After much encouragement from some of my children I have finally joined the world of blogging. I'm really not sure what I'm doing and I'm sure it will show.
Don't be to hard on me. I'm realizing how out of touch I am with the world of technology.
A little about what's happening in my corner of the world.
With the holidays here I'm sadden to realize what's not here or at least not at home, 4 of our 7 babies. None of them think of themselves as babies, but they are still my babies. Our oldest, Kaira Fern, her husband Tyler and my perfect grandson,
Mack are now living in the great Northwest and too far for me to see as often as I want. They are expecting baby #2 at the end of December.
Kassey and her husband Will are expecting their first baby the middle of January and are living in Utah. Kerin and her husband Cory are also living in Utah. They are enjoying the challenges of school, poverty, and career development. Kyle, our eldest son, is serving on a
church mission in Pittsburgh, PA. He loves his mission and has served in the Erie, PA area and is now in the Coraopolis, PA area. That leaves just the youngest three at home.
We thought we would have a quiet Thanksgiving this year, we were wrong. None of the older girls' families were planning on coming home and Kyle would not be home, we did however end up with a house full. My nephew Logan, my eldest brother's son, was married the Saturday after Thanksgiving. He lives a hour north of us and so everyone who was in town for the wedding and needed a place to sleep and/or gather did so at our home plus our local missionaries joined the festivities. We had 23 at dinner all dinning on a 26.45lb bird. We had all the fixings, including 17 pies.
The "kids table" had more than just little kids this year.
Kyle couldn't be there in person, but that didn't mean we weren't thinking of him.
Diets were forgotten for the day, but we're all paying for it now that the feasting is over. We are looking forward to seeing the girls and their families during the holiday season.
I flew in the night of the 27th and Kaira and Henry came home from the hospital the morning of the 28th, since then we get sleep when we can. 
Henry is a good baby and not a screamer. He eats every 2 hours and has one long stretch in the early morning hours. Mack is a good big brother, maybe too good. His only problem maybe that he is a little possessive of his little brother. 
Mack helps get diapers, throws trash away and tells you where things are. He tells you more than where things are, he tells you what things are. He's always pointing out what things are called. 
We now call him "Captain Obvious". It's great to have a real super hero in the family. I'm here for the week to help with night time feedings and daytime chaos. Today was great I got a three hour nap and Kim and the kids got here and we'll all be here for the week. Three hours is the longest I've slept since I got here. By the time Henry gets fed changed and back to sleep I get about 40 minuets of sleep. I'm not young anymore and really needed the 3 hours today. I'm sure things will get better but no matter how much sleep I get I love being here with my grand babies in Seattle.
I have been doing my own survey. I recently listened to a local talk radio show where the topic of discussion was saying "Merry Christmas" as opposed to "Happy Holiday". I hadn't really thought of it, and must admit, I quiet often say "Happy Holiday" instead of "Merry Christmas". The main point was, we have taken too much of Christ out of our lives and saying "Happy Holidays" instead "Merry Christmas" is just another subtle way. I now say "Merry Christmas" to everyone. The responses have been interesting. Some smile, look you in the eye and say "Merry Christmas" back. Others maybe smile but don't say anything. The most interesting to me are those that look confused. I want to stop my busy life and talk for a few minuets with those people. It's as though they have forgotten what life is about and they want to be reminded. I think of my son Kyle at those moments.
He is serving on a two year mission for our church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in the Pennsylvania Pittsburgh area finding and teaching those who are looking for answers. 
If you know us at all, you know how much we love this time of year. We all get into the fun and festivities. 
The Christmas music is turned on, the eggnog is poured Thanksgiving night,and we start decorating the house the next day.
We love the baking, decorating and fun that goes with the Christmas. We had our annual tree hut this year. I'm not sure the kids look forward to this as much as Kim and I. We drag the kids around until we find the perfect tree. This has been known to take hours. I like to post a child by a tree I like until I decided which tree we want. I've been subjecting my kids to this since they were small. 
Even when we lived in Missouri and the oldest girls were small, I would have them stay by a tree until we decided. That way no one could buy the trees we were considering. It was tough when we used to cut our own trees, but we covered the area an acre at a time and the older kids stood with farthest away tree. Can you imagine a little four year old girl with rosy cheeks from the cold, telling, "I'm sorry my mom might want that tree. You can't buy that one." I admit, I'm demented. This year we managed to only have to go to one tree lot. Our biggest challenge is reminding Kim the height restriction we have. 
Once home it's on to decorating, everyone participates, like it or not. Even though some of us complain with all the work, we love every bit of it and wouldn't change a thing. Except maybe the part where I have a melt down just days before Christmas. this year things will be very quiet around our home. 
Christmas time brings choir performances. All the kids at home sing in some type of choir. For the last few months the kids have had choir practices and last week was the big performing week. On Thursday the 6
There was a good turn out and the kids did a great job.
After the shower Kassey, Kerin, their husbands and I went out to dinner, on the way home Kerin and Cory took me by Temple Square to see the lights. 
It's hard to tell from the picture, but Santa has definitely eaten too many cookies and I think it's time to change to non-fat milk. Sunday we helped Kassey unpack some boxes in their new place. 
