Maggie's Birthday Party

Happy Birthday to Maggie! On Saturday Maggie had a little (princess) birthday party with a few of her girlfriends. It was a lot of fun and they are such cute girls! From left to right in the top picture are Maggie, Regan, Coralee, & Annie. When I asked Maggie what she wanted to do with them she wanted to take them to McDonald's and then do princess things, so that's just what we did, hence the beautiful crowns. It was 77 degrees on Saturday and the girls had fun playing in the new jumping gym Grandpa & Grandma Peterson sent Maggie for her birthday, it was their "castle". Anyway, we're grateful to have such good friends and we all had a good time!

Thanks Grandpa & Grandma!

12-15-06
We let Maggie open this present that Grandpa & Grandma Peterson had shipped to Maggie for her birthday. We wanted her to be able to enjoy it before we leave and she's been so thrilled that it's even made it into her prayers at night. So we just want you to know what a hit it's been and the girls for Maggie's birthday party loved it and Johnny has even had a great time with it. So, I thank you too for the time that they've spent playing outdoors, because it was 77 degrees yesterday and it's good to get them out of the house for a little while and it fits perfectly on our porch. She just wanted to tell you thank you and have you be able to see her thank you in person.

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Johnny's Winter Program 12-15-2006

This is Johnny's Winter Program from his school on Friday night. This is how we do things in Tucson. These kids are singing the song, "Uno, dos, tres e dedos" (one, two, three fingers). I don't know how you do things up farther north, but this is what Johnny is learning in school for Christmas. He is on the top row, the kid that looks like a ghost! Enjoy!

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Who doesn't love Christmas?

I just love Christmas! I love the music, the activities, the shopping, the tree, the food, all of it! Today we made grahm cracker houses; the kids had so much fun doing it and they turned out great! Tomorrow we're making them for our Mother's Group Activity. Josie had her surgery yesterday and she is doing great! I had such bad memories of when Johnny got tubes in his ears, but Josie was easy and so good. All the Nurses were in love with her and wanted to take care of her, they were so sweet, it made it a lot easier on me. She's doing great today and is more responsive to sounds, so I think she'll be okay. We go back in 3 weeks and we'll visit audiology again and they'll do some more tests to see where she's at. We're grateful all went smoothly and she's recoved well and back to her normal, happy self today. Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers, I really believe she was blessed to have gotten things taken care of so quickly and to have recovered so well. Happy Christmas! I hope that everyone enjoys this time of year because it goes so quickly!

No wonder she's so loud!

This morning Josie had a Doctor appointment to see an Ears, Nose, & Throat specialist because of her chronic ear infections. After examining her ears the Doctor was surprised to find not fluid behind her ears, but mucous and asked how her hearing was. I thought it was fine, but he sent us over to audiology just to check. As it turns out, she has little to no hearing in both of her ears! As I thought about this, I realized that lately as she's learned how to babble more, she yells instead of talks. She is so loud that it is very distracting and nerve racking! I told the Doctor this and he said that she likely can't really hear herself so she is louder than she should be. They wanted to get her in for surgery before we leave for Christmas but there were no openings until January, and then later this morning the nurse called me because there was a man that cancelled his surgery for Monday morning because he is sick. I'm sorry for the poor man but I feel like it is such a blessing for us that he got sick! She went ahead and scheduled it and talked to our insurance and everything. It turns out that the cancellation was at the only hospital our insurance would cover anyway, so we're feeling the blessings being poured out upon us. We're going in early Monday morning and I'm so grateful for good friends that are willing to help out with the other kids. I have to leave early so I need someone to take Maggie at the crack of dawn and someone to take Johnny to school-- so I'm grateful for their sacrifices on my behalf. We were so blessed to find such good friends here that have made it so much easier to be so far from home. I'm sure that Josie is going to be good as new and we're looking forward to her being much quieter!

Merry Christmas to us!

Well, after wading through much trial and tribulation, we finally got our Nintendo Wii! We've been waiting, calling, searching for nearly a month now and at 8:00 a.m. this morning the wait was finally over. I have been bugging all the stores for weeks about the Wii (prounounced we), and finally Walmart told me they would be releasing 30 this morning at 8:00 a.m. I went to stake out the competition last night around 10:00 p.m and there were about 7 people waiting in line (outside). I was going to do the waiting, but after seeing the 7 people waiting I decided John had better do the honor. At 4:00 a.m. this morning John went over with his blanket, camp chair, and palm pilot games and ended up #11. The wait was worth it because now we don't have to worry about it anymore. I bought Zelda for the Wii last night while it was available and now we're all set! For Christmas my Dad bought himself a 52" TV so I'm sure our Christmas break this year is all planned with Wii excitement. I'm glad we didn't get it any earlier because I want to tell Johnny sooooooo bad. Take that, mall Santa Claus!

Have you ever been told "NO" by Santa Claus?

I just have to write about the funniest experience we had Saturday night. John worked all day and I took the kids over to the mall to have dinner and get a couple of things and while we were there Johnny really wanted to see Santa Claus. So we waited in the line for about 20 minutes and while we were waiting I asked him what he was going to ask Santa for and he told me he wanted The Incredibles game for his Gamecube. I've already bought it so I said, "oh, that will be great ..." whatever. Now, picture the scene in the movie, A Christmas story, where the little boy climbs up on Santa's lap and gets up the courage to ask for a Red Rider BB gun ... So, it's finally our turn and Johnny climbed up on his lap and Santa asks him what he wants and Johnny tells him he wants the game and Santa says great and asked him if there was anything else he could bring him, to which Johnny responds, "A Nintendo Wii" (which we're also in the process of getting for Christmas, if we can hunt one down). To this, Santa says, "But you already have a GameCube? There are lots of little boys that don't even have one of those, you should probably just get another game that you can play on it. Are there any other games you want?" HE WAS SHOT DOWN!! The poor kid just said, "sure." The funny thing is that Maggie told him that she wanted one of those $300 ponies that you sit on while it walks around and he thought that was just great and asked if she wanted a barbie to go with that! She is not getting the pony unless I can find someone else to fund it. Anyway, I thought that only happened in the movies, apparently in Tucson it also happens. I told Johnny later that he was only a helper for Santa Claus and he could ask Santa for whatever he wants!

Build-A-Bear Workshop

Whoever came up with the idea for Build-a-Bear Workshop deserves every penny they make! We always have the most fun in that store, and sometimes I get a little jealous that they didn't have one when I was little so I have to live it through my kids! We had the most fun over our Thanksgiving break going for Ella's 4th birthday! Ella is Maggie's sweet little "bestest friend ever" from Provo. Their little friend Abby came too and they all picked the same Hello Kitty to stuff. They had so much fun giving them baths and picking out their outfits and doing it all together! I have to admit that I went in later and bought a few more accessories for the cute kitty and the teddy Johnny got. I'm such a sucker for things like this, I'm a dream-come-true for the salesmen when I walk into this store! We had a really fun time, so thanks to Kendra & Ella and Shauni & Abby, we made fun memories!

Field Trip to the Fire Station

Instead of shopping at all the Day after Thanksgiving sales, we opted to avoid the crowds and take a tour of the Saratoga Springs Firestation. Now that Uncle Spencer is a big-wig city guy-- he can pull a few strings for us. We had such a good time and the kids were thrilled. Fire Cheif Mike was so good and patient with all the kids and gave them pencils, stickers, and official fire hats. Johnny especially loved climbing atop the firetruck and getting to spray the water. Instead of a Dalmation fire station dog, there was a fire station cat that adopted the fire station as it's home but was nameless. After we left, the cat had been officially named Firecracker. What fun memories we made and how fun to share good times with all the cousins!

Happy Thanksgiving & Merry Christmas!

You may think it's odd having Thanksgiving and Christmas in one weekend (and Christmas coming first), but we really enjoyed the combination! It was great to be with everyone and celebrate together over the Holiday break. We had such a good time and we're so grateful to Grandma & Grandpa Livingstone for the great Thanksgiving dinner, presents that are being enjoyed every day, hospitality, and all the good lovins' and attention the kids were in much need of. We're glad that we were able to spend time with the Hunt's and we'll miss seeing everyone while we're in town again over the Christmas break. I had really good intentions of taking pictures of all the families. We really need them so that we can plaster our fridge with all the familiar faces that are so far away-- so remember to send them with your Christmas cards!

Here is Maggie with her new doll. She loves the doll, but she really loves the little squeaky bear that came with it, she's a sucker for anything stuffed and that can be slept with!

Johnny got a new Star Wars (Darth Vader) Transformer, Grandpa & Grandma know the way to his heart!
This is all the adults for Thanksgiving dinner, there were 36 of us total. All the Livingstone family were there except for Brackon & Marcie's family. We missed them so much that we invited our friends, Michael & Kendra Anderson to fill in their spot, but we realized their spot couldn't be filled. We loved spending the day with our friends though and afterward they said, "This was one of the best Thanksgiving's we've had in a long time!" So all in all it was very successful.Here is Josie, mid-clap showing her excitement over her new walk 'n ride. I'm sure when she decides to really act 10 months old and finally learn to take a few steps (after crawling, of course) she'll really enjoy it!
John and I after stuffing ourselves. It's a good think the table covered my belly-- it was really full and the food was delicious! Thanks to all!

Happy 6th Birthday Johnny!

November 15, 2006

Here is the Birthday Boy! He was so excited to wear his ribbon all day so everyone would know it was his birthday.This was the first year he was really psyched up for having the day be his. We were not allowed to take any treats for his class (only healthy snacks because of the childhood obesity issue), but we took a little treat bag with a pencil, balloon, and stencil for his friends. He spent a little time at the Doctor with Josie because they both had ear infections, bummer way to spend a birthday! But he recovered and we ate dinner and played games at Peter Piper Pizza and he had all his dreams come true with the great presents and packages he opened! All in all I don't think you'll hear any complaints so far about being 6!

Family Pictures 2006

We took family pictures last weekend. Look at the sagebrush and cacti. Jealous? Welcome to Arizona! The only thing needing your jealousy is our nice weather. We were all sweating in our long sleeves and layers! Your Christmas card picture won't be a surprise, but I had to post them-- they turned out pretty well.

Field Trip to the Zoo

On Friday Johnny's class went on a field trip to the zoo. It was so fun to pack both our lunches and get to ride on the school bus with him and all his friends! It was a really fun zoo and I just wanted to post these pictures I took of him and his friend, Benjamin. He has such a fun class, the kids are all so sweet and so cute. All the kids got a fun poster to color from the zoo, which is what they're holding up in the picture. We're really excited that it has cooled down enough to spend more time outside. We're sorry for all of you that are suffering in the cold weather while we are enjoying our winter of 85 degree weather!

Video of Maggie's (kind of) Recital

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Our Favorite Dancer!

Today was Maggie's last dance class. She had such a great time and learned so much! Her teacher, Mr. Walter, let us go in for the first class and the last, and the improvement was remarkable-- I think we'll make dance a regular thing for her. For those of you that have seen her stretch her legs behind her head and walk on her toes, she may have some talent waiting to be developed! They prepared a really sweet dance for us and she did such a great job. She does get distracted easily and has a hard time holding still, so we definitely have things to work on until the next one starts. But we are so proud of her and love watching and supporting her!

Pumpkin Carving and Trick-or-Treating

The kids had a great time carving pumpkins, the picture is a little fuzzy, but John's turned out to be Jengo Fett, he and Johnny were quite proud of it. Maggie was also quite proud of her pumpkin. She carried it everywhere we went for two days before she got to color all over it and set it out by the door. We went trick-or-treating with our friends, Brian & Mindy Burns. They have Maggie's little friend, Cora Lee, and identical twin boys, Carter & Wyatt who are 16 months old. They live in a nice neighborhood with a lot of kids and we got loaded with treats. We also got some really special treats that just add so much to our experience here! Most I can't even prounounce, but we got pollo (chicken) flavored suckers, hot tomato flavored suckers, lemon salt that is probably comparable to pixie sticks, which are flavored sugar-- we got flavored salt. There was also a fruit leathery type candy, but it was pico de gallo flavored. How fun! Most exciting of all was to see the kids open a couple of the treats and eat them without knowing what they were and the reaction that followed! We're treasuring all that we can because we only get one of everything here, and our one Halloween is now over. We had a great day and made some great memories! Thanks again for the Halloween packages from Jessica and Grandma Livingstone, icing on the cake!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Here are some pictures of our cute halloween kids. Johnny was a very fierce Anakin Sywalker and Maggie was a beautiful princess and Josie was just cute, sweet Josie. Johnny got to wear his costume to school on Halloween and was thrilled with the parade that he got to be in. He had so much fun being with his friends in their costumes. Maggie had a fun little program at school and then I took her and two of her friends to McDonald's for lunch and to play. After we picked up Johnny we headed over to the Children's Museum to make some halloween stick puppets and play. What a fun day!