Updating

Yes, as always, I'm a slacker. So, I'm just catching up with this. I'll be posting more soon. So there are 5 new posts below - for all of our 3 readers who care! :)

Sledding 2010

As always during Christmas break, we had to fit in at least one afternoon of sledding. It is one of those traditions that our children have come to expect and look forward to.

This year however, I stayed home with Braden. It was his nap time, but more than that, Braden is my only child who truly hates the snow and cold weather. We'll get him dressed in his boots, snow pants, gloves, hat and coat and take him outside. He never lasts more than 3 minutes, then I have to spend a half hour holding him while he whines because he is so cold. So we decided maybe next year and let the older three enjoy their time.

Luckily, no broken bones this year. They came home wet and very cold, but very happy!

McKenna

Tyler

Kylie

All three at the top

Christmas 2010

Another Christmas has come and gone. Our poor tree did ok, but it was hard to withstand Braden. He loved taking everything off of it. However, he did a great job at not opening the presents that were under the tree. So that was good.

The kids actually did a good job at sleeping in the morning. Tyler was up by 6 a.m., but Allen didn't make me wake up until a little after 7 a.m. Christmas is always exciting. Braden quickly got the hang of opening presents and by the end he was a pro and didn't need his siblings help anymore.

When I asked Tyler if Santa was going to bring him really great presents or coal, he told me he would be getting medium presents this year. Meaning, he wasn't always good, but he wasn't horrible either. I think Santa did well and brought him great presents anyway.

Some of our favorite presents this year were wii games (sports resort, disney's sing it, and just dance for kids), also board games (payday, buzz word, and guesstures). We've had many many hours of family fun.

More than anything, we just feel so blessed. We are grateful for our family and friends, a place to live, food to eat and clothes to wear. We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Allen's Birthday

My wonderful husband had another birthday! He seemed pretty indifferent about it, but we always have to live it up! For his actual birthday we went to pizza hut, came home and had a cupcake, and opened presents. While some people may think less of us for admitting to this, we got him birthday presents at the dollor store. There is always fun little treasures there, plus it really empowers the kids to be able to pick out something all by themselves. Always makes for interesting presents though.

This year he got a flashlight, some tools, cd holders, and silly string. That was a highlight. The kids all stood in the kitchen and Allen sprayed it at them. They all loved it, including Braden.

The next day we celebrated by seeing a movie and going out for dinner with some friends. We decided we don't get out enough. We had a great time!

All in all, a great birthday and we are so grateful for such a wonderful dad and husband!

End of November 2010

It's always hard to go so long without updating the blog, because I don't want to miss anything important. So sorry this post is so long!

At the end of November, right before Thanksgiving, Allen took off a week to hang out with us at home. We took advantage of the time and put up our Christmas decorations. Braden was fascinated by this nutcracker and just wouldn't leave it alone. Sadly, because of his undivided attention towards it, we need to superglue the nutcrackers head back on!

The older kids were supposed to have school on Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving. However, "The Blizzard of 2010" hit. Tons of snow, a lot of wind and drifting snow. They cancelled school, and one of those days the county basically shut down. They said they had to close all the roads because of how bad it was. Allen did a great job at keeping the driveway and mailbox cleared, but it was a full time job. Again, we are so grateful to have a snowblower and it has definitely been used a lot this winter already!

Luckily, the roads were ok by Thanksgiving. By ok, I mean one lane and just slightly packed with snow and ice. We went to my parents for Thanksgiving. It was delicious! The kids all got to decorate Grandma's tree. Always a favorite thing to do.

Braden absolutely loves this little mailbox at my parents house. He pushes it all over the house. Luckily we found the orange that he stuffed in there for later. We found it before it was moldy.

My parents had a new addition this year - a train set that actually blowed smoke out of the engine. Tyler loved it! He spent a while building the track and just watched it forever.

It was such a fun week and hard to go back to reality of school and work. Can't wait for next year!

Eye Patches

I think I already mentioned that I took Kylie to a pediatric opthamologist. Originally we were referred by our pediatrician for Braden. However, I took the opportunity to get Kylie in there as well. Toward the beginning of November, after a few weeks with new glasses, we had a follow up appointment with him. The Dr decided that it would be good to patch Kylie's eye to see if that would help her.

We bought some eye patches, but they were plain and brown. Kylie was pretty self concious about wearing them at first, but the Dr. told her that a lot of kids liked to color pretty designs on them. So Kylie really got into it. She colored a bunch, and let her siblings color them as well. It helped so much to have her excited about wearing them. Here they all are coloring some for her.

After two months wearing an eye patch for at least four hours each day, Kylie had another follow up appointment on January 6th. The good news is that it did actually help quite a bit and she was able to see things she hadn't before seen. We can't describe how exciting that is to all of us! She has another follow up appointment in March, and hopefully her eyes will just keep improving.