Family Newsletter/Journal entry
December 2014
I’ve been wanting to write a monthly journal/letter about
our family for years. I never felt like
I had the time, but I’ve decided it's the only way our kids will have a journal
so I’m going to make it happen. I will
make it part of my 2015 new years resolution.
And hopefully it will last more than a couple months.
The months just seem to go by faster and faster. I’m sure all moms and dads can relate. But I feel like the last year went in turbo
speeds some weeks, but other weeks seemed to drag on FOREVER!
Its never a dull moment around here that is for sure! Simon was our best baby. Key word is WAS. Ever since we came back from our beach
vacation in the summer he has slowly turned into a whiney, needy, stinker of a
baby. Good thing he is adorable! He is happy if mom and dad are in the room,
but an angry monster baby if we leave his side. We don’t leave his side very often, and hope
this stage stops soon! His favorite
thing right now is to take all the plastic bowls and plates and forks and
spoons out one at a time and set them on the table. It is pretty cute and keeps him busy for a
long time. He also LOVES to talk on the
phone and is a big time daddy’s boy.
When he sees a phone, he demands a call to daddy. He loves the kitchen chairs but falls off of
them too much so I tried putting them on the table to get them away from him. Bad idea (see picture). He also loves remotes like most babies do,
but he is our first baby to get comfortable on the couch and point and push all
the buttons and stays like that forever.
He likes to be in charge.
Max. Mad Max, as we
sometimes call him. He has stopped
screaming some but he hasn’t stopped destroying anything that gets in his way
including his head. We have made two
trips to urgent care in a month. First
time he got his 2nd set of stitches in his forehead after hitting
the edge of the train table. Second
visit he received 2 staples in his head after his head met the edge of a
desk. We are contemplating getting rid
of all furniture. When he isn’t
destroying, he is reading books or playing cars or trains but mostly reading
books. I’ve stopped caring if he rips
them because I’ve watched him long enough that I know he is trying to be soft
it just sometimes happens after you turn the pages 1000 times. He just loves his books. He also loves to climb furniture, eat pretend
food that he cooks up in the sandbox (see picture), and unfortunately, he also
loves his new cheesy smile that is so cute.
He is so sweet with Simon but he is a rough dude so we are excited for
when Simon is a little older and they can play more on the same level.
Amelia/Millie has become quite the little mommy’s
helper. She is always asking if she can
help me or clean something. Most of the
somethings are her huge gigantic messes, but I’ll take all the help I can
get. She loves her babies and takes such
good care of them. She reminds me so
much of when Ruby was her age. She is
stubborn but sweet and recently, turned sweeter which makes us happy. She is quite the chatterbox and doesn’t want
to miss a moment and always insists that she is a big girl now and such a good
big sister. She loves treats and loves
preschool even more. She is a pretty
good buddy with Oliver. They are only 10
months apart but he towers over her. She
recently moved into the bottom bunk in Ruby’s bed when Penny got a new bed, and
she loves being a big girl. She will
sometimes comment in the car if it is ever quiet “how come nobody’s
talking?” She can’t sit still and is a
busy little girl. She can’t watch
TV. Literally. She can stare at it for maybe 30 seconds but
then she is bored out of her mind. In
the car she always asks for a show. Then
while the show is playing, she asks us to turn on the music. Then soon after she asks for a snack. Then a
drink. Etc. Etc. It’s hard to keep her
occupied and entertained but she gives a lot of comic relief in the mean
time. Her most recent quotable quote was
said to a babysitter while Millie was going potty. Said in a serious tone, “One time, I almost
fell in the potty, but I survived, and I lived!”
Oliver. Oh Oliver you
sweet crazy boy. He has become very
obedient lately. Still when I ask him to
do something I hold my breath while I watch him actually listen! This is big people! I don’t know what happened, but he actually
says yes to me when I ask him to do something.
Unfortunately, he has picked up a new habit of lying along the way. Grrrrr.
He is hilarious though and we have plenty of outsiders telling us
so. He is just so serious and loud when
he talks, just listening to him talk makes us laugh so hard. One time when I was upset with the kids, I
was telling them that no one every things about anyone else in the family—I was
lecturing about service within our family.
Oliver looked up at me and very seriously said, “Mom, I do think about
other people. I think about Santa
Claus!” It quickly turned my frown
upside down. He is funny, but he can
also be extremely cranky when he wants to be.
He is my oldest kid that I think still benefits from a nap a couple times
a week. He still loves his blankets and
he also loves lightening McQueen and trains and Penny. He wants to do everything Penny does and
usually does.
Ruby. Our Ruby has a
future in professional monkey bars. She
is such a monkey and has mastered quite a few tricks! She comes home with blisters and her hands have become calloused over the
last couple of months. We think we need
to get a set of monkey bars this summer because Penny loves them as well. Ruby loves school and has started to like
playing with friends more this past month.
She is still our most independent child and will make such a good mommy
someday. She is always teaching me
patience while I watch interact with Simon and Max. She isn’t so good with Millie, but maybe
someday they will get along. She is
quite the violinist! I’m impressed with
how much she has learned in such a short amount of time. She had her first concert and did such a good
job. She still loves her baby dolls and
is asking for twins from Santa this Christmas.
How many dolls can we own? I keep
getting rid of them too. Well, they play
with them, and they make sure they all get enough attention. Ruby is probably the most stubborn child we
have…Max is a close 2nd. We
are dealing with it but is so hard. Its
teaching us that we are not in control!!
And that we probably never should be.
All of these kids have their own minds and want to use them! Ruby can also be hilarious and goofy and we
love her French kisses (a kiss that is applied once on each cheek—scared Kyle
to death one night when she asked him if she could give him a French kids, and
put her in tears when he said no way!).
Now that we know French kisses are just a peck on each cheek, we get
them frequently.
Penelope. Princess Penny
is just that—a princess; kind, sweet, and intelligent. We are in awe of her resilient and thriving
personality. She has never had any type
of argument or fight with her friends.
She seems to be everyone’s favorite friend. It’s easy to see why. She can play with anyone any age and make it
fun. She reminds me of Sadie. It's a party wherever she is. She is going to be a great mom. She is very attentive to everyone’s needs and
is especially good to Oliver who needs it because he is a HARD friend to have. Her and Ruby play for hours and hours and
even though Ruby can be a stinker of a sister sometimes, Penny takes it like a
champ. She retains information like a
sponge and is always sharing cool new facts she has learned at school. She is my first kid to actually tell me what
she learns at school. The rest say “I
don't know” when I ask them…most of the time anyways. She is a great reader and speller and proving
to be a pretty good at math too! She had
her piano recital and played so well.
She even played a duet with her teacher.
She is a kid that doesn’t give up and wants to learn to do everything. She taught herself to roller blade and is
always outside in the cold practicing.
She is happy and that makes us happy.
Luke. Our Luke is
loving his ALL class. I was so worried
he wouldn’t test into it because he wanted to be in it so much. I almost didn’t have him test…he knows himself
better that I do. He just finished his
first class play and he knew his parts so well, and apparently from the looks
of it, everyone else’s too. I watched
him mouth all of their parts and solos too.
He started taking cello lessons a couple of months ago and has really
improved even though his cello is a cheap piece of junk. Do you know how expensive a nice cello
is? Too much! We told him if he sticks with it for more
than a year and really proves that it is something he loves, we will invest in
a better one. He is also doing great on
the piano and rocked it at his recital even though his piece was really
hard. He still loves legos and always
have some type of small toy in his hand. I had to make the rule of NO toys in
your hands while doing your chores or eating your food (do you know how long it
takes for someone who only uses one hand to do those things??). He is always late and always slow but his
mind is brilliant and we love him. He is
creative and fun and devilishly handsome.
We are very proud of him.
Isaac. The leader of
the pack. He has done amazingly well in
his ALL 5th grade class. A
class he tested into, but decided not to be in, but was put in it anyways, by
mistake. We told the office that he
wasn’t going to do it, but somehow the message never got to the ALL teacher and
he was put in the class. We are glad it
happened because he has had a great time and learned a lot. He just finished his class play, the
Christmas Carol, and did such a good job.
I can’t believe how many lines all those kids had to learn! Isaac’s personality has started to come out
more and more this last year and we get to see a glimpse of what kind of young
man he is becoming. He may actually be
funny! He might have inherited his dad’s
whitty humor…but the verdict is still out.
We are still coaching him “Remember Isaac, isn’t only funny the first
time.” He still loves video games but
ever since mom and dad made the rule –no TV or video games until Friday and Saturday,
he has actually had a lot more fun with his friends and they have discovered
life outside of the television. It’s
pretty cool. Isaac is also teaching
himself to rollerblade. I have found
that a few of my children are not super coordinated or athletic. So I’m extremely shocked and proud that he
has decided to try out rollerblading. I
had so much fun with it when I was a kid and still have a pair so I’m hoping we
can enjoy it together. Isaac started
taking guitar lessons through skpe. I
don't know how its well it’s working, but he seems to enjoy it and is sounding
pretty good! Isaac is the fastest eater I have EVER seen and the fastest
reader. I’m still the fastest talker in
the family, and I don’t think anyone will ever pass me up.
Kyle—the superman of the family. He has FOUR jobs. Not full time, but he balances everything so
well and keeps the bacon coming. We are
hoping that he will be able to quite his job at the church someday and run his
2 companies full time. He thinks he will
always keep the GMATT job, because its always nice to have something like that
on the side and we do not take that for granted. Right now he is having a late night at the
office. I would be worried, but the men
he hangs out with are pretty hairy and ugly. J
Emily—I’m just crazy busy and anticipating and know it will
only get more and more crazy and busy as the kids get older. I am reading a book right now, which never
happens, and I volunteer at the library a couple times a week doing a crazy fun
music time for kids—stop by sometime and laugh at or with me. I know my friends
do—as they videotape my moves and grooves, I’m sure for blackmailing purposes
in the future. I don’t care—the kids are
smiling! I'm still trying to do violin
but I don’t know how long that will last as I’m planning on giving my spot to
Penny sometimes next year—but I will probably still try and get a lesson in
once a month or so.
We had a great Thanksgiving dinner in Hooper and the kids
loved seeing some cousins and riding in their Grandpa Widdison’s bus. Now we are plunging into Christmas. We actually got our decorations out the day
after Thanksgiving. The earliest yet! Its been a good December so far.
I know that was long…I will have to work on shortening it,
but when you have 8 kids, that is hard to do!
But now you know a little bit more about our lives. I would love to hear more about yours but
know how busy you are so I’m not expecting anything. Really, this is a good way for me to kill two
birds with one stone—communicate with family that is far away, AND create some
type of journal for my kiddos.
Much love,
Emily
Photos below for this entry:
Family Newsletter/ Journal entry
January 18, 2015
Another month has flown by. Christmas and Ruby’s birthday were our big celebrations. We had a super warm December but January has not been as kind and we are freezing up nicely. Hot cocoa and warm socks help some.
I will start with Sir Simon again. He is still a cute little monster. He is supposed to go to nursery now, but has decided to be our first kid ever that outlasts everyone in the crying war and after about 10 minutes of full on bloody murder tears, he gets to do music time with me. One time he lasted almost the whole time but he was crying off and on the whole time too. Its okay. Its fun to have him be my little buddy…when he isn’t being a grumpy Gus, and he does music with me in all three nurseries. Its hard being the nursery coordinator and the music time lady, but its fun too and I like to get to know all the little kiddos. Makes me appreciate my little monster a little moreJ. He is still really cute and makes us laugh so much. He is saying more and more words recently. He calls all animals puppy and we love it. When he hears music he spins and spins and runs in a circle around Kyle’s favorite chair. He still loves to play in his toy kitchen but loves the real pots and pans even more. He is a pretty good eater and we recently discovered that he loves mustard! He will not eat pasta except for spaghetti and box macaroni and cheese. I think he only eats those because they are soft noodles. He will eat pretty much anything else. He had a great Christmas and his favorite toy was a recycled car ramp. He plays the best on his own---bummer because playmates are not in shortage at our house! When he needs time to “cool down” we put him in his room with really no protest and he plays for up to 30 minutes and then knocks on the door when he is done. I think he enjoys the quiet time as much as we do!
Our motorcycle Max is still a crazy stunt dude. He loves to ride on his motorcycle since we brought it inside for the winter and he still loves to jump off of anything and everything. No more stitches to report this time, but I did super glue a puncture wound on his forehead….Kyle was out of town and I had a babysitter so I could take my friend out to eat for her birthday…no way was I going to urgent care instead! Call it selfish, but it healed up nicely and I don’t think they would have done stitches anyways! Max had a good Christmas too and by far his favorite gift was the bounce house we got with grandma and grandpas money. He is kinda scary to watch on it, but has the biggest grin and laughs the ENTIRE time. He is still really patient with Simon and we hope it continues because Simon can be pretty mean to him…but he is kinda mean to everyone when he wants to be. I actually caught Max and Simon playing nicely for more than 15 minutes a couple times this month, so we are showing progress! Max still prefers to be with mom or dad most of the time but sometimes ventures downstairs which usually means trouble. In one day he poured purple paint everywhere, ate fistfuls of hot cocoa powder (and made a chocolately mess the in the meantime) and decided to taste a whole lot of pretzel salt and then spit it out everywhere because it was “yucky!” So we still do Max checks where the kids have to search for him if I don’t hear him and don’t know exactly where he is at all times. He is our handsome one and people always stop to tell me how much they love his smile and laugh. Max still wants to be outside all the time and has been missing it so much because it is just too cold for him mom. Hopefully in a month or two when I thaw out I will be nicer and take him outside more.
Who’s next…oh yes, Millie. She is still so happy that she is in primary and reminds us each Sunday that she gets to go to sunbeams. She doesn’t seem to slow down during the day until you start to stroke her arm (reminds me of someone else I know when they were a little girl). The only way I can get her to take a nap is lying down next to her. Literally after one minute of arm “softing” she is out cold. She is so pretty when she is asleep, but the loud snoring and crazy sleep talk is out of control. I think we will need to get her tonsils out someday. She is constantly reminding me that she is a big girl and that I love her because I am her Millie…she means that she is MY Millie but its cute the way she says it too. Her constant companionship/talking doesn’t seem as much as a burden as it has in the past. She has worked her charm on me and I’m enjoying her company a lot now. She is so stinkin cute and says the cutest things. She likes to call Oliver her best buddy and sometimes Oliver agrees. Her favorite time of day is still snack time and she asks for it ALL DAY LONG. She is still the biggest cuddle bug I know but often gets pushed aside because Max and Simon are still territorial over my lap. We sneak in extra cuddles at nap time and she is a good sport about it. She loves the bounce house too but really loves her babies the most. She is a sweet little mommy. She loves music and always requests it. Her favorite cd right now at bedtime is a cd of all violin music. I will have to ask her cousins—Sadie and Annie to make a cd of their violin skills for her.
Oliver Boliver gets the best dressed award in this house. He is the first boy to actually LIKE to get dressed up. He loves his cool button down shirts and lets me pick out his clothes. I love it because Isaac and Luke hate when I try and get them to wear nice clothes. He is starting to learn to read a little bit and is one smart cookie. He loves to play anything and everything he can think of with all his pillows and blankets and stuffed animals and recruits many participants each time. He will make forts or beds or trains. He got to sing for his Christmas program at preschool and he was by far the loudest singer there. He was very enthusiastic (on the other end of the spectrum, Millie just stared at everyone else while they sang). While at home she belts out her preschool songs so loudly we HAVE to tell her to be a little more quiet because she is harming our ears—seriously! Oliver continues to be our comic relief. One night when he was in the bathroom he missed our family prayer. Kyle went in to get him and he said, “Did I miss family prayer?...Aw man! Well, it wasn’t my fault. It was my bums fault!” He doesn’t even know he is funny. That is our favorite part. He loves the go cart and the bounce house almost as much as Max. He is full of energy too but I can still get him to take a nap once or twice a week. He continually asks when we are going places…usually right at bedtime. “When are we going to the beach because we NEVER go there…when are we going to the Zoo because we NEVER go there (actually this one is true)” I usually answer, we will talk about it in the morning…GOOD night!
Ruby Belle is 6! She was so excited for her birthday. But first she had to celebrate Christmas which she didn’t seem to mind. She got twin babies and takes good care of them. We have too many baby dolls at this house but they usually get rotated in the loving and caring arms of all three girls at some point, so I think they are getting their fill of love. Ruby loves the bounce house too and is becoming an even bigger fan of the pop a shot basketball game we got from Santa because she keeps beating her high score, which is currently 10 points. She counted down the days to her birthday and scored a twin baby doll stroller and some other fun presents from the kids. She had to wait a couple weeks for her party because I had to recuperate from the holidays before I could throw a party. She originally chose a How to Train Your Dragon 2 party, but thankfully switched it to a fairy party because how to I throw a dragon party for a dozen girly girls? Those who know me well know that I LOVE to throw parties, but we only do birthday parties every other year so I can breathe in between. It was fun and totally do able because Kyle took ALL the other kids to a neighbors house and I had a friend pop in a couple times to help with the really messy stuff. It was a success and she was happy and she loved it. Ruby moody isn’t happy all the time though, she takes after her brother Luke, and enjoys moaning and groaning a little too much. We are going to fix that though. Some how, this month, the moaning and groaning needs to STOP! Wish her luck. Ruby is a little reader now and is fun to read books with. She loves to point out the obviously funny parts in the book and it is fun to see her laugh about them. The other day she said something funny on purpose, then repeated herself, laughed, and told me I should put that on our quote board. She is cute like that.
Penny had a great Christmas and got twin baby dolls too. She also loves the bounce house and has become a pro at air hockey. She still loves pens and paper and pencils and drawls and scribbles whenever she can. She doesn’t love to read but she is sure good at it. I hope she gets back to loving it someday. She would play outside all day if she could. Penny has become a lover of words. She wants to know what everything means and how to spell it too! The school spelling bee is coming up, I think she will have fun with that, even if she only does it with her classroom. I would say she is one of my most curious kids. She’s fun because she asks really good and interesting questions. I don’t think I was ever that curious as a kid. She is still my number one helper. Even when I say “Luke, will you…” She jumps up to do it because she just assumes I was talking to her. I have to call her back in the room and say; you don’t always have to help me! She just smiles and then Luke grumbles and goes and does the task (slowly because he is my sloth child—who we all adore!!). She is always in a rush to be places and get somewhere, which is probably why I always find her pants wrong side out in her drawers. She has picked up the Widdison Whine since becoming an official part of our family…we hope it goes away with the rest of them, but for some reason they all enjoy a good whine fest every now and again. She is convinced she needs to learn the violin too and I think we will start her this summer.
Luke is still a huge A.L.L. fan (his accelerated program at school). I once threated to kick him out of the class if he didn’t stop whining so much and he started crying huge crocodile tears. He LOVES his teacher and so do I. She is so good with all of her students. I have volunteered a couple of times in the classroom and wanted kick a few kids out of the class but she has so much patience with all of these kids. They call them gifted/special kids. I call them a little bit crazy a lottle weird!! Luke, of course, is a genius and not one bit crazy or weirdJ. He is also the most handsome and sweetest in the class. Yes, we are proud and we love him…even if he has picked up a few strange behaviors. Lately he has begun to play with his fingers and put them one on top of another over and over again. He does this ALL the time and doesn’t even know he is doing it. I told him if he stopped I would give him 50 bucks. (Isaac stopped biting his nails—it took him 2 years to stop—I gave him 100 dollars) Luke said he wanted 100. I said no way! He just barely picked up this habit this year…Isaac had the habit for years before he tried to stop it. I told him his habit was only worth 50 bucks. I will not be surprised if he starts spitting on his fingers next to get my attention:) He has really gotten into the pop a shot too and is always trying to beat his high score. He also loves to make mazes on paper. He is becoming quite the cello player and I signed him up to play for federation (along with Ruby) and he is excited and not one bit nervous. He is the best eater at our house and wants to put everything he can onto every sandwich and burger and will not touch hot dogs, pizza, and box macaroni and cheese---because those are easy things for moms to make. He wants real, home cooked food for every meal. He ends up eating leftovers a lot, because I don’t know what to feed him when I need to make an easy meal. I don't think there is a vegetable he doesn’t like and he even likes onions! I suspect he doesn’t like peas, but he insists that he does and eats a FEW everytime we have them. (Ruby hates corn so I have to make Peas for her when we have corn)
Isaac! Isaac is totally pre-teen…um, well actually covered in acne and totally moody so we are hoping he is going to get it all out of his system and be a really nice teenager. He is actually still pretty sweet. He is still a huge fan of video games. Christmas break was full of too many hours of video games and the school schedule of limited video game time has been harsh for Isaac. He says he needs time to ease back into itJ He is also loving his new Christmas presents too and we all can’t wait until it warms up so we can ride the go-cart more. He loves that he gets to drive it. Its hard being the oldest in a home with lots of littles but he does a good job most of the time. He is becoming more attentive with the kids and can watch them a little bit here and there for me and LOVES to do it for me in place of chores. He never EVER has homework but assures me he does it all in class and has A’s in all his subjects. We will see how long that lasts. He doesn’t complain much now with chores and has learned that if he gets them done fast, he gets to what he wants to do faster. I didn’t think my kids would learn this fact, but slowly they all are! (minus the four littles of course). Kyle and I have both been able to have more one on one time with Isaac and it has been nice for all of us. He is fun kid.
We are excited to see the Garners in March and planning on putting the oldest 5 kids in ski school. We live in Utah for crying out loud! We need to know how to ski!! Kyle and I haven’t been in forever so we may try it out too! In other news, Kyle gave his 2week notice to his job at the LDS church. We are still planning on attending church services in case anyone wonders. His new business is picking up quickly and I think he is enjoying the faster pace as opposed to working for the church, which can be painstakingly slow from what I’ve heard. He manages pretty much everything in his new company and gets to speak lots of Spanish as well. I hope that soon this new venture means earlier departures from work so that he can be home during the hardest hours of the day, 4 to 6 pm. I think it will help with my headachesJ. Life is hard and wonderful all at once and it drives me insane sometimes too. In my quiet and sane moments, I am truly grateful for everything.
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