Wishing You A Happy Holiday

We had a fun family activity this afternoon. We decided to wish a few of our neighbors a happy holiday season. We didn't have the chance to beat Christmas so we decided to just go for the whole holiday season instead.

I'm not sure where Michelle came up with this clever little saying but we took it and ran with it. We printed several copies of this little poem and taped them to boxes of Cracker Jacks.

We drove around the neighborhood and let the boys take turns running these boxes to the various homes and delivering them. Not everyone was home so we managed to have just enough boxes. The boys loved being the delivery person, running to the home and presenting the boxes. David, Donovan and Michael did the leg-work. Aleky will get to join in on the next set of holiday greetings.

(posted 7/24/10)

Sliding into 2010

David, Donovan and Michael decided that they wanted to go sledding. Right now mom is in no condition to take some very active boys sledding so the responsibility fall upon me to bundle up and go. So the boys follow me around all day, while I'm trying to complete a portion of my "honey-do" list. Finally their persistence pays off and I set the time to go sledding.

We have my old purple sled from years ago but we were hoping to add a snow tube to the collection but to no avail. We did stop by the store and make a couple quick calls but in the end it was my old purple sled that would bear the load.

We arrived at Rock Canyon Park only to find that nearly every parking space had been filled, the entire "bowl" was teaming with happy sledders and it was going to be tough to find our own little piece of the hill. We scrambled up the hill to get a survey of the land. David couldn't contain himself now the he had a sled and a hill and he plopped himself in the sled. Donovan couldn't contain his enthusiasm either and was all to ready to help David to start their frolicking in the snow. Unfortunately didn't take into consideration the little building at the bottom of the hill (bathrooms) and Donovan pushed David down the hill and straight for the bathroom.

There was a moment were I thought he might just miss the building but he didn't. David just sat in the sled all the way down in spite of the inevitable and slammed into the corner of the building. There was a nice lady at the bottom of the hill that raced to his side to see if he was okay. I hurried down the hill to see the poor crash survivor. Through the tears we were able to determine that the point of impact was just under his right bum cheek. After some consoling we heading up the hill and decided we wanted to find a better spot that didn't had trees or buildings in the way. We located a vacant spot of hill about 100 yards around the "bowl" and camped out there for the next 90 minutes.

David managed to stay on injured reserve for about 3 minutes before he couldn't handle it anymore and he was sledding down the hill in full style. Michael was very cautious on the slopes and I was only able to get him on the sled twice in the entire trip. Donovan discovered that he could slide down the hill without a sled and spent most of his time on his bum skid. However, he did take his fair share of turns in the sled to speed down the hill even faster. David, on the other hand, quickly got back into the swing of things and dominated the sled time and was working on setting a new land speed record for sledding down the hill.

The snow around the entire "bowl" had been packed down previously so we were able to just jump in and slide. My boys thought it was the greatest thing on earth and want to go back tomorrow. We'll have to see how fast I can get my chores done!

Christmas with the Family

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. This year we had the opportunity to visit with the Jones side of the family. Most of my boys have an innate understanding of their special toys, especially of their firearms. (Not sure what happened here!)

Regardless, the boys love their noise-makers. Each boy has his own noise-maker and wasted no time sounding them off.

Michael was very excited about his Mater puzzle. Puzzles are one of Michael's newly discovered passions and Mater is his favorite Cars character.

The boys got some Legos this Christmas. Included in the box was a picture of various things that could be built with the legos. David took the time to recreate several of the characters on the paper. This one was the one he was most proud of.

After playing with the toys we headed over the Grandma and Grandpa Jones' house. We were fortunate this year to have most of the family in town. This is exciting because we don't know when we'll have this many Joneses around for Christmas. (Theoretically we'll be here in 2 years but everyone's lifestyles are getting more crazy!)

The cousins had a great time playing together. Not so surprisingly, the girls played with the girls and the boys played with the boys. David and Tyler played a lot together being the 2 oldest cousins. There was also significant movie watching with the new DVDs this Christmas.

The older kids also played games. You never know what to expect when this many older kids get together but we always have fun.

(Posted 7/24/10)

The Finger

I had to work this Christmas eve. Work was obviously slow but I had a client in at 2:30 pm to look at mortgage options. Because of the time and his limited options our appointment didn't last very long. When I finished with my appointment I checked my messages and discovered a message from Michelle indicating that she had taken Donovan to get stitches and that I needed to get home a quickly as possible to care for our kids!

The boys were being watched by our good neighbor Alin Schoenrock but she had previous obligations which required her attendance at 3:30 pm...about when I discovered the message revealing the dilemma. With no boss at work (already on vacation) I just approved my own leave and raced home.

I discovered what had happened to my Donovan. Apparently he had decided that it would be a good idea to make paper snowflakes. He retrieved the scissors, procured the appropriate snowflake paper and began to create the folds that would develop into magnificent snowflakes. In the meantime, Micheal happened upon the project and thought it would be fun to play with the scissors. While Michael was playing with the scissors Donovan became incensed at the loss of important project equipment and tried to grabbed the scissors and wrest them from the grasp of Michael. However, the reach was ill timed and ill place, almost eliminate his finger tip.

Donovan was a brave little trooper. Michelle was just as brave in handling the situation, getting baby sitting, transporting the injured child and contacting me. Obviously she is the mother of some very active boys.

On side of Donovan's finger wouldn't numb, even after repeated attempts using local anesthetic. So Donovan received 7 stitches and the nurse gave up on the last 2 stitches and just glued it closed. He then received some protective bandaging to prevent this very active boy from bending his finger and breaking open the stitches.

Here is a picture of the finger after it has had a few days to heal. If you look closely you can see the blue surgical threads of the stitches.

Needless to say, that put a cramp in our style for Christmas eve. We were hoping to deliver some neighborly holiday greetings, have some devotional time (reading Luke 2), and be together as a family. Instead, Michelle and Donovan hung out in the after-hours clinic and I was with the other boys at home. We are fortunate, however, that Donovan still has the finger.

Craziness at our house

Things have been very busy for us these past few weeks. We've decided that due to various economic factors beyond our control that a change of career is in order. In order to facilitate this change in occupation we have done quite a bit of research. Our efforts have resulted in the decision for me to become a Physician's Assistant (PA). While we are very excited about this opportunity it is not something that we can do overnight.

In order for me to become a PA I am going to have to return to school. But in order to get into school I have to get qualified. While I have spent the last 8 years in real estate it hasn't helped me to get important pre-requisites accomplished and so I am going to be going back to school for a semester to complete my list of required classes. In addition, I have to gain a certain amount of time with practical experience in the medical field.

To gain experience in the medical field I actually have to get trained for that too. As a result, I have just completed my CNA training through the OrchardCNA program. The program was a 3 week program that basically went from 5:00 pm - 10:00 pm Monday through Friday and from 6:00 am - 2 pm on Saturday. This provided the 80+ hours of training & clinicals that the state requires to qualify for certification. I just completed that program on Thursday and will be scheduling my state exams soon.

Working from 8:00 am - 5:00 pm and then school from 5:00 pm - 10:00 pm and then reading/homework until 11:00 pm doesn't leave a lot of free time. So I don't really know what has been happening with my family over the past few weeks however I do know that they are still here!

Michelle just got back yesterday from a quick trip up to Grandma Petersen's house. They were celebrating "Grandma's Christmas" since they will be traveling this year and it is the "off" year for family visits. From the report they had a wonderful time. Friday night was packing, traveling and seeing the cousins! The packing and traveling part wasn't so much fun but the kids had a blast seeing the cousins. They had so much fun in fact, that they (the kids) didn't get to bed until after 11:00 pm. They just could not be contained.

Saturday morning was filled with all sorts of crafts including gingerbread Christmas tree construction, personalized snowflake assembly, and snowman creations. All of kids did wonderfully but I can't help but notice that Donovan has a certain knack for artistic creations, more so than any of my other boys.

Because of so much busyness during this season I have not been so diligent in maintaining this accounting but I hope to be better. This coming semester is going to be another busy time with full-time school and work but we share persevere.

A Trip To The Dentist

Well, it's that time of year when we go and see the dentist. I'll admit it, there is always a bit of apprehension about this particular visit. While it is only supposed to be a check-up you never know what the dentist will find. It's that bit of unknown that always has me worried. I brush and floss my teeth and we help the kids brush their teeth too. But...
Everything turned out just fine! We are set for at least another 6 months. The boys did great once we got David on the chair. And each boy was excited for his "prize" after their check-ups. Yeah!

New Bathroom Sink Installed

While this has been some time in the making...we finally have a bathroom sink installed! We are certainly grateful to everyone who has helped us reach this point. Michelle thought of the design, Dad Petersen and Uncle Kyle were responsible for the steel construction and assembly. Uncle Jared did the tiling. And I was able to do the installation. And there you have it, a nice bathroom sink.

Our boys are not content with the built-in step shown at the bottom of the cabinet. So most of the time we'll find Michael and Aleky sitting or kneeling on the counter top. It is a good thing that this vanity was built "Petersen-tough" to handle the demands and work load our family will put it through!

Thanksgiving with the Family

We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful family and we look forward all year to each opportunity to gather together with our extended family. The Petersen's side of the family has quite a few cousins who are all very close in age. Each time we get together the cousins will do everything together and they go non-stop until the late hours of the day. While cooking a Thanksgiving meal that comes in handy since all of the kids stay occupied. I find it quite amazing how few accidents and crying actually occur with so many little children in such close proximity for an extended period of time.

In any case, we had a fabulous Thanksgiving meal hosted at Aunt Melissa's house this year. We created a table for the kids and most of the cousins (3 families represented - Boels, Joneses, Kims) were able to fit. Now eating was not a high priority item for the kids (especially my boys) but they stayed put because they had to wait for their cousins to continue playing.

These kids were found hanging around.

Cynthia heads up the nail decorating activity while the mommies work on dinner.

Parent enforced curfew, the boys decide to camp out in the family room so they can all be together.

My boys discover the Nerf cannon. They set up a sniper nest at the bottom of the stairs.

We had a very enjoyable time visiting with family. We certainly appreciate the Boels for allowing all of us to visit their home and share in their hospitality.

New Addition to Our Family

We are excited about the newest member of our family. In anticipation of growing family we have decided that we need a vehicle that will allow the entire family to travel together. Our search has led us to "Big Red." I hesitate to call it Clifford but that is the name that immediately comes to mind.

The vehicle has the cloth seats which we prefer because the leather seats all seem to wear much faster and look much worse over time. We were hoping for the bench seat option for the front but didn't get it with this suburban.

The engine looks to be in fairly good condition so we felt pretty good about finding this deal. I think that as long as we take care of it, this vehicle will get our family to Grandma's house and back at least a few times.

Halloween 2009

Our boys have been very excited for Halloween this year. David has been talking about it all month long. He is old enough now to remember the various holidays and to get excited about them. Donovan is also getting very excited about the holidays too. He picks up on the enthusiasm from David and it multiplies. Michael is excited that his brothers are excited and he wants in.

This year Michelle decided to to Star Wars costumes. She was able to put together three young Jedi costumes; Aleky's costume was about half done so he got to be a Musketeer instead. We decided to stay in our neighborhood this year and visit our friends here. The boys were just excited to knock on the doors, say "Trick or Treat" and get candy. Of course, we were excited for our boys and to visit our friends and neighbors.

Our longest stop, by far, was at the bishop's house. They decided to hand out cooked hot dogs and hamburgers instead of candy. We stopped and had dinner there, along with the nice hot chocolate they provided. It also gave us an opportunity to visit with other neighbors who stopped to share the food.

However, in spite of the food already shared we ended up with a lot of extra candy as the bishop carefully unloaded his bowl of candy into Donovan's bucket (behind Michelle's back--he was very sneaky!).

It was a lot of fun running around the east half of the ward. We ran out of time before we could visit the west half. Regardless of the shortness of time I think the boys got more than enough candy for a single night.

We're still trying to decide how best to handle the influx of sugar. We've heard some parents let their kids eat as much candy as they want on Halloween night and they dispose of the rest. Other parents distribute the candy over time to even out the sugar to a manageable level. Some dentists (I've heard) will trade toys for candy. So far, we've decided to go with the even distribution of candy over time but haven't settled on this option as the only option.