merci

this weekend we have been writing thank you notes.

the final cap on the holiday season.

i was trained from birth to do it the day after christmas,

{we always hated doing it that day}

so i am feeling a little behind.

nevertheless, it's always better late than never.

max is already a pro.

we are still in the single digits.

it's freaky cold out!

songs on the kitchen stereo

tonight i made pizza with pepperoni, chopped onions, and green bell peppers.

max played in the pizza dough flour next to me.

she got it all over the floor that got mopped about 3 hours before,

{i had to take a few deep breaths at first, but then i was happy 

b/c she was happy. smooshing around flour, making pizza with me.}

she sang the chorus along with phillip phillips on the stereo in our kitchen.

one minute i was singing "just know you're not alone...", 

and the next minute she was finishing it up with, 

"make this place your home...settle down, it's all be "k-eeeaaaar"...

just know you're not aloooone...make this place your hooooooommmmeee."

just like that.

with consonants missing and all.

heaven.

i didn't even know she knew the words,

but there she was,

 with her little voice singing the words right along with me.

nodding her head up and down to the beat.

playing with pizza dough flour on a friday night.

and the one wish i made standing in my kitchen was that i hope if i let them cook with me now,

sing to songs in the kitchen with me now,

then maybe they'll want to keep doing it with me when they're older.

singing along to our favorite songs on the kitchen stereo.

making pizza dough on a friday night.

maybe not every friday night,

but maybe on some friday nights.

not sure if we'll be able to handle the horsie rides then,

but i'll do anything to keep them with us:) 

even if it means i have to make 10 pizzas to feed them and all of their friends.

until then,

i'm soaking up every single minute.

watching chase learn to get up onto his hands and knees 

and rock back and forth making his squawking sounds,

listening to brennan and max fight over a toy that neither of them really cares about anyway,

and then giggle as sean prances them around the kitchen table with max hanging onto brennan for dear life.

"first the man gets off, then he holds the madam's hand to get off."

-brennan

...

we are raising a gentlemen over here in the Gibson home.

so proud:)

 i love this life.

especially friday nights.

letters to Beth {dreams, foam animals, & Radon}

my built in baby gym, 

to distract and lock chase in one spot while i change his diaper,

but better b/c brennan and max don't clobber this one all hours of the day like they do the real baby gym i have now moved back down into the basement.

winning:)

......

Dear Beth,

Last night I had a dream that Sean and I flew to Germany with expired passports with my neighbor Briar {I love her name, don't you?}, but we didn't get to see you b/c we weren't going to the part of Germany you are living, which is funny b/c i don't know any other parts of Germany other than the one you are living in. And we walked through these dirt mountains, and i think there may have been some kind of a river or stream next to us. And then Sean woke me up to tell me he was leaving for work. Tragic. 

I miss you more than words can express!!! Every time I see the Hobbit previews I think about making a sandwich with you in your parent's kitchen in Chico, eating chicken drumsticks down to the cartilage, and slathering raspberry butter and honey onto baked scones during conference. On Christmas Eve one of the channels on TV was airing all of the LOTR movies, and I told Sean if the next one was the first one we had to watch the Shire scene until Bilbo disappears and things get scary {b/c i really only like the happy shire part of that movie anyway}, but it wasn't that one that was on, it was the two towers, so we watched It's a Wonderful Life instead. It was pure joy for my Christmas wrapping heart, even though I was sad I didn't get to see my Shire parts. When you come again, we MUST drink water from jars, and eat scones with raspberry butter, even if it's not conference time. Also, i'm dying for your chocolate covered strawberries rolled in peanut butter cups.

Did you ever test your basement in your house in Utah for Radon? It's the cancer causing gas that is more present in Utah than most places b/c of the Wasatch Mountains, and because January is Radon testing awareness month in Utah there are lots of people testing their homes and talking about it. So my neighbor, who is also my Visiting Teacher, found really high levels in her basement and had to have this mitigation system put in to make it safe, sent out an email encouraging us to test our basements. I ordered my kit, and now I'm all paranoid about breathing in my basement. If we do have high levels then we obviously need to do the mitigating, which is not cheap, but it's about what we had to pay for the new garage door--haven't told you yet, but i backed out of my garage with the garage door closed--yep, i'm awesome. Anyway, it was much more exciting to get a new garage door than it will be to mitigate our basement for Radon if we have to. Blah. I would so much rather put hardwood flooring under my kitchen table. Dang carpet!!! 

We have also been sick here. For what feels like over a month, so I know how awful it is to take care of a sick family. Absolutely exhausting!!! Mentally and physically draining. It feels like you can't ever get going in your day, and that you are never going to get better ever again. Those are the days when i try to imagine setting up the slip n slide in the summer out back with my sunflowers swaying in the wind and big fat juicy tomatoes growing in the dirt. Brennan was sick before and during Christmas. Max was sick after Christmas. Chase had a double ear infection before Christmas, and is recovering from ANOTHER double ear infection this week, and DARN IT the garlic drops don't work for him. TRAGIC. Max was so soothed by them, and only needed a 10 or 15 minute cuddle once during the night. Chase sleeps about ZERO when he has ear infections. Like Sean and I take 3 hours shifts staying up with him. You'd think he would just zonk out after being awake for 6 hours in the middle of the night, but no, he is miserable, and his fever gets so hot. Scary hot. Anyway, now i'm getting really good at knowing that's what it is, and i get him to the doc for antibiotics after only 2 days of wondering why in the heck he's not sleeping. And after 2 days of not sleeping I only feel like I need to kill one of the cats instead of 2. Do you know the Jim Bruer video on YouTube? Did I make you watch it when you were here? If not, type in "Why Mother's Need Their Rest" by Jim Bruer into google and watch the video with Bryce. You won't be able to stop laughing. After a bad night with no sleep I always tell Sean the next morning "I killed the cats," and then he knows what kind of a night it was, and we have a good laugh while we brush our teeth for the day. When my kids were sick last weekend Sean did sponge creatures on the counter with the kids. They got them in their stockings from Santa. Brennan kept dunking his hands into the cup and stole Max's animals about a million times, and she's already emotional about things like that, but with a fever and an earlier episode of puking she was EXTRA emotional about him stealing her foam animals. We just kept wiping up all of the water they spilled everywhere, and tried to keep Brennan from stealing Max's animals the entire time. I didn't know you had to re-warm the water with each capsule. Sean said I was a foam animal amateur. Do they have foam animals in pill capsules in Germany? Could be a fun way to avoid killing cats after a sleepless night with sick kids. Just sayin...

All of that food you ate and described has me all out of sorts. I just want to eat every last bit of it. I feel like I know good food until you start describing your German delicacies, and then I think my taste buds are being deprived. But then i eat something with peanut butter and chocolate, and it feels all better, and the world is right again.

I thought Brennan looked like Tom Cruise in Risky Business in the pictures below. Normally he would have taken his socks off too, but his foot is all messed up and cracked so we have been putting Aquafore on it to get the irritation down. It's like vaseline as far as consistency goes, and clearly we don't want that on anything, so he is sentenced to sock wearing. BTW, Aquafore is amazing. Have you ever tried it on your boys? Great for cracked and dry skin. 

Hello to Bryce and the boys for me.

Kisses & hugs to all of the "my preeeeeecccccccciouuuuusssss'es."

Love, Emily 

P.S.

i went to bed at 11:30pm on new year's while sean and chase smooched when the ball dropped.

that's how tired i was from sick kids.

we always play guitar hero and wii sports on new year's.

the kids love it.

i also made a whipping cream egg nog that linsey and i drank from the bowl with straws.

{clearly she is also a true hobbit}

it had chunks of whipping cream and balls of ice cream floating in it.

TO.DIE.FOR.

i will make it for you next time you come.

oh, and jen lynch stayed with us for a few days after christmas.

i sat in the upstairs hall while she did her makeup, 

and we talked about how she almost ran dave over with her car at your parent's cabin at lake almanore.

not her fault he was peeing outside.

bahahahahaha.

letters to Emily {hobbits & Schoko Kussen}

Dearest Fellow Hobbit Friend,

I miss you when I hear about the hobbit. Really. I think of you and all our hobbit like ways. Like how we like to grow things (our gardens), we like to eat things, we like to laugh, and we like adventures. I don't think I will be able to see it out here since the only theater that plays english films is in Mannheim, and that is about 20 minutes so in total it would be an hour trip there and back, and I heard the film is close to three hours. So we would have to get a babysitter for pretty much the whole day! Just for a movie! So funny. Anyway, the holidays were fantastic and the food was amazing there are these things called Schoko Kussen, and I about fainted when I tried it for the first time. They are like chocolate covered marshmallows but they have a fluffy creamy texture instead of sticky and chewy like a normal marshmallow, and oh boy oh boy, I loved loved it! I will send you a picture of one. My mom is going to try and recreate the recipe. I hope she is successful because WOW are they amazing. I felt like a hobbit at the Christmas market. I pretty much tried every type of food from every booth. I tried the cheesy spetzle the crepes of course (savory).  I tried the schoko kussen, the kinder punch, the pommes, the feuer wurst, the candied nuts--so many things to eat! They really make it a winter wonderland around here. Other than being jet lagged for 3 weeks, and my whole family getting sick right after I got here, we are all doing super well now, and I am excited for Bryce to be done with this thesis soon! Maybe tour Europe a little! I love you and hope Sean is still having fun doing physical therapy on the german woman who is from Heidelberg. Love you! Give those sweeties a kiss and hug from Aunt Beth!

love

Beth

up, up, & away! {teeth}

2 teeth cleanings

5 x-rays

2 flourides

2 capes

2 super hero belts

=

0 cavities

&

2 kids that love going to the dentist

........

i thought there was no way max was going to get into that chair.

but she got in before brennan.

with a smile on her face,

and a skip in her step.

who knew that a purple glitter star shaped ring with lip gloss inside was the key to max's heart?

wait...

she was fine until they went to clean the back molars,

and then she was over it.

and the lip gloss was gone.

brennan picked the rockets,

and then traded them for a mini-motorcycle and a gel man that walks down glass.

mr. independent ended up getting his teeth cleaned on my lap.

such a kewpie.

they had us at hello.

or super hero.

whichever.
....
they were a little high energy for MY liking and not very upfront about their cost,
but my kids loved them, and they are a mile from our house.
so we'll see how the next visit goes.
but for now, my kids are still talking about how much they love the dentist.

to make sure it was really there.

light

fluffy

sparkly

snow.

sucky for snowmen.

AMAZING for sledding.

makes pulling kids easy as pie.

the sled flies across it like a rock skipping on water.

but freezing cold.

reminiscent of rexburg cold.

except when you start running with a sled behind you.

then you warm up fast.

or your legs go numb in your jeans.

whichever.

everyone was smiling,

and squealing with delight for 4 laps around the yard!

and then max did a face plant into the snow around turn 5, 

and came up with a white snow mask on her face.

TRAGIC.

the sledding was pretty much over after that.

brennan and i were laughing.

but then she cried harder and i felt badly.

and her little face was bright red b/c it was so cold.

the temp on my car said 22*.

but it didn't really feel like 22* cold,

until i took my gloves off to help max wipe the snow off of her binky.

and my hands felt numb in a jiffy.

then it felt cold.

but not the freeze your nose hairs in your nostrils kind of cold,

and not the cough when you breathe kind of cold--

THAT'S rexburg cold.

it has to be in the single digits for that kind of cold.

{which i have heard it's supposed to get down into tonight.}

it was just the 

you have to move around if you want to stay outside 

kind of cold.

and we wanted to stay outside.

to see the sun.

you know, make sure it was really there.

and feel the cold.

you know, make sure it was really there.

b/c sometimes in the winter,

if you stay inside too much,

and someone is all, "brrr, it's cold today!!!"

and you think, "it is? it doesn't look that cold."

that's when you know you need to go outside.

to know it's winter.

and feel the cold of winter.

b/c then summer is that much more incredible:)

your 70* house too.

works like a charm every time.

every time!

{to survive the cold you MUST have a scarf. 

hat, gloves, coat, and boots too. fleecy lined is my preference. 

but most importantly, THE SCARF. a long one you can wrap around your neck twice.}

no exceptions.

the end:)

.....................

P.S.

chase slept until 12:45pm.

and i don't mean from his nap.

i mean he SLEPT IN until 12:45pm.

thank you antibiotics.

you were SO worth the three trips to the pharmacy last night.

christmas miracle in january.

glory be!

AND

i've been instructed to stay inside for the rest of the week.

bad air quality. 

inversions are the pits!

so is january weather in utah.

the weather man just called it SNOG outside.

and NOT the kind of snogging you want.

$73.64 of great {the secret of life}

we made it through new year's eve without going to the doc,

but we probably should have gone.

instead, chase was up the ENTIRE night,

and we went today.

so i dropped off chase's prescription at harmon's at 1pm.

he was hungry and tired, so i figured we'd come back later.

like after sean came home from work.

the drop off window girl said "later" was fine.

and then i went back to get it "later" at 7pm.

they were closed.

LIKE AT 4pm.

holding hostage chase's prescription and insurance card.

hostage!!!

i fought back the to urge to knock hysterically on their drive up window,

seeing as no one was there anyway.

instead i called the on call doctor.

and he called walgreen's to reorder chase's prescription.

and then he texted me that it was in and to call him if there were any problems.

amazing, i know. {even on holidays}

so i hopped in the car, grabbed linsey from her house,

and we drove up to the nearest 24 hour walgreen's.

{we like to run errands late night together}.

there were 5 cars in the drive up line.

25 minutes later it was our turn.

which was fine b/c we had LOTS to catch up on.

and then when we pulled up to the window,

we saw a line of people at the inside pharmacy counter too.

walgreen's is a hopping place at 8:34pm on new year's day i tell ya.

so there we were, so excited to get our little bottle of antibiotics,

{2nd time's a charm}

only for them to tell us there was a 2 hour wait.

apparently when you are the only pharmacy open on new year's day everyone comes.

go figure.

so they put chase's prescription in the cue, and we drove home.

i dropped linsey off.

cleaned up my kitchen.

did a load of laundry.

and chase watched boxing with sean.

the poor kid just couldn't sleep.

ear infections are his nemesis.

or kryptonite.

whichever.

2 hours later, 10:15pm,

i picked linsey back up.

we drove up to the nearest 24 hour walgreen's,

and we decided to skip the 5 car backed up drive through line this time,

seeing as we didn't have kids with us so who really needed a 25 min drive up line anyway.

we walked inside,

grabbed two boxes of baby oatmeal,

perused their aisle displays,

and crossed our fingers for third time's a charm at the walk up counter.

{i actually called before this time to make sure it was going to be ready so the odds were EVER in our favor.}

so they bagged up chase's little white bottle of omnicef and rang me up for $73.64 plus about $5 more for the oatmeal.

and my eyes were really big, and i was all, "isn't there a generic brand for this stuff??"

but nice.

i was very nice.

courteous.

kind.

you know,

like a scout.

b/c there was a lady in the drive up window that wasn't being very nice,

and it just looked tacky to not be nice at 10:23pm to the pharmacy people on new year's day.

and really i was thinking, "just get me home so we can all get some sleep for the first time in 4 nights."

and then linsey googled the name of the drug on the bottle,

and it was indeed the generic brand of omnicef,

and then i saw that my insurance saved me $29.65,

and i felt a little bit better about all of it.

b/c normally it only saves me a dollar or 3.

so since i saved $30 we stopped by arby's for curly fries and a junior vanilla shake on the way home.

b/c we were hungry.

{which we shared b/c we agreed that adult germs are ok like that}

and now it's 12:03am and chase is asleep.

and i am trying to figure out why i went to bed at 11:30am last night, but stayed up until midnight tonight.

and you know what?

even without sleep on most nights,

i think i have finally figured out the secret of life.

{that sounds super cheesy, i know}

did you ever watch the movie city slickers?

Curly {the cattle herding leader--i think they called him "boss"?} keeps trying to tell billy crystal the secret of life on their cattle herding "vacation" across the desert,

and then he doesn't get to, but i won't tell you why b/c if you haven't seen it, it would ruin it,

so anyway, billy crystal figures it out on his own anyway,

which was probably what curly wanted.

he knew stuff about life like that.

so i'll tell you mine and hopefully that won't ruin you figuring out yours.

b/c it was annoying that curly wouldn't tell billy anyway.

so my secret of life is this:

it's knowing that you have something great while you're actually in the great of it.

AND then enjoying the great while you're in it,

even if the great isn't great during all of it.

we have something great,

and i'm bound and determined to enjoy it while we're in it.

b/c all of this is really REALLY great:)

but even if it isn't great during all of it,

it's still really great.

{the whipping cream egg nog}

cheers to 2013.
:):):)

no more partridge & a pear tree {goodbye 2012}

{i had to start keeping a list to keep everyone and their drugs straight.}

{i wish chase had only woken up to get his motrin at 4am. t'was not so...}

...

with 2 fevers, 1 puker, and another one with a messed up foot,

we gibson's are hoping to leave all of our ailments in 2012!!!

{and maybe even some of the sleepless nights?!}

after a whopping 3 hours of sleep last night at 2 different times,

all of our party plans have been canceled.

BUT,

i'm thinking it might not be so bad to put the kids to bed early,

and celebrate all by ourselves.

i am still in my pajamas at 2:09pm,

a vision of beauty for sean to come home to indeed!

{he is SO lucky, and i am too}.

i did manage to brush my teeth around noon,

so i'm calling it a "win."

my new year's eve will REALLY be the cherry on top if i get a shower before the ball drops.

and we don't end up at the pediatrician's office.

have no fear, i won't be letting all of these germs get in the way of my food festivities.

the show must go on!

menu and recipes below...

happy new year!!!

{it has to be a flu that wasn't in our flu shot. THE PITS!!!}

{it's either a flu that wasn't in our flu shot or another ear infection}

{the athlete's foot cream messed up his foot}

...............................................

the menu

whipping cream egg nog 

{tammy's recipe--this will be MY main course}

homemade whole wheat pizzas

artichoke dip 

{tammy's recipe also--she always makes REALLY good stuff}

remember here?

artichoke dip recipe here?

apple bubbly

...

you're welcome,

in advance.

{seriously, get to the store and make some for tonight!}

bring on the Wii!!!

{but no more partridge and a pear tree.}