We know how to Party!!!

Happy New Year's Eve to all of our Friends and Family!!! Luckily, for me my kids are too young to know that one should not be sleeping but instead "partying"!! I am very lucky to be starting our year out with them all sleeping and peaceful. Last year I spent the night at the hospital with Jayson who was not walking and crying if you touched him. We also headed into the new year with 9 surgeries scheduled for the boys. 2008 was definitely a "full" year. One of many ups and downs. We are grateful for love, family,health and a new year. We look forward to the "fun" and "new" experiences that lie ahead in 2009. May you all find peace,love and be safe!!!

Saving Team!!!

What a great time we had with our Grandparents!!! I always wished when I was growing up that I could have spent more time with my grandparents and gotten to know them better. So I am so very happy that my kids get this chance. It was a tough decision for my parents to decide to come and stay with us. My entire family made sacrifices for them to be able to come and help me out, and I will forever be grateful to all of them for that. Joseph (my 18 year old baby brother), Elizabeth and her girls (my baby sister who lost her husband only a couple of months ago) and most of all the best parents in the world. They all helped to make our Christmas one that we will never forget and to bring some happiness, laughter, and renewal of energy so we could survive the next three weeks without Jay. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

During this trip they got to see Hunter lose his "other" front tooth!!! So instead of wishing for his front teeth for Christmas , he will have to settle for New Year's!!

Can you tell my kids love "cuddle" time?!?!!?

Natty was trying to figure out a name for our "new" baby doll that Santa brought. I was suggesting several names, Samatha, Jenny, Jackie, Denise. He turned them all down but when I said "Denise" he said, "that is an ugly name." I thought I was going to die laughing since Grandma Nese was sitting right there and that is her name. She is so good, not skipping a beat she said, "I always thought so too. " She is a good sport. :>

It is hard to tell who is having more fun the boys or Grandpa?

Don't let these pictures fool you......I worked these two to the bone while they were here. I think this is just when they crashed and burned. Thanks again for helping me "catch up". We already miss you!!!

Santa Found Us!!

Can you believe I was lucky enough to catch Santa in the "act" of bringing presents? The kids thought it was so funny that I scared him. What a great "surprise" for all of us!!

This is "before" the kids were let loose. Then out broke the mayhem. I wish that I had remembered to get an "after" picture but we were all too busy having fun.

The kids did all love their gifts and really seemed to enjoy the day. The only down side was I did end up at urgent care with Nathan who had a terrible ear ache and was having a hard time enjoying anything. He was so miserable that there was no way I could let it wait. He did end up having an ear infection so it was good that we went in and by night he was feeling so much better after getting some antibotics. Bryan was already on antibotics because he too has an ear infection but we had been to the doctor two days earlier.

The two best gifts we got on Christmas day, Grandpa Bruce showed up about noon and I got a bounce house. How great is that? The kids love the bounce house because it is fun, I loved the bounce house because it wears them out and gives me some place to put them so they are not running around the house making me crazy. :> Unfortunately, the bounce house was not sewn well and I had to return it yesterday. But I did find one that is quadruple stitched and bigger. The sad news is it will probably not arrive until beginning of next week but the good news is it will offer that "sanity" break again!!!

All in all Christmas was a huge success. We truly missed having Jay here with us but we feel so very lucky to have been able to have Grandma Nese and Grandpa Bruce here with us. What a great time. Sleep well my friends, and we hope you all had a great day as well.

Merry Christmas Eve!!

So yesterday Mom and I decided we should do something to keep the kids busy and let them have some fun. We made a gingerbread house. They truly loved it. You can see by the intent look on their faces that they took this "house" building very seriously!!!

The finished project looked good enough to eat. And eat it they did. Or at least part of it. I did have to have some of it disappear!!!
And what a day today was. My goodness. I "know" I never had this much "energy" or "enthusiasm" as these kids today. It has been a very loooonnnngg day. Christmas can not get here soon enough. They are usually sound asleep each night by 7:30 or 8:00 and they are still moving around. Too much excitement in the air. Even though I keep threatening that Santa will skip our house if they do not go to sleep. LOL.

We got to talk to Daddy in Iraq today. It was just after midnight there for him. He was just finishing up for the day. We sure do miss him and wish he could be here with us but we are very proud of him for helping to keep us safe and defend freedom.

Tonight we kept to our Christmas Eve tradition. We talk about the story of Jesus and then we get to celebrate his birthday with a very yummy cake after singing "Happy Birthday." I love this because it takes the whole Christmas idea down to their level and they truly understand. We have a great nativity scene and baby Jesus does not reside in it until Christmas Eve. It was a good time. But boy am I glad that they are in bed!!!!




We hope you all sleep very well and have a Very Merry Christmas!!!! Be safe!!!

All I want for Christmas!!!

We may actually be able to sing the song, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth." His other one is loose too, but we will see. I hate to see them lose teeth as it really means they are getting older and really the time goes so fast!! You can see he is also not feeling well. Can you believe we have started our two week vacation (the kids don't understand why we are not packed and going somewhere.... isn't that vacation?!?!?!? ) with a horrible cough and cold? At least we will get it over with early!!!

Sleep well my friends and have a great day.

Reinforcements have arrived!!!!

Last Sunday we got a great surprise!! Grandma Nese felt like she needed to be here so she got on a plane and arrived 10 days early!!! With all the craziness going on I knew I was behind the curve but did not realize how on empty I was going until I had the help. I finally feel like I am catching up and it is awesome. Plus, I have some adult interaction and that is nice as well.

This deployment has been so much harder on everyone than I thought it was going to be. Because we lost Uncle Dan in October, it has made us realize how fragile life really is. The kids are very worried about Daddy and whether or not he will come home. It has affected each child differently but each one deeply. Hunter,who always succeeds in school, is struggling in school. I got a call from his teacher and she is seeing some sad behaviors. When I sat him down and had minute to actually really talk to him rather than talk at him, he finally cried and let out much emotion that has been locked in. Cassie, cries and will not let go of me when I drop her off for preschool. Her teachers have to take her off of me and drag her to class. The Speech pathologist called last week and told me that the twins are sad and do not want to participate in class. She has had them in class for a year an a half now and this is not normal for them. Bryan and Tanner are acting out a bit at home. This is the hard stuff for me. The day to day messes you can get through and catch up on, but the emotional stuff is hard. How do you make it all "okay?"


On Thursday our next deployment adventure that is just unbelievable happened. The painters were supposed to be here at 8:00 to finish up our house reconstruction. They were late. They showed up at 10:00 but I had to leave to head to the preschool parties. So as I was signing the sheet to let them know, a cat wandered right in the house. I told mom not to worry about it I would get it in a minute. (the dogs were locked outside so they would leave the painters alone) So I went upstairs to get the cat. Now mind you, I have watched this cat when then neighbors have been out of town. I picked up the sweet little thing and it became the most evil possessed thing I have ever seen. It attacked my hand. I let go of the stupid thing and it would not let go. Finally, it dropped and ran into another room. I was so mad but it was hissing and not leaving. I went downstairs to get some cold water (naturally my ice machine is not working on my fridge)and the stupid thing waltzed right out the front door as if he had done his work here and was just letting us know how lucky we were he had graced up with his presence. I was in shock. But I do have 9 puncture wounds on the top and sides of my hands and my hand is still swollen. At first it just hurt and it was a little swollen, by 3:00 it was so swollen I could not bend my fingers, it felt cold and numb, and the wrist was starting to hurt. When I went to the doctor it was already infected so they gave me some anti-inflamtory drugs, antibotics, and put me in a sling for three days. I was to ice it and put heat on it. Today as you can see in the pictures it is feeling much better. I can type!!! But you can still not see my knuckles from the swelling and it is quite red. Mom thought I was losing my mind becuase seriously all I could do was laugh. How often do you get beat up by a cat in your own home when it is not even yours? :>

Well my friends, have a great night!!

Listening Ears!!!

So I admit that it seems like the only thing I am doing lately is yelling at the kids. It is so loud around here and no ones listens. So besides the nagging it seems as though I just have to get louder. It is very frustrating to me so I have decided to try something. When the kids are resting at "pretend" nap time I have nanny 911 on in the background. About a month ago there was an episode where the mother was doing the same thing. The nanny got these huge ears and had the kids wear them when mom needed to talk and the kids needed to listen. Interesting idea.

Well yesterday I stopped to get some gas and had to have sugar and caffeine (some days Dr. Pepper is a blessing) so I went into the shell store. I found these elf hats with ears. They only had five but the wonderful lady that works there told me that she lived by another store and she called them to find out if they still had any. Luckily, for me they did. So I paid for six and she brought the other out to me today. What awesome customer service is that!!! Anyway, I pulled them out today to introduce the concept. I will find a place to hang them, we will put their names on them and we will try it out. I will keep you posted on how they work. But I must say regardless of whether or not it works, they sure look cute!!! Sleep well my friends. I am off to wrap some gifts so that I can get them sent to our loved ones that cannot be here with us to celebrate the holidays.