A Very Strange Christmas Season

This Christmas was different.

I think it was the weather. I never thought a white Christmas would affect much, but it totally changed the feel of our Christmas. Sure it was romantic, and very beautiful, but we were so busy staying warm and taking care of little crises one by one that I ended up feeling cheated of some of my favorite parts of the Christmas Season.

First of all we missed out on two weeks of Church. It just didn't feel like Christmas without all the Christmas hymns and talks.

Second, the roads were too bad to go much of anywhere. Christmas shopping trips and parties got canceled. What we missed the most was going to my family's annual Christmas Caroling Party. I was really sad to have to miss out on that.

Third, Most of my family was sick. Manly got Laryngitis and lost his voice. He couldn't sing very well...or talk for that matter! And for those of you who know my husband, you know what a trial that was for him! All my kids got winter colds (their first of the season) which then resulted in several ear infections. Jewel got a severe double ear infection. She was in so much pain, she would only sleep when I was holding her upright. Duckie also got an ear infection. No fun! There were lots and lots of tears at my house!

Fourth, my Christmas Eve plans got shot when we got a phone call stating that there was an imminent possibility of the Dallas Water System losing all water pressure. Our city had been without power on and off for 4 days, and the water system had been running on a generator. They were running out of fuel, and weren't sure they could keep it up before power was restored. So we spent an hour or so filling up lots of pots, pans and pitchers full of water. We filled up the bathtubs too. We had no idea if the water was going to disappear and for how long. Manly filled up water barrells that had stood empty for months in our garage. Einstein happily dropped what he was doing and energetically began filling everything in sight with water. Including every cup. My counters were covered with water, and so was my kitchen floor. This made any future Christmas baking very awkward. *(and no, the water never went out, thank goodness)

Einstein Cheerfully helps the family prepare for a possible emergency. Thanks, big guy!

Fifth, Even though the snow began to melt on Christmas day, the roads in some places were still very bad. My Dad picked me up to take my family up to his house since he had chains for his van, while I did not. But even with snow studded tires My kids and I had to hike up the rest of my Dads steep hill to get to his house for the Christmas festivities. We were all so exhausted from fighting the snow (my brother in law had to dig his van out) that we were too tired to do much celebrating.

Sixth, trying to find time to open our Christmas presents was difficult. We opened our personal family gift exchange on Christmas Eve before bed. Christmas morning we did stockings, and everyone opened just few presents because manly had to leave for work, and he wanted to see the kids open the rest of their gifts. But we didn't do it Christmas night because we were at my parents. Then we didn't do it the next day because Manly worked a 16 hour day. Then we gave up for the kids sake and let them open everything. Manly and Laura finally got to exchange gifts on Sunday. Better late than never, right?

Manly about to leave for work on Christmas morning, 6:45 a.m., gives baby Jewel a hug

We did enjoy everything we could, and counted our blessings to be together and have so much during the Christmas season.

But all in all, it was a very strange Christmas.

Louisa shows off the Advent Calendar now that it's finally full!

The Bo-Bo Challenge

The Bo-Bo Challenge

It's been a rough week. Our lovely little Angel, usually so quiet and easy to please has gotten crankier and crankier. Maybe it's the fact that she has a winter cold. Maybe the Terrible Twos has finally caught up with her. Whatever the reason, she has been difficult lately!

4 out of our 5 kids have loved their pacifiers, (in our family we call them bo-bo's). Out of all our kids, Angel has loved her bo-bo the most. In the past, I have always taken away the pacifier of the older toddler before a new baby was born. This time was the exception. I felt like she needed it too much. With baby #5 coming, I knew Angel wouldn't be getting as much cuddling as she was used to, and I wanted her to have as much comfort as she could.

When Angel would wake up in the morning, she almost never still had the bo-bo in her mouth. So at least I knew it was POSSIBLE for her to sleep without it!

It was fine for a while, but over the past few months she began demanding it more and more. She used to only have her bo-bo while she was sleeping. But then she began wanting it during the day more and until she had it all the time. By last month she was using it all the time and only took it out to eat! It was frustrating because no one could understand her when she talked. Even though she could talk perfectly fine, her language skills began to rapidly decline just because there are certain sounds you CANNOT make with a pacifier in your mouth!

This was agony to me, because I remember being a new mother, and looking at older children with pacifiers in their mouth and thinking to myself, "Oh, I will never never do that to my kids! I won't give them a pacifier, and if they do take one, I'll never let them get too old with it...once they can talk, then it's gone." Well, guess what? It happened to me! (I let it happen, I guess)

I tried hiding the bo-bo's from her so she could only have it at bedtime. But my older oh-so-helpful children would always get one for her when she asked for one. I don't blame them! When your two year old sister is crying you want it to stop! Out of expediency and the desire to have a quiet household and happy car rides, I began carrying extra bo-bo's in my pocket wherever I went.

And thus, the bo-bo monster was born!

Angel begins to depend on her bo-bo 24/7

The week of Christmas was the worst. She began crying all the time, even WITH the bo-bo in her mouth. So on Sunday, Dec.28th I finally snapped. I couldn't stand the cranky bo-bo drama anymore.

Poor, sad Angel on the day Mommy took away her bo-bo. In the second picture she is trying to smile for the camera, but you can tell her little heart is broken!

I scoured the house, looked under all the beds and in all the pockets and hid every bo-bo. I decided we'd break her of the habit cold-turkey. If she's going to cry anyway, might as well get rid of the pacifier and get all the misery out of her system. She's turning 3 years old in February, so she's really ready to give it up...even if she doesn't know it yet!



The first day wasn't too bad. She was really sad and kept asking for her bo-bo. I read her stories that night, making up new words to Good Night Moon so that the new storyline talked about the baby bunny missing his bo-bo, but his Mommy in the rocking chair kept on saying "Hush, no more bo-bo's you're too old now!"

She accepted it with relatively good grace and she slept through the night, and I thought to myself, this is going to be a piece of cake!

WRONG!

The next two days were a nightmare. She crumbled to pieces. She spent a lot of time crying in her room and throwing fits. She was quite persistent in asking for a bo-bo, and absolutely horrified when I kept on affirming to her that they were ALL GONE. Finally she began asking, "Couldn't I have ONE bo-bo, just one? You know, the one in your pocket." Clever girl!

Finally yesterday late afternoon after a particularly rough fit, I found her laying on her floor with a stunned expression on her face. She looked up at me with growing understanding and simply said "My bo-bo's are lost!"

Well, today was the best day so far. She slept over at her cousin's house last night and managed to go to sleep without any huge drama. She did pretty good because there were all her cousins to distract her. But she had another melt down at bedtime tonight.

I wonder, how many days can this continue?

And I'm hoping that she won't realize that she can steal baby Jewel's pacifier...that would be a disaster.

But so far, so good!

Angel's favorite past time is to cuddle on the floor with blankies...and preferably a bo-bo.

Dotson Bo-Bo history:
(just for fun, if it bores you, don't read!)

Our family calls them bo-bo's because that was the term Manly was raised with. Most of the kids in his family loved their pacifiers. I think all the kids in turn used a bo-bo. Since there was no tradition like that in my family (only one kid in my family growing up took a pacifier for a while) we just called it what he was used to.

I have never met anyone else in the world except the Dotson side of the family who calls it a bo-bo. But I have heard of several other strange nicknames for a pacifier!

Einstein had a bo-bo till he was 2 years old, then we began to cut of the tips gradually, a little bit more each night. He complained that they were broken, and demanded that we fix it. Of course we couldn't fix them, so he grew resigned. When the bo-bo's nub was too short to suck on anymore, he'd just hold it in his hand to go to sleep, and then finally he just threw them away himself.

Louisa had a bo-bo till she was 22 months old, and then I got rid of them cold turkey. A new baby sister was just 3 months away, and I just explained to her that she was too old for them, and so she couldn't have them anymore. She cried a little bit that first night, but then she never even asked me for one again and got along just fine. It was as if they never existed in her life.

Duckie hated pacifiers of all kinds, we when she was born tried for months to get her to accept a bo-bo. We finally found one brand she would tolerate about half the time. But at three months old she refused to ever suck on one again. If we even tried to put one in her mouth, she got very offended and would scream in rage. So that was the end of that. But after baby Angel was born, Duckie wanted to try a bo-bo just to see what it was like. We let her try it out, but then quickly told her they were the baby's. There was no point in letting a 2 1/2 year old BEGIN a bo-bo dependency!

Angel at her first birthday

Angel: You know all about her now! Only question is, how long till she isn't missing them anymore?

Jewel: Colicky baby hated the pacifier at first, but we convinced her to love it, and now she is quite addicted. We'll see how long she takes one.

Baby Julie and her beloved bo-bo

First post by Louisa

Angel's bo-bo gets taken away!
Written by Louisa.

One night,while driving home in the car from tithing settlement, I heard mom say, "No more bo-bo`s for Angel."

"Why?" asked everyone.
"Because Angel is now officially a preschooler!" Said mom.
And so, now no one was allowed to say the word bo-bo...unless Angel is sleeping!

THE END!

A White Christmas

A White Christmas

First snowfall of the year 12/14/08

We got more snow in December than I thought possible for Oregon to get for the entire year!

We got so excited for this tiny flurry of snow,
not having any clue that in two weeks there would
be two feet of snow, not two inches!
I wish I had thought to take pictures of that!!!

I must admit that it was really fun to have a white snowy Christmas, but after weeks of snow and ice and power outages, I was so happy to see it melt today! The first time it really snowed, they canceled church(Dec. 14th), which really confused some of us since there was barely enough snow to cover the ground. But we went home and played in the snow and built the first snowman of the year! Later that day, the snow was really coming down hard, and we were sure glad to be inside near a warm fire.

First snowman of the year

Daddy turns the snowman into a rhinocerous.
Einstein wanted it to be a snow rabbit instead.
Louisa is inside already drinking her hot chocolate;
she tires of the cold quickly.

Little did we know that was just the beginning. Everyday it snowed. Then it snowed more...and more and more. Till we were so jaded that we didn't even comment on the coming snow. Then came freezing rain and sleet. There was a foot of snow on the ground and everything was encased in ice. It may have been treacherous to drive in, but it was also breathtakingly beautiful. I'm really sad that I didn't get any pictures of it. I guess I was way too busy taking care of things like power outages and Christmas wrapping inside for it to even cross my mind. My favorite thing about the weather was how the Christmas lights looked covered with Ice and snow. There were icicles on the icicle lights! The houses and trees looked like a fairy-tale. I've never seen anything like it.

The kids had a joyous time of it. They went sledding everyday, licked icicles, made snow ice cream and used being cold as an excuse to drink lots of hot chocolate. They collected ice and snowballs in the freezer to "save" for summer. The just loved digging in the ice, making snow angels, and jumping in the giant snowbanks caused by the snow plows. They reveled in the newness of it all.

It wasn't so fun for us parents....or for our animals. The extreme cold froze all the water bottles in all our rabbit hutches. Many days the weather stayed in the teens, way below freezing. It made 30 degrees feel warm. Even though we would thaw the water bottles twice a day and fill them up with warm water, we still lost 9 baby bunnies. It was so very very sad. I think they just weren't able to get enough water past the ice.

We lost power on and off for 3 days, and our phone lines were down for two days. The first time we lost power I could see blue sparks exploding up and down the street. The second time we lost power I could hear the trees cracking and exploding. The city, power, and phone company people were working around the clock trying to clear branches off the lines and get power back to people in time for Christmas. We ran pretty low on batteries. It was pretty eery to hear workmen cutting trees down and trimming branches across the street at 2 a.m.

We had to park our car at the bottom of our steep driveway because there was no possible safe way to get up or down it. Just walking up and down it with 4 kids and a baby was misery. Since we live in a temperate climate, I wasn't prepared for the winter weather. I didn't have an ice-scraper for my van, and we didn't even own a snow shovel. We spent hours digging our cars out (with ill-suited tools), since all the stores quickly sold out of such necessities as snow accessories and tire chains. The scariest part was the trees. They were laden with so much snow and ice you could see them bend nearly to the ground. Broken branches were everywhere. Many trees fell on our neighbors houses, roofs, and cars. One large branch fell on our rabbit hutches. (thankfully, the fence caught most of the weight with out major damage) I got to witness one tree split in two; the crack sounded like a thunderbolt. One half took off a neighbor's gutter, the other half landed on the peak of a different neighbor's roof. We nearly lost our pine tree in front; I'm glad it survived. It would have knocked our power and phone out again for sure!


Church was canceled again for Dec. 21st, and so they delayed the Christmas Program. That day was our 12th year anniversary!!! That night we had a special Christmas party with my sister, and the power went out as the grand finale. It was an adventure to have all our kids and cousins here with no power. To the kids, it was one big exciting adventure. Manly cooked breakfast in the garage on a camping stove. Yeah for propane! We were just so grateful for a wood burning stove. If we didn't have heat, I don't know what we would have done!

Manly and I had really wanted to go out on a date for our 12th anniversary, but with the weather the way it was, it didn't look very likely. Then my sweet thoughtful Dad and two brothers braved the bad weather so that we could go out. (Thanks, guys!) They had two feet in snow up where my parents live in the hills of West Salem. Manly bought me some really nice jewelry for our anniversary present, and then we went out to dinner. We managed to get to and from Salem despite all the ice. It was the parking lots and unplowed side streets that were scary. If your car lost momentum, you'd become entirely stuck. During the weeks of bad winter storms, we saw many cars in ditches along the side of the road.

We had a unique experience with our yearly tradition of Christmas Caroling. We bundled up the kids in several layers, snow pants and boots, and then pulled Angel in our sled along with a box of cookies to deliver to all our neighbors. I was a little worried about walking around on the slippery surfaces while holding baby Jewel. Everything turned out fine, though, and we recieved a very warm welcome from all our neighbors. It was really fun to Christmas Carol in the snow. My feet really hurt from the cold, though. Oregon rain boots just don't work as a well as authentic snow boots! Either I'm not as young as I used to be, or I've just forgotten how bad the cold can hurt. I had to soak my feet in warm water for 30 minutes to get the full feeling back into my toes. All the kids fared much better.

Now that all the mountains of snow are melting, it's time for lots of yard clean up. Today you could hear the neighbors cutting up all the broken tree trunks and branches on the ground. Free firewood? We wonder.....

Christmas Newsletter 2008

Merry Christmas

Hello to everyone who may not have gotten our Christmas letter this year, here it is:


Merry Christmas to all our Family and Friends! The year of 2008 has been one of growth and change for our family. Looking back, we can see the hand of the Lord guiding us and helping us in our trials as well as pouring countless blessings upon us. We’d love to share some of the blessings we experienced with you.


January: Laura got her much anticipated ultrasound and we find out that we will be getting four girls in a row! Einstein despairs of ever getting a baby brother, but he adjusts with optimism. Louisa has fun becoming a Brownie and enjoying the world of Girl Scouts. We all eat too many girl scout cookies!


February: Angel turns 2 years old in the middle of a blizzard. The kids (well- supervised) sled down our steep driveway and enjoy the rare snowfall. The Highlight of the month is cuddling under blankets for hours outside as we witness a spectacular Lunar Eclipse. We also have a terrific trip to the Coast to explore tide pools filled with amazing sea life. Everyone but pregnant Laura and napping Angel hikes to the top of a picturesque lighthouse.


March: We are blessed to find an amazing antique piano for FREE. Our family is thrilled to have such a beautiful instrument grace our home. We have the adventure of having a “BullyBassett” puppy, Tucker, dumped in our laps. Surprise! We work for about 6 weeks to find him a good home. Laura stresses a lot about it since the puppy won’t potty train. Leaning over a pregnant belly to clean up dog messes is a real downer. Our Beagle, Lucy, misses her doggie friend... but Laura doesn’t!


April: The kids enjoy several science classes at the local Children’s Museum. We visit the Tulip Festival and see rainbows of flowers. The kids cherish their swim lessons and look forward to them all week long. We watch the Canadian Geese migrate north and marvel at the beauty of the Northwest in Glorious Spring! Manly takes a week off of work to repaint all the kids rooms and help Laura redecorate the nursery. Lots of fun for Laura, Lots of work for Manly!



May: It’s the big month of anticipation! Baby Jewel is due on the 27th, and Laura prepares mentally for the BIG DAY....which seems to never ever come. In the meantime, we stay busy with Einstein getting his BEAR award in Scouts, and the kids take an educational train trip to Seattle with Grandma and Grandpa. Laura has a garage sale trying to make room in her crowded house for one more little person. Einstein succeeds in selling 5 rabbits, and continues to learn more about how to run a business. THEN ON MAY 24th IT HAPPENS..... Baby Jewel is Born!!! Laura is blessed to have the birth experience of her dreams. Her water breaks at 11 p.m., Manly comes home from work and they travel to Bella Vie Gentle Birth Center. Laura’s sister, Mary Cate, also comes to help with the birth. From Midnight to 1 p.m. Laura labors in a giant relaxing bathtub, and then the real work begins! At 1:24 a.m. Manly delivers his own baby daughter under the direction of the midwives. She is 9 lbs, 10 oz, and 19 inches long. It was the most perfect birth experience Laura could imagine! The midwives at the Birth Center pampered Laura, Manly, and Jewel till they all felt they were on vacation at a resort, instead of recovering from birth!


June: We have an unseasonably cold spring and summer! Manly misses Texas and everyone gets the winter blues. Manly gets 2 weeks off to stay at home and help with kids and assist Laura in her postpartum recovery. He deserves a gold medal for all the cooking, cleaning, and breakfasts in bed! For 2 weeks Laura gets to sleep in everyday and eat breakfast in bed. Wow! It was hard when Manly went back to work, but Laura was blessed with a freezer full of meals to help. They were really needed because Jewel suffers from severe colic. She screams for 2 to 5 hours every single day of the week. Life gets pretty rough. Sleep deprivation haunts the house. Laura dreams of ear plugs. She listens to lots of audio books while walking her poor miserable crying baby around the house.



July and August: Summer is filled with cherries, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and lots of fun family reunions and picnics. The kids spend every possible moment playing outside in the sun and swimming in the kiddie pool. Louisa turns seven years old. We go to the park as much as possible and soak up the sun! Jewel slowly outgrows her colic and fussiness. *phew! * Our baby is turning out to be as blonde-haired and as blue-eyed as the rest of our crew!




September: Louisa and Laura join a clogging class for fun. We start our Homeschooling year a little late because Manly gets some time off and we go camping at the Coast. We spend hours bottling pears and making tons of homemade cider. Duckie turns 5 years old and begins to learn how to read!


October: Einstein turns 10 years old and we enjoy the most beautiful, colorful Autumn any of us can remember. Einstein joins a Rabbit 4H group, and Louisa joins a girls club studying the lives of famous American heroines.



November: Duckie, Louisa, and Einstein all get to perform on stage for the first time. They are excited to be in more Plays in the future! Jewel turns 6 months old, learns to sit up and babble and be the vigorous, vivacious, verbal baby she is!



December: We get more snow than we ever thought possible in Oregon. After being snowed in for 2 weeks and experiencing a true white Christmas, I am grateful that Oregon remains green and wet (not snowy) most of the year. What a year it has been! We wish you a happy 2009!


Love,

The Dotsons

Little House in the Big Northwest

Little House in the Big Northwest!

I've finally decided to start a Blog! I am so excited to have a place to put all our family happenings on. It will be for our whole family: our goals, dreams, adventures, homeschooling, and gardening, and hopefully a place for lots and lots of pictures.



I've named our family Blog after the Laura Ingalls Wilder series, (the first book, Little House in the Big Woods) since it is our motto to live simply and self-sufficiently, and it is the DOTSON DESTINY to someday own land on which to achieve this life-long dream.

We are a busy, homeschooling family of 7:

Manly, The Main Man of the house, Green Thumb Gardener Extraordinaire, and on the side he's a Correctional Officer at a Federal Prison to bring home the bacon.




Laura, Busy mother of 5 kids, homeschooler, planner, writer, scrapbooker and avid book reader

Einstein, Oldest child, and only son, is a happy curious 10 year old whose passion in life is to be a scientist. To him, all the world is one gigantic science experiment. He raises rabbits with his dad and currently owns New Zealands, Californians, and American Whites. He is obsessed with Star Wars and machines of all kinds. He can build the most amazing things from any toy or junk we have on hand. He is always busy creating something! He loves to read, and will read anything we hand him, but his favorite is non-fiction...especially science! Here's a picture of Einstein with his best friend and cousin, Sanford.



Louisa, Our very own moody, ambitious story-writer who is 7 years old, going on 30. She is also a budding chef, often making great suggestions and improvements to the family kitchen. She has written many books, stories, poems, cards, and even her very own cook books with original recipes. She is also a natural born leader and loves to take charge. Louisa is visually gifted and is great artist; she loves to make anything beautiful, whether it's the dinner on your plate, a flower arrangement, or just the toys on her bed...her natural flair is evident!

Duckie, We have in our home a sweet 5 year old "Duckie Dinosaur" (Land before time) who since before she could talk has shown interest in animals of all kinds. She is an outdoors girl. She love fish, birds, camping, swimming, gymnastic tricks of all kinds, and especially dinosaurs. She may appear to be a tom-boy on the outside with her love of Lightning McQueen and other "boy toys", but she's all sensitive princess inside with a passion for all things pink.

Angel, Little did I know when child #4 arrived that she would be an Angel!!! She is sweet, quiet, and smart. She's known her colors, numbers, shapes, and abc's for over a year now. She's a book lover as well. She's only 2 years old, but she's a big part of our family. She loves to cuddle all day long and be a part of whatever is going on. She's a big pooh bear fan, and she's always dragging around her favorite blankie and "bo-bo" (binky). She adores her older sisters, and tries to do everything they do.

Jewel, our youngest family member is 7 months old and she is quite a jewel! She is vivacious, vigorous, and very very very vocal! She went from being a colicky baby who screamed for hours a day to being a child who screams just for the fun of it. She bounces in her Johnny Jumper like crazy and loves to be swung around very fast and tickled. She loves life and isn't afraid to tell everyone ALL about it. She's so active that sometimes 12 hours of daytime isn't enough to get all her playing in. She' s been known to wake up at 3 a.m. for an hour or two of playtime. She likes to get an early start on the day and wake up everyday at 5:30 a.m. She keeps the whole family hopping, and has each of us wrapped around her little sticky fingers. I need to get some updated pics for her.

And that's us!