Christmas Surprise

Santa didn't bring my Christmas present this year, American Airlines did. He arrived this afternoon (a day and a half earlier than expected!) Isn't he cute??

Best present ever.

My "little girl"

At church today when I was chasing Abbi around the halls an older woman said to me, "Oh, you have such a cute little girl." At first I didn't think she was talking to me, or talking about Abbi. Because she's not a little girl, she's my BABY. Once I realized that she was talking to me, I thanked her, then I looked at Abbi and thought, "she's right, she does look like a little girl." As hard as it is for me, my baby girl is turning into more of a toddler; playing peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake, having a preference about what I feed her for lunch, fighting back when her brothers tackler her, discovering that her brothers think it is hilarious when she throws her macaroni and cheese at them or dumps her entire bowl of cereal off the high chair. The sad truth is, my babies just don't stay babies for long enough, Abbi included. As if it wasn't hard enough to have Abbi constantly growing, the boys are growing up too! Today Ammon gave the talk in primary without any help. I was so proud of him. He stood up in front of the primary and showed the right pictures while he read the words I had helped him tape on the back of the pictures. It was so fun to see him do it on his own, but part of me wished I was up there whispering the words in his ear like I did when he was a Sunbeam. The good news is, I am having so much FUN with my kids (most of the time!), but sometimes I wish I could just freeze time and keep them little for a little while longer.

My little girl, looking so grown up!

Hiding the ornament from me that she has just pulled off the Christmas tree.

I love this picture because the kids are actually all looking at the camera and Ammon is showing his teeth. (Since he has gotten his BIG, crooked, permanant teeth in he usually smiles with his mouth closed. I personally think they are adorable.)

Why is it that kids always look so adorable when they are bundled up? I love it.

Cabin Fever

Today was day FIVE of being stuck inside, all day. The cabin fever has started to set in. This time it wasn't the "epic storm," it was the "case of the broken down mini-van." Last night, as we were trying to be festive at the Jolly Holiday lights, our poor van started smoking and sputtering. I pulled into a parking lot to check under the hood. Although I had no idea what I was checking for, I did know that this was standard procedure when you are having car problems. After a thourough check under the hood I tried to start the car but was unsuccessful, leaving me stranded out in the elements with my three young children. I tried to call my husband for some "car advice," but apparently he wasn't getting phone reception in the theatre where he was watching Twilight. (Sorry to let that cat out of the bag babe, but it's the only comical part of this story!) Luckily, we have some wonderful friends here in Des Moines and they came to rescue us. By the time we got home it was 10:00. We spent a lot of time today snuggling up in front of the TV, watching Christmas movies and trying to recover from our ordeal.

We felt very fortunate that we were all very bundled when the car broke down because we had just spent the afternoon at Living History Farms with some friends.

Little Abbers even had her long johns on. (and it's a good thing because it got pretty cold!)

While we were waiting for the Nances to come rescue us, Ammon made up this clever song to the tune of Jingle Bells:

Jingle Bells, this car smells

Daddy is away.

Soon Zack will be here

so we have no fear

and we all can shout HURRAY!

This was a welcome change to the "Jingle Bells, Batman smells.." version that we have been hearing dozens of times a day since he learned it at school.

This is how we felt when the car wouldn't start,

and this is how we felt when Zack and Kyle arrived!

Thank you, thank you guys for the rescue!

All in all, it was another great adventure for the Frost family. I am just praying we don't have too many more adventures of this type before February!

Snow Much Fun

For the last two days we have been enjoying "snow days" at our house. No school, nowhere to be, nothing to do. We have spent lots of time playing outside in the snow...

and lots of time snuggled up inside watching movies,

playing games,

and playing in our tents and tunnels.

We even decorated the house with paper snowflakes.

Even if we had somewhere to be, I have serious doubts that we could get there.

You should see the huge snow drifts here!

Now I'm going to whine a little big: The novelty of the "snow day" started to get old this afternoon when I finally broke down and decided to dig our van out of the snow,

then realized that my shovel was stuck in my broken garage so I had to borrow my neighbors. Then the boys got restless and wild and fought all evening, and Abbi isn't feeling well and the doctor's office was closed. And I nearly got frostbite from spending an hour out in the 10 degree weather with 30 MPH winds

Even though school has been cancelled again tommorow, I'm afraid we may have to venture out... Little Abbi has a fever and I suspect an ear infection.... and we're out of ice melt... and dangerously low on baby wipes... and I may go crazy trying to entertain these boys another day without getting out of the house. Let's just hope we don't get more snow tonight or I may be digging (with my neighbors shovel) again tommorow...... did I mention that Colby is in Texas?

The REALLY good news

Today we got our student loan disbursement, which is always a good news/bad news kind of thing. The good news is we get a big lump sum of money, the bad news is we have to pay it all back with interest. Along with the good news and bad news, today's disbursement came with the REALLY good news. This was the LAST disbursement we will EVER get. That's right folks, graduation is just five short months away. And that is the REALLY good news.

Really, Very, Thankful

There were not enough days in November to blog about ALL that I have been blessed with. It didn't help that the last few days of the month Colby came home to spend Thanksgiving weekend with us (so no blogging was happening then.) I just watched this video on my friend Sara's blog and my heart is so full of gratitude. I can't even begin to express how grateful I am for all of the blessings in my life, including the adversity!

The things I am thankful for (that I haven't yet mentioned) include:

My health

A loving, supportive father

The world's most comfortable bed

Exercise

Great inlaws

Music

My vacume

My mini-van

Laughter

Quiet

A washer and dryer

My education

Student loans (both a blessing and a curse!)

Good books

Good food

Running water

Our country

I could seriously go on and on. What are you thankful for?

Detroit Rock City......

Having just spent the month of November in Detroit, Shauni thought that it might be good idea for me to share some of my experiences.

Here are some fun facts about D-town:

-The only major U.S. city that looks south to Canada

-Ranked as the United States' 11th most populous city (the metro area has a population of 4,425,110)

-Detroit street lights blink yellow and red, they both mean that you can go.

-Home to the "Michigan left" (this is not a political statement, it's a driving maneuver)

Once inside the Michigan state line, we spotted a Big Boy restaurant from the freeway and had to stop and partake. Although their signature sandwich looks just like a Big Mac, they claim that "The Big Boy"came about first. Upon further inspection and deliberation, I was pretty sure that they ran across the street to McDonalds to pick up my burger. However, the chocolate malt was excellent and made the stop worthwhile.

This milk was purchased at a Walmart in Detroit. For those of you who hate skim milk, you now have another option.
This is one of the many hospitals in the DMC system. "Receiving" is a level I trauma center and provides the residents with some interesting learning experiences.
This is a tunnel which connects some of the downtown hospitals together. Kinda reminds me of space mountain....
Most of my days were spent in the OR. This is retrograde drilling of a talar dome lesion.
Lateral ankle stabilization. You can really appreciate some good anatomy here, Shauni thought it was gross.
My homeboy Jason trying to blend in here in D-town.
GM's world headquarters are in Detroit. Jason & I went up to the 70th floor only to find out that there were no windows, so we walked around the halls for a few minutes.
On our way back home, we stopped for dinner/gas at the Iowa 80 truck stop. It claims to be the largest truck stop in the world.
It must be true if its painted on the floor.

Just some of the amenities that can be found here. I also saw jeans for sale, I guess you never know when you might need a new pair of those....

Blessing #14

Technology

I am so grateful for modern technology. I know I sound like Kip
Dynamite, but seriously I feel so blessed

that even though I am hundreds of miles away from my family, my
husband and many of my friends I can still easily keep in touch. I am so grateful
that this morning I was able to video chat with Colby and the boys could
show him their basket ball metals and Abbi could wave to him.
I am so glad that I can pick up the phone and call someone
anytime, and they can answer on their cell phone while they are
grocery shopping. How cool is it that my brother in law Mike can post
pictures on his blog while he is in Africa
and I can see them minutes later in Des Moines??
I often take for granted all of our modern convenieces,
but they are such a blessing! Whenever I think of technology
I think of my Grandpa Stewart. A couple of years ago my parents gave him
a CD for Christmas. He had no idea what it was.
When they explained it to him he said, "OH, so that what that
slit in my dashboard is for?" He is a crack up!
Here is a tribute to technology (mostly for Colby)

that I got from youtube.

Blessing #13

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

I am so grateful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The gospel has been such a blessing in my life and a strength to me through difficult times. I was able to attend the adult session of Stake conference tonight. After half an hour of wrestling Abbi in the meeting (she still isn't nursery age, darn it!), I took her into the hall. A sweet Sister in my ward immediately came and took her from me and said, "you need a break, I'll take her." I can't tell you how much that small act of service meant to me or how much I really did need a break. I feel so lucky to know that there are wonderful church members like this all over the country and wherever we move we will have a ward "family."

Blessing #12

A Home

I am so grateful that I have a place to live. Whenever the weather starts to get cold and rainy, I always think about those who are living on the streets and have nowhere to go to escape the elements. Too many times I have taken this simple luxury for granted, but it really is a blessing.

(I have to add that our home normally doesn't have caution tape and plywood on the grass, I took this picture when they were doing roof construction. Which makes me think that I should add "I am grateful for a roof that doesn't leak" to this post.)

Blessing #11

The Adams

I am so grateful for this sweet family and the good friends that they have been to us. I am extra grateful for them this month for letting Colby stay with them and taking such good care of him while he is in Detroit.

Blessing #9 and Blessing #10

Carter Benjamin

I am so grateful for this sweet little boy, his cute little dimples, "tight squeezes" and luvs.

Ammon Colby

I am so grateful for this one and his spunky attitude, witty sense of humor and amazing creativity.

I LOVE having these boys and I am so grateful for the adventure they bring into my life. I love the soccer games, dirty little fingernails and mason jars filled with salamanders and crickets. I love the little treasures I find in their pants pockets when I am doing laundry and the lego creations that I absolutely can not touch. We are truly blessed to have these two little boys in our family.

Blessing #8

Celebrations

I am so grateful for all of life's little celebrations. I can't imagine a life without Halloween parties, Easter egg hunts and Thanksgiving dinners. Yesterday we had a very special celebration at our house. We celebrated little Miss Abbi's first birthday. We were also very grateful to have Grandma Stewart here to help us celebrate.

I decided to have a Pinkalicious party, based on this cute book.

What would a pinkalicious party be without a pink tutu,

and lots and lots of PINK food?

Pink cupcakes were also a MUST. (for those of you who haven't read Pinkalicious, it is about a little girl who turns pink from eating too many PINK cupcakes.

We added a few PINK decorations and we had a perfectly PINKalicious first birthday party.

The little birthday girl was not as into the party as I thought she would be. She struggled to get away while I was reading Pinkalicious to the party guests,

She wandered, played and gave hugs to the party guests while the other kids opened her presents,

(although she did return to see her loot after it had been unwrapped),

and she wouldn't touch her birthday cake (I mean literally wouldn't touch it with her hands, she leaned over it and took little bites of it and after a couple minutes she pushed it away).

Happy Birthday Party Abbi!

Blessing #7

My Mom

My mom is the best! She would do anything for anyone. She flew into Des Moines late, late last night and spent all day today helping me get ready for Abbi's birthday party. I am grateful for my mom every day, but especially this week when I really needed some company and she came.

Blessing #6

Unseasonably Warm Weather

The last couple of weeks we have been blessed with nice, warm weather. I am so grateful we have been able to enjoy a little extra time outside this Fall before the long Winter hits. Saturday we went to Grey's Lake with some friends and played (in short sleeves) until the sun set.