Welcome to Our "Chatter Box"

Norwalk

2012-01-28T15:27:00.000-05:00

I wish I was talking about something pleasant, like a trip to Norwalk Connecticut, but no. I'm talking about the virus. You know the Norwalk Virus that you always hear about people getting on cruise ships?? Well, that's what we've got running through our family right now. Apparently there has been a little outbreak in our area. Will started it all on Monday. I'm convinced that he must have caught it from the nursery at church. It's the only place he had been. You know he puts everything in his mouth and unfortunatley he likes to put his hands in my mouth too. Oh that slobbery little boy. Then Wednesday night around midnight I called my mom to come to our rescue. Ryan and I were both vomitting like it was our job and both Will and McKenna were too. Oh the misery. By some miracle of God, Christian and my mom have been spared. But the rest of us are continuing to feel not quite right.

What a winter we've had. The last 6 weeks have been some of the most unpleasant of my life. And yet there have been lots of good things going on too. Right now I can hear a little girl giggling with her daddy while they're playing the basement. Christian brought home a stellar report card yesterday. Will is talking more and more. Christian's dear little thumb sucking ways are almost a thing of the past...we're making huge progress (don't worry I'll blog all about what's worked and what hasn't when I'm sure we're successful...it's a hard, hard habit to break). And we've all had a LOT of time together.

Christian enjoyed his very first snow day off from school.

Christian & McKenna made a huge snowball that they were so proud of. They also made some pretty decent looking snowmen and they played school (on Christian's day off). McKenna's favorite part was when I let them pack their lunches in lunchboxes. We had to put her lunch in a lunchbox pretty much every day this week.

So pray that our little visit from Mr. Norwalk is over quickly. I think we're wrapping it up around here, but boy am I exhausted and I can't wait until Spring!

A Snowy Day!

2012-01-21T14:22:00.000-05:00

Still here.....

2012-01-18T23:55:00.001-05:00

I've got so much to say but there just hasn't been any time lately.

Life has been a tad bit crazy lately.

Some good, some bad, some just life.

I've barely taken any pictures lately, but I did snap this cute one on Sunday.

Here's a quick update on everyone:
Will is 10 months old. It deserves it's own post, but that probably won't happen. He ate real mac & cheese for dinner tonight and said "dada" for the first time. The word"Dada" was not connected to anything. It had nothing to do with his real "dada" since daddy is out of town right now. But it was cute none the less and he'll figure out soon enough that his first word really does have meaning :)

Christian hates school. He tells me everyday. This situation also deserves it's own post. So I'll have to get back to it later. It makes me sad, but honestly doesn't surprise me in the least. We're dealing with it. The thumb fairy is coming to our house tomorrow night. Bet you didn't know there was a "thumb fairy." But there is in fact one that watches you at night to see if you suck your thumb. We have a thumb sucking situation that we're going to tackle this weekend. I'm praying about it already because it's going to get ugly before it gets better! You can't take a thumb away and we've previously tried lots of different tactics but the thumb HAS GOT TO GO! Christian is about to get is front top tooth, so it's now or ....buck teeth will be in our future. I've been a little soft on this situation since I happen to have sucked my own thumb until I was ((gasp)) eight years old. I made the very, very poor parenting mistake of telling Christian that one time.

McKenna is just wild. Seriously...loud, funny, sneaky and smart. She sort of reminds me of Curious George these days with some of her antics. She can make a mess faster than anyone I know and now that she's into spelling she likes to practice her spelling on the walls or on toys or on any available flat surface. Her grandparents think she's brilliant but her mother is not impressed.

Big Sister

2012-01-13T10:13:00.000-05:00

I looked across the room and spotted this sweet scene the other day.

Seriously, how cute are they??

It's taken McKenna a little while to figure out this whole big sister thing. She's been pretty loud, wild and rough with Will from the start, but she's starting to calm down and really be responsible with him. She ran to me sobbing the other day because she thought Will was choking. He did have something in his mouth that he shouldn't have (that happens about 20 times a day) but he wasn't choking. I was pleased with how she handled it. She made the right choice to recognize that it was a serious situation. I'm proud of the big sister she's become.

He LOVES playing air hockey with his dad!

2012-01-12T19:14:00.000-05:00

Football

2012-01-09T15:32:00.000-05:00

I am not a huge football fan. In fact, I guess you could say I'm not a football fan at all considering I've never watched an entire game from start to finish. But lately I've had a reason to start paying attention. It's interesting that the media doesn't seem to have any problem with a player having multiple drug convictions or with having spent some time in jail, but they're all over a guy who prays. What a ridiculous double standard. So I don't know what team you're rooting for, but I have loved seeing Tim Tebow defy the odds over and over again. I wish there were more players like him!!! And I love it that I can show this video to Christian and show him how tough guys can love Jesus too!

Seventeen

2012-01-07T16:42:00.000-05:00

I have been with my 3 kids 24 hours a day, 7 days a week...every single moment since December 22nd. I'll spare you the trouble of looking at the calendar....that's 17 days!!! Over half a month!! More than 2 weeks!! That might not seem like a big deal to some of you, but I'm the kind of girl who just needs some space, some quiet, a few moments alone every now and then. I love to be alone. Don't get me wrong, I couldn't be more thankful for my kids. But in the last 17 days we've dealt with strep throat, pink eye, RSV, bronchitis, a stomach bug three separate trips to the doctor and of course Christmas and New Years was squeezed in there too. And for the past 6.5 days Ryan has been out of town for work. So basically, I've been barely hanging on.

There was the sweet friend who made me cry when she surprised me and brought homemade soup to my little sickies. She refused to hug me when I started to cry and quickly backed off the porch and headed to the safety of her car...away from all our germs. I don't blame her. It was actually rather comical.

And then there were the giant get well cards that some of our neighbors worked very hard on for each of the kids.

The cards were delivered to our front porch early one morning along with some yummy doughnuts. So even though life hasn't been very pleasant, I have felt loved and supported. The texts, the emails, the Facebook comments, the blog comments letting me know that people are praying for us has been a great source of encouragement. It's just been one of those times where it all comes crashing down at once. And in hindsight..it could have been much, much worse.

But guess what??? Right now I'm sitting on my couch and it's completely quiet. Will is sleeping and Ryan got home this afternoon and he took the big kids to the park (because it's 55 degrees! WooHoo!) I survived. Yippeee! Let's not do that again! My kids are almost healthy (not so sure if I should put Will in the nursery at church tomorrow). The hubs is home (at least for a day) and all my Christmas stuff is finally put away and I am reclaiming my house! Life is good.

Speaking of Ryan....he's going through some major job changes. As most of you know he runs a distribution center for the largest fireworks company in the world. This past week he packed up 180,000 sq feet of warehouse space and moved it all one hour North of here. He's going to have a pretty decent commute to work now, which stinks for us, but it's a good move for the company.

We went and visited Ryan one evening earlier this week.

Here's a little peek at his new office. It's going to be a nice place to work, it's just too bad it isn't a little closer. I'm thankful I have a husband who works so hard to provide for our family. We certainly have missed him this past week, but we are also thankful that he works for a great company that has been a blessing to our family.

Happy Boy

2012-01-05T23:13:00.001-05:00

I'm not quite sure how we got so blessed, but Will is the most delightful baby! McKenna took this picture of him today. Look at the smile. He still has the worst cold & today we went back to the doctor because he has pink eye.

Blogging from my phone

2012-01-04T22:04:00.001-05:00

I'm trying something new..... So bare with me. I'm attempting to blog from my phone. Lets see how this turns out.

I thought these 2 pictures of McKenna were cute! Now if only I knew how to arrange them in this post.

I'm about to hit "publish" so we'll see how it looks.

December 25th - Christmas Night

2012-01-04T21:45:00.001-05:00

We were planning on going to my parent's house on Christmas night for Christmas dinner, but my kids were so sick. So my mom graciously packed up dinner and brought it to our house. They also brought gifts for our family.

Every year my mom gives Christian a nutcracker. He loves growing his collection. And this year she gave him baseball bases and the best DS game ever (more about that in a minute). McKenna loved her new Barbie car that she can park in the garage of her doll house. And her favorite gift was a CD player with 2 microphones and some music CDs. She and Christian have been having the best time carrying that thing around the house singing at the top of their lungs.

Okay, back to the DS game. If your kid (boy or girl) has a DS...listen up!

First of all, I have a confession to make: Over Christian break I didn't make Christian read one book. Not one. And the packet of practice work his teacher sent home to work on over break got lost somewhere and we didn't do it. Ahhh...that is so not like me AT ALL!! But you know, people were throwing up and I barely slept and there were fevers and lots of other great excuses.

So when Christian went back to school and all the sudden moved up a reading group I was a little mystified until I remember this game.

He loves this game. He spent hours playing this game. Yup hours. Like hours and hours, remember all the excuses I listed above....well that's also why he got to sit around and play video games for hours :) Anyway, this game is an interactive game where you have to help the little boy, Maxwell, complete challenges and you help Maxwell by adding your own ideas to the game. If you write the word "hammer" all the sudden Maxwell will have a hammer that he can use. Or if you write the word "snowmobile" Maxwell can then ride on a snowmobile over a snow covered mountain. So the entire game is based on the fact that you can spell words. So Christian was using his "stretch spelling" to try and sound out words that he wanted to use and whenever he would write a word it would come to life on the screen. And if he didn't spell it perfectly the game would give him a list of words to choose from that sound like the word he was trying to spell. It's a pretty amazing game and Christian was having such a good time he had no idea that he was practicing spelling and reading while he was playing. This game doesn't challenge your "video gaming skills" it challenges your creativity, imagination and reading/writing skills. And the best part is that it's one of Christian's favorite games. So check out ScribbleNauts if you got a little DSer in your house!

Words for Wednesday

2012-01-04T08:39:00.001-05:00

Highlights of my day....

2012-01-03T23:12:00.002-05:00

I was rocking Will to sleep and he picked his head up off my shoulder, looked at me and leaned his forehead in, as if he was asking for a kiss. He got a few. He is such a good baby. He barely fusses and is pretty much content to play on his own. I love him to pieces. Thankfully he's feeling much much better. He still has a bad cough, but he's on the mend.

Listening to McKenna sing and "read" books to herself. She can tell a pretty good story.

Christian cried this morning when I woke him up. He did NOT want to go back to school. But when he got off the bus today he couldn't wait to tell me what a great day he had. He listed all these great things like....he got a new seat and he sits next to Connor now (in his mind this is very huge news)! And he got his card punched twice (that means he did something good but he couldn't remember what). And....this is my personal favorite...... he had to move to a new reading group. When he said that my heart kind-of stopped for a second. I have a distinct memory of being in first grade and my teacher moving me "down" a reading group and she did it in front of the whole class. Guess what I remember about first grade? Yup, that's about it. So I was preparing to give Christian a pep talk, but then he continued to tell me that he used to be on level four books but they were too easy and his teacher said level five was too easy too, so he is on level six books. And he's in Reagan's group and she's really smart and a really good reader. So I asked who else was in his group and he said is was just Reagan and him. And no kids in the class are on level seven yet, which means he's in the "top" reading group. What???? I screamed I was so excited!!!! This is the boy who didn't even say "mama" until he was 2 1/2. This is the boy who had to be resuscitated at birth and I worried for years and years that something might be wrong. I am honestly not trying to be a bragging...look how awesome my kid is...kind-of mom. I am just simply rejoicing. A little shocked and so, so thrilled. He has worked hard. His teacher is awesome!!! And there are lots of "step" teachers in his class who make a huge contribution to his education.

"The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy!!!"

December 25th - Christmas Morning

2012-01-02T23:45:00.001-05:00

Christian woke us up at 7:30am to tell us it was Christmas!! He was so excited. We weren't sure what to do because we didn't want McKenna to miss Christmas morning, but she was sound asleep burning up with a fever and Will was still sound asleep (I should have known something was wrong with him). We decided to let Christian have a fun morning and not worry about waiting for the other kids. Christian loved the attention of PopPop, Grandmom, Mommy and Daddy while he opened his presents.

It was a very calm and quiet Christmas morning.

McKenna got up around 9:30am. She wanted to stay in bed but she also wanted to enjoy Christmas. She looked rough when Ryan carried her downstairs. She started to perk up once her Tylenol started kicking in. And the precious girl smiled every time I took her picture. But as soon as the picture was over her sad, exhausted face showed back up.

Will also woke up around 9am and seemed to be fine, but that changed a few hours later. He enjoyed watching all the Christmas commotion. Remember how I couldn't decide what to get him for Christmas?? Well, we ended up getting him a nice toy box, because it's something I would want him to have later on down the road and it's not a "fun" toy! I also got him a new cover for McKenna's old chair. The cover says "Will" but I bought it off of ebay for next to nothing and the monogram is crooked, so I'm disappointed. I might just take the name off and keep the cover. Christian gave Will a toy dinosaur and McKenna gave him my favorite gift...which was the "cruise around lion." It's so cute and perfect for Will at this age.

McKenna opened all her doll house people first and then I asked her what she was going to do with those people. She said "I don't know, put them in a box?" So I asked a few more questions and then it dawned on her that she had asked for a doll house. She hopped off the couch and started looking around. She found what she was looking for waiting for her in the playroom. It was a very subdued reaction, not the fun I had in mind, but she loved it and has played with it every day since! Then Christian headed down to the basement and was THRILLED to find an air hockey table. I was so relieved that he loved it. I wasn't sure since he didn't ask for it. He loves playing it and beats me every time and I don't go easy on him. He's just actually that good or maybe I'm just that bad!!

That was our Christmas morning. Definitely not the perfect morning I had planned. But I was still so thankful to spend it with my precious family in our home that God has blessed us with.

December 24th - Christmas Eve - Getting Ready

2012-01-02T23:02:00.002-05:00

I love setting up Christmas morning. It's one of my favorite parts of the entire holiday season. Ryan put the finishing touches on McKenna's doll house (that my parent's had already spent 4 hours assembling). Ryan and my dad put together Christian's new air hockey table and I got all the gifts out of hiding and arranged them around the tree.

Christian just about gave me a heart attack when he got out of bed and came downstairs around 11pm. He was crying and felt awful and thankfully didn't see any surprises. Then around 2am McKenna got up and said she needed daddy. Ryan went into her room and a few minutes later she started throwing up. It was so sad and disappointing. She had been so excited about Christmas.

December 24th - Christmas Eve

2012-01-02T22:18:00.001-05:00

Our Christmas Eve was pretty perfect. Only Christian was feeling a little rough, but even he had a great day.

Our church had lots of Christmas Eve services, so we went to one in the afternoon so we could have a leisurely evening.

We did something new this year. We had a shepherd's dinner (thanks for the idea Becki!!!). We all dressed up like shepherds and ate dinner. The whole point was to really impress upon the kids what this night was really about. Christian was so excited about being a shepherd.

While we were eating dinner an "angel" named McKenna came and told us some great news....that Jesus was born in Bethlehem and we should go and see him. We all went to the manger scene and put baby Jesus in the manger and sang "Away in a Manger." Isn't Christian so sweet standing there with his shepherd's staff.

Then everyone opened one present. Both the kids got Lego sets.

And then it was time for bed. We have never made much of a big deal about Santa. In fact we have flat out told the kids that St. Nicholas was a real man, but that "Santa" isn't real. They know that lots of families like to play the "Santa" game, but we don't make a big deal out of it one way or the other. We have Santa stuff out and read Santa books and sing Santa songs, but we don't write letters to Santa. You get the idea. So earlier in the day on Christmas Eve I was putting a roast in the crock pot and I was cutting up some carrots. McKenna asked me if she could have one. I thought she wanted to take a bite but she took it and headed out the front door and put it on the porch for the reindeer. That was a first. Later that night she asked me if she could have a cookie. I told her she could have one, until she said "Well, I bet Santa wants more than one and he's going to want some milk too." So she sat out milk and cookies and much to all of our surprise the next morning we found that the cookies were eaten and the carrot had a big bit taken out of it. Hmmm...wonder how that happened? Maybe we do play that game after all!

Oh Great! ha!

2012-01-02T11:03:00.002-05:00

Just guess what the name of the new 2012 American Girl doll is???

Any guesses??

I got two emails about it already this morning.

I'll give you a hint. We happen to have someone by the same name in our house!

You guessed it....MCKENNA!!!

Until I saw this I was perfectly content to never own an American Girl doll. The knock-off dolls that Target sells for 1/5 of the price sounded good to me. And they're super cute and come with adorable accessories. But "McKenna" is only available for one year, then she'll be discontinued, so I should at least buy the books...right? Oh geez...you know we're going to have to get her. Do you think McKenna is too young for a real doll? She still plays with baby dolls and is loving her doll house right now. Maybe it's a purchase that needs to be made for Christmas next year.

Maybe my mom will read this and feel inspired to splurge on McKenna :)

RSV

2011-12-31T13:20:00.000-05:00

This sad faced little man was just diagnosed with RSV. Usually that acronym strikes fear in the hearts of any momma hearing that diagnosis. But thankfully Will is almost 10 months old and he's a big boy, so he can totally handle this without a hospital visit.

This morning when he woke up, his cough was so bad and his nose was so junky, I just decided to take him the doctor for a follow up visit. The big kids are getting better and Will is barely better, so I felt like something wasn't quite right. I'm glad we went and I'm thankful to have an answer to "why" he isn't improving like I thought he should.

RSV can take awhile to clear up. In fact, it can take up to 3 weeks to completely go away. Please join me in asking Jesus to clear up Will's lungs much faster than that!!!!

Medicine Man

2011-12-31T00:00:00.000-05:00

Christian hates medicine. Ryan and I have said many times that it's almost like he has some psychological, irrational fear of medicine. He will start gagging before the medicine ever touches his mouth. The thought of medicine makes him wither into a puddle of sobbing tears on the floor. And don't think for one second that you can pull a fast one on him and hide medicine in any variety of food. He will immediately call your bluff and throw up. We've held him down and forced medicine down his throat and he promptly spits it out or vomits. We've tried rewards...like really awesome rewards. We've tried discipline. We've tried prayer. We've tried to teach him to swallow pills. We've tried EVERYTHING.

Our pediatrician even knows about Christians phobia. He has given Christian a choice before about taking medicine orally or getting a shot and every time Christian chooses the shot. Insanity I tell you!

So when Christian got a prescription for an antibiotic that was supposed to be given twice a day for 10 days, I shuddered. How on earth were we going to do this?? I pretty much have zero tolerance or patience for this kind of drama. And mean mommy usually makes an appearance rather quickly. But since it was Christmas and all I decided to be indifferent and be firm but not feed into the drama.The first day it took 2 hours to get one dose in him. We mixed it with orange juice and told him not to get up from the table until it was gone. Two hour later he finished it.

But we worked on it all week and a mini-miracle took place in our house. And I'm not using the word miracle lightly. Check out the video we made for daddy. We had to record it because otherwise Ryan would not have believed it. I also documented it so I can show it to Christian the next time he has to take medicine.

While we're on the subject of medicine (I know, I know, this topic is riveting isn't it??) I have one more story to share.

Will has had a rough time this week taking his medicine. He's gotten sick a few times because he can't stand the taste of medicine. So earlier this week I was getting ready to give Will his meds. and I told McKenna to start praying that he wouldn't get sick. She sat there and prayed and he didn't get sick. Every time since then, twice a day, either Christian or McKenna stand by and pray for Will when he takes him medicine.

So how are we doing?? Better. You still wouldn't want to have your kids around mine, but we're getting there. I'm still worried about Will. He sounds like a purring kitty every time he breathes. It's worrisome. I'm hoping for a good nights sleep for both of us. Keep praying for him.

Little Readers

2011-12-29T00:24:00.000-05:00

Christian is such a good big brother. He takes his "job" with Will very seriously and their relationship is precious. Will adores Christian. His face smiles every time he looks at him. I love this picture of them reading together.

My Life

2011-12-28T17:01:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I asked my mom is she ever remembered a time when my siblings and I were as sick as my kids are right now. She said that at some point we probably were but she didn't remember it and neither would I. I assured her that I would in fact remember it, because I would blog it. Maybe I shouldn't blog it because I'm not sure I want to remember this at all.

But it's life. And there are moments that aren't so pretty and that's just the way it is. So if you want a little window into what our life has been like lately, here goes.....

Ryan sat at Urgent Care on Monday (the only place opened) for 3 hours waiting for our turn. Work is stressful enough for him right now (he's in the middle of relocating his entire distribution center to a new hub an hour away) and this just topped it off. But he's a good daddy, so he did it.

I was one second away from jumping in the shower today for the first time in days, when I heard Will crying on the baby monitor. I almost cried. I just wanted one moment to myself. That didn't happen.

Christian threw up right after he drank an entire glass of chocolate milk. I know, I know...it was all I could do to keep it together. And of course he threw up right on the rug in the kitchen. It's surrounded by hardwood floors, but nope, it all landed right on the rug. I threw the rug outside and will deal with that later. I wonder how long it will sit out there?

Literally 5 minutes after Christian's episode, Will threw up all over himself and me. McKenna started screaming and crying because I used one of her shirts that just happened to be sitting there to wipe it up. It was lovely.

Oh and I almost forgot...McKenna called 911 last night on purpose. She wanted to see what would happen. When they answered she started screaming and crying and didn't say anything because she was afraid she was going to get in trouble. She just sat there screaming while holding the phone. Can you imagine what they were thinking?? Thankfully I ran in the room to find out what was wrong and she handed me the phone. I've been letting her play with my old cell phone and even though it doesn't have a service plan you can still call 911 on it. I knew this and had specifically told her never to call 911, but my curious girl did anyway. Nice.

Christmas Eve - Grammy & Grampy's Surprise

2011-12-28T12:41:00.003-05:00

What a surprise it was when the mailman knocked on our door on Christmas Eve with an enormous box! The kids were beyond excited to find out that huge box contained surprises from Ryan's parents in Illinois!

Christian went first and loved his pitching machine Grampy picked out for him. He can't wait to be able to practice baseball all by himself! Notice McKenna's face in the bottom left picture. I love how excited she gets for her brother. When she saw it was something baseball, she was so excited for him.

Then it was McKenna's turn. As soon as she opened her package she said, "What? Crackers? Grammy sent me crackers. Didn't she know I wanted a good surprise?" Ha!!! It was so funny. We could not stop laughing. She was not happy about those crackers, especially since Christian had just opened such a cool present.

So we told her to try looking inside the cracker box and she was thrilled to find an adorable outfit that she had to immediately put on and wear for the rest of the night!!! So cute. I love it.

Everyone helped Will open his present and McKenna was the first to try it out. I've never seen such an adorable rocking horse. It's the Toy Story horse and it talks. It's really close to the ground, which is so nice for him at this age. He still can't quite do it on his own, but he's close. Such a big boy.

We miss our Illinois family so much.

We missed them at Thanksgiving and we always think of them on Christmas Eve because that's when the whole family gets together and we know we're missing out on a good time. This year Ryan did get a few texts & pictures during the family gathering, which was nice.

Thanks Grammy & Grampy for making Christmas Eve so fun for the kids.

And thanks again for the yummy fruit you sent our family from Harry & David! It's almost all gone :) Christian ate most of the oranges. McKenna loves the apples and I think those might be some of the best pears I've ever had! We love you guys!!

Words for Wednesday

2011-12-28T08:38:00.000-05:00

Would you please pray for us.... UPDATED

2011-12-26T19:35:00.001-05:00

The Update:
Thank you , thank you for praying. Around 3am I felt like Will started to get a little better and in that moment the Lord reminded me that people were praying. Thank you.
I think Will and McKenna had that stomach virus that was going around because they are both so much better today. Their fevers are gone. Their appetites are back. I think they just got hit with a stomach virus and a bunch of other stuff on top of it and it made for a very bad situation.
McKenna just screams and screams when she feels like throwing up. And Will was so miserable because he was too little to understand what was going on. Someone held him for 24 hours straight. That was fun.
Thank goodness my mom came over yesterday and Ryan came home from work early. It literally took all three of us to take care of the three kids. It was that bad. It's the sickest my kids have ever been.
So today the plan is to take it easy, clean up Christmas a little, get every drop of Christian's medicine in him (this is no small feat) and start clorox wiping EVERYTHING!! I got a new steam mop for Christmas and I can't wait to use it :)

A trip to Urgent Care today determined that:

Will has an ear infection, a sinus infection and a stomach bug. He has a high fever and is so lathargic. He's on the edge of being dehydrated. I'm doing everything in my power to avoid a hospital visit, but it might be necessary in the morning if things don't change.

McKenna has an ear infection, sinus infection, strep throat, pink eye and maybe a stomach bug or maybe she's just throwing up because her body is so sick. Pray that I can get her antibiotic in her and that she'll keep it down.

Christian has a sinus infection STILL after being on an antibiotic for 5 days. He's miserable but the least of my worries.

I am beyond exhausted.

December 23rd - Christian's Christmas

2011-12-26T01:00:00.000-05:00

On December 23rd we celebrated "Christian's Christmas." Christian's school has a Santa's Secret shop where the kids can buy presents for their families. Christian worked for over a month to earn $16 to take to Santa's Secret Shop. He could hardly wait to go shopping for our family. Grandmom volunteered at school the day Christian went and she said he put a lot of thought into the presents he chose. Since it was such a big deal, we decided to let him give his gifts a little early. I didn't want the things he chose to get lost in the shuffle of Christmas morning. As it turns out, this night ended up being one of my favorite moments of Christmas.

Christian gave Will a giant bouncy ball! He LOVED it!!!

He gave me a covered baking pan. The perfect gift for me. Of course he insisted that I use it that night.

He gave Ryan some men's bath gel.

And then there was McKenna's present. He chose a Disney Princess school set for McKenna. It had princess pencils, paper, pencil sharpener and princess folders. She was so excited to open her present and I was so nervous that she would react appropriately. Earlier in the week Christian worked hard to make McKenna a "necklace." It was made out of paper and she flat out told him that she didn't like it and she wouldn't wear it. He was heartbroken and cried. So guess who got to wear the paper necklace for a day??? Me.

I was really hoping she would love his gift and she did. Just look at her face. But look at the bottom LEFT picture....look at Christian's face. He was watching her carefully and he was so pleased that she liked it. I love that picture. Then of course she gave him a tackle hug :)

It was the most precious family night. We ordered out pizza and ate in the dinning room, which is always a sign it's a special night. I can't wait for "Christian's Christmas" next year!

My Facebook Status on Christmas Day

2011-12-26T00:21:00.002-05:00

"It's a good thing it's all really about JESUS because this day has included 1 kid throwing up, 3 kids with major fevers, 1 massive nose bleed, 4 battles over meds, some presents still unopened and to top it off I drilled through my thumb nail with the screwdriver tip of the drill (I know! What on earth?? Stupid toy assembly). So here's to JESUS!! So thankful he's my savior. I've talked to him more today than I have any other Christmas! So thankful he came so I can turn to Him when things aren't so great."

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T05:27:00.004-05:00

Snuggle Time

2011-12-24T17:43:00.001-05:00

Not the best pictures...but the moment was sweet. I adore being snuggled up in my bed with all three kids. I love the bottom right picture of Will peeking over at Ryan taking a picture while the other two are listening to me read them a Christmas story.

Cookies with Grandmom

2011-12-23T17:09:00.001-05:00

I'm so thankful my mom handles this messy tradition with my kids! I can remember doing this as a child every single year, so I'm thankful my mom continues the tradition with my kids.

Playtime

2011-12-23T13:16:00.001-05:00

Will LOVES playing with Christian and McKenna!!!

The things they put him through....

Christmas Crafting Party!

2011-12-23T09:07:00.001-05:00

Sometimes I surprise myself and come up with decent crafts. Look at that ornament. I'm impressed. It used to be a plain glass ball. The picture really doesn't do it justice. It's so pretty and sparkly and all the sparkles are on the inside so it's not messy and won't ever loose it's sparkle. The best part.... it's soooo easy to make! Alright, I found all the details HERE ,just act super surprised and amazed if I ever give you one of the ornaments as a present. Later I monogrammed them with the kids initials with a paint pen. Super cute.

We had a few friends over to make a few crafts. Christmas trees!

And snowmen made out of an egg carton.

The glue and the creativity were flowing.....

Then things got a little crazy! That girl of mine sure does have a personality!

Happy Birthday Jesus Party!!!

2011-12-22T23:03:00.001-05:00

We love to celebrate Jesus! And we love having friends who come over and eat frozen pizza and apple sauce! ha! This time I spent my prep time on crafts and games and didn't worry about the food too much. That's my kind of party!

We've been celebrating Jesus' birthday with these friends since Christian was two. I think that first year we had a total of five kids between the three families. This year we have nine!! We always make some sort of edible craft. This year we made Christmas trees out of ice cream cones. Fun & messy!!

I think Ellie & Kate are babysitters in the making! Will loved them!!

This is the one time a year the dads all get to hang out.

McKenna and Gwennie always have a wild time. I have no idea why they have their hands in the air :) They're just goofy!!

I think this is one of the best traditions ever. An easy way to focus on the TRUE meaning of the season!

A Cousin Christmas

2011-12-22T20:29:00.002-05:00

Welcome to the world's longest blog post:

Last weekend all our Brinkley cousins came to town!

McKenna was pretty much beside herself with JOY that she was finally going to get to see Abby.

Notice how they're matching! That was McKenna's idea.

It was such a treat to see Adam (my brother Tim's son). He is the same age as Christian, so they have a blast together.

McKenna taught the girls some of her dance moves. I tell you what I have the sweetest nieces in the world! They are so patient and loving towards McKenna. Every single one of them loves Jesus and they are all the perfect role models for McKenna to look up to.

Everyone had dinner at my house on Friday night. Then 9 of the 11 cousins spent the night.

The next morning everyone tolerated my mini photo shoots:)

Emma on the left, Charis in the middle, Sophie on the right and Abby in the front.

And here's the entire Marshall/Wise family!

Isn't this the best picture?? They are a beautiful family even if Nate is grossly out numbered!!!!

Elizabeth, Adam and Hannah!

Then we loaded up in the car and headed over to my parents house. It took us four vehicles to get there!

We played our crazy mitten game and the winner of that game got to open the first Christmas present. Christian won!

Love her and miss her all the time.

Adam gave Christian a bottle rocket! Oh the extreme excitement when he opened that gift!

Nate started to open his new night vision goggles, while Christian continued to admire his prized rocket.

Nate is so cute, he actually thanked the Lord for his presents :)

Then everyone else went to town opening their presents.

Will even opened his very first present ever. It was a monkey snow hat. So cute.

Mimi loves her boy!!!

Then it was time to head out into the frigid temps to shoot off the rocket.

Time to eat. My mom worked very hard to fit all 19 of us around the table.

Yum.

New toys are always so exciting!

And so are pretend earrings.

The Brinkley kids were thrilled that I was once again attempting to take their picture.

Will was a fan favorite.

I'm so glad Uncle Tim was finally able to meet Will. I think Will loved him.

The girls played some games.

And then it was pretty much time for everyone to head home. It was a great weekend, just way too short. We are just so thankful we had this special time together!

Another one bites the dust....

2011-12-22T00:13:00.002-05:00

Christian doesn't mess around when it comes to loose teeth. If it's the slightest bit loose, he's going to pull it. We tell him all the time to stop wiggling his teeth, but goes for it anyway. He lost tooth #7 this past weekend. That's a big deal because he is now the official front runner in his tooth pulling competition with Abby. The were tied on Saturday and he pulled (get it??) into the lead on Saturday night. The best part about the whole thing was that he asked if the tooth fairy could bring something for McKenna, since she has never lost any teeth.

The World According to McKenna

2011-12-21T22:59:00.000-05:00

She took her skirt off in Target today because it was itching! No worries, she had tights on. But still!

She insists on getting herself dressed everyday. She usually chooses red pants, a red shirt, red sock and a red hair bow because it "matches." This is what she does with every color under the rainbow. Black on black on black. Or her favorite...pink on pink on pink.

She wants her own iphone. She's been begging for one for 2 days now.

"Mom, take a picture of me saying ballet."

And it's not uncommon for her to change her clothes during the middle of the day to a "twirling" dress so she can dance.

Case in point:

Watching her dance all around the room while jumping over Will is pretty much typical of the kind of day I have every day.

Blessed.

Tree pictures....

2011-12-21T13:14:00.001-05:00

Words for Wednesday

2011-12-21T08:34:00.003-05:00

Ballet Parent Night!!

2011-12-20T13:46:00.002-05:00

Ryan and I got to attend "parent night" at ballet. I was so excited to finally get to go into McKenna's class and see what she's been doing (parents don't get to go into the classroom ever...which I understand but I hate sitting in the waiting room having no clue what she's doing). Unfortunately McKenna was in a grumpy mood that night and although she listened and did everything her teacher asked, she barely cracked a smile. I think it had a lot to do with the fact that there was a room full of parents there.

The class lasts 45 minutes and during that time McKenna raised her hand three times and this is what she had to say:

1. Miss Barb, Lilly isn't staying on her spot.

(Nice of her to tattle on Lily, while Lily's mom is in the room).

2. Miss Barb, I'm hungry.

(Ok, the class is only 45 minutes what in the world! She ate before she came for Heaven's Sake).

3. Miss Barb, is it time to go yet. I'm tired.

(Glad to see our daughter has such an awesome attitude about ballet).

Having McKenna in ballet this fall has certainly been interesting. I only intended for her to take ballet for about 2 months. She's only 3 and I didn't think it was worth the financial investment at this age. She just needed something special to do since Christian was going to Kindergarten, it helped her to have something special of her own to talk about.

Four months later, she's still in ballet.

Despite her bad attitude on parent night, she really loves it and is actually really good at it.

I was shocked when her teacher said "releve" and McKenna hopped up on her toes and knew exactly what she was doing. Her favorite song right now is "We Need a little Christmas." She has the dance her teacher taught her memorized and dances around our house all the time.

So it looks like we might have a real little dancer in the making!

Our FAVORITE Christmas Game!!!!

2011-12-20T10:46:00.000-05:00

You've got to try this!!!

Alright, let me explain our FAVORITE Christmas game! We've played it twice already this year and we're planning on playing it one more time.

It's best when played with at least four people. Perfect for large groups of adults or kids.

Supplies:

1 dice, 1 prize wrapped in several layers of boxes, 1 large adult sized pair of mittens or ski gloves.

Prepartion:

1. Find a small prize and wrap it really well with lots of tape! I usually use a little canister of M&Ms or a pack of gum.

2. Put the wrapped prize inside a small box, then wrap the box really well with lots of tape.

3. Then put that box inside another box and wrap that box really well with lots of tape.

4. Depending upon the "skill" of the players, you can decide how may layers of wrapped boxes you want to have. I usually do three layers for kids and more for adults.

The Game:

1. Have everyone sit in a circle.

2.Choose a number on the dice. I'll use the #3 as an example.

3. Put the present and the mittens in the middle of the circle.

4. Anytime anyone rolls a #3 they have to put on the mittens and then try to unwrap the present.

5. They continue to unwrap the present until someone else in the circle rolls a #3. When someone else rolls a #3 then they have to pass the gloves and the present to that person.

6. The rest of the players continue to roll the dice and try to get a #3 so they can have a turn unwrapping the present.

7. Whoever unwraps the final present is the WINNER!!

This game is hilarious and evokes lots of laughter and controlled chaos. Just don't make it too hard for kids. If they're having a hard time getting the present unwrapped, then change up the rules and have them just wear one glove/mitten.

Cousins! Cousins!! Cousins!!

2011-12-20T00:21:00.000-05:00

Drum roll please.......

for the first time in history all 11 Brinkley cousins were together in one spot!!!

Tons more pictures coming soon.

Walking...not quite

2011-12-19T23:07:00.001-05:00

(9 months)

Daddy's been practicing with him and he's actually getting pretty good! It won't be long!

The crawler and the tree

2011-12-19T23:04:00.000-05:00

I love how this precious boy of mine crawls over to me as soon as I walk into the room. And he really gets excited if I sit down on the floor and wait for him.

I wasn't so sure how things were going to be with a Christmas Tree and a nine month old crawler. I didn't make the tree off limits because it just seemed totally unfair to put a shiny, lit up tree in the middle of the room and then tell him "no." So he's been allowed full access to the tree.

And it's been very sweet. He's very curious but those precious little hands of his are very gentle. He swats and plays with ornaments and occasionally gets them off the tree. So we've hung all the "baby proof" ones around the bottom. McKenna for the most part monitors the ornament situation around the bottom of the tree. She rearranges things for him and put the ornaments back on when he takes them off. And she tattles on him if he starts to play with a string of lights (which really hasn't been that big of an issue). I'm glad Will is getting to enjoy his first Christmas!! He loves all the lights.

Little Boy

2011-12-16T13:02:00.000-05:00

I looked up and this little boy was peeking down on me. Don't worry his daddy is right behind him!! He's growing up so fast right now! He is no longer content to just hang out in his exersaucer. Those days are over. He crawls everywhere....fast!!!

He ate a cracker for the first time today. And just because I know you're all dying to know...I solved our nighttime diaper wetting problem. He wears a size 5 Huggies Overnight Diaper to bed and then I put a size 6 Huggies overnight diaper on top of it. The size 6 diaper is never usually wet, but it comes up much higher on his tummy which keeps him dry if he's sleeping on his tummy & his diaper leaks.

The reason why I have to wrap all presents immediately....

2011-12-15T21:54:00.000-05:00

Today McKenna came up to me and said,

"Don't worry Mom, I saw those boats in your closet, but I know they're not for me because I don't know how to drive a boat."

She's talking about the sleds that I have hidden away for Christmas. I guess I need to take my hiding skills to the next level.

Email

2011-12-14T23:50:00.000-05:00

Would you like to see the email I had to write to Christian's teacher tonight???? Here goes....

Mrs. E,

Did you happen to hear a cell phone ringing in your classroom today over and over and over again??? Well, if you did it's all my fault. I seem to be loosing my mind these days. I don't know if it's the teething baby that refuses to sleep or the chaos of Christmas, but I could give you a whole list of off the wall things I've done lately. Apparently putting my cell phone in Christian's lunchbox and forgetting about it can now be added to the list. Of course I didn't remember that I stuck my cell phone in the front pocket of Christian's lunch box when I was carrying things in from the car the other day. Because today I called my cell phone over and over again while trying to find it. Tonight when I told Christian to be on the lookout for my cell phone he informed me that he knew just where it was because it was ringing in his lunchbox all day. So, I'm very sorry about that.

I was also wondering if you needed any help next week with any Christmas crafts, projects or the Christmas party! I'm available if you need me! I promise, I will leave my cell phone in the car :)

Merry Christmas,

Judy

Words for Wednesday

2011-12-14T08:32:00.001-05:00

That boy...

2011-12-13T21:59:00.000-05:00

Tonight Christian got out of bed to tell me something "important." He had forgotten to tell me want he wants in his stocking this year. Hmmm...I don't think I've ever gotten "stocking requests" before, but I was curious to see what was on his list.

#1. He wants tape. The kind with the sticky stuff on one side and the kind with the sticky stuff on both sides. Easy peasy! I've got a bunch of both kinds of tape in the closet. It's just hidden because if he had any idea it was there, it would be gone by now. He is always crafting and making up something that requires tons of tape.
#2. He wants temporary tattoos. ugh. I hate those things. I'm hoping he'll forget about those before Christmas rolls around because even though we also happen to have some hidden away left over from Valentine cards last year, I don't think I'm going to give them to him. I don't want all of our Christmas pictures to have Toy Story and Cars tattoos in them.
#3. A mohawk hat. Oh my word, is that hilarious or what??!! This boy has never ever cared for one second what he's wearing, but apparently these hats are cool.

Can you guys see me actually buying this?? Ha! I guess you'll have to stayed tuned to find out.

Love it!

2011-12-13T08:30:00.002-05:00

It's a good thing I don't pay full price for Cheerios!

2011-12-12T09:45:00.001-05:00

I posted this on my other blog, but wanted to include this cute picture over here too!

Most of them seem to end up on the floor these days!

Here's a good Cheerios Deal @ Martins/Giant this week:

General Mills cereal 2/ $5

(pay attention to size restrictions...the tags on the shelf will indicate which ones are part of this deal)

Use the $1.00/2 General Mills Cereal Coupon from the 12/11 SS

Final Price: $2.00 a box

The "Grandchildren" Tree

2011-12-12T09:32:00.003-05:00

Do you ever have a hard time coming up with gift ideas for Grandparents??? Well, my sister came up with this idea a few years ago and I love it! We gave my mom a "Grandchild" tree. And each year we give her ornaments with pictures of the grandchildren. The tree holds all the photo ornaments we give her through the years and it holds all the handmade ornaments they maker her. McKenna loves to look at all the pictures on this tree and so do I. It's so full of sweet memories!

Will: 9 Months

2011-12-10T10:52:00.000-05:00

Guess who is 9 months old today??!!!

To celebrate he got to eat pancakes for the first time this morning. He was slightly interested and did well with a few bites and then he was over it.

Just a few things I want to remember......

Teething is difficult for Will. Every time he cuts a tooth we barely sleep. So far he has 8 teeth, so we haven't slept much. Four on the top, four on the bottom.

I never thought I'd say this, but I can't wait for Will to be walking. ha! He is crawling everywhere and picks up all the tiniest things and shoves them in his mouth. At least when he's walking he won't notice quite as many crumbs & legos. Will is a FAST crawler!!! I can turn my back and he's gone. He has realized that the playroom is where the real action is. It's also one of the most dangerous places in the house thanks to his big brother and sister.

Will hasn't said any words yet, but he growls and laughs a lot. We also hear a lot of "a goo."

Will's favorite thing is cheerios! He eats them by the handful.

I'm done with nursing. I felt good that I nursed him for almost 9 months. I am actually sort of disappointed that it's over. I really wanted to nurse him through the winter to keep him healthier, but he sort of weaned himself. When Christian was in the hospital in October Will had bottles almost exclusively for 3 days. Then right after that we went on vacation and he had a lot of bottles because that was easier to do while traveling. Will decided that he LOVES bottles and that was it. I forced him to nurse for another month and then one night when he was arching his back and screaming I decided that it was time to let it go (but the cost of formula is killing me!!! I'm way too frugal for this!)

Every night when it's time for bed I carry Will into his room and he immediately starts crying. He's cries because he can hardly wait to snuggle up in the rocking chair and drink his bottle. The whole time I rock him his left arm is busy. He rubs his head and bangs on the bottle and tries to stick his fingers in my mouth. When that arm of his gets still I know he's finally calmed down and ready to go to sleep.

Will likes TV. He loves to eat books. Peek-a-boo makes him belly laugh. Ride-the-horsey-go-to-town is one of his favorite games. He loves it when you sing "I love you a bushel and a peck." Like most babies, he is fascinated with tags.

Will is by far the happiest baby I've ever had. He even smiles when he's crying. And you should see how his face lights up with Christian or McKenna talk to him. Ohhh precious! I'm so thankful my kids get to experience the joy of having siblings (Keeping it real...just a I typed that I heard Christian & McKenna yelling at each other).

This blog is Will's baby's book! After all, he is the third child!

A little boy & his Grandmom

2011-12-10T09:30:00.001-05:00

Will went through a stage when he screamed and cried anytime anyone other than family tried to hold him or even talk to him. But he never acted like that with his Grandmom. Do you see that huge smile on his face?? That's the face he always whips out whenever Grandmom shows up!

Christmas at the Mall

2011-12-10T09:26:00.000-05:00

Who knew that a little trip to the mall to walk around and look at Christmas decorations could end up being so eventful!

1. We never pay to see Santa, but I guess he was bored or something because he invited McKenna and her friend Addie in to visit with him. The girls were beyond thrilled.

2. He even gave them Santa stickers to take home to their brothers.

3. Santa's elves were pretty cute too!

4. As we were walking away from Santa a news crew from our local television station stopped the girls and asked them if they wanted to be on TV. One of the reporters interview McKenna about Christmas.

5. Addie was super cute and loved talking to the reporter. She told her that she wanted an American Girl doll for Christmas.

6. I'm not so sure if McKenna will actually make "the cut." She was very shy and didn't smile once during her whole interview. If you're local, keep an eye out for the girls on a Christmas commercial on NBC 25- WHAG.

7. Ronald McDonald....a fan favorite!

8. Will is so happy just to people watch! He's fascinated by other people and all the hustle and bustle going on around him.

9. Such sweet friends.

"Mary"

2011-12-08T13:58:00.000-05:00

Poor Will. I was doing something in the kitchen when I heard McKenna say,

"Hurry mom, come quick. Will's pretending he's Mary."

Can you tell we've been talking about the Christmas story a lot??!!

McKenna just wanted to say "Good Morning"

2011-12-08T06:54:00.002-05:00

Hope you have a great day!!

McKenna's Song

2011-12-07T14:59:00.000-05:00

McKenna has been lots of feedback on her original song on Facebook, so I thought I would share it with you here.

Make sure you don't miss the part of the song when Baby Jesus comes out of Mary's belly. And then of course there's the "Whumpa whumpa sleigh" part. We think it's cute, so I haven't corrected her yet :)

Quotes from McKenna

2011-12-07T11:08:00.000-05:00

"Throw up is trying to come out of my mouth, but I'm not going to let it."
    She never did get sick. I'm not so sure what that was all about.

"I wish William would learn to play with toys instead of doors and cords."
     He's always swinging doors back and forth hitting himself in the head and it is constant work to keep him away from power cords. At least that issue will pretty much go away after Christmas.

"Come on William chase me, chase me."
     And wouldn't you know, he crawls after her when she says that!

Decking the halls

2011-12-07T10:06:00.001-05:00

Heading out to the bus stop....

2011-12-07T09:51:00.000-05:00

My snuggle bug loves it when his big brother gets home from school. He smiles, dives for Christian and immediately starts slobbering all over him and pulling his hair. Christian loves it too. It's one of my favorite moments of the day.

His First Christmas

2011-12-06T21:45:00.003-05:00

He's so sweet. I love watching him discover all the splendor of Christmas. He loves the tree. We have a few ornaments he's allowed to play with. Thankfully he hasn't touched any of the lights. He is ALL OVER the house these days, so there will be no presents under that tree until Christmas morning.

Her Duck

2011-12-05T21:21:00.000-05:00

McKenna was running around quacking like a duck and waving this paper in Will's face. Then she whipped it around and showed it to me. It was a duck. A duck that actually looked like a duck. A duck that my 3 year old drew all by herself. Crazy girl...I never know what she's going to do next.

The Out Takes....

2011-12-03T13:16:00.000-05:00

Getting a decent picture is never easy.

There's always a little drama behind the scenes.

Date Night

2011-12-02T17:50:00.000-05:00

The night before Thanksgiving Christian took me out on a date! He got a coupon for a free meal at Olive Garden as part of a reading contest. So we headed out on the town. There really aren't words to describe how much I cherish time with just Christian. He talks and talks and talks when he's by himself.

I learned a lot:

1. Being good at school is really hard. Staying on "green" all day pretty much makes him miserable because there are tons and tons of rules. Some of the hardest rules are; don't call out and keep your hands to yourself. Oh the challenges of kindergarten.
2. His best friends all seem to be girls because they don't get him in trouble.
3. The highlight of every school day is playing kickball at recess.
4. He thinks reading chapter books is going to be exciting :) He can't wait to be able to do that.

5. Mrs. E says using the word "Indians" is bad. You should call them "Native Americans." I guess I'm not very PC.

6. Eating at a real restaurant is fun. It would be better if we knew some people there.

7. His learning partner at school is annoying because he doesn't listen. (hmmm...I think I could have made a point with that one).

8. Word searches are one of his new favorite things now that he knows how to do them (thanks to the kids menu).

What a great time we had! I love having a 6 year old! I think I might like my kids more and more as they get older. Not that I don't adore them now, I just think my personality is geared more towards older kids so I love this age.

I Changed my Mind

2011-12-02T14:51:00.001-05:00

Ryan is such a good sport. I mean really.

We have a few Christmas trees that we put up.

Since this is only our 2nd Christmas in this house I'm still figuring out what I'm doing.

So I started putting up this lovely 9ft beauty. It is gorgeous when it's done, but it is pretty much the world's worst tree to assemble. I got half way done with the lights on it too, and decided that it was NOT going to work in the living room. It had to be moved to the dining room.

But look at the height of the tree compared to the height of the doorway. Things got a little interesting, but thankfully that's behind us now and all the decorating is done. Well, almost.

December 1st - Make his NAME KNOWN!!!

2011-12-01T07:56:00.000-05:00

Check out this verse......

Isaiah 12:4
In that day you will say: "Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted."

When I read it, I get excited!! That verse is going to be my focus for this month. My job as a mommy and daughter of Christ is to "make known what he has done." It's especially important to do this in my own home. I've got to make sure my kids "get" that December is all about Jesus and what HE did for us by coming to earth to be our Savior!!

I am totally running behind. I am not ready for Dec. 1st, so I've got to scramble today. I've got big plans, I just need to make them happen! I need to get the Jesse Tree up and we're going to start something new that I'm calling "Love Jesus, Love Others." It's been brewing in my head for a few weeks now.....It's pretty much the same thing as what Courtney's doing with her 24 acts of Kindness with her kids. My goal is to teach my kids that Jesus did something HUGE for us and the way we can thank him is by loving and blessing other people. That if we love Jesus our love for others should naturally flow out of our hearts. But they're 6 and 3 and there is a serious lack of love sometimes. If I were being honest, I'm 33 and I have a serious lack of love sometimes.....so we're working on it :)

How are you "making his name known" this month????

Giving Thanks

2011-11-26T16:32:00.001-05:00

For the first time in my married life we didn't travel for Thanksgiving. We usually go visit Ryan's family in Illinois and we certainly missed them this year. Christian actually cried when I told him we weren't going. Then he started missing all the things he missed. Very sad, but also precious that he loves our Illinois family so much. I am so thankful for the traditions and memories we have with that side of our family even though we don't see them too often.

So this year was low key and pretty relaxing. We headed over to my parent's house in the afternoon for dinner. My mom did ALL the work and set a beautiful table that included some lovely place cards made by Christian and some classic turkey place-mats created by McKenna. The meal was delicious (even if my kids did not agree) and it was fun to celebrate with Will sitting like a big boy at the table. It was so nice to be able to spend a Thanksgiving with my parents and I'll admit...it was so nice not to be driving for hours and hours!!!!

I went Black Friday shopping for the first time in my life and I was soooo successful and I LOVED it. I couldn't even believe how successful I was! There was one thing that I scored and it was a complete miracle. My friend even said "I think God wanted you to have that." Ha! I am all about sleep deprivation if it means a good deal!

Turkey Time with the girls

2011-11-24T23:21:00.001-05:00

McKenna had some friends over to make some turkeys to get ready for Thanksgiving!

We sure are THANKFUL for sweet friends like Addie & Gwennie!

One of my favorite sights...

2011-11-24T13:02:00.001-05:00

You'd better watch out....

2011-11-23T14:05:00.000-05:00

Will is on the move!!!

That boy is FAST! He has a serious army crawl going on these days. And he loves doors. He's great at shutting a door and crawling up right on the other side of it, so you can't get in the room without banging into his head. I can't even tell you how many times I've had to squeeze McKenna thru a little crack in the door, so that she can go in and pull him away from the door so I can open it. It's fun!

I'm nervous, nervous, nervous about all the random things Will keeps putting in his mouth. He was chewing on a Dora bandaid the other day. It's a whole different ball game when you have big kids and a baby. And we've never lived in this house before with a crawling baby, so I've got to think through some baby proofing strategies.

So the other day I pick up Will to change his diaper and he had blood all over himself. Smeared on his face, hands, arm, clothes and the rug. My heart started racing as I tried to figure out what was bleeding. I soon realized that he had a cut on his hand. He never cried and didn't even seem to notice. So I put a bandaid on his hand (which he promptly chewed off, next time we're going to try liquid band aid). Then I went back downstairs and started crawling around on the floor trying to figure out what he got into that cut his hand.

That's when I found this.....

A tiny bit of blood was smeared on the heat register. I guess that's where this incident started. Now how am I going to keep him away from those things?? They're all over our house.

The next few months are going to be quite an adventure with Will!

Christmas Parade!

2011-11-22T14:04:00.000-05:00

McKenna got to be in the Christmas parade with her dance group!

We were a little nervous about whether or not she would make it to the end, so Ryan was a good sport and walked with the entire way with her! She got to dress up like a Christmas present.

We waited and waited for McKenna's group to come down the street. As soon as we saw them we spotted we saw quite a sight!

Let me zoom in a little..... McKenna's sweet little friend took a tumble & could not get back up. She wasn't hurt, so it was actually pretty hilarious! I didn't even realize I captured it on camera until I got home later that morning.

You can't see McKenna, but you can see Ryan. Ha! He just loved being front and center with the dance team! I thought he was just going to walk along the side to keep an eye on McKenna. I had no idea he was actually going to be IN THE PARADE!

It was a great way to kick off the holiday season!!!

Tree Lighting

2011-11-21T13:13:00.002-05:00

The Friday before Thanksgiving officially kicks off the holiday season for us with the annual tree lighting in our town. We meet all our local friends there and have fun eating popcorn and drinking hot chocolate until it's time to ring our bells as the tree lights come on!

We love this tradition and the special friends we get to share it with.

McKenna wasn't thrilled to about hanging out in the cold waiting for some lights to come on....

but Will LOVED it!! His face was so dear as he watched the lights come on!

Once again...It would have been perfect if McKenna could have managed to crack a smile. Oh well. Hope you're having fun getting ready for Christmas!

William

2011-11-19T23:53:00.000-05:00

Don't be fooled. He doesn't really like sleep. He's down to one nap a day and it's a short one. McKenna was like that, unfortunately it seems to be genetic. I never ever know what to expect when I head to bed. Sometimes he sleeps through the night. Sometimes he wakes up three times. It's maddening, but I don't even look at the clock anymore. He has a really, really rough time with sleep anytime he cuts a tooth. Right now he has 7 teeth, so the past month has been rough. My other big, big problem is that he leaks through his diaper in the middle of the night several times a week. This of course wakes him up and then he gets all fired up when you have to change his diaper and his entire outfit at 2am. I have tried EVERYTHING!! I buy the expensive Pampers & Huggies overnight diapers. They're better than regular diapers, but still don't do the trick every night. I had this problem with Christian. I think it's a boy thing. Anyone else have this problem with their boys???

Will is my first baby that doesn't have a pacifier or suck his thumb. Oh how I wish he would just take a binkie. I think we would all be much happier and we would sleep better. But it's not gonna happen.

Well, I'd better get to bed. Who knows what the night holds :)

Shoeboxes!!!!

2011-11-16T14:15:00.000-05:00

We kicked off the holiday season by listening to Christmas music while we packed our Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes! We love this tradition and we so excited to learn that our church contributed 1388 boxes this year!! McKenna and Christian both worked hard decorating their boxes and Will was excited to watch and eat some puffs :) We made homemade pizzas and watched our first Christmas movie of the season. It's hard to believe that Christmas is less than 40 days away!! WooHoo!!! We can't wait!

Building up his Best Behavior!

2011-11-15T13:00:00.001-05:00

Christian came bounding off the bus the other day!!! He was so excited. He kept yelling "I got my name on the brick wall!!!!!!!!!!!! I got my name on the brick wall!!!!!" Thankfully I actually did know what he was talking about. They have cards at school and you get a punch in your card every time you show outstanding character or exceptional behavior. Once you get 10 punches you get to put your name on the "brick wall" and your name is announced on the announcements the next morning. The wall says "Building up our Best Behavior." Christian was the fourth student in his class to get his name on the wall.

So we made a big fuss out of this event. It was the perfect opportunity to reinforce the fact that good character is what we value the most! To celebrate we ordered pizza and the next day McKenna, Will and I surprised Christian and went to school to eat lunch with him. He was sooooo surprised!!! McKenna loved taking her lunchbox to school!

One of Christian's little friends looked at Will and said, "Can I pet your baby??? He looks nice." Since I didn't want a bunch of kids "petting" Will and infecting him with all their germs, I told that little girl that Will really wasn't that nice. That he liked to bite people (which is true). You should have seen the look on her face. ha! She didn't "pet" him.

The End of the Soccer Season

2011-11-14T20:52:00.003-05:00

Christian's soccer season was a mess this year. The first month was pretty much rained out. Then he was sick and then we went on vacation. So he missed a lot. But he loved it and overall it was a good experience. He got to be on the same team with his good friend Kate. McKenna and her BFF Gwennie were the #1 fans (although I don't think they actually watched any of the games)!

Christian loves soccer, so I am certain that there will be many soccer games in our future. He still can't decide what his favorite sport is. His dad is hoping and praying that he'll pick baseball, but we'll see.

Pinkalicious

2011-11-12T19:57:00.001-05:00

McKenna has a new obsession...she loves the book Pinkalicious and Purplicious and Goldenlicious. So we made pink cupcakes, in pink wrappers with pink frosting!! So fun!!! McKenna and her friend Addie loved this project and it was tasty too!

Will: 8 Months

2011-11-10T20:00:00.000-05:00

Look who's crawling!!!!

2011-11-04T20:03:00.005-04:00

Will is on the move! It's fun and challenging all at the same time. So far the big kids have been pretty good about keeping their stuff out of his way...I've only caught Will eating a crayon once :)

Florida: The End

2011-11-04T19:56:00.000-04:00

It was not my idea of a dream vacation. Three trips to urgent care, pneumonia, croup and bronchitis sort of ruined my idea of a good time, but thankfully that's not what my kids remember. They loved our vacation. And truthfully we all had fun (even me). Our main purpose for heading to Florida was to go to a wedding. Just the boys ended up going, which I felt bad about, but they certainly were handsome!

I hung out with the sick kiddos and I've decided that breathing treatments might be one of my least favorite things to do in this world. McKenna is just all drama about it and Will actually shakes his head back and forth trying to get away from the nebulizer. It's rather funny.

The next morning we all said "goodbye" to the beach. I cried as I stood out on the balcony for the last time looking out a the ocean. I just felt sad that it wasn't all that I had hoped it would be. I had worked and planned and dreamed for months planning this trip. But that's just life.

We drove straight home. It was a good trip, despite the 17 hours it took. I would have been nice if McKenna would have watched a movie, but we didn't watch one movie the entire ride home. I know, insane. Around 2am everyone woke up. So we stopped and took a potty break and got everyone a doughnut and started watching out the window for snow. It was actually really fun to have all of us awake in the middle of the night knowing we were almost home and it was so fun (and totally bizarre) to come home to snow.

I just love this cute little face! He was so handsome heading to the wedding. Right before he left I told him not to let any girls dance with him and he rolled his eyes and then gave me this panicked look!

We've already decided that Florida is in our future. Not sure when, but we'll be back and this time there will be no pneumonia!

Florida: My Favorite Videos!

2011-11-03T23:18:00.000-04:00

I love the first video because it was "my view" while we were at the beach! Watching my three sweet kiddos each have their own fun on the beach! When you watch the last video you'll totally understand why it's one of my favorites!! McKenna just loved the ocean!

Siblings

2011-11-02T23:12:00.000-04:00

Just look at how much Will loves McKenna. He looks like this all the time when he looks at her. She calls him "William." Like every single time she says his name, it's "William." And she always walks up to him and starts banging on him. I guess that's her way of showing love. Drives me crazy, but he loves it. And he loves her so much!!!!!!!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-11-02T22:37:00.003-04:00

Florida: Day 5

2011-11-02T11:48:00.000-04:00

Ryan and Christian had a great time on the beach jumping waves, building sand castles and boogie boarding. They even tried skim boarding, but Christian thought that was a little tricky! I was hanging out with a sick McKenna all day. Thankfully she never really acted too sick. No fever, she just couldn't breath that great. Same with Will. He was happy the entire time, he just sounded awful! It could have been worse.

That evening I took Will and Christian on a walk on the beach to look for shells. It was probably my most favorite part of our vacation. When you get Christian by himself, he just talks and talks and I feel like I really get to connect with his heart.

The beach was totally empty with the exception of just us. That was fun and we found some really great shells. Christian was so cute...he kept finding purple shells or pinkish shells for McKenna.

Florida: Day 4.....the saga

2011-11-01T09:28:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure who loved the waves more...McKenna or Ryan! I could actually hear them laughing all the way from the balcony of our condo. McKenna loved going out in the "big Kahuna" with her daddy.

Christian loved it too! He kept telling me over and over again..."the waves were even over daddy's head. He had to jump or we would have gone under." This was very impressive to him.

I love this picture!

This guy LOVED his boogie board. And when he wasn't down on the beach catching a wave, he would sit on the balcony and scope out good spots to boogie board. He is obsessed with boogie boarding. If you want to hear about it, just stop by sometime. He'll be sure to tell you ALL ABOUT IT!!

Day four was my first visit to the lovely Urgent Care center of New Smyrna Beach. Will got some steroids to help with his croup. On the evening of day four McKenna was having massive coughing fits and Ryan looked at me and said "I think you took the wrong kid to Urgent Care." So the next day (day 5) I took McKenna. She was diagnosed with pneumonia. The doctor looked at me and said "Are you guys on vacation?" When I replied "yes" he said..."Well, I'm going to give her everything I can to try to keep her out of the hospital, but if she doesn't stop wheezing in 24 hours you need to take her to the ER." Her oxygen stats weren't great, so it was concerning. So McKenna got a shot of Rocephin (which she later had a reaction too! very scary. She was screaming about her throat hurting and being tight.) She was put on an oral antibiotic and an oral steroid. And she had two different breathing treatments to do. Oh my word I was SO STRESSED OUT! McKenna is not great with taking medicine...we've been doing a lot of bribing. And she wears her swimming goggles when she gets breathing treatments because she can't stand it when the "steam" goes in her eyes...which it wouldn't if she would just do it right...but you know....
Unfortunately, that was not our last visit to Urgent Care....
to be continued...
this sounds like the worst vacay ever doesn't it???

Florida: Day 3

2011-11-01T07:59:00.000-04:00

Day Three was the beginning of the downwards spiral of our vacation. Will had croup. So the two of us stayed up in the condo and watched the rest of the gang play on the beach from the balcony. By the afternoon he was feeling a little better, so we headed down to hang out with the big kids by the pool. McKenna practiced some ballet and Christian tried to climb a palm tree :)

What a difference 24 hours makes!

2011-10-31T14:49:00.000-04:00

Florida: Day 2

2011-10-31T13:40:00.001-04:00

I love New Smyrna Beach, FL because it isn't commercialized like so many other beaches.

Okay, so I actually love it and hate it.

I love getting to teach my kids to keep the light off on the balcony so that the sea turtle babies don't get confused by the light and head away from the beach instead of heading to the ocean when they hatch from their eggs. The beach is completely dark at night and signs are posted everywhere telling you to keep the beach dark at night for this reason.

I hate having to drive for 10 minutes just to get to the nearest fast food place or drug store. I know, I know...the hardships of life.

I've been wanting my kids to have a truly authentic Florida experience. So today (Monday: Day 2) I packed us all up and we drove out to Merritt Island (home of the Canaveral National Seashore where they launch the space shuttle). We drove through a wildlife refuge for hours looking for alligators. I actually did see an alligator, but I'm the only one who saw it and the kids were totally unimpressed by all the birds we saw. ((sigh)) So I don't think we're going to try to do anymore educational things.

Flying kites ended up being way more fun than hunting alligators!

This little giggle monster loves the freezing cold water!

This just melts my heart.

I adore my boys!

A Castle for Scuba Steve

2011-10-31T10:10:00.000-04:00

Can you spot Scuba Steve?? He's a random bath toy that made the trip to Florida with us. Ryan, Christian & McKenna spent hours building castles for him to live in. This was McKenna's favorite thing about the beach...she loved the sand.

There's Scuba Steve :)

Our Trip: Day 1

2011-10-31T08:30:00.000-04:00

Back in the 80's my family would vacation at my aunt's house in New Smyrna Beach, FL! I have the best childhood memories of our vacations there. So when I found out we would be going to a wedding in Orlando this fall my brain started scheming. October is a super cheap time to go to Florida and the weather is still rather warm so we decided to take the whole family and head to the beach for a week. This ended up being a terrible plan since Christian had just gotten out of the hospital. He had just missed a ton of school and then McKenna started throwing up the day before we were supposed to leave. But it was paid for, so we were going!

I didn't blog about it while we were there because I didn't really want to announce to the whole world that our house was sitting empty for 10 days. So all the drama of Will having croup and McKenna having pneumonia was actually taking place while we were on vacay in Florida. Good times! I'm literally spent just as much time sitting in Urgent Care as I did sitting on the beach. Needless to say it was not an ideal vacation. We didn't get to do some of the fun things we had planned like Disney World. And only Ryan and Christian even went to the wedding. ((Sigh)). But, what can you do??

I'm not even going to blog about the 17 hours it took to get to the beach. It's worth forgetting. Enough said.

We finally did arrive at 3:00am on Saturday, October 22nd. The entire family was awake and bouncing off the walls. I guess it didn't help that even after I got everyone settled into bed, I got them back up to sit out on the balcony and look at the moon reflecting off the ocean waves. I was beyond exhausted but there's nothing like sitting with your three babies watching for shooting stars and talking about what a big God we serve who could make such a big sky and a big ocean.

Will didn't get the memo that you're supposed to sleep in on vacation! We woke up to a gorgeous sunny day and the boys and I hung out on the couch and watched the waves while we waited for everyone else to get up.

The last time McKenna was at the "real" beach was when she was 6 months old, so this was huge for her. When daddy took her out in the waves for the first time she couldn't stop giggling at the top of her lungs. Christian was laughing and laughing too. Later Ryan said, "that might have been better than Christmas morning last year." And Christmas morning last year was pretty great.

We found a jelly fish. And collected lots of shells.

Christian practiced writing all the words he knows in the sand.

Ryan taught him to boogie board. It's his new favorite "sport."

The kids learned to identify brown pelicans, sandpipers and seagulls.

Perfection.

I love making memories with these two!

Count Down!

2011-10-30T08:06:00.001-04:00

We've been keeping a secret! We spent the month of October counting down to something super fun! Ryan and I basically lost any semblance of common sense that we had and submitted our baby, three year old and six year old to 18 (almost consecutive) hours in the car. And I can't wait to tell you about it, but you're going to have a wait just a little bit longer.

Helping PopPop

2011-10-29T06:11:00.000-04:00

My dad came over the other day to change the oil in our mower (because we need help like that) and the sweetest little scene unfolded. McKenna was out in the garage with him and the next thing I knew she was knocking on the door asking for some tools. The Handy Manny hammer only entertained her for a short time. She wanted some real tools and she sat on the floor of the garage fixing her four wheeler while PopPop worked on the mower.

Christian soon got in the action and both of my parents were busy teaching the kids to use "real" tools. I'm sure PopPop loved the help!

Yummy!

2011-10-28T22:18:00.000-04:00

Look at those little teeth!! Isn't he just the yummiest thing?? I guess we forgot to tell him that he's supposed to act miserable when he's sick. And thankfully he hasn't caught onto the fact that he's supposed to hate medicine like his brother and sister!! He's just a delight...ALL. THE. TIME!!

McKenna and Christian have both started to get mad at him. Whenever they're upset and sobbing about something, he thinks it's funny. ha! McKenna was screaming her head off about having to do a "breathing treat" and Will thought it was so funny. He was sitting there smiling and laughing at her and the next thing I knew I heard her say "Stop it Will. It's NOT funny. You're not allowed to laugh at me." Oh what a hoot!

We had a good day today. Everyone is a little grouchy, but feeling better! whew. I feel like I'm giving someone a breathing treatment all day long. But I've decided that we'll just get it all over with now and be healthy the rest of the year! We were healthy for the entire winter last year, so it is possible. When I had Will last March and took him into the pediatrician's office for the first time the nurses were so surprised that I had a new baby. They didn't even know I was pregnant because we hadn't been to the doctor for months and months. Here's praying we can get on a healthy kick for awhile!

Can't catch a break

2011-10-27T21:23:00.000-04:00

I know you're probably starting to wonder, but "yes" we do wash our hands. And we take vitamins everyday. And we do cover our mouths when we cough (we'll most of the time anyway). We drink orange juice and get plenty of sleep....but lately.....you wouldn't know it!

It was just a week ago that I was sitting in the pediatrician's office with McKenna. She had a bad cough and was throwing up. The doctor was worried about the throwing up, I was worried about the cough. I reminded him that Christian had a cough and was throwing up and it progressed and he ended up with pneumonia. He assured me that she DID NOT need an antibiotic and he sent us home with no medicine. I had a bad feeling about that. I know all about "policy" and the fear of over prescribing antibiotics, but I also know about having a kid in the hospital and how McKenna has a history of asthma and pneumonia.

Fast forward to today....I sat in the doctor's office and wanted to stomp my foot and have a little tantrum when he told me that McKenna has pneumonia. It's bad. She got a Rocephin shot and is now on two different breathing treatments, an oral steroid and an oral antibiotic. You can just imagine how fun it is to give her all that medicine.

Am I crazy or do you think that it wouldn't be all that out of the question to go ahead and give my coughing, croupy little 7 month old an antibiotic?? I sure do hope I'm wrong.

Weary....would be a good word to describe how I feel right now. Keeping 2 Cor. 4:17 in mind these days.

2 Corinthians 4:17

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

Learning time

2011-10-27T05:59:00.001-04:00

McKenna and I have been doing some preschool with her little friend Addie this year!

The girls love spending time together and I feel more motivated to actually plan fun things to do when there's more than one kid.

I've learned something huge with both of my kids....

if you want them to learn something, keep it in front of them so they see it all the time.

And that is why you would see an alphabet chart hanging in my kitchen if you came to my house. McKenna can now identify almost all 26 letters of the alphabet and she can tell you at least two words that start with each letter. It's not because we've really worked hard on it, it's just because the chart is there and whenever I'm cooking or cleaning or feeding Will we play I SPY. "I spy a letter that makes a duh, duh, dee sound." "I spy a letter that starts the word girl."

And we have a word wall hanging in our playroom with all of Christian's "focus" words from school on it. He LOVES the sense of accomplishment when he looks at that chart and can read through all the words and see just how many words he can read. He goes in there all the time and rearranges the words in the pockets to make sentences like "I see Mom." "I am looking at Will."

On the move....

2011-10-25T15:56:00.002-04:00

I have to pull this boy out from under the couch all the time!

croup

2011-10-25T04:44:00.001-04:00

It's nights like this that I'm so thankful I have Jesus to call on & the internet to google stuff.
What on earth did people do before google???

I've never had a child with croup before.
Amy's kids have, so I'm familiar with it.....
thank goodness otherwise I would be freaking out right now.
Okay, so I'm freaking out just a little (or a lot depending upon who you ask)
It's scary to hear your child struggle to breathe.
Will and I are up at 4am dealing with a really rough bought of croup.
His cough and cry are the classic "seal bark."
Wheezing...very scary.

I think we've got it under control after a breathing treatment
but I'm not going to rest well tonight.

Have your kids have croup??
Has it ever required an ER visit?
What did you do to get it under control?
How long did it last??

I'll be waiting up for your answers ;)

Heard Around Here....

2011-10-24T08:44:00.002-04:00

Christian: "Fall is a preschool word. Autumn is a kindergarten word."

McKenna: She walked into the living room and saw that Kipper the Dog was on TV. She said, "Oh my word, I haven't seen this show in years and years and years!"

Conversations:

Me: "McKenna do you know who my mommy is?"
McKenna: "Is it Mimi?"
Ha! That's my sister who is just 2 years older than me.
Me: "Nope, it's not Mimi. Think about it for a minute...who do you think was my mommy when I was a little girl?"
McKenna: "Oh I know....Daddy!"

Christian: "There's this boy in my class named Human and whenever I talk to him he just stares at me and doesn't say anything. I think he's shy."
Me: "What is the boy's name?"
Christian: "Human"
Me: "I don't think there's a kid in your class named Human. Let me look at your class list."
A Minute later.
Me: "Christian the boy's name is Newman. No wonder he kept looking at in a strange way!"

I'll bet my laundry's cuter than your laundry!

2011-10-22T21:07:00.002-04:00

Christmas is coming!!!!

2011-10-21T13:13:00.002-04:00

Okay, promise me you won't come toilet paper my house or hate me forever when I tell you this!!!! Promise????

Alrighty then, here goes.....I'm almost done my Christmas shopping.

I have a big grin on my face as I write that, you're probably rolling your eyes!

And check out what McKenna is getting!! I can hardly wait! She is going to love this doll house. Being the wise and savy shopper that I am, I had this little gift shipped to my parent's house (because of course I did not want her to find it at my house) and my parent's spent 4 hours putting it together! I'm so glad I had it sent to them. Thanks Mom & Dad for assembling that lovely thing! Oh and by the way, that dollhouse only cost me $20 out of pocket because of using swagbucks and credit card rewards!!! Yippee!! That's why I shop early. I think you can save a ton of money that way.

Now what I really need are some good ideas for Will! What on earth do you give a 9 month old for Christmas!!??

For Laurie

2011-10-21T09:09:00.001-04:00

I made a comment the other day on Facebook about how Will was starting to "army crawl." My sweet friend Laurie suggested I get it on video. I tried. Laurie, this is for you. It's not quite what I was hoping for! ha! I'll have to try again soon!

He's a professional....She is NOT!

2011-10-20T20:06:00.001-04:00

(cell phone pic. from the hospital)

It never occurred to me what a professional thrower upper Christian is!

And if you think there is no such thing as a "professional thrower upper" I beg to differ.

Christian calmly tells you that he's going to throw up. He waits for the bucket and then does his duty.

Today I learned to appreciate Christian's professionalism when it comes to stomach viruses.

McKenna is no pro.

When she feels like throwing up she fights it.

She might even scream (for real) at the top of her lung for an hour (I have witnesses) and then finally give in.

Even at the last minute she does her best to prevent the inevitable by holding her hand over her mouth.

This is not helpful.

Please pray for McKenna.

And please, please, please ask the Lord to keep Will healthy.

He cannot get sick. This virus is the worst thing EVER!