Visting Family

With family spread all over the country, it seems that we only get together for major events: weddings, weddings, um, . . . weddings. We'll get partial gatherings for other things: baby blessings, sealings, graduations, etc. Well, since my brother gets married on Saturday, we've got the whole family around. My younger sister's family and mine are staying at my parents' house, and my other siblings are all at their houses near-by.

It has been a crazy few days, so far. All of the families have had children get sick--fevers, vomiting, congestion, coughing--yet we have persevered. We stragetically keep the sickest children from the new baby and hope his older brother doesn't pass on his cold. It has been fun to spend Christmas with family.

Yesterday we took family pictures. This has always been a HUGE deal in my family. We joke that my mom would tell us that we were "getting our pictures taken" and we should "stop pouting because it wasn't going to get [us] anywhere." (She never actually said it, at least I don't think she did.) Combine that with our perpetual self-confidence issues (what else do you get as a family of 5 girls and 1 boy?) and family pictures are slightly traumatic. Add to that combination sick children and you get yesterday from 3:00 to 5:00. (You could also throw in car problems and a baptism to prepare for, but that is only if you want realism.)

So here are the results. Hope you enjoy the blood, sweat, and tears that went into this.

Firefighters

Our big boy loves firemen. Maybe it comes from the fact that we had an apartment fire while I was pregnant with him and the firefighters were so careful that he and I were safe. There was another fire in our complex this summer, and he insisted of going outside to see the fire trucks. Luckily, a nice firefighter let us take pictures with him. Recently, he watched Signing Time, volume 11 (My Neighborhood) and loved that they taught him the signs for "firefighter" and "police officer." He walked around telling everyone that he was a firefighter.

So, naturally, we dressed him as a firefighter for Halloween (thanks for finishing the costume while I was in the hospital, Mom). Now, he wears a very worn firefighter hat all around the house. He also likes to put it on with his firefighter pjs.

I look forward to him getting a personalized tour of a fire station later this month.

The Boys

We welcomed our new little boy at the end of October. After some adjustment, his older brother is doing great: he loves to kiss, "watch," "hold," and "feed" his baby brother. The rest of us are also adjusting (to less sleep, different schedules, etc.).