Happy CHRISTMAS!

What a sweet family we have been blessed with.Emmett getting one of many, many kisses.

The girls got Fur Real pets from Santa, a bird that squacks and flaps its wings, and a chimp that makes monkey noises and moves its arms. I don't know, don't ask me.

I think she is excited!

We have a few differences at our Christmas. The major thing (a few people don't like it, but we think it is a dang good idea) is that Santa only brings 0ne present, which is generally small. First, since Santa has unlimited resources, and should conceivably be able to give any gift (since he's the biggest pirate of all, violating patent laws left and right with nearly every present he gives) this limits what the girls can ask Santa for. The second thing it does is allow the kids to be able to express gratitude to Mom and Dad for their other gifts. It is nearly impossible to thank Santa, so they can continue to learn to appreciate what they receive and show appropriate thankfulness. The girls did have a great Christmas, and we are all doing well, sitting at home waiting for school to start so we have something to do.

On a side note to legends and seeming strokes of genius. Like Santa Claus, we have another home invader. He has taken up residence in the attic, and there is no telling when he will grace us with his presence. He is known as the much feared "toy monster". The toy monster eats toys. He is small, about the size of a purse dog, has an excellent sense of smell but is nearly blind. He sleeps all day and he can't jump. Sometimes he will stumble through the house late at night when the kids are asleep. Thankfully he is deathly scared of people so he won't go in a room where people are sleeping, but any toys left out may fall prey to him. He tends to leave clothes alone, but for some reason dress up clothes he finds quite tasty! He has huge appetite and there is no telling how much he would eat if given the opportunity. He isn't clever and could never find a way into a toy box. There are a few toys that are to big to eat, such as the girls lego table, and box. For this reason I suspect he would only put a large hole in any dress up clothes, but the girls have yet to leave anything out to discover the capacity of his appetite. If you ever happen across one, I highly recommend you take him home with you and give him a home in an uninhabited portion of your home, they can live just about anywhere!

Four down...

Here is our handsome little boy. He was smiling, and we were trying to get a shot of his dimples so these were with my phone, and the resolution isn't the best, but when your that good looking it doesn't matter.Emmett discovered his tongue.

I think he was a little annoyed that my phone was in his face, maybe that is why he stopped smiling.
It looks like a cry, but really its a yawn. For some reason he just wants to sleep and eat. Lazy bugger.

This is the picture I meant to post of Carol's back after five epidural attempts. This was taken the day she got home, and you can see, it was a little tender for a while.
AND
Yeah, one more semester down. Counting summer that makes four semesters down and only 68 credit hours to go, oh that is depressing. Anyway, I read and graded the last of my papers this morning, sent in my grades, had my last final on Wednesday, and I am just waiting to get my grades.

The World we live in...

What an amazing world we live in. The other day after Emmett had come home, I was watching some silly cartoon with Jess and Maren. Maren wanted to hold Emmett, so I had her sit next to me, while she held him. After about 10 seconds she usually tires of having to sit in the same spot with Carol or me curled up around her ready to take him away if she moves in the wrong way. This time she was totally content to just sit and watch the show snuggled between the two of us. Then I realized why she was so content. The little stinker had zonked out. So there I was, Emmett asleep on Maren, Maren asleep on me and Carol was gone. What was I to do, but whip out the camera phone and take some quick pictures. That is just the first example of the crazy world we are in. It is really kind of mind boggling to think that I have this tiny little piece of plastic in my pocket that can do so much. The next example is from Emmett's wonderful arrival. As I may have mentioned the anesthesiologist kept hitting veins and having to pull out the catheter. Five times she poked my wife in the back with a needle the size of a small child's arm. Carol wanted to have a look at it but the mirror wasn't giving her the angle she wanted so I took a picture for her to see, and then a few days later took another one to compare. It looks like it hurts a lot. And I am pretty sure Carol would confirm it did. Fortunately it was well worth it when it came to choosing between that and the delivery pains. This is about 5 days after Carol came home from the hospital.

And finally, today, I was sitting at the kitchen table leafing through a magazine while Carol went to pick up Cora. Not much was going on, Emmett was sleeping (he does that a lot), Maren was playing toys, and Jess was watching Robin Hood (the Disney cartoon). Again, I wasn't paying much attention, I had noticed that it had come to the end of the big battle following the archery tournament and the "Love Goes On and On" song was playing. Then I notice Jess stand up. She slowly walked to the T.V. put her little hands around it, one on the side and one under neath, as far as she could spread her arms. Placed her feet on the T.V. stand to get a little more height, and hugged the T.V. snuggling her little cheek right up against the screen. I was agast. I had no idea what to do or think. Then she turns and kissed the T.V. Again, I did not know what she was doing, and unfortunately was not thinking enough to pull out my phone and take a picture or a video. It was one of the funniest and most shocking things she has ever done. I can only assume it was the movie and the song that she was so enthralled with that it would move her to such action. I am a little nervous that she is already very romantically inclined. If that is the case, sappy chick flicks are going to be the least of my problems once she truly notices boys. With that in mind, if she ever does that again, I will be ready. On a short aside, usually the T.V. is strictly off limits to little hands. The girls have watched me wipe off their smudges before, and they no better, which is part of what so caught me off guard. Still, I think that will always bring a smile to my face.

Welcome Emmett

After the bath, which he did not like at all.

Apparently sleep deprivation leeches the color out of my eyes.

On par for one of our babies (6.1, 7.8, 7.4, and now 7.5)

Your SON Mommy!
There are very few instances of crying so far. Hopefully that lasts for a long time!

What a long day. Well as most know, Carol was induced yesterday. We woke up at 6:00, got ready and left the house around 7:00. We got to the hospital around 7:30. They got Carol all checked in and then Dr. Dooley showed up and checked Carol. Carol was only a 1, so they gave her a pill that can be administered orally or vaginally. That started contractions pretty regularly. Around 12:00 they checked her again and she was a 3. They then started her on pitosin. Around 6:30 the anesthesiologist came in to give her an epidural. They could have come in earlier, but there was a c section and the anesthesiologist had to be in there for that. So they numbed Carol. Poked her, put in the catheter, and found blood. Started again, found blood. Again, found blood. Again, found blood. Finally on the fifth poke and cath, they were able to get her set. In the mean time, since the anesthesiologist was in surgery, Carol's nurse had given her another anesthetic. That made her sleepy. So Carol was pretty much out of it for most of the poking. Around, 10 oclock, Carols Dr. checked her again and she was at a 9. I was sitting on a chair, thinking okay, another half hour or so, when the nurse comes in and starts setting up. Then she another nurse, and another, and another, and Dr. Dooley. So apparantly you can have a baby at a 9. Carol pushed throught three contractions and his head was out then came his body and well you know the rest. He was 7.5 lbs. 19 inches, and was born at 10:17. He and mommy are both doing well. Thanks everyone for their prayers and well wishes.
-Josh

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIZ

Well, our little girl is now 6! It is hard to believe that Carol and I became parents 6 years ago. I still remember getting a 3 am wake up call when Carol's water broke. Now some how 6 years have passed. She had a good birthday. Carol made her favorite breakfast, German Pancakes, we brought her lunch at school and ate with her, then brought her and her class doughnuts. Finally we had chicken alfredo for dinner and cake and ice cream. Carol did a great job on Dora, even if she does look slightly caucasian. Our family tradition has been to open presents early in the morning around breakfast.
Cora was also lucky enough to have Grandma Rabbit here (she is going to take care of the girls while Carol is in the hospital) as well as abolita. They spent the day together at the Dallas museum of art. Then came back for dinner. We also had a few of the neighbors over for cake and ice cream around 7. All in all a full day. Happy birthday our sweet little Cora Liz. We love you.
-Josh

Oh happy day!!

Today was a really good day! I had another weekly checkup with my doctor.....and so to make a short story even shorter, I am going to be induced (is that how you spell it?) next Friday!!!!!! I can not begin to describe how relieving it is to have a date. I only have seven more days of this and then I am completely done. And best of all, everything is working out to how I had planned it (so far). It's not very often that Heavenly Father's plans coincide with mine. Let's hope that things continue to workout so well. So, around this time next week I will be un-pregnant and holding my baby boy. I'll be sure to have Josh post pictures when he gets a chance. Wish me luck.

nothing new to report

The title says it all......I wish I could post some pictures of Emmett, but I don't have any. Why you ask???? Because I am STILL pregnant. Can you tell that I am getting a bit anxious? I am hoping that he makes his appearance next week in time for my moms' stay with us. My doctor however, wouldn't be too sad if I waited until the week of thanksgiving. Um, I think not. Anyone have any suggestions on how to get this little guy out when I want to???? Ya, that was a joke. Everyone knows that they come when THEY are ready not the other way around. OK, I am rambling. That means I'm done.

Halloween

A cat, A fish, and a bunch of holes. Carol did the holes, I did the cat and fish.

Cora and Jess were Alexa and Liona from Barbie and the Diamond Castle.

The girls after we finished the Pumpkins for them
Maren was a ballerina, she didn't initially like the costume, but I think everybody telling her how cute she was helped her warm up to it.

Well, Halloween came and went. About 2 weeks ago we carved pumpkins. and by we I mean Carol and I carved what the girls asked us to. I wished I had a dremel tool, maybe next time. (My drill is a little bit clumsy for carving with.) On Halloween night we went to the Chadwick's house. We had dinner and then got the girls ready and went trunk or treating at our old ward. The girls had a good time and got a good haul. Plus Carol was able to catch up with a bunch of girls that she hadn't seen in quite a while. Besides that everyone is doing well. Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween, and for those of you visiting soon, we look forward to seeing you.
-Josh

What????

Okay, I have to post this one. This afternoon when Cora got dropped off from school, she came in the door and told me yet another disturbing story. It went something like this:
Cora- "Guess what happened at school?"
Me- " what?"
Cora-' There's this boy in Mr. Stein's class named Nate, and he asked me if he could touch my private.
Me- (subtle gasp) "what did you do?"
Cora-" I told him No Way and ran away."
Me- "Good. Then what did you do?"
Cora-"I went and told his teacher"
Me- " And what did his teacher say?"
Cora- "He said that he'll talk to him."

Yikes. That's scary. On one hand I am so grateful and very proud of the way she handled it, and so proud that she told me. But on the other hand, I am bothered. Here Cora is at 5 years old and has had two similar experiences. What are these boys seeing/hearing? What is going on in these boys' houses?
I made sure that I praised Cora for the way she handled it and for telling a teacher and me, and I made it a topic of conversation at dinner, so that if Jess has a similar experience, then she knows that it happened to Cora and she knows how to handle it herself. I am thinking that when we have the money, that getting the girls enrolled in Karate might be a good idea. That way, they can beat the crap out of these little punks. Again, it baffles me what kids are exposed to especially at such a young age. Where are their parents? What are the parent doing/not doing? Anyway, for those of you who read this with young kids at home, make sure that you talk to them about these and many other things so they know what to do before they need to know and don't.
-Carol

Nesting and a Fairnaval

Carol is the room Mom for both Cora and Jess's classroom. And as such she has been getting ready for the fall festival. I don't really know why they call it a festival, festival implies food in abundance, and I saw very limited food, and it certainly wasn't the kind of food I would call festival food. Thus it was more of a volunteer carnival, minus the throw up rides. A lot of games that are overpriced and useless prizes that the kids think are the best. As you can see I opted to take the girls to get some face painting and hair paints. They like that a lot. They also had a bounce house, which the girls went in right at the start. For Carol's part she had me build a bean bag toss which I should have taken a picture of (I did a good job). That was for Cora's class, for Jess's class they already had a lollipop tree. Carol organized the parent volunteers and gathered the lollipops, made the bean bags, and a whole bunch of other things I probably didn't realize she was doing and I know she didn't realize she was going to be doing. All in all the girls had fun and it was a good time, though I must say that blazing Christina Agullera's Genie in a Bottle to a bunch of elementary students might have been a little inappropriate.
Also as you can see from the ticker, Emmett will be here soon. Carol has been piling up projects for herself before he gets here. She has one blanket done, and I think she has postponed number two until he needs it. She is also boying up some plain white burp clothes with camouflage ribbon. We are all excited for our new testosterone laden bundle to arrive. Especially me, though I don't think he will be up to wrestling for the beers for a day or two. After that it is no holds barred.
-JOSH

No, not really

Cora and Megan (whom we pick up from school some days, she is in the Ward).
Jess and Maren (I think Maren is trying to get me to eat her sandwich for her).
The beloved grill! Not just by me the whole family is reaping the rewards!!!
Well, there really isn't much to announce. Things have been fairly quiet in the past weeks. Cora is doing well in school, as is Jess. The first two pictures are of lunch today. Carol thought it would be fun to go and eat lunch with her, so we loaded up some lunch for Maren and Jess, and headed to school. They had a good time and Cora was super excited to have us join her. I also think she was excited she didn't have to sit by the boy with the cafateria lunch. The other day she told Carol and I, on separate occasions, that one of the boys that always wants her to save him a seat gets the cafateria lunch and his lunch "stinks", she says with a wrinkled nose. The last picture is of my beloved grill. Cast iron grate, smoke box, heating rack... it is the best. I think I mentioned some time back that I really missed grilling. Well, I have had that grill for about a month and a half and I have already burned up about 50 pounds of charcoal, and half of the apple wood I brought back from Utah. I might have to have Mom and Dad bring the other tote when they come out. In the recent weeks I have smoked three chickens, and at least that many roasts. And steaks, oh the steaks.... I didn't realize how much I missed a good steak, and I have come to the conclusion that no restaurant can compete with a home grilled steak, and Carol's garlic mashed potatoes. Can you tell we are food family. Or at least Carol and I are. Maybe that is why the girls are so picky. Anyway, that is about all of the news on our end, hope you are all well. I still think ending these things feels awkward...
-Josh

Bikes

On Saturday, we hit some garage sales and picked up some bikes for the girls. I had been looking for quite some time for bikes on craigslist. The girls are always using the neighbors toys, and I thought that it was time to get our own. So Josh suggested we try garage sales (which is so out of character for him). We are both pleased with our finds. We picked up Jessica's bike for $10, and went and got her a helmet for $8. It's kind of funny that the helmet was almost as much as the bike.
This is Cora on her new bike. Yes, it is a boys bike and it is a little big. But once we told her that Josh would paint it, she was happy. We got Cora's for $15, and her helmet for$1. After we were done "shopping" we went to pick out some paint for Cora's bike. She picked out pink and aqua for her colors.
Maren absolutely loves her bike. She can't reach the pedals, but she can get some speed using her feet. She is quite the daring thing. She pushes her "bike" up the incline of our driveway, gets on, turns around and cruises down the driveway without slowing down. It freaks me out every time. The first few days, the girls spent hours outside. Now when Cora gets home from school, the girls usually want a snack and then head outside until dinner. Then it's outside again until it's bed time. It is a complete contrast of the time that we spent out doors in our old apartment. I love it!!! And so the better part of the late afternoon and early evening, I am outside monitoring, my kids and the other children of the cul-de-sac. Someone has to.
Well, I am in need of some advice. Everyday this week, Maren has either taken off her diaper after pooping and wiping it on objects or reached down her diaper and gotten a handful and wiping it on objects ( including herself and clothes). I don't know what to do. I can't follow her around with my nose at her bum waiting to catch it before she does. I am just tired of cleaning it off places I shouldn't have to. It's really gross to clean crap out of fingernails too. Anyway, I am on a role here. I have posted twice in a row. Wow.

road rash- a posting by Carol

On Friday evening I went out front to call the girls in for dinner. They were a few houses down in a neighbors driveway playing. Cora and Jess responded quickly to me, but Maren was a little slow. As I was walking over, I asked Maren to come home for dinner. She started running down the drive and her cute little legs couldn't keep up with her and she had a little run-in with the cement. She hasn't been very nice to herself lately. Maybe it is her age, but she seems pretty battered lately.

Josh and I had an alarming experience yesterday. Cora was playing outside for a few minutes while dinner was cooking. I thought she was playing alone, but was playing with a boy from her class ( who lives a few houses down) and his little brother. They seemed to be playing fine. I called her in and I asked her about what she was doing and if she had fun. She proceeded to tell me what she was doing and then she said, "and Justin showed me his penis." Ummmmm, What???? I tried not to overreact and down play her experience. Josh asked her as casually as he could what happened, and then I told her she did the right thing to tell us that. Later Josh went and talked to the boy's dad about it. At first we weren't sure how to handle it, but decided that if it was our child we would want to know. Justin's dad was very receptive and appreciative and said he would talk to him about it. So hopefully it won't happen again and it will just be a non incident. Well, that is pretty much all that has happened around here lately. Hope you all are well.
-Carol

No hug for you!

Yes, those are snails. These are a few more of the pictures we took while in Utah. The girls found a whole bunch of snails, and loved the fact that they could stick to the wall. The picture of Carol and Michell is entitled "no hug for you only high five!" said with an asian accent. Michelle and Carol would tease each other after watching the girls gymnastics. I don't know if you noticed if a girl did decent she got a hug, if not so much only high five. Michelle thought it was hilarious. Almost as funny as "your mom." I wasn't to disappointed to have a change of joke. Love you Michelle.
-Josh

Back to school!

I haven't down loaded all of the pictures from Utah, but here is a short sampling. We had a birthday party for Maren and Jess since we were in Utah for Jess's birthday and since Maren doesn't know the difference. It was fun for the girls. They got to swim and eat and swim, and then open presents. Aunt B got them the cute dresses to match (thanks B), and since we didn't get to go see Skye (Maren wasn't feeling well, and we decided it would be better to save the money) Carol took some pictures around the house in there cute new dresses. Beyond that, we are back in Texas. The drive home was beastly but I am getting better at the staying up all night. I pretty much launched right back into work, I had some meetings on Friday, and started TAing today. I am still trying to track down some lecture slides for the class I am teaching this semester, but I don't have to have that until a week from Thursday (sigh of relief). The girls started school today, Jess is in Pre-K and has the same teacher as Cora had last year. Cora goes to Kindergarten and will be at school all day. Carol was struggling with that thought last night. She is also having a hard time deciding how to balance out having Maren alone for a whole morning with the fact that when the baby gets here she will have to share Mommy again. We don't want her to get used to having no competition and make the transition that much harder, but we also want to give her as much one on one time as we can before she loses that chance. So it is a tuff (that spelling is for Michelle via NKOTB) line to walk. Besides that not much is new. We are heading to Waco for the Labor day weekend, and then school school and more school.
-JOSH

This tube kind of defeats the purpose, you can't flip it. Also it beat my back up pretty good, but the girls loved it, and it was fun when we got grown ups on it and actually got up to speed.

A little wake surfing. Lots of fun.

Uncle bones took Cora on the surf board, she loved it.

I don't know what that face is about, most of the time Jess was loving it.

Maren taking a drink. For some reason this is one of the few pics we got of her.

We have been horrible at remembering to bust out the camera on this trip. Although, up until Saturday we haven't been doing anything super exciting. The Cardon's took us out on their boat Saturday (THANKS GUYS). The girls had a blast. Even Maren did well. I could not believe how good the water was. I have never been on Utah Lake for over an hour with out at least a little bit of waves. But it was glass for the whole time, at least 3 hours. So that is all the news for now. I will probably post again soon. We are having to cut the trip a little short; I have to get back to school, and work, ugh. Although I did get a teaching position this semester which rocks. I am nervous and excited. If there is any more news I will post it next time (probably from Texas).
JOSH