Just put One Foot in Front of the Other

We are almost there! A few weeks ago Dan had some minor surgery to clean up his "interesting" foot. Doesn't he look great in a cap and gown? Anyway, the procedure went really well. My favorite part was waiting in pre-op with Dan. Some older lady on the other side of the curtain was being prepped as well. We heard the usual nurse to patient dialoge: "Do you have any diabetes problems....Yes. Do you have any side effects from Morphine...yes. Do have any liver problems.....not yet." NOT YET?! Are you kidding me? That's a lot of optomism for you. We tried so hard to snicker as quietly as possible.

Next week is Dan's final appointment and we are hoping for the OKAY to ditch the crutches so he can finally start walking. I hope that is what the doctor has in mind because Dan might just do it anyway. He's been such a great patient. Never complaining, always trying to do things for himself. What a guy!

Silent Night?

LeBaron Nativity

Everyone gets the gist of acting out The Nativity. You read from Luke, sing Christmas Hymns, kids are dressed up... But I think there is just something special added when The Nativity is done with 4 generations of family. Sure its is crazy. There are only, what, 60 or 70 people in one room! Quiet and reverence are purely relative. And really it is okay if the sheep rip off their ears and eat them. I'm sure no one minded when Mary tried to leave a little early and there might have been 4 wisemen. No biggy! We did it together.

By the way, never tell Grandma you are not going to participate. You might get a look like this:

Poor Grandma. Dan likes to tease her so, but it is all out of love! Please know that this is not Grandma's usual happy face which is always accompanied with a hug and kiss. We are so glad to have her reminding us to bundle up and always stick together.

Christmas Cookies

We planned to invite a few friends to come help us, but due to sniffles we didn't get around to making them until just before Christmas. LeBaron family tradition dictates mandatory sugar cookie making at all major holidays, especially Christmas! I remember when I was a kid at Christmas time, we would each get our own ball of dough to eat raw or make into as many cookies as we wanted. The tradition continues! Adam participated mostly by gnawing on his rolling pin and eating a cookie.

Santa Clause

Santa Clause with the Palmer Family

Every year since I was a year old we got together with the Melvin and Wanda West Palmer family to meet Santa. Every year our same Santa comes with a treat and a few tricks and a good message. Here is "our" Santa with the next generation of kids. Emily whispered a question to Santa about how he gets into houses that don't have chimneys. She now knows he has a Master Key!

Of course there was dinner and treats too. It looks like Emily and Lilly had an extra yummy dessert.

Christmas!

Christmas 2008
Better late than never right?

Christmas Eve & New Jammies

Christmas morning the kids woke up at 5:30am, a bit before the scheduled time. So they closed their door and played quietly while Dan & I got ready. As you can see we always start with stockings. Adam didn't really get the concept of them, but seemed less confused when he found a new car inside. Josh really enjoyed getting his camera & soccer ball. Emi can't decide witch is her favorite gift was her guitar or the play hair set. Adam, well, Adam was just thrilled every time he opened another gift. He giggled his low fake giggle every time he opened something. I can't tell if he actually liked the gifts inside or the permission rip paper to shreds.

More Firsts

First cup of Moo-Juice.


First try at eggs. Adam loved the scrambled eggs! I think he couldn't believe we would keep such a tasty treat from him.


First steps. Adam has been toying with walking for about a month now. Here is Adam and his cousin Ryan taking turns giving each other rides. He is now walking 70% of the time and is pretty darn good.

At 11 months Adam can say "tane" (thanks) when you give him something. He has learned the concept of In and Out. The word "no" sounds more like nun nun nun. Adam has learned to follow simple orders though often smiles and takes off in the opposite direction. He loves open doors and has an especially keen eye for an open bathroom. He loves sitting with the kids and "playing" video games. Adam can also nod "Yes." Notice his eyebrows follow the direction of his head in the video below.


This Christmas Adam had his:

First Candy Cane. At first he made a sour face. Perhaps that was because the candy cane was probably a year old. Once he got sucking on it he just couldn't get enough

First ornament. It was a little snowman bell. He loved to jingle it.

First Christmas Tree. He left it pretty much alone! He has also inspired the 2/3 decorating style where we only decorate the top 2/3 of the tree in hopes he wouldn't rip any off.

Emily's Sixth Birthday

The Party

Emi trying out a new present/decorating cupcakes

The party goers/learning to use fairy wands and pirate daggers


The theme of the party was Tinkerbell & Neverland. It was simple, but fun. They played pixie tag, "tinkered" around and made their own wands, decorated cupcakes, and played games. Josh his friend Chase & our cousin Blake decorated pirate daggers for the boy version of the party. Over all it was a big success and all done just before Christmas! Whew

Catching Up

Josh- "Mom, look at how big the Tropical Guide is in my scriptures!"

I love this kid. He is so amazing. He really has felt more grown up these last few months. He even asked if he was old enough to drink from a Glass cup at dinner time and not the plastic clear cups we usually have. He also wanted so much to have scripture marking pencils. So just before he turned eight we had him choose one colored pencil and gave him the topic of Baptism. Just before and a little after he was baptized he read every scripture in the Topical Guide about baptism and then marked it. He's now on to a new topic. I love that he loves this.