'Twas the Night Before Christmas

Here are a few pics of our Christmas Eve.

We enjoyed a GREAT ham dinner!

New Christmas Jammies!!

Someone fell asleep too soon and wouldn't pose for a picture.

. . . and to all a good night!!!

An "F" in Blogger 101

Okay, so who in the world can keep up with blogging this time of year? I'm feeling a little guilty because I haven't recorded anyting about our Thanksgiving this year and it is already Christmas! Not only that, but I started to post about that wonderful day, only to realize I didn't get any pictures of it. I think I was getting a "C" in Blogging, but that really put me below passing.

To absolve me from this guilt I've been feeling, I have to say that we spent a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday this year in St. Charles with Rob's family. There were lots of family there including Rob's Grandma Lammering and his Aunt Jane and her family. The kids and I even met new family for the first time. We also missed 3 of Rob's brothers, too. We are so blessed to have such great families.

We followed Turkey Day by participating in Black Friday. We made it without injury. If you go with the right attitude, it sure can be a blast!

Houston Trip

I have a little more catching up to do.

Three weekends ago, the kids had Friday off of school. SOOO, what do the Glasgow's do when there is time off? We get out of DODGE, of course! Only this time, Dad couldn't go with us. I was desperately needing a therapeutic visit with my sisters. My children are great "car trippers," therefore I decided the kids and I would go visit my sister Steph in Houston. Another sister, Michelle, had already planned on being in Houston as well. I packed everyone up and left Rob at home to do work and bishop stuff. The kids travelled so well--thanks to the invention of DVD systems in cars--but Austin really got upset when we managed to arrive in Houston right at rush hour--yay for my planning!

It was such a fun weekend. Steph, Michelle and I started off the weekend by piling in Stephanie's big cozy bed and watched The Office. The next day we went running, sewed aprons for the kids, celebrated my bro's-in-law birthday at a fanatastic Mexican restaurant called Alicia's, ate too much cake, and made one more apron for Michelle, who felt left out of our plan to make aprons. The cousins played tirelessly together. The time to leave came way too fast, but I guess my kids have to attend something called school, and they travelled wonderfully back home to our dad.

I was thinking on the way home about my relationships with my siblings. How blessed am I to have them?!!! The thought entered my mind that maybe I knew them personally in the pre-existence. I don't know for sure, but I'd like to think so. Maybe in some way we were meant to help each other and support each other on our way back home. I think of them as teammates. I love how different we are from each other yet somehow the same in many ways. And our differences don't mean disagreements or hositilities (anymore), but I like them because of their differences. Can you tell I had a long time to think in the car?

The Spit Ups and a Tag

Yesterday was our ward temple trip to Memphis. I hung out with the kids while Rob assisted with the Youth. Then I got a chance to attend a session at the temple, which was the first time since Austin was born. It was such a blessing. I love attending the temple and what it represents. It is an important reminder to me of our purpose here and there is a bigger, much bigger, picture of which we are all a part.



We were about 45 minutes away from home when Lindsey threw up EvERyThINg she had eaten all day. Thankfully it only ended up on herself and the carseat. We found the next exit as fast as we could. Rob was driving with our good friend, Dave, sitting shotgun and neither were handling the smell very well. We stopped in a little town called Carlisle and fortunately at a gas station with the nicest lady for an attendant. She let us use an endless amount of paper towels, a few garbage bags and the bathroom. I was impressed at how thoroughly Rob had cleaned the carseat by the time Lindsey and I finished cleaning up in the bathroom. I'm not sure if Dave helped out with that, but I give him credit too. We made it home with no more "spit ups," as Lindsey calls it, but had not landed for long before they hit her again. Then we went home to watch our Cougars lose to the Utes--but never mind that.



I finish up this post with a great tag. My assignment is to post the 10th picture from my 4th folder in my picture file. It is only fitting that this picture be of Lindsey (and me). This was the picture we used for her birth announcement. The photographer--my mom. Lindsey--9 days old and wearing her blessing dress.

I'm tagging Stephanie, Whitney, Sarah, Kara, and Andrea.

In case you haven't noticed . . .

I have a widget at the bottom of this post. And you will notice and remember that it is not long before Twilight comes out in theaters.

HALLOWEEN

I've had a special request to post about our Halloween. I had every intention of doing anyways. But it might be good to do before Christmas, or even Thanksgiving so I can actually be ready to post on those holidays.

We had a super fun Halloween with Harry Potter, Vampire, BYU cheerleader, and a mouse. Grandma and Grandpa also came for the weekend. We had such a great time with them and hope they won't wait too long before the next visit. Grandpa took Rob and the boys fishing the next day where they caught TONS of fish. That made a tasty batter-dipped-and-fried meal for us the following day when we also celebrated Grandpa's birthday.

Where did October go?

And where is half of November already? Okay after a few threats on my life, I am MAKING the time to update my BLOG. If anyone has the recipe to make TIME, please share. We've had many small ADVENTURES in the past month and a half so my update will probably arrive in a few different posts. I'll try to start with two tonight.

In mid-October, we embarked on our annual pilgrimage to see the COUGARS play. For the SECOND year in a row, we watched them lose, live. Lindsey learned to chant, "Go BYU!" and shouted it the entire walk from the STADIUM back to the cars. We had great company with Dave and Kara traveling with us from Arkansas and also meeting up with my MOM and DAD. The next day we took the kids to the FORT WORTH ZOO where we had beautiful weather and saw most of the animals.

Zoobies at the Zoo!

Dinner with Mom and Dad

Life, is like football . . .

One would assume that I am blogging about our Cougars, who, by the way, are currently ranked #7 and #8 in two different polls. (Go BLUE!) However, football has come up in a completely different conversation this week with my oldest child. It went something like this.

I needed to visit a lady on my visiting teaching route a few evenings ago. I was going over the schedule with the boys for the rest of the day while they were doing homework. Ethan suggested that I could take Austin and that he could babysit while I stopped by this lady's house. OK, it would make my life incredibly EASIER if I could do such a thing. Believe me I would be letting him do it ALL of the TIME!!! While he is a very responsible and, at times, mature child--he is still that--a child! I explained to him that I was going too far of a drive for me to let him do this, etc. He, being a master debater, (I'd like to thank the Parents Curse for this because I was the same way!) continued to make all very valid points, but I held my ground and explained over and over my reasoning.

Finally, he said to me, "You're just like Parker (his friend). You don't trust your receivers!" Thank goodness I know a little about football. I said to him, "Well, you have to make sure your receivers can catch the short and fast passes, before you throw them the long ones, or even 'Hail Mary's'." I was not getting upset, which is what I think he was waiting for me to do. He couldn't really argue with me much after that and finally he said, "Mom, you're being weird!"

But just in case he comes back at me with this again I thought of a few other analogies. 1-The best way to move the ball down the field (make progress in the direction you want to go) is 10 yards at a time. You risk a lot less by throwing the short, fast passes. 2-Before anyone plays the game, they have to practice . . . alot! That is how you know what your receivers can do when they are in an actual game situation.

Am I a mom or a football coach? Who said sports doesn't teach you much?

Acts of Kindness

Today I got a phone call while running errands from the Young Women's president. She instructed me that I was to have the kids ready to leave the house tonight by 6:00. I was not to feed them dinner. I then was supposed to go in my room and get ready for a date with my husband. I could not come out of my room until 7:00, or until I was instructed to leave my room. Rob was to arrive home by 7:00.

I did exactly as I was told. The kids were ready and even bathed by 6. The Laurels showed up at our door and ushered our kids out the door and down the street to the YW president's (and very dear friend of ours) house. We are so blessed to live by her and her husband. I went in my room, tidied up a bit, then put my make-up on. Rob obediently came home when he was supposed to.

When we were released from our room, we opened the door to dim lights, candlelight, a beautifully set table, and classical music playing. Our hostesses greeted us and gave us very strict rules. We were NOT to talk about kids, church, money, the house, or work. We CAN hold hands. We had to talk about the following things: our favorite memory when we were dating, when we first realized we loved each other, what we love that our counterpart does for us, and what the perfect day would be together. THEN our hostesses left the house. We were ALONE . . . in our house . . . with each other. . . . YIKES! For 2 whole HOURS!

I have to say that so many feelings resurfaced by following the rules and talking over the things to which we were assigned. It was so romantic! We savoured it.

This is just one of so many simple acts of service that the people in our ward have done for us since Rob was called to be the Bishop. They have been so supportive and keen to recognize that we have a young family and there are many sacrifices we make so that Rob can serve in this calling. But they hardly seem like sacrifices to us, especially when the members of our ward bless our family like this. We have relied on the Lord during this time and He has been able to rely on the hands of ward members to provide our family with blessings we need. We feel so undeserving, yet are soooo grateful. The gospel of Jesus Christ is such a wonderful thing. We are learning to be Christlike by serving/teaching/loving others.

Thank you to our young women and their leaders! The kids are in bed, the dishes are done, the house is picked up . . . . so what am I doing sitting here and blogging? See ya . . . .

Oh My Ears!

Here is what happens when you blog at 2:30 in the morning. . . .

You put songs on your playlists that have SweAr WorDs in them!!! I was listening to my playlist today and the "f word" squeaked out of one of my songs. For clarification, if any of you visited my blog before I corrected this, we only played the RADIO EDIT version of this song for Lindsey, not the one with the profane word. I did not even KNOW the original version had a swear word in it! So never mind that, I've corrected the problem and you can go on and enjoy clean listening. I apologize to anyone that may have heard the explicit form of my playlist.

KidSongs

When I was pregnant with Ethan, my oldest, I had a friend who told me she had a "song" for each one of her children. These songs were contemporary songs played on the radio. So, with each of my children, I've found that I have "songs" for them. They are songs that for some reason or another remind me of that child.

I have finally added a music playlist to my blog. Four of these songs represent my four kids. "Forever Young" is Ethan's song. While I was still in the hospital after his birth, I saw the Pampers commercial with the baby animals on it and it played a section of this song. I never paid attention to the words in this song until that moment. Those words were exactly what I was feeling for my newborn. I love the line, "Whatever road you choose {CTR!!!!}, I'm right behind you, win or lose." Ethan's personality reminds me so much of the little tiger cubs in that commercial.

Gavin's song is "A New Day has Come" by Celine Dion. She wrote this song for her newborn son. The song began playing on the radio during my pregnancy with Gavin. We were preparing for a big move at the time also. I remember driving home from the airport to get Rob and this song came on the radio, reminding me of all the changes happening to our family and the most exciting thing was that we were going to have a baby boy.

Lindsey's song is "You're Beautiful." Rob, unknowingly, picked this song for Lindsey. It too became popular just as I found out we were having our first, and so far, only baby girl! Rob LOVES this song, along with several other songs by the same artist. On some of those rough nights, I often watched him rock Lindsey to sleep while he played this song over and over for her. We certainly believe that she's as beautiful as an angel.

Austin's song is new and I just discovered it. "In My Arms" is perfect for him because he is my cuddler. At 7 months old, he still will mold his little body into my chest and rest his head in the crook of my neck and I LOVE it!!!! The first line describes, "Your baby blues . . . " and Austin is my only child to have my blue eyes. I have to laugh at the line "safe, in my arms." So many times I have to come to his rescue from his older siblings.

I'm not very talented musically, but I love music. One reason . . . it triggers my memory.

"I'm Feeling Good"

If you are a Michael Buble fan you will understand the title of this blog. You know it will be a good, no great, day when you wake up and discover Michael Buble is performing live on the Today show.

Milestones and Funny Faces

Since the first day of school occurred, Lindsey and Austin have reached a few milestones of their own.



Potty trained?! We think so! I really can't take much credit for it because Linds came to me on Sunday two weeks ago and said, "Potty!" So, I took her to the potty. She went #1 AND #2 and has not worn a diaper (during the day) since. Sure, she has her occasional accidents when she gets too busy to stop, but WHO CARES!!! That's about 5-6 less diapers I have to change during the day!





Austin is a mover. He sits up on his own and maneuvers his way around with a complicated army crawl. He makes this face (as shown in the pic) ALL of the time! He wrinkles his little nose and snorts. He is the clone of Gavin and Gavin always made the SAME face when he was that age. AND as all boys do, Austin is discovering the joy of FOOD, even if it is strained.

First Day of School

Okay, okay, so school started two weeks ago. We are settling into and so grateful for a routine once again. Also, we put our house up for sale a little over two weeks ago which explains why I haven't posted in a while.

We are now parents of a third and first grader. I'm not afraid to admit that I got a lump in my throat when I took them to their classrooms on the first day. Another summer has come and gone all too quickly. It is at times like these when I count how many summers are left or how many years are left and hope that somehow we had a few memorable moments in the summer of '08. It is time for new challenges and adventures as Ethan and Gavin figure out what third and first grade are all about.

6 Months

Today our little Austin turned 6 months old. I LOVE this age. A six month old laughs at everything and today Austin discovered how silly his brothers are. We listened to unprovoked belly laughs today as he watched Ethan and Gavin jump around like monkeys.


Austin has also moved out of mom and dad's room into his room shared by Linds. She managed to climb into his crib this morning and wake him from his a.m. nap. I think he was awaiting his rescue at this moment.





They grow too quickly and the time goes by way too fast.

FIRST of all!

I'm back, I'm home, and climbing out of a laundry avalanche. I'm taking a break right now. Before I post about anything else this summer I have to say that I've LOST ALL MY BABY WEIGHT!!!! A vacation with 4 children, 1 of whom is breastfeeding to the max, will do it. I enjoyed crepes, M&M's and even cheese fries, but apparently I was involved in a lot more physical activity than what I was consuming in calories. Yes, the weight is down, but everything is a lot more jiggly and soft than it was before. I don't care. That's what I have to show for having four kids and I'm proud of it!

Camera Found!!!

Camera is found, but we have missed many photo ops. We've had a baptism, three birthdays, new teeth, a road trip and baseball. I missed my camera!!!!!

Tonight we were packing for the Dietz family's annual trek to Breckenridge and Rob asked about the camera. I told him I have looked all over for it, but no sign of it. Then I said, "Maybe we should say one more prayer." About one hour later Rob came walking out of our room holding it. Apparently it got thrown into his Father's Day gift bag with his new shirt. While he was looking for an extra c.d. case in our closet, he came across this bag. (He must really like his new golf shirt.)

We are off to Colorado in the morning and will post pretty much our entire summer when we get back.

The Case of the Missing Nintendo DS

. . . still haven't found the camera.

There are those moments in parents' lives when they truely realize how imperfect they are. Let me relate one such moment I had today. We have been on Gavin's case for a good couple of months to try to find his Nintendo DS that he got for Christmas this past year. "You need to be responsible for your things," is what we have said over and over again. I was beginning to realize this thing could have been left anywhere and the possibility of it turning up was decreasing.

While I was doing the dishes this morning, I was thinking, 'cause that's what I do when I do the dishes, about the DS. Then I remembered that this thing was used for leverage and when Gavin misbehaved it was taken away. "I wonder if Rob or I put it somewhere as a punishment and forgot about it," I thought. So on a hunch I drug a chair over to the armoire in our living room. Standing on the chair, I looked up and over the top of this piece of furniture and found myself staring at a dusty, black Nintendo DS! We don't even remember who delivered this punishment or what the punishment was for. Needless to say, boy and his personal video game system are reunited--and yes a few hours later, I threatened to take it away again.

Wouldn't we all be wrecks if we couldn't laugh at ourselves? I appreciate the saying that we shouldn't take ourselves too seriously. . . . and thank goodness for forgiving children.

Diary of a "Soccer Mom"

. . . . um I mean "Baseball Mom"

I have so much I could write about to catch up from the last couple of weeks. I'm hoping to FIND my CAMERA! Yes, that's right . . . can't find it right now. I have a feeling the almost 2 yr. old in my house found a new place for it and didn't tell me. Today's blog will be sans pictures.

A little over a week ago Gavin had his very last baseball game of the season. His team played the first place team who had only lost one game the whole season. Our team played fantastic and took the lead! Gavin made a great stop threw to first to his buddy Gage and got a final out to win the game. Not only was I celebrating the great win, but enjoying the idea that sports would be over for awhile and we could enjoy summer evenings at home or at the pool without having to be somewhere . . . aaaaaaahhhhhh! HOLD UP . . . . a man sought me out in the middle of this thought at the baseball park and informed me that Gavin made the All Star team.

"Uh, okay, how much longer do we go?"

"Until mid July."

"When do we practice?"

"Everday."

(Cough, choke)"We'll have to get back to you on that."

After much reluctance on my part, Rob told the coach he'd play. (ha ha ha) So every night you will find the little Glasgow family with their double stroller, dirt and sweat stained faces over at Ashley field for 2 or more hours supporting our Gavin. He is having a lot of fun so far and I think he sure looks cute out there.

Ethan is Gavin's biggest fan, though. Gavin is so lucky to have him as an older brother. You will usually find Ethan at Gavin's games with his nosed pressed against the fence cheering.

The State Tournamen for tee-ball starts on Friday. Go Bryant!!!!

SCHOOL'S OUT!!!!

School is officially over. It's time for swimming, sleeping in, popsicles and vacation!




Ethan made the "A" Honor Roll for the year. He also got an award for Spelling Achievement because he had a 100% average. We've loved his teacher, Ms. Boyd.





Gavin passed Kindergarten with flying colors. He was one of three who got an award for good conduct. This is his teacher Mrs. Lawson and she is AMAZING! I think she loves those kids as if she was their mom. She reminds me of the teacher from The Magic School Bus books. First grade . . . . bring it on!

The Glasgows vs. Rotavirus

You may be wondering where I've been and the truth is we have been fighting a long drawn out battle against Rotavirus. This is a mean and nasty competitor and it hits below the belt (literally). I believe I've had every fluid that can come out of a child's body (north and south) on me at some point in the last two weeks. He took us down but not out.

We had some worrisome moments when Lindsey had to be admitted to the hospital for dehydration. Things became worse when no one could get an i.v. going and she was transferred to Arkansas Children's where they were still not able to insert an i.v. Thankfully she began keeping Pedialyte down with the threat that if she didn't, she would have a tube inserted through the nose to go into her stomach-whew! After a 24 hour stay we were able to go home. I hated seeing her getting poked so many times and also so sick. But I was comforted by the blessing she received and knew she would be just fine. I was so grateful that dehydration was all we were there for. I know that there are some very sick children in that hospital that were in a lot worse shape than Lindsey. I pray for those kids and their parents.

We were home a little over three hours and Gavin emptied everything he had in his stomach which I believe was about two days worth all over his bedroom floor. When you are a family, you share everything! The next day Ethan was struck by this horrible thing, although it took him about a day to admit it. AND we found ourselves back at the doctor's with Lindsey to learn she had an ear infection. Upper respiratory infections are associated with Rotovirus and FYI-I learned that about 100% of children get this at some point--yayyyyy! Soooooo, Rob and I contract the "upper respiratory" (a cold and cough) part of the virus--thank goodness that was it. Austin had a little trouble down South, but got over it in about a day.

So, I can say we have conquered Rotavirus.

Flashback Friday-Rise and Shout

This is pretty random, but I have some catching up to do from the last year. We are missing football around here, so here's a blog to help us get through.

Last September our Cougars were less than 5 hours away in Tulsa, OK. We could not miss the chance to see them play! We arrived early in order for us to enjoy the pre game pep rally in a nearby park. The boys got their faces painted, we purchased more game day gear and stocked up on a few posters for the BYU room (I'll have to blog about that later). We managed to get a few pics with Cosmo. The game was exciting, but the Cougars took a hard loss that night. We plan to take a trip back to Texas to see the TCU game this fall. We're hoping for another great season. Go Cougs!

Vitamins

One of my fears about blogging is that one of my former English teachers, high school or college, will come across my blog. Writing was never my best subject and I feel as if I have each of them sitting on my shoulder every time I post.

Anywho . . . .here's a cute story about "vitamins."

Just before we walked out the door to drop the kids off at the neighbors and enjoy a nice dinner alone, Ethan and Gavin ran into the kitchen shouting, "Mom! You forgot to take your vitamin today!" In their hands was this month's packet of my "Pills." (as in the Pill, yes with a capital P) And sure enough on the column that was labeled Friday, there was still a pill in its place. I keep my packet right behind my bathroom sink faucet where I will see it every night. They instructed me that I needed to take it, right then and there. And so I did. I appreciate my sons making sure that I get all the nutrients that I need. Even better, Gavin asked if he could have one. He quickly dropped that idea when I informed him that these vitamins were only for girls and that he might turn into one. Later that night I joked with myself that they were little "reminders" on so many levels!

Joking aside, Mother's Day has recently come and gone, and what a celebration it is for me personally! It was a great day of reflection on the five most wonderful blessings I have been given in my life (my husband and 4 adorable kids). I celebrate the fact that I get to perform all of those job titles that fall under the ultimate title of "Mother."

My Mom ROCKS!!!

It is the Friday before Mother's Day, oh what do I blog about? I could blog about the fact that my husband is leaving town for the third Mother's Day out of the last four, but why go there? No big . . it's not the first time, and I know it won't be the last. I think I'll talk about my mom, of course, and why I think she should be "Mother of the Year" for the 32nd year running. I know Steph just blogged about her birthday, but it's Mother's Day (and mine is better--just kidding!).

Proving that once you're a mom, you're always a mom, she has bent over backwards (in some cases literally) to serve her family and put her kids first. Last Fall she took a quick and unexpected trip to New Jersey to help Kim when she broke her foot and wasn't supposed to go up and down stairs. Either right before or right after that (I've had a baby since then, so I've lost a few brain cells and can't remember) she surprised me and came to Arkansas for a week. It so happened that the night before her surprise, I had a HUGE meltdown. What better therapy than to have your mom come stay! She's taken several trips all over the nation to see all of us and three of those trips were to come help with new babies. FORTUNATELY, she came and stayed for three weeks when Austin was born. I still don't know if she knows what a major relief that was for Rob and I. You would think that would have exhausted her, but shortly after that she went to Utah for another TWO weeks to take care of her own mom recovering from back surgery.

My mom is my hero, she is my friend. She is my mentor and teacher, still. I still cannot decorate a room, get my haircut, buy clothes, or even raise my own kids without wondering, "What would mom do?" She has faced some challenges this year and I hope I can face the same ones with the grace and strength she has. I don't think she realizes this, but she has paid me several compliments lately (about my hair, kids, my home). Those compliments mean THE WORLD to me when it comes from my "hero-mentor-mother." Even though I can't walk in the door after school anymore to a batch of warm cookies and my room cleaned for me, my mom STILL manages to give me the same "warm fuzzies" as her grown-up (well?) daughter.

Love you Mom! Happy Mother's Day!

The Pillar Killer

Thanks for the tag Aunt Stephanie! Here are 7 things about Miss Lindsey Kate:

1. She has been nicknamed "Pillar Killer" recently because she loves to play with caterpillars or "pillars" which ultimately results in the poor insects' deaths.

2. We can get her to eat anything if we offer Ranch dressing or ketchup with it.

3. She has the most beautiful big GREEN eyes.

4. She sings ALL day. The other night she sang "Amen, amen, amen!" all throughout our family prayer.

5. She is the ONLY girl in her family, sandwiched between two older sports-a-holic brothers and a baby brother.

6. She LOVES her brothers dearly. She misses Ethan and Gavin while they are at school. She mothers little Austin as she makes sure he has his "mankey" (blankey) and his "pap-eye-er" (pacifier).

7. Inspite of the fact that she is surrounded by so much masculinity, she is 100% GIRL!

We tag Nana and anyone else who might read this post. How about Carson C. or Davis C.?

A Different Perspective

While I'm taking a quick break from laundry, I thought I would share what happens when the kids get a hold of the camera when your not looking. I just found these pics on my camera the other day.

Introducing . . . .

I'm back from Pregnantland and almost out of Newbornland :( and am ready for a new post since it has almost been a year now. Since the last post we have welcomed Austin John to the family, born on February 10th, weighing in at 7lbs. 15 oz. He loves to be cuddled and held close and smiles all of the time. He has already discovered his voice and will coo for anyone who will stop to listen. His brothers and sister are so proud; all three are wonderful helpers. Having the fourth just maybe the easiest one! He looks so much like his brothers except he is the runt out of the four kids. We are so blessed to have him as our biggest surprise ever!