Christmas Morning

Santa came and brought a few things. Sydney came and woke me up about 6:15, not too bad. (While Jake was inspecting) Jake and Sydney could hardly wait to open gifts until Regan woke up...about 8, I went to wake her up.

Christmas Eve

We hosted my sisters and their husbands and kids on Christmas Eve. The kids had a great time playing together as usual. They had an even better time opening gifts. My Dad flew in from Florida. I heard him talk about how cold it is in MN a few times :) And burrrr it is cold here this winter. We've had more snow this December and super cold days than I remember having in a long time. The kids all made a haul! They'll keep busy for days....

WhirlWind 24

The last 24 hours have been crazy...

• Worked out at the gym; Core Conditioning.
• Jake gets his eye poked, off to urgent care he goes. He came home looking like a pirate and miserable.
• Couples Group Christmas get together w/ all the kids...Fun!
• Drop Jake at school, and explain to his teacher what happened, and that he didn't want to miss the classroom Christmas party, but that he was pretty miserable.
• Dropped Sydney at School
• Dave Dr. Appt
• Return at Kohls
• Dropped Dave at the gym so he can get a quick workout in before he is down for the count for a few days.
• Embarassing attempt to purchase my MIL a Christmas gift, and realized I'd been driving around all day with no wallet in my purse...ggrrrr. (After my purchase was boxed, bagged and ready to go)
• Picked up Sydney from School.
• Picked Dave back up and dropped him at the hospital for his repeat surgery...this time it should work, right!
• Came home, and got the girls down for their nap. I cleaned.
• Picked up Jake early from school to take him to the Dr. to have his eye looked by his primary Dr. (Sydney & Regan are along of course)
• Jake's right eye now has TWO visible scratches (after dye and black-light) During this process Sydney has to go potty, really really bad. Dr. waits w/ Jake and Regan while I bring her...
• Jake'e eye should be all better w/in 72 hours!!!! Seriously. But atleast it is not infected, and will heal.
• Visit Dave (all went well), the discharge nurse explains the important details to me while I try to keep all the kids rained in, and from peeking into other peoples rooms. (I should have taken Jan up on her offer).
• Get the hungry kids to the car and pick up Dave at the front door.
• Pick-up dinner. Dave's Dad meets us in Woodbury and brings Dave home so he can have some peace and quiet. The kids were a little bit on the roudy side. Dave needs quiet so he can rest.
• Go to LTF to get my hair done, and let the kids play for awhile.
• Came home, and got all the munchkins to bed and helped my poor Davey!!

I am beat. Going to bed!

Christmas Service

Jake had his first Christmas program at school on Wednesday night. He was so excited!
He did fairly well, except for two things. First...He was pulling at his sweater vest, pulling it up, down and twisting it around. Nice...and he told me he really didn't want to wear it. Maybe I should have listened. Second, during the last song he placed both hands covering his ears, with his elbows straight out. And then the kid standing behind him started pulling on Jacob's arms, to get them down. Imagine a little tug a war with Jake's arms, luckily it was only for the last song :)
The program was so cute! I couldn't believe all the songs all the kindergarteners knew :)

We really tried to get a Good One!

Trying to get a decent Christmas picture this weekend proved to be fairly difficult....3 silly kids to sit still at the same time.......nearly impossible. Here are a few of the attempts! Regan proved to be the silliest of the bunch.

It did get a little ridiculous....oh well!

Happy BDay Dave!

Another year has gone by for Dave. We had fun celebrating this weekend, kind of all weekend :)

Festivities ended tonight with a yummy Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake!

All the kids REALLY enjoyed the cake :)

Welcome Baby Luca!

My newest nephew was born last weekend. He is just a doll!
Luca Daniel was born on 11/15 at 11am. 8 lbs 15oz, 22oz long.
My SIL was able to do an amazing waterbirth!! Yah Shan!

Trick-or-Treat

The kids had a fun time trick or treating, and received way too much candy of course!

Jake was Mr. Incredible, Regan was a tulip fairy, and Sydney was cinderella of course :)

Political Opinions at age 5

Jake got off the bus after school yesterday and we had an interesting conversation.
He told me voted at school. (They've been learning about the candidates and election process)
We've haven't told him anything about the election or candidates, and the news is never on when the kids are up....their shows are :)



I asked him who he voted for. This was his response, "McCain, he is the only one who tells the truth..." I thought that was pretty interesting for a 5 year old. Then he proceeded to ask me if he could come along when I voted, because he knows a lot about voting. He also told me how many kids Obama and McCain both have, and other basic facts. I was pretty impressed, and think his school is doing a great job to teach kids so young about these things.

I just went and voted, and of course brought Jake and the girls along. I did tell him who I voted for, I hope it makes a difference.

What a beautiful day!

Loving this weather today, just gorgeous!

Today I gave Regan her first Oreo cookie, she was thrilled and enjoyed it :)

Little Sydney is sick. I think it is food poisoning. She woke up from her nap yesterday and lost her cookies. She was completely fine yesterday all morning, so we'll see. Sydney doesn't have a fever. I hope it passes quickly, it has now been 24 hours. Although she hasn't thrown up for a long time, she is moving quite slowly.

I am sad to be leaving her soon for the weekend. But looking forward to the warmer weather. The forecast is high 70's all weekend. I hope things go smoothly for Dave this weekend.

My friend Cari has another surgery tomorrow morning. They will be installing a chemo drip in her head. My heartaches for her and her family. They've been through so much! But she is strong and is going to beat this terrible cancer. Please pray for her and keep her in your thoughts on Friday and this weekend.

Just a few words now

Regan can say:

• MaMa (and says this all day long :) )
• Da
• Cheese (when she is having her picture taken, see above)
• Nu (for her pacifier)
• I've heard her say "Jake" clear as day, but only twice.
• Tickle-Tickle-Tickle

She is walking all over the place now. Always collects her shoes when she notices everyone getting their jackets and coats on. And oh, does she love her nuk! Regan is a sweet little girl, and such a joy to be with.

Happy Birthday, Andrew!

My nephew Andrew had his 2nd birthday party over the weekend.

All the cousins had fun playing. Andrew got this cute little chimp "fur real" animal toy that Jake and Sydney loved. Definitely a Christmas idea! It was fun to see all my sisters, and my Dad happened to be in town for the party as well. He is headed to FL now for the winter. It was a fun afternoon!

Fall Fun

On Sunday we took the kids to a pumpkin patch. They enjoyed seeing the animals and liked picking out their pumpkins. We tried hard to get a cute picture of all 3 kids looking at the camera, but that was pretty tough!

Getting Back in the Routine

This week I am trying to get back in the routine. Dave and I were on vacation for a long weekend last week. We had 4 days together! It was fantastic!

Thank you to my friend Shawn, who bravly offered to watch all three kids. She posted some cute pictures from the weekend on her blog. She was so happy to have them, so I wasn't concerned about them while we were gone. I knew they would be well cared for, and having fun. I did hope Shawn and Kurt were handling 5 okay, and that their energy reserves didn't need to be tapped. It sounds like things went well.

Sydney wanted to stay at the Johnson's when we arrived to pick up the kids :)

She's a walking....

Last Wednesday Regan took her first steps at my friend Cari's house. It was very exciting!!!

Over the weekend she has definitely been testing out her new skill. She is managing to take about 10-12 steps at a time.

She is SOOO pleased with herself! Regan is kind of showing off :)

All files are safe!

Dell repairman left yesterday, I was so pleased. Our hard drive was spared. So all of our summer pictures are safe, MOPS newsletter resources are safe, ALL of my files are safe...phew!

I will be sure to run backups to my external hard drive regularly now...if there is a "next" time I don't want to get burned....

Oh, when the repair guy was here, I asked him about surge protectors. (Clearly ours did nothing) He said that no surge protector can for sure protect your PC. They can just help. He recommended the "Monster" brand, they are the best, but that any surge protector can fail. So really, an external backup is the only thing to keep precious pictures and such safe.

A Serious Pain

Last Tuesday night somewhere very near our house was struck by some lightning. Long story short, the Qwest repair women said we are very lucky we didn't have more damaged. (I would say blessed :) ) Our phone was down a few days, and my computer is still out for the count. The Dell man was here Friday, and will hopefully be coming back today or tomorrow. I didn't realize all the things I use my computer for everyday; checking the weather, researching things, staying connected to the world, email, etc. I've missed my PC....I thought I'd put an update here in the meantime. Sorry, no pictures.

Hopefully my hard drive didn't get zapped. I haven't been good at backing it up lately. Right now it is not looking good for my computer. I'm on a wireless laptop right now. I can't get my high speed line to work, so hopefully my cable line didn't get zapped too. So far the motherboard is fried, probably the CPU, and we'll see what else when the Dell man returns....

Regan is standing all by herself!! We were playing in my closet this morning while I was putting some clothes away and she kept staying up! And she is VERY pleased with herself. Yah, Regan!!

Praying for Cari

Cari was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 07. She finished her chemo and radiation last spring. She had a brain tumor removed last month. The cancer has now been found in her spine.

Please pray for Cari's complete healing, and for her comfort. She is having extreme headaches. Pray for her family, pray that she can get the rest she needs.

You can read more about her on blog Undomestic.

The skates have hit the ice!

And some other things!! Jake has officially started hockey! Saturday was his first practice. He was so excited, as were we. It was so cute seeing him get all his gear on.

Jake along with a bunch of other 3-6 years got on the ice. Some clearly beginners. This was Jake's 3rd time ever on skates!!! It was SOO funny for us to watch at first. On Saturday, they kinda looked like a bunch of bowling pins, barely able to stand up. By Sundays practice all the kids were doing much better, and skating. Jake was SOO excited to be playing hockey. He had an absolute blast. Dave was able to skate as a "coach" on Sunday, which Jake really liked! It was a great weekend! Sydney, Regan and I had fun watching.

For any Stillwater people that might be wondering why the Woodbury jersey...it is only Termites. We fully expect that long term Jake will be skating in his hometown :)

Night Terrors....

Last night Sydney had a night terror. It was pretty creepy. It lasted about 30 minutes, she also had one on Friday night. I've learned that they are mostly caused by lack of sleep or a major change in sleeping habits. Since she started going to preschool in the afternoons, she isn't getting as much sleep because she isn't napping on those 3 days. We're going to try to bring back an earlier bedtime and see if that helps.

Hopefully, her sleep schedule adjusts soon...night terrors are very freaky!

The Bus has arrived

Monday was officially Jake's first day taking the bus. He was SOO thrilled, I was a little nervous. My little guy getting on a BIG bus!
He couldn't wait until the bus arrived! He was so excited. We all escorted him to the bus stop.
Off he went! He arrived safely, of course. I think some of my heart went with him on the bus yesterday morning. A sad moment for me, but so thrilling for him.

Cousins!

My three sisters and I all got together on Saturday to celebrate my neice and nephew's birthdays. (Along with some Uncles and Grandparents) The kids all had a blast playing at Hyland Park Reserve at the creative play area. What a neat park! They had most amazing rope climbing wall, 3 sections tall. They've made big improvements to the park since I was a kid...granted that was a LONG time ago :) All the kids in first picture are all my and/or my sister's kiddos. My dad was quickly blessed with 7 grandchildren w/in 6 years.

Happy Birthday Jayden and Kylie!

Jacob's 1st Day of School

Jacob was so excited for his first day at Salem. I was excited and nervous for him!
I wasn't sure how getting all three kids feed, dressed and out of the house by 8:15am would go. Once we get added to the bus route, he'll ride the bus.

All the kids were ready, so it was time to take the "picture". In the busyiness of getting everything ready the night/day before, I failed to recognize that the battery was dead in not just one, but in both cameras we own. I figured this out after I had all the kids in place on the front step. My phone! Duh, so I got one of Jake, and then tried to take one of all 3 kids together. It would have turned out so cute, too bad it is only in "video"...I wish I had spent more time learning how to use the camera/video feature on my phone!

We arrived in this classroom, and he quickly remembered where is coat hook was for his backpack. Then he went right over to his desk and sat down. I think he was a little nervous, because he was the only kid actually sitting at their desk during the arrival of all the kids :) Sydney and I have him a hug, and then he said, "Mom, you can go now." I couldn't believe it! But good for him. To me that meant he felt so comfortable, and ready, he didn't need my support.

After we dropped Jacob off, Sydney asked where Jake was going to eat lunch. I reminded her he'd be eating lunch with his class at school. She got really sad, and said, "But Mom, I'll miss him today." I thought that was so sweet and real!

When we picked up Jacob from school, he didn't even say hi to me. I think he was SOOO tired from the day he was just out of it. His teacher said he had a good day. Apparently the only thing worth mentioning to me was that he just got a little impatient when he wasn't called on right away. The teacher said that is pretty tyipcal when kids learn how a classroom runs. I think it is good that he was raising his hand, and wanting to contribute answers! He really likes his teacher and said he made a new friend. He loves school!

Alexandria Pictures

11 Kids and 4 Moms! Good times....

We tried to get a picture of all the kids, well, that didn't work very well. There are quite a few missing from this one :)

The Beach was a big hit!

Jake learned to kayak, and was confidently cruising around after Drew gave him a quick lesson!

Campfire and Smores...

A quick movie will we got dinner ready for the masses....

Thanks to the expert meal planner Jess, the kids all stayed full and happy!

What a fun way to spend a week during the summer! Thanks girls!!!