EMBARASSING

We have a toucher. A child who knows no boundaries, no awareness of personal space. Bella, also known as Jelly Belly. It's actually one of the things I love about her. But it also is the cause of many embarassing moments. Here's a real doozy:

Phoenix is a large enough city that you'd think we would have had a mass transportation system long ago. But it's only been a few short years since we were introduced to the Light Rail. What excitement this drummed up! Everyone was clammering to take a ride on the Light Rail. We decided to jump on the bandwagon......er, Light Rail. We got on, stroller and all, with friends of ours and decided to ride it all the way to downtown Phoenix to watch the Christmas Light Parade. All of the kids were excited. And I was too. Until I realized that there were 20 stops until our final destination. At each stop a whole slew of people came on and the seats were quickly filling up until there wasn't even standing room. We were all packed in like sardines complete with intermittent strange odors. I was getting more claustrophobic by the minute.

Enter my touchy-feely child, B. She is so affectionate, friendly, fascinated and fearless all at once. A woman with a belly like a bowl full of jelly in a really tight shirt gets on at about stop 4. (No judgment....I, too, have a belly like a bowl full of jelly). Each stop, she got closer and closer to us. Well, Miss B immediately noticed that this woman had some kind of mole that was poking through the fabric of her shirt. It is now like slow motion playback in my mind. I can see the expression change to wonderment on B's face as she notices this mole and reaches her arm out. It's like when you have a dream where you are trying to run and can't move your feet or get anywhere. I am trying to grab her arm, but I just can't do it. She touches the mole but doesn't stop there. She keeps her finger on it, rubbing back and forth trying to determine just what it is. Our friends watched the whole thing and are suffering uncontrollable laughter. The funniest part was that the woman didn't even flinch. It's as if she had no feeling in that area whatsoever. Everyone, but this woman who was being groped by a 3-year-old, watched this go down. Then B says, "Eeeeww....Mama, what is that??" I could feel my face get hot and a pit in my stomach. (Or was it the claustrophobia?) I finally snapped out of my dream-like stupor and distracted her with something else.

We vowed to never ride again.

IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!!

Christmas-time is my favorite time of the year. I love the music, the lights and decorations, the Christmas tree decorating, traditions, food, gift-giving.....ALL OF IT!! I especially love the spirit that seems to enter everyone's hearts this time of year. Everyone is more friendly, more patient, more loving, more grateful. The spirit of Christmas, the real meaning of Christmas, is something I wish we could all hang onto all year long. But then I guess Christmas wouldn't feel quite as special.

We alternate each year with our families between Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year it was Thanksgiving with the Powers and Christmas with the LaDukes. But the Powers never take a year off in the gift-giving to the kids. They are so sweet and it's so fun to see how excited they and the kids get. Here is Uncle Jim and Auntie Pam giving their gifts to the kids.

They got dress-up clothes for the girls and they LOVE it!!

I traditionally try to get a good photo with the kids in their Christmas outfits in front of the tree.

Aunt Lora, Uncle Mike and Grandpa Powers came over and brought tons of gifts. They are so good to us. Wish I would have gotten a better picture.

Our annual tradition of going to see the temple lights. This year was sooo crowded and busy that it was difficult to really enjoy it and soak it in. We will have to pick a better day to go and keep it secret!!

But it still makes me happy.....making memories with my family. I love these kids!!

Uncle Terry and his girlfriend, Jean, brought over gifts too! And Uncle Larry and his fiance, Lene, sent gifts as well. We are so spoiled by the Powers Family.

We hosted the LaDuke Christmas Eve where we read the nativity story from the scriptures and each child gets to open one present - Christmas PJ's! Surprise!! Picture left to right: Callie, Avery, Bella, Maya, Gage, Paisley, Eden, and Nate holding Will. We missed Billy and Alicia and their kids and the Tucson LaDukes couldn't come until the next day.

Christmas Day we held our traditional Talent Show with everyone. I got so sick starting Christmas Eve (I seem to always get sick on holidays) and tried to suck it up so I could enjoy.

Our little family sang Silent Night along with Alyssa, Trevor, and Mack.

There is always a lot of wrestling, strength competitions, cartwheels, and the like when we all get together.

Papa LaDuke opening his presents Christmas morning. He suffered a stroke just about two weeks prior to Christmas, which is not at all evident in these pictures. In the early morning a couple of weeks ago I got a phone call and the caller ID displayed my mom's number. My heart jumped into my throat as I knew something was wrong. She calmly told me that Dad had a stroke around 3am in bed that woke him up. In trying to get up and get oriented, he fell and hit his head on the bookcase and was bleeding a lot. She described how she loaded him in the truck and drove to the hospital in Show Low. His speech was very slurred and non-communicative. At the hospital, they did a cat scan and determined their ability to help him was limited so they med-evacuated him via helicopter to St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix. My mom was not allowed on the helicopter, so she had to drive back to Snowflake, pack some bags and drive here by herself. I can't imagine what that drive must have felt like. She wanted me to be at the hospital when he arrived so he wouldn't be alone. We took Gage to school, took the girls to my dear friend, Tami Farnsworth, and headed to the hospital. I called Nathan and Cameron and they actually beat us there, thankfully. When we first saw him in his room, it was quite shocking and scared me. His speech was terrible, his whole right side was paralyzed and he didn't know "what those things are that you have in your hand" (cell phones that we were all using to communicate with family). He had an MRI, which I will post about later, that didn't totally help to determine what the cause was. But, in the long run, he made a very quick recovery and gained a lot of use back on his right side. His speech returned to normal and to the naked eye, you wouldn't know he had suffered a stroke. It forced him and Mom to stay with me for a while, which we loved. For once, they couldn't rush home for golf, callings, or other things that pull them away. It was nice to spend all that extra time with them.

Paisley was so excited about everything Santa brought!

It was a wonderful Christmas and we are so grateful to have our family and friends.

LADUKE FAMILY NIGHTS

For years, my family talked about getting together once a month for family night. We wanted a way to stay connected and for all these cousins to spend time together. Thanks to Addie who stepped up and hosted the first one, we finally got it going. It has been so much fun watching these kids interact and play together. And the grown-ups get to visit with each other too.

This was our Nativity play. Each of the kids played a part. In her creativity, Addie came up with cute costumes for wise men, shepherds, angels. Cameron and the three oldest cousins that come, Gage, Maya, and Callie all took turns narrating.

They were adorable.

We look forward to these each month. We all take turns hosting each month and coming up with the lesson, activity, and treat.