2012 In Review

It was quite an eventful year for us.  It’s nice to have some proof that we did more than just build our house!

Daniel: Turned 1, heart healthy (!!), surgery for tubes and to open his tear ducts, normal hearing (!!!), sprouted at least a dozen teeth, got his first haircut, learned to crawl, learned to cruise, learned to stand unassisted, learned to blow kisses and play Peek-a-boo, learned a few signs…oh, and won the popularity contest everywhere he went.

Caleb: Turned 4, broke his nose, had surgery to fix his nose and place ear tubes, crammed a broken plastic pipe into the back of his mouth, got lots of scrapes and bruises, fell off his chair at every meal, cut his hair and Daniel’s too, cut his finger open with a box cutter, started preschool, perfected every ninja move in the book.

Rachel: Learned to read, turned 5, graduated from Preschool, lost her first two teeth (in the same week), started Kindergarten.

Josh: Ran the Wellsville Mile, earned his Bear in Cub Scouts, turned 10, participated in his first Pinewood Derby, started 5th grade.

Emily: Participated in the Young Writers’ Fest, went to Girls’ Camp and won the “Giggler” award, started 7th grade, earned her Faith in God award, turned 12, started Young Women, gave her first Sacrament Meeting talk, spent lots of hours babysitting, got her first 4.0.

Heather: Went to Girls’ Camp, said good-bye to the most amazing Young Women in the world, spent countless hours painting, made lots of meals, did lots of laundry, put lots of miles on the Suburban, and is in the process of filling 2 million finish nail holes (and we won’t mention anything about getting her first ticket).

Jared: Started the process to become a Certified Valuation Analyst, was appointed to the board of directors for the Sunshine Terrace Foundation, was released from the Bishopric, did 99% of the finish electrical work in our new house, and did a lot of sub-contractor babysitting.

Haircuts on the House…and a Loose Tooth

I looked at Caleb yesterday and had to do a double take.  Something was different.

It seems our little Tornado has gained speed these days.  A lot of speed, actually.  Are 4-year-olds supposed to be doing this kind of stuff?!?!  I thought he would have mellowed out a little by now.  Boy was I WRONG!!  This kid is so smart, though, that he leaned over the garbage can while carrying out his nefarious plan.  Yeah – he’s awesome like that!

The best part of the situation was when I asked him why he did this.  His response?  “’Cause I always wanted a buzz cut!!”  Caleb, do you know what a buzz cut is?  “No!”

And upon further inspection, it became very apparent that he used his mad cutting skillz on poor little Daniel.

Not too obvious, but still there nonetheless!  Oy!  No wonder I wake up with a headache almost every single day!

I took care of the buzz cut this morning, hoping to erase the damage.  Oh boy, I think it may look just as bad!

 

And we’re supposed to have family pictures this weekend.  Extended family pictures.  And the episode will be forever cemented in the annals of our family history.  Ugh!!

Continuing with the “Day of Discovery” theme yesterday, we learned that Rachel has a loose tooth!  Her first one – and while she’s excited about it, she seems a little worried at the same time.

She questioned me all afternoon about when I lost teeth, and tried to reassure herself that this is OK.  I bet it will all be forgotten as soon as she wakes up to the money on her pillow from that tiny little tooth fairy, who her mom has never even seen, and who likes to keep the teeth of young children…gross!!

Park Photo Bomb

I took the three Littles to a new (to us) park last night after we got ice cream.  Hey – we have to have fun when Dad and the Bigs are gone!!  I took a ton of pictures (a large proportion of which were pathetic) when I wasn’t holding Daniel or trying to keep woodchips out of his mouth.  Here are the best.

Just a little peck on the ear.

I think her ship is trying to beam her up!

Holding on tight while Mom gets yet another picture.

 

And…he’s had it.  Too much heat and oh-so-tired!

Jumbo Elephant

This is for all the grandmas out there - for your enjoyment!!

Miracles

The Sharing Time lesson in Primary today was all about miracles. We watched a short movie about some of the miracles the Savior performed, and it got me all goose-bumpy thinking about some of the miracles we've seen in our family.

There's the time we found my wedding ring at the beach in California.

There was the time that Emily suddenly started getting better during her bout with pneumonia a few years ago. Consequently, the doctor still talks about that event.

The hours and days surrounding Rachel's birth definitely come to mind. With doctors and nurses not knowing what to do, especially when she wasn't responding to typical treatment. And me feeling like I had been thrown to the very edge of a cliff. Oh, and the pediatrician still talks about this one too!

Sometimes miracles are easy to pinpoint. And sometimes they're small and they may be difficult to recognize. But they're all around us. Waiting to be recognized and appreciated.

I am also thankful for one more small, but very much appreciated miracle today. Caleb - after getting off to a rough start - gave in and slept through most of Sacrament Meeting. He needed that, I needed that...heck, the whole congregation needed that!

Cute Stuff

Caleb loves to repeat what he hears. And he repeats pretty much everything he hears - the good, the bad, and yes, even the ugly. Trust me - I've heard a lot out of this boy!! A few things I'm a little ashamed of, because I know he heard them from yours truly.

I love it when he promptly repeats an "I love you mommy" that he just heard from Rachel. Even if it is parroted, it melts my heart.

I was just changing his diaper when I reached a new level of meltedness (is that even a word??). As I laid him down to get things started, I said, "Hey cute stuff," to which he immediately responded, "Hey coot tuff!" Really, does it get any better than having your 2-year-old son think you're cute?!?!

An Eventful Week

We have had lots going on this week, so buckle your seatbelts! This could be a long ride!

First off, Emily got her hair cut on Saturday. She wanted to donate to Locks for Love again, so I agreed to a short haircut. I always have a sad moment when that much hair is gone, even if it's not my own. But Emily was very glad to be free of all the length! She ended up having 11 inches cut off! Her hair was not quite as long this time as it was the first time she donated, so she ended up with a pretty short cut, but she looks adorable! Here is a picture of the front - ignore the goofy face!

I have to admit that I was wanting it cut just as much as she was! Fights about combing/brushing have been too frequent and none too pleasant!

Tuesday was Jared's birthday, and we decided to try out our season passes to Lagoon! So he worked until lunch time and then we headed down. As we were half way through Sardine Canyon, Emily realized that she had her flip flops on instead of her shoes! They won't let you ride some of the rides without shoes, so she was pretty upset. We stopped at Wal Mart in Brigham City and bought her a cheap pair of shoes so she could fully participate. The things we do to keep everyone happy!

This was the first time that Caleb and Rachel had been to Lagoon. For the most part, they both had a lot of fun. Here's a blurry picture of Rachel during a ride, but you can tell that she's obviously loving it!

She got so used to us taking pictures that she would just start waving as soon as she got on a ride! She's got the parade wave down to a science!

Caleb enjoyed most of the rides, and really hated having to watch the ones he couldn't go on! He loved this little tug boat ride, and especially pulling the string to ring the bell.

Rachel gave the poor worker a heart attack when the ride was over! Rather than exiting the boat to her right (which was onto the sidewalk) she tried stepping out to her left, which would have put her into the water or up onto the island in the middle! We were both trying to grab her, (while I was trying to keep Caleb on the sidewalk and out of the water) but couldn't quite reach - if we stepped in the boat we would have sunk it! The worker finally got ahold of her shirt and we pulled her out onto the sidewalk!

Josh said he was going to be brave and go on Wicked this time, just for Jared's birthday. But, he chickened out (and we didn't make it down to that end of Lagoon). Maybe next time!

Josh and Emily were both really good sports about helping with Caleb and Rachel when we couldn't be on the rides with them. See? Josh knows we're trying to get Caleb to look at the camera, so he's being a great helper turning his head right where we need it! (I promise he's not choking Caleb!!!)
Emily got this great shot of Jared and Josh on Jet Star 2 just as they were ready to head down the first big hill. She didn't want to try this ride, so she was more than happy to be the photographer while I kept Caleb out of the garbage can and Rachel out of the flower beds!

We ended our trip with a visit to Denny's for dinner (kids choice). It happened to be kids-eat-free night, so everyone got fed and we only had to pay for two meals! Maybe we'll have to come on Tuesday every time!

We've also had our usual week-day activities - cleaning, bike rides, playing, fighting, yard work, whining...ahhh summer! And swimming lessons will start soon - yipee!!!

Happy Birthday Caleb!!

Happy 2nd birthday to our baby boy! Can you believe it has already been two years?!?! I keep saying this, but it's more and more evident every day that time is just getting away from me! It really does seem like just yesterday that we were holding this sweet, dark-haired little boy and feeling just slightly overwhelmed at the prospects of having two kids so close! I can honestly say that, thus far, it (usually) hasn't been as hard as I expected it to be!

How could it be difficult with such a cute little guy to love?!?!

Here are some things about Caleb:

• He is a busy, busy boy! He moves from one moment of curiosity to the next moment of mischief with the speed of a cheetah! Trying to keep up with this boy is next to impossible!
• He has been affectionately nick-named Caleb the Tornado. Grandma L. gave him this name after staying with him for a few days last year.
• He loves to be outside. He would live out there if I would let him
• He loves to eat pretzels, raisins, yogurt (which he calls low-gurt), popcorn, jellybeans, bananas, granola bars (knowns as ah-la bars)...ok, so he likes to eat - period!
• He likes to chew on the corners of one certain blanket, which has almost completely destroyed it!
• He is very particular about his bed-time routine. He will not settle down without his 3 favorite blankets, his giraffe, and his bear. And he always tries to get extra stuff - like toys, his sippy cup, books, etc.
• He is quite the chatter box and is very loud - especially when he's crying!
• He can already identify Maceys and Wal-Mart before we even get there!
• He is quite the charmer - he really knows how to use his big eyes to his advantage!

I could go on and on about this boy! He is truly a unique, enjoyable, lovable kid! We love you very much little Caleb! We are so glad you're a part of our family. Life just wouldn't be the same without you!

Spring Happenings

RESOURCEFUL

(toys double as step stools)

CREATIVE

(new uses for hard-boiled eggs)

ARTISTIC

(Easter egg hands)

BUSY, BUSY BOY

(wearing Emily's shoes)

THOROUGHLY CAREFUL

(more color on the egg than on hands)

TOOTHLESS

(no top teeth)

INNOCENTLY IMPISH

(no explanation needed)

MUSICAL

(orchestra concert - a terrific violin player)

(sorry for the horrible picture)

Fish Food For Thought

Josh brought two goldfish home from a birthday party last week. Not the crackers. The real deal! {Mental note: never send pets home as a parting gift! Oh yeah, I'd never do that in the first place!}

They have become quite the fascination, at least for Rachel and Caleb.

They always love to look at them, so I lower the bucket down several times a day for them to get their looksies.

It just so happens that on one of their looksies, I discovered one of the little guys was laying on his side, not moving.

I sent him to the big fishbowl in the sky {location: sewer ponds west of town via the toilet} and Emily and Josh got upset that I didn't feed him to the cats!

Afterward I changed the water, thinking that the bigger fish would appreciate not having to swim in dead fishy water. Wouldn't you?!?

In the process he flipped out of the grabber thingy onto the counter and laid there stiff as a board. I thought I was going to have to explain to Josh how both fish had died in one day.

But alas, the little guy perked right up once he got scooted back into the water! PHEW!

Later that same day, during the 30 seconds that I ran to the mailbox, Rachel managed to climb onto the counter, retrieve the fish food, run to the hall, open the lid, and scatter the smelly flakes from one end to the other. When she realized I had discovered her actions, she and Caleb began furiously shoving handfuls of the food into their mouths. ICK! ICK! SOOOO ICKY!!

I did manage to get things cleaned up.

ICK!! ICK!! ICK!!!

Sooo Sleepy

You know you're tired when you fall asleep with a bite of breadstick still in your mouth!

Just can't let it go - it's so tasty!

Oh no, it's falling out!

Oh well - too tired!!

Caleb's Adventures

Anyone who knows Caleb knows what a B.U.S.Y. boy he is. He really never stops until he falls asleep, and he only knows two speeds: fast and faster!! He also doesn't have the best balance and we're constantly picking him up after bouncing off walls, tripping over his own feet, and falling off chairs.

Case in point: while playing at his favorite drawer in the kitchen, gravity got the best of him and he managed to fall onto the corner of the open drawer. This is what he looked like as we headed out the door for stitches.

Thankfully by this point the bleeding had mostly stopped. But the doc thought a couple stitches would help the resulting scar to be a little less conspicuous. Jared said he tied a ton of knots in the stitches. Caleb was a real trooper!

This is what he looked like when we got home. Can you see what's wrong?

That's right - there are no stitches in that lip!!! He managed to get them out some time during the 15 minutes it took us to get home!!

By this time, the doctor's office was closed. So we had to call the on-call service. It happened that the same doc was on call and still at the office, so he told us to come back.

This time he used glue. And it worked!

For about 12 hours!

By the next morning, Caleb had pulled off the glue and made the cut start bleeding again!

So now his lip just gets to heal however it wants, and someday he'll be able to tell his kids about the scar!

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

I have to get this off my chest - please don't hate me for it!

I really dislike Sundays. Really.

But it really has nothing to do with the Sabbath part of things. It's just that it seems like everything that can go wrong does go wrong! Every problem, emotion, and mess is magnified by what seems like 1000%!

Jared told me he loves Sundays, and I almost punched him! Of course it has nothing to do with the fact that he's more of a spectator to all of our "bliss" than he is a participator. {I'm typing this with the nicest of feelings, honestly! I love him to death and am so thankful is he worthy to get to go to so many meetings and watch us with a smile on his face from the stand! And when he's home, he really does do more than his fair share.}

I've been told {by someone who loves me very much, and is wise beyond his years} that I should record some of these moments, so that I won't forget about them {though I'd like to!} and can go back and laugh at them one day {can't wait for that day}. So, here goes...and feel free to laugh along!

Yesterday, the beginning of all our bliss: as we're ready to walk out the door to church, Emily decides that she's going to throw a fit {read: the biggest meltdown you've ever seen} because I, the cruel mother that I am, reminded her that she needed to put tights on! She went off screaming about how she hates to wear those shoes because they're too tight, and they fall off, and blah blah blah! I didn't recall telling her that she needed to wear a specific pair of shoes, so I told her to just wear her other shoes, to which she screamed that she couldn't find one of them! After 5 minutes of screaming and being frantic, she finally joined us in the van, wearing the shoes that are too tight, that fall off, blah blah blah. I asked her what her plan was before she was re-told that she needed tights. She didn't really have one! She went to church red-faced, teary-eyed and quite huffy! But thankfully she calmed down.

During Sacrament meeting - the continuation of our bliss: I had to take Caleb out to the foyer because he was being a stinker {read: nothing in the entire chapel would have satisfied him, because he's missing out on his nap}. Thankfully, I have a friend and her husband who sit on the bench with us, and they are LITERALLY my lifesavers. I would be in the foyer all the time without them! When I came back in, I couldn't see Rachel anywhere. As I sat down, I saw that she was laying under the bench in front of us, having herself a little Cheerio party. That, in and of itself, was not a problem. Caleb again wasn't satisfied with anything, so I put him on the floor. He headed to Rachel and joined in on the party. Within a matter of 10 seconds, the entire Cheerio container was emptied onto the floor {including all the powder at the bottom} and the Cheerios were scattered all over the place! I quickly got Caleb off the floor and told Josh to get down there and help Rachel pick up the Cheerios. I focused my attention on Caleb, to get him quiet, and then checked on the Cheerio party. I guess Josh was hungry, because instead of cleaning up, he was eating the Cheerios! Emily either wanted to be helpful or wanted in on the party, because she got down on the floor with them also! Who knew Sacrament meeting could be so much fun?!?! They managed to take care of every single Cheerio, and only the powder on the floor was left as evidence of their little party!

20 minutes before church ends, another moment of bliss {although this one I can, and did, laugh at} - The nursery leader brought Caleb into primary because he was poopy. He instantly screamed "Mommy" in his happiest voice when he saw me. Ok, so maybe it hasn't been such a cruddy day after all! I changed him, and decided to just keep him with me, since there were just a few minutes of church left. I stood up in the back, near a lady who teaches the oldest class of girls in primary. She and her husband are training a dog to be a seeing-eye dog, so the dog was laying on the floor at her feet, sleeping away. Caleb saw the dog and instantly went into his I'm-a-little-unsure-of-this-situation mode: he forces a really loud, high pitched laugh, all the while clinging to me as hard as he can! This made all the kids laugh, which made him laugh some more...can you see where this is going?!? He just kept on laughing, pointing, and woof-woofing until the closing prayer was said. I was sort of embarrassed, but mostly enjoying myself, because he was getting such a great reaction from everyone - adults included! How can you not love that?

As I read back through this, I'm wondering what the big deal was! The total time of absolute mania couldn't have been more than, say, an hour! I'll save the details of the rest of the afternoon/evening for another time. I'm sure you're laughing too hard to read any further, and I wouldn't want you to miss a thing!

New Room, New Ears, New Smile

It's been a pretty eventful month for us so far! Emily has a newly redone room, complete with freshly painted walls, chair rail, and a new quilt.

Caleb has "new" ears after getting tubes put in on Tuesday (the 5th). He had a lot of fun playing around while we were waiting for surgery - had everyone in love with him! Everything went well, and we can already tell there's a huge difference in him! Isn't he just the cutest?!?!
And Josh finally lost the tooth he'd been working on all Christmas break! It fell out during math (on the 4th) and he got a big thumbs up from his teacher! Now he kind of looks like a vampire who's missing his vampire teeth!!

December Happenings

Some of the things we did during December:

Jared, Emily and I took a trip to SL to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert. It was fun to see Grandma and James singing! We gave the choir two thumbs up, and Natalie Cole was less than impressive...sorry Natalie! Here we are waiting in the freezing cold before the doors were opened.

Emily had her very first orchestra concert. She started playing the violin this school year, and she is picking it up so fast! She really has a lot of talent for music. She sure has learned a lot in 3 short months! It was neat to hear everyone play together - there were over 3o0 kids up there on that stage! An amazing logistical feat! I promise she's in this picture somewhere towards the right side!

We also went to see Santa Claus. Rachel has been completely fascinated with the concept of Santa, and talks about him like they're best friends! One day she told us all, with complete and utter excitement, "Ho Ho's getting happy at me!!" When it came time for the real thing, however, she was a bit more reserved!! Thankfully she didn't freak out, but you can tell she's nervous because she's chewing on her coat!

Caleb, who is Mr. Friendly, was more than happy to go sit on the lap of this strange man dressed in a very bright red suit with a fuzzy, shaggy thing hanging on his face! He was just as happy as could be the whole time, and even had a great big grin on his face! I wasn't able to capture any smiling, though, because I had nervous Rachel hanging on my leg!

And Emily and Josh were more than happy to tell one more person everything they wanted for Christmas, and to get a free candy cane for doing it!

We had an extended Ripplinger family Christmas, where Josh managed to get a goose egg on his head, and upon arriving home, Rachel was one big rash from head to toe! Never did figure out the cause, but thankfully it went away with a dose of Benadryl.

We also had a Larsen family Christmas party at Grandma and Grandpa Farnworth's house. It was fun to get together, but we missed not having Greg and his family there. Within 5 minutes, the kids had re-arranged all the Christmas presents into piles of presents that belonged to each child! We ate some delicious prime rib, and had fun playing in Grandma Farnworth's toys. Here are the kids dressed up in a wig that I remember playing with as a kid!

I made a promise to my mom that I would not post the picture of her posing with the wig on, and I intend to keep that promise! {but if you'd like to see, let me know and I'll email it to you!!}

We also made and decorated a gingerbread mansion! Jared almost burst into laughter when he saw how big the pieces of the house were! Hey - this is my first time ever making houses out of anything besides graham crackers! Cut me some slack! But seriously, it was huge!

And to wrap up the month, we saw a live nativity on Christmas Eve, opened a lot of presents on Christmas day, and reflected on just how thankful we are that our Savior came to earth as a precious baby all those years ago!

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!!