Christmas Highlights

Thanks to all of our family for a wonderful Christmas! We found ourselves all together with everything ready over at my parent's house the day BEFORE Christmas eve. It was an easy and unanimous vote to open presents early so that we could start to play with them. Jackson's highlight was this helmet flashlight and flexible handheld flashlight. He has been hunting for ghost-es with them. Jeff is super excited about his new xbox. He is using it as a media center extender so that we will have HD on our tv. I don't think he minds the games either. I am thrilled with my new comforter and sheets... that even came with matching throw pillows - ooh la la.

We spent Christmas Eve at Jeff's parent's house. Jeff cooked up some yummy meatloaf for everyone and then the chaos commenced! We had a really nice time. The kids all enjoyed opening their gifts and then we put them away so that things wouldn't get all mixed up and crazy. They ended up playing with two huge boxes and their cork popper guns the whole night and were perfectly happy.

We are so grateful to have such wonderful people in our family and circle of friends. We are very blessed and we love you very much!

To see more pictures visit: http://picasaweb.google.com/cpoyner/PoynerChristmas2008?authkey=qbtf1Re4H4A#

Who is that MAN with my mom?

My world has been shaken a little. I have NEVER seen my dad without a beard. He up and shaved on Christmas day. All of us were staring at him all day. He makes all of these facial expressions that we've never seen before. He looks like his brothers. There are all kinds of family resemblances glaring at me that I've never been able to see. I'm blown away that I've known and loved my dad all of these years and yet I never REALLY knew what he looked like. I seriously don't think I would have recognized him on the street at first glance. I might very well have walked right past him in Wal-mart. He looks more like a long lost uncle.

I'm slowly getting used to it - still not all of the way there, but I actually really like it. Doesn't he look handsome?

Gingerbread Cousins

We had all of the cousins over yesterday to make gingerbread houses... what fun! It was neat to have all of Jeff's brothers and sisters and spouses all here with us. It is rare for EVERYONE to be in any one place at one time. We had a great time with pizza, lots of candy, some fun rounds of Catch Phrase (including an elimination round - congrats to Amy original). I'm glad we had this fun time to get all together... sometimes the Christmas gathering itself is too short and chaotic to really enjoy everyone. Looking forward to seeing everyone again tomorrow night.

Much Needed Laughter

Last night was the annual Christmas party at Jeff's bosses house (whose last name happens to be Christmas). We always have a nice time with this group of people. It has been more fun for me each time as I'm getting to know everyone and traditions of sorts have begun.

Last night I laughed harder than I've laughed in ages. We always do the dirty santa thing and there are always hilarious things brought, said, and done. Last year a young single guy opened a glass rooster. We laughed about the "chicken" the whole time and the very last person to choose a gift, another young single guy, stole the chicken. We all got a kick out of it and fully expected the chicken to turn up again this year. When it was chicken man 1's turn to open we joked that he would get the chicken again... he opened a DIFFERENT, ceramic chicken. So funny! Way later and after plenty of laughs the second chicken owner stole the ceramic chicken. There were about 5 presents left for chicken man 1 to choose from since his gift was stolen. What did he open you ask? The glass rooster. HILARIOUS!

So Hard to Say Goodbye

This table was a great part of our lives. We used it like crazy for quite some time. We hardly ever put wooden tracks on it, but we used our GeoTrax mania on it all of the time. This was back when Jeff and I built the tracks because the kids were too small. Back then they just watched the trains go round and round and made sounds with their remote controls.

Those days are gone now and I can't ever get the kids to build their tracks on the table. When they build they always do it on the floor (and promptly... very promptly destroy what's been built).

We sold the table on Craigslist because it takes up so much space in our toy room. The man came to pick it up yesterday and I had warned the boys that he was coming, but they didn't understand. When we started actually carrying it out the door there was MELTDOWN. Lincoln grabbed it and pulled, trying to keep it in the house. He started building tracks on it WHILE we were carrying it, saying, "I'm using that!"

Jackson seemed oblivious to the whole thing, until suddenly he saw how awful it was for Lincoln and he decided it was awful for him too. I've never seen them so sad. I had to rudely shut the door on the poor folks that were buying the table so that I could console both of them. We went back in the toy room and cried. I tried to show them how much space we had now to build new tracks and play games. I told them that there was a little boy out there who needed it. They weren't buying it. I felt like a big jerk.

But now that all of the drama of the moment has passed I see that they are ALREADY using the toy room more. It feels so much nicer in there, all open and grass green free. So far they haven't mentioned it today. I think we're going to make it.

6-6

I was tagged to post the 6th picture from my 6th photo folder. It just so happens that the photo was from June of 2006... so the 6-6 thing is very appropriate! Now that I think of it, it was also at a 6 year old birthday party!

This is the kids' cousin Isaac watching little Lincoln (or at least his nose & chin) pull the string on Davis' birthday pinata (imagine a squiggly over that n - not sure how to do that).


This is my first time being tagged. If you have never been tagged before... or you have been tagged 6 times... or you just feel like participating, it is your turn.

Our Little Mouse

Every house with kids needs a pet, right?

Well, we HAD a little, ok - a big, mouse. I don't want to use the R word - even if they have been made friendly and cute by the cartoon world recently. It came in through our hot water closet in the garage... eating its way into the wall and then into the house eating it's way through another wall behind our stove.

While I knew it was in the house somewhere I took Jackson to look at the animals at PetSmart one day to waste a few minutes before picking up Lincoln from school. I saw a few mice and r-words there. They looked nice enough. Cute even. I thought to myself, "if anybody wants one and can find it in my house they can save themselves ten to twenty dollars and come and get it for free."

The mouse has since been caught and disposed of. We didn't tell that part to the kids.

Lincoln has been watching Tom and Jerry lately and thinks it is perfectly normal to have a mouse friend having it's way in your house. He gives me advice about it now and then.

"Hey mom, if our mouse falls in the toaster and gets too hot, we can just put it in a cup of water to cool it off."

Jackson wants to share his snacks with it.

I'm hoping they'll believe my story that the mouse must've left because I haven't seen it for awhile.

Christmas Around Here

Getting ready to host Jeff's work party. We had a great time and TONS of delicious food. Anybody for leftover T-bones?

















Don't forget to wear your safety gear when you're helping put the house back together after the party.
















I've had a few struggles with getting even the regular things done around here (threw out my back trying to protect my stomach after surgery, etc), let alone Christmas - so it will be a fairly simple year.












Still magical to me!

All in the last 5 minutes

Sifting through the mail I was making fun of the credit card people always sending those checks in the mail. I said out loud, "it's easy! Just write a check" while I ripped them up.

Lincoln's response: "Ride a chick? They're too small."

Moments later he finds the book I've wrapped up for our book club exchange tonight. "Mom? Can I go to the book ex-strange?" He ran off to pick out a book to wrap before I could even get a chuckle out.

Proud Moment?

Lincoln brought home this paper from school. I'm pretty sure his teach er didn't help him spell that.
He figured out how to spell POP on the keyboard and was typing it any time he needed to fill in a blank on a game. He accidently put two O's in it while I was watching the other day and I said, "no, that's not pop, that's poop." Oops. First spelling word. He is slowly getting more and more letters in his name down. Today it was LINCO, which is more than I've seen him do before.

Too Much Love

L: Mom, do you love me too much?

Me: Probably. What happens if you love somebody too much?

L: You get hurt every day. Like a shot.

Me: Oh I see. How much is too much?

L: I think 2008. Mom, what comes right before two thousand and eight?

Me: 2007

L: Mom, I love you 2007.

7 Years

Yesterday morning I thought to myself. Well, it IS our anniversary. And I DO have a LOT of yellow balloons and all kinds of yellow stuff for a yellow party... perhaps we'll have a yellow fellows party and I can celebrate all of the fellows in my life at once. I started blowing up balloons, decorating the house, making yellow treats. I decided to e-mail Jeff and send him an invitation so he would know to be home for dinner.

He called me and said, "um, are we having the yellow party today? Do you want me to cancel the sitters I've already arranged for when I leave work early to take you out?"

The party can wait!

We had a lovely dinner at an Indian restaurant and then talked about going to a movie. We even went to a theater and looked at all of the listings... but we couldn't get excited about any of them. We have a party to go to this weekend and we needed a white elephant gift, so we decided to have some fun shopping for one of those. We found all kinds of crazy things. My favorite was a pair of purple men's shoes that had the koolaid logo on them - size 15, if you can imagine. Jeff loved a potato peeler that had a peeled potato handle. We came up with another idea and didn't buy anything there. We sure had a fun time looking!

We decided to come home early and played games with Jeff's brother Joe and Tosha (our sitters). The kids had just drifted off, so it was perfect. I am always excited to get a chance to play board games - it doesn't happen very often!

Thanks for a fun evening and I look forward to many great years to come!

Thanksgiving

I feel like I've been in heaven the past few days. I love having my husband home with us so much and I could just eat up my sweet boys. I'm cherishing every moment and just trying to breathe them all in. Literally - I keep smelling them like I did when they were babies. I don't care if we leave the house or what we do really. I am loving being together. I am still recovering from surgery a little bit and have been taking things pretty easy. I wonder if I'm enjoying life that much more by doing less. We baked some pies for Thanksgiving at the Poyners. We made two apple and two pumpkin. Jeff and I worked together in the kitchen and had a really nice time doing it while both boys napped (a real rarity!). I felt bad that Jeff never got a chance to taste his scrumptious apple pie - it was too yummy to last! I also made a batch of my parent's "famous" sweet potatoes. We had a huge feast with about 40 people. Everything was so delicious. The kids were very well behaved and pretty well entertained themselves. We got to spend some good time talking with family members and really enjoyed ourselves.


We've started on the Christmas decorations and it is helping me get into the spirit of Christmas. Our tree is up and we have a few lights on the house. I feel very full and happy and grateful for so many things.

Cupcake Love

Everybody wanted to show how much they approved of the cupcakes. Here is a sampling from the "I love cupcakes the most" contest:

Grandma wouldn't take a picture showing her tongue, but we know she loves the cupcakes because she was the first to sneak one... ha ha ha!

Lincoln is FIVE

I had a big t0-do all worked out to welcome Lincoln to his 5th year of life. It didn't really work out. The giant yellow party might still happen one day soon, but we did still try to make yesterday special for him. Grandma spent the day with us so that she could help me with the kids and all of the day to day things (thanks so much grandma). She brought him the game Elefun and the boys had a great time playing with it. We made cupcakes (not all fancy and decorated like I'd planned, but still... cake, and yellow... and he didn't seem to mind).

He knew that it was his birthday and that he was five now. If you ask, you'll get this: "I am five now. I used to be four. Did you bring me a present?"

I love you one hundred and two thousand and a million big brother!

Taylor Ray

We don't have a gender to work with, but I still feel a need to give a name to this little life. I need something to call it. Taylor is a part of our lives. I went through our little presidential list of names and found Taylor as a good choice for either gender. It is perfect. And Ray. I have the most wonderful aunt Ray. Anyone who knows her knows that you can't say Ray without smiling. Ray. I can always smile when I think of Taylor Ray. There is nowhere official to put this name but here and in our hearts. A part of our family.

Un-Expected

This little event in our lives is coming to an end. I was having way too much pain for things to be normal. My doctor decided to do some exploratory surgery after seeing nothing on 3 different ultrasound attempts. I was scared.

It turned out that I did have an ectopic pregnancy and a lot of internal bleeding. I lost one of my tubes. They tell me that I can still make babies. And now I know I have a little one I can look forward to meeting in the eternities. And I get a free pass on potty training.

I feel a million times better than I have been feeling for the last week. Although I was very excited to welcome a new baby into our lives I am also very relieved that the pain is gone and I am at peace. I'm so grateful for the sweet doctor who took such good care of me. Recovering from this surgery already seems so much easier than dealing with the pain I was in just this morning. It is already easier to walk.

Today has been an exceptionally busy baby day at this hospital and all of the rooms are being used. I'm sort of stuck in a corner in an ultrasound room. It isn't ideal, but it's not that bad either.

Thank you to all of you for your love and prayers. I look forward to getting back up and at it very soon.

Love to all,
Stine

Independence

PART ONE: This little critter has decided that he doesn't really need our help anymore. Except to get him logged onto the right website. He doesn't feel that he needs anyone to get him food anymore. He can take care of that. He doesn't need anyone to buckle him up. He's got it covered. He's way past two and a half now and well on his way to independence. This independence is a lot messier than dependence was. There are a lot of spills, but I still love to watch him showing how grown up he is.

"Me do it mine self mommy."


PART TWO: I visit taught an older lady in our ward for the first time today. She is adorable. I wish I could have spent all day with her and heard stories of every detail of her life. She is happy and independent and very much her own person. She doesn't like to be told what to do. Man, we don't ever grow out of that do we?


PART THREE: Just as we were finishing up for our short visit with this sister I began to feel strange. It was the same kind of feeling that sent me to the ER on Sunday night. Recognizing this might turn into that kind of pain again I sent Jeff an e-mail asking for help. I knew that he would probably have to stay at work, but I also know that I can't be a mommy in that kind of pain. He found someone to help me. I'm so grateful to Kim, my sister-in-law for coming to my rescue and loving on my crazy, adorable boys. She talked with me and made me laugh and sent me to bed with my medication. She took the boys home with her and Jeff is picking them up from there now. I am missing them like crazy, yet so grateful I was able to sleep through the worst of the pain and get some good rest. I want to be independent. I don't want to ask for help. I want to be a pillar of strength. "Me do it mine self." I have had to ask for a lot of help this week and I'm so worried that it will continue. For heavens sake I'm only 5 weeks pregnant. So much drama already. I don't want to be high maintenance or a burden to anyone. I suppose it is pride and I'm supposed to learn humility from it all. Apparently reading about humility and being able to define it isn't enough. Compelled to be humble. Still yearning to be independent.

Good News

I got a call from my doctor this morning and she said that my numbers had more than doubled - a great sign that the pregnancy is progressing. She wants to continue to monitor me very closely. I will have more bloodwork done on Friday and another ultrasound next week.

Unfortunately I am also feeling some pain from the cyst again, but it helps so much to know why. I also have pain medication that I can take now.

Semetery

A conversation with my little neighbor girl:

Mrs. Poyner, Lincoln said that you go to seminary!

That's true. I teach a class every morning called seminary.

Oh, that must be different than what I was thinking of.

What kind of seminary to you know about?

The one where you have to D... I... E... to go there.

Ah, cemeTery.

lol

Baby Update

I went and had another ultrasound this morning and met with my own doctor for the first time. What we had feared was an ectopic pregnancy, now appears to be just a cyst... which is actually very normal for the stage I'm in. They couldn't find a pregnancy in the ultrasound, but that is normal because it so so early. My blood tests are showing a rise in HcG levels, but not enough rise to feel out of the clear yet. My doctor suspects that it is a "chemical pregnancy" - meaning that my body thinks it is pregnant, but there is no baby. I will go in for more blood tests, probably about every 48 hours until we can tell anything for sure. I remember having low levels with my previous pregnancies, so it may be nothing to worry about. We just have to be patient and we'll know more with time. Thanks to everyone for all of your concerns and prayers.

I am feeling much better - and especially more at ease.

Early Worries

I know that a lot of people don't like to make announcements that they are pregnant until the first few months have passed. Jeff probably wishes that I were that kind of announcer. Truth is, I just can't hold that kind of information inside myself. I'm way too excited and I need to talk about it. And I know that if something did go wrong, even very early on, that I would NEED to talk about that too. I would want those same people that I'm so excited to tell to also be a support in sorrow.

I've been having some complications. I am now trying to patiently wait to understand what is happening. I've had some bleeding which has worried me, but last night I had some intense pain and ended up in the emergency room. They did several ultrasounds and blood tests, but explained that it was too difficult to know anything for certain at this early stage. Everything is sort of grey. They gave me some pain medication (hallelujah) and I was able to rest. I have not had to take any more of the prescription they gave me since last night. I'm still feeling a little strange, but nothing too painful, mostly headaches and general uneasiness. I have more appointments tomorrow morning and am hoping my doctor will be able to tell me more.

I'm so grateful to have such a supportive family that has been so gracious in helping me through this. Jeff has been wonderful and my parents came and spent a pretty sleepless night here while they waited for us to finish at the ER. Thanks also to friends for filling in for me with seminary and helping me with the kids.

I'll keep everyone updated as soon as I know anything.

Runnin' in the Rain

The other day it was pouring outside and the kids wanted to run and play in it. They had a great time. I wish now that I had joined them, but brrrr... too cold for me! They were so excited to have a bath afterward and had as much fun with a mid-day bath as they did running around outside in the cold rain.

Cute Babies

Don't we make cute babies? Here are Lincoln and Jackson when they were just a few weeks old. We are now excitedly awaiting the next little cutie. We expect to meet them sometime this summer!

Mr. Vocabulary

Hi. My name is Lincoln Poyner. I am in pre-k. I am 4 years old. These are the things I've said to my mom this week that are blowing her mind.

We were playing an adventure game together and learned something new. I said, "Wow. That gives us some good insight."

This morning daddy was working on getting mom's new computer hooked up and we found that the audio cord was torn in half. I suggested, "I think I know what happened. It severed itself."

When Will I Change?

Lincoln asked us a very interesting question. "When will I change?" Unsure what exactly he meant, we asked.

His reply was, "Well, there are kids in my class who are 5 and their skin is darker. When will my skin change to darker?" I am fascinated with how he learns and puts things together. I stopped saying, "when I was a little girl" a long time ago because it confused him into thinking that we can change from being a girl to a boy or vice versa. Now I am in the habit of saying, "when I was little," or "while I was growing up."

I love the innocence of questions from my kids.