new addition

A new cousin added to the Risenmay side! Kaibrey Lyn Risenmay - Eric and Sharolyn's daughter. She was born Nov 16th (yes this is a late post, but it's been a busy 2 months - Nov and Dec) at 3:19 pm 5lbs 18 oz and 19inches. She is so cute! Too bad they live in Twin Falls and we may not see her until she's 1.....oh well. We look forward to more pictures of her and are excited to have more cousins. Congrats to Eric and Sharolyn! Doesn't she have the most striking blue eyes?! And her little fingernails are painted pink.....awwwwww.  :)

Happy, happy brithday Jeffrey dear....

Jeff turned the big 3-1 this year (Nov 22) and it's hard to shop for someone who's birthday is right before Christmas and still have the creativity to come up with something meaningful for both days.....2 years ago, I think it was, we went to Blue Man Group in Vegas - his parents live there and babysat for us while Jeff's brother Steven and I surprised Jeff with a night out to see the Blue Man Group at the Venetian Hotel. Jeff had no idea, but happily followed us around until we were at the door of the theater about to enter. "We can't go in there, we don't have tickets." Ummmmm, "Yes we do, let's go." What the, who the, huh!? I think was the response to follow. I wish I had pictures from that - it was awesome!

Last year there was a BYU game on Jeff's birthday. I convinced all of his loyal BYU watching friends to say no when Jeff asked them to come over and watch....my brother Steven and sister-in-law (and this was just a bonus because I didn't plan this part) were coming from Wickenburg and asked us to watch their 4 kids while they went to the Temple and in return could they watch our kids......um, YES! Would you mind letting all of those friends in while we're gone as a surprise for Jeff? They agreed and so I had to listen to Jeff wonder why all of his friends couldn't come watch the game at our house - I think it was a big game too.....anywho, he was totally shocked and my friend Michelle was nice enough to decorate yummy cupcakes in the shape of a Y. She does an amazing job - so very talented that girl. My icing on cakes, cookies, always looks like I dropped it on the floor then put it back on the plate to serve (fyi: I don't do that....just looks like I do).

This year, I had an idea, but was having a hard time coming to grips with the cost of actually going somewhere nice, hiring a babysitter, going out to eat and dessert......$$$$$$seeing all those still makes me a little queasy, but I heard this little voice (erin) telling me (erin) "IT'S FOR HIS BIRTHDAY!!!" (erin). Dinner at Subway, then.........We made it all the way into Gammage Theater at ASU before he figured out we were going to see Phantom of the Opera. :) It was so much fun and we had a great time. He was shocked and totally caught off guard that I would do this. When he would tell people later we went to see Phantom, the response was "Why? Did your wife want to go and dragged you along?" to which Jeff would tell them, "No, I wanted to see it and she was the best wife ever and purchased tickets so we could enjoy the show together and with friends." (so I may have expanded his response, nonetheless, he was thinking it.... haha)

 

 

Side note: no flash photography in the theater....oops. :) Annoying to others and dangerous for the actors. But they can light flashbangs without warning and fire we felt in the middle balcony.... It was so cool! :)

To Oregano's for wings and pizookie (pizza cookie....so yum!)

Sunday was Jeff's actual birthday Nov. 22 - here's our family party.

The kids painted the frames and I had the photos for Jeff to take to work - he finally has a desk to showcase his cute family. :)

Abbey loves daddy - wahoo! haha

"Happy birthday" and Jeff was all ready to go to bed, but couldn't blow the candle out.....(family joke my dad tells every year at Twin Lakes)

Daddy love

Mission impossible: Tooth extraction 101

This last tooth has got to go! It's been rumored Grandpa Riz is not so gentle about pulling loose teeth, so we convinced Lea that her last shark tooth needed to come out. Rumors of strings, door slamming and other not so gentle ways to extract teeth. (side note: Saw Coach/Bishop Porter at church the Sunday before - he had the same suggestions.....he was teasing, Grandpa I'm not sure would be joking around). And since Grandpa Riz was coming for Thanksgiving, we convinced Lea to get wiggling and let us help her get it out. A few times we brought her to tears and took some bloody pictures to document the tooth extraction. (Just for you Jaxon! One of Lucas' friends).

This was a couple days before we helped her pull it out.

Tuesday night she was still awake and wiggling the tooth. Jeff made her get up and the process began.

 

I'm not even sure I pulled on it, she would wince in pain before we ever touched the tooth......

This one is for our little friend Jaxon - do you love it?! :)

Abbey decided to wake up and join the party - can you see the bloody hole in Lea's mouth?!

The Tooth Fairy came that night and left 4 quarters and note, same as the first night, but a different note which is sweetly displayed on Lea's bedroom door. 

Baby JJ

UPDATE: JJ had the winter spirit today!!!  He is up to 4 lbs and eating all on his own from a bottle. He still needs a little oxygen while he eats but otherwise is doing really great!! We are still hoping he will get to come home next week.

Found out last night (Nov. 22) that my close friend from home had her baby 7 weeks early and an emergency c-section. Her water broke, they went to the hospital and right to surgery. He's just over 3lbs and 16 inches long. I actually had no idea she was pregnant. I don't get to see her much and the last time we were home, we spent all of our time with family as my parents were leaving on their mission. At any rate, he's in the NICU for a while and she's got a couple days in the hospital because they knicked her bladder trying to hurry and get him out. Much love and prayers for my sweet friend. I'm so grateful for modern medicine that saved her life and her baby's life. Baby JJ  - Jason Jr, what they are calling him for now.

Veteran's Day highlights

Veteran's Day was mostly a quiet day for us. I had big plans to go to a museum, or some place fun to enjoy the day, but I forgot what day it was and thought I had another week to be "Fun" mom. :) So since the libraries were closed, I couldn't get a Culture Pass to go to any of the museums or even the zoo for the day. That's fine, they were probably crowded anyway and some days my kids get tired of going places - not that we go some place fun every day, but sometimes it's just nice to stay home - together.

Playing in Lea's room is always a highlight - my boy loves a cape, no matter the color.

Lea had the day off from school, spent part of the morning hanging out, then went on a 2 mile bike/scooter/stroller walk around Meadows Loop (our neighborhood) and came back to the park by our house. We had a picnic, played, and dug in the sand. The kids had a good time even though it was unusually warm for November - it felt more like a summer day with the sun beating down. They had a good time and played with some other kids who came to play at the park. I'm always surprised at how easily kids can play as if they've known each other forever.

Picnic lunch - beautiful day

group photo....as good as it gets...

Helicopter flying by - on occasion we see Military fighter jets fly over - it's awesome! Makes me proud!

Lea the photographer

and......Lucas the photographer

Back for nap time and some creative activities for Lea to do while the little ones slept. The tooth pulling in the previous post happened before dinner - another highlight :)

Lea decorated this toy car she was given for her birthday

A "Girl" guitar - decorated by Lea

The "Boy" guitar - "Let's rock n' roll"

It was a pretty relaxing day and it was nice to spend the day together without shelling out a small fortune to entertain my kids. Thank you to all the Veterans who served and those currently serving. I have several family members who have been in the military and so does Jeff. Thank you, thank you, thank you. It's a peaceful feeling to have the sweet freedoms we have. To worship how we want, go to school where we can, the right to vote and so much more - it's a long list of worthy causes that our Veterans have fought, died and are fighting for. We're just so humbled and thankful.

Tooth Fairy, Tooth Fairy, what do you see?

I see a little girl with only 5 front teeth! 5? Yep! First there were 6 (because of the 2 adult teeth growing behind), now there are 5. What is the exchange rate for a tooth these days? We'll see, there is some discussion amongst a couple Tooth Fairy helpers. This is the first tooth, so where do we set the standard without going broke with LOTS more teeth to be pulled................

After much wiggling, I managed to twist it a couple times and felt the pop, pop as the tooth came loose and was hanging sideways and laying straight out....gross huh? I told Lea to pull it out herself and away she pulled. Slightly panicked at the sight of so much blood, but quickly excited she pulled out her 1st tooth!!!!

Phone call to Daddy and phone call to Grandma Judy

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!!!! Wahoo, wahoo, wahoo, wahoo!!!

Lucas: "Mom take a picture of me yelling....aaaaahhhhhhhhh!" The celebration!