performing his choir arrangement and I wanted to see how it had turned out.  When she got back she saw that Sam was holding the music for the Hallelujah chorus that we were going to sing next.  Instead of standing next to him and singing with him, she threw the biggest tantrum right there in the middle of song that she wasn't the one holding the music.  She didn't stop, so I dropped Seth, grabbed her hand and hauled her outside into the cold. Nothing she said made any sense and she wouldn't stop crying.  I'm not looking forward to the whole puberty thing. 

Ready for Christmas

We finally decorated for Christmas.  I don't decorate for any other holiday, but I love Christmas lights and reminders of Christ's birth.  We really only put lights on the front of the house and put up whatever we have in the living room, but it makes me very happy.  Especially when I don't have to do it by myself.  Ada was a great helper.  I think she had just as much fun decorating as I used to.  Seth told me for days that it was time to put lights on the tree.  Evelyn asked to put stockings up because she made me a present that she wanted to hide in my stocking.  Sam was very ready to pull out the Christmas books.  We always have a goal to read a Christmas story ever day before Christmas.... We've never actually accomplished it, but Jer and the kids sure do their best.  I love seeing them all huddled on the couch reading together.  That's one of my favorite family traditions.