Why fear?

The other day I had just picked up Corbin from school and was driving home. For the first time on the radio I heard about the earthquake in Haiti, I was heartbroken. The numbers of death I had heard were awful. Corbin could tell I was bothered and he asked me what was the matter. I told him about the earthquake and that so many people had died and were without homes. Why I told him, I don't know, because ever since then he has become so scared at night. He asks us if there will be an earthquake or fire tonight, we try to reassure him that we will be okay and that we are all together. The other night he was extremely nervous about going to bed. He climed up in our bed and didn't want to leave. Justin asked him if he thought praying to Heavenly Father would make him feel better, Corbin said yes. After the prayer Corbin told us he felt better and he knew that he would be protected. But he was still deep in thought and after a moment he asked, "Why did Heavenly Father create Earthquakes and fires?" Um...well, Fire can be used for good or bad, He gave it to us to help keep us warm, but we need to make sure that we are responsible and never play with fire. Luckily, that answer was good enough.
In this life, we know there is good and bad, love and hate, joy and sorrow. There are some really tough, scary times ahead, but there are also wonderful, joyful moments too. That's what we need to look forward to! Why live our lives in fear? We can make it through the hard times. All we need is to be prepared. And that is what we are trying to focus on in our family right now. Do not fear, have faith, and be prepared.

Merry Christmas

This is, of course, the best Christmas ever (it beats last year 30 times!). The only thing that would have made it better was if I didn't procrastinate getting things done to the last second, ah, will I ever learn??
We really enjoyed spending Christmas Eve at home with just the 5 of us. We had Cordon Blues, mom's potatoes, veggies, and leftover cake (I didn't want to make another dessert, since we had treats falling out of the fridge and cupboards) It was yummy. Afterwards, I had to finish sewing up some pajamas for the boys (again, procrastinater), it only took about 30 minutes then I had to hurry and wrap them, so the boys could unwrap them...what's the point of wrapping, I don't know, but they sure were excited! Afterwards we did our nativity, then we turned out the lights, except the Christmas tree and sat on the floor singing Christmas songs, ending with Silent Night. It was beautiful. Nothing makes me happier than to see our little boys sing along to this hymn.

We then set out some cookies and milk for Santa, then Corbin told Taylor, "we have got to go to bed so that Santa will come!!" It was one of the best times the boys have ever gone to bed! After they were in bed, Justin and I watched It's a Wonderful Life while I wrapped presents. We finally dragged ourselves to bed at 1:30. I guess that's just part of Christmas for parents!!
At 8:15 in the morning, Corbin opened his door and was extremely tired still. He was pretty certain it was Christmas, but he needed to make sure. He peeked around the corner and his face lit up! He ran back into his room and yelled "Taylor, Taylor, it's Christmas, Santa really did come!!" He ran to our room to get us out, then he ran to the kitchen to see if the cookies and milk were gone, they were. He came yelling "mom, the cookies are gone, Santa is real, Santa is real!!"

Um, am I making this worse... he kept telling me throughout the day, so Santa is real, huh mom..I tried to avoid answering the best I could. I think he was testing me after what happened a few weeks ago...arrgh...

But at least he was happy...they were both so excited with what they got! It was the year of power rangers, ninja turtles, spider man, and guys with little guns!

They love costumes, so obviously these were going to be a huge hit. Santa found them at the after halloween sale for 5 dollars each (originally $20)! Great bargain shopping Santa!

Even Levi loved them! (we gotta teach him how to pose like a hero :)

Every kid needs one of these cars. Levi loves chillin in here (btw, he does have a diaper on!)
A few years ago my dad gave us several of the wood things he made for us when we were younger. I have been rotating them because of limited space. For the past several months the boys have been begging me to get the bear house down. I decided to surprise them and get it down for Christmas!

It is tradition to have the big present be hidden under a blanket, so that's what I did with this one. They were so excited and have already played with it for hours!

Although, the only thing I need to get now is a girl doll, it just doesn't look quite right...(check the bed)
This year we made homemade gifts for each other. It was fun to do and I think very memorable.

Taylor made his brothers cube puzzles.

Corbin made his brothers some more capes, we can never have enough (besides the green one is GROSS! It was worn everywhere!)

I made Levi this car mat, but in the end, it really is for all of them. I got the idea from Mandi, she made one for her boy last year and I fell in love with it. I planned on making it this year for our boys. I am so weird about making everything so straight, I was crazy about measuring everything out and making the lines perfect. I will never have the fun random style! I didn't want to have the train go through the whole city so I just made a small part at the bottom corner that they could built from with their train set.

I found the cars at Target and had to get them for Levi, they are so cute and chunky (perfect for little hands). I made the town to fit the size of those cars, so they had better not break!!!

We hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas and we hope this New Year brings you so much joy and happiness, just as you deserve!!

Dear Taylor,

When did you go growing up on us? We can't believe you're four years old.

This past year has been a big growing year for you. You became a sunbeam and you love it. You have always wanted to go and have not tried to beg us to stay, it is your thing and you can do it all by yourself. You love your teachers, they make you feel so special. You love having your friends in your class. You love to sing the primary songs. Right now, your favorite one is Silent Night. It makes me tear up when I hear you sing it with me.

This past year you learned to use the potty. It seems longer than that because once you were ready, you never turned back. You picked it up so well. Thanks for making that easy for us!

You have become so much more independent. You love to get dressed pretty soon after waking up, no being in your pajamas all day, unlike your mom and older brother!

You love superheros, you love transformers, and you even love a guy you made up...firefeeseen, he's pretty cool in your eyes...cause he does everything!!! and each day he can do even more!

You love milk, it is your comfort. I think you could have 6 glasses a day.

You have always been such an easy going boy and so easy to please. You make our family life so calm and full of joy. Thank you for coming to our family and being the boy you are. We love you more than words can say!!

Happy Birthday Tay!!

Early Christmas Present

The boys had to try out our early present...but so did mom and dad...(especially after the chocolate ganache cake we had for Tay's birthday!)

As I am writing this, Corbin has woken up and is now begging to go run on it. Justin had him running up to 8 mph...for about 5 seconds.
Taylor loved having it on a steep incline, walking along.

Levi just loved walking at a 1.5 mph walk, he was doing that for about 5 minutes.

After trying out the present, we were in the family room. Taylor did a somersault for fun, Levi was watching him, then he bend down and flipped right over, we were shocked! He just kept doing it over and over cause he got such a great response from us, he was chessin it up! I can't get over it, out baby is getting way too big, way too fast. I think he will be our competitive boy, do to having 2 older brothers!

Packer Family Party

We had my family's Christmas party a week and a half ago. It was such a blast and was a good substitute for our regular Christmas Eve party. All of our kids are growing up so it is now time to start our own traditions at our homes. I'll admit, I was pretty dissappointed at first, but now I am really looking forward to being home with my four boys and doing our own thing.

Brenton and Jessie were so awesome to use their home and plan everything out. It turned out so great! Their home is so beautiful and Jessie had it decorated so cute.

Santa came to see the kids, I loved seeing how excited all of them were to see him (except maybe a couple). But I have to admit, my dad is right, I looked back at these pictures of Levi, there was no expression the WHOLE time...(but, no crying!)

The kids put on the nativity, I have waited for this day...there are plenty of kids to act out the different parts. I had to add this picture, if you look closely at Corbin's tongue, this is a Morris trait. Except usually it happens when they are really concentrated on something.

I LOVE this picture...Abby and Caroline, do you think this is funny? (btw for those of you who don't know Caroline on the left is my mini me, what do you think?)

8 of the 19 kidsOlivia and Caroline....such beautiful girls.

This was hilarious!! Brenton pulled the Wii out for us. It was the first time I have ever tried it. Seriously, I am blown away by technology... I love the concentration of Janz and Jen

Thankyou Brenton and Jess for the awesome party and especially thanks for letting us hang out afterwards. As you can tell, there are hardly any pictures of Corbs and Tay, they were much too busy playing with their cousins, they were in 7th heaven!

Santa???

So it has happened, the question about Santa....and it's all my fault. I was listening to the radio at home (okay I'll admit it, it was Dr. Laura, which I have now banned at our home) Some lady came on and asked Dr. Laura what to do because her son came home sad and told her that kids at school said that Santa wasn't real. I panicked and started running towards the radio to turn it off, before I got there Dr. Laura said, "of course he's not real!!" NOOO!!! Well I got it turned off and looked at Corbin. He looked up at me with the saddest face, "mom, is Santa not real?" Oh, no! Justin and I have talked about this before, we would not make a big deal about Santa and not try and convince them that he is real, that's lying, right? Well, sadly I took Corbin into the kitchen (away from Taylor, he was oblivious to the whole thing) I told Corbin well he's not an actual person that lives at the North pole, although there are people who are like Santa that are very giving and loving. Santa is the spirit of Christmas, the spirit of giving, that's what makes it magical. After a few more minutes of talking, I told Corbin that little children love to believe, so I asked him to please not tell Taylor. Well, no surprise, he jumps off the counter and says, "I'm gonna tell!!" He runs into their bedroom and tells Tay "SANTA'S NOT REAL" I was following close behind trying to stop it. Too late. Taylor looks up at Corbin with an even sadder face then Corbin had "Santa's not real." I was devistated...Christmas is ruined, the magical excitement is gone, the innocent belief that kids has is gone.... Well, Taylor thinks for a moment and then he say "YES HE IS!" Corbin says, "Okay!"

And there hasn't been talk of it since...that was a week ago!

So, I guess, for right now Santa is real...again... Levi wishes he wasn't...

#22 Justin's Family

Life got busy, but I had to do one more thankful post. Justin's family, really they are my family too. Ever since Justin and I started dating and especially since we got engaged and then married, they have treated me like another daughter and another sister. It made it so easy to come into this family. I can never thank them enough for all they have done for me!

Justin's parents are amazing and are constantly doing so much for us. Justin admires his dad more than anyone, he's his hero. With Justin being the only son, it is nice to have a dad that he can turn to for questions and advice and then still be able to play Frisbee with him, ride bikes, and just sit back and laugh! Justin's mom has taught me so much and if it weren't for her I wouldn't have nearly so many nice kitchen supplies! It's amazing how selfless she is. Ever since we have had Corbin, (well a little before that), we have played Frisbee almost every single Saturday, it's our love and Justin's mom understands that! She is always here to watch them. It started with just watching Corbin and Jordan, then Teague came, then Taylor came (and she was watching all of them at the park!) After a while, sadly, Jen and Ryan moved, and Frisbee kind of died down, but then we started another group right here in our neighborhood and she drives down every week (with Craig) and watches our three boys! I know she could enjoy having a Saturday morning to just relax and get done what she needs to, but she doesn't she comes up every week! We love her so much!! Thank you!!

I love Justin's sisters, they are so very accepting and there is none of the crazy girl drama...they are NOT that way and I LOVE it!! Thanks girls for allowing me to be another sister! I love being the only sister/daughter-in-law, it makes it easy to be the favorite ;) I miss seeing Jen, Ryan, and the kids so much! My boys absolutely love their cousins and miss seeing them all the time, but it sure makes it extra special when we do get to see them!!!

How lucky am I to have married into this family!!