Christmas craze

Christmas is rushing at me with tremendous velocity and I can't seem to slow it down. I have shopping for only one child almost done and other than having the tree up I have done nothing else. It may have something to do with the five hours I spend nursing and burping my little one and thats on a good day. So as a result I am in serious rush mode. Six more kids to buy for and gingerbread houses to make and a house to keep clean. Its a good thing I like this type of crazy.

Fiddler on the Roof

Dallin is in the High School Play, Fiddler on the Roof. He plays the Rabbi and one of the Russians called Sasha. He gets to do a cool Russian dance and had several speaking parts. He did a great job and I loved watching him on stage!!

We went and cut our Christmas tree on Saturday, one of our favorite tradition, and came back with two really beautiful ones. One of them was for Sandy.

We got a smaller tree this year due to space in our living room and the boys got a kick out of showing me how strong they were. Below is Aiden holding it all by himself. I was pretty impressed.
Mason looking like it is oh so light.
Hunter had to do a little extra to show he's stronger then Aiden. He is straining just a bit.
Dallin had to show that not only could he lift it over his head but he could walk with it too.

Pumpkin Fuss

So I have never nursed a new baby over the holidays and thus had no idea that pumpkin would be a problem. As soon as he started getting fussy I tried to determine what could be the culprit. The whole time, over 24 hours, I continued to consume Sandy's wonderful pumpkin dessert.

Now when you can't eat chocolate it cuts out a lot of dessert options so I was truly enjoying the one dessert I could have. Sad to say Gideon does not like it when I eat pumpkin. Bummer!!

More baby pictures

Gideon sitting in my lap all curled up like he was before he was born.

Chillin in bed.
Bright eyed and bushy tailed.
Proof of his dimples. It only took us about 20 pictures to get it.
About as content as a baby can get.

Heavy Rain

We had some very heavy rain and a drain that was plugged. Which meant that we had a small lake in front of our house until the city could come unplug it. The boys thought it was great.

Lost Clothes

Earlier this week Todd and I cleaned up our room and I decided to pack up my maternity clothes and unbox my regular clothes. Of course I had to keep out a couple of maternity jeans until my butt and thighs return to normal size. Anyway after boxing up my maternity clothes I went into the attic to retrieve my other clothes. I couldn't find them anywhere. I sent Todd up there looking for them as well just in case I overlooked something and after 45 minutes he too came down empty handed. Now there are only so many places to hide things and I am at a loss as to where they went. I am afraid they got mixed up and sent to the goodwill.

Todd jokingly says I planned the whole thing. I guess it would have been a smart move on my part if I had the money to replace an entire wardrobe. As it is I am stuck in mostly my grubby clothes. I guess it is fortunate that I am not taking baby into the public for a couple of months. Seriously what idiot loses a whole wardrobe. I still have hopes that they will show up.

A few more baby pictures

Proud Daddy. The sticker Todd is wearing says that he passed the screening at the door for flu like symptoms and was allowed in the hospital. This was taken just before we left.

You can tell how petite his little face is in this picture by the size of the newborn binky.
Getting his weight about a half hour after he was born. I think babies always look huge in pictures.

We were excited to welcome our 7th child into our family November 3rd at 10:30 am. He weighed 7 lbs 7 oz and was 17 3/4 inches long. He has reddish blond hair and is a little sweet heart. After much thought we finally named him Gideon Eric. We brought him home today and got everyones picture but Hunters who was at wrestling practice. I will add his + other pictures another day.

Halloween

Halloween turned out to be a success even though I was so totally fried from lack of sleep and the fact that on Friday Gavin came home sick with the flu. Turned out he only had the 12 hour deal and was able to hold down food all day on Saturday. He however had to wait until today to eat his candy, so that his stomach wouldn't be shell shocked. My boys mostly make up their own costume ideas. They love having their faces painted. This is Gavin as a bloody ninja.

Hunter was invited to go trick or treating with his friend Rio. He is a corpse that died from hanging. Oops I guess corpses can't die but you know what I meant. Todd had to look on the internet to learn how to tie a noose knot. So if anyone needs to know how, just give Todd a holler he is now an expert.
Aiden is Frankenstein. Unfortunately the flash in this picture washed out his face a bit.
Mason is dementor from Harry Potter. For those that don't know they suck the souls from people.
Here is Alaina as Pocahontas. She was not happy that everyone was getting their faces painted but her. We added rosy cheeks and that seemed to help a little.
For those of you that are wondering were our other child is he was the casualty of my total lack of sleep. I seemed to miss getting a picture of Dallin. I think it was partially due to the fact that he was fixing his costume clear up until the time we walked out the door.

Odds and Ends

Just thought I would throw in a few pictures that didn't actually go together but were fun anyway. This is Dallin on 80's day for Heritage HS. Not easy in a household were things not used or of sentimental value are given away. He asked hey dad you have any 80's clothes and this is the best we could come up with. The hair was borrowed from a neighbor. He was pretty excited about the way he looked.

A couple of weeks ago we had a little philmont for the four stakes in the area. It was an adult meeting but the main speaker President Gibson from the general YM presidency asked for two youth to help him out that night. Todd volunteered Hunter. It was a great experience and Hunter was beaming the whole time. Pres. Gibson gave each of the boys a really neat coin that had the whole armor of God on it, in addition to that he got a really cool wooden tie slide thing.
This is Alaina in one of her many pouting poses. I just had to get the picture. I thought it would bring her out of her pout as well but no such luck.

FHE Halloween prep

The annual Halloween pumpkin carving FHE. They worked hard and scary jack o lanterns eventually arrived.

Our beautiful rooster

He was the man, afraid of nothing but the lead hen. Chickens and humans really are not that different.

Wet Willies

Mason told me today that Alaina climbed up on his bed this morning to wake him up. He was already awake however and was watching her threw slitted eyes. He said that she proceeded to put her pinkie finger in her mouth and when she pulled it out promptly stuck it in his ear. How is that for a three year old with five older brothers. Some of the things she does seem so out of character for a little girl.

The other day she informed me that she really likes bugs but not spiders. That is thanks to the influence of her 10 year old brother. She wrestles with Gavin and other boys her age. One time while wrestling with a boy in our ward that was her age I saw her hit her head hard and expected her to start crying but she acted like nothing happened. Then about a minute later the boy became interested in playing with someone else and she came and sat on my lap and cried quietly.

A couple of weeks ago I had a friend come over and chat and she brought her five year old son with her. The second Alaina was introduced to him she said, "I have cool lego guys you want to see?"

Even with all those brothers she still is all girl. She likes her nails painted and her hair pretty and loves to hang out with her aunts and girl cousins. She loves to go shopping and put on pretty clothes. I find it so much fun to watch her interactions in our family.

Pumpkin Patch

One of my favorite things to do during October is to go to the pumpkin patch. We have always had the rule that the kids could pick any pumpkin they just had to be sure to be able to carry them. It has been fun over the years to watch them struggle with the biggest pumpkins they could manage. Gavin and Alaina are two of our children that have realized small pumpkins are better because they are not that hard to carry. This year she looked at me and said, "Mom I want a small one."

Here is all the Kestner cousins, around here anyway, with their pumkins. Not a bad haul.
I didn't want to put every child's picture with their pumpkin but had to put this one in because it really is a beautiful pumpkin. Plus you can see that our older boys can easily walk away from the pumpkin patch with the biggest pumpkin. Boy they grow up fast.
Our children's six pumpkins.
Just thought this was a cool picture. At the time I was frustrated because you can't see my kids but after I got it home I liked it. The only one that is mine in the picture is Hunter. He is standing up top in the middle.

Relatives in town

We were fortunate to be able to spend four fun days with Aunt Kitty, Aunt Heidi, grandma Kestner and cousin Karen. It was a very enjoyable and relaxing visit.

A Simple Swing

Isn't it amazing how something that should be so simple can turn into such a nightmare. About a month ago Todd took all the boys on their annual boys camp. That left just Alaina and I to do something fun for a couple of days. To end our fun weekend I bought a swing that is meant for inside. She was really excited and I got the hardware to install it downstairs.

Now the swing was for Alaina but I knew it would be too much to ask for the boys to stay off of it, so with that in mind I went to Lowes and asked them what would be best. They gave me their advice and I headed home to screw in the bolts. I screwed in the six inch 1/4 inch bolts almost all the way in when one by one they broke off. To my horror I now had four holes with metal stuck in them.

Frustrated I went back to Lowes and explained my dilemma. They suggested a longer drill bit and walked me over there and helped me pick out the right one. Sure this would work I headed home to put in the swing. Alas the same thing happened and I now had 8 holes in the ceiling beam with pieces of bolts forever lodged in them.

At this point I am not proud to say I gave up. However a week or so later I explained my dilemma to my handyman father. Something I should have done in the beginning. He said to get a bigger, not longer, drill bit. I explained to him that the Lowes employees had informed me that in order for it to hold the weight I needed it to hold, not to get a bit that was more then half the size of the bolt. He reassured me it would work and so I went back to buy my second drill bit.

Interestingly enough this time when I went back to buy a new bit I got a different man to help me and this guy asked me what kind of material I was drilling into. When I told him a wood beam he directed me to some different bits. Turns out the last guy hand picked a cement bit for me to use. Turns out those just burn through wood. Anyway to make an end to a long story this time it worked. We now have a swing in the basement that Alaina can not get enough of, and so far it has held the weight of all of my boys.

I also have the hardware to put up another hook to hold the punching bag we bought almost 6 years ago but has never been put up. This family needs it hung up, so they don't use each other as a punching bag. I figured I would give myself a week before attempting to bolt another thing to the beam however.

Amazingly you can't see the holes in this picture but they are there between the two hooks. Eight ugly holes I must now patch and paint. It will probably get done sometime in the next three years.
She now watches tv from her swing. That is what she is looking at in this picture.

Todd and Aiden Camp out

Todd and Aiden enjoying some hot chocolate around the campfire that Aiden got to start.

Getting to be the only boy to start and then play in the campfire is quite the highlight of these camp outs. I know this because it is usually the first thing they talk about when they get back.
Todd gave Aiden free range with the camera and he took full advantage of it. Here is one of his silly poses.
The went on a hike today. I love this picture. You can tell how thrilled Aiden is to have time by himself with his dad.
The hike has come to an end and it's ready to head home to 4 brothers and a sister.