Christmas a Little Early

Joe and Jen went to Idaho this past weekend to go to the Call Christmas party. I had plans with Shantell so I was unable to attend. My time with Shan went really well and we had a lot of fun.

On Friday, I was helping Brother Liddle and his family move from 5:45 to about 11:00 pm. Shantell and I wanted to be together for the weekend, so she came around 11:30 Friday night and we were able to see each other a little. On Saturday, I had to work at Novell for a couple of hours. I needed to install an operating system on one of the computers. When I do that, there is not a lot of work to do. I click a button and then wait 10 minutes and click another one. Shantell came with me and with her by my side, it hardly seemed like work. We went around 3pm and no one else was there at that time. I'd click on a button and then we'd kiss for 10 minutes.........and I got paid for it ;).

After work, we went to John and Amber's place. John had never met Shantell and I wanted him to know who she was. They fed us and we chatted for a little while. We then went to the BYU vs Utah State basketball game in the Marriott Center. BYU doesn't have a very good team this year and USU has an excellent one. However, BYU hasn't lost to USU in the Marriott Center in 25 years. Well, we lost on Saturday. Shantell was cheering for USU and I was cheering for BYU. In the second half of the game, my team was down by 20 points and I was pretty quiet. I get a little depressed when my team plays bad and I wasn't really into the game at that point. However, I did notice that during that time, it seemed like Shan was rooting for BYU a little bit just so that I could enjoy the game a little more. I don't think she'd ever admit it, though :).

That night we sat by my Christmas tree and I gave her some presents. I gave her some pictures of us in some nice frames, a Christmas CD that I made for her, and a raquetball racket. She then gave me a stocking full of little things that remind her of me. She also gave me some bball shorts. We then just cuddled and talked while we sat by the tree. It was the last time we'd see each other before Christmas.

Alert! Baby Jesus is Missing!

Houston, we have a problem.  We have a little nativity set up by our christmas tree.  We bought the nativity a couple of years ago while in Nogales, Mexico.  We go it specifically for the kids to play with during the christmas holiday.  Well, amazingly, it survives each year with only a few more broken robes, bent halos, etc. 

 

Well, yesterday, Amber noticed that baby Jesus is missing from the nativity.  Knowing only one person that would be the most likely candidate, Amber asked Aliece yesterday, "Aliece where is the baby Jesus from right here?".  Aliece resonded in her mimicked-motherly reply, "Hmmmm, let's see if we can go and find it." 

 

Of course, Aliece always has good intentions, but her searches only last a matter of minutes (if not seconds).

So, if you are our way during the holidays, please watch where you step or sit because there is a little baby Jesus creche ornament stashed away somewhere. 

Alayna's First Solids

Well, it has happened. As of December 14, 2004, Alayna has started eating solids. She is not sure about the texture, but she still eats them. I can't believe that she is big enough to eat solids. She is growing up way to fast.

For all those that want to see one of her reactions upon trying some food, you can click here:
http://home.comcast.net/~jjandersen/alayna_eat.mpg

Warning, this is a 1.7MB file, so those of you on modems, it will take about 40 minutes. Those of you lucky ones to have fast internet, less than a minute.

Twins are funny things

Most of us probably remember Mom's crazy stories about the wierd things that would happen to her and Jim even when they were apart. Well, I heard about this news article on my way to work today....I would like to see Mom and Jim pull this one off!

Twin moms have quadrupled joy; each delivers 2 baby boys

December 15, 2004

ATLANTA -- Twin sisters are seeing double -- or make that quadruple -- after delivering two sets of twin boys Tuesday.

Twenty-one-year-olds Ashlee Spinks of Indianapolis and Andrea Springer of Conyers, Ga., delivered their boys by scheduled cesarean sections Tuesday about an hour apart at Northside Hospital.

The women were six months pregnant when they found out they were both going to have twin boys due on the same date -- Jan. 1.

Spinks came to Georgia several weeks ago to be with her sister, and Spinks' husband, Bert Means, flew into town Monday to join the birthing party.

The two couples said twins run in the families of all their parents, and that they did not use fertility drugs to conceive the babies.

Dr. Larry Matsumoto, a physician who specializes in high-risk pregnancies, said the chances of twin sisters being pregnant with twin boys due on the same date are probably one in a million.

By the Associated Press

Control Control C

As you all know, I have three computers hooked up to each other in the family room.  One is for Amber and I, the other is for Work, and the last one is for the kids.  Well, with the three computers, I have them all share the same monitor and keyboard/mouse.  In order to get to the computer you want, you have to type, Control-Control-A,B,or C depending on the computer you want to work on.  Anyway....

 

Today, I got home from work and Johnathan and Aliece were on the kids computer playing a game.  I had some work I still needed to do from home, so I asked them if they would scoot over for a minute while I did something really quickly on my work computer.  They agreed.  They remained in the computer chair as I kneeled in front of the computer and began typing.  I obviously took longer than they had expected, for Johnathan started to ask if it wasn't time that I be done so that they could get back on.  I kept putting him off for a few more minutes.  Then Aliece starting telling me, "Dad, Press Control-Control-C-Enter, Ok?"  She kept saying it over and over again.  I didn't catch on until I realized that Control-Control-C-Enter switches back to their computer.  Aliece has no idea how to do it, but she sure knew how to say it! After that request, I couldn't turn them down - I hit control-control-C-enter and let them continue their game while I stood back and laughed to myself.  What a bunch of geeks my kids are! :-)

...and rugs!

John didn't mention that because of the number of times Aliece has caused the toilet to overflow in the last few weeks, we no longer keep rugs in there. So, in addition to toilet paper, you'll also have to BYOR!

Future Visitors Beware: BYOTP!

For those of you who know, we have been blessed with our little Aliece being potty trained in the last month. She has been consistent with it and is now considered day-trained (we are still working on the night time stuff...that usually takes quite a while though).

Anyway, we do have a nasty side-effect with the potty training thing and Aliece. I have discovered, much to my dismay, that Aliece is fanatical about wiping. Yes, you heard it right. However she does it, I have noticed that we are going through at least one roll of toilet paper in that bathroom PER DAY!

Hence, I am going to have to do take some drastic measures. It is that time of the month when we do our grocery shopping. I am going to start buying the CHEAPEST gawl-dern toilet paper that I can find at the store - and I am stocking up. What the heck, it may even be 1-PLY!

So, although we will try to keep some nicer stuff in our bathroom and possibly break it out when company comes, there is no guarantee.

Hence, the warning....If you come to visit and you plan on using our "Facilities" you may want to BYOTP - Bring Your Own Toilet Paper :-)

Jokes on me! (revised)

Okay, so last week mom came down to visit me on Wednesday. She spent the night and went home on Thursday morning. Well at 2:30 in the morning on Thursday my roommate came and woke me up and told me that I was wanted on the phone. Half awake I talked to the person for about ten minutes and then hung up. Seeing how I was not completely coherent I could only remember a few things about our conversation.
This boy, Boe Fisher, said we had been in a class together and was wondering if it would be alright for him and his parents to come and spend Christmas with my family. So I told him I would have to talk to my family about it. He then gave me his name and number. So the next morning when I remembered all of this I decided that I would look him up on stoker net and get his information, like, where he is from and where he is staying up here. Figuring this whole thing was a joke I decided I would turn the joke around on him.
A few days after the phone call I went to his apartment and knocked on his door. His roommate politely answered the door and told him I was there. The moment I saw him I got up to him and was like BOE FISHER!!! I haven’t seen you a long time! How are you!?!??! Then acted like I knew him pretty good. I even threw in things like oh, you are from South Jordan Utah right? Stuff like that. (that is really where he is from). After carrying this on for a while I thought I would confess and tell him that I am the girl that he called at 2:30 in the morning and that I was just getting him back. Well, after my confession, Boe, stared blankly at me and asked what phone call? I didn’t call you? Feeling complexly retarded I apologized and explained myself. Boe found this funny and thought I should place this joke on his Identical Twin brother. So we walked over to his brother’s apartment and played the same joke. His brother’s response was even better than boes. I even got his brother to believe that he had been out to our house. I had him pretty much suckered into coming to Arbon either the day of Christmas or on Christmas Eve and stay through Christmas day. It was really funny, yet, it was highly embarrassing.

Aylee's award-winning song

I guess I never did send out Aylee's song that won the trophy.

If you are interested, you can find it here:
http://home.comcast.net/~jjandersen/AyleeMyMommy.wav

Aylee with her trophy and two ribbons. 

Aylee wins awards

Last Friday, Aylee had a Reflections assembly. Reflections is a program where children in school can submit pieces of art, music, literature, etc in conjunction with a corresponding theme. The Assembly was an awards assembly where families are invited.

Aylee wanted to compete in Reflections this year in several areas. She chose to paint a watercolor picture, write a short essay, do a photographic collage, and compose a song. Reflections is a nation wide program. The children have to do the project(s) on their own. They are then judged according to age and art medium.

Of the four submissions that Aylee made, She got Outstanding Acheivement (3rd place) for literature. She then got an Honorable Mention (2nd place) for the photography. Finally, got a first place trophy for her piano music and song that she composed about Amber. (I think I sent it out a month or so ago).

Aylee's Music submission now goes to the City of Provo where it will compete against all the other schools in Provo.

Good Job Aylee!

Give me Five

Can you believe its already Christmas time? As John mentioned I've already had my Christmas recital for my students, Friday night is our ward Christmas party, and we are getting our first snow storm as I am typing this. Last night for FHE Aylee gave a fantastic lesson that she had prepared entirely on her own, then we put together bags of goodies and delivered them to ove 40 families in our ward and neighborhood. (Yes, you read that number right -- I baked over 400 cookies yesterday!) It is so nice to have the kids getting older. We formed an assembly line with John and Aliece putting 3 of each of their cookies in the bag, then Aylee put two of each of her two cookies in, then Johnathan put 5 candies in, then I tied the bags up pretty. As we delivered them, John drove the van while Aliece and I handed out supplies, and Aylee and Johnathan took turns running the gifts up to each door. Alayna either cried or slept through most of it. What a team! At one point in our assembling process Aylee was a little ahead, and Johnathan was falling a little behind. so Aylee offered to put the candies in the bags after Johnathan had counted them. She was telling him "Give me 5" and holding out her hand for him to give the cadies to her. He slapped her hand 5 several times before he realized she was talking about the candy! We all had a good laugh about it!

The Jokes on Me

Christmas Devotional

Yesterday, I met Shantell at SLC for the Christmas Devotional. We met at 4:00 and there were already quite a few people waiting for stand-by tickets. We decided to tour temple square together and take our chances on getting in about 1/2 before it started. We did and we ended up getting very lucky and getting toward the front and center. They were perfect seats. The devotional was really good....especially Elder Faust's talk. It was the first time I've been inside the conference center when there was an actual meeting there. It was awesome. They had it all red and green for Christmas and I couldn't believe how many of us fit inside. It was majestic.

After the devotional, we went and saw the lights a little bit. It is so much fun to see the lights when you have a girl on your arm. It makes it that much more romantic.

A little foam football - $1.06 ... Going to the dollarstore on a December's saturday - Priceless.

We had a ward baptism today. I had to conduct, but the baptism was for the son of one of Amber's visiting teaching sisters. Well, Amber did a great job keeping four ansy children quite during the nearly one-hour meeting.

I guess she wanted to get me back though...She was planning a trip to Park City to go shopping with Jen today. As they left, Amber told me that she had "Mentioned" to Aylee that we might go to the dollar store today so that Aylee could buy a toy with her money. Well, we all know that when you tell Aylee that you "may" do something, you might have well of found it in the scriptures - it is going to come to pass!

Well, I took the kids on an outing - just myself mind you, with four half-crazed children (three of whom needed a nap). We made several stops. We had been gone for about two and a half hours and these kids were ready to go home. However, Aylee reminded me that we needed to go to the dollar store. I said to myself, "Ok, I am a Dad of four....I can do this without getting stress out."

I knew we were in trouble when it took us nearly 5 minutes to navigate through the parking lot to a distant spot that had white reverse lights in it. As the car pulled out of the north-forties position, we pulled in.

I got all the kids out of the car - most of whom, except for Aylee did NOT want to go to the dollar store. I got out our beefy stroller and placed Alayna in it. I then asked all of the kids to dutifully hold onto the stroller for safety. We slowly made our way through the mass of cars and people to the store.

Pushing the stroller into the two non-automatic, non-handicap accessible, non-stroller-with-three-kids-and-a-dad-on-the-side accessible doors proved to be annoying for the ten people behind our caravan trying to navigate through the first and second doors that led into the store.

My relief was short lived however when I noticed the lines to the cash registered reminded me of the Splash Mountain line at Disneyland during a holiday break. I knew it was not going to be a quick trip.

Now, my reasoning for bringing the stroller was that instead of using a shopping cart, I could just push the stroller around and try to keep Alayna asleep. As we moved into the first isle, I realized that while our stroller was the size of any normal shopping cart, the dollar store's shopping carts were half the size -- and there was a reason for that. The isles were NARROW already, but with the record attendance at the store, the isles were pretty much unmaneuverable for a stroller with four bodies hanging on the side. I finally gave up and sent Aylee on her own to look for her dream toy.

If anyone has been with Amber and I when we are trying to decide where to eat or what to order at a restaurant, you know that you have a serious time commitment going on. Well, put Aylee in a small store where she can afford ANY item in the entire inventory, you know that she will have a hard time making a decision. We waited....and waited....and waited. Finally I had to give Aylee an ultimatum - she could choose a toy in the next minute, or we could pick her up at the dollar store during family home evening on Monday night.

We headed for the cash register lines and Aylee soon joined us. There, the kids did remarkably well at staying with me in line, not complaining, and not grabbing little delights purposefully placed in the checkout lane. I started to feel like this was going to be OK afterall.

After several minutes, our turn arrived. Aylee had her toy football, and her home-made piggy bank (a small canning jar). The store employee, despite the long lines and busy day, sweetly looked at Aylee and said, will you be paying for this yourself? Aylee said yes and held our her crisp dollar bill. The lady politely said it would be a dollar and six cents. Aylee wasn't prepared for the six cents, so she started digging in her jar for the change. I smiled nervously around at the long line of people watching the transaction slowly occur.

While Aylee was looking for the correct change, I heard a crash. Yeah, I knew what that sound. I looked on the floor. Indeed there was money, coins, and yes, GLASS scattered across the checkout lane. Aylee had dropped her mason-jar-piggy-bank. The store clerk, bless her heart, saw the dilemma, handed me the dollar bill, and ran to get a broom. I quickly picked up the change that was needed for the transaction and started to pick up the the rest of the money. The clerk came over and insisted on picking up the rest of the money. She then proceeded to sweep all of the glass into a pile while I struggled to keep my three walking kids from stepping into the shards of glass near them.

Finally, the clerk had the glass in a pile and now she was searching for a place to sweep it to since she had no dust pan. When he search was over, she came back with a forced smile and asked for the money again to complete the transaction. As I offered the money, she held out her hand to take it and then we both saw it at the same time...a line of blood on her hand where some unseen shard had made its score. It was bleeding pretty good and she called out for another store clerk to give her some paper towels. This search continued as the clerk waited there trying not to let the blood drip on the floor.

When the paper towel arrived, and the blood was quickly wiped up momentarily, we finished our transaction. As soon as we got the receipt and said a quick thank you and we headed out of that store - not looking back at the possible unhappy faces of store patrons and workers alike!

Two Stars in the family

Wednesday night, Amber and her friend Cindy Hansen held their annual
Christmas piano recital with their piano students.

Amber and Cindy played a duet both at the beginning and at the end of the
recital. They both did very well. It is so much fun hearing them play
duets.

Aylee was the shining star of the show for our family. She played her "All
I want for Christmas" piece. She did awesome. She didn't look nervous a
bit.

Of course, I had all the rest of the kids sitting with me. I also had the
video camera. So, of course, during both Aylee and Amber's pieces, Aliece
and Johnathan would start to wrestle on a row of chairs and make a ton of
noise, so the camera footage is a bit shaky - and you might hear me beating
the kids more than you hear the piano playing, but what they heck...it's all
good clean fun family entertainment.

Anyway ... Kudos to Amber and Aylee on their piano performances!