Ward Christmas Party
We have been in our ward for a year now. We are starting to feel more comfortable and make new friends. It still feels new though because there are still so many we don't know their names, but at least we are recognizing faces. The ward party was a Saturday morning breakfast, it was super yummy and the decorations were beautiful. They also had some beautiful music numbers, the primary sang and they invited some group to come sing to us. I think I was the only one that let our kids stay in their Christmas jammies, oh well.
Annual Gingerbread House Party
We had another fun Gingerbread House Contest Party with family and friends. We were scrambling at the end to try and get more judges. My sister Jamie and Dan left early to get their kids home to bed. The last judges that we found were my neighbors that were big campers and they all voted for Jamie and Dan's "glamping trailer" so they won first place! They were surprised because they were just trying to get it done quick so they could leave. It was very cute, but frustrating to everyone else because we all put so much more time and effort into ours, haha! Rem and I did a scene from one of our kids favorite Christmas books, Samari Santa. We had a good time!
Kids Gingerbread House Party
The next day we let the kids invite some friends over and build gingerbread houses with all of our left over stuff. It was fun to see their creations. They loved every minute of it!
It was cute to see my boys and their friends all dressed in the same Christmas pajamas. They were dancing around the Christmas tree singing, "Oh Christmas Tree".
Piano Recital
Paxton had his very first piano recital. I could tell he was a little nervous, but he played his songs all the way through with just a few little mess ups. I was proud of him for getting up there and doing it!
Graham's Mall Day
Graham has been so excited for Mall Day for a long time. We looked at some ideas online and he decided that he wanted to make crayons. He helped me collect the crayons and peel the wrappers off and get them ready to melt. He loved choosing which colors to melt together. It was a success!
Soderberg Family Christmas Party
We had the Soderberg party at the Salt Lake Tennis club. It's always fun coming here because the kids have a blast playing soccer and running around. We ate dinner, chatted with our cousins and then Santa came! It was Harper's first time on Santa's lap and she did not like it one bit! Then Jamie, Erika and I put all the babies on Santa's lap at once and they all screamed which made for some great pictures and had us all laughing. Santa said for the camera, "say wah wah". It was such a fun party! Unfortunately because of GG's health, she couldn't come and be with the family which was sad.
Graham's Nutcracker Play
The first graders always put on the Nutcracker play, it is the cutest thing! They first get to dress up and go to Ballet West to watch the Nutcracker and then spend the next few weeks or so learning their dances. Graham got to be a soldier and he did such a great job being one! I stepped in last minute to help out and taught a group of kids the penny whistle dance. It was quite the task and I was a little worried how they'd perform, but they pulled it off and did a great job!
Temple Square Lights
We joined Rem and the youth group to go to see the lights. We always love joining them because one of the leaders takes us to the top of Zions bank and we get the best view of Temple Square! We put Harper in her one piece snowsuit and she could not move, it was pretty funny.
When Harper gets tired she sucks her thumb so hard and her legs shoot straight up into the air. It is the cutest thing!
Wrestling Match
The boys wanted to do wrestling again this year. They took lessons last year, but we never did any matches. This year we told them they had to compete. It was a little intimidating the first time, but the boys did so great and it was actually really fun to watch them! This has probably been my favorite sport to see them do. I think I like it because it is one on one and they have to put their all into it. They both got 3rd place in their age division which it pretty good for their first time! I'm so proud of them! A lot of kids would cry after losing their matches and our kids were strong and didn't cry.
Moss Family Christmas Party
We had our Moss party at my aunt Carolyn's house again this year. She does such a good job decorating for it. We ate a delicious dinner and then told each other about what we did for our Big Gives service projects. This year we all helped Melissa donate clothes and toys to some children in Venezuela. She showed us some pictures of the kids receiving these items which was really fun to see them with the things we picked out. Afterwards we exchanged gifts. It was a great party and so fun to see all my cousins!
Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa Moss'
Christmas Eve around 5 we went to my parents house. Harper and Jack were both sick so Dan and Rem both went to the basement to keep them away from everyone. Rem and I took turns eating dinner. After dinner we all went to the basement. We kept the babies on the other end of the room from everyone. I gathered all the kids and we sang The Nativity Song while they held up the pictures. This is one of my favorite traditions to sing a song about baby Jesus and hear these sweet kids voices. Afterwards my dad told us about a spiritual experience he had in Jerusalem and bore his testimony. I love my dad so much, he is such a humble and giving man. We then did our gift exchange and of course my parents spoiled everyone! Then Trev and Sandee served us dessert, a pink cake because they were announcing that they're having a girl! We are so excited for another girl cousin. Then we watched Christmas videos that we recorded of all our kids. My kids and I made up a song that they sang while wearing their Christmas jammies, it was really cute and funny! Then we went home, opened one last present, a new Christmas book. We read it then put out some cookies and milk for Santa, carrots for the reindeer, wrote a note to Santa and off to bed. Then the wait begins...
Christmas Morning
Since Harper was not feeling well she was up in the night which meant for very sleepy parents. Harper also slept longer in the morning than normal because she was up at night. So the boys patiently let us sleep in and hung out in the basement until Harper woke up. We woke up to some snow. I love it when it snows on Christmas, such a beautiful gift from God. We got our picture and then we let the kids in to see what they got. Paxton was so excited and surprised to get a skateboard. He had asked for Santa for roller blades, but since he got those from Grandpa and Grandma Santa brought something different with wheels. It took Graham a little bit to be excited for his camera. It was in a box and he didn't really know what it was. He was more interested in opening up his stocking. And poor little Harper was not doing well, she was coughing and just looked so tired. It was a sad first Christmas for her. The kids had lots of fun toys to play with and we just stayed home in our pajamas and played all day and snuggled that sweet sick baby. Later that evening Harper spiked a fever of 103 so we called the doctor. We were able to get her fever to come down with medicine so the doctor told us to bring her in the next morning.
Poor Sick Baby
Harper was sick on Christmas Eve and Christmas day, that night it continued to get worse and she spiked a fever of 103 degrees. We called the doctor and they told us that if we could get the fever to go down with medicine then to bring her in the next morning so that's what we did. We took her to urgent care and they suctioned her out and listened to her breathing and watched her oxygen levels. Her levels were jumping all over the place good and bad so they decided to send us up to Primary Children's hospital to have her deep suctioned and checked out. When we arrived the doctor felt like she looked good (but she had just barely been suctioned out so she was doing a little better at the moment). He suctioned her out again and then decided to check her oxygen levels and that's when he questioned her health. So he brought in a second doctor to check her out and that doctor right away said she needed to admitted to the hospital. They got a room set up for her and we were there for night. She was so miserable, it was so sad to see my poor baby so sleepy and sad. She would barely eat any food and they hooked her up to oxygen. She didn't love the tubing on her face at first but then she quickly realized that it helped her feel better and breath more easily so she left it alone. I stayed the night with Harper and Rem went home to be with the boys. She slept pretty well that night other than the nurses coming in every couple hours to check on her. They tried to be quiet, but it usually woke her. The next day they gave us the option to stay or go home with oxygen on. We chose to go home. They came in and taught me all there was to know about handling the oxygen tanks and such. It wasn't too bad other than she was always attached to a tube. It was nice to be home. Her spirits were better and we continued to suction her out and she slowly was getting better. She had a follow up appointment to check her oxygen levels and we thought she was going to come off of it, but they still were sitting just a tad low. So they set us up with a oximeter at home so we could watch her levels and take her off when they came up a bit. She was on oxygen at home for a total of 5 days. We were so glad to get rid of that thing! She had been diagnosed with bronchiolitis which is a lung infection most likely caused by RSV making it hard to breath. She gave us all quite the scare and we are so glad she is healthy again!
Happy New Year!
Usually we ring in the new year with the Tervorts. But this year we decided to stay home because Harper had just come off her oxygen and wasn't completely over her sickness. We invited our friends the Coons over to our house for dinner, games and dancing. It was nice to be home so we could put Harper to bed early. We had so much fun and Paxton sure brought his moves to the dance floor, it was awesome! We ended up bringing out some fun lights and had an awesome dance party.
