Christmas '10

Our Christmas Eve was filled with tradition.  Making a birthday cake for Jesus, Christmas Eve service at my parents and the Mungers church, chili dinner at our house, opening new jammies, setting out milk, cookies and pictures for Santa, sprinkling reindeer food on the grass and kids asking to go to bed. 

I was a little worried about what time the kids would wake up on Christmas morning.  You see, on Dec. 1st Bryson was up with all the house lights on, waking his sister up at 5:00 in the morning all to see what the first activity was on the advent calendar.  They of course were sent back to bed but on Christmas morning, there is no sending kids back to bed.  But, we were fine.  We all woke up to Bryson running through the house screaming "Santa came!!  Santa came!!" at 8:15. 

We had a lovely Christmas day.  The kids were pleased to get what was top on their Christmas list (MP3 players, a Lalaloopsy doll and a "Batman" boat).  After playing with our new toys for a bit, Skyping family (those right down the street and those in other states) and enjoying our delicious Christmas roll breakfast, we got ready and headed over to my parents for some more fun where we all got spoiled!!  Thanks Mom and Dad!!  We also enjoyed a yummy ham and turkey lunch and then we played games.  Creationary and Pit.  Creationary was a lot of fun.  Pit...well...have you ever played Pit?  Oh.my.goodness.  It was quite hilarious.  And my throat hurt the next day.  Enough said. 

Such a blessed Christmas season it was. 

Just One of Our Traditions

Isn't it a beauty?!  I mean it has icicles and all!  Ok, so maybe those weren't put there on purpose.  And maybe it looks as if the icing is melting off the house but it's still one of my favorite Christmas decorations.  Yes, decorations.  Nobody dares to eat that beauty!  I can't imagine why.

While I'm at it here is a picture of our Christmas tree. 

Yes, it is as massive as it appears to be.  Massive as in I had to help carry it in because it was so heavy.  Massive as in we had to go buy more lights.  Massive as in the topper can't sit on top because the top touches the ceiling.   They always seem  a little smaller on the lot ;) 

And a few more traditions that will be played out within the next week:

• Make a birthday cake for Jesus
• Watch (more) Christmas movies
• Color pictures for Santa
• Go look at Christmas lights
• Read the Christmas story from the Bible
• Christmas cookie party

What are some of your favorite traditions your doing this week?

Do you mind if I entertain you with some more snow pictures?  Don't worry.  The snow is quickly washing away in the rain so there won't be anymore snow pictures for awhile.  Although I am praying we get more within the next 15 days :) 

Last weekend while Jeff was at the BSU game, I took the kids over to my parents to go sledding.  We had so much fun!! 

     

   

The kids went up and down the hill for about 2 hours. Maddy liked to be pushed so she would go super fast.  About 3/4 of the way down, Bryson liked to roll off his sled and tumble the rest of the way down.  It was pretty funny. 

 Bob started a fire to keep us warm although the kids hardly wanted to stop sledding to enjoy that.  Gramma made some delicious hot chocolate and candy that she brought out to us.  Maddy stopped for a few minutes to sip on some and eat her candy but that was about it.  I guess they felt  like they were wasting precious sledding time :)

Thanks Gramma and Bob for a fun afternoon!!  Bring on the white Christmas so we can let all the kids get their energy out on Christmas day! 

Wordless Wednesday: Snow Day!!

  

We're Adding a New Member to the Family

Not a baby.

Not a dog.

Not another fish.

Not another frog.

Hey, I just made a rhyme

And I didn't even mean to this time :P

O.k...meet the newest member of our family.

Charlie.

He is our Elf on the Shelf. 

For some fun for the kids, he is going to be playing hide and seek each day up until Christmas.  Every morning when they wake up Charlie will be somewhere new in the house.  I didn't tell them Charlie was here watching them to make sure they are being good like the tradition of Elf on the Shelf tells.  He is just here to have some fun. 

Shhh...tonight he is hiding in the manger scene :) 

Speaking of manger scene.  Bryson got a bday card in the mail yesterday (thanks G&G Wise!  And thanks to all the great grandparents and aunts who sent money and treats in his cards.  He was thrilled!).  Anyways, I had to laugh when I saw this

He loves getting money in his bday cards so I suppose he thought Jesus might like some money for His bday too.

Baby It's Cold Outside...But, We Couldn't Resist

• Eating icicles (or at least biting into them and spitting them out)
• Sledding down the icy driveway
• Snowball fight  
• Shoveling (but only having to shovel the driveway because the neighbors beat us to shoveling the sidewalk)
• Warm bath to fight off the cold (our kids don't like hot chocolate)

It may have only last about 10 mins but it was 10 mins of pure fun. 

Holy smoly it was cold outside. We'd go out, play for about 10 mins and then we were so cold we'd have to come in.  Then, a little while later the kids were asking to go out again.   We went for one more 10 min spurt but that was it.  It takes longer to bundle and unbundle than we'd last outside.  So much fun to see such joy in the kids though.  They love the snow! 

Celebrating

How can it be that our baby is turning 5?!  Seems like just yesterday we were deep cleaning the house, preparing for a newborn to arrive and getting Maddy ready to spend what ended up being close to a week at Aunt Kelly's.  I blink and here is this adorable, adventurous little boy.  A little boy who loves Ninjas, Batman, sports, climbing, running, jumping, going 100% full speed all the time.  A little boy whose favorite food is pasta, favorite drinks are "space juice" (Tang) and water and favorite snack is crackers (of any sort).   A little boy who loves to play video games and watch Star Wars cartoons on TV.  Man, I love this little boy.  What a true blessing it is to be able to call him my son. 

We went real low-key this year as far as the party went.  We just had family over for a casual lunch of Sloppy Joes, veggies and chips.  Bryson doesn't like cake and his favorite dessert is brownies so that is what we had.  Note to self: next time Kelly offers to make brownies.  Let her.  I apparently need to add brownies to the lists of foods I can't make.   Thankfully I had gotten some ice cream too, even though Bryson doesn't like ice cream.  So, it was rock hard brownies and ice cream for dessert. 

A few weeks ago, I took Bryson to the party store to pick out what "theme" he wanted his party to be.  He walked up and down the isles and nothing was standing out to him.  Except one little piece of one little theme.  And, it was those dog tags.  He wanted them SO bad.  So, we got them.  He has waited so patiently to get his "necklace" and hand them out to his cousins.  It was the first thing he asked for this morning and he hasn't taken it off since.   Oh and we never did find a "theme".  We ended up just using the colors green, orange and blue to decorate.  

Maddy made him a really sweet card that she read to him as he opened his gift from her.  

Happy 5th Birthday Bryson!  We love you to the moon and back!

Didn't Make First Cut

I was going through old pictures from the year and thought it might be kinda fun to post some pictures that, for one reason or another, didn't make it to the blog in the first place.  So, here we go:

January: Sitting at on the table playing a game

February:  Cracker Jacks "fishing"

March: Inseparable.  (they love sleeping like this)

April: Girlfriends



May:  Still loves Emily

June: Excited to go see a new movie

July: Learned real quick that Yemi needs clear sunscreen

August: Playing along listening to Uncle Jeremy's music

September: Celebrating a beautiful couple

October: Adorable new do!

November:

I need to get my camera out!  I haven't taken any pictures this month.  Terrible, I know!  We are celebrating a certain little someones birthday in a few days so I am sure I will make up for the lack of photography then. 

Adding Another

1. Pediatric Dentist/Orthodontist (seen countless times)
2. ENT doctor
3. Endodontist (root canal specialist)
4. Dentist
5. Oral Surgeon
6. Optometrist
7. Family Doctor
8. Pediatrician
9. ER Doc
10. Orthopedist

Those are all the doctors we have visited in the past 11 months.  And why stop now.  There is still another month left in the year.  Let's add another.  How about a Pediatric Opthamologist.  Yeah, that sounds good.

It's been a rough year for us.  It is very easy to get frustrated and discouraged.  And we have many times. But, every time we've gotten to that point one of us quickly reminds the other to keep our focus on the Lord and remember that none of this is a surprise to Him.   He has a plan through it all.  I like that saying "If the Lord brings you to it, He will see you through it".  He has definitely shown His faithfulness to us that is for sure.

While it is sometimes easy to focus on the negative there have been positives in each circumstance.  I am so thankful our wonderful Pediatric Dentist is also our Orthodontist.  It is so nice that he knows what is going on with Maddy dental wise as well as orthodontic wise.  He is a wonderful doctor.  Bryson's Tonsillectomy/Adenoidectomy went smooth.  The extra trips to the Pediatrician ended up being for minor reasons even when they seemed like we were headed down a scary path (Bryson's leg infection this summer).  My wisdom teeth removal was real easy and came with no complications.  Sacrifices have had to been made financially but, the Lord has provided in each and every one of the situations He has brought us to. Really, all the reasons for having to visit these doctors have turned out to be o.k and we know things could be a lot worse.   The Lord has definitely seen us through it all.  For that I am thankful. 

So, the most recent doc to add to the list is, like I said before, a Pediatric Opthamologist.  Bryson has had a bump on the inside of his eyelid for about 3 weeks now.  After trying the home remedy of a warm wash cloth for several days with no improvement, I took him to our Pediatrician who diagnosed him with a clogged eye gland.  He treated it the best he could but after 10 days the bump hadn't completely gone away.  It looked a little better but it was still there.  So, he is sending us to see a Pediatric Opthamologist.  Within this past week (after being off antibiotics) the bump has returned to it's original size.  Thankfully it doesn't bother B.  My guess is that the Opthamologist is going to have to drain it which it would also be my guess that that will require some kind of sedation.  We'll see.   Maybe it will be successfully treated with an antibiotic eye ointment.  These types of docs are of course hard to get into so he doesn't go in for a little while.  Hey, maybe it will disappear by then and that's the Lord's reasoning to make us wait to get in :) 

I really hope I don't come across like I am complaining.  We really have seen many blessings through the trials.  Sometimes it's just nice to "lay the burden down" knowing that there are many prayers warriors out there.  And if you want to pray specifically, could you pray that B's eye will not get worse before seeing the Opthamologist and that it will be something that can be taken care of easily.  Prayer also that there isn't any underlying issue there.  O.k. and maybe prayer that our visits to local doctors this coming year will be kept to a minimal. 

Thanks for listening to me ramble and thank you for the prayers :)

10 on Tuesday

1. I would like to start working on our Christmas card soon.  I want to be ahead of the game this year.
2. Kelly shared with me this fun way to keep the rest of Nov./Dec. organized.  I will be making mine this evening.
3. Wondering what kind of Christmas crafts I can get myself into this year.  Any fun suggestions are welcome.
4. We have been enjoying our month of Thankfulness project as a family.  Every night at dinner we each go around and say 1 thing we are thankful for and record it on the tag.  It's going to be a fun keepsake.

(project found here on 1 buck Wednesday awhile back.  So glad I snagged it.)
5. I can't believe we will be celebrating a 5th birthday in a few weeks.  Where does time go?
6. I can't believe we still don't know what we are doing for that said birthday.  We are keeping it low key this year and just getting together with family.  Still, I want it to be special for B.  We just can't decide on a "theme". 
7. Maybe there won't be a theme.  Just a traditional party. Who knows.
8. I am really happy it's track break.
9. I love sleeping in.
10. I really need to go clean my scrap space up so I can make #2  happen this evening do some crafting this evening. 

Memory

Over the past 6 months or so, Bryson has become very fond of the game Memory.  Like, we play it at least 3 or 4 times.  Every day.  Most days it's more like 6 or 7 times.  We've even made our own version using letters to play during his school time.  He loves the game and he is actually really good at it. 

Setting up the game is half the fun.  It's never in a perfect grid of course.  It's usually a circle or one big line or no pattern whatsoever.  The other day he outlined the coffee table.  A few days later it was all shoved against the wall.  And, that is how we played.  

During the game I love to watch how he collects all his matches.  They pile up in his hand where he holds on tight to them.  It makes me laugh.   

When the game is over we have to set our match piles down and see who has the biggest pile to determine the winner.  9 times out of 10, it's him.  Really.  Even if I try to beat him, I can't.   He thinks it's funny.

We have 2 sets of cards we call "cheater cards".   The Belle match is a little bent too and almost ready to join the cheater pile.  Santa may need to bring a new "copy" of Memory to our house this year.  (blurry pic but I am too lazy to retake it)

These are his favorite to find although Peter Pan is his all time favorite match.  He goes as far as trading you a match if you happen to get Peter Pan.  

Playing Memory.  Just one of those everyday things in our life right now I don't want to forget.