FHE Missionaries

Last night for Family Home Evening we talked about what missionaries do (they teach people about Jesus), what missionaries wear (ties, white shirts, badges, and girls wear dresses), and then dressed them up like Dad on his mission.

Jason hid behind a bedroom door, and they had to knock on all the doors in our hallway until they found him. Addie then said she was there to tell him about Jesus, and he let her in! It was a fun FHE. This entire month we're learning about missionaries. Last week we showed them pictures from Jason's mission to Houston and wrote their Uncle Danny while he's on his mission. I love FHE and making time to spend time with our family. It truly is inspired.

crazy thumb

Saturday night, during an intense game of Candyland, we noticed Addie's thumb looked odd. Take a look yourself.

Turns out she can't straighten it. It doesn't hurt, though. Today she loved showing her preschool class her "crazy thumb."

It turns out, after a trip to a pediatric orthopedic, that Addie has "trigger finger." It usually occurs in older people when they have accidents that cause their joints to pop, such as ski accidents. It also occurs in children, but our doctor told us it's more common in newborns. He was pretty surprised that it didn't manifest itself until now. An X-ray showed she has a nodule on her joint which is inhibiting the tendon from moving. Unfortunately, she now has to have surgery to get it repaired. It's outpatient surgery, fairly routine, and we have it tentatively scheduled for later in the month.

Surgery! TWO THUMBS UP!

a few Christmas miracles

After driving 12 hours to MI, we hit a deer twenty minutes from my parent's house. It was scary, but we were able to make it there ok and everyone was fine...except the deer. We had to console Addie, she was worried it was one of Santa's. Ha.

Because of the deer, we were able to get THIS! A MIRACLE! I absolutely LOVE having a bigger, newer and all around better vehicle to tote my tots.

Miracle #2: It snowed in Memphis on Christmas Day! I realize it's a crummy picture. As you can tell it wasn't much, but it was snow!

And the last Christmas miracle? Carson smiled a few days before Christmas! That was one of my favorite gifts! We didn't get a picture of the first smile, so a cute snapshot from today will have to do. My kids are adorable!

hilarious family pictures!

We went to Michigan for a few days before Christmas. While there we had Carson blessed by his dad. We also took family pictures. As you can see with the progression of Addie's face, ours just get better and better better with each one. Try and click on the last picture to see it enlarged, you'll get the full effect of Addie's awesome smile!

Here is a snippet of a conversation tonight at dinner--

Dad: Addie, if you eat all your food you can have some Ginger Ale.

Addie: I want some Gingerella!

As you can see, the princesses are going in full force around here.

four weeks, three kids, two days, one tongue

FOUR WEEKS. Carson is four weeks old today! He is such a good baby. He usually goes four hours in between feedings, can sleep through almost anything, and is gaining weight like a champ. Will I have my first chubby baby after all? Unlikely. But he IS getting heavy! He is so handsome, too. He definitely looks like a boy, but not like an old man boy baby. He is just small and sweet and handsome! The pictures honestly don't do him justice.

THREE KIDS. Everyone seems to want to know "how is life with three kids?" Honestly, not too bad. More hectic, more crying, more mess...but (now to the cheesy part) more giggles, more kisses, more love. The girls just LOVE their brother, they would love him to death if we'd let them, and I just love seeing how much they love him. He is constantly being kissed, hugged, patted, tickled, held. He is brought endless blankets, pacifiers, burp rags, toys, and socks. They can be bribed to do ANYTHING as long as their reward has something to do with Carson. The only thing that I really hate about having three kids is trying to go anywhere with all of them. It's ridiculous how long it takes to get out the door!

TWO DAYS. We are all going to pile into our Nissan Maxima (yes, three car seats jammed in the back seat) and drive for 12 hours to Michigan in just TWO DAYS! I can't wait! Getting there and back may be rough, but I am thrilled to see my family and show off my adorable children. We'll be back here on the 23rd for our own Christmas, but get to share the before-Christmas festivities with my family. My sister Kari had a little girl, Lucy, on Dec 1st, so there will be two cute little babies around to snuggle. The bonus? Carson and Lucy are both going to receive their baby blessings from their daddies this Sunday. What a great day to share with a cousin! Oh yeah...Anyone want to let us borrow their van? Pleeeeeease??? :)


ONE TONGUE. Carson was born tongue-tied. I didn't even know that was something other than an expression until he was two weeks old. That means the connective tissue from his tongue to the bottom of his mouth (the frenulum linguae) connected at the tip of his tongue, preventing him from sticking his tongue out or touching his tongue to the roof of his mouth. In some people this doesn't ever cause a problem, but in others it can affect speech and teeth growing in properly. We opted to get his clipped. On Tuesday I took him to the ENT, they took out some scissors and *snip snap* clipped his frenulum. Good thing he won't remember any of it, it was so sad to watch. They did numb the area and put on silver nitrate to cauterize it, but he wasn't very happy. It took him a little while to figure out how to latch properly again, but he seems to be just fine now.


A pre-clipping picture. Can you spot my frenulum? (I hope you all enjoy your new vocab word.)

deck the halls with christmas cards, fa la la la la la

It's that time of year again *fa la la la la la la la la* Christmas Card Time! Have you seen Shutterfly's holiday card collection? I've been sent a few from my friends already this year and they are gorgeous! There are many styles to choose from, and the quality and clarity of the pictures are excellent! I love the bold colors of this one, and can see my cute kiddos smiling out at all my loved ones!



Last year I made up a photo book for Jason's birthday on Shutterfly. It was an awesome gift! It contained our entire dating story, now written down for our children to read and *hopefully* enjoy! He loved it, and I loved how simple it was to create! Not only that, Shutterfly has great promotions and every once in a while you can get a FREE photobook, and who doesn't love that? The site is also so easy to use! I have since made up one more book, waiting to be printed. I also love their calendars, and am considering making one or two for our great grandparents for Christmas gifts.

And now, to anyone who hasn't heard yet, Shutterfly is offering 50 free Christmas cards to anyone who blogs about their awesome site. Not only do I love Shutterfly's website, easy to create creations, and their products, I also LOVE that they're getting in the Christmas spirit this year and GIVING us all free gifts! Thank you, Shutterfly!

a busy couple of weeks

new baby Carson

new loving big sisters who LOVE to help

Cousins Chaela and Joci, Aunt Caitlyn and Uncle Willy all come to visit

Grandpa and Grandma visit (My mother-in-law is amazing, by the way. She stayed for an entire week to help me exclusively. My kitchen sparkled! I was so spoiled.)

We put up TWO Christmas trees. haha.

And Macie is just, well, simply awesome. Her personality is really coming out now.

We even managed to squeeze in a visit to Santa. Too bad he was the grouchiest Santa in the entire world--look at him glaring at us! Macie could obviously sense his disdain for children.

As for me, on my own with three kids, I'm doing pretty well. Hopefully soon I won't just feel like I'm surviving, but I'll be thriving! Besides my shock and dismay when it took almost two hours yesterday to just get three kids ready and out the door, I'm doing great. My "to do" lists have remained purposely small, and I'm enjoying watching the girls love their baby brother. Yay for families! I sure love mine, my husband and kids just bring me so much joy. And I am especially thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ this time of year, and the knowledge that we can live together forever as a family. Ah, I have so many blessings...