There are days...

There are days when I absolutely love my calling. I love the kids, the "good" ones, but especially the rowdy ones. I love learning to love the rowdy ones. I love the chance I have to teach them. I love this chance I get to learn to serve. I love seeing the kids grow in the gospel. I love hearing the crazy and random things they say. I love it when they wave at me during Sacrament meeting or give me a hug after church. I love it when a child comes to church wearing church clothes for the first time. I love it when the kids feel comfortable enough to randomly come sit by me or talk to me. It is truly a great calling and I really do love it.

Then there are days I get out the calendar so see how much longer I have to do this. But these days aren't necessarily the days I tackle the boys, or break up fist fights during sharing time. These days are days like today, when I feel like every decision I make is wrong. When I feel like everyone thinks I have the wrong teacher in the wrong class. When the room assignments keep changing. When I still don't have a teacher to fill a vacancy. When dates for activities keep changing or are cancelled. When, no matter how hard I try, I still can't figure out a way to keep the Valiant Boys from beating on each other. When I look at my teachers and see a look in their eyes that says, "I'm totally stressed out. How can you help me? It's your job to help." and honestly not know how to fix it.

I know not all of my decisions are awesome. It's hard making decisions that directly affect 50 kids and their 10 adult teachers (I'm younger than 99% percent of them). But it would be nice not to hear the little, "I told you so," or the "I would do it differently," voice in my head all the time. Today is one of those days when I know I only have about 16 weeks left, and it will be a relief not to be in charge.

Grandma's & Granddaughters

We were very blessed to have our moms visit this month to help with the arrival of McKenzie. I just want to say thank you to both of you for all of the help you gave us. Thanks and we miss you already!

M & M Rain

This weekend we watched "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs." It would be pretty awesome if food fell from the sky (especially if you've been stuck eating sardines for years), but I couldn't help but be troubled by a couple of things in the movie. First-getting hit by the food. Hello! I don't want to be nailed in the head by a cheeseburger and soda. Second-do you really want to eat that food right off the ground? So much for the five second rule. Third-leftovers. That town would really smell horrible with all of the uneaten food hanging around. Besides that though, it was a good movie. Cambrie is now pretty convinced that food really can fall from the sky. She was asking for it to rain M&M's the other day. Jeremy decided that he could make that happen. He pulled out his marshmallow shooter, loaded it with mini M&M's, and fired away.

Cambrie waiting anxiously in anticipation. Ready, aim, fire! Quick Cambrie! Eat them before they run away!

Baking Cupcakes

For fun we decided to make princess cupcakes one night while Jeremy was interviewing in Colorado. Cambrie helped mix the batter, sprinkle the sprinkles, put in the princess crowns, and eat them (of course)! We decided to make it a real party and pull out Cambrie's tea set. The most humorous part of the evening, however, was Cambrie's costume changes. Count them:

OneTwoThreeFourHurray for yummy cupcakes and tea parties!

Interviews

This weekend Jeremy went out to Colorado for some interviews....yikes. Is it really time for that? Really? I can't believe that it is finally our turn to be "The 4th Years." To hear the question, "So what are you guys doing in May?" And to answer, "I have no idea." Since we've lived here I have asked that question to so many other 4th years, never dreaming that our turn would come so soon. We have had such a great time here. With all of its flaws, I have really enjoyed living here in Philadelphia. We have made some spectacular friends, done so many things, and have had some amazing experiences. So when I think about where we'll be going next...and there's nothing there but a great big question mark it's scary. We are currently in limbo, waiting to hear back from the handful of dentists Jeremy has talked to. We may be in Utah, we may be in Colorado, or we may be somewhere else entirely. I don't like living in limbo. At this point there is nothing I can do but wait. Waiting is going to seem like forever, but I know it will just fly by and then suddenly we have to make decisions. We have to be adults. I'm not ready to be an adult (student life doesn't really seem to count). I know that there are 14 other families here in Philadelphia with us who are in the same situation, getting ready to move on to the next stage. I sure hope that you guys are as excited and terrified about all of this as I am. Oh man, what a crazy five months we have ahead of us.

Quick Change Artist

Cambrie loves changing her clothes. Before breakfast she typically changes out of her pj's, into another set of jammies, then into a dress-up dress, followed by another dress-up dress, before finally settling on a different pair of pajamas. This count does not take into account her panty changes. She'll want to wear Cinderella, then Dora, then Beauty....it never ends. Last night after I put her to bed I could hear her talking to herself for about an hour and a half before it was finally silent. When I went to peak in on her, I found that she had basically emptied her clothes drawer and had changed into her outfit for this morning. I just can't keep up.

Two princesses

McKenzie actually spent time awake yesterday! I know, this is big news. My mom and I tried to get some cute pictures of her with her eyes open and started a mini-photo shoot again. Cambrie didn't want to be left out and insisted on looking her best for her photo shoot too. Can you see the oodles of lipgloss she applied herself? What pretty princesses!

In-context

We watched Disney's "Up" one night as a family. There is a scene where Carl and Ellie are laying in the park watching clouds and making pictures from them. You see turtles, ducks, and ducks float by. Then babies start forming in the clouds, which inspires Cambrie to call out excitedly, "They're making babies!" Yes sweetheart, babies :)

McKenzie's first week

McKenzie's first week has been mostly spent sleeping. She opens her eyes so rarely that we take pictures of them whenever we can. I think this has kind of backfired, because now McKenzie has learned that every time she opens her eyes she will be blinded by a flash. We get some goofy expressions from her.

Like her lop-sided dimple smile.And her "Huh?" look.

So far I know that McKenzie loves being held and swaddled, but needs to have her hands free. She likes being rocked and doesn't like peppers. I'll let you know more when I figure it out myself. Here are some more pictures from her first week.

Pose for the camera. Where's that smile?Her first bath. You can tell she loved it. Yum, and ahhhh...Milk-comaAnd of course big sister loves her.

McKenzie's welcome home party

Cambrie was so excited to see McKenzie when we came home that she wanted to throw a party for her new little sister. Cambrie was our photographer for the evening and she took some great pictures: We even made a birthday cake for McKenzie and sang "Happy Birthday." We tried a new recipe-S'more cake. It sounds interesting, but tastes like s'mores so I can't complain. Just take a look at Cambrie's face and you can tell that she loved it.The party games included Cambrie running circles around everyone and playing dress-up. A nursing pad makes a perfect bunny tail. A boppy is a fantastic silly rainbow hat. It was a fun little party.

Introducing: McKenzie Rogers

Surprise! We have a new baby! McKenzie decided to come two weeks early and completely surprised all of us. She was born on January 5, 2010, at 3:00 AM. She weighed 6 lbs. 13 oz, and was 20 1/2 inches long. Sunday night/Monday morning, I woke up having contractions. They weren't too bad, but when they didn't stop, I started paying attention. Starting at 6:00 AM I was having contractions every 10-15 minutes. My guess was that they were Braxton Hicks and I kept my day going like I had planned: laundry, cleaning, buying some new diapers, and I really wanted a cute coming home outfit for baby (which I assumed to be using two weeks from now). Picture me, 8 1/2 months pregnant, trying to choose an outfit at Babies R Us, but having to stop every 5 minutes to wait for the contractions to pass. I'm sure I thrilled all the employees. They were probably getting the number ready for the ambulance to take me away. The contractions never stopped. Around 3:30 we got home and I realized that I didn't have a phone number to call if things got worse that night. I called the clinic and spoke with one of the on-call doctors. She said that it wouldn't hurt just to go in and get checked out. I called Jeremy at school to let him know that once he got home we needed to eat dinner, then probably go to the hospital. When he got home he was calmly frantic. He was running around the house really quickly trying to get things ready, but claimed to be completely under control. Meanwhile, I felt pretty calm about things and was folding laundry, packing a bag, and eating dinner, but my contractions were now every 3 minutes. We dropped Cambrie off at the Green's (Thank you!), and headed to the hospital. Of course during the 25 minute drive there, my contractions had all but stopped and I only had one. Hmm...false alarm? We parked the car and made our way to Labor and Delivery. The receptionist asked what we needed and I told her I "thought" I was in labor. On our walk into the unit my contractions had resumed and they were coming every 3 minutes again. I got registered and settled in, only to find that my contractions stopped again. Ugh...we had one false alarm with Cambrie and it was plain annoying. But they checked me anyway and found that I was dilated to a 2 and was 80% effaced. That was a surprise. At my check-up last Wednesday I wasn't even close to being ready to deliver. The nurses gave me the option to hang around an hour or so to see if I really was in labor or if I had just made progress that day. I really didn't want to come back later, so I spent that hour walking in the maternity ward and jogging near the vending machines. I was pretty desperate. After that hour I had progressed to a 3. They decided to let me stay a little longer. From there things really started to take off. The contractions really started hurting and I decided there was no way they were going to send me home. They finally hooked me up to an IV around 9:30 PM, and my blessed epidural came at 10:30. From there it was just a waiting game. Jeremy and I watched the Boise St. vs. TCU game then tried to sleep. Yes, I slept through labor. About 2:00 AM I woke up and noticed things had changed. We called in the nurse and sure enough, it was time to get moving. I only had to push three times and then McKenzie came. I was really excited. With Cambrie I didn't know what to expect and was rather emotion-less. With McKenzie I thought it was all so beautiful. Here are some pictures of our time at the hospital:

Our new little addition.One of the few pictures with her eyes actually open.Cambrie technically wasn't supposed to be there because of a hospital restriction due to flu season. We sweet talked the receptionist, played dumb, and they let Cambrie stay for ten minutes. She was really excited to meet baby sister.This is McKenzie DURING a feeding. She's a total sleeper.Daddy came and spent the day with us.Just a cute shot.My mom was able to call the airline when she found out I was in labor, and they switched her flights for her. It was a blessing to have her here taking care of Cambrie and taking down my Christmas decorations.All ready to go home!Cambrie was dancing with joy when we came home. She was really happy to see us.Here is the super cute going-home outfit I bought while in labor. Jeremy with his girls.

Welcome little McKenzie!

Happy New Years!

This was the first year that we celebrated New Years as our own little family. The celebration was small, but we still had a good time. The most exciting part of our evening was trying to come up with as many ways as possible to wear party hats.

Happy New Years!

On New Years Day we decided to check out the Mummer's Parade-you know, it's a Philadelphia tradition. We didn't know what we were getting ourselves into. Apparently there are a couple of different types of mummers. I really wanted to see the Fancies, but they must have been at the beginning of the parade because the only mummers we saw were a little bit drunk and little bit...weird. We'll just add it to our list of odd Philadelphia experiences :)