Friday, December 23, 2016

Lotts of Christmas Cheer







Lotts of Christmas cheer in 2016


 

It’s beginning to look a Lott like Christmas as I look outside and see my boys riding their scooters through the snow while wearing shorts.  Then a few minutes later, I have to take a break from writing this letter to investigate crying sounds coming from outside.  Little brother is in tears due to older brother getting a little too rough during a snowball fight.  And once again I have to explain to a really confused older brother who doesn’t seem to understand that a compacted snowball can be as hard as throwing a rock at someone.  So I examine the big red mark on the little brother’s tummy and tell him to be grateful he wasn’t hit in the face.  Lotts of fun – but at least one is going to bed early for the night so there might be a little more peace and quiet for a moment.

2016 was a good year for the Lott family and of course we had Lotts going on like always…

Ethan turned 8 this year.  He had been counting down the days since he turned 7 until he was able to be baptized.  He started inviting everyone he would see and was so excited that it would actually happen on his birthday.  He was also so excited to become a cub scout.  He puts on his new scout shirt and excitedly recites the cub scout oath and motto to anyone who will listen.  I think I actually know it by now.  He is soooo excited for cub scout day camp.  I admit I am not too excited to hear him asking when it is for the next six months or so.  Ethan also loves to do math problems.  As we drive in the car he asks me to give him different math problems to solve.  Thanks a lot Mike, I am sure he gets this from you, you darn bean counter.  There goes my chance for a nap.  Oh well, we love our little Ethan.  He keeps us on our toes and laughing.  We especially got a kick out of it when he was having some tummy problems and he walked around telling people he was full of manure.

Adam will be 11 in April.  He is growing up way too quickly.  I like to bug him by grabbing his ear and then giving him a kiss on his cheek and he can’t get away unless he pulls way hard, which pulls his ear.  He isn’t amused.  I then tell him his ear wouldn’t hurt if he wouldn’t dodge the kiss.  He also enjoys it when I volunteer in his class at school.  However, he is too embarrassed to actually make eye contact with me.  Adam still loves sports and had fun playing flag football and baseball this year.  He enjoys scouts as well, but doesn’t recite the motto to everyone he knows.   He will receive his Arrow of Light award in a few months.  Adam is a good boy and we will keep him, especially because he is old enough to mow the lawn and take care of the animals.


Jaime started high school this year.  She of course enjoys it mostly because of all the new boys.  It’s fun to listen to her talk about them with her friends.  We have already informed her that when she can start dating next year all the boys she dates will be required to have an interview with her dad as he’s cleaning his gun.  She isn’t amused.  She is 15 and would already have her learners permit, but refuses to keep her room clean and thus we refuse to let her use our car.  Aren’t we mean parents?  But regardless of her messy room, she is a joy, most of the time.  She is doing very well at school and is already preparing for college.  We joke that she is more focused on her future than her older brother, ok it’s not a joke.  Jaime still loves to play the piano.  She also loves to be on her phone when she isn’t grounded from it.

Our family letter wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Ryan.  This would have been a big year for him.  He would have graduated in May.  He also would be excited to receive a mission call and be serving the Lord for two years.  But he is already serving the Lord and with tears in ours eyes we are thankful he was needed for a special purpose.  We can’t fully comprehend it now and take comfort that someday we will.   We love you Ryan. 


Alex returned from his mission to the Philippines in June.  It was a very special day welcoming him home.  I admit I cried most of the day because I was so excited to see him and now I cry wishing he could go back, Jk.  Ok, I am not kidding.  But it was very humbling to see how excited he was to drink cold water out of the kitchen faucet again, lie on the carpet and hear how much he enjoyed taking a warm shower without the company of cockroaches.  Thank you for the sacrifices you made and for your example.  Alex recently moved up to Logan to hopefully start preparing for his future.  We are crossing our fingers.  He recently bought a new/old car, which I am sure was mostly purchased due to the speakers that take up half the trunk.   At least now when he will ignore me it will probably be legitimate due to him having gone deaf.   And another awesome fact is that it’s yellow and now my kids keep punching each other in the arms when they see it as they say,” Bingo”.  Whoever made up that darn game needs to be punched in the arm themselves.  Fun times.   But we did figure out that we now have a ketchup car (Mike’s red car), a mustard car (Alex’s) and I have an orangish vehicle  (fry sauce).  I guess we love our condiments.


I made the mistake of suggesting to a friend who is PTA president that she should start a Box Top store at our school.  Next thing I know, I am on the PTA board and over the Box Top store.  Yikes, I have now learned to keep my mouth shut or at least anonymously give suggestions.  No really it’s been fun to be on the board and get to know the other moms and see the boys at school.  This way I also have an “in” with their teachers and can keep an extra eye on them.  I still enjoy sleeping, napping and watching girly movies during the day while the family is gone.   As I have nothing else to do with all my free time and so I figure, “what the hey?”  I do still love to do laundry and other various jobs around the house and want to publically thank my family for never letting these joyous tasks end.  And for wearing out their socks because I love to go shopping for socks.  (Well, I had better go take a nap.  I still haven’t mastered it and need all the practice I can get.)


They aren’t kidding when they say you are blessed having a missionary out.  Not 24 hours after Alex getting home Mike was playing lightning with all the boys in the front yard and long story short, he ruptured his Achilles tendon.  Not by doing anything impressive like dunking it.  He’s just old and it broke.  And at first he didn’t realize what had happened and thought one of the kids had just kicked him really hard.  It wasn’t until days later he couldn’t move his calf and we knew something serious must be wrong.  Now that I think about it that never would have happened had he been mowing the lawn which was what I was doing while they were playing.  Needless to say I am glad it was him and not me- Jk.  Poor guy.  He ended up having surgery a week later and spent the summer recovering.     But I did suffer as well having to take care of him and having to cancel all of our fun summer plans, JK.  But, thank goodness for modern technology as he was able to ride a little knee scooter around our house for the next month or so.  And yes he would occasionally chase us around on it.  I actually had to ground the kids from it as they kept running into the walls with it.  We were blessed that Mike was able to work from home most of the summer and thankful he was doing much better come fall for our nonrefundable trip to Disneyland.  Mike survived all the walking and waiting in lines and opted for the pain because he refused to ride a jazzy around the park.  We told him he should take one for the team so we could go in the handicap lane and skip all the lines, but his pride (Mike inserted - rolls eyes) got the best of him and he refused. 


Putting all the silliness aside, we have sooo much to be thankful for.   At this time of the year might we all remember the true meaning of Christmas and celebrate in the birth of a precious little baby boy long ago.  And because of this precious baby I can be with my sweet babies and loved ones forever.  And for this gift I am forever grateful.


 

With love from the Lott family and wishing you a
Very Merry Christmas and a Joyous 2017













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