Christmas

On Christmas Eve we had a scrumptious dinner

And the kids loved having their turkey legsWe then went and opened our ornaments. Jaedon's represents that he loves games. Livy is all about Barbie's lately, and Sofia is our little "Sweet Pea". Then onto Christmas jammies Christmas morning...

Livy's practice ride...

ho, ho

Liv has her own little nickname for Santa.

Christmas letter

The Daily Bassett

Six Sweet Years of Marriage! Mel and I have been married now for six years, and we have enjoyed every minute of it. It is amazing to think about how fast the time has passed. Unfortunately our stay here in Hershey is coming to an end, but we look forward to starting another adventure at some undetermined place (we’ll let you know where that place is on the 16th of December!) Mel has been busy this year. I don’t know how she does it, but she manages to be the world’s #1 mom day after day. Taking care of three little kiddos is no small task. Luckily she finds some time to keep family and friends updated on our blog, read through the Twilight Saga series (in a week nonetheless!), and hang out with the Webelos on a weekly basis. I finished up my third year of medical school with a bang and have been cruising through my fourth year. I finally decided to go into Family Medicine when I grow up. The variety of patients and problems that come with the job is hard to pass up and the appeal of rural medicine really fascinates me. I have applied to residency programs through the Air Force and will find out soon where we will spend the next three years of our lives. Jaedon’s Passions Jaedon is an energetic four year old full of ambition and passion. He of all the children will miss Hershey the most. He has formed some great friendships, but the thing he will likely miss the most is Hershey Park. The kid loves to ride roller coasters. His favorite ride has been the “bumpy” roller coaster. He also loves to sit and watch the crazy scary roller coasters as they roar by. He even likes to hear the same story every night about how when he grows up he is going to ride the “Great Bear”. Jaedon is also passionate about preschool. He really enjoyed having our good friend Bryn Thompson as a teacher, but unfortunately she had to move on to bigger and better things at the end of the school year. So, he was enrolled in another preschool that is three afternoons a week and he has been loving every minute. He has been learning to write his letters and he manages to write his name pretty good. Oh Livy! The terrible two’s are here in full force, what more can I say. The real problem is it is so hard to discipline this sweet little girl. Mel thinks I am too easy on her, and she is probably right. She is daddy’s girl! You never know what she is going to do next. Driving to Baltimore she decides she doesn’t want to sit any longer. The next thing we know she is standing up in the back of the van, just hanging out while we are driving 75 mph down the freeway. Minutes from taking family photos we wander into the kitchen to find long strands of hair lying on the floor and Livy with a short little pony tail. She decides she is no longer willing to wear a diaper and rips it off, sits on the toilet, and wipes her bum. The only problem was she had a poopy diaper prior to this cascade of events and managed to make a mess of the entire bathroom. And the list can go on and on. Despite her antics, she is a great sister and brings loads of fun to our household. Sweet Little (?) Sofia OK, little may be a bit of an understatement. This girl has been off the charts since birth, which was roughly 5 months ago. She fits in nicely with the rest of our oversized kids. She has been a pleasant addition to our growing family. It has been fun to watch Jaedon and Livy interact with her. They love to make her smile and laugh any way they can. And there is no doubt that she is mom’s little girl. She is instantly aware when Mel enters the room and responds with a smile when she sees and hears her mother. In fact, she is such a momma’s girl that she won’t even bother taking a bottle. We tried for an entire day to wean her, and she was so stubborn that she wouldn’t have anything to do with it. We felt bad at the end of the day that she didn’t have anything to eat that we eventually buckled and went back to breastfeeding. Hopefully, for Mel’s sake, she is willing to wean in the near future. Last Of All, Merry Christmas What more can be said about the following year. It has been full of excitement and change. We are glad to have all of you be a part of it. With the Christmas holiday just around the corner, we are constantly reminded of those things in life we cherish the most. Our hearts are overwhelmed with gratitude for the gospel, Christ, loving families, and great friends. We love you all and wish you all a Merry Christmas.

Love, Jon, Mel, Jaedon, Olivia, and Sofia

FHE Nativity

For Family Home Evening we acted out the Nativity story. I think the best part was coming up with the costumes. Mine, and especially Jon's, were very good. Too embarrassing to show though. I would show Jon's but then I would have to show mine, and I don't want to do that. Jon was a wise man, and I was the angel.

Joseph and Mary riding in on the donkey

Our stable and manger

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

We just might finally have a white Christmas here in Pennsylvania. The kids have been loving it!

Jon said that they were loving it out there and didn't want to come in. When they finally did come in though, their poor little cheeks and noses were bright red, and Livy was soaked to the bone. I have never bothered getting snow clothes because we have never had that much snow, or had it last longer than a day here. Jon said that Livy was quite the little snow bunny too. She would just jump right in and didn't slow down for anything.

the verdict is in...

Second Lieutenant JONATHAN S BASSETT, the JSGME Board's decision is: You are selected for FAMILY MEDICINE. Repeat-you are selected for FAMILY MEDICINE. The training location is EHRLING BERGQUIST with training to begin on or about 01 July 2010 and ending 30 June 2013.

How do you feel about that?

We are heading off to Omaha, Nebraska for residency!!

candylane

Depending on the weather this could have been our last time at Hershey Park! (sniff, sniff) Actually, I want to go one last time in the summer before we leave. So I guess this won't be the last, hopefully. Here are the kids lovin' it up at Hershey Park...

Going to see Santa

Man, I am really going to miss Hershey!

breakfast with Santa

We had our Ward Christmas Party on Saturday. We had it in the morning and had some breakfast (hence the theme and title "breakfast with Santa"). After breakfast Santa came to visit. All the kids were so excited!

I am always so impressed how willing Livy will go to Santa, but anyone else she is shy as can be. Decorating their cookiesMaking a sticker Nativity

preschool singing program

On Friday, Jaedon had a little singing program at his preschool. It was so fun to come in there and see his cute little face light up when he saw Jon and I come in.

They had one parent sit and sing with their child. I couldn't talk Jon into it, so I was able to sit with Jaedon and sing the songs along with him.

Dear Santa

We told Jaedon he needed to write a letter to Santa so that he would know for sure what to bring. Well, Jaedon didn't want to write or draw what he wanted, he said, "Why not get a picture off the computer and I can put it on a paper?" What a genius idea! But we did get him to draw at least one.

Livy though was all up for drawing

let Christmas begin!

The decorations are up, the stockings are hung...(kind of), and the tree is up and decorated! Now Christmas may officially come to our house.

We finally have room for a real Christmas tree again, so of course my Christmas lovin' husband didn't pass the opportunity up. I think it was fun for the kids as well. They loved to see all the fun and different ornaments. I love Christmas time.

Thanksgiving vacation

So I just loaded a TON of photos for your viewing pleasure... :D But I put them in backwards order. And since there is a lot of them, I don't want to take the time to rearrange them. So here goes...

Jon opening birthday presents

Helping putting on the candles We spent 2 weeks out in Utah over Thanksgiving. We spent the last week out in Delta with Jon's family. On Friday and Saturday we spent time in St. George and went to Tuacahn. They had lights and some fun little dance programs, and best of all Santa came to visit!

Livy was not shy one bit, and ran right over to Santa! Livy told Santa she wanted a Barbie Jaedon told him he wanted a race car track and Sponge Bob Movie

Enjoying the lights in good ole little Delta

The first week was spent at my parents. We had the whole family there and it was so great to be able to see everyone.

Livy was breast feeding her baby as well :)

There was lots of time spent in the hot tub

We celebrated Jon's and my Dad's birthday before we left. They are 2 days apart.

Lots of time playing games..., mainly the Great Dalmudi.

Lots of time spent with cousins and puppies

Finally to the Thanksgiving feast...

Livy was Grandma Jones' little helper

Taste testing

More hot tub time

Sofia's first plane ride. And she actually did REALLY well.

Before we left we set up some of our Christmas decorations

Also before we left we went and had family pictures. Right as we are getting to walk out the door, I hear Jon say, "What is all this hair on the floor!?" Of course I was quite curious and saw a huge pile of hair there on the kitchen floor. I then looked at Livy and couldn't really see that much damage until I looked at her ponytail, and the other side of her face. I don't think it would have been so bad, but we were walking out the door for pictures!! At least it was an easy fix.