Joy School V-Day Party

For the last several weeks, Adelyn has been helping me plan our Joy School Valentine's Day party. She made all her Valentines over two weeks ago. After working really hard and practicing her letters every day, she was able to write the names on each of the cards by herself. I was so proud of her persistence (it took a LONG time). She also helped me make the sugar cookies the day before. She's become quite the proficient "cookie cutter."

Rebekah, Amy, Adelyn and Dallin decorating their cookies. The kids had so much fun learning how to mix the red, yellow, and blue food coloring to make the white frosting match the bowls they were in. We made green, pink, purple, orange, and light blue. The kids were so excited as we stirred the frosting and watched it change colors.

Rebekah tasting her nicely decorated cookie.

A few of our cookie masterpieces.

After cookie decorating, we read "Olive, My Love," a clever little Valentine's story; passed out Valentines; and finished the party with a game of Valentine's Bingo, using conversation hearts to mark the spaces. Here's Adelyn with her bingo card and the Valentine's box she decorated all by herself at Joy School on Tuesday. All the kids were so fun and enthusiastic. The party was a great success!

Knee Surgery

Would you believe it?! Ryan has to have knee surgery--MAJOR knee surgery. Thanks to BYU indoor intramural soccer, my husband tore his ACL. But the really sad part is that he has been suffering from this undiagnosed injury for nearly a YEAR. Why, you might ask, was this injury not diagnosed? After all, he is married to a nurse. Well, I'll tell you. Did you know you can have a torn ligament in your knee and have no pain with walking, running, or anything requiring only forward motion. I didn't either. So after the physical therapist sent Ryan home after only one visit (saying he not longer needed any therapy at all!), we both thought he was fine.

That was until Ryan just kept getting injured. After jumping up to pull down his projector screen at work, he came down on it wrong and couldn't move it for over three hours. Then just recently, he reinjured it going up for a rebound in a ward basketball game. Needless to say, we had had enough and knew there was something more going on, so I arranged for Ryan to see an orthopedic surgeon. Within 15 seconds of the surgeon entering the room, he said he was 95% positive Ryan had a torn ACL, but would need an MRI to confirm it before doing surgery. And sure enough: a torn ACL and a VERY injured meniscus.

Ryan's surgery is scheuled for February 23. The sad thing is that he feels fine right now. Like I said, he can walk and run straight with no problems. So, it's pretty miserable for him to go into this surgery knowing he will have to be on crutches for about a month and then rehab the knee for 6-9 months before it is completely healed. Short-term loss, long-term gain, I guess. He is so active, it might just kill him to not play soccer for that long, but he'll just have to behave himself for awhile. :) Anyway, pray for him. We are pretty nervous about how everything will turn out.

Mullet Mayhem

So, as most of you could see from our Christmas pictures, my dear little Preston has grown himself a mullet. What many of you probably didn't know is that my darling little daughter (read this with clenched teeth) cut herself one. Yep, almost four years and scissors had never even touched her hair (I was TRYING to grow it out!). And then one fateful day, she pretty much butchered it. She cut it all the way up to her ears on both sides as far as she could reach. On first inspection, I was somewhat relieved to see that she hadn't cut it all the way to her scalp like most children do. But let's be honest, it still looked absolutely terrible because it was still really long in the back.

Anyway, after stewing over how to fix it, I finally had Ryan's sister-in-law (a hairdresser) give both my children their first real haircut, making our home once again a no-mullet household. It was almost a tragedy to see Preston's little ringlets fall to the floor, but Adelyn's haircut was such a relief. Although her hair is MUCH shorter now, at least it looks nice. And I know it will grow out soon enough and we can put it in piggy braids again (her favorite). I still miss Preston's darling little locks though, so I may have to grow his out again too. We'll see. As for my hair (not that you really care). . .well, pregnancy always brings on the bad hair day blues for me (I may as well have a mullet too), so I am getting it done next week--just in time for my hot date on Valentine's Day. :)

Gettin' ready to chop. Adelyn loved this part the best: putting it all up in pretty clips.

Another angle of the pre-cut. Sorry, no pictures of Preston. He was either screaming and moving around in the chair or having me hold him. And of course he wouldn't wear his drape, so we got completely covered in hair.

An "after" shot of Preston. Please don't ask what he is eating because I would NEVER feed my toddler homemade Oreos no matter how much he begged me. :)

Another little picture of his new hair-do.

Not the best picture of Adelyn's new hair cut, but a really great picture of her smile and her creativity. We cut out some hearts for Valentines Day, and the next thing I knew she had glued them all together in a chain (lots and lots of glue everywhere!) You can now see this lovely chain draped across my big front room window. I love it!

Oh, and I just threw this one in for my friend Amber. She gave me this beautiful trifle dish for Christmas and even gave me this recipe. It was delicious, Amber! Thanks so much for providing me the supplies and brains to make it.

Meet My Little Baby

I went to my first doctor's appointment yesterday and had an ultrasound to find out how big the baby was. I am pleased to announce that I am already 12 weeks along! Yeah! I was thinking maybe 10 at the most. The baby is about 10cm crown to rump and weighs just over an ounce. I was not planning to feel so touched by seeing the baby, but it was amazing! Already, everything looks formed and like a baby.

My due date is August 6. Another late summer baby, but oh well. I'm hoping the time will go fast. Well, there you go. Baby #3 is well on the way. In just 8 weeks, we can find out the gender and be half-way done. Pretty exciting stuff.

Christmas Catch-up

Christmas Eve: We enjoyed a really nice Christmas Eve at my parents house. We ate yummy festive appetizers and enjoyed a great night of singing and performances. My Aunt Judy came this year and favored us with her incredible violin playing. She is amazing and can play any song on the spot without music. All the grand kids picked different parts for the nativity and they did an amazing job! We also did a talent show and many of the grand kid shared their talents with us. Adelyn danced with some of the other three-year olds for her talent.

Four angels and a stray sheep.

Most of the grand kids, all dressed up and ready for the performance of the Nativity. My dad is the narrator every year and reads the story directly from Luke 2.

Mary, Joseph, the Baby Jesus, two Wisemen, one shepherd, and a sheep.

The boys . . . just hangin' out. Preston wasn't really interested in dressing up for the nativity this year. Instead, he played with my Mom's "Car City" the whole time. He loves playing with "car cars."

Later that Night:

Our house just after Santa came. Adelyn was having a difficult time deciding how Santa was going to manage getting into our house without a chimney. I assured her that Santa is magic and would find another special way in. It looks like he made it. But how he got the barbecue in the house, I have no idea. :)

Christmas Morning: Preston is an early riser; Adelyn, not so much. Fortunately, Preston is still young enough that he had no idea what all the fuss was about and had no problem waiting until Adelyn woke up to open presents.

We (I mean Santa, of course) filled stockings this year for the first time. It was so fun to look for special little stocking stuffers for everyone and follow my parent's tradition of putting a big orange in each stocking (along with all the other candy). I love this picture of Adelyn discovering all the little treasures in her stocking.

Ryan with his stocking. Christmas is not Christmas without Ryan's summer sausage. Fortunately for Ryan, Santa did not forget.

Preston, opening another present. He was so fun and excited this year.

Addie's new Christmas dress. She loves it and has wanted to wear it every Sunday since.

Christmas Day: We spent Christmas Day with Ryan's family. We had fruit crepes and sausage for breakfast, opened gifts, and then enjoyed Christmas Dinner later in the day. We had such a nice time.

More "car cars!" Preston couldn't be happier.

A Christmas smile for the camera.

Ryan has wanted this game forever! Great job to his Mom for thinking of it.

December was a really special month. We tried to keep things more slow and simple, and focus more on teaching our kids about the true meaning and purpose of Christmas. Although most of the pictures are of the material side of Christmas, some of our favorite times this year were reading spiritual Christmas stories together as a family, singing Christmas carols, and delivering little neighbor gifts as a family. Kids make all of the holidays so much fun!

Gotta Get Something Off My Chest

So, guess what? I am pregnant!! Can you believe it?! I still can't and I've known since 2:30am on Christmas morning. (I know! That's a really strange time to take a pregnancy test, but the instructions said "the first void of the day." And guess what time pregnant women "void"...) Child #3!!! Yep! And I am only a meager 25 years old. I teased my mom that I'm right on schedule to have 10 children, just like her. Except I probably won't (ha! I mean definitely won't) because I don't possess her level of patience/endurance/faith/(insanity :), etc.

But we are all very excited to welcome another little one into our family. Ryan and I were both shocked, but feel so blessed and know the timing will be perfect. Adelyn is SURE that the baby is a girl or twins (she wants to name them Runner?? and Jumper??--thank goodness this family is not a democracy). Preston is still clueless, but LOVES babies and is so precious and gentle with them. I still can't get over the fact that Preston is not a baby anymore--he's getting to be so big! Ahhh! My family is growing so fast!! I cannot believe it!

Anyway, so hopefully this announcement will help explain the "tired" post on December 3, and the fact that I STILL haven't even posted a single picture from Christmas, and may not get around to it for at least another month. Because guess what I do ALL day and ALL night? I SLEEP. I am SOOOOO incredibly exhausted lately. It is completely ridiculous! I fall asleep everywhere and want to sleep constantly. I do the absolute bare minimum around the house (and it is definitely taking its toll). I guess I still go to work from time to time too (actually far too often over Christmas break). But anyway, I really do hope this tiredness thing goes away soon because this is SO not like me. I'll post more details and such later. But for now, I think I'll go to bed. :)

Family Christmas Pictures

We FINALLY got our family pictures taken (sigh). I'm pretty sure it's been on my list of things to do for at least 6 months. It really is a daunting task. But I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. We are at least all looking at the camera. Horray for that. Well, Merry Chirstmas everyone!!

Bedtime Snack

I came downstairs to get Preston into his pajama and this is what I found. Ryan, was of course supervising the little rascal, but he had apparently downed this entire yogurt in a matter of minutes!! He's recently started feeding himself and seems to be very pleased with his abilities.

This stuff is so, so yummy!!

All done!! Thanks. I think I'll go to bed now.

Candy and Gingerbread. . .

Are the ingredients for a great family project.

And this project really did take everyone's help. Adelyn and I started building the house while Preston was taking a nap and Ryan was at his Sunday meeting. By the time he got home, I'm pretty sure both kids were screaming and the gingerbread house was (unfinished) on the refrigerator. I let Ryan and Adelyn make the final touches while I fed Preston some much-deserved gum drops.

We were pretty pleased with the result.

And a smiling girl means the project was a success.

How do you know it is Christmas at the Rocque's house?

You find Christmas stockings all hung in a row. . .

A Christmas tree decorated with love (and lots of "help" from my children). . .

And a little nativity set to remind us all what Christmas is all about.

Warning: Depressing Post

I am REALLY tired today.

I am tired. . . of waking up every morning at 4:00am to a screaming baby and wondering if I should let Preston try to get himself back to sleep. Or if the whole family will have a better chance of getting a few more hours of sleep if I just get up and sooth him, knowing full well that he may never break this habit if I do.

I am tired. . . of vacuuming my front room over and over after my children spilled dishwashing detergent all over the place. No matter how many times I vacuum, I keep finding those little white and blue specks everywhere. Um, yikes! Those are toxic!

I am tired. . . of Preston waking up everyday from his nap cranky and inconsolable for hours, or sometimes even the entire rest of the day, because he only ever takes a 1-hour nap, but needs two hours or more. If he would just sleep more. . .

I am tired. . . of sweeping and mopping the floors. What more needs to be said?

I am tired. . . of feeling like I have to get upset before Adelyn will actually take me seriously and do what I have asked.

I am tired. . . of juggling two kids at the grocery store. It is always a little embarrassing when nearly everything in the cart has been opened and half-way eaten by the time we get to the check-out.

I am tired. . . of cooking, in general.

I am tired. . . of everything taking twenty times as long as it should to get done. I feel like I am trudging through mud all the time.

I am tired. . . of finding partially dismantled ornaments strewn all over my house. Why did I even put up the Christmas tree this year?

I am tired. . . of Adelyn changing her clothes four times a day, wanting to eat every 20 minutes, and being particular about what color her bowl and spoon are every time. Do you think it's too early to teach her how to cook her own meals and do her own laundry and dishes?

Okay, so that felt really good to write those things down. Miraculously, now I feel a lot less "tired." Life has just really felt heavy today. Thanks for letting me complain for a minute so I could get on with things. I hope it wasn't too terribly depressing. :) I know tomorrow will be a better day.

Thanksgiving Dinner and. . . Presents?

We did the Ostler Thanksgiving dinner today and it was fabulous! I did a terrible job taking pictures this year, however, and only got a few at the end. But everything turned out great: great food, great family, great fun! And our kids were very excited that they got to open their gift for the Christmas gift exchange a whole month early! Yeah!

Addie got a Tinkerbell dress which she absolutely loves! She couldn't be happier.

And Preston got a ball and two cars: two of his favorite things. Perfect!

And Ryan got to play some soccer with the other guys and the kids while the girls talked and talked. Once again, perfect. I love my family and enjoy any excuse to spend more time with them.

Our Thanksgiving Feast

We had the privilege of hosting the Rocque family for Thanksgiving dinner this year. We put up two long tables in our basement playroom and had an AMAZING feast. Ryan made THE most delicious turkey (he brined it--by soaking it all night in salt water--before he cooked it), mashed potatoes, gravy, and rolls. I cleaned the house, set everything up, and made a pecan pie. Everyone else brought the rest of the feast. It was SO delicious and so much fun.

If you know Ryan, it should be no surprise to you that he wanted to be like a noble from the Middle Ages and eat the turkey the old fashioned way. :)

The little girls' table. I'm pretty sure they did a lot more playing than they did eating, but oh well.

Boy, am thankful for these two rascals in my life. After we ate, we each took turns saying what we were most grateful for this past year. Honestly, my little family always comes out number one for me. I am so grateful for Ryan and all of the endless hard work he does for our family. Being a full-time teacher AND student has not been easy, but he still saves a little energy to play with our kids and be a fabulous father and husband. I am so grateful for Adelyn because she is my best little friend. It is so nice to be able to carry on real conversations with her and chat about anything and everything. It is also such a joy to watch her develop into such a sweet, ambitious, beautiful little girl. Preston is a little ham! He is starting to talk more and more and he is so fun. He loves to tease, kick and throw balls, climb onto everything, and be outside. He is a true boy through and through and I don't know how we ever got along without him.

I am also very grateful for our extended families and for our friends. It is such a blessing to feel loved and supported. We have been richly blessed this year! Although it is sometimes easy to focus on the trials and hardships we have faced, it is quite overwhelming when I stop to think about all the little things that have fallen into place for us. I know the Lord is directing our lives and is never far away. And that is a great blessing indeed.

"Jungle Sally"

For those of you who don't know, we have recently adopted a third child. It was kind of on a whim, but we realize now that we needed her as much as she needed us. But three kids has actually turned out to be more of an adjustment than we originally thought it would be. She is just three years old and is unfortunate REALLY wild. She just absolutely destroys our house, screams at the top of her lungs regularly, never says please or thank you, is EXTREMELY mean to Preston, and doesn't listen to a thing I say. As a result of her uncivilized behavior, Adelyn and I have affectionately named her "Jungle Sally."

During these last few weeks, I have given Adelyn the responsibility to help keep Sally tame and to clean up after her when she makes big messes. Adelyn also volunteered to teach Sally to be nice to Preston and share her toys; to say please and thank you; and to not scream or whine. It is working out quite well and I have only occasionally had to send Sally outside to sleep with her jungle friends.

Okay, so we don't really have a new wild third child. But our little imaginary family scape goat has given me an opportunity to help make my real three-year old aware of her mistakes without causing her to feel blamed or picked on. And amazingly, "Jungle Sally" really has become more tame in the process. Isn't it neat what a little imagination can do. . .

Trick-or-Treating with Cinderella

I LOVED Halloween this year! People have often told me that life is so much more fun with kids. Well, that is true, but especially when it comes to Halloween. Honestly, I can't think of any better way to spend an evening than skipping down the road trick-or treating with my giggling little girl. She was just beaming and she kept saying, "Mommy, this is so much fun!"

We decided to coordinate our costumes this year. Adelyn is obviously Cinderella, I am her fairy godmother, and Preston is Bruno. If you don't know who Bruno is, you are definitely due for a dose of this Disney classic. He is like the hero of the whole show. (Ryan was supposed to be Prince Charming, but I couldn't find a good costume for him.) I love this picture because it reminds me so much of a picture taken of my mom with my two oldest siblings on Halloween long before I was born. She was dressed as "Little Bo Peep." My mom is my biggest hero. I like to imagine that someday I will be even half the woman and mother that she is.

Preston looks like he has no idea why on earth he has to wear this crazy dog on the top of his head all night long. But he was quite a trooper about it overall.

An excited little princess.

This is such a darling picture of Adelyn with her Grandma Rocque. I will never forget the day that we left her house and Adelyn said, "Mom, I just love that Grandma." I think if she had it her way, Adelyn would spend every day visiting either her Grandma Rocque or Grandma Ostler. She has such a special relationship with both of them.

Ryan's beautiful sister Heather with her baby, Abby. Her three little girls were all darling princesses this year.

Adelyn, smiling because she just ate ANOTHER piece of Halloween candy. This picture shows off the cute witch she got painted on her cheek at the ward Truck-or-Treat.

My boys, exhausted from a long and fun-filled Halloween night.