Happy NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!

May God bless us all in 2010!!!

What in the world? Wednesday

**edit** No guesses? Anybody?

What in the world do you think this is?

Here is a hint...It's a creation made by my third son Camden.

Merry Christmas!!!!

We had a quiet Christmas at home with our kids this year. Although, we are sill in the Midwest, we are just far enough away from family that it takes extra planning to make a trip home. We had planned all along to stay home this Christmas, but with the massive winter storm that moved in over the week we were very thankful that we did not have to change plans at the last minute.

We started our Christmas by attending the Christmas Eve service at the Scott AFB Chapel. Then we came home and had a super fun dinner of cheese and chocolate fondue. We all had a blast and may have started a new tradition. The kids said they felt like rich people eating a fancy dinner. If only I had known that fondue was all it would take for the boys to have proper table manners, I would have broke out the fondue pot sooner. : )

Our fancy dinner!

Caleb sporting his clavicle strap. This Christmas will forever be remembered as the Christmas that Caleb broke his collarbone.

Cody with his new bopit game.

Camden opening his extremely over priced Zhu Zhu pet city.

The kids with the presents that they picked out for each other. Every year the kids draw names and pick out a gift for the sibling that they drew. They love shopping for each other.

Our little princess Catie Beth!!

This is one of my favorite pictures from Christmas. We are so blessed to have our four fantastic kids.

Giving and receiving gifts is fun, but I hope we all (you and me) took the opportunity to remember the true meaning of Christmas. The birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, that came to earth to ultimately pay the price for our sins and make a way for us to live eternally with God in Heaven. All we have to do is accept this eternal gift.

I am now looking forward to a New Year filled with love and laughter.

My Three Sons

As I was searching for a picture of my bruise covered baby boy I came across several pictures that I couldn't help but Oooohh and Awww over. Just look at my baby boys. Aren't they adorable? Three boys in 4 years and 29 days. Those were the days of complete exhaustion and sleepless nights. But, they were such good days. We were stationed at Luke AFB in Arizona when these pictures were taken. (yes, that is a shiner on Caleb's face....ITP related)

I told you so......

I have put my first born son in a bubble since the very young age of 4. Around that time he came down with a very strange, but apparently not so uncommon bleeding disorder called ITP (idiopathic thromocytopenia purpura). To make a very long story short he had an extremely low platelet count of 2000, a normal platelet count is between 150,000-450,000. This resulted in horrible bruises, petechiae, nose bleeds, blood spots in his mouth, and the very scary possibility of internal bleeding or intracranial bleeding. He had to undergo several months of oral steroids and the ever lingering possibility of being given blood particles (platelets). Here is a picture of my baby boy all bruised up.....to put it lightly, he looked like someone beat the crap out of him for a couple of months. It.Was.Horrible! (Sorry the photo quality is so bad...but that was the only digital camera we had at the time)

So, like I said, since then I have put Caleb in an imaginary bubble. I have never let him participate in any sort of contact sport. That was just the way it was. Nobody could/would blame me for the over protective state that I have lived in. As late as this fall I have been able to talk my boys out of any "dangerous" sports. I made a big deal about tackle football being too expensive and time consuming (this was not the case, but don't tell the boys). We opted to play the safer alternative...Flag football. I was happy with this option. You know, "If momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy?" Enough said!!!

All of these over protective tendencies have served us me well. Until a few weeks ago I lived in a happy safe place. Sadly, Caleb is growing up and is growing out of the alternative"safe sports." For some reason they don't offer Flag Football in Jr. High or High School. I am not sure why they don't, but that is a topic for another post.


Back to the topic at hand, wrestling (oh how my face cringes as I type that word).....after much persuasion on Caleb and his Fathers part, I decided that maybe I would deflate that imaginary bubble, just a little bit. So, with much hesitation and worry, knowing this was not a good idea, I "let" my husband sign the paperwork allowing Caleb to try out for the wrestling team........Do you feel an "I told you so" coming on? Here goes...........The very first wrestling match (at practice not even in a tournament), Caleb was thrown to the ground, shoulder first....resulting in a break to the collarbone. The boy is in pain and can't even move. His shoulder is drooping and he can't lift a thing. He is now out for 8 weeks. I want to scream from the roof of my humble home....."I TOLD YOU SO!!" I have been blowing HOT air back into that bubble as quickly as I can. Pray that my baby boy will heal quickly!!!

Cheese...Anyone?

Oh, so that is what happened to the block of cheese that was supposed to be on the dinner table.

Invasion of the Christmas mouse

We started our Christmas baking a few days ago. Our first creation was the Christmas mouse. I saw this cute candy in the Family Fun magazine. Didn't they turn out CUTE?!

Camden couldn't wait to try one.

Caitlyn wasn't sure about her mouse at first. It was funny to watch her, she kept looking at it, then she smelled it and decided it was worth a try.

Cody didn't care for them. He doesn't like chocolate covered cherries. Please ignore the HUGE baking mess in the background. Keep in mind messy cooks are the best kind. : )

Caleb thought that it was kind of creepy to eat a mouse at first. But, he ended up loving them.

I also made some peppermint bark.

As well as these very yummy and easy to make turtles.

More to come.

Inked

Uh Oh....I wasn't supposed to do that, was I?

New Traditions

Well, it's another first for our family. The first Christmas in our new home. We had to create a spot for our Christmas tree and work all our favorite Christmas decorations into new spots around the house. Some worked out great, others did not. But, as we prepared for Christmas this year, we found a few new things to add to the season. The first is an advent calendar. The kids love opening up a new door to the calendar every morning. I have it filled with candy. I would love your suggestions....What do you fill your advent calendar with?

The next new favorite is none other than the Elf on the Shelf. Meet Grover. He appeared a few days ago to keep watch over the kids in our house. His job is to keep an eye on things and then report what he sees to Santa each night. He flies to the North Pole just as the kids fall asleep, then he makes the long journey back to our house before the kids wake up. Each day he lands in a new spot to keep watch. The kids have a blast each morning trying to spot him. I am enjoying the benefits of his arrival. The kids seem to pop right out of bed without the usual moans, groans, and complaints of the morning. They run down stairs, find Grover, open up the advent calendar, and then eat breakfast. What a great way to start each day.
What are some of your favorite traditions?

Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Blogger.....

Have you ever read the book....Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day? I loved that book as a kid. If you haven't read it you should go to your local library and check it out.

Anyway, I know that I have been a very bad blogger. I am not exactly sure why my slump has lasted so long. I think I have lost the very faint confidence that I was starting to gain. I know that I am far from a good writer and I guess I felt like maybe nobody was interested in the goings on of our household. Plus I have been having some strange hits on the blog from all over the world that I hadn't been getting before. The blog is by no means private but I have taken some precautions so that it doesn't show up on internet searches. These excuses as well as being extremely busy and unmotivated have lead to a BIG writers block.

Life has been pressing on. All three of our boys have made it through an entire season of flag football. I have lots of pictures, I will post some soon. Steve has been crazy busy at work. We don't see him much, so when he is home we try to spend as much time as possible together and off the computer.

I promise I will get back at it very soon. Until then, lots of love to each of you!!!!! : )

Doogie is gone.

I know it may sound silly and I am guilty of thinking less of losing a pet. I had no idea how hard it really is. The kids are having a hard time and so are Steve and I. Doogie was a GREAT Dog. He was loyal, loved the kids, protected us from bad guys when Steve was away (at least we pretended he did), he was the boys' friend when they had none, and he was Catie's first love upon arriving home. He was so many things to each of us and we are so very sad today.

Christmas Picture Outtakes.

The other day at the pumpkin patch I tried my hardest to take the perfect picture for our 2009 Christmas cards. I think I have finally got one, but the process was quite a bit of work. Here are a few of the shots that didn't make it through the first cut.

Yes, that is a handful of grass that Catie is getting ready to throw on her brothers.

Really? Why would we want to actually look at the camera?

Need I say more?

Good times!!

Punkin' Pickin' at the Patch

Who are these precious children? Oh yeah, they are mine!!

What a great daddy!! He even squeezed through the slide for his sweet pea.

World Class pig racing. Ham'a Montana even made an appearance.

Oh, NO!!! We are lost in the corn maze. Will we ever find our way out?

CJ was chosen to help lead the count down for the pumpkin launch. He did an AWESOME job.

It was a day filled with fun, laughter, pig race watching, sliding, swinging, pumpkin launching, apple picking, corn mazing, pumpkin searching, and kettle corn eating. Could it get any better than that?

Oh, and just so you know we absolutely did not forget to stock the diaper bag. So, we did not have to make an emergency trip to the local IGA for diapers in the middle of the day, only to return to the patch to finish our punkin' pickin' experience. That would be absurd. If you hear otherwise it is just a made up story. Are we clear on that? Okay, good!!

My sweetheart....

Wordless Wednesday

I totally left you hanging

Not that anyone (except maybe a grandparent) is really all that excited to hear all about the rest of our trip. But, if you are excited.....Thanks!!

So, on day two we got up and headed for Silver Dollar City. We enjoyed fantastic cinnamon rolls right inside the park. They made me want to get my baking skills out and dusted off. Hmmmm maybe next week.

After breakfast we walked in the opposite direction than where we started the previous day. We ran into the hugest rabbit I have ever seen. Seriously, if I had come across this rabbit out in the open I think I would have just ran the other way.

Next we attended school in an old one room schoolhouse. The kids loved it!!

We also attended church at the Wilderness Church.

Then to our amazement we ran into some great people that we went to church with in KS. They were there for a little weekend getaway as well. It was a quick reunion with squeals and hugs and ended too fast. We were both headed in different directions in the park but boy was it good to see a familiar face. Miss you Deanne and AJ.

After our reunion we decided to catch a show at the good ole' Saloon. We all enjoyed the show. The rest of the afternoon was filled with riding rides, shopping, and little pit stops for more candy at the candy shoppe.

Since it was Sunday we decided to watch this wonderful Southern Gospel Quartet. They were so good it made me cry.

After we watched the Quartet everyone was starting to get tired so we made a few souvenir purchases and headed out of the park in search of dinner.

We found ourselves some grub back in the Branson Landings area.

We enjoyed some more shopping, or not...some of us....not naming any names...ahem....Calebcodycamden.....decided they were spent and just wanted to go back to the condo to play with their new remote control cars. So being the fabulous parents we are, we decided it was best to avoid any undue tantrums.

On Monday we got up early, packed up the car and drug the kids kicking and screaming headed out for the outlet malls. I repeatedly heard my wonderful husband say"Boys you better knock that off and be good. We spent the last two days having fun and doing things for you guys and now your mother wants to shop. So, we are going to do it with a smile on our face." This was promptly followed by three pairs of eyes rolling back inside their heads and loud gruff sighs that could cause a gale force wind. Now, if that doesn't put you in the mood to shop I don't know what will. I didn't let it stop me.

After our outlet mall excursion we traveled to Springfield to do a little spelunking at Fantastic Caverns. I think I have 52 pictures that are all very similar to this one below. I won't bore you with them. One of the highlights of our cave explorations was seeing a tiny brown bat.

So that is our weekend getaway in a nut shell.

We enjoyed our time together and made some memories. I can't wait to do it again.