Dear Family,

This week has been a week of cookies. It seems like every night we heard a knock on our door and a plate of goodies was dropped off. Kids were excited every night to see who was there and what they brought with them! Then Friday the kids helped me make a bunch of sugar cookies for our cookie exchange party. They turned out really good so here is the recipe:

Cream 1 1/2 c butter, 1 1/2 c sugar. Add in 1 c sour cream, 3 eggs at room temp, and 3 tsp vanilla. Mix well. Add 1 1/2 tsp soda, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt, and 6 c flour. Roll out on floured surface, cut in shapes and bake at 350 degees for 8-10 min. Cool and frost with cheese frosting (1 box cream cheese, 1/2 bag powdered sugar, 1 stick butter, 2 tsp vanilla and milk to desired consistency). We then sprinkled crushed peppermint stick on top. There is a candy outlet by us that sells crushed candy canes in a shaker box.


The cookie party was a lot of fun. It was only for girls so the Mom's sat and visited for 2 hours while the girls had lots of fun being unsupervised in the kitchen with a bunch of cookies to frost. Didn't bother to clean too much before hand as I knew we would be cleaning a lot after - and we did but it was worth it. Robyn was the youngest there and all the big girls got a kick out of watching her eat a whole bowl of frosting and then dump a thing of sprinkles on her plate and eat that too.

To make up for so much girly stuff, Jeremy and Spencer went to watch the BYU bowl game in a movie theater. Spencer had spent the morning sleeping but was very excited to go to the game with his Dad. Halfway through the game though he started spiking a fever and getting chills and aches. Didn't want to leave though until he knew BYU won so they stuck it out. He fell asleep on the ride home and slept until after 10 today. Fever is gone and he seems to be feeling better.

Had a bunch of doctor visits this week - some times they just come all grouped together. Lauri had 2 appointments this week. Our kids are getting well trained at the idea of staying in the car for an hour or two with their coloring, treats or sometimes a movie on the DVD player. I had to go back into the dentist. My root canal hasn't been finished yet (they are doing it in January) but it got reinfected and spread to my jaw bone. So I am on penicillin now and the pain is mostly gone thankfully. I am hoping I can make it till after Christmas to get it finished and the crown put on. Being on call for a root canal means having to find a babysitter at the last moment for 3 hours. Not something I want to attempt during the holidays.

Taylor went up to SLC and got his new wheelchair this week. It is very different from his old one but seems much more comfortable as he isn't so squished. It can still fit in the back of our van without breaking it down, which is a big plus. The frame is camouflage which I hear really hides the stains well and it looks cool. It is a manual chair instead of a tilt chair and has smaller back wheels on it so it isn't so tippy.

Spencer went up to see Dr Connolly on Friday. We all agreed that parnoias are the biggest problem for Spencer and that most of the anger problems stem from then - being angry is a better feeling than being scared. Since he reacted so badly to depakote we are being very hesitant on other drugs. So we are going to try zyprexxa and gradually taper down the seraquil and replace it with the syprexxa which is a similar drug to see if it works better on him. The biggest concern with zyprexxa is the weight gain but although he was ravenous on lithium, since he has been off of it his appetite is almost below normal so hopefully it won't be a big issue for him. We were going to start zyprexxa yesterday but since he was sick we are holding off a day to make sure we don't miss any reactions to the new drug. He is starting on a miniscule dose.

Kids had a bunch of parties this week at school. Spencer went caroling with his cub scouts. He had his piano group class this week at school. It was funny to hear him talking to our neighbor's son on the way home from class about how he likes piano, that its pretty awesome but that it can cut into your play time. He didn't know I was listening of course or he would never have admitted it.

Allison and Robyn are just loving the season. They are either playing together or Robyn is hitting Allison while Allison tries to play by herself. Such is the lot of sisters. Hope that all of you enjoy your Christmas this week! I taught in church today and all we did for the lesson was share our favorite scripture from the New Testament. Brought back memories as mine is from when Daniel back from his mission asked me what my favorite miracle was and his became mine - probably because I could relate so well. Its the story of the man bringing his boy with seizures to be healed and saying "Lord, heal thou my unbelief". I am sure we will be posting a lot of pictures this week after Christmas. Love to you all, Heather