8 Is Great!

My Jakers is 8!! It is absolutely nuts. I can't believe he is getting so big. He has been such a wonderful little guy to have in our family. We went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant once and I saved his fortune from his fortune cookie because I thought it was completely meant for Jake. The fortune reads "Your smile brings happiness to others." I think this perfectly describes his affect on others.
The thing that continues to amaze me is what a happy, optimistic, sweet personality he has after everything he has gone through. This sweet boy has overcome many things already in his life, and always is surprising me with his cheerful attitude. Most of the time I don't think he even knows he was dealing with more than most kids do. He brings me so much happiness (most of the time, he is an 8 year old boy) and he keeps me on my toes. I know there is no way for me to let him know how much I love him, but every day I will keep trying.

Merry Christmas!

So, it was Christmas. Now it isn't. I can't believe how fast it came and went. I am still spinning. This was a very fun Christmas at the Swenson house though. I really felt like both Jake and Em understood what it is we are celebrating. They are old enough now to understand some of the traditions that we do and truly participate. They enjoyed putting their own ornaments on the tree and asked us about each one. They learned so many songs and were forced to listen to many hours of an Osmond Family Christmas (a McGuire tradition that I am carrying on).
Christmas this year seemed to take on a theme for me. It seemed like everything I heard kept turning back to "gift". I know this is a common theme around Christmas but for some reason this Christmas it was a particularly strong theme. With all the talk of gifts, and the purpose of gifts, my mind was continually drawn to the gift of the Atonement. At this time of the year I can't help but be so grateful for that. I have spent time with my own little family and my extended family and it has reminded me how much it means that these are people I can be with forever. The gifts that we have that will last forever are only ours through our Savior. The prophet pointed out some of these gifts during the Christmas devotional, "All that we hold dear, even our families, our friends, our joy, our knowledge, our testimonies would vanish were it not for our Father and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ." I have gained a greater appreciation for this during this holiday season and although I don't usually use this as a forum for spiritual matters, this is what has mattered to me lately. So, I am sharing. I believe that these things are what make Christmas the time for celebrating. So Merry Christmas!

It burns! It burns!

Well, it happened. I have always worried about having my kids around gas fireplaces because you know they are going to put their hands on the glass. With Jake and Emma we didn't have a fireplace in the house so I just had to worry when we went to my or Nate's parents. Now with Pete we do have a fireplace. We turned it on for the first time this winter and sure enough we had to tell Peter several times to stay away from the glass. Then we turned our back and he did it. He put both hands on the glass. He is so funny though because he didn't really cry, I mean he yelled, but he isn't much of a cryer. His hands didn't blister right then, so it wasn't a second degree burn (yes, for those of you who are thinking it, I am trying to avoid CPS coming to my house so this is my back-pedalling). By the next morning though they were all blistered and looked like they hurt. He didn't fuss or anything though.
So all of this happened Monday night. On Tuesday night Nate suggested that we put Band-Aids over his blistered palms to try to keep them from getting infection. So, here is our first attempt.


On Wednesday I got to thinking that it might be a good idea to call the pediatrician and see if there was anything I should be doing to make sure his hands healed okay. The call went something like this:

Me: My son is 1 1/2 and he burnt his hands on our fireplace. I was just wondering if there is anything I should do so they don't get infected.
(The nurse asks the Dr.)
Nurse: Keep the hands cool, don't put ice directly on them, and bring him in right now.
Me: (Very hesitantly knowing I am going to sound negligent) Uh, well, he did this a couple of days ago, so, should I keep them wrapped or antibiotic ointment?
Nurse: Oh, hmm. Yes. You should wrap them with... yada yada


This is how the nurse instructed me to wrap them, of course not with the tail that is hanging there, that is all Pete. Needless to say the wrapping lasted a total of a couple hours. It appears I may have been a little lax with not taking him in, but they are healing fine, and he is just as happy and "curious" as ever.

Overheard

Our little family was driving around the other day. I can't remember where we were going or what we were doing, but in the backseats this is what Nate and I overheard.
Emma: "This time light my bum on fire!!"
Jake: "Okay, WHOOSH (apparently the sound of lighting someone's bum on fire)"
Emma: Pause. Then in a "surferish" tone, "Dude, hey dude. Smell that? What's cookin'?"
Jake roars with laughter
Emma: "No really dude, what's cookin'?"

Ah, the pride a parent feels when they overhear their children playing and laughing together.

All Hallows Eve

Here is the Halloween Report from our family. It is really kind of crummy here because they don't let the kids in elementary school dress up for Halloween. I swear those Halloween parades in elementary were the greatest. The other thing about dressing up for school is that you can wear your costume without your coat over it. As Jerry Seinfeld said, "I don't recall Superman ever wearing a jacket." The coat with the costume is a drag, and during school you didn't have to wear your coat. Enough of my blathering on about this.
As soon as the kids got home from school we packed up and headed to my parents for a Halloween party with my siblings and parents. It was fun, my kids trick-or-treated in my parents neighborhood which wasn't the highlight because we don't know anyone there, but the kids didn't seem to care. Then we went back to my parents and paarrtied!!! We had a great dinner and some great games (thanks Nat and Ju!).
Jake was really funny all night long. He referred to everyone by their costume. He liked answering my parents door and he would say things like, "Red Power Ranger, that is a great costume. Oh, Dracula how is the trick-or-treating?" Nat dressed up as a devil and he just called her 'devil' all night. During one of the games we drew out trick or treat cards. If it said trick, you had to do a trick, and if it said treat you got a treat. You get it. So Jake pulls a trick card and it says to fly around the room like a bat. So he starts flapping, not a stretch, then he starts pretend biting people and yelling, "Now you have rabies!" I am not sure who told him that bats give you rabies but it was pretty funny for Jake to run around and give my whole family rabies. . Then during desert Bob asked the kids if they liked "Camp Rock" and Jake just comes out with "hated it". He didn't even skip a beat. This is a boy who has obviously been forced to listen to too much Disney Channel pop against his will. All in all, it was a great Halloween.
Here we are. I am supposed to be a cat (I didn't realize the headband I was wearing was so fluffy until I saw pictures), Jake is Anakin, Emma is Hannah Montana, and Pete was a Monster (not a stretch).
My camera ran out of batteries, so I have to get some pictures of Nate in his costume from my Mom, it was pretty funny. You'll have to tune in later for the pics.

It Has Begun: the first of the Halloween posts

The Halloween festivities have begun. We carved pumpkins with the Jacobsons, Emma had a Halloween party at her dance class, and Emma went to a friend's house for a party. So, here is a sneak peek into Halloween at our house.
Our pumpkin carving has taken on a tradition of sorts. Jake and Nate carve a pumpkin, with a face as simple as possible and get it done as quickly as possible. Then Emma and I carve another pumpkin using a stencil, not a very hard stencil mind you, and spend a bunch of time trying to get a good looking pumpkin. We have carved pumpkins at the Jacobsons for the last few years and it is always fun. My friend Audrey is really into carving pumpkins and always makes these elaborate, impressive pumpkins. So it is pretty funny to see Jake and Nate's circle eyes, circle mouth, and Jake-carved-nose pumpkin along with all these fancy-schmancy pumpkins that the Jacobsons do. You might not be able to tell from the pictures but Emma's has a ghost with a moon and a tombstone. Jake's has 2 circle eyes (different sizes of course), a nose, and a circle mouth. It looks great and he is happy. I guess that is all it takes for successful pumpkin carving.

For Emma's dance party she decided to just wear one of her dress up dresses instead of her Halloween costume. Fine by me. So she was dressed as Ariel. Her friend in the pictures is Alexis.

Here is most of the Hannah Montana outfit. She ended up getting pretty sick of the wig, but overall I think she enjoyed being a diva. I am in for it for the next 15 years. Actually, she was really cute about the whole thing. She told me about everyone else's costumes and how great they looked too. I just know that she is one who loves getting all dressed up and it is not going to end any time soon. BTW- these pictures completely freaked Nate out.

Pretty Uneventful

Because Nate is gone to Redmond, WA for the week I am updating my blog to keep him in the loop of what is happening at home. And what is happening at home...not much. I, of course, got sick with a cold on Sunday right before Nate flew out. As a result of having medicinally wiped out my immune system I can't shake the cold. It doesn't help that I can't sleep very well without Nate here, and Nate usually gets up and gets Jake ready and off to school while I am spoiled and get to sleep in a little. Well enough about why I feel so crummy and on to what is going on at the Swensons!!!!
First things first, on Monday, I got up, got Jake up, and he got all ready and to the bus on time. I know that most of you who know me thought for sure without Nate here Jake would end up missing the first few hours of school each day, but no. I have been a responsible parent. Which is a lot to say now that my oldest is almost 8. I guess responsible parent may be pushing it, but when it comes to getting him to school I am a responsible parent. Because of the many who will question this I got actual photo evidence to prove it. You can't see the numbers on the clock, but I assure you they read 8:12. That my friends is the exact moment Jake must leave the house to make it to the bus stop in time.

The only other thing that was kind of fun that Nate missed was that as I was looking for a costume for Pete in some of Jake's old clothes I found a cute Halloween outfit for Pete. So, without further adieu here are the pictures of Pete in a little monster outfit (this is not his costume).

As you can see things in this new outfit started out pretty uneventful, but the series of pictures shows just how much Pete liked me dressing him up. Oh well, he's young and I am the Mom.