Christmas Goings On pt. 1

Be Warned.

Picture Driven Post.

 We did 12 days of Christmas books this year and I think it was a pretty big hit with the kids, Thea even sat through most of the longer books. 

I don't know I'll do it every year but it might be a good every other year tradition, or maybe I'll wrap books we already have. Who knows. 

We caught Dorothea sneaking into Henry's room with presents and opening them up a couple times.

 We had our ward Christmas party which was a breakfast-I love breakfast. The three wards in the building decorated together and then had one dinner on Friday night, a breakfast Saturday morning and another dinner Saturday night. I thought it was a great idea. 

 Henry was game to sit on Santa's lap and joke with him...

 Thea was absolutely not.

The best part was when Johann picked her up and she hugged him and calmed down so he turned her around to see if now she'd be okay with Santa and she screamed, shook her head no, no, no and yelled NOOOO! while also waving her hands in the air. Priceless. 

 Johann and kids with our ward missionaries at the time, Elder Morgan, Sister Willis, Elder Escamillia and Sister Haight. We love getting to know them all better since Johann works with them more. 

 Henry had his Kindergarten Christmas show and it was pretty darn cute. 

 I had a week of feeling like I was a living being and decided to crank out a few Christmas goodies to give out. Johann took the bark below to work (they looooved it) and we used it for the missionaries and some friends I met up with during the break. The recipe is here. 

 Henry had mustache day at school. He had this one in addition to the one underneath. 

 We went to the Orange Empire Railway Museum with the Simonds family

 The cousins!

 Henry got serious about looking 'like Christmas' for church the Sunday before. 

 Dorothea got serious about snacks. 

 They looks so much older than I want to believe they are. 

 I got a cold (which I still have) and started feeling like junk again. I was trying to make chocolate sugar cookies for neighbor/friend plates but I must have done something wrong and the dough was too soft. I basically said, I quit, it's not worth it and sat down on the couch. Henry insisted on rolling out the remaining dough and cutting it out. 

His turned out better than mine. 

Maybe it's the dragon costume? 

Then on Christmas Eve we headed to the Simonds' in Riverside to opening gifts and celebrate there. 

 Max and Apollo opening gifts. 

 Thea got excited about her new shirt.

 Then we just hung around and visited. Apollo sat like this in Johann's lap for a good while, while Johann read. I'm telling you, that kid is soooo relaxed. 

 Then the night came so we put the kids in their Christmas jammies courtesy of Grammy Goodwin, read The Night Before Christmas and loaded them into the car to fall asleep on the drive home. 

Christmas morning started out with an inconsolable Henry coming crying into our room because he had wet his Christmas pjs and didn't have any Christmas jammies to wear on Christmas morning. I mean, he was seriously distraught. Thankfully there were some Santa footies in the clean laundry and he was able to calm down after about 10 minutes. Yup. 

Once that 'crisis' was averted we moved on to the serious business of gift opening. 

 Santa gifts by the fire place 

and 

family gifts under the tree

Opening stockings, Thea pointing at Henry's giant kit kat and saying "Dat! Dat!"

 Hamp and Annie did the stockings this year (you know, for Santa, they helped him) and did a great job!

 Johann and Jacob in the matching pjs from Christmas Eve from my mom

 Showing off her new kicks

 This was the first year Henry got to pick gifts on his own. His school had a boutique so I gave him like 7 bucks to get something for everyone that lives in the house. He got my mom a pen-pictured above, Johann a lakers lanyard (his reasoning-it's sports, right? I can see a parent trying to help him, "well does your daddy like sports? Dads like sports," and Henry thinking, oh, yeah I think so), uncle Aaron some christmas socks I believe, Thea a little stuff mouse that wraps onto a car seat and I got a flowery headband type thing. 

It was really, really sweet to see how excited he was to have us open his gifts and how proud he was to feel he made someone else happy with his gift

. 

The mayhem. 

 Probably Thea's favorite gift-her shopping cart. She loves pushing it around everywhere. 

 Uncle Aaron got Henry stuff to look like a guy from a show called Adventure Time-anybody? I watched one episode to see what Aaron and Henry saw together. Oh brother. 

 Then-cinnamon rolls. mmm. 

Lastly, probably my favorite picture from Christmas day. It's just.so.Dorothea. 

Apollo's Birthday

Back in November we celebrated Apollo's (nephew) first birthday down at the Simonds. It's nice for the kids to have at least one cousin close by and I hope they'll always be good friends, especially since he and Thea are only 4 months apart. 

Playing with the party favors

 Yoink! 

 Hey, wait a second...

 Oh good, one for each baby to eat now.

A nice picture of Thea and her grandpa Jim with Apollo practicing his photobombing skills. 

 Cake time!

Apollo is probably the most easy going kid I have ever met. He smiles and plays with just about anyone most of the time and we are so happy to have him in our family!

Halloween

Never too late, right?

First we had our ward Halloween party followed later in the week by Halloween itself. I felt pretty awful that night and Thea had a cold so it was decided it'd be best for just Johann and Henry to go out trick-or-treating for a bit.

 Henry was Zorro and Thea was Little Red Riding Hood, needless to say almost no one knew who Henry was suppose to be. 

Henry continues to live the life of a kid from his grandparent's generation; picking costumes, music, shows etc that none of his friends have ever heard of...who needs five year old friends when you can have 60 year old ones? They can actually BUY candy. 

 At the ward party-Thea started holding her pumpkin out towards the end for candy but still wasn't that excited about the trick-or-treating. I just like this picture because it shows I braided her hair. I was so proud of getting those tiny, thin hairs to stay together in two little braids-it was pretty cute. 

The school wasn't allowing costumes on Halloween day, but said the kids could do crazy hair, hats or socks. I was ill prepared for all of the above but found some party hats and Henry decided to make it into an elephant with some help from me. 

And lastly, Henry with full Zorro attire (masks aren't allowed at the ward parties) on Halloween itself. 

The Horseback Ride

Johann has always wanted us to go horseback riding. For one of his birthday gifts this past September I told him we would go to Mojave Narrows the following weekend and ride together. 

I had never been before but Johann had a couple times while growing up. It was easy to see who was more comfortable on a horse and telling it what to do. And it was not me. I have no misconceptions that I'm in control of a giant animal that can kill me and I'm pretty sure the horse knew I lacked backbone with it.

 As soon as we started out, Johann and the instructor were ahead and riding free and easy. I tried to be comfortable and once we were past the pasture area and about half way through the woods I finally calmed down a little. Our instructor was nice and the area was really pretty.

I guess they could both tell I had relaxed a bit and she mentioned trying to trot since Johann had wanted to do that earlier. I said I thought I felt ready and she told me to click the horse with my heels but before I even could she and Johann had gotten their horses going and mine shot forward like a crazed racehorse. I was a ways behind Johann and suddenly I was right by his horse, bouncing up and down in the saddle and unable to even think of what to do. All I can remember is yelling, "I'm jumping, I can't stop jumping!" until WHAM I was down to the left side of my horse seeing its hooves by my face, moving away, thankfully.
I cannot remember the last time I felt that kind of pain. I literally could not move. Once they realized I was down they stopped and came over but I don't do well with interaction when I'm in intense pain and basically said something a little more polite but along the lines of, "everyone shut up and leave me alone, I can't move and will try when I'm ready but stop looking at or talking to me!"

The next thing I did can only be accounted for with pride because as I very, very slowly got up and tried to have the function of my left side and move my back I acknowledged the instructor and said I would get back on the horse. SERIOUSLY? That demon spawn named, 'JIGGY'! What was I thinking. If I could do things over again I would say, to heck with it being Johann's birthday gift, find a quad and shuttle me back to the car and take me to get looked at.

It took probably 10 minutes after the fall but I was standing and then we put the stirrup down because I couldn't lift my leg hardly anymore (um, probably a sign to stop) and mounted that psycho creature. 

Then we rode back; the most painful 15 minutes of a ride ever. The horse tried to get going again but thankfully this time I pulled the reins, probably too hard but whatever, I wasn't going to let the thing finish me off. I pretty much held the reins back the entire rest of the way. 

We got back and headed to the car and came home. I laid down on Henry's bed because I couldn't get onto ours, Johann took Henry and Thea to Henry's soccer game and then I let myself cry and pass out on my stomach. 

I couldn't hold Thea or function normally for about 3 days and then could with pain and discomfort for another week or so. I don't think I'm a big softie with pain but I hurt so much at night sometimes in the same spots I injured during the fall, especially since being pregnant (which I was I now know very early on when we went riding-gah). 

So what's the point of this story aside from my obvious need for catharsis? NEVER EVER let me ride a horse again. First of all, I don't like trying to tell big animals what to do. Second I'm convinced my short and big thighs are not made to keep me on a horse. Like James Herriot I am not a 'horse(wo)man'. Finally, I've mentioned before how I feel like Johann's past birthdays have been marred but I am hopeful that there is a strong chance his 30th will have to be better than the car breaking down and his wife almost being killed by a horse with the stupidest name possible. *Knock on wood* 

Person by Person

I should post. I love going back and looking at old posts and I've left a fairly big gap the end of this year. I want to make it up, but I'm not sure it's in the cards. In an effort to get some things noted and hopefully get some momentum here is a quickish update on every member of the family.

Johann:
-Left his job in Palmdale for a closer, better paying job with the Snowline School District and started on Monday.

-Got my mom's old iPhone when she got a new one and openly admits he loves it.

-Got a kindle paperwhite for Christmas and has loaded it with books. I may or may not sometimes think it is a good idea for reading in bed and possibly want one. Sometimes.

-Is serving as the ward mission leader and being forced to be more outgoing and talkative.

Me:
-I'm 18 weeks pregnant today and just starting to not feel sick for long periods of the day. I can even get up and get a drink of water in the morning now and feel refreshed instead of sick. Woo!

-Serving in YW as the counselor and for the time being also advisor for the beehives. I love my girls. I do not love activity planning.

-Trying to get out of the feeling like junk pregnancy slump and enjoy cooking, socializing, working on projects again etc.

Henry:
-Still doing well in K and loving his teacher. He had his first award ceremony and his award was "Teacher's Choice," and says "Henry is a wonderful friend. He is counting to 100 and learning how to read. He has an amazing imagination. He is always inventing stories or adding a new spin to one we have read in class. He thinks out of the box which makes our class exciting and fun." haha. Henry would be the kid to get the "thinks out of the box" award.

-Spends lots of time running outside playing in his fort and creating all kinds of crazy adventures in the yard.

(Mustache day at school. He looked like he was from the '70s)

-Is getting more cuddly and affectionate and willing to help his little sister.

Dorothea:

-Turned 18 months on January 6th

-Had her first Sunday in nursery and did really well-thank you 9 o'clock church!

-Loves to give hugs and kisses, on her terms, of course.

-Is trying to talk more and more and fading out of babyhood quickly it seems.

And that's what's been going on with the Simonds family as of late!

Last of the twenties

September 16th marked the first day of the last year of Johann's 20s. Next year is the big 3-0. The actual day was semi-depressing. I feel like Johann always gets the short end of the stick with his birthday, usually we were moving and broke from doing so but this year it was something else. I was heading to get Henry from school when the car completely died. Mind you, it had just been in for a repair the previous month and all was suppose to be well. It turns out the fuel pump was kaput. Happy Birthday, Johann, here's the 650 dollar bill to repair our car! =) 

Oh the timing.

Anyway, we did take him out to Red Robin for dinner that night for his free birthday month burger which he enjoyed. Henry also alerted the waitress to the fact it was his daddy's birthday and that he doesn't like the singing. The waitress was obliging and brought him the ice cream, sans the workers singing. The day ended on a better kind of high note. Bah dum chh. 

That weekend Johann's parents came for his 'proper' birthday celebration. 

First we had to go to Henry's soccer game where they actually won for the first time ever and Henry scored two goals. More on that story later. 

After his game we went out to a Thai place we like in Hesperia call Go Bangkok.  Thea was pooped from being out at the game and took a little nap on the birthday boy. 

 Johann's soup. I, of course, had curry and it was so good.

Then we came back home and had cake and opened presents.

He got some art for his office and some clothes as well as a date to go horseback riding with me the following weekend. More on that one later too.

Aside from the car breakdown and a bit of the horseback riding, it was a pretty good birthday considering how it usually goes. I'm hoping the curse doesn't follow to the big 30 next year though. Maybe I should plan and prepare for it starting now. I hope it doesn't sound bad but the older Johann gets, the more I like him. Obviously I love him but it seems that with the years we're both leaving behind things that don't really matter and learning to be better, more responsible people. He truly loves and enjoys our children and I'm grateful for that and all he does to support and move our little family along. 

Here's to 29!

I have to admit it's getting better

Since the last post, things have gotten better with school:

* I've figured out a new nap schedule for Dorothea (which meant consolidating two naps to one) and better times to go for pick up. It means he waits a little longer for me to get him, but it was me and Thea waiting for 40 minutes plus or him for an extra 5-10.

*We have had several talks about how to make better choices about who he spends all his time with at school. It's not that I don't want him to be friends or friendly with certain kids but since he made some changes, he hasn't had any behavior issues, that I'm aware of, at least. The only basis I ask him to use for who to play with is, "do they make good choices and do I make good choices when I am with them?" So far, so good.

*I found out recently that part of the problem was he is in a class with 15 transitional kindergarteners which means they can be almost a year younger than normal kindergarteners and those were the little boys he was playing with the most, though I think was is older but he doesn't play with him as much now. It also helped me understand why he was put in another K class first even though I had asked for Mrs. Rampley and I had to have it changed right before school started to get her. Now that she has done all the skill testing and moved groups around he is with the older kids at center and table time where they all know how to do their work so no one bugs each other and they are older and able to behave themselves better. I use to think Henry would be a leader but it turns out he is a pretty big follower so the group switch has been great.

*My volunteer application should be approved at the next board meeting which means after October break I should be able to get into the classroom.

*He loves his teacher and her style is really good for him. She is laid back with a lot of things but also high energy and does lots of fun activities. While I think he'd like doing more art and craft projects he still does some at home when my mom brings them back from her class so it's not too big a deal. I am sad though that he seems to be more interested in coloring now and it feels like he is more careless with drawing. Whaddaya do, eh?

*While he is still tired, he seems to be adjusting a bit better and we try to be really good about getting him to bed on time all the time, even on the weekends. He's also finally, finally started sleeping in a bit on the weekends (7 and sometimes 7:30) so that helps too.

Overall, school is fine since the changes. I still get sad sometimes about it and I was happy when I got to keep him home the other day for a doctor's appointment. I'm really looking forward to fall break in just a few more days! We'll go ahead and keep him in school through K unless something big happens to change our minds and we'll reevaluate at 1st about if he still, we still want him to go and if we'll switch him back to the other school. Here's to the fun of parental decision making!