Merry Christmas from the Lavenders

Monster!!

Well it is official. There is no longer a sweet little boy living in our home. He is now been possessed by the monster that tends to show up just before children turn three years old. It has been two weeks of tantrums, pouting, growling in my face, scowling, crying at the smallest thing, and waking up screaming from naps and in a horrible mood. I really hope I survive this because my patience is really thin right now being almost 9 months pregnant. Timeouts seem to have no effect. He goes in timeout and stays there just fine and then goes right back to the bad behaviour. He is also getting very aggressive. He throws toys (big ones that hurt) and hits everyone in swinging distance. Emma is taking the brunt of it. I was not expecting this kind of behaviour until after the baby is born. I hope we both survive. I miss my sweet boy!

Emma is 5!

I forgot to post Emma's birthday pictures so here they are. It was so easy this year. She just walked in and smiled unlike last year when it took me 45 minutes to convince her to walk into the room. They turned out great which made it very hard to choose.

 

She chose to wear her favorite skirt/leggings/and new boots.

That's my pink and purple girl!

Emma and her Joy School friends

Santa Claus Came to Town

Joy School Christmas Party

For FHE this past Monday we met as a Joy School for their Christmas party. The girls had been practicing for the last couple of weeks the nativity and some Christmas songs. They did a great job acting out the story and sang so well. Emma was a Shepherd again this year. James still not want to participate like some of the other siblings but he will get his turn next year when he is in Joy School.

 

Emma - shepherd, Lily - Mary, Kora - angel, Kate - Joseph, Brooke - Wise man

 

 

After their program and songs we had a visitor. Emma and James were very nervous when he came in again (He is very tall). Emma even tried to sneak over and get a candy cane without having to sit on his lap but we cleared that right up. No lap, no candy cane, what mean parents she has, you have to earn that candy cane.  When James heard this and Santa's lap was open he ran right up to Santa and climbed on up. He was so cute and so excited. What a change from last year (see below).

 



 

Bet you can't guess what he asked for? You got it a car!

 



Santa has gone digital, no more paper list. It's all on his phone and he was in contact with one of his elf's up in the North Pole the whole time too. He must have a bad memory because he now has the kids scan their finger on his phone to identify them and let them know whether they have been good or bad. It was so fun to watch their faces in anticipation of the results. James has been good. One or two of the other boys were not so lucky. Santa had them try the other finger and it was good. So they have some work to do before Christmas.

 



Last year!

 

Emma was still nervous but did sit on his lap. She asked for a pony. Santa was a little worried until he asked if a My Little Pony would work and she said yes. He said that's good because it's really hard to get the other kind to cooperate in the sleigh.

 

Emma also got her finger scanned. I will try and post the video.

 



 

Merry Christmas!

 

Lavender Family 2012

Another month is over

I can't believe November is done and another year is about to end. Wow, it goes fast. Well we tried a new thing for the month of November to try and teach our kids just how much they really have to be thankful for. They really need to work on coming up with new things to say in their prayers so we had made a thankful poster. Every night at dinner everyone had to come up with one thing they were thankful for and there could be no repeats. Emma was able to do it most nights by herself and I was surprised that even James could come up with some as well. He did need some help because he would usually say he was thankful for dinner every night even though he wasn't eating any of it. We would remind him that dinner was all ready up there and then he would come up with something else and then he would.

 

Our completed poster

 



 

For December we will be doing a countdown to Christmas by reading a scripture about Christ everyday at dinner. Here is our countdown chain.

 

Emma begged everyday since Thanksgiving to put up the Christmas tree saying we were the only family that didn't all ready have theirs up. We finally go it up Nov. 30th which was much too late according to Emma.



And now pictures of what you have all been waiting for: NOVEMBEARD!

 

Here is Quinn with proof that he can grow a beard after a full month of growth. The funny this is it comes in mostly red and now with a little gray. Enjoy because it is gone now.

 



The Zoo Again

The last Wednesday of November we made a quick trip up the zoo on free day to get a look at their new polar bear. I called first and made sure that she would be out, we didn't want to be disappointed again. We had a great time on a another beautiful day.

 

The elephants are one of the kids favorites.

 

 

The sea lions and seals are so much fun to watch. These two were having a great time playing.

 



 

Finally we got to meet Rizzo the polar bear. She was so much fun and knew how to play to the crowd. She would dive in the water, swim up the the window and them push away and float on her back and then do it all over again. It was really crowded because it was a free day so my pictures are not very good.

 



 

This guy fell asleep just as we pulled off the freeway and for once he let me pick him up and lay him back down on the couch to finish a short nap. I just wish it could have been me.

 



Birthday Celebrations and a Black Friday Scare

Emma had a great birthday month with her celebrations with the family fairly spread out. At the Lavenders sharing the spotlight with cousin Tanner.

 

Princess candy land game and puzzles.

 



 

These art supplies should keep her busy for about a week or so.

 



CAKE!

 

At the Van Bibbers sharing with Grandpa.



 

New boots.

 



 

Grandma made Emma a very cute quilt for her big bed.

 



 

A rocket! (they love it)

 

More pinkalicious cupcakes.

 

 

And now for the tell of Emma's black Friday birthday. At two a.m. I (Laura) woke up with a horrible pain on my right side. I tried for two hours to get it to subside so I could go back to sleep by rotating ice and heat but nothing worked and it continued to get worse. By four a.m. I could not take it any longer and woke Quinn for a blessing after which he said to call the doctor. I called my OB not sure if this was preterm labor or not and he said to head up to McKay Dee Hospital and get check out in labor and delivery. A big thank you to Quinn's Mom who came right over to sit with the kids. It was a very long drive to Ogden that morning. We arrived a little after 5 a.m. and started the process of getting registered and checked out. It seemed to take for ever. The nurse hooked me up to the monitors to see if I was having contractions which it did not look like I was but it was a little hard to tell because I was in so much pain I could not sit still. The good news was that the baby's heart rate was good and she was very active (good for her but not for me, she only kicked me on the right side that morning for some reason).

 

Eventually after a through exam in which Quinn had to leave to get a breather did she rule out pre-term labor and suggested it might be a kidney stone. So they sent me down to the ER where I had to get checked in all over again. While waiting for a nurse and the doctor in our room I was in so much pain still that I either paced or sat straight up in a chair not moving with my eyes closed just trying to  breath through it. They tried to get me to lie down but it hurt too much. Eventually I got my IV and some morphine but it only helped for about 10 minutes before the pain got bad again. They sent me for an ultrasound where I had to try really really hard to lie still so she could perform it but the results ended up not showing anything. A second dose of morphine helped only slightly. By the time the doctor came back with all these results it was now around ten a.m. and I was finally starting to feel the pain subside. He said there wasn't anything they could really do because I was pregnant but I may have already passed the stone if I was feeling better. It also could have been a blockage or a kidney infection. So they just released me and sent me home with pain meds and antibiotics.  Some black Friday, the hospital didn't even offer us a discount on our copay or prescriptions.

 

Well after 8 hours of intense pain and only two hours of sleep we got home around noon to wish Emma a happy birthday. Quinn was kind enough to whisk the kids off to McDonald's for lunch and to play for a while so I could rest. When they got home we let Emma open her presents.

  

 

One tired Mom.

 



 

It was a princess birthday. Princess dolls, princess lip gloss, princess slippers, and a princess tea set.

 



 

Happy Birthday Emma! We love our 5 year old girl.

 

(It is now Tuesday and I am still feeling good. There has been no more intense pain thankgoodness. I am just back to regular pregnancy back aches. We are so greatful that it was not preterm labor and that Mia is still safe and well and growing inside me and not in the NICU.)

Tracey Aviary

Last Wednesday Quinn had the day off to attend the funeral of his Great Aunt so when he got home we decided to take advantage of a free day at the Tracey Aviary. We had a great time in the hour that we had before they closed.