Happy Birthday Kathryn

She started early by staying up to see the clock read the minute she was born. Keep in mind this is AM!

Then she waited a minute and hopped in the picture "just to prove" (she said) that the minute had gone by.

She was OFFICIALLY eleven!!

We did a little shopping for some new sneakers and were suprised to learn that ten's are now too tight... eleven's were a little big (though I tried to convince Kathryn that wearing the same size as your age was cool. At least for now... can you imagine what that would be like when she's fifteen??). So we crossed the aisle and found a men's size 9 that worked great. Pretty snappy, don'tcha think?


We also browsed the racks and found this cute smock on a super-dee-duper sale. Love it!!












Kathryn's grandma Gail (who she's named for) was big on having birthday pictures taken ON THE DAY. So, we've tried to continue this tradition. Though I must admit to failure on at least two occasions. But, with five kids (even if one hasn't had a birthday yet!) I do my best not to feel too guilty. Grandma only had two to keep up on.















We try to make sure we take good "posing" pictures, either in a studio or on our own. The digital age has made this so much easier!

Kathryn is so lovely and we are lucky to have her be part of our family. She is kind and thoughtful and a big helper both at home and at school. We are grateful that she's a good student and loves learning, and is becoming a good citizen as well.

Finally it was time to party!

I don't know why it won't let me rotate it, but here's Kathryn's cake

She's loving BSU football these days (thanks to Uncle Chris) so blue and orange

seemed like the right color scheme

Kathryn made a wish and blew out her candles in three tries

A Rubik's cube from her siblings (please allow us to excuse Emily who was getting some beauty sleep at the time this picture was taken)

A cool bookset, similar to the Inkheart series Kathryn is devouring, and several new outfits for her American Girl doll ~ all from Grandpa Evans and Grandma Karolyn

And $20 from Grandma and Grandpa Freeman ~ new Plecostomus here she comes!

All in all a super fun day. Kathryn's looking forward to having some friends over next week when break is over. She's now into her last year in Primary and is already showing signs of a slight case of "SeniorPrimary-itis". One more year of Activity Days and a Faith in God award to earn yet. Go Go Kathryn!!

Simply Having a Wonderful Christmastime

If posting is about life, then having life get in the way of posting is acceptable, isn't it? We've been having so much fun this past week, getting ready for and enjoying Christmas. Now we seem to wander through the kitchen a little more often, stealing more fudge or a cookie or a handful of our special Christmas cereals; We have watched our new movies; we have spent time with friends and family. Today we're taking down Christmas in preparation for Kathryn's birthday tomorrow. She will be ELEVEN!

Here though is a more complete recap:

We made candy ~ a Freeman Family tradition!

Kurt's mom remembered to take a picture of those
of us who are taller than 5'0"

Santa got a new helper

We made cookies.
Hey Krista can I trade you a tree for a snowflake??

We opened Freeman name gifts. Emily got lucky!!

Nathan was caught developing a plot to take over the world

Thankfully he was convinced to give up the plot and come play trucks

We made graham cracker houses....Liz's turned into a porta-potty

When Melissa was asked whether she'd rather have a never ending VAT of ketchup or her birthday every day, she chose ketchup. Thankfully, Santa paid attention.

In fact, Santa was pretty generous this year

Emily got some one-on-one time with Grandma Karolyn

Grandma and Grandpa hosted a sleepover for all of those munchkins.

Somehow they convinced her to let them stay a second night.

Here's Liz, literally with an "L" on her forehead!!

Somehow all of the happy got sucked out of this picture..

Oh good ~ more presents

That brought some of Nathan's happy back. Though that look in his

eyes says that there are some new plans for taking over the world...

Happy 2009!!

Naptime Wars

Ever since Nathan learned how to climb out of his crib, getting him to stay IN when it's time for sleep has been a battle. Before this though he'd been such an awesome sleeper ~ 12 or so hours at night and then a 3-4 hour nap in the daytime. Maybe we touted him to friends and family one too many times, because boy are we being tested!!

After hitting the floor hard one day while trying to climb out of his crib, Kurt switched Nathan to a "Big Boy" bed. We hoped he'd feel so cool that he'd WANT to stay in. Silly us. Silly, silly us.

So I wage a battle every day I feel up to it: the battle to get Nate to hold still long enough (could be as little as 30 seconds) to fall asleep. Really, if he just stops moving, he'll tip over. Hmmmm, I wonder who his mother is, or where he might have gotten that from. Melissa does the same thing. Could there be a sleeping gene?

Anyhow, the battle usually entails sending him back to bed again and again. And again.

First with warnings, then stern warnings, then loud warnings and while I'm willing to admit trying corporal punishment, it doesn't work through a diaper or

seem to phase him, so I try not to go there.

Sometimes he wins because after two hours of battling, I have something else I have to do ~ like pick up a sister from somewhere. Of course putting him in his carseat forces him to hold still, and yep he's out before we leave the subdivision. So cruel, but true.

Here would probably be a good place to say that Nathan doesn't do this to his dad. Kurt MAYBE has to send him back to bed twice before he stops coming out. Sigh.

So today after several (much more than two!) attempts and still no success, I heard him come out of his room and instead of charging right up the stairs with a

"you are in the wrong place!," I waited.

Nathan came down the stairs slowly, talking quietly to himself. Proud I'm sure of how sneaky he thought he was. I ignored.

He sat on the bottom stair, just breathing. Still I ignored.

What must have been about 30 seconds later, I peeked around the corner to find him like this:

Mommy Wins!!

First Snow

We got what you might call our first "real" snow of the season and Kathryn constructed this snow man just as fast as she could get outside. Pretty cute! The mountains have been dumped on, which is just the perfect place for all the snow as far as I'm concerned. Keep it off the roads! It's melted a bunch this afternoon and the roads are pretty dry, which is good for getting back to school and work tomorrow. More is expected at the end of the week. How much fun would a White Christmas be??!?

Remembering Quincy

We are remembering our beloved friend, Quincy Bahbah Rahrah Whohaha Pickle Freeman tonight. We found him this evening lying peacefully by the fence out back as we were buttoning up the house for the night. He was last seen this afternoon.

Quincy was born on July 19, 1999. Our friends the Bennions had the litter and Kurt wanted a dog. We got Quincy in August and he spent the first several nights in the bathtub. He was a tiny guy then!

Quincy grew bigger than we expected him to. We learned a bit later that Labradors (which Quincy was a pure-bred) are descended from Newfoundlands and every once in a while a more classic-sized Lab would pop up. Quincy was one of those. Unfortunately his size was a detrement to him. We knew we might not get to keep him as long as we otherwise might. Quincy turned nine this year.

Quincy will be missed for being our favorite throw rug. He always found that perfect spot on the kitchen floor where we were sure to trip on him when we were making dinner. We'll miss his enthusiastic willingness to come in and clean up the morsels the kids had dropped. We called him Hoover (like the vacuum, get it?) for that.

I appreciate Quincy's gentleness with our children. When Melissa was little I remember a day when she was crawling over Quincy and around him and over him again. He let her do all her climbing and when he had had enough, simply rolled her off of him by shifting himself to his side, then got up and walked away. I know he knew what he was doing. Otherwise he'd have just stood up and let her fall to the floor. She was more important to him than that.

As the girls took in the news, we talked about where Quincy is now and I was able to tell them I felt strongly that their Grandma Evans is tending to his needs. She was such a dog lover ~ I've always thought she was needed to run the Animal Shelter in heaven and that's the assignment she received when she got there. Should all of that be true, Quincy is in great hands.

Quincy died with a very long name. A name he aquired throughout his lifetime. Our good friend Bridger, when he was very small, called Quincy "bahbah" or "rahrah" and soon that stuck. The "whohaha" matched and was stolen from Finding Nemo. One year I came back from Girls Camp singing the Pickle Song, which seemed to make Quincy dance. Just the word 'pickle' Quincy seemed to love. This was his nickname from then on. So he died Quincy Bahbah Rahrah Whohaha Pickle Freeman. I wonder how we're going to fit all of that on his headstone. Funeral services are pending.

We will miss him!

Another Quick Summation of Another Long Day

The parts of the day that have to do with me cancelling my eye doctor appointment and having a lovely visit with Carolyn Wixom during our knitting and crocheting group aren't the important parts. But they contributed to the busy day we had today.

We saw the fabulous Dr. Shilt after a 45 minute wait in his office. Having an appointment late in the day will do that.

He took a look at Liz's x-rays and wasn't at all concerned with a growth plate break. She can start to put weight on her booted foot as soon as she feels comfortable doing so. Hopefully that's sooner than later because her arms are killing her thanks to her crutches. "I'll be so buff" she's said, trying to look on the bright side of her pain.

The doctor will see her again in a month to re-x-ray and make sure she's healing or healed.

Otherwise, he was calm and reassuring and have I mentioned how much we love this guy?

A Quick Summation of an Awfully Long Day

Elizabeth was cleaning the kitchen Tuesday night and while wiping up a water spill with her foot, slipped and her foot hit the fridge.

We iced it but she still couldn't walk on it Wednesday.

Today we went to the urgent care clinic, even though it seemed like she might have just tweaked it because it wasn't swollen or bruising...or so I thought.

She took off her socks so the PA could look, and her foot was puffy and her fourth toe all purple.

An x-ray showed her foot is broken in two places. One of the fractures looks like it might be through a growth plate, so we have an appointment tomorrow to see an Orthopaedist. No, we have an appointment to see THE Orthopaedist... the same one we saw for Emily's hips. That is a bright point in all of this. He is wonderful and brilliant.

Liz got a fancy new shoe, which will make sure she doesn't whack her foot on the stairs (again ~ she's done that once already), or do any more damage.

Four hours in the doctor's office, with Nathan and Emily in tow (or, should I say TOE?! LOL). Made for a very long day.

It's important to note that the moral of this story is NOT that cleaning the kitchen causes undo harm to children. Even though she'd like me to think so, and never make/let her do it again.

The better part of the day (and the reason for the dress in the picture) was tonight when Liz got to go to the Temple for the first time. She couldn't do baptisms, but was able to participate in the confirmations. She came home glowing, which is about as good as it gets.

The Merry Days of Christmas