5 years ago...

5 years ago I today, I went in to the hospital to have Sam.... (he wasn't born until the 31st) our New Year's Eve baby!

We weren't sure what we were up against when we went to the hospital, but we sure knew we wanted this little boy in our family. It seems like so long ago, but also just yesterday. He is our little miracle, and I know that we have been blessed by having him, and we are blessed every day with his sweet personality.

Christmas!

On Christmas Eve we went to Michael's parents house for Brinner (no they don't call it that... they actually called it brunch, but it was at 2 or 3 in the afternoon, and it counted as dinner, so it wasn't technically a brunch, it was breakfast for dinner, so... brinner, and no, I didn't clarify that up there, I just ate my brinner without setting things straight.)

There was a huge bowl of caramel popcorn... the likes I haven't seen since growing up. It was yummy and nostalgic, because, I haven't had caramel popcorn like that, especially from a bowl like that since I was a kid. And Katelyn loved it too... and it was Christmas so I just went ahead and let her spoil her dinner by eating it while we were waiting.

The evening was lots of fun, and of course the HIGHLIGHT was Santa. I'm sure no cousins are going to read this blog and if they are some parents can surely shield them from this... but Santa is Michael's dad. Some of the grandkids are a little wise to this, especially since there are a few slip ups here and there like "go sit on Grandpa's lap" but my kids were TOTALLY thrilled and were caught up in the magic. Katelyn surprised me at how happy she was to see him, and kept on shouting (she has 2 volumes, talking and shouting) questions or answers to questions that he asked other kids on their lap. Example: (Another kid on his lap) "How old are you" Kate: "I'm 2!" "What do you want for Christmas?" Kate: "A bike!" (most of the time I don't think he even noticed that she was shouting answers at him) It was funny. Sam, was just as taken with him, but kept on asking me questions like "Where are his reindeer?" When we got home we opened pjs and read the Christmas story. Sam couldn't go to sleep. He continued coming out for at least 2 hours at different times, saying things like "I thought I heard Santa's boots... "
Sam woke up bright and early as expected and we let him climb into bed with us until Katelyn woke up. The kids sure made it fun this year. Sam's big highlight was his camera, and this is basically what you saw when you looked at him the entire day:

His pictures are too funny. They are of random things, like the fireplace, his toys, the ceiling fan (TONS of pictures of the ceiling fan). When his memory gets full... the pictures he chooses to delete are the ones of people.

This is Kate (my little diva) with her favorite gift. Fake make-up. I searched and searched for makeup that was plastic so that she didn't get real makeup everywhere. She spent a lot of time applying this makeup.

Christmas was sure fun this year. The kids made it that way, funny how kids make things so new and exciting.

Bateman Family Christmas Party

To those who weren't there... this post is for you. I didn't take a lot of pics, and those I took weren't very good. We missed you!
So, here is a pic of all the grandkids at our Christmas party this year. We were missing 7 grandkids... and of those 7, just one is a girl. What a lot of boys! So, 22 grandkids, 6 girls and that would be 16 boys. (Seriously, I had to do the math). We had a great time and we missed Jeanna and Johnny's family. This year we did it at my church. You can see there's a lot of us, and a lot of kids... so I felt like we needed a little bigger space and I think it was a hit. We may have to do this every year at the church. The kids brought basket balls and there was always a game going on. We had a TV and DVD player and the littler kids played in the overflow area with Miracle on 34th street and the Grinch playing. The kids looked like they had a lot of fun. We had good food and everyone was able to make it (that was in UT). The weather held out for us that night and it wasn't bad weather getting there... It was great to be able to visit and have the kids play. So, Merry Christmas!
We also had a Gardner Family Christmas party last night... but I think Michael wrapped the camera. So, no pics yet. Yes, it was opened and used early... and there's still debate on who's gift it really is.

Sam's new favorite bedtime story

So, I rummaged through the bookshelf the other night of stories I'd collected while going to college to find a new bedtime story for Sam. Sometimes this backfires on me and I'll realize that the story just is too old for him, or was too long, or wasn't quite as fun as I'd remembered it. Anyway, last night I pulled out The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch. A great story. Basically it is about a princess named Elizabeth who is going to marry a prince named Ronald, who is practically perfect. A dragon comes and burns down her castle and all of her clothes, and carries Ronald off. She looks a mess and has to wear a paper bag because that's all she can find to wear, and she tracks down the dragon. Throughout the whole story, Sam was very intent on the story. He had very wide eyes at the dragon parts, and I started to worry a little bit about nightmares about dragons. (As a side note we had to stop reading We're Going on a Bear Hunt because it cause too many bear dreams). Usually he talks through a lot of the stories, or asks questions... but this time he just listened. Anyway, back to the story... She outwits the dragon... and goes in to get Ronald. Ronald tells her that she looks a mess and to come back when she looks more like a princess. Then Elizabeth says to him, "Ronald, you look like prince, but you are a bum" and they didn't get married after all. Sam burst out laughing. He laughed so hard, his eyes watered up and he couldn't stop laughing. He asked to read it again... and then he came out laughing to tell Michael about it. Then he starts yelling at Katelyn because he wanted to tell her about it (she was asleep and I told him he couldn't wake her up). Today I overheard him telling Katelyn about it. It was Michael's turn with Sam tonight and I could hear from the living room when he must have gotten to that part... Sam laughed just as loud tonight. What a good story... I recommend it to your kids.

Let it Snow...

So, for those of you who live in Utah and heard about the crazy snow storm. It was horrible. Fun for my kids, but seriously... I was out there for about 4 hours shoveling snow. Not to sound too old ladyish, but my back is killing me. I did decide to take a little break half way through. (Seriously... half way through, 2 hours into it!) To try out our new camera to see if I liked it enough to keep it... Merry Christmas to us (if you ask Michael it's his gift to me, if you ask me, it's my gift to him). I piled up a bunch of the snow at the top part of the steep part of our driveway and made a sledding ramp for the kids. They loved it!
I turned around after taking pics of Sam to see Katelyn laying down on the driveway eating a big ball of snow, with a mischievous look on her face, she must have been told that was a no no by daddy when he took them sledding on Saturday. I had to snap a picture of it (well, a few pictures of it) because it was so cute... and I'm afraid of what will be said when Michael sees the picture (You let her eat snow?!). She didn't last as long as Sam, and I took her inside and put on The Little Mermaid and went back out (I went in to check on her not too long after and she feel asleep!) Sam is a trooper and he was out there every second I was. He was loving it. Then when Daddy came home, to shovel some more (not that I didn't CLEAR the driveway) I just couldn't get to the sidewalks around the house. After 4 hours, soaking wet, and Katelyn was up and banging on the window wanting us to come inside... Anyway, he went back out with Michael for an hour or so. Hopefully he sleeps good tonight! So... to those who miss the snow... You can have it. Sam would miss it. But I've had my share for now and we're supposedly due for a huge storm on Christmas day!

Book - When Jesus Was Born in Bethlehem

I have had some people ask me what the book was that I referred to. I should have included it, but here is the info:
When Jesus Was Born in Bethlehem
Illustrated by Joseph Brickey
It lists him as the illustrator, not author, because all of the text inside is scriptures. I really like this book, on Christmas Eve you can read the actual scripture of the story of Christmas, but there are very beautiful paintings to illustrate them, which is easier for kids (and me!) to stay interested in the story. I found this book when I was looking for a gift to give to Michael's parents when I was dating Michael and I liked it so much, I bought a copy for myself and I am so happy that I did.

Christmas Tag...

So, I've been dealing with Katelyn being sick (side note - I don't get why she is so susceptible to sickness! She wasn't a preemie, born normally... full term, and yet she is so prone to getting stuff). Anyway, we attempted to take the kids with us Christmas shopping today and it was such a mistake, the kids were awful and so we cut it short and Michael ended up staying in the van with them while they watched a movie and I just ran in to get groceries. My friend has Josh Groban's Christmas music on her blog, and I love it! It is so beautiful and I may have to buy it... but for now, it's on in a different browser in the background while I do this.


Egg nog or hot chocolate? Hot chocolate! I particularly like mint hot chocolate, or hot chocolate with marshmallows, but NEVER the raspberry stuff... yuck. I do like Egg Nog, but we always had it mixed with Sprite (or fizzy as our family called it) and so if I ever drink it straight it seems terribly thick and I don't like it.

Does Santa wrap presents or set them under the tree? Well... I am probably the world's worst present wrapper. In most things, I think I am careful about things... but I can't bring myself to spend tons of time wrapping things that are going to get ripped open and stuffed in the trash. So... every gift is wrapped, even if it is a crappy shoddy job. Most of the time, there are no ribbons or bows... just wrapping paper, and Michael's are usually shoved into a bag (I love those bags!) but that's no fun for kids to just pull something out of a sack. As a side note... This is also a source of debate among me and some friends... I can't believe people give the BEST gifts from Santa. Are you kidding me?! Santa gets the credit? No way, the best gift should definitely be from mom and dad.


Colored lights on tree or white? We have white lights. I kind of wish we had colored lights, every place we've been that have colored lights, the kids just LOVE. But... colored lights we will probably never have... I thought to myself once, maybe we'll have 2 trees, one with colored one with white and have one be the "kids" and one pretty tree... but who am I kidding, I'm lucky to get one tree up.

When do you put your decorations up? Usually the day after Thanksgiving... well at least the tree, the decorations within the day or two, or sometimes on Sunday.

What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? I love my mom's recipe for stuffing, which is more Thanksgiving, but it just said holiday. Growing up, our big dinner was Christmas Eve, and on Christmas we had snack foods... leftovers ham and turkey sandwiches on leftover rolls, cheeseballs, relish trays, etc. I like that. I like snack/finger foods... and of course, just snacking all day.

Favorite holiday memory as a child: My mom was such a Christmas lover. It was very magical to her and had great Christmas memories as a child and I think she passed that down on to most of her kids. Guiltily, ever since she died, I have had a bit of the grinch in me and I struggle with the holidays a lot... maybe because it's tough to have her gone and even after almost 12 years, it doesn't get better, and in some ways it gets worse. So, I have many many holiday memories. But, I guess one of my favorite holiday memories was one particular holiday where me and my sisters gave something that meant a lot to my mom. One Christmas Eve, it was particularly crazy with a program at the church, dinner, and the pj tradition that it got late and things were a huge mess when the kids went to bed. My parents went in their room to get Christmas ready and my two sisters and I (Jenny was already married) went down and got the kitchen all cleaned and dishes done so that when my mom came down to put Christmas around the tree, it was all clean for her. I remember she cried. The other one I had was, when I was a teenager Jeanna, Jerusha and I went down to buy a Christmas tree on Christmas Eve because we still didn't have one yet and they were a dollar and we bought 2 (that Bateman gene... getting a good deal) and we tied them to the top of our little blue station wagon. I don't remember putting up the second one though, I'm pretty sure we didn't.

Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? This was a huge tradition growing up. We not only got pjs... but my mom had made them most years. I've tried doing this since we've had kids... but never homemade.

How do you decorate your Christmas tree? It used to be a "pretty" tree with matching ornaments, and the last couple of years we've been doing it "fun" with a modge podge of ornaments. We have some great ornaments we got from Michael's parents that my kids love. Old Hallmark ornaments that move and make noise.

Snow! Love it or dread it? Both! Can I say that? I love snow when I don't have to go out in it, and it's that warm snow that turns slushy and doesn't ice to the roads. I like to play in it once or twice, but I really like the warmth. So, I like it a little... but I am always anxious for spring.

Can you ice skate? I only remember going on horrible dates or group activities. I remember it being so crowded that I could scootch along but it wasn't like I could have even attempted anything amazing, even if I could. And I was too self conscious, I probably wouldn't have tried anyway. I like to watch it on the Olympics though.

Do you remember your favorite gift? Nope, I remember loving Christmas as a kid, but not getting many presents. One year I asked for a roller racer (a little seat with handle bars in the front that you wiggled to make you move) and I got it and then I felt guilty that I asked for it. So, it was a favorite because I knew my parents specifically got it because I asked, but then I wondered if I should have.

What's the most important thing about the holidays for you? Making happy memories for my kids. Wanting it to be a great Christmas and hopefully they will remember what a happy time it is.

What is your favorite holiday dessert? Ahhh... my favorite. Dessert. Where do I start? Ok, to narrow it down and give something specific. I love Michael's peppermint ice cream. Yum. But Dryer's peppermint ice cream will substitute.

What is your favorite tradition? Like I said, my heart shrunk 3 sizes and I turned into a bit of the grinch... and my kids are helping my heart grow back to normal so I'm trying to do better about traditions. I like the pjs on Christmas Eve, reading the Christmas story (out of a picture book I bought, and I love, it has the scripture words, but beautiful paintings depicting the scriptures), driving around and looking at the Christmas lights, opening gifts on Christmas morning and just being lazy in the morning while the kids play.

Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? I like giving gifts, but I'm not a good gift giver. I get paralyzed by trying to give the perfect gift that... I get stuck. I do love getting things for my kids. I have to hold back and not go crazy, I don't want spoiled kids, plus I didn't have many gifts growing up and I still loved Christmas and I want them to know that's not the only reason behind Christmas. But of course, who doesn't love getting gifts!

What is your favorite Christmas Song? It would be easier to tell you which songs I hate. I hate Silver and Gold, Feliz Navidad, The Holly and the Ivy, Oh Tannenbaum or just as bad O Christmas Tree (yes, I do know it's the same song)... ok, maybe it wouldn't be easier because I could go on. I really like soft calming peaceful not annoying Christmas Music like O Holy Night... another favorite is the primary song "Picture A Christmas" but as always, a lot of any good thing, is too much. So, there's only so much I can take.

Candy canes! Yuck or yum? Yum, probably because I'm a mint fan... but they must be peppermint candy canes, none of those yucky cherry flavored ones.

Ever recycled a Christmas present? Yup.

I'm supposed to Tag 7 friends... BUT, I felt like my last "tag" was unwelcome, like I was TELLING them to do something they didn't want to do. Plus, I know the holidays are super crazy busy, but I'd like to read about this on all my friends/families blogs... so if you feel like doing this, do it! I'd love to read your responses.

About those advent calendars...

So, I went down to look on the computer while Sam was in preschool. I put a movie on for Kate, I thought I was set for some uninterrupted computer time (this doesn't happen unless I'm on late at night). So, I had been on for a much longer than I anticipated without being bothered by Katelyn. I was thinking to myself, "wow, she's never watched TV this long, she must really like it" then I started to get worried... because I've already called poison control this morning because while I was in the shower Katelyn climbed up on top of the cabinet to get to her flouride and I caught her downing flouride pills. I had no idea how many she had, but the bottle wasn't empty... so I called. (They said she should be fine, she had to eat more than were in the bottle initally to have a bad reaction and we've had the bottle since March) So, they said to give her milk which binds to the flouride and to watch her. The worst case scenario should be upset stomach and vomiting with how many she might have taken. So, as I'm thinking it's been a while since I've seen Kate, I decide... "ahh... maybe something's wrong!" So, I bust it upstairs and I find....

So, she was of course into the advent calendars which have been going so well for, what is it now, December 4th? 4 days. Aurgh. Sam totally looks forward to these, he loves them. And this naughty little thing... made sure to EAT SAM's! When I took her chocolate from hers to replace his (which I don't know if that will fly, because the doors are open... I may have to purchase a new one for him) she said "Hey, that's my chocolate!"

Thanksgiving, shopping and the tree...

So, this will be a jumbled mess of what we've done these past couple of weeks. I know this will sound like rambling... but that's what it has felt like too! The pics are in no particular order...
First of all Shopping: Katelyn and I have done a lot of shopping lately, mostly when Sam has been in preschool, but I have come to realize what a shopaholic this little girl is. Usually when we drop Sam off at preschool she will say, "Let's go shopping Mom" or one day she was out with Michael and Sam and I came out to say goodbye (I was going for some nice kidless shopping) and she started to cry and said "I wanna go shopping with Mom" (Michael thinks I've ruined her). Anyway, she loves to shop with me (most of the time). Sam doesn't get to shop that much with me (for some reason shopping with 2 is exponentially worse than shopping with one) and he prefers to help Michael in the yard or whatever Michael may be doing, lately we haven't had much daddy time so he'll take what he can get. Anyway, one day he did come with me and we went to the new Smiths Marketplace (plug for all those within shopping distance, I have come to love this store) and they have these mini carts and Sam was so cute. He just may be a shopper yet!

The day before Thanksgiving my sister and I went to my dad's house to help him with some tile grout. Josh came up as well and he had rented Walle so the kids had a little movie time with popcorn and playing and we also did gingerbread houses. When I was growing up we always did gingerbread houses on a December FHE (family home evening) and it was painstaking making the gingerbread houses and expensive, but tons of fun! AND I remember eating the houses after Christmas (I don't think you could pay me to eat them now). When we first got married in the prekid days we invited a couple over to do gingerbread houses with us for a FHE. And couple of times the Gardner side has done gingerbread houses which we have gone up for when we have been able to. I have to say (another plug coming here) I LOVE the premade, candy all in the box, ready to go gingerbread houses. Anyway, we bought some of those and we did those as well at my dad's place. Which is a long story and was an ordeal all in itself! But Sam had a great time (Katelyn was sleeping and missed all the action). The other day I think he had an even greater time destroying and eating the house with his buddy Ethan. I should have taken pictures, but I didn't.
Then we had a great time at Thanksgiving, this year it was at the Gardner's... there was tons of yummy food and the kids loved playing with the cousins and seeing grandma and grandpa. The next day I went shopping while Sam helped Michael put up the tree (Michael didn't feel good all week and didn't want to do it but there was NO WAY Sam was letting him out of it. He had been telling everyone his schedule for the entire week "Wednesday we are doing Gingerbread houses, Thursday we are going to my Grandmas and Friday I'm setting up the tree with my Dad") they waited for me to decorate the tree and the kids loved it! I bought them each an advent calendar (cheap $1.50 chocolate one) and after breakfast they have been opening the doors on it, and even that has been so fun. I truly think that kids make the holidays so much fun. I have to admit sometimes I'm a little bit of a scrooge with all the work with decorating and the stress etc. (confession - last year I didn't even put out my nativity set - blasphemous I know, I just wanted to put up as little as possible - but in my defense Katelyn was sick almost all winter and was in the hospital the week before Christmas with pneumonia and RSV) But my kids have been so fun with it, I find myself looking forward to their reactions to things and them looking forward to everthing.