January in pictures

Here is my effort to catch up on all of the little things we did in January...

January marked the beginning of the new "Come follow me" curriculum for our church. Throughout the week we study a block of scripture together with the curriculum manual. The first week of January talked about being responsible for our own learning and being prepared. We studied the story of the wise and foolish virgins and made oil lamps out of clay one night. It was a big hit with the kids. Jack asked if we could do that every night. They looked pretty legit. You can almost guess which one belongs to each person in our family.

The new curriculum has been so enjoyable to study as a family. We have already learned and grown so much in the first month.

Grandma came back on the 7th and stayed for 2 weeks. She was a huge help and we had a lot of fun.

Daddy drove our new van from Kansas City. We named him "Moby" after the whale in Moby Dick. It seats 15 passengers which means we can fit the Noonan family and our family all in one car. We are going to have some pretty incredible road trips. The kids were so excited to take a ride that they stopped playing the instruments they just made with grandma and we went around the block as soon as daddy got home. Jack begged for us to drive him to school with the new van the next day. I wonder when he will figure out that this big van isn't as cool as he thinks it is.

Chap and Tenny got their first bath at 3 weeks old. Ruby loved watching the whole thing. Chap really liked it, Tenny not so much. That's pretty much been the standard ever since.

Tenny hating it

Chap loving it

On January 12th we discovered our gerbil, Jake, was no longer alive in his cage in the laundry room. I think this just proved that I really was the sole person keeping him alive as I fed him whenever I was in there doing laundry. I hadn't done laundry in a few days since my mom was here and he just couldn't last any longer. This is why we can't have pets.

Jake was Gracie's gerbil and her response when finding out he had died was "Well I guess I don't have to clean his cage today." Apparently, she was heartbroken.

Daddy and Haken went out in the sub zero temperatures and did the only thing we could with the hard ground...cream mate Jake. The kids watched from the window. That's gerbil number 3 in our burial grounds.

On the same day Jake died we had a huge storm that dropped a bunch of snow. They spent the whole day outside shoveling and building a snowman. Ruby helped out by eating the carrots we gave her for the snowman on the front porch and daddy helped out by creating an incredible snowman scene that became famous in our neighborhood.

Haken was ordained to the priesthood, the babies were blessed and Jack was baptized. While we had grandparents here we did a quick day trip to Nauvoo. More about all of that in this post.

Tenny and Chap got really good at staring contests. I think Tenny won.

We finally took down all of the Christmas cards that greeted us every day on our garage door. We sure do love our friends and family.

We went through a polar vortex and school was cancelled two days in a row. We had windchills of -44. We were even colder than Antarctica. We spent one day with the Noonans at our house and the next day Jack had his friend Braeden here. We were really grateful for our nice warm house. Those cold temperatures are no joke!

Jack's school celebrated the 100th day of school by dressing up like they were 100 yrs old. I think Jack nailed it with the help of daddy's art skills and my dry shampoo spray.

 Of course, we also loved on our babies constantly. They turned one month on January 21st and are doing fantastic. Here is their one month update.

The month of Ordinances

On December 14th, our church announced an age change for the ordination to the priesthood. Haken will be turning 12 years old this June and would be able to be ordained to the priesthood. However, under these new changes, 11 yr olds can be ordained in January of the year they turn 12 yrs old. This means that Haken could be ordained a full 6 months sooner than we anticipated. This was a huge surprise for us and I was pretty emotional about it when I read the announcement.

When I heard the news I had a confirmation that this change was from God. The youth of our day are so ready for this change. They are more prepared than ever before. Haken has been doing family history and indexing for the last year and been on fire. He absolutely loves it and has really gained a testimony of the restored gospel by doing that work. He could not wait to be ordained so he could go to the temple to perform baptisms for those names that he had found. When he came home from school that day we sat together as a family and read the letter from the first presidency to them. Haken sat there for a minute and then said "wait...that means...I can go to the temple?!"

On Sunday, January 6th he was ordained to the Aaronic priesthood in our home by Shad. A member of the bishopric and the Noonans came to our house for the ordination because I was still staying home from church with the twins. We had grandma and grandma Anderson and Grandma Lori on facetime to see it.

I am so proud of him being worthy to be ordained to the priesthood. He is a special kid and such a great example to his siblings. He was so excited to pass the sacrament and attend the temple. He didn't have to wait long. That Friday, January 11th, he went to the Indianapolis temple for the first time. He had his clothes all laid out in his room ready to go the night before. It made me laugh when I peaked in there.

He was able to take the names of the ancestors he had found and performed baptisms in their behalf. I wasn't able to go, but Shad loaded up the new 15 passenger van and headed to Indianapolis right before the storm came in the next day. Haken's friend Laney was also able to go for her first time with him. Monica, James, Eliza, Dayna Perkins, and her three kids, Bryton, Meadow, and Micah also came. It was the first time we had taken the van out and everyone had a great time together. I was sad that I wasn't able to be there, but I'm sure there will be lots more opportunities to go with him. In fact, we went the next Friday to Nauvoo when we had all of the grandparents in town for Jack's baptism and the twins blessing.

My mom had flown in on the 7th of January and Steve and Kristin had flown in on the 17th.

Steve and Kristin had never been to Nauvoo before so we decided to go the next day. We loaded up the 15 passenger van with all of our kids, the 3 grandparents, Monica, Eliza, and Laney. It was our first time having our whole family together in the big van. The twins traveled really well. Grandma sat between them and popped in the binkis when needed.

We stopped at Carthage jail on the way to Nauvoo. I fed the babies in the visitors center while everyone else took a tour.

We grabbed some lunch and then headed into Nauvoo. When we got there Shad dropped us off at the visitors center, except for Steve and Kristin. He took them to explore Nauvoo a little bit. It was freezing! There was a huge storm coming in the next day. I sat in the theater and fed the babies while Monica and my mom took the kids on a sleigh ride and wagon oxen ride. They had a great time even though it was cold.

Then we headed to the temple. My mom watched the kids in the welcome center while the Haken, Laney, and Eliza did baptisms and the rest of us went and did an endowment session. I was so grateful that my mom could come with us so I could go to the temple. With us being so far away from any temples and the babies being so small I didn't think I would be able to go anytime soon. It was a huge blessing.

We headed home, grabbed some pizza on the way, and beat the storm home. The next day was supposed to be Jack's baptism at 10am. We decided to postpone it until Sunday night hoping the weather would be better.  Unfortunately, the storm was pretty bad so they canceled church on Sunday. We were supposed to bless the twins in sacrament meeting that day. After talking to the bishop we got permission to have Jack's baptism that day at 1:00 at the church anyway and bless the babies then as well. We figured it would be safer to have it earlier in the day than in the evening when it would ice over again.

It was such a memorable day! We had so many of our ward family show up to support us. We even had a few nonmember friends come. Our neighbors, the Cunninghams, and our friends the Leser's were there. Jack also invited his teacher from school, Mrs. Benedict, and she was going to come when it was on Saturday, but couldn't on Sunday. He handed out invitations that Shad had made and some actually came.

I was so proud of Jack. He was so ready to be baptized. It was hard for him to wait a few extra weeks for his grandparents to be there because he was so excited. After he was baptized he was confirmed and received the Holy Ghost.

After Jack was baptized Shad blessed each of the twins. He said it was difficult giving 3 different blessings right in a row but he did a great job and I felt like he gave them each a blessing that the Lord wanted them to have.

Some notable things that the twins were blessed with was for Tennyson to have a "stead and calm presence in our home and help others to see clearly through the chaos in their life" and Chapman to "direct the energy that you have towards the work of the Father to bring souls to Christ and to be a source of happiness in other's lives."

Tennyson on the left and Chapman on the right

I am so grateful for a worthy priesthood holder in our home. I am so blessed to have a husband who honors his priesthood and cannot only bless our children but also perform the saving ordinances that they need for salvation.

January was a month of ordinances that I will never forget. Four in one month must be a record!

One month.

The twins turned one month on January 21st and had their first appointment with Dr. Sather on the 22nd. They checked out great and don't have an appointment for another month.

Here is an update on their stats:

Chapman

Weight: 6lbs 14oz (2nd%)

Height: 20in (5th%)

Head: 14.5in (20th%)

Our tiny little man. He is on his own curve and doing great. He likes to eat more frequently than Tenny does. He is often the one initiating the feedings, especially at night. He is a snuggle bum and curls right up to you. He really likes to sleep on your chest. His features look the most like the Anderson side of the family. When he is awake he is really awake and alert. He likes to be social and see what is going on. We got our first big open mouth smiles from him at about 1 month. He gets worked up pretty easily and is the louder crier, however, after he has everything that he needs he is a pretty chill baby for long periods of time. He likes being swaddled and sucking on his binki, although he doesn't require it to sleep every time. We switched him over to size one diapers, but only because we ran out of newborn diapers, he really fits those much better. He has super skinny legs with no chub. He has two red birthmarks both on the right side. One is on his bum and one on his back. The doctor said they will most likely fade or go away all together which is surprising because they are quite large. He doesn't have very much head control yet and pretty much hates tummy time because of that. 

Tennyson

Weight: 7lbs 2oz (5th%)
Height: 21in (36th%)
Head: 14.5in (20th%)

The younger brother, but the bigger, denser brother. He is a pretty serious baby most of the time. He hates baths, diaper changes, or being uncomfortable at all. He is a serious sucker. Sometimes we think he might suck so hard his binkie will split in half. He is a fabulous sleeper and loves to be swaddled. We have to wake him up most often to eat because Chap is ready to go. We often wonder if he could go all night without eating but don't dare try it yet. He has mostly Evans features and is a spitting image of his brother Benny's newborn pictures. He had a little bit of cradle cap this month, which went away quickly, but also took his blonde hair with it so he now has a receding old man hairline. He is a very rigid baby and fights snuggling up to you, especially when he doesn't want to go to sleep. He doesn't cry very easily but has to work himself up to it. He usually sticks his bottom lip out before getting too worked up. Haken has lovingly named him "the brick." He is super strong and doesn't mind tummy time too much because he can hold his head up so well already. However, he was starting to prefer laying on one side of his head and getting a flat spot so we had to start watching that and readjusting him often while sleeping.