January

 I love January.  It always feels like such a calm month after the hustle and bustle of December.  It was still an exciting month for us!

We celebrated Rebecah's 14th birthday.  It's hard to believe that she is 14; although, most people think she is older than she is.  It's not uncommon for people to ask if she is driving.  Rebecah loves the color orange so she had a white cake with an orange buttercream frosting.

Rebecah continues physical and occupational therapy, but the end might be in sight.  She had a follow up with the vision specialist and all of Rebecah's tests were in the normal range, except for one.  We were SO surprised and grateful.  She is still working on focusing up close, but every indication points towards improvement in that area, too.  The specialist even said she didn't see a need for another appointment.

Another "fun" fact about Rebecah....she is suddenly lactose intolerant.  In December she started complaining of stomach and digestion issues after drinking milk.  This has been an adjustment for her because she was finally enjoying milk.  She also likes all other dairy products like yogurt, cheese, ice cream, and cheesecake!  She now drinks almond milk and doesn't eat what the rest of us eat.  It's amazing how many meals I make that have either milk or cheese in them.  

This fun girl is Melanie!  Rebecah's BFF since Kindergarten.  Melanie was a "wife" in the school musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat.  Rebecah and I went to support Melanie during one of her performances and she sent us this picture.  It was a fun night for Rebecah and me.  We stopped for French fries on the way home because ice cream and milk shakes are now off the table.

Grandma Bev had a birthday!  She's 84!  The kids and I took her a card and a piece of red velvet cake.  We love Grandma Bev and she's such an important part of our lives.

Indoor track ended for Kimball this month.  He did very well in his meets.  He scored personal records in every meet he competed.  He's now eager for outdoor track to begin.

It was a big month for Kimball.  As many of you know, he applied to be a foreign exchange student in October.  He was officially accepted into the Rotary International Foreign Exchange program in January.  He will be going to the Netherlands.  He will be there from the end of August 2024 to the end of June 2025.  We are very excited for him, although, we will miss him a lot, too.  The day he received his placement he and I started learning Dutch on Duolingo.  He is already better at it than I am.  I have made two traditional Dutch foods and Kimball has enjoyed trying those.

The other big news for Kimball was that he finally got a job.  A new Mexican restaurant opened three minutes from our house and Kimball applied for a job there back in December.  The boss kept putting Kimball off, but finally called him after a really busy night when the restaurant was swamped with customers.  Kimball LOVES his job.  He is the only non-native Spanish speaker that works there so he speaks Spanish.  He said his Spanish speaking abilities have improved a lot.  His boss finally admitted that he didn't want to hire Kimball because he thought Kimball wouldn't be a hard worker.  He told Kimball that he "works like a Mexican" which was high praise for Kimball.  

Annika attended a roller skating birthday party for Emily.  Annika LOVES to roller skate, so she was thrilled with this party venue.

In other news, the three little ones switched rooms at the end of December and the new room assignments are working out great!  Annika and Eden now share the big room.  I was worried that Eden might be too messy for Annika, but she isn't.  Annika encourages Eden to clean up when needed, and they are getting along so well.  They play a lot more together than they did before becoming roommates.  Lincoln now has his own room and he loves that.  We moved a lot of his toys to the basement so he would have less stuff to keep up with.  His room isn't as tidy as the girls' room is, but he has managed to keep it much cleaner than ever before.  

Sadly, we have had very little snow this month.  The ground is bare outside.  Joseph especially is feeling the loss of the snow.  He can't ski, snowshoe, or build a snow fort, but he also can't go biking or golfing.  He has practiced his violin a lot this month and done a fair amount of reading. 

December/Christmas

December was a good month, although it didn't feel quite as busy as some years.

We started the month with a recital.  Joseph teaches Maddy the violin, Rebecah teaches Annika piano and Jenny teaches Rebecah piano.  Jenny decided to have a little recital for everyone learning piano and violin.  It was short and sweet and everyone has made improvements.  Rebecah played a beautiful arrangement of O, Holy Night at her recital and in church.  She did a great job!

Kimball is doing well in track, although not as well as he would like.  He has gotten a personal record in every meet so far this season.

Having the Whiting girls over for the evening while their parents attend the temple.  We even managed to get the Grinch's reflection so we will always remember what we were watching.

Rebecah continues with therapy.  Her physical therapist has said that Rebecah is able to return to physical activity.  We finally started OT regularly and the progress is much slower with her eyes than the rest of her body.  The teachers are FINALLY following accommodations for Rebecah and printing her assignments on large pieces of paper (11x18).  The larger paper makes Rebecah's eyes work less to focus causing less eye strain and symptoms.  She practices tracking objects on the computer, working with her convergence and divergence focusing muscles and also working to improve her memory.  We have at least six more weeks of vision OT ahead of us.

We don't have an Elf on the Shelf, but we have Meme!  Meme does fun things year round.  He'll sit at the window all day waiting for Eden to come home or poke his head through the stair railing at bus time.  One afternoon he was watching TV when Eden came home from school.  It's fun for Eden and for me.  We talk about Meme as if he were real and for her, he is.  My mom shared The Velveteen Rabbit with me when I was near Eden's age and I think it's about time I shared it with her.  Maybe I'll give my book to Eden the way my mom gave it to me!

Twinning in Christmas pajamas.   

Most people meeting us for the first time don't know that Lincoln and Annika are twins anymore, but sometimes it's fun to twin with your twin.

We took the little ones to Palmyra to visit the Joseph Smith Farm and the Hill Cumorah on Joseph Smith's birthday (December 23rd).  It was a fun little trip and the kids enjoyed it.  The older ones stayed home because they have seen the sights so many times.

Christmas Eve

We had a great Christmas Eve service at church.  After church the kids decorated graham cracker houses.  In the evening we kept our tradition of attending the Lutheran church for their Christmas Eve service.  We were able to attend the church where our friend pastors.  He was happy to see us and welcomed us with big hugs.  There was a lot of singing during the service and it was wonderful!!  The Lutheran service went a little long so we abbreviated the rest of our Christmas Eve activities to watching The Nativity Story while we ate dinner.

Christmas morning!

We didn't read Luke 2 and Matthew 2 on Christmas Eve so we read it after seeing what Santa brought, but before opening the rest of the presents.  

Rebecah is obsessed with the color orange.  She was very excited about this hoodie.

Lincoln has so many Minecraft Lego sets he now has a Minecraft village!

Dinner was simple, but I loved my colorful plate!  Kimball requested collard greens this year and it was a great addition to our meal.  

Ice Skating!  It was the first time Lincoln, Annika and Eden have been ice skating.  They did really well and Eden got much faster using her skate helper. 

We have been very blessed this year and we look forward to a wonderful 2024!

November

 November was a busy month for me, but I don't have a lot of pictures to prove it!

Rebecah and I spend a lot of time together going to 1-3 therapy appointments a week.  Sometimes we have two appointments on the same day!  She is improving, though, and her balance is much better.  She was finally able to start occupational therapy and had a consultation about her vision as well.  She still suffers from daily bouts of nausea and dizziness which will hopefully improve with her OT and vision therapy.  

In this picture Rebecah put her hairnet on me and masks are just required at the therapy center.  The hairnet on Rebecah was to keep her hair and the equipment clean so they wouldn't get the other dirty.  She was working with a laser trying to work on vision control.

The highlight of the month was going to St. Louis to surprise Heather for the 20th anniversary of her car accident.  It was SO fun surprising her and she was SO surprised!  We attended the temple on her anniversary and ordered sandwiches from Subway.  We had a low-key weekend, but it was so nice to get away for a few days and relax.  I plan to go back in 7 months for Heather's 40th birthday!

Chandra picked me up from the airport and dropped me back off at the airport EARLY Sunday morning.  As we pulled into the airport I realized we hadn't gotten a picture together, so even though I looked a little rough, we had to document our time together!  

My kids missed me a lot!  I don't go away enough because they had a hard time without me and I received multiple texts, phone calls and emails all day, every day.  I loved my welcome home banner that the kids made.  It was Annika's idea and she didn't like that the other kids ruined the surprise.

Thanksgiving was fairly low-key.  I had three appointments with Rebecah the first part of the week, so it was tricky getting all of my usual chores and laundry completed while also baking for Thanksgiving.  The kids were a huge help on Wednesday and Thursday. Lincoln wanted to wear an apron just like I was. 

The first quarter of the school year has come and gone.  The kids have settled into the school routine.  Indoor track started and Kimball is adjusting to new coaching staff.  Kimball has driven a few times, but does not like to be pressured about driving.  Joseph and Kimball attended an all-day interview so Kimball can be a foreign exchange student next year.  Kimball ranked his top five choices and will find out his location in December or January.  His top five choices are: Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, and Finland.  He had a great time talking with students from other countries and hearing their experiences.

Rebecah and I attended Kimball's first indoor track meet.  Kimball ran the 55 meter hurdles and achieved his personal best: 9.75 seconds.