Turn out the lights, the party's over...

The Nativity
Isaac coming with his loot
Ruthie with her booty
Sammy happy with his new treasures
Jennie enjoying the new red laptop

Whew! That was crazy. I love Christmas, it's my very most favorite time of year. But there comes a time that it's all too much. It's usually in the thick of all the paper and boxes and plastic and those dumb wire things that hold all the limbs of every action figure and all the legs of the doll table in to place lying all over the house, that I wonder, "What in the world just happened???" Christmas night in our house looked like 3 tornadoes came ripping through, several bombs loaded with TNT went off and perhaps even an earthquake or two shook the ground. It took me hours on Wednesday to clean it up and we almost filled our 2 outside trash cans. Although, cleaning a house with a dad trying to set up a new computer and 3 kiddos still discovering all the many sides of each of their treasures, is like cleaning up during a cyclone. It finally got done, though, to my great relief and the house is almost back to normal. I am waiting for Daniel to take down the tree, then everything goes back downstairs.

That said, I guess I should let you know how our Christmas was. It was wonderful! We spent the weekend passing out neighbor gifts and getting all the gifts wrapped and ready for the big day. Christmas Eve we started our day at 5:50 am. We cleaned the house, got all the necessary stuff together, opened 1 present each, made some salsa for dinner (which didn't turn out so great!) and packed up the car and drove to Sandy in the blizzard that hit just when we left, to spend the evening at my parents' house for festivities. We spent the evening with my family having dinner and then the annual production of The Nativity, which all the grandkids star in, then opening all the gifts from Abbie and Poppy and cousins. Then we left in time for a new batch of snow to come down on our hour drive home. Usually the long drive is enough to put the kiddos to sleep, but for some reason, no one went to sleep on this drive home! All the excitement was too much.

Christmas morning was too exciting to start any time past 6:30 am. Luckily, they were all so tired from being up late the night before that they slept till then! So we trecked out to the tree with the video rolling and they all found the right pile and dove in. In all the excitement I forgot to take pictures!! Then Daniel lined my gifts up in the order he wanted me to open them. I got cutting boards, a knife sharpener (I think he is trying to tell me something) and a kitchen fire extinguisher (he said he remembers me saying I wanted something red) then a pair of red earrings (now we're talking) from Sparklecove (my best friend Amie) and then a box with a red mouse in it. So I think he got me my own mouse for the old decrepid thing we call a computer. Then the last was a computer program for laptops. YES!! Isaac took my hand and led me to where one last present was...A red laptop. My very own!! (that's why it's taken to long to get a post on here...I have to figure everything out!) Then he pulled out a new family computer! Yes!! So after all the hullabaloo, we had to get dressed and head back down to Sandy for dinner at my parents' house. Yummy Ham and potatoes and rolls and all the soda you could drink (thank you Albertson's and Harmon's). After a while we headed to Kaysville to see Daniel's parents. We saw a couple of his siblings and their families and stayed to visit for a bit. The longer we stayed away from the destruction at home the better! But the yawning started to happen more frequently, so we headed home. Aaahhh...sleep!

Everyone slept till almost 7 am, a record at our house. Then the cleanup began! Since we are out of school till next Wednesday and still have another celebration to live through, we are just staying at home and enjoying the snow. Speaking of, it's coming down right now. We are partied out, late night-ed out, Early morning-ed out and are just enjoying a nice vacation.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town.

Santa and his helper came to visit. They brought treats and cute (noisy) snowmen for the kids. Now we will be listening to Jingle Bells over and over. Christmas is SO FUN and so close!!!

(Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!)

The Long Awaited Pictures...

Our "Mary" at the Joy School program.

4 generations...Me, Abbie, Meme and Ruthann.

Grandma, Grandpa & Ruthann

Kiddos playing in front of the Conference Center waterfall

Sam's Letter to Jesus

Catch up on us.

We are days away from the "Big Day" and, actually, I think everything is ready to go. So I thought I would catch up on what has been happening here. We had some computer problems and had to switch to another form of getting to all our info. I know, I know, I don't explain it well because I am so not the computer person in the family! So I can't get the pictures off the camera to put on here, is my point. When I get Daniel in the appropriate position tonight, I will have him show me what I have been doing wrong, or whatever it is that is keeping me from figuring it out. I thought I had it, darn.

Saturday we had Ruthie's Joy School Christmas program. They sang songs, did the Nativity where Ruthie was "Mary", then we had cookies and juice. Grandma and grandpa (Daniel's mom and dad) came, and Abbie and Meme (my mom and grandma) came. We took pictures, but, alas, I cannot get to them now. We got a great 4 generation picture that turned out really nice. (Pictures will show at a later time...)

On Sunday at church, Sam drew a picture of a rainbow and smiley face and wrote "Sam" and "Jezis". He said that it's a picture for Jesus, from Sam, and that I need to get it to Jesus. Ruthie drew a picture and said I need to send it to Heavenly Father. It's nice to know they think I have those kinds of connections, so I think I will tuck the pictures away to give to them when they're older. (Picture to follow..)

Ruthie likes to wear those plastic princess high heels. Whoever invented those should be required to wear plastic high heeled shoes everyday. She constantly slips, but keeps wearing them! I guess maybe the person who bought them should be shot, too. As she came running out of the kitchen this morning, she slid and landed on her tuckus and said, "I almost forgot about the landing!" Then got up and continued on her way. I guess she's used to falling and must forget that it happens every time she has those shoes on! She cracks me up with all the little sayings she picks up from her Strawberry Shortcake movies and other shows.

Monday night we went to Temple Square. We got to pick Daniel up from work and go to dinner, then get bundled up for the cold. It was surprisingly nice out there. The crowds were very small and had just picked up when we left shortly after 7. The nice thing about Daniel working for the church is that we always have free parking in the Conference Center lot. Can't beat free parking in Salt Lake. (Pictures forthcoming...)

That's quite a bit and yet not really so much. I am not doing Christmas cards this month, in case you were expecting one. I never have my act together enough to do them. My plan is that January will bring our family update by mail. (But then again, maybe not.)

Merry Christmas, everyone!

The Sarajune Project

In my last post, my friend, Andrea, said "happy 15 months down" in the comments. I guess I should qualify that with a short update on our wait for Sarajune. Andrea, Kim and Leanne and I are moms (and moms to be) waiting for our babies from China. I thought that when we started our paperwork in January of 2006, that we would have our baby in our arms by spring of 2007. Here we are in winter of 2007 and still no baby in sight. In fact, I feel completely out of touch when it comes to babies...my baby now is 4 years old! It is looking like another long winter, spring, summer, fall, winter, spring, summer...you get the picture...of waiting. China has slowed down for several reasons. I think the biggest reasons are the Hague Convention that went into effect in China and domestic adoption in China. The 2008 Beijing Olympics and scandals in one of China's international adoption Provinces, have been mentioned as reasons, but I don't think they are key in much of anything right now. So basically we are on China's time table and with the current trends, we may be waiting until 2010 before we see another baby in our home.

The great thing is, I know that this is all part of the plan that Heavenly Father has for our family. After a really rotten summer of crying and second guessing and depression, I have received the peace I need to keep going with our wait. We are going to the right place, have done all the right stuff and she will come at the right time. I am grateful for Daniel and for his strength and patience with me as he is having a hard time with the wait, too. I am so grateful for my kids. They keep me busy and happy and exhausted and excited every day. When Sarajune gets to our family, she better be ready for the experience of a lifetime...but then again we are living the experience of a lifetime everyday.

Happy 15 months Andrea, Kim and Leanne. We are getting closer to our babies every month!

Take out the papers and the trash...

All the junk!
The junk and it's creators!

Clean Ruthie closet
and clean Isaac and Sammy closet! Every once in a while I realize that my kiddos have been pack-ratting. I didn't even take "before" pictures because it was way too embarrasing! How can such little people create so much junk? I really don't know, but I think they get it from their father. I found Doritos and money and dirty underwear and socks and so many other treasures under beds and in closets. I pulled out the big guns and threw tons away before the boys got home from school...I don't know that they will even realize that half their stuff is gone! That's a lot of trash for just 2 relatively small closets. And there is only 1 bed (bunkbed) and a toddler bed to put stuff under. Now we have room for all the stuff they get for Christmas! Oh joy! I just know it looks and feels much better and I am exhausted. It's a darn good thing they are so cute! I might just have thrown them out with the junk. Maybe a brownie will help me feel better...

Abbie's Christmas Cookie Party

 Last night was "Abbie's Christmas Cookie Party". All the grandchildren wore their aprons that Abbie made for them and they frosted and decorated tons of sugar cookies. They then proceeded to run amuck until someone threw up! They had tons of fun and we even have some cookies left over that we got to bring home. Luckily no one has asked for their cookie plate this morning. Daniel just did what he does best...pose for silly pictures with food. Thank you, Abbie, for a fun, cookie filled night!

Oohhh! I did it!!

I actually put pictures on! Yahoo! Yippee! Talleyho! YIKES! I don't know if I will ever get some on again. I do need to warn the faint of tummy. I put a picture (small put graphic) at the bottom of the snow day post. If you don't want to look, don't. Just remember, I had to live through that! Hey, it's really not that bad. Many of you have had babies, right?? Ok, not that bad. Trust me. Enjoy!

Snow Day

It snowed and snowed and snowed. We don't get near as much snow as a nearby city, just to the east of us, but we got a nice bit today. So the kids went out and built snow balls. Isaac and Sam just rolled and rolled until they had some really nice sized snowballs. These ones aren't as big as they eventually got. Ruthie just rolled a little and then added to her snowball by hand. They had tons of fun out there. Speaking of hands... here is my left hand right after they took the dressing off almost 2 weeks ago. It really looks so much better now. The stitches are out and the swelling and bruising are about gone.

Blog, Frankenstein and Santa

I think it's time to start inviting people to come see my blog. I set it all up, wrote my first post and only told Laurie (my sister) to come see it. I suppose it won't really be a blog until people come visit me. I know I still don't have pictures. I am working on that one.

I had Carpal Tunnel release surgery on November 21 on my left hand. Yes, the day before Thanksgiving...I didn't have to cook, clean up, do dishes or remember anything...I was on some seious Lortab. I finally went to get my stitches out the other day and when the surgeon came in to check on everything, he said that my nerve was embedded up in the fleshy part of my thumb, so he had to dig it out and put it where it belongs. WOW! I thought I was just being a big baby about not having ANY strength and a lot of pain. Now I can be a big baby and have a darn good reason. It still looks like the hand of Frankenstein, but it is getting much better looking, and the bruising is really going down. I have the total use (except for the left thumb part) of both hands without any numbness or tingling or nerve pain. I love it! Now I just need to improve my handwriting skills.

Tonight Daniel and I have a sitter, so we are going to dinner then do some Christmas shopping. I don't think, in the 9 years we have known each other, that we have ever been all out Christmas shopping together. Isaac has been putting it all together over the last years and "knows" that we are "santa". This morning during breakfast, he asked what we were going to do on our date. I reminded him of what he already knew. He then proceeded to wink at me. It was hilarious. I have a secret that can't be shared and he's in on it. I know I will have to do a lot of "I can't tell you" and "I don't know where the presents are" and I can't remember what santa got you" in the morning. I really need to look for some better present hiding places.

So now on to the inviting...

First real post...

Well I guess this is my first real post on my blog. Well, except for the "I need to see if this will really work" hello below. I have been meaning to start a blog for a while and just haven't gotten the guts or the time to do it. So we will begin now. I really have no idea what I'm doing, so this is trial and error for a bit.

Here's my introduction... We are currently a family of 5...Daniel is the dad, I, Jennie, am the mom and our entourage consists of Isaac, Samuel and Ruthann. We are waiting for another daughter from China, Sarajune, and the wait seems to get longer everyday. Which brings me to the name of this blog. "With 6 You Get Eggroll" is a Doris Day movie. Not my most favorite, but "Pillow Talk", I think, would put this in a non-family-friendly forum. But I do love the harriedness of motherhood for Doris, uh, Abby, in the movie. Plus I just love the fact that when Sarajune gets here, we will be a family of 6, and that's exciting enough to warrant eggroll! So on we go with life in our house!

Hello

Hello out there...