Christmas Eve and Day

The big day was finally here. The kids had been waiting forever, so it seemed. They were all so excited. We were going to have a celebration at Granny and Papa Gunnell's house for Christmas Eve. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, is the reason for the Christmas season, so it is only fitting that our celebration be centered around him. The kids are given costumes and they re-enact the First Christmas as the story is read from the scriptures. This year Ashleigh was an Angel, Jordan one of the three wise men, Jared was a Shepard and Austin shared the roll of baby Jesus with his cousin Josh.
The rest of the program was singing. Michael sang Birthday of a King, Natalie and Bruce sang O Holy Night, Natalie, Becky and myself sang Mary's Lullabye and Ashleigh and Emily sang Angels We Have Heard on High. It was a wonderful night and the kids had a great time. Best of all, we all were thinking about the reason that we celebrate Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ. The kids got to open one present from their grandparents and then we headed home.

At home is was time to open a present from Mom and Dad, pajamas, and then off to bed so that Santa could come.
Christmas morning was fun. Believe it or not, Michael woke up at 7am and I was feeding Austin and the other kids were all still sound asleep. He woke them up and after family prayer it was time to see what Santa brought. The kids were so excited, they all had some toys, but the hit was the Wii that Santa had delivered. Austin was so cute, he didn't care what he got as long as it could go in his mouth, wrapping paper and all. Ashleigh was excited to get an I-dog, Jordan got some Star Wars Legos and Jared got some Ben 10 toys. Everyone was happy.
We talked to Grammie and Papa Atwood and then it was off to the Gunnell's for breakfast and tree with them. It was a great day, the rain held off so that the kids could play outside with their cousins and when we got home it rained so they had fun playing with all of their new toys and we all enjoyed the Wii. Thank you Santa, Gunnell's, Atwood's and Martinez's for a great Christmas.

Getting up to date

WOW!! I can't believe it's 2009. The month of December was a busy one for our family. I will try to do a brief recap. Early in the month Jordan was baptized and became an official member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We are very proud of him for making the decision and it was a very special day with friends and family.
After the baptism was over it was time to start gearing up for Christmas. The Gunnell family always has lots of fun activities for the holidays. We started out with a Progressive Dinner that gives us the opportunity to go to each of the family homes and see the Christmas decorations and have a fun evening with family. We started at Becky and Scott's house for appetizers and a fun game of Christmas Carol Pictionary, that the kids loved. The food was yummy, thanks Becky. Next we travelled to Natalie and JJ's home for dinner and a musical recital. The soup and corn bread were delicious, thanks Nat, and the entertainment was great as well. Ashleigh, Emily and Matt all played some great Christmas songs on the piano and Emily added some with her clarinet as well. Finally we travelled to our home for dessert and a Christmas story. I made apple crisp this year and the story I chose was The Miracle of the Wooden Shoes, a very touching German Christmas story. All in all I think everyone enjoyed themselves, it was a great way to kick off the Christmas season.
The following weekend Michael and I were able to enjoy a wonderful evening with his parents and siblings and their spouses. Bruce and Sally started a tradition a few years back and we look forward to it every year. They invite all of the adults for a delicious muli-course dinner and evening of fun. We truly appreciate all of the hard work and thought that they always put into that special night. We had a great time visiting and playing games. Oh yeah, I won the game of High Roller that we played. I have to record that for history because it probably won't ever happen again.
Christmas Break had finally arrived and the kids were so excited to not have to go to school. Granny and Papa Gunnell decided to take the grandkids to Santa's workshop for a fun filled day with them and their cousins. They all got to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas and do some fun activities as well. Fun was had by all.

Christmas was finally here and that deserves a post all by itself.

Jared Visits Santa

Okay, so I finally managed to take one of my kids to visit Santa at the mall. We were there getting Austin's pictures taken and we went to get lunch at the food court and passed right by the Santa set up in the middle of the mall. Jared was so excited to sit on his lap and tell him what he wanted for Christmas. He had the cutest smile on his face the entire time.


After he was all done and we had left the Santaland area he took my hand and said to me, "Mommy, that was a fake Santa!" When I asked him why he thought that he said that he sounded "way different than the Santa at our house." Last year for a family progressive dinner Santa visited our house to see all of the kids.

Christmas '07

Now let me remind you, last year Jared was only 2 at Christmas. That little boy amazes me at every turn. He also is always saying something to make me laugh.

Happy Birthday Jordan!!

WOW! Where has the time gone. I can't believe that my oldest son is 8. It seems like just yesterday that I was giving birth to him, at least I can remember it as if it was only yesterday. We lived in Austin, TX at the time and I was working at Red Lobster. I went in the day before my due date for my last doctor's appointment and the doctor said that I wasn't making any progress toward labor (still only dilated to a 1) so he set me up to be induced the following week. I arranged for my good friend Sara to watch Ashleigh for the day that I would have him and I went to work for my last shift. The next morning at 4am I awoke to contractions. Considering what the doctor had just told me I just went out to the couch so that I wouldn't wake Michael and I timed the contractions for a few hours. They went from being every 20mins to every 8-10 mins over the course of 3 hours. Finally I decided it was time to call the doctor. I woke up Michael and Ashleigh and called my friend and asked if she could watch Ashleigh a week earlier than expected. We rushed to the hospital in Rush Hour and when I finally made it to the Labor and Delivery Room my contractions were right on top of each other and I was dilated to a 6. That was a 9:45am. I quickly accepted the offer of an epidural and the doctor arrived just in time to deliver Jordan at approximately 10:30am. I am truly grateful for the opportunity I had to go into labor on my own and also that they had time to give my an epidural when I finally made it to the hospital. When Dr. Phillips told me to stop pushing because the cord was around Jordan's neck I honestly don't know that I would have been able to stop had it not been for the epidural. The doctor was able to loosen the cord and Jordan was born a very healthy little boy. He weighed 8lbs. 1oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. We had no family with us at the time, but we had great friends to help us out. Thank you to Latina and Sara!! We were all so happy to have him in our home. He was a happy baby who loved his sister more than anything. They were the best of friends.

At the Cabin

Aunt Becky's Wedding '04

Jordan & Jared
First Day of Kindergarten

Halloween '07

Jordan & Austin

Now here we are 8 years later and Jordan is still a joy to have in our home. He is a great brother to his sister and his younger brothers. He has a very tender heart and wants to be a friend to everyone. His biggest love is video games, following in his father's footsteps. He is also starting to really enjoy playing such sports as baseball, basketball and soccer. He loves playing with legos and star wars. He also loves playing with his cousins and spending time at Granny and Papa's cabin. He is looking forward to his baptism in a few weeks and we are very proud of him for wanting to be baptized. It is a joy to watch him grow as a boy and in the gospel.

At the cabin

We love you so much buddy, keep Choosing the Right and continue to be a good friend to everyone.

Growing Too Fast!

OK, Austin is now 4 1/2 months old and the kid is growing like a weed. At his check-up last week he weighed in at 17 lbs and measured 26" long, 75th% for both measurements. He's grown so much since birth that Ashleigh can barely cradle him in her arms anymore.

He is such a happy baby and he is so chunky that he is just irresistible. He loves his brothers and sister and is always so happy to see his daddy, of course I, being his food source am his favorite person in the world. He is starting to be very talkative, although his talking is more of a screeching at this point. He is also trying to roll over, but hasn't quite made it yet and he can sit up a little bit, although it's more of a balancing act than sitting up.

He is truly a joy in our home, he loves it when Ashleigh will read or sing to him or play the piano. He is all smiles when the kids are playing with him.

Happy Halloween!!

Well Halloween has come and gone. Our kids had a good time preparing for Halloween this year, although they missed having Grammie around to make it even more special. They had fun opening the Halloween calendar that Granny made for them and just as much fun deciding what they were going to be this year. Ashleigh knew last year what she was going to dress as this year and she never changed her mind. She was a cowgirl and we had everything for her costume except a vest. She wanted me to buy her one, but she was pretty specific with what she wanted so I made one instead. Yes, you saw correctly, I made her a vest. She was happy with the final product and she made a cute cowgirl, not that I am biased or anything. Jordan was the easiest, he wanted to be a Clone Trooper from Star Wars the Clone Wars. That was readily available at any store that sold costumes. Jared was our difficult one this year. He changed his mind multiple times a day, everyday for more than a week. He mentioned such things as the Hulk, Batman, a Ninja Turtle and a Rock Star. We finally decided that a Rock Star was going to be it. He was so excited when I found a toy guitar for him to use with his costume. He is such an animated child, he was so funny once he had on the entire costume. Because of soccer schedules and Michael and I doing scouts it was difficult to find a night that we could carve pumpkins so on Friday when the kids got home from school they designed their Jack-o-lantern faces and I spent a few hours carving them before we needed to get ready for Trick or Treating. The kids and I went to our ward's Trunk or Treat and Michael handed out candy at home. Then we switched and Michael took the kids Trick or Treating around the neighborhood and I handed out candy at home. All in all the kids had a blast and got plenty of candy. The only problem that I had with Halloween this year was the temperature here in AZ. You would think I would be used to it by now, but Trick or Treating when its 85 outside is just not right. My mom said it was 45 in VT, somewhere in the middle would be just perfect in my book.

It's Soccer Season

This year is the year that my kids are really getting into playing sports and it's fall so that means it's time for soccer. I have to say that I am grateful that Jordan chose soccer over football, don't get me wrong I love to watch football, but given the choice for my kids I would definitely choose soccer. Although that could have something to do with the fact that where I grew up, we didn't have a football team in my town, it was and still is a soccer legacy that Proctor is known for. Both Ashleigh and Jordan are playing soccer at the moment, Jordan is playing on a team and has games every Saturday and Ashleigh is playing after-school sports. Both of them are loving it so far. Jordan is doing great and improving with every game. He has seen a lot of playing time as Goalie and some time as a defender and just a little bit as a forward. He enjoys being Goalie, but did comment after the last game that he likes being a forward as well. Here are a few pictures of him at practice and his 1st game.
During Jordan's soccer practice the other kids like to roll down the hill and feed the ducks. It's a good way to pass the time.