Sunday, December 11, 2011

Christmas Program Weekend

The 2nd weekend in December is quickly becoming Christmas Program weekend at our house.  Friday night the school has its Christmas program.  Saturday morning is program practice for church and then Sunday night is the the church Christmas program.  While it is a big weekend we plan in advance and there are NO other activities scheduled for this weekend.  We give the kids down time while they are home and there is the required Saturday morning sleep-in and Sunday afternoon nap. :)  With all of that in place the kids all did terrific!  So proud of all them (even Olivia who managed to stay in the pew for the entirety of both programs!)  Here are some photos from the programs.
 The K-2nd grade playing the bells at the school program.  Micah is in the back row on left and Rebecca is in the front row on the right.
 
 Rebecca waiting to begin.  Not sure what she is doing....

 The entire student body at the children's school.  

 Church program - Micah is in the back row 5th from the left and Rebecca is in the 2nd row on the left.

 Micah had a reading part and did a wonderful job!

 Miss Olivia enjoying some Cheerios and the church program.  Still smiling!

 Rebecca was in charge of hanging on of the ornaments on the Jesse Tree.  Stretching as high as she can!

 All of the Sunday School kids ages 2 1/2 to 5th grade.

I am so thankful for all the teachers at school and at church who take the extra time to teach our children some of the important lessons at Christmas time.  We appreciate all that you do for our children and we know that you reward will be great!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Cute Kids

I hate to break it to you folks, but our kids are the cutest. So thankful to have these blessings in our lives.





Thanksgiving

Before Christmas is here I wanted to take a moment to stop and post about Thanksgiving. 

The kids both had plays at school right before Thanksgiving.  Micah's class acted out the 1st Thanksgiving.  Micah played the Indian Chief.
 Here he is telling the white settlers how to hunt and how to fish . (He is in the red and white striped shirt)

 The first Thanksgiving meal.

 Our Indian Chief! :)

Rebecca's class had been reading several versions of the 3 Little Pigs.  So, as a class, they wrote their own version and then acted it out for us.
 Rebecca and one of her classmates held up signs for the audience so that we would know what was happening.
 Our cute pink pig!

We have kind of developed a routine with our family gatherings and so it has been easier to plan for them.  My family on Thanksgiving Day and Nick's dad's family on Friday night and his mom's family on Sunday.  I don't have pictures from all the gatherings, but here are a few.

On Thanksgiving Day the weather was beautiful!  Normally a large group takes a walk or does something outside.  Some years it has been really cold and so not many have gone.  This year there was a nice breeze and so my dad dug out his kites and we flew kites for a while in the afternoon.  What fun it was!

 Grandpa and Rebecca 

 My cousin and Micah!

 Flying the stunt kite with Daddy.

Olivia and my cousin's daughter.  So cute!

Friday evening was spent swimming in a hotel pool with extended family and cousins.  Of course the kids loved swimming and it was Nick enjoyed visiting with some of his cousins that we only see every few years.

Sunday lunch was again a good time of reconnecting with family and remembering all that we have to be thankful for.

God has blessed us in many ways!

Monday, November 21, 2011

Not a baby

We are officially done with the bottle and the pacifier.  Sigh.

Much like our older two, Olivia gave up the pacifier and the bottle without much fuss.  I forgot the pacifier when I brought her to the babysitter's one day and she did quite well with out it and so we decided that it might just be the easiest time to get rid of it.  

I really wasn't ready for Olivia to give up the bottle, but she was.  I kept hoping that she would drink her bottle, snuggle down and fall asleep in my arms one last time.  Olivia, like her older sister, isn't much of a snuggler.  Sigh.

While that is a WONDERFUL thing, it is also a little sad to think that my baby doesn't need these "baby" items any more.  The bottles are sitting on my counter all ready to be boxed up and put in the basement.  The pacifiers are in her dresser drawer just waiting for me to throw them away. 

I am so grateful that my children are healthy and happy and that they are growing and learning just as they are. 

Maybe getting rid of the bottle and pacifier is just another sign of how much I have to be thankful for and to never take my growing children for granted.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Trick or Treat

Once again we dressed the kids up for Trick or Treating, seeing some relatives and visiting my work.  Yes, if you know our family you will notice that some of these costumes have been worn before. :)  Just trying to get our money's worth out of them!  The kids had a ton of fun and it is always cute to see them all dressed up!

 Trying to get a group picture.  Trust me - this is as good as it got. :)

 I dressed up as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz (thanks to Melissa for letting me borrow the costume!) and the girls came to hand out paystubs on October 31.  So Dorothy had the Cowardly Lion and Glenda the Good Witch!

 Our pretty princess.

 At my parents - Olivia was really not sure what to do. :)

 Me too!  Don't forget me here in the back!

 Again!

 This is so much fun!

 Done Trick or Treating and now handing out candy to others!

Fun times by all and PLENTY of candy for all! :)

Monday, October 24, 2011

Stitches

For the 2nd time in her 5 years, Miss Rebecca had to have stitches.  Sigh.  I truthfully never imagined that she would have more stitches than her brother.  Just over two years ago she had 2 stitches in her ring finger after getting it pinched in the mechanism of a reclining couch.  After two rounds of liquid stitches the dr. opted for the real thing and apparently it is one Rebecca's first memories.

Two weeks ago tomorrow night, Rebecca was being such a big girl by helping me set the table.  We were literally minutes away from sitting down to a supper that I knew everyone would eat without complaining when she slipped and her feet went one way and her head went the other way and smacked (and I mean smacked) into the corner of our decorative floor boards.

After much screaming, blood and a consultation with grandma (who is an EMT) it was a determined that trip to the ER was necessary.  Of course the dr. first words upon looking at the injury were "Yup, that's going to need stitches."  Rebecca started getting all worked up again and I could have smacked the dr.  Rebecca whimpers, "I don't want stitches, stitches hurt!"  (Apparently she remembers the battle to get the stitches in her finger.)  After lots of comforting words from mom and dad, a sheet (to wrap her up like a coon - which she thought was awesome!) and some magic medicine the dr. was able get 7 stitches in without much drama. Whew!

 Ouch!
I must say that the incident has not changed one thing about her.  She still skips and "floats" around the house like she has no care in the world and there is not a single ounce of danger.  I find myself telling her to be more careful all the time. I don't want her to lose her care-free attitude, but I would like this to be the last round of stitches for her!

Still smiling!

Thursday, October 20, 2011

A Minute in Olivia's Life

I took a little video of Olivia the other day.  It seems to be a good representation of how she is nearly every minute.  Just imagine this video 60 times over for about 12 hours a day.  Busy girl!

Monday, October 10, 2011

Happy 1st Birthday!

A few days late, but Olivia's 1st was on October 6.  There are days when I truly can not believe that she has been with us for a year and then there are days when it seems like she has been with us for 10 years!  She is a smiley, happy, ornery little girl who keeps us all on our toes, but showers us with smiles and hugs.  We love you baby girl!

 Olivia just a few days old.  We were so impressed that she would sleep without being swaddled!


From her 1st birthday party.  Such a big girl!  They grow and change so much in that 1st year!  (I love the bib that says "I'm a Hoot!")

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Happy Birthday Aunt Melinda!

Couldn't get this to post to her facebook page so I had to put it here.  Happy birthday Aunt Melinda from you favorite nieces and nephew!

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Return to Blogging?

Over the last several weeks, I have kept telling myself that I need to return to our blog.  Since Olivia's arrival it is one of those things that has been put on the back burner especially since I actively participate in Facebook.  Facebook is wonderful because you can post photos with a brief caption and then move on.  However, I don't like it because so often the little details of a story or how you are feeling get lost.  So, with the hope that after next weekend things might slow down just a bit and I truly hoping to return to blogging.  (The 2nd weekend in October is only the 2nd weekend since the first of August that we haven't had something significant on the calendar.)  Poor Olivia has been severely neglected from the blog and, let me tell you, there are plenty of stories from her first year of life!  So here's to hoping that I can return to blogging!  Don't wish me luck - wish me a less busy schedule! :)

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Tornado

I never thought that I would be able to say that a tornado hit the town where I lived.  I figured the one that hit my grandparent's house a few years ago would be as close as I ever got & that was just fine with me.  On Monday morning that changed.

We arrived home from vacation on Sunday evening at 5:00 and got ourselves someone settled back into our house.  Everything was inside except for the pool toys which were still a little damp and so I  put them on the table on the back patio to dry. 

Between 5 & 5:15 Nick and I woke up to hard rain and what we thought was hail.  We noticed that the electricity was flickering and eventually went out.  We both dozed in and out until we got out of bed in the morning.  Sometime between then and 6:30 Rebecca woke up screaming because their basement bedroom was pitch black and Nick went outside to visit the neighbors and assess the damage.  At that point we all thought that is was just straight line winds.

This is what we found out later in the day.  An EF1 tornado came through town with absolutely no warning.  What Nick and I thought was hail was actually our neighbors tree branch landing our our roof.  The wind eventually took the branch off our roof and put it on our neighbor's roof.  My parent's (who live diagonally across the street from us) lost a huge branch out of their tree and the wind carried it to our driveway preventing us from getting out of our driveway.  We lost a few shingles and we are not sure what will have to be done about that, but that was the extent of our damage.

Many people in town had water in their basement.  (Thanks to dear friends we borrowed a generator to keep our sump pump running and the water out of our basement.)  Trees all over town are thinner or completely gone.  All together 3 of our neighbors lost 6 huge pine trees.  Sheds, fences, and patios were damaged, but no homes sustained major damage.  A storage building near our home lost a chunk of the building and is now condemned and the debris from the building knocked over headstones in the cemetery and was spread all over the cemetery and football field.  (A little even made it to our yard.)

We are so thankful that it was not any worse.  You look at pictures of Joplin, MO and hear the stories from there and you realize just how blessed we were.  No warning, everyone asleep in their bed and no one was hurt.  Thank you Lord for your protective hand.

 This is our neighbor's to the west.  Those two trees were probably between 25-30 years old.  I now understand why they went to the basement.

 From our front step, cleaning up the 2 pine trees.  We can now see our neighbors two houses down!

 The pile of branches left in mom and dad's front yard.  Someone took the large pieces of the stump, but left the branches.  I didn't get a good picture of it across our driveway.  To many things going on at that time!

 Where the branch feel from.  They also have some that are still hanging in the tree.  They are talking about taking the whole tree down.  The ice storm a few years ago and now this tornado have taken a huge toll on this tree.

 The neighbors to the west from my parent's garage.  It looks like it did when I was growing up and the pine trees were just little!
 Our neighbor to the east watching the tree company take care of his debris.  It was their tree branch that landed on our roof and the blew over to their house.

   A little hard to see, but we all had leaves, grass and junk stuck to the south and west sides of our houses.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

A piece of my childhood

Olivia has been getting into everything!!!  She crawls everywhere in the house and pulls herself up on almost everything.  Nothing is safe any more.   (I had hoped that she would be stationary for a little while longer, but she is preparing to walk before she is 10 months old.)  With that in mind I knew that I was going to have to do something about Micah & Rebecca's toys.  Princess shoes and Kinex are not ideal toys for an infant who puts everything in her mouth.  I didn't feel that it was right to make the older two keep all of their toys in the basement all the time and I didn't want to drop a load of cash on a baby proof toy organization system.  So, what did I do?  Raided my parent's basement for a piece of my childhood!

My great-grandpa made us a toy box or a deacon's bench (not sure why it is called that) when I was a child.  It has been buried in my parent's basement with treasures from my brother's childhood stored inside.  My mom had offered it to us at some point and I finally decided to take her up on her offer. 

It is neat to have a piece of my childhood sitting in our living room and see my children enjoying it!  Of course we had to take some photos before we filled it up with Micah & Rebecca's toys and books.






 Olivia in front of the bookshelf that once contained her brother & sister's toys & books, but now hold her stuff!

The deacon's bench with Micah & Rebecca's stuff in it.  How long do you think it will stay this neat? :)