New Years Resolution

This year we got together to make New Years Resolutions. The kids had really cute things they wanted to do for the new year and Jake and I basically have a long list of things to do.

Our family resolutions are:
Read the Book of Mormon (Jacob's primary teachers challenged him to do it)
Exercise every Saturday
Everyone to read 20 chapter books (Jacob & Amara have to read themselves - Ethan, Keira, & Soren will be read to) - (So far Jake has read 3, I've read 2, Jacob 3, Amara 2, Ethan, Keira, & Soren 1) - We have a chart and everything to keep track. When we reach our goal we'll go somewhere special. (I'm thinking Sea World San Diego)

Jacob wants to get his Bear (Scouts) by March's Pack Meeting
Amara wants to be more active and drink more water
They both said they wanted to be nicer to Ethan. We said it should always be that way.

Jake and I both hope to lose weight, get the yard finished, and do a few things around the house.

Here's hoping for a great year and that we accomplish all our goals and make our dreams come true.

Year in Review - 2011

The Derington's 2011Here is our year in review.

Jacob-8 - 3rd grade -- Amara-7 - 1st grade -- Ethan-4 - preschool -- Keira-2

We started out the finding out that we were going to finish our family with a baby boy, with no idea what his name would be.

Me 5 months pregnant

In February Jake started a project. We started to put shelves in our cold storage room for all our food storage. It was quite a job and it's still not quite finished. We celebrated Jake's birthday with brownies and dinner out.

In April the kids started playing soccer. Amara really loved it and even scored a goal. She also played goalie a few times and had 8 saves. Jacob also enjoyed his time playing and liked running around the field. Ethan didn't really care for it and would run around in circles and then decide to sit down in the middle of the field.

Hours before going to the hospital. 9 months pregnant

May was by far our most eventful month of the entire year. The kids continued their soccer. My nephew Scott came to go to the MTC and then head to India. We really enjoyed having him for the day. Jake did a little bit of traveling in the middle of the month that made me a little nervous. On the 19th we celebrated Keira's 3rd birthday. Old enough to go to preschool as long as we could get her potty trained. 4 days later we celebrated Jacob's 9th birthday. Jake made each of them their own pan of brownies. And then 3 days later we were blessed with the sweetest baby boy.

SOREN

I was hoping to be induced in the morning but the hospital was very busy that day so we packed all our stuff and headed to the movies, we saw Thor. Then at 3 pm we went to the hospital where I had to have antibiotics first and then he was born at 10:58 PM weighing 6 lbs and 13 0z. As soon as they handed him to me we asked him if his name was Soren and he looked right at us. Then we asked if his name was Shane and he looked away, so Soren it was and he looked back at us. Soren is another name for Thor in Danish. I wonder if watching the movie right before he was born affected his decision. My parents came for a visit and I was really glad to have their help.

our first family photo

In June school ended, my parents left and we celebrated Ethan's 5th birthday. He also got his own pan of brownies. Jake did a little more traveling in June but not much. I spent most of the month taking Soren to Primary Children's Hospital to have blood drawn for his jaundice. Jake and I also celebrated our 10th anniversary. No trips for us this year, we even took Soren on our date with us. Hopefully soon we'll get to take that anniversay trip as soon as we figure out what to do with our 5 kids.

Over the summer we were visited by a lot of family. My brother Mike came for a visit so his son could go to basketball camp at BYU. My parents came back for the 4th of July. Jake's brother Mike also came for a visit where we got to meet our niece, Morgan. for the first time. Such a cutie. My sister Diana came in August with a few of her kids for Education Week, I even got to keep my niece, Olivia. for a week. It was so much fun. My parents came then too.


In August we blessed Soren in our house (it was the only way to get the maxium of our loved ones there). It was a beautiful payer and a fun party.

And then school started!!! YEAH!!! Jacob was going into the 4th grade, Amara into 2nd, Ethan started Kindergarten, and Keira was going to preschool at a really good friend's. Twice a week I will have 2 1/2 hours alone with Soren. It is a very cherished time for us. All the kids were happy to go to school to see their friends.

Jake spent half of September away on business and our ward split. Sending us to church further away and across Redwood road then the one we used to walk to. And to make it worse we had to go to church at 2:30 pm. In the end the time turned out to be a good thing. Jacob started taking ballroom at school and told us that he liked it better than playing soccer. Jake had his work party at This is the Place Park. It was great fun and they gave out lots of free candy, popcorn, and Popsicles.

In October I spent lots of time working on costumes. I had to dye Jacob's Ben 10 jacket and glue the stripes on. Amara's dress turned out to be see through, so I sewed on 2 layers of ruffle and glued flowers onto her hat. Keira and Ethan both changed their minds on what they wanted to be after I had already bought their costumes. Ethan wore one costume to school and another trick-or-treating. I was just so happy it was warm for Halloween this year. Keira's class went to Cornbelly's for a field trip. It was very cold but Jake was able to go so we had great fun.

In November we took off for Washington and Portland. Luckily Santa came a month early to our house and dropped of a portable DVD player and headphones for everyone. We spent most of our time in Washington with my brother Mike and family. We took a day to visit with Grandma Lillian. She fixed us wonderful meals and it was wonderful just to be able to talk with her. While in Portland we got to stay in a hotel, the kids thought it was the part of the trip. The kids loved having the pool right across the hall from our room. We also got to have hot chocolate right before bed. When we got back to Washington we had the most wonderful Thanksgiving dinner and pies prepared by my sister-in-law Brenda. It was a great trip spent with people we love.

Jake left for Delaware as soon as it became December and only visited us for a day until he came back on the 23rd. He missed Amara's birthday for the 2nd year in a row (she won't let him forget it) but he made her a pan of brownies on the day he was home. Luckily he was able to be here for the kids school Christmas program. As soon as Jake got back we went to see Santa, get Amara's ears pierced, and just enjoy our time together as a family and the Christmas festivities. On Christmas Eve we had the Derington/Chipman family over like we do every year. I love having everyone over in our home where we can all be together and enjoy each other.

Christmas morning was wonderful with family (my parents came back again). It was fun to see all the kids open their presents and watch Soren on his first Christmas.

I know this was super long but it was like writing a journal entry for the whole year. I hope you all had as wonderful a year as we did. Now we're just waiting to see if the world is going to end.

7 months

SOREN

Soren is such a super sweet little baby. He loves to give kisses on your cheek and grab your hair to make sure you are nice and close. He loves to smile and laughs with his whole body. When is is really happy he growls and if you growl at him he likes to growl back. It is super funny and cute.

He has mastered the inch worm and has moved onto hands and knees crawling, but still likes to use his belly because he thinks it's faster. He has started pulling himself up on things. Now if he could learn that every time he lets go he falls and hits his head. But perhaps he has learned that every time he falls I come running.

He still loves to eat and usually doesn't require a bib. His favorite food so far has been cherry puffs. One day Ethan left him a little trail to follow. He is getting really good at using his thumb and fore finger (pincher grip) for getting his finger foods into his mouth. He really loves anything that I serve with pineapple, even green beans. He has started grabbing the spoon and tries to feed himself.

Soren is by far my biggest baby at this age. He is weighing in at 18 pounds (what Jacob was at 1 year old) and is 28 inches long. He has basically skipped over wearing 6-9 month clothes and gone right to 9 months.

He is my sweet baby angel.

Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas
Our Christmas as told by our pictures

Our tree Christmas Eve after Santa left












The kids in their Christmas clothes by the "fancy, breakable" tree

Amara in her Christmas outfit she bought with her allowance - at the ward party.





Keira at the ward party.

My super handsome sons in their Sunday best.

Soren playing under the tree




Amara's class at the Christmas program
She sang Christmas in Our Town

Jacob at the school program
His class performed Pine cones and Holly berries


Ethan standing next to his best friend Payson. They sang Must Be Santa. It had hand motions and everything. It was super cute.
Making cookies for Santa with Daddy on Christmas Eve right before the party began. Good food and family. It was a great Christmas.

The kids in the Christmas pj's and robes.

Amara opening her jewelry box from Grandma & pa Christensen. Her favorite gift were the earrings from Grandma & pa Chipman. She also got a lot of clothes, boots, movies (Jem), books, and a make up kit.




Ethan with his new Lighting McQueen scooter. Ethan got everything he asked for. He got DS games, boots, movies (HeMan), and clothes. And Grandma & pa Chipman gave him Cole from Ninjago.

Jacob showing off his new blue camera. He loved everything he was given. He got books, clothes, movies (the complete series of DragonBall Z), boots (are you guessing everyone got basically the same thing), a light up wheels scooter, and snow pants. And of course he got 3DS games to play on the brand new 3DS he bought with his allowance. It took him 18 months to save up enough money.



Mommy and Keira with her Hello Kitty earmuffs. As you can tell by her pj's that almost everything she got was Hello Kitty - shoes, clothes, stickers, pj's. She also got what she asked Santa for - A baby doll, Grandma & pa Chipman gave her a Rapunzel baby doll. She also got movies, boots, and clothes.

Soren's first ChristmasHe had a wonderful Christmas playing with the bottom branches of the tree and the ornaments that were just in his reach. Santa gave him baby food and some new binkies and now he will only take those. I guess Mommy has to find out where Santa shops so I can buy more. He got a moving car, talking Lighting McQueen, a ball, and sippy cups.

Eight is Great

My Pretty, Pretty Princess Amara Amara age 2

Eight years ago I was blessed with my first daughter Amara. We had her induced a week early to make sure that she wouldn't have her birthday on Christmas and Jacob was 1 and I didn't want to miss his Christmas. We got to the hospital at 7:00 am and the induction began. I was started on pitocin and at noon my Dr. broke my water and then went Christmas shopping. I then got an epidural which instantly gave me a headache (very bad sign). At 3:30 pm the nurse came in to check on me. I couldn't feel a thing, I thought I had stopped having contractions. My leg had fallen off the bed and I didn't know it. It turned out I was a 10 so the nurse put me in the stirrups and walked away. Jake walked around the bed and started yelling at the nurse because Amara was already started to come out (no pushing). The nurse only got one glove on and had Jake go out to find anyone to help. About 5 nurses came running in. At exactly 4 pm Amara slide out weighing exactly 7 pounds. My Dr. showed up 5 minutes later.

She was such a pretty baby that everyone, even boys, commented on how pretty she was. Jacob called her pretty until she was about 3 years old.

(Sorry I have yet to digitize my older pictures, so no baby pictures)

Amara age 8

Amara is now a very confident, pretty, beautiful girl. She is my Amazon (definition in the Webster's Dictionary - tall, beautiful woman). She loves school and writing. She is always writing in journals and practicing her hand writing. Jacob is learning to write in cursive so she is now trying that out since it's how I write. She likes being responsible and loves to look after brothers and sister and "be in charge". She totally is the girliest girly girl I have ever met. She'd wear a dress everyday but PE day. Her favorite colors are pink and purple. She can't wait for everyone to be old enough to get a pet. She wants a hamster but would settle for a cat. She also loves being with her friends. They play at school and frequently call her on the phone at home.

Amara worked very hard (cleaned the pantry) and was able to win over Daddy and get her ears pierced. I was very nervous but not Amara. She sat there in the chair and was so brave, she said it didn't even hurt. I was so proud!!! She is the one who has to remind me to clean her holes. She has been counting down the days until she gets to switch out the earrings with the ones Grandma Chipman gave her for Christmas. She is particularly excited to wear the ones that are her birthstone color.

Instead of having a birthday party Amara and I came up with a different kind of "party." She chose one of her closest friends, Lucky, and they went out and got "up dos" at a salon in our neighborhood. Then we went out to The Olive Garden for lunch. We had such a great time and everyone who saw them told them how beautiful they looked.

Amara is such a joy to be around. I love her so much and have enjoyed watching her grow and become her own person. I am very much looking forward to see what her future holds.

Out of touch - Out of time

I realize it has been at least 5 weeks (I totally missed December) since I've posted last but so much has been going on that I haven't been able to find the time to sit still long enough to post anything. So here is my warning that I will be posting my December in January and you should start expecting daily posts from me until I can catch up. Then with Jake's birthday and Valentine's I'll probably fall behind next month too, but at least I did find the time (today) to read all your blogs and now I'm all caught up - with your lives. Now onto catching up with my own life.