The Events of Christmas Day 2008!

Christmas morning started a little later than normal this year.  "Later" meaning that we had to wake both Tanner and Jake up at 9 AM to get the party started!  We couldn't believe that they both had slept in that long, but no one was complaining and no one else was waking up either!  I think they were just so excited from all the Christmas happenings that had been going on and were exhausted!  

I guess this is my last pregnant picture because after this I started to have contractions. (disregard whatever is on my shirt....I obviously didn't know it was there because I couldn't even see it!) I had been having them the last two weeks, but of course nothing regular enough.  I started to have contractions while we were opening presents but still nothing completely regular and consistent enough for me to really think that I was finally going to have this baby!  I guess I really want to make sure that the contractions are the real deal, because when I had Tanner they sent me home from the hospital and that was the worst....so I never want to be sent home from the hospital again! It is so depressing! I would rather go knowing that I wasn't going to have to come home and still be pregnant!  So after we finished doing our Christmas morning thing, I showered and got ready and tried to continue with what was planned for the day.  But the contractions were getting closer together and so I decided I better start timing them!  Finally I told Doug that we better go because they were coming every 4 minutes pretty hard.  

I got checked in around 4:30pm and the nurse told me that I was at an 8!  I could not believe it!  This baby was coming fast!  And they were definitely not sending me home!  I had my epidural by 5:15pm. About 20 minutes later while I was talking to my mom on the phone my water broke and by 6:15 I was ready to push this baby out.  The only problem was that my doctor still wasn't there yet!  With every contraction I could feel Mikey moving further and further down.  And by the time she got there I was pretty much sitting on his head....well, I was sitting on his head.  She walked in and within three minutes or less he was out!  The cord was wrapped around his neck THREE times!  So he was a little bruised because she had to keep him from coming so fast so that she could get the cord off of him.  And at 6:36pm little Michael Jon officially joined our family!  

It seriously was the most pleasant and fastest delivery that I have ever had.  And all three of mine have been completely different!  The minute he came out he just layed on me and didn't make a peep.  He was so content and just snuggled for like 10 minutes!  It was so sweet.  He looks a TON like Doug.  I mean, I thought that Tanner looked like Doug, but Mikey might even have Tanner beat on this one!  

The volunteers at the hospital crochet these little beanies for the babies.  Since Mikey was born Christmas Day he got a Teddy Bear, a "Baby's first Christmas ornament, a stocking, a beanie, and a Christmas Carol played over the intercom just for him!  

This was Doug's type of delivery.  Fast!  If anyone knows Doug, you know that he is always trying to make things easy, low stress, fun, and fast. These were his exact words on more than one occassion the last couple of weeks before I had Mikey, "I just know this baby is going to be the best and easiest delivery and recovery you have ever had!".  And he was right!  Michael was the best Christmas present we could have asked for!

The Best Christmas Present

Michael Jon Cardon has arrived!!
He was born on Christmas Day @ 6:36 pm
weighing 8 lbs 5 oz and was 21 inches long!
Sara and Mikey are healthy and doing well.
More details and pictures to come ;)

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was spent at the Laytons.  We were able to do all the Brems family traditions plus some Cardon ones that we did as well.  We start off the evening with a ton of pizza, because it is easy and there is no fuss when everyone is trying to get last minute stuff done.  

Pizza is followed by a wild and crazy white elephant game that we call "NOEL".  Everyone has a plate of sugar cubes with the letters N, O, E, and L.  If you roll your cubes and it spells out Noel you can take a gift from the middle of the circle.  This was easily the biggest game of Noel that we have ever played and it was a blast!   After the three minutes of rolling the cubes and getting as many gifts as you can, we divide them so that everyone has one! (haha...it really doesn't matter how many gifts you get when we are rolling the cubes).  Then Dad reads the Night Before Christmas that says a bunch of lefts and rights and we end up passing our gifts until we all end up with a completely different gift then we chose!  Then we all go around and take turns opening!  The best gift this year had to be Jonathan and Melinda's real live gold fish that got tossed around like crazy and yet only one died!  It was hilarious!

We then have homemade Mom's tasty homemade hot chocolate and donuts and this year we sang Christmas carols.

And of course we give the boys their Christmas Pajamas and teddy bears from Mammy and Papa!  Jake would not quit pointing and talking about the balls on his pajamas.  He loved them!  Dad read the Christmas story from the scriptures and then we headed home where we sprinkled reindeer food on the lawn and left out cookies for Santa!  Oh, and we layed out the boys sheets....(that is where Santa leaves his gifts).  

It was a great night and it was so fun to be able to spend it with so much family!

Gingerbread Houses

This year for Christmas we were lucky enough to have most of the Brems family here in Arizona!  We did miss Cameron, Rachel, Eric, and Kiersten though...Sad:(.  But here we are doing gingerbread houses over at Emily's.  The kids of course had a blast eating and decorating their houses.  We now have 18 grandkids on the Brems side and by the summer it will be 20.  It is a full house when we are all together, but we always have a good time!

Carter showing off his masterpiece!

Parker hard at work!

The girls with their houses....Sadie, Emma, Taytum, Meghan, Sanette, Jaycee, and Hayley.

The boys with thier houses....Tanner, Austin, Jake, Price, Parker, Carter, and Riley

Some of "the adult" gingerbread houses!

And one crazy picture for posted especially for Kelsey and Rebekah!  Man... Kels....you look mean!!

How to find Jake...

Just follow these around the house and that is how you will locate our very energetic 19 month old!  This handprint was just too perfect not to document!  Gotta love our Jakey!

Doesn't he look so innocent?  Don't let that face fool you!  

Here are some things that he is doing lately that are just too funny and cute to forget:

*He only says BYE BYE when the toilet flushes.  He will wave when people leave or to say Hi...but he only SAYS it when the toilet flushes.  

*He likes to walk around and yell "MOM" until he finds me.

*He says drink by rolling his tongue some weird way and when he does that it means that he is thirsty.

*He loves to wear the Batman mask around the house.  I think he may be taking after his cousin Austin!

*He loves to do anything and everything that his older brother is doing.  If he doesn't have what Tanner has, than he can't stand it.  So for sanity reasons, I always try to have two of the same thing....anything from snacks to cars!

*He still HATES to get in his carseat....don't get me started on that nightmare!  

*He loves to be pushed around in the truck outside.  They could spend hours doing this!

He can be so sweet and yet so fiesty at the same time!  I know it is just the age that he is at, but he is definitely giving me a run for my money when it comes to throwing tantrums and fits!  Gotta love this little spitfire!

Dunshies' Train Display

Ed and Carole Dunshie (which we do not know personally), have created a miniature train wonderland at their home here in Mesa and Melissa found out about it and told us and we thought that it would be something fun and different that we could do to enjoy the Christmas Season.  It is free to go and see the huge train display and they even have free hot chocolate!  They have lists for the older kids to find different objects or action figures that they have placed throughout the display, but that was a little to advanced for Tanner and Jake.  Although they did continue to point out different little things as they saw them....like Mickey Mouse or a little action figure Batman.

I think that Jakes face is so funny in this picture.  The boys were in their jammies and their puffy coats, but even then Jake was still shivering.  He couldn't even close his mouth he was so cold.  So he had that expression most the night.  

It is so detailed and it is their whole backyard!  So much work goes into it and they do it every year!

Tanner couldn't get enough of those trains!

Advent Calendar Mishap!

What is wrong with this picture??

If you guessed that all the chocolate is gone, you are right!  Tanner has had a hard time taking naps lately so we have opted to do quiet time for him instead when he usually picks a movie out and watches it.  Well, this particular day I had dozed off on the couch and I woke up to Tanner saying, 

Tanner:  "Mom!  I ate all the calendar!  So does that mean it is Christmas tomorrow!?"

Mom:  "No, it's not tomorrow.  But now you don't have any chocolate pieces to eat everyday until Christmas!"

Tanner:  "Yeah, I can eat Jakey's pieces.  

Mom:  "No, those are for Jake.  He gets one when he wakes up from his nap.  (That had been our routine....they got to open a flap after their nap)

Tanner:  "Well, sorry Mom....it was an accident." ( with his eyebrows raised and his shoulders shrugged and his hand out....like he couldn't have NOT done it)

Thank you Mammy for the Advent Calendar!  At least we made it halfway through December!  Next time we will try to make it all the way to Christmas!:)

3-day Sugar Cookie Making

1st DAY:  MAKING THE DOUGH

Jake got scared everytime I turned on the Kitchenaid....well, maybe it was because Tanner would turn it on and he would do it at full speed and it was loud and fast!  It was pretty funny.

My good little helpers!  These two love to help me in the kitchen!  

DAY 2:  ROLLING OUT THE DOUGH AND COOKING THE COOKIES!

Here they are watching Doug juggle three balls of dough, but he wouldn't let me take a picture of him doing it!  I guess it doesn't matter because my camera has been acting up again as you can tell by the pictures.  Sad:(.

Just call him MARTHA!

Jakey rolling out his dough....basically matting it to the counter as much as he could.

DAY 3:  FROSTING THE COOKIES!

We opted to do this part while Jake was taking a nap.  He tends to get rather messy no matter what he does and I didn't want to go there with frosting this time.  Tanner had a blast though.  He was saying the funniest things and was very into frosting and sprinkling his cookies.

Can you tell who frosted this one?  Do you want some cookie with that frosting?

"A lick for me and then some for the cookie....a lick for me and then some for the cookie"

Finally our finished product!

This sugar cookie recipe is the best one I have ever made!  It is so soft and chewy!  I love it! Thanks Cari!

So here it is:

Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

1 cup sour cream

3 eggs

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. vanilla

About 6 cups of flour (give or take)

Cream together the butter and the sugar.  Next add sour cream and the eggs.  Then add the baking soda and the vanilla.  Then gradually add the flour until the dough is a good consistency....not sticky.  Refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnite.

Roll out and bake at 375 for 8-12 minutes.  (I did 8 and they came out perfect)

Enjoy

King of Justification!

Last week we were at Erin's house after Preschool and Tanner yells from outside...."Mom, I need some new underwear!"  And I say, "Why do you need new underwear....what are you doing anyways?!"  And Tanner says, "Well, I am going stinkies on the rocks!!!"  And I say "You are doing WHAT!!!!!?"  And sure enough I go out there and find some poop on the rocks and some remnants on his underwear!  I could not believe what he was doing!  I mean peeing outside is one thing.... when it is necessary of course, but pooping outside is a total different story!  And as I sit there cleaning this mess up and lecturing him about what he is doing all he can say to try and get a word in is "BUT, BUT, BUT, MOM.....WE CAN PEE OUTSIDE IF THERE IS NO TOILET AROUND AND I HAVE TO GO!"  And all I can say is "YES TANNER YOU ARE RIGHT....BUT AUNT ERIN HAS A TOILET!"  

What am I raising anyways.....a DOG?  I think we have been to the dog park a little too much! Who needs pets when you have a three year old to clean up after!