Dear Family and friends,

Winter finally arrived yesterday with a ton of snow. Allison is outside right now making snow angels and working on a snow man. We had rain all day Friday and then non-stop snow most of the day Saturday. Today the sun is out so all the roads and sidewalks are clearing up but there is still a good 6 inches staying on the grass. Just the way I like it. I haven't taken Robyn out in the snow yet, so I will have to bundle her up later and let her experience it. She keeps pointing out the window at the snow, saying "pretty". She is saying "pretty" a lot lately - for every tree or christmas light display - she is enjoying the season.

The reason Robyn hasn't been outside yet in the snow is that this weekend didn't go quite as planned. Saturday the girls and I and Lauri along with Kelly and her girls were going to spend the day up at the Festival of Trees in SLC. We were all looking forward to it. Friday night my back lower tooth started twinging and by midnight was horrible. I was over dosing on tylenol, pacing around and holding hot pads to my cheek. So I spent Saturday morning having an emergency root canal done and gratefully going to bed high on antibitoics and painkillers as soon as I could Saturday night. One of the nerves had gotten inflamed so they kept shooting Novocaine directly into the nerve as they drilled. Not a pleasant experience but the pain is manageable now and should keep getting better. I go back in the first of January to finish up the root canal and get the crown on. They said one of my old fillings had cracked. This is the second time this has happened to me and makes me worry how many root canals I will end up having!

Yesterday with the snow the kids were happy to stay home. Spencer and Jeremy took the quads out which they love doing. Allison ran around with her friends and drank hot chocolate. They all got their chocolate advent calendars out for the first of December - they have to be hidden during the day, now that Robyn knows what they are.

We had been planning a dinner and temple date last night so Meredith was scheduled to come over. I am so grateful for her. She came and took over while I went to bed and Jeremy went to work on the football dvd. She fed and bathed the kids and I snored away. Not quite the romantic date we had planned.

Monday we had our lighting parade. It was a lot warmer this year - 30 degrees I think so it just felt christmasy and pleasant outside instead of an endurance test to walk down the street. Kids ran around with each other and ate tons of cookies afterwards. Its a good motivation to get your lights up early before the snow each year - its also a bit of pressure! - but our street looks all lit up now at night.

Tuesday we had pack meeting. Spencer got his first bead in his progress towards wolf. His paranoias are pretty high but most people never seem to notice. He begged me to please not be in the room watching him while he got his bead so I was in the hallway with Robyn. For some reason me watching him is his biggest fear. Jeremy taped him and we watched it later - seeing his face makes me realize how scared he is during times like that and how he really has to muster up the courage to do things like that. We talk to the psychiatrist this coming Friday about changing around his meds. (Mom, Spencer appreciated your letter as he has been carrying it around with him)

It seems like Spencer had so much homework this week but that is because he saved 2 big month long projects for the last week. When at 5:30 he tells me that he needs a shoe box and some modeling clay for his project that is due tomorrow and I call Jeremy to ask him to stop at the store on the way home - I had a flashback to the many times my Dad did that for us. His homework may not be great, but he is taking the responsibility to do it and turn it in on time so I need to stop complaining. His teacher will never wonder if his parents are doing the work for him!

I had my eyes checked this week. I don't have to go back now for 6 months. One of my eyes is at 20/20 and the other is at 20/15. I really shouldn't change anymore as all the swelling is gone. I am excited that everything has healed up so well and with PRK there are no worries of the flap unattatching or anything.

We took Lauri out one morning this week to run some errands. I was blessed for taking her as we found some garland that I had been looking for. The girls helped me tie it on the banister and then we tied red globe ornaments dangling from the railings. It looks really pretty. Jeremy liked it until he tried walking down the stairs early in the morning on the way to they gym - he can't use the railings to help him walk down in the dark. Lauri and us stopped at Taco bell to get lunch on the way to take Allison to school. I learned that Robyn should never eat mexican food in the car!

I went in to Allison's class this week to help them make strawberry jam. It was sticky and messy and very sugary but the kids loved it. I just kept looking at their white shirts and their pieces of bread dripping with their newly made jam. They must be all well trained as none of it got on their clothes.

Allison has been crying a lot when arguments are not going her way or acting like she has gotten hurt. Robyn has picked up on it as she says "owie" whenever she needs help. Hopefully that stage will pass. She is still my helper for everything. We went grocery shopping and when we got to the car I turned around and there she was putting all the groceries away in the trunk for me. It was great.

This week I have been gradually cleaning off our walls and floor boards. On Monday the sun came in just right to show all the dirt and stains that have accumulated. It was a great motivator and I was pretty grossed out when I would empty each bucket of cleaner. Made our house look a lot cleaner - at least to me. This week I am hoping to patch and paint all the holes. Does anyone know how to fix impressions in walls - not straight holes but where there has been an elbow or other object hitting the wall and leaving impressions?

Jeremy's family is coming over for dinner tonight. Our kids just assume now on fast sunday that they will be here, which I think is neat.

Love to you all, and hope you're enjoying the season. Heather