Superpowers

Sometimes I think members of my family have abnormal abilites. For example, Dave can sleep through anything, anywhere, anytime. From family movie nights, to ringing in the New Year, to being dragged out of a rainstorm in a sleeping bag, he can stay in a peaceful slumber.

Grant can see things the normal eye can not perceive. The other day he told me, as his finger was poking into his eyeball, that when he did that he was able to see me and my spirit. Fascinating...

Katelee can control objects without any contact, apparently. When asked if Brenna was awake in her crib, Katelee answered that indeed she was and all of Brenna's toys had "magically gone into the crib and buried" the baby.

Is Brenna swollen and bloody in that photo? Yes, she had previously run into my metal bed frame. She has a great healing power, as well as an uncanny stamina...pushing sleep away when a regular human would cave with exhaustion. Brenna has been working on surprise tactics as she demonstrated here. I opened my kitchen drawer to find a small child...clever girl. Now, all I have to do is learn how to fly or continue my quest for super strength and we will be a family of super heroes!

Holiday Highlights

We don't take enough pictures. I am certain we had good holiday fun, but not many photos to show it! Some of our memorable moments include:

--seeing the lights at Temple Square

--Christmas Eve party with family, doing the nativity, singing songs and eating food...Christmas breakfast (quiche-YUM!), Christmas Day fun.

--Discovering a crazy coincidence: After a night of assembly a few days before Christmas, some busy elves left a big empty box in our kitchen. Grant walked downstairs and peeked around and we reasoned that it was a box from some of the toys that were donated from our neighborhood party. The strangest part is that Katelee got the same toy from Santa on Christmas Day! I don't know if that incident would fly very well in a few years!

--Brenna finding her stocking and toys and gravitating to everyone's little Debbie Cakes. She snatched them up and ran around the house like she had discovered sweet manna from heaven...she did recieve a toy or two, but couldn't have cared less.

--Talking to my awesome sister on a mission in Argentina

--Grant would say the best part of the holiday vacation was playing lots and lots of Lego Star Wars...he and Katelee were sick, so most of the week was spent on the couch.

--New Years Eve fun: playing games with friends, and then turning on a movie to pass the time until midnight. Dave fell asleep by 10:45, but Grant, Katelee and I counted down, toasted our Martinelli's at midnight accompanied by the sweet snores of their Daddy.

Here's to a great 2011!

Dancing Queen

This little beauty had her first dance recital last week. As many of you may be aware, Miss Katelee is extremely accident prone, whether it be falling at random or running into very visible walls/doors, etc. She has issues. We were encouraged by our pediatrician to enroll her in a dance class or something of the sort to assist in her coordination and she has LOVED it! My personal favorite portion of the evening was after her dance they invited all the girls in the classes to come up and bow and Santa came to visit. While most little gals were gathering around the big man, Katelee took the opportunity to find the front of the stage and jump and bounce and take her moment to shine. It was adorable. She has come a long way from just shaking her booty in the corner of the studio to learning all the steps, without too many tumbles! We may have a lot to worry about with this one as these last two weeks she has told me 1) "I am going to do something that will knock your sock off," and 2) that she is "not going to have a modest butt." Please excuse her if you see some unwanted skin, we are working on it!!

Santa Sighting

Last night, at our neighborhood party, we had an unexpected visitor! Our neighbors got together in our garage to have treats and gather gifts to donate to others, and the Jolly Old Elf Himself, Kris Kringle, came strolling up our driveway. I called to Grant and exclaimed that Santa was here...he looked up in the night sky and replied, "Mom, that's the moon." I told him to look down our driveway and he SCREAMED, "SANTA's Here! Santa's here!" He ran and told everyone he could. It was awesome. Katelee and Brenna each got a turn on his lap, as well as anyone else who wanted to. Brenna mostly just liked his jingle bell! He was so fun and a highlight of the night. It's fun to hear what the kids request...one just wanted a candy cane (easy! he had one there)...Katelee froze and asked for a lion! I told her that wild animals are not welcome in our home, but maybe Santa could find a toy lion for her. I also reminded her how much she loves princess things and Santa knows that! Gone are the days when Grant asks for toliet paper (to shred around the house for the garbage man to pick up!) More pricey gifts are now the request and I am sure he price tag goes up with age! He will be happy with anything Star Wars. But in this day of technology, I hear from most kids Ipods, Ipads, Ipod Touch, etc. We know it is a button pressing society and generation when I listen to Grant and Katelee play. When someone needs a break, whether for the restroom, or to retrieve a toy, someone declares, "Pause the Game!" The game can then be unpaused when all players are back in their spots! Maybe I could pause the day and get a nap once in a while!

Thankful!

I am grateful for so many things, and while the company was great in Kansas, I am mostly thankful to be HOME!! This innocent looking monster in-disguise
is crazy!! She screamed for over an hour on our flight over, nothing could soothe her. The looks of death I received from other passengers are sure to go down in my long-term memory in the "frightened for my life" file. There were a few kind fellow travelers. One told me as I stood up trying to jump out of the aircraft before it had come to a complete stop, "You did good, Mommy." It made me loose any composure I had struggled to maintain! The nights with little Brenna were spent half of the time in the car, as Dave drove her around and pacified her so the other hotel guests could rest, and she also gave us the opportunity to visit the local ER. She fell into the entertainment center at the hotel and hit an artery of some sort because the blood was gushing in pulses. She is fine and only needed a drop of glue, which I didn't feel comfortable administering myself. The only picture we took is the following at a LDS Church history site. I can't believe we didn't take any with Amy and Jason's family. Next time, I guess, hopefully that will be sooner than 5 years or so!
Best parts of the trip: spending time with family we never see, having our kids meet their cousins for the first time, listening to Grant and Katelee reciting "Charlie Bit My Finger" (from the Youtube video), British accents included, as we flew home, eating a delicious meal and having my pies turn out this year!, visiting Liberty Jail, and taking time to be truly grateful...amidst the chaos! You will be happy to learn that Brenna Catherine is now grounded and on restriction from any further air travel.