Christmas 2008

Can you believe this is the only picture we got of our Christmas? We played with our new video camera and didn't even think of still photos. Santa was very good to us this year. Jason received a circular saw that he won't have to borrow from friends and family anymore to help with Jill's projects in the future. Josie and JJ are doing a great job of playing with each other's toys. JJ loves the doll accessories as much as Josie does. Jill got her Swedish food on Christmas Eve and loved every bite of it! We spent Christmas Eve through Saturday with Grandma and Grandpa Freeman. Charie's family and Ray's family also came to spend time with them.

We can't forget the real reason for this holiday! I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and for the sacrifices He made for me and my family. I am also grateful for prophets that teach us every month in the Ensign and other magazines we receive from the church. We enjoyed their devotional earlier this month. I am most grateful at this time for Temples and the blessing of being sealed to my husband and children for all eternity!

It's another painting with BUTTER kind of day.

It amazes me that I can turn around and when I look up again this is what I can find. They used one of their hats to spread it around. When I caught them...Josie looked up at me with a huge smile and said, "we make JJ room really pretty!".

Only 1 Pasco ward was not cancelled.

Yesterday there was only 1 ward in Pasco that was not cancelled. Yep, it was ours! Choir practice was postponed until 15 minutes before church started, so we were on time...one of the rare times that we are. When we got there, we found out that there was an option of attending...many families were called and told that there would be church, but they could choose if they wanted to attend or stay home. We didn't get that call.



On another subject, there is 8-10 inches of snow outside and my children picked out these outfits to wear.

I'm told it doesn't snow much in the Tri-Cities.

It is 21 degrees outside and I thought the kiddos would like to play a little in the snow. Outside playing lasted about 10 minutes and they came in crying for 5 minutes while their fingers thawed.

It is over 20 degrees outside! Yippee!

It has been so cold outside that we have not done anything. Jason has had the van for a few days at work so today is the first time we are venturing outside since church. Our adventure begins because while I showered yesterday, Josie tied my glasses into a pretzel. The eye doctor awaits!

We allowed a big Christmas present to be opened to keep the energy contained and me sane!

JJ was brave enough to sit on Santa's lap

He wouldn't look at mom though for a photo because the candy cane was much more exciting. Josie wouldn't go near the stage where he was sitting. She began to freak out when the curtain went up and we could see Santa's boots. This was at the end of an entertaining Ward Christmas party.

Never turn your back!

You would think that I would have already learned that I should never turn my

back to curious 2 & 3 year olds. I had the things together for the gifts we are sending to the Johanson families and went to lay down with JJ at nap time. I fell asleep and he went to paint. This is a picture of how he finished his heart.

I then decided that our family home evening board would have to be red instead of blue to showcase JJ's masterpiece and be a reminder that I should never fall asleep before JJ.

Later, as I was fixing dinner, Josie did her painting. She did just as great a job as her brother. Does this mean that it is time to get some washable paints for them to play with? This is a picture of her "I'm sorry, mom" face when she decided that she was in a lot of trouble.

On another subject...JJ untied and pulled out one of his stitches on Wednesday. He was in the process of getting the other one out when we got to the doctor's office. Doc put on some glue and tape that is a type of butterfly band aid. JJ has already removed 2 of the 3 strips and opened the would a bit again. The beautiful small scar that the ER Doc managed to fix up is not going to be the final verdict. It will be interesting to see what kind of healing this eyebrow really gets when all is said and done!

Another trip to the ER

Sacrament meeting was cut short today when JJ fell and cut his head open on the bench. I grabbed him and headed for the hall where the bishop of the 6th ward told me JJ was bleeding. Bishop Leavens is our dentist and recommended that we take JJ to the Emergency Room for stitches. I called Jason from the church (he was at home, sick) and said we were headed to ER...get up and dressed. The entire overflow section was helpful, one of the young men walked us out to the car and I told the Primary President that I was going to leave, but all the activities and my lesson book was in the back row for a sub. Josie's ER visit was just last week and she was having a really hard time. She was screaming and did not want anything to do with the hospital. Jason and Josie waited in the van while I held JJ down for his 2 stitches.

We finally got a nativity scene for outside!! Yippee!!

It is so hard to believe that it is already a week into December. Today we found a nativity scene that I was excited about, but Jason wasn't too into it. (It is a blow up one) We decided that we wanted something outside to decorate, but we wanted a nativity, not a santa or snowman type of a thing. Nativity scenes are really hard to find...it has been 3 years of looking for something and then an hour to talk Jason into it with the help of mom and dad Freeman. I can't wait to see it up in our yard...it is lighted so we can see it after 4pm also!

Freeman Family Photo

Thank you to Tricia for the camera that took the photo of the Freeman Family on Thanksgiving!

Josie lost a nail, Yuck!

With all the fun of the after Thanksgiving shopping and visiting with family...there had to be something to help us remember that we are not perfect! Josie was riding on the bottom of a cart at Wal-Mart and she put her hand under a wheel. The nail of the pointer finger came completely off. At first we thought we could do the first aid by ourselves, then we took a closer look. There is a clinic close by so we went in there to get a doctor to help us take off the nail that was holding on by a thread and they told us to go to the emergency room.

Josie was a brave girl! She squirmed a bit as the doctor gave her a shot to numb the finger for the rest of the day. As we came out of X-Ray, she began to bite the finger because she couldn't figure out why she couldn't feel it. (There may be a small fracture at the tip...we are waiting for the radiologist to read it.) The doctor pulled of the nail, washed her finger off well and bandaged her up.

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!

It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is all ready over! We have had a great time with the entire Freeman family (except our missionary, Aaron, in the Philipines). The food and fun continues into tomorrow. We joined the other crazy people shopping on Black Friday and got a new computer monitor and camcorder for our family. Can't wait to begin recording upcoming events. Josie and JJ will be so sad to see everyone go. JJ is playing a cling on to mom the whole time, but he knows where and who everyone are. We had an opportunity to photograph the entire family in pink, white and black and I can't wait to see the photo on our wall...I will post when I can...Still don't have a way to put photos on the computer for a bit.

I am so thankful for family that live the way our Father in Heaven would like us to live. It is great to have the reinforcement for our children as we are with others for an extended period.

Sunday JJ fell asleep during Sacrament. The missionaries for the other ward thought he was pretty cute and took photos of him with them posed over the top pointing at a sleepting 2 year old. I thought that was kind of funny!

Happy Birthday, JJ!

We celebrated JJ's birthday on the video phone with his mormor, morfar and Aunt Holly. That is so much fun! He did a great job blowing out his 2 candles. JJ is talking more and more everyday. For his birthday he got 2 shots at the doctor's office. Isn't that a fun day? He has become very attached to Handy Manny's tools that sing and dance in their tool box. He loves them! At least one of the tools has to go with him in the car and to church or anywhere else JJ goes. (That was an early present from his mom, dad and sister.)

Busy weekend

We were lucky enough to have Jason home on Friday. His company asks different drivers to take a day off every now and then because the overtime payout gets too high. We were busy! The kiddos were worn out by the time we took a little break from all the stores we went to. Saturday was just as busy. We love our time with Grandma and Grandpa at Costco for lunch and then the errands that follow. Today was pretty mellow compared with the previous 2 days. We only left the house for church.

I discovered some fun things on a program I've had for many years. Now, Jason and I are really excited because we have on paper a schedule to snowball out of debt. We've been working on it without a proper plan before this weekend. The end is in sight and there is a specific date! Yippee!

Elections

I must say that I was really disappointed in the outcome of the presidential election! I really don't understand the electoral college anymore and I get really frustrated when Washington's votes don't go to the person I voted for. Jason & I voted by absentee vote because that is the only way Pasco does it. I received a letter from the elections department that stated I did not sign my ballot's affidavit or it had been destroyed in the mail. I had to sign another affidavit and send it back in so my vote would be counted.

Happy Halloween!

This is my favorite holiday! I love all the costumes and the party atmosphere. I'll do my best to get photos as soon as possible of the princess and tycoon we have this year.

No news is good news

The last little while has been kind of quiet. We are just living life day by day. One little thing that I am loving is the way Josie sings. She is learning church, educational and silly songs. Her favorite seems to be "Jesus wants me for a sunbeep". (JJ is beginning to sing it the same way.)

What a relief!

I had been asked to talk a couple of weeks ago and I was able to get out of it because of Mormor's funeral in SLC. Well, it caught up to me and I ended up speaking today on Helaman 3:35...Purify your heart. It went well and there were quite a few members of the congregation that thanked me for what I had to say. I really loved a story about Joseph F. Smith. He was 15 and on a mission in Hawaii. He had a dream that he was in a big hurry to get somewhere. He had a small bundle in his hand and didn't really know what it was. He came to an opening with a door and knew he had reached his destination. He noticed a small sign to the side that said, "bath". He stopped and cleaned himself then opened the small bundle which held clean, bright, white garments which he put on. He went up to the door and the Prophet Joseph Smith was there to answer his knock. The prophet reprimanded him about being late and Joseph F. Smith answered him, "but I am clean....I am clean."

I pray that we can all become clean and accept the atonement of Jesus Christ.

Quiet time?

It is a bit eerie at the moment. Josie and JJ are still asleep and Jason has already left for work. I am really not used to a house so quiet. I could think of 10 other things I could do right now to enjoy this time.

Yesterday, Josie and JJ destroyed the last live plant we had in the house. I saw them playing with the new lamps we have in the living room and I decided to take a closer look. The plant was on the floor with roots exposed and there was dirt from one corner of the room to the other. The container was sitting nicely on the table as if nothing had happened. The kids were black from head to toe and I wish I had a digital camera to share the image with you!

Bronchitis is in the house!!!

Not feeling very well this week...Josie and I saw the Doc on Wednesday and we are pretty medicated now. JJ and Jason seem to be showing the beginnings of the nasty cough as well.

We have had quite a day already! Josie woke me up at 5am. It got a bit quiet later on...I found her in the bathroom emptying a bottle of shampoo into the tub. While I was cleanning that up, she found a few more things to get into that didn't cause too much trouble. We were lucky enough to babysit Brek while Aunt Trish went to the temple. JJ and Josie love to babysit and I am sure that the babies are more than happy to say good-bye when their time is up! They played with him as much as I'd let them. Although they were told to find soft toys, they dumped out every toy in the toy box for him. A little later, Josie and JJ were too quiet again. I found them in JJ's closet with what had been a new tube of toothpaste. It was all over their bodies, the carpet and the closet door. At that time, we decided to go for a ride...JJ still hadn't napped. We turned a corner and Josie started to yell that she saw daddy's truck...it was daddy and we were able to visit with him for a few minutes. JJ is now asleep and Josie is in her room doing some time for the concoction she put together out of the refridgerator. It can't get any worse!

Dentists & fingernail polish

This morning Josie had a dentist appointment. She did really great! The tech was able to take x-rays of both sides of her mouth. That was how we found out she has 2 cavities in the back. She gets her first fillings in November while JJ has his first appointment with the dentist.

We went back to grandma and grandpa's house to spend the day with cousins, uncles and aunts again. We had a lot of fun making cookies with Aunt Shannon and playing with everyone.

About 1/2 an hour after I had thought that we probably should have packed up to come home, I started to smell an odd odor. It was a lot like fingernail polish and Josie was nowhere to be found. The bathroom door was closed and when I tried to open it, it got caught on the closet's accordian door inside. I started to tell Josie to close the closet and received quite a bit of attention from everyone in the house. It took Aunt Chantelle and Grandma quite some time to find the right tool to close the closet door and get into the bathroom. Josie was a trooper as we told her to wait by the shower while we shoved and shook the door all over the place. Josie cried a bit as she discovered that she was trapped and in a lot of trouble.

Well the end of this story is that fingernail polish remover and razor blades make cleaning up tile and a glass scale really easy. Josie needs to give grandma a new bottle of fingernail polish and a new closet door. The bathroom's doorknob put a hole in the door of the closet as we pushed up against it. We are so sorry grandma and grandpa!

We have a telephone & internet again!

It is such a long week when your phone and internet are down! We finally got the upgrades we needed for the video phone and our internet is now high speed. (haven't had that since we moved into our house) Our home teacher came knocking on our door the other night to find out if we were ok or if we had fallen off the planet.

We are having a great time playing with cousins at grandma and grandpa Freeman's house this week. Thank you Aunt Chantelle for the crafty projects you bring along for us to play with. Josie won't let go of the necklace she made with beads and JJ is upset his picture made with stickers was left behind when we came home tonight.

Congratulations to Whitney, she will be baptized this weekend.

We are home!

Updates are really hard to do when you are out of town for a week! It was great to see so much family at the funeral. We enjoyed spending a day with Marneen and her family also! JJ and Josie didn't want to leave. Josie had a great time going with Avery and Aunt Chaelaine to the pumpkin patch. She put her pumpkin in front of our house to display it to the neighborhood.

We came home to a garden that was over ready for harvest. We picked tomatos until there wasn't any more room to put them...salsa will be made today. We got 9 good sized pumpkins to put with Josie's. There are 2 more that are still getting ready to pick. We have tons of watermelon that will have to continue rotting in the garden. And there were quite a few cucumbers that are ready to harvest. Some of the cauliflower and broccoli are coming back, we'll have more of that is a couple of weeks. Yippee!

Yesterday, Josie decided that she didn't want the dinner I made. She went out the back door, through the gate, (everything was open because I was mowing the lawn) and into the garage where she opened the freezer to get a popsicle. She handed the group of them to me and pointed to the one she wanted to open.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Josie!

It is hard to believe that 3 years can pass by so quickly. Josie is growing up so fast. She loves to wash JJ up when he is a mess. She loves to pretend to cook and make me eat it. She carries her babies around with a packed diaper bag and then goes to Wal-Mart to buy milk. Wal-Mart is her favorite place and she wants to go there everyday. Recently she will come over to me and say, "Mom, I want to sit on you." She may be growing up fast, but she'll still cuddle with me every now and then. Happy Birthday, Josie!

Good-Bye Mormor

Maja Gulli Ellstrom Johansson is my mormor. That is Swedish for grandma. She was born on August 16, 1917 and she passed away September 17, 2008. We are leaving tomorrow evening headed for her funeral in Salt Lake City. (either Saturday or Monday) Mormor will be missed by so many people, but how can we be sad when we know she'll be with Morfar and her family. She has worked so hard to bring her family members to our Heavenly Father's presence through Temple work. Good-bye for now Mormor! We love you!

Uncles, Aunts & Cousins

A last minute decision was made late Saturday evening to go to La Grande and see the new baby (still no name announced). We didn't even unpack Jason's camping stuff. We packed the rest of us up and left town. As we drove, we let Aunt Charie and Uncle Jay know we were headed their way. Josie loves to play with all the cousins at their house. Even though they had a couple of extra kiddos (sisters of the new baby) they offered to let us stay with them ... so we did. The kids were all up early Sunday morning and played together until they were ready for church. JJ loved the attention he got from the older boys. Jayson twirled him around and around and Jaxon danced "Ring Around the Rosie". JJ couldn't get enough of the chickens once he realized they were outside and close enough to try to touch. Josie enjoyed playing with Jayda, Macy and Cambry. Carter kept a watchful eye on Josie and JJ as they mauled Camilla.

The baby boy is beautiful! He has a dark head of hair with some red when the light hits it just right. We had a good visit with Uncle Tyson, Aunt Shannon and their son. As we arrived home I realized that we didn't take any pictures of the impromptu trip. What a bummer!

Today Josie, JJ and I were lucky enough to pick up Uncle Troy and Aunt Robin at the airport. JJ was looking forward to it all day long. He refused to take a nap afraid that he'd miss the airplanes. He fell asleep on the 10 minute ride to the airport and didn't see a thing. Josie was really interested in the baggage claim belt as it moved through the area.

Regular Saturday ritual is upsidedown!

Our Saturdays are usually spent in the house for the morning doing the chores that did not get done during the week. When the time comes, we load into the van and head to the Temple. We wait for grandma and grandpa to finish their temple shift. Then the race is on for Costco! Lunch is either pizza or the famous polish dogs there. The afternoon is all about running errands and following grandma and grandpa around town until they are ready to go home.



We are upside down today because Tyson and Shannon had a baby yesterday and grandma and grandpa left last night to see him. Jason is camping with his scout this weekend. (there is only 1 eleven year old in our ward...they combine with the other 2 wards in our building that have only 1 eleven year old scout)



It is really hard to keep a ritual going when half of the ritualists are out of town. We can't wait to hear more about the baby and find out about Jason's trip.

Doctors and Physical Therapy

Jason was ill on Sunday and the kiddos were not letting go of their coughs, so I took them all to see our Doctor on Monday. Josie and JJ are too familiar with that office! They open all the drawers and cabinets while we wait to find all kinds of treasures. Whatever they have is viral so they just need to ride it out.

Potty training is still in process. JJ seems to enjoy the toilet more than Josie. Josie brought me a diaper last night and said she wants to wear them instead of panties.

I am going to Physical Therapy 2-3 times a week. We are still working on the injuries from the car accident last October. New exercises were added last night and man can I feel the difference!

Too much pressure...we've created a blog!

Well, here we go...I will attempt to keep a blog up to date. The harder part will be to keep it interesting for anyone that reads it. The photo is nearly a year old now, but we won't have an updated one until the end of October or early November.

Josie and JJ are potty training at the same time right now. When Josie says, "I want to go potty." she means: I want to play in the sink and flush the toilet as many times as I can before I get into trouble. JJ is doing really well, he just hasn't figured out that he can tell me that he needs to go...he just waits until I ask him if he'd like to.