Olivia, Alex & Avery on their way out to play in the snow.
Our yard has several small hills that the kids enjoy sledding down. They are beastly to mow in the summer, but provide much enjoyment in the winter!
Olivia has become a wonderful caregiver and friend to Avery since she has been at home with us these past few months. He treats her like his second mother and she is learning so many skills that will benefit her when she is a mother.
Avery LOVES his pockets!
Alex, as he reached the bottom of the hill on the snow board.
At dinner the other night, we were talking about how Olivia is just naturally funny and Alex turned to her and said, "I wonder if Mom and Dad were funny".
It struck Rob and I as absolutely hilarious that he could not fathom us being funny either now or long, long ago when we were young!
While rocking my little Avery a couple of weeks ago I said, "Mommy Loves you. Do you know who else loves you?" I was anticipating a response like "Daddy" or "Jesus", but with only a moment's hesitation, he responded, "Melanie!"
Avery has been in speech therapy since about September through the Early Intervention program in Davis School District. Melanie Kieffer was assigned as his speech therapist. She comes to our home twice a month and works (plays) with him for 45 minutes and he has fallen quite "in love" with her! He loves when she comes to play with him.
He is also participating in an 8-week music class (which Melanie conducts) with several children and their moms to aid in speech and other kinds of development. The music class is a highlight of Avery's week!
I've noticed that small children love the people who regularly take time to just sit and play with them or read them stories. So, if you're looking for the affection of young children, take time out to sit and play with them and your efforts will rarely be without reward.
I don't know what it is about Strep-throat, but it LOVES our family this year.
We've had strep 10 times this year!
Rob 2x
Nat 1x
Ashlie 3x
Olivia 3x
Alex 0x
Avery 1x
Grandpa 0x
It seems like every time one person recovers, another one comes down with it. I don't know what I'll do when I don't get to see my pharmacist every other week! Although it is a real pain every time someone comes down with it, we are so grateful for antibiotics!
An added complexity is that Rob has strep-induced psoriasis. When he gets strep his psoriasis flares up, then it takes 6+ weeks to recover. The last time he got strep was just before Thanksgiving and his entire body is still - 2 months later - covered with large, red, itchy sores. I would estimate that 40% of his body is covered in red spots of skin that is regenerating at 6 times its normal rate. This "outbreak" is so much worse than the last time; I'm really worried about him getting strep again and I feel really bad for him because he's so uncomfortable and will likely live with this for the rest of his life. His doctor said that the medicine to prevent him from getting strep is $300/month and insurance won't pay for it, so we have to settle with treating it. And get this: the best way to get rid of the psoriasis is to increase sun exposure (or tanning), but Rob has already had tons of pre-cancer spots, so additional sun exposure may create another problem.
On that happy note, cross your fingers that strep will stay away for a while.
Aside from the obvious benefit of learning the lessons contained within the scriptures, I want to attest to the peace that comes into a home where scripture study is a part of daily (or every-other-day, as is sometimes the case) life. When we read together we have the Spirit in our home. When we don't, the kids argue more and I have less patience. Definitely worth half an hour!
I am a believer that one should accept the opportunity that a new year presents to set personal goals. This is such a good way for me to "try a little harder to be a little better". This year I have set a goal to work on family history for a minimum of 4 hours every week. So far it's been easy to pass the 4-hour mark because once I get started I can hardly make myself stop. I LOVE it. I've set aside Thursday mornings for this. I did very little family history last year and simply must make time for it now.
Alex cracked me up the other day when I was trying to get him to get ready for school. As part of his stalling tactics, he tried this one:
"I'm saving all my cooperation for tomorrow."
Nice try, kid, but you're going to school and you're going to get ready NOW.
Alex doesn't like school. He thinks we have no regard for his happiness because we insist he continue second grade. We negotiated in the first term when he was refusing to go to school all the time and told him he could have two days off school every term without us hassling him about it if he promised to go to school the other days. Needless to say he never makes it past the first week of each term before his two days are "spent". He stayed home today.
We've tried incentives (aka bribing), giving restrictions (losing his DS for a month won't even get him to go when he's made up his mind), giving him a "day of work" (6.5 hours of hard labor), lecturing (does that ever work?), yelling (which only hurts his feelings), reminding him it's short day (still 4 and a half hours of torture!), telling him what exciting things are going on at school that day (that one never works) and teaching about how important it is that he be there (he's not buying that one, either). He simply doesn't care what the consequence, it is not as bad as going to school. He has even offered to be our personal slave all day long rather than go to school.
In second term he had 13 tardies, which would seem like a real problem to most parents, but not to me. To me that means that 13 times he begged not to go but ultimately relented! He was only absent 4 days this term, one of which was because he was sick. BUT, nearly every school day we have to work really hard to get him there.
I feel sorry for him. I can't imagine hating school, knowing I have at least 10 more years of it ahead of me. So if you see my little Alex at the school, flash him a smile and give him an encouraging word because he'd rather be anywhere but there.
P.S. We love his school teacher and don't feel that his not wanting to go to school has anything directly to do with her.
I love this quote that I found on a postcard at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. a few years ago. It is a good reminder that each one of us can (and should) find a way to do something to end the suffering of another human being. It doesn't need to be elaborate to make a significant difference.
In case it's difficult to read, this is what it says: "Always hold firmly to the thought that each one of us can do something to bring some portion of misery to an end."
We got new stockings this year! I've always wanted all matching stockings that were personlized and simply couldn't resist these! They were quite reasonably priced at $15 (including embroidery).
Every year for my entire life we've celebrated Christmas Eve with my dad's side of the family. Our family is too big for any one home, so we celebrate at a church now. The following pictures were taken there.
Alex, Avery and Asher beginning the kids' white elephant gift exchange:
Below: This is Alex's prized white elephant gift. The knob on the nose "winds up" the eyebrows and mustache so they move.
Jenn and Fred were really excited about Avery's new trucks! (So was he.)
After the Christmas Eve event with Grandma Baker, we went to Rob's parents' house and stayed the night there. We open all our gifts there and his parents spoil us all nearly rotten. Here is Olivia in a pile of presents:
Ashlie was soaking in the moment just prior to open her gifts:
Grandma Jackson helped Avery open his gifts and kept him entertained and happy. He didn't sleep much without his own bed and was, consequently, less pleasant than his usual self.
Ashlie and Alex tearing open their packages:
Olivia and Ashlie enjoying their gifts:
Grandpa Jackson and Avery:
Alex desperately wanted a remote-controlled helicopter. It was broken within an hour or two. :(
I love the way Avery crouched down to be like Nick and Alex here:
Avery got a baby doll for Christmas. I believe that kids (even boys) should learn to be nurturing and baby dolls are great for helping them learn to nurture. He pretends to be the baby's daddy and it's super cute.
This is the second year my side of the family has celebrated Christmas on the day following Christmas. It makes Christmas day a little less hectic and prolongs Christmas a tiny bit longer. Here are some pictures from our December 26 event. Avery got this cute Snoopy puppet which he's been carting around ever since.
My mom, the host of the Miller party:
Olivia and her cousin, Emma, love their new pajamas that match their dolls'. My mom got all the kids and grandkids new jammies for Christmas this year. I always wanted new pajamas for Christmas and this year I got some! Thanks, Mom!
Just cute:
My sister Aubrey, her son, Asher, and Mario:
My boys in their hats:
Poor little Ashlie came down with a fever immediately following present opening on Christmas day. She was pretty miserable and had a high fever every time the Tylenol or Ibuprofen wore off. Today I got her to the doctor and she has strep. Here she is snuggling with Grandpa Miller.
This is some Crayola artwork my sister Jenny created to send to my nieces and nephew in South Carolina who couldn't be with their father, my brother, this year because his ex is completely unreasonable and wouldn't let them come for their court-designated Christmas visit early to take advantage of substantially lower travel expenses. They are too young to understand and he is heart-broken. So are we.
More just cute:
Olivia and Emma helped with dishes:
Christmas 2010 was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed being with so many family members. I am so grateful that most of our relatives live so close! We decided not to send out Christmas letters and pictures this year because I write on this blog now and it pretty much keeps people who want to know about our goings-on updated. So don't feel bad that you didn't get a card or letter because I didn't send them to anyone. I'll probably write a summary of the year and post it here some time in January when things slow down a bit.
