That Nasty Furnace

A little background...a few months ago Alex and I were woken up at 2am with a terrible noise. It sounded like a train was going through the house. And when we went down to the basement to check out the furnace that is older than I am and I was afraid it was going to explode or something. Not a fun night since the radiators would make the noise every time the furnace would turn on. And for a couple days after that they would make that terrible noise. Then one day, it stopped. We were so happy that the noise stopped and we could finally sleep! However, we soon found out that the upstairs radiators were not heating up at all. This is not good since it was getting down in the 20's at night, and we were expecting a newborn and had six other small children that needed to stay warm.

Well, we bled the radiators many times over the next few months. It helped a little to warm the upstairs. And since the weather was staying in the 30s and 40s at night, I didn't worry too much about it. Then this morning. It was 10 degrees outside. Inside it was 60. Now that might seem warm, but it wasn't. It was just plain cold. And this afternoon it was 59 inside our house. So, instead of getting warmer, like it was outside, it got colder. So, I called in the professionals to come and fix the furnace. Turned out that part of the motor broke and was a quick and fairly cheap fix. Now we are warm again! I am so ecstatic! Even the radiator that has NEVER worked before is working now. One little fix! If I had know it wouldn't take too much to fix it, I would have done it a long time ago!

Happy Birthday To Me!

Today I turn 30. The big three zero. I thought I wouldn't like it much, turning thirty. But I actually like being older. I like how my life has progressed and I am happy with all the years that I now have 'under my belt.' I certainly don't like how close I am to 40, but 30 is not bad at all. Of course life hasn't been easy by any means, but having the Lord to rely on during the hard times has made things much easier. I am so grateful for all of my blessings. I have a wonderful and loving husband. I have seven awesome children that are very patient with me. They bring me such sorrow and such joy. I have two sets of wonderful and understanding parents that always give the best advice when I need it. And I have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life to help and guide me through my ups and downs. Now all I need is a good night's sleep.

James' Birthday

James Carl Thomas turned six years old on December 10. He is such a cute little man! He keeps telling everyone all about stuff he did when he was 3. Even if it didn't happen when he was 3. And he was so excited to turn 6. Now maybe he will have more good memories of when he was 6. lol He is also very active and has kept me on my toes for the last six years, and probably will for another 96. But even with all his inquisitiveness and mischievousness he has the biggest heart. He is always trying to help and give everyone hugs. I hope that he can always have such a big heart towards everyone and every circumstance that comes his way in his life. We love you James! Happy Birthday!

Tough babies

My little guy is just not having a very good week. We had to take him back in a couple more times to drain the sore. Then today while we were headed into the office, he fell down and scratched his nose. So he is looking pretty beat up. But he is still smiling and laughing. Babies are so resilient.

And miss Sarah turned one month this week. It seems like I just had her a few weeks ago. She is already holding her head up really well and looking around a lot. Just taking everything in. And she is so mellow. The younger kids just pick her up all the time and carry her around and squeeze her with hugs and kisses. She just sits through it and doesn't make a sound. She just loves all the attention. :)

Busy Day

I finally got a few hours of uninterrupted sleep last night. So I finally had the energy to do something today. First I tackled a couple loads of laundry. One of which was a load of dirty diapers that were about to mold over. Then Abigail got tired of waiting for me to cut her hair and took the scissors to it. She wasn't as bad as Julie, she just cut a little bit and showed it to me. When Julie cuts her hair, she would hide away and cut the whole thing, and then show me. So, I finished cutting Abigail's hair and I have to say that it looks really good short.
And then I was crazy enough to take ALL the kids to the pediatrician tonight. Benjamin had a pimple on his collarbone that popped and got infected. I had to take him in as soon as I could get an appointment and couldn't get a sitter that short notice. And since Alex couldn't get off work in time to watch the kids, they all came with me to the doctor's office. I remember laughing at one point and thinking that they are just kids and they really are trying to behave. But you know, that chair on wheels is SOO much fun! and Sarah is really hungry so she has to scream. and Alex is just not used to keeping her voice down. and that table/bed just has to be jumped on because that is what beds were made for and it is even COOLER when the paper on it makes so much noise! It just got a little difficult when they didn't get the stickers they wanted and the doctor wouldn't let them go looking in all the drawers to find them. Poor Benjamin though, the doctor took him in another room to poke the sore to get a culture from it and I couldn't be there to hold him. I could hear him screaming the whole time and cried too because I couldn't be there. I sure hope that he heals up soon.
Anyway, I wasn't finished with my day after all that. I still had to go to Activity Days for Church and take Michael to Cub Scouts. That wasn't too bad and gave me some time to relax. After that we headed to the pharmacy before returning home. I got the two antibiotics that Benjamin will need and two boxes of bandaids since the kids come up with imaginary ouchies the minute they see the bandaids.
My days are usually not busy at all, so today was a lot for all of us. It is now almost 10pm and my bedtime. I just hope and pray that I can get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep again.

Tree Ornaments

Our Christmas tree was pretty sad because it was looking pretty bare. So, for Family Home Evening last night we made Christmas tree ornaments. I made some clay dough ornaments the other day and we all painted them last night. It was a blast!

Alexis takes her art very seriously.

Super thrilled to show off his ornaments.

It's hard to see Abigail's star because she painted it white. And James is watching the glob of paint on the brush to make sure that it doesn't drip on the floor as he takes it to wash it off.

Christmas Tree

We were able to put our Christmas tree up this last weekend. It is a tradition of ours to put up our Christmas tree after Thanksgiving. We try to do it the day after, but sometimes it ends up being the Saturday after because of Alex's crazy work schedule. Thankfully, this year Alex got home early enough that we got to put it up the day after Thanksgiving. However, we are still working on getting ornaments on it because all of our others have been broken and we need to make more. So, it is still a work in progress. ;)

WARNING: For those who are so fond of going out and cutting your own tree...we have a fake tree that works best for us right now.

Putting the tree together.

Fluffing the tree.

The star broke!

Helping with the lights.

This stuffed reindeer plays music and the kids love playing with it.

Tasty light, but does it work?

Playing in the tree box.

Sarah's first year putting the tree up. Big sister Alexis is helping her see the tree, but she just ended up crying.