Week of December 28 thru January 4, 2009

We’ve had the great fortune of having my brother Pete’s daughter, Samantha, visiting with us all week. She is just six months older than Savannah, so she fits in beautifully in our home. They have had a great week partying up their last week of Christmas vacation. I think they went sledding every day on the hill that borders the big empty lot on the road behind us. They came back with wet gloves, wet pants, wet boots, and wet coats and frozen extremities but they were happy! They enjoyed it enough to do it again . . . and again . . . and again. How do you dim the love of a desert kid for the pleasures of snow – and the cousins who want to be with her? With Savannah’s friends, they had an Italian soda party, an antiquing trip, and even went ice skating. Great times were had by all! There were some moments of jealousy, but Samantha was cheerful throughout and did a great job giving attention to everyone and smoothing any hurt feelings. It was really a pleasure to have her with us.

One of Kevin’s business partners gave us the DVD of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers for Christmas and the girls watched it this week. Now, instead of just Pirates of Penzance songs around here, we also hear, “Going Courtin’” which is not a word my children know, so I’ve heard all variants from “Going Coring” to “Hoeing Coeling.” They all have the melody, though, so it’s all good. I also had to explain a shotgun wedding. (Ah, those nice clean old movies.) It’s been fun, though!

Unfortunately, Savannah has been sick almost the whole week. She is only now starting to get her strength back. Her fever started the night of the 23rd and after two trips to the doctor and two different antibiotics and a priesthood blessing, finally broke January 1st. Poor girl. She was sick for Christmas and New Year’s Eve and half of her cousin’s visit. She still has dark circles under her eyes, but she has started to smile again and tease her sisters – definite signs of a return to health.

New Year’s Eve was a party again at our house with our friends the Groslands and their five children and the nine of us Skinners and Samantha. That’s seventeen! No wonder it was so loud. It was so loud when we cheered the New Year that we even made Cheyenne cry! Poor girl, she didn’t have any idea that was going to happen. I should have warned her a little. We played games and snacked and had a great time.

My birthday was nice, too. I’m now thirty-six. Crazy, crazy! I celebrated by letting Kevin tend all the kids while I sat on the couch and read a book. Oh, lovely indulgence.