Snow Sledding with Friends

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Christmas Eve P.J.'s

Such a fun, favorite tradition! Grandpa Randy and Grandma Cindy do an awesome job choosing pajamas for all of the grandchildren each year.  The kids have drawn their numbers to see who gets to come out first to see what Santa has brought, opened their pajamas and are getting ready to nestle down in their beds (for a few hours).  So much excitement, who can sleep???

 

Thank you Grandpa and Grandma! We love them!!!

My Parents......Randy & Cindy Mullenaux

We had fun taking some pictures while we were in Thatcher. We couldn't forget Dad's tractor & our favorite dog Casey!

Taige gets his cast on!

We went to the Dr.'s today and they put a cast on Taige's arm.  He will get it off on January 14th and then they will x-ray it again.

 

 

As soon as we left the Dr.'s office, we hurried back to the school so Taige wouldn't miss his pizza party! His teacher, Lisa Hatch called to be the first one at school to sign his cast!

 

Family Home Evening

This evening we went to the Hansen's and had a family Christmas Recital with also the Codner's and the Fisher's.  All of the kids either played the piano, an instrument or sang.  It was a really nice evening.  Kailan accompanied all of her brothers and sisters on the piano while they sang.  It's a beautiful song called 'Lullaby, Little One'.  Chase played 'Sonatina' and 'Little Drummer Boy' on the piano.  Abi played 'Jingle Bells' on her viola.  Kailan played 'Could I Hold the Baby' on her cello.  Mark and Jordynn and then Brother Fisher and his daughter Jessica sang 'Merry Christmas With Love' and I accompanied them on the piano.  I also played a couple of duets with Dallin Codner.  We played 'Jingle Bells' and 'Candle on the Water'.  I'm currently giving Dallin piano lessons.  He is 8 years old.  He's one of Taige's good friends.

Broken Bones

Last night at approximately 9:00 P.M., as I was leaving the Stake Center, after enjoying a Christmas Musical, Jordynn calls me on my cell phone to tell me that Taige's wrist looks a little funny, is swelling up and he can't move it.  Mark and I quickly hurried home to find both Taige and Chase in tears.  Taige because of pain and fear and Chase crying and scared that he may have caused his brother to break his arm.  Taige had been standing on our tall kitchen stool (thank goodness on the carpet vs. the tile floor) putting a key away when Chase came up and lifted him up to help him down.  As soon as Chase picked him up from I'm assuming his calves, the weight of Taige's upper body flung him over Chase and they both came crashing down hard.  Unfortunately Taige came down with all of his weight on his wrist.  When Mark and I saw his wrist, we both assumed he probably at the least had fractured it.  The top of his forearm is where he hurt the most.  But he could not use his wrist to lift his hand and it was very painful as well.  The Fisher's had followed us home after the program to practice a song, so Mark and Brother Fisher gave Taige a blessing and we were off to the Emergency Room.  He did break his right radius, right at the wrist, or right above it.  That is the larger of the 2 bones on the lower part of your arm.  They put a temporary cast/splint on it from just above his finger tips to half way in between his elbow and shoulder.  They will put his arm in a cast Thursday morning.  Chase is feeling extremely bad for his brother.  He was just sobbing last night and so worried about him.  He of course wasn't trying to be mean - just playing around and not thinking! After coming home and seeing the state Chase was in I couldn't even be annoyed with him because of how bad he felt and how upset he was.  He has a very tender heart and he does love his brother a lot.  This morning Chase gave Taige his $5.00 and was helping him with whatever he needed or wanted before he left for school.  Taige told him to keep his money but Chase insisted Taige have it.  I believe Taige could actually be enjoying this a little.  He's excited to pick out the color of his cast!

Scoliosis

I took Abi back to the Specialist in Phoenix for her back.  She has 3 curves, the worse curve being at the very top of her back.  That curve alone, from April to August increased by 10 degrees.  From September until December, it has increased another 5 degrees.  It is too high for them to brace.  They normally do not do surgery for girls before the age of 14 because they do not want to stunt their growth.  But unfortunately they need to do something with her back.  Her one shoulder is a lot higher than her other shoulder and one side of her rib cage, where it has rotated, really sticks out.  Dr. Segal has referred us to another specialist in Phoenix her works with the spine on young children.  We have an appointment with him the first part of January.  Her upper curve is currently at 51 percent I believe.

Gingerbread Houses

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is making Gingerbread houses.  Growing up my mom would always make two Gingerbread houses - one for our family and one to give away to another family.  We always had so much fun each year as kids deciding and voting on which family we would give our other house to.  The last couple of years, I've been going to my sister Kimberly's to make my Gingerbread houses with her and another sister, Cari.  My youngest sister Aubrey just moved to AZ this summer from Texas, so we were excited to make them with her but unfortunately she had some really sick kids and ended up not being able to make the trip.  We definitely missed her! Next year! We always have lots of fun and even though they are a ton of work, we always feel so good when we finish and never regret the time they take!

Cari, Kimberly's friend Brandi, Me and Kimberly

This year our family decided to give our Gingerbread house to the Merrick family.  They live just a few houses down.  They are a wonderful family who unfortunately have had an extremely tough year.  We admire their strength and examples.