Saturday, December 19, 2009
November and December Updates
Yes, we're still here and doing well. Like many of you, the holidays are insanely busy for us. Going all the way back to November, here's what's been going on with us:
Early in November was the best weekend of the whole year - Retail Therapy! I spent the whole weekend with my mom and sisters in San Marcos shopping at the outlet malls and having fun together while Kyle and the kids had fun at home together. The next weekend, my mom had some of her cousins in town for a small family reunion, so we enjoyed spending time with family we don't see often.
We spent Thanksgiving up in Waco with my family and the kids had a great time. The backyard is plenty big enough for all the kids to run, play kickball, ride the tractor (riding lawnmower), swing, and jump in leaf piles. The night before Thanksgiving, we stopped in College Station to visit Santa's Wonderland. We love going there! The kids got a picture with Santa, rode ponies, played in snow (also known as soap suds being blown off the roof of a building), rode the mechanical bull, and drank hot chocolate on the hayride through the 100,000+ lights and displays. Besides the hayride, the mechanical bull was the favorite. Andy & Colin were both very proud that they didn't fall off (okay, it was on the slowest setting, but they don't need to know that!).
December has been it's usual crazy month around here. It actually SNOWED on December 4th! It almost never snows here and now we've gotten snow two years in a row! My kids are so spoiled and may mistakenly expect this every year! It didn't stick much so we couldn't really play in it or build a snowman like last year, but we did spend as much time as possible out in it for the few hours we had it. Andy & Colin loved it, but Ryan & Elizabeth weren't too impressed. They kept telling us they were cold. They did not show the proper appreciation for snow, but because of their age, we'll forgive them. :)
After the snow came the Christmas program at church where Kyle and Ryan played Joseph and little boy Jesus. They did a great job and we were very proud of Ryan, mainly because we expected him to cry and refuse to go on stage for 6 performances since he was up way past his bedtime for a week straight. But he surprised us and was a great little performer! Of course, he only had to be on-stage for 1 song while the 3 kings and their attendants brought him gifts, but he did good and looked so cute. Kyle did good and looked cute too! :)
This past week brought 2 birthday parties, all the kids' school Christmas parties and gift exchanges, and our Sunday school class party. Also, there is a baby explosion going on in our Sunday school class, so we've been busy welcoming the new additions and taking dinner to everyone. Since July, 5 babies have been born and 2 more are to come around New Year's, so congratulations to all the new and expanded families! We are very happy for them and love to hold all the little newborns - especially because then we get to hand them right back and happily get a full night's sleep. :)
Now we're facing Christmas in 6 more days and I am very happy to report that I am completely finished Christmas shopping AND wrapping! I'm so proud of myself and positively ecstatic that I do not have to shop today or next week - have I mentioned my intense dislike of crowds?! However, the work is never done, so instead of wrapping, I must move on to the grocery store, cleaning, and cooking. Still beats shopping.
Things we're looking forward to this week:
1. Service of Carol and Candles tomorrow night at church. Only Elizabeth and Ryan will be in the nursery for this service, which means it'll be fun and incredibly scary when Andy and Colin get to hold their very own candle. Even better, we hold our candles as we exit the church singing "Silent Night". I always thought it was really pretty until my kids came along. Now I find it hard to sing and enjoy the special moment around the growing panic I have that my children may bump into someone from behind (or someone's behind!) and light them on fire. Please say a prayer that they don't light themselves, anyone else, or any part of the church on fire! :)
2. Girls' Night Out for me! (Okay, I don't really think Kyle is looking forward to this as much as I am, but I'm the author of the blog.)
3. Delivering Christmas presents to our angel family from church (a needy family that our class provided gifts for and we want the kids to help deliver)
4. Putting on pj's, getting hot chocolate, and driving around to look at Christmas lights
5. Christmas Eve church service
6. Christmas Eve party at our house!
7. Christmas Day of course! I love love LOVE giving presents and there are several I cannot wait to give, both to our kids and our nieces and nephews!
8. And last but certainly not least, we get to see lots of family and friends soon that we don't see often. To Tyler, Tera, Ryan, Leslie, Joseph, Shelley, Michael and Claudia: we're excited to see you and all of your children!
And for one final plea, our youngest two are receiving a medium-sized climber for the backyard for Christmas. Since it's impossible to put together early since it's from Santa, we will be building it all night Christmas Eve. For those of you with absolutely nothing to do, feel free to come over and help so we can actually go to bed at some point! :)
Merry Christmas to all!
Early in November was the best weekend of the whole year - Retail Therapy! I spent the whole weekend with my mom and sisters in San Marcos shopping at the outlet malls and having fun together while Kyle and the kids had fun at home together. The next weekend, my mom had some of her cousins in town for a small family reunion, so we enjoyed spending time with family we don't see often.
We spent Thanksgiving up in Waco with my family and the kids had a great time. The backyard is plenty big enough for all the kids to run, play kickball, ride the tractor (riding lawnmower), swing, and jump in leaf piles. The night before Thanksgiving, we stopped in College Station to visit Santa's Wonderland. We love going there! The kids got a picture with Santa, rode ponies, played in snow (also known as soap suds being blown off the roof of a building), rode the mechanical bull, and drank hot chocolate on the hayride through the 100,000+ lights and displays. Besides the hayride, the mechanical bull was the favorite. Andy & Colin were both very proud that they didn't fall off (okay, it was on the slowest setting, but they don't need to know that!).
December has been it's usual crazy month around here. It actually SNOWED on December 4th! It almost never snows here and now we've gotten snow two years in a row! My kids are so spoiled and may mistakenly expect this every year! It didn't stick much so we couldn't really play in it or build a snowman like last year, but we did spend as much time as possible out in it for the few hours we had it. Andy & Colin loved it, but Ryan & Elizabeth weren't too impressed. They kept telling us they were cold. They did not show the proper appreciation for snow, but because of their age, we'll forgive them. :)
After the snow came the Christmas program at church where Kyle and Ryan played Joseph and little boy Jesus. They did a great job and we were very proud of Ryan, mainly because we expected him to cry and refuse to go on stage for 6 performances since he was up way past his bedtime for a week straight. But he surprised us and was a great little performer! Of course, he only had to be on-stage for 1 song while the 3 kings and their attendants brought him gifts, but he did good and looked so cute. Kyle did good and looked cute too! :)
This past week brought 2 birthday parties, all the kids' school Christmas parties and gift exchanges, and our Sunday school class party. Also, there is a baby explosion going on in our Sunday school class, so we've been busy welcoming the new additions and taking dinner to everyone. Since July, 5 babies have been born and 2 more are to come around New Year's, so congratulations to all the new and expanded families! We are very happy for them and love to hold all the little newborns - especially because then we get to hand them right back and happily get a full night's sleep. :)
Now we're facing Christmas in 6 more days and I am very happy to report that I am completely finished Christmas shopping AND wrapping! I'm so proud of myself and positively ecstatic that I do not have to shop today or next week - have I mentioned my intense dislike of crowds?! However, the work is never done, so instead of wrapping, I must move on to the grocery store, cleaning, and cooking. Still beats shopping.
Things we're looking forward to this week:
1. Service of Carol and Candles tomorrow night at church. Only Elizabeth and Ryan will be in the nursery for this service, which means it'll be fun and incredibly scary when Andy and Colin get to hold their very own candle. Even better, we hold our candles as we exit the church singing "Silent Night". I always thought it was really pretty until my kids came along. Now I find it hard to sing and enjoy the special moment around the growing panic I have that my children may bump into someone from behind (or someone's behind!) and light them on fire. Please say a prayer that they don't light themselves, anyone else, or any part of the church on fire! :)
2. Girls' Night Out for me! (Okay, I don't really think Kyle is looking forward to this as much as I am, but I'm the author of the blog.)
3. Delivering Christmas presents to our angel family from church (a needy family that our class provided gifts for and we want the kids to help deliver)
4. Putting on pj's, getting hot chocolate, and driving around to look at Christmas lights
5. Christmas Eve church service
6. Christmas Eve party at our house!
7. Christmas Day of course! I love love LOVE giving presents and there are several I cannot wait to give, both to our kids and our nieces and nephews!
8. And last but certainly not least, we get to see lots of family and friends soon that we don't see often. To Tyler, Tera, Ryan, Leslie, Joseph, Shelley, Michael and Claudia: we're excited to see you and all of your children!
And for one final plea, our youngest two are receiving a medium-sized climber for the backyard for Christmas. Since it's impossible to put together early since it's from Santa, we will be building it all night Christmas Eve. For those of you with absolutely nothing to do, feel free to come over and help so we can actually go to bed at some point! :)
Merry Christmas to all!
Monday, November 2, 2009
A few recent pictures
Ryan
Kyle, Elizabeth and Ryan holding hands
All 4 kids together and somewhat still, a photo opportunity that rarely happens
Elizabeth wearing a new outfit with black boots. She looked adorable but was crying and running from the camera.
Elizabeth bathing herself in her yogurt breakfast
Elizabeth, Ryan & Andy playing together
Elizabeth and Ryan playing on the ottoman
Colin at his Halloween party at school
Colin on Crazy Hat Day at school. He borrowed the wig from his cousins and looked hilarious.
Colin & Elizabeth playing together on the couch
Kyle, Elizabeth and Ryan holding hands
All 4 kids together and somewhat still, a photo opportunity that rarely happens
Elizabeth wearing a new outfit with black boots. She looked adorable but was crying and running from the camera.
Elizabeth bathing herself in her yogurt breakfast
Elizabeth, Ryan & Andy playing together
Elizabeth and Ryan playing on the ottoman
Colin at his Halloween party at school
Colin on Crazy Hat Day at school. He borrowed the wig from his cousins and looked hilarious.
Colin & Elizabeth playing together on the couch
Latest Happenings...
It seems like all I do on here is play catch-up. Why does that not surprise me? Well here goes...
It's been a little busy over here lately, but I think that's just life. We finished soccer a few weeks ago, the same weekend we kept our 13 month old nephew for the weekend. Here's a picture of the middle seat of our car, looking like we have triplets. It was a little crazy here, but we had fun with little Shane.
The boys enjoyed soccer, but Colin especially is happy it's over. Bless his heart, he's a little lazy and running up and down the field for an hour wasn't his idea of fun. Here are soccer pics, finally.
Andy and our favorite coach, Daddy
Andy playing
Colin's fierce kick (love the expression and stance!)
Colin running
The next weekend we participated in a little fun run here. Kyle and I completed the 5K and the older boys did a kids' 1 mile fun run. They had a lot of fun, but I think that's mainly because my mom took them for donuts while they were waiting for us to finish our race, they got a t-shirt, and there was lots of candy at the end of the race. It doesn't get much better than that! And it was a really small race, so all the kids got a medal or trophy, so that just added to the excitement for them. Sorry, no pictures from the occasion.
We also went to a local hot air balloon festival. Some pictures...
One of the balloons
The kids were fascinated with the hang gliders and wanted to know when we could do that.
Evening balloon glow and the back of the Energizer bunny balloon. I don't know why they couldn't turn the balloon around so we could see the front.
Elizabeth and Ryan had to hang out in the stroller. There were too many people to let them loose.
What's a festival without some snacks?! We had an ice cream break because we couldn't find any funnel cakes.
And we went camping this past weekend for Halloween. More on that later. That pretty much sums up our last few weekends. During the week, it's been the normal stuff. Kyle's only travelled one week out of this past month, so that's been nice. I have the annual girls' Retail Therapy weekend coming up in 4 days, so I'm super excited about that. My mom and sisters and I go away for a shopping weekend every year around this time and enjoy the weekend with just the 5 of us. I can't wait!
It's been a little busy over here lately, but I think that's just life. We finished soccer a few weeks ago, the same weekend we kept our 13 month old nephew for the weekend. Here's a picture of the middle seat of our car, looking like we have triplets. It was a little crazy here, but we had fun with little Shane.
The boys enjoyed soccer, but Colin especially is happy it's over. Bless his heart, he's a little lazy and running up and down the field for an hour wasn't his idea of fun. Here are soccer pics, finally.
Andy and our favorite coach, Daddy
Andy playing
Colin's fierce kick (love the expression and stance!)
Colin running
The next weekend we participated in a little fun run here. Kyle and I completed the 5K and the older boys did a kids' 1 mile fun run. They had a lot of fun, but I think that's mainly because my mom took them for donuts while they were waiting for us to finish our race, they got a t-shirt, and there was lots of candy at the end of the race. It doesn't get much better than that! And it was a really small race, so all the kids got a medal or trophy, so that just added to the excitement for them. Sorry, no pictures from the occasion.
We also went to a local hot air balloon festival. Some pictures...
One of the balloons
The kids were fascinated with the hang gliders and wanted to know when we could do that.
Evening balloon glow and the back of the Energizer bunny balloon. I don't know why they couldn't turn the balloon around so we could see the front.
Elizabeth and Ryan had to hang out in the stroller. There were too many people to let them loose.
What's a festival without some snacks?! We had an ice cream break because we couldn't find any funnel cakes.
And we went camping this past weekend for Halloween. More on that later. That pretty much sums up our last few weekends. During the week, it's been the normal stuff. Kyle's only travelled one week out of this past month, so that's been nice. I have the annual girls' Retail Therapy weekend coming up in 4 days, so I'm super excited about that. My mom and sisters and I go away for a shopping weekend every year around this time and enjoy the weekend with just the 5 of us. I can't wait!
Friday, October 16, 2009
Thou Shall Not Lie
Like many of you, we are trying to instill good habits, behavior and manners in our children. And of course one of the house rules is that we do not lie. Though lying is not the behavior we struggle with most in this house, I do sometimes wonder if our kids hear anything we say regarding behavior. Well, apparently they do, but why does it always have to work against me??! Ok, here's the story...
Next summer, we are planning a large family vacation to Gatlinburg, TN with my whole family. For those of you who do not know, Gatlinburg is right next to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and the whole area is supposed to be beautiful and full of family activities. One of these activities is a zip-line through the mountains and I could not be more excited about this! So anyway, we've been talking a lot in our house about our vacation and showing the boys different websites about the various activities. The zip-line website said that you could ride if you were 5 years old or over. At the time of our trip, Colin will be 2 months shy of 5 years old. I very casually said, "Hmm, maybe we could just pretend that Colin is 5 so he can ride the zip-line." Colin stared at me with huge eyes and said, "Mommy, isn't that lying?" Um, well yes, actually it is! So before I could come up with a way to sugarcoat that, both Andy and Colin start telling me how it's wrong to lie and we'll get into trouble for lying and God tells us not to lie, etc etc etc. Meanwhile, Kyle is laughing out loud at me and not trying to rescue me at all. Finally, I had to agree with them and say that yes, lying is wrong, but that wasn't what I really meant. What I meant was that maybe we could tell the zip-line people that Colin is ALMOST 5 and can he please ride anyway! (Yeah sure, that's what I meant! I fully intended to lie about his age, but my children will have none of that!!!)
I suppose I could look at this in a glass half-full kind of way and be happy that our children are actually listening and remembering (sometimes) what we try to teach them. And what strong moral fiber they have to be so opposed to horrible things like lying! But really, isn't it okay to lie occasionally so we can get our way and have a little fun???!! (Don't worry, Kyle has already forbidden me from saying that to them and corrupting them further.) I never knew I would be such a bad influence on my kids. :)
Next summer, we are planning a large family vacation to Gatlinburg, TN with my whole family. For those of you who do not know, Gatlinburg is right next to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and the whole area is supposed to be beautiful and full of family activities. One of these activities is a zip-line through the mountains and I could not be more excited about this! So anyway, we've been talking a lot in our house about our vacation and showing the boys different websites about the various activities. The zip-line website said that you could ride if you were 5 years old or over. At the time of our trip, Colin will be 2 months shy of 5 years old. I very casually said, "Hmm, maybe we could just pretend that Colin is 5 so he can ride the zip-line." Colin stared at me with huge eyes and said, "Mommy, isn't that lying?" Um, well yes, actually it is! So before I could come up with a way to sugarcoat that, both Andy and Colin start telling me how it's wrong to lie and we'll get into trouble for lying and God tells us not to lie, etc etc etc. Meanwhile, Kyle is laughing out loud at me and not trying to rescue me at all. Finally, I had to agree with them and say that yes, lying is wrong, but that wasn't what I really meant. What I meant was that maybe we could tell the zip-line people that Colin is ALMOST 5 and can he please ride anyway! (Yeah sure, that's what I meant! I fully intended to lie about his age, but my children will have none of that!!!)
I suppose I could look at this in a glass half-full kind of way and be happy that our children are actually listening and remembering (sometimes) what we try to teach them. And what strong moral fiber they have to be so opposed to horrible things like lying! But really, isn't it okay to lie occasionally so we can get our way and have a little fun???!! (Don't worry, Kyle has already forbidden me from saying that to them and corrupting them further.) I never knew I would be such a bad influence on my kids. :)
Saturday, October 10, 2009
The Mysterious Hand
A funny story to share.....
But first, a little background. Colin has a really bad habit of coming into our bed at night. This happens a couple of times a week and is so commonplace that we don't even realize it most nights (I admit, I'm a heavy sleeper). But I evnetually notice him because he likes to snuggle against me, which means I wake up when I am literally laying half on top of him. (Why doesn't he go snuggle with Kyle?!)
So anyway, Kyle was out of town one week and I was getting into bed late. I was in that "a tiny bit awake, but mostly sound asleep" stage when I rolled over in bed. I rolled onto my stomach and put my hands up under the pillow......and found someone else's hand. Just imagine thinking you're in bed alone but feeling a hand under your pillow, and well, you can just imagine how high I jumped out of that bed. It was Colin, trying to wake me up so he could crawl into bed with me. Why he decided to actually wake me up this time, I don't know, and who knows why he tried to wake me up by putting his hands under my pillow. Whatever the reason, it was pretty effective!
But first, a little background. Colin has a really bad habit of coming into our bed at night. This happens a couple of times a week and is so commonplace that we don't even realize it most nights (I admit, I'm a heavy sleeper). But I evnetually notice him because he likes to snuggle against me, which means I wake up when I am literally laying half on top of him. (Why doesn't he go snuggle with Kyle?!)
So anyway, Kyle was out of town one week and I was getting into bed late. I was in that "a tiny bit awake, but mostly sound asleep" stage when I rolled over in bed. I rolled onto my stomach and put my hands up under the pillow......and found someone else's hand. Just imagine thinking you're in bed alone but feeling a hand under your pillow, and well, you can just imagine how high I jumped out of that bed. It was Colin, trying to wake me up so he could crawl into bed with me. Why he decided to actually wake me up this time, I don't know, and who knows why he tried to wake me up by putting his hands under my pillow. Whatever the reason, it was pretty effective!
We're still here!
Though I haven't posted in awhile, we're still alive and kicking. It's been kind of busy of course (when is it not?!), but also, I sometimes get a little lazy about blogging. I've been meaning to post soccer pictures for both Andy & Colin since the first game, but now the season is ending next weekend. The pictures will come eventually!
We've just been enjoying the usual routine of life lately. Kyle's parents were in town for a few weeks so we had fun visiting with them. They had been on a 4-month European vacation all summer, so it was nice to finally catch up with them and for the kids to enjoy their grandparents again. Now, my mom is on a 4-week European vacation. So needless to say, we're getting a little jealous of all the travelling everyone else seems to be doing!!! :) Ah, reasons to look forward to retirement.
So here's the recap for everyone:
Kyle - has been working at ExxonMobil in Houston for several weeks now. We're a little afraid that may come to an end by the end of this month, but we're enjoying it while we can. The kids and I love having him home in the evenings!
Andy - loves first grade way more than kindergarten because of all the new fun stuff. And his teacher is a huge science fan, so they get to do science experiments all the time. He loves that kind of stuff. Still tempermental - but I'm guessing that won't ever change! Really enjoys soccer, but is still obsessed with baseball. He wants baseball at all times - either playing in the living room, throwing a ball against the wall, watching it on TV, or playing it on the computer. He's still trying to teach me the proper way to throw a ball and the roster of the Houston Astros - I don't think I'm a very good student though.
Colin - having lots of fun in his pre-K class and at Bible study each week. He's still our sweet, cuddly little boy, but is getting more of an attitude. I think once kids turn 4, they develop a little attitude and feel the need to test the boundaries a little more. Maybe it's just our house. But he still cracks us up because he's really funny and personable. He's enjoying soccer too, but he spends a good bit of game time spinning circles with his arms outstretched in the middle of the field and we're pretty sure he has no idea where his team's goal is. You gotta love him, though.
Elizabeth - currently has several large bumps on her head and looks pitiful. She fell at school the other day and banged the side of her forehead on a bookshelf. Yesterday, she fell backwards out of a chair in the living room and cut her head on the corner of the windowsill. Now there's a large bloody goose egg on the back of her head. We're wondering how many times the poor child has to hit her head before permanent damage is done! But she's really enjoying Mother's Day Out and no longer cries at drop-off. She's still the loudest kid in the house, even with Andy's baseballs constantly flying across the living room. But she's sweet and girly too. A friend of ours has a 2-month old little girl and Elizabeth LOVES holding and kissing her.
Ryan - still the sweet baby of the family, but getting more independent each day. He insists on climbing in the car by himself and doing part of his seatbelt by himself (his world falls apart if you do it for him). He doesn't cry at school any more either, so I think they're both really liking it. Ryan does his best everyday to keep up with his big brothers and it's so funny to watch. He loves to follow them into the bathroom and tries to take his diaper off so he can go too. This behavior is both really cute and really annoying for me! :)
Me - well, I pretty much take care of the kids and house constantly. Allergies and a cold have been going on for awhile now, but THANKFULLY no one else has been sick and the flu has yet to hit our house! A lot of our friends at church are having babies around this time, so I've been busy with many baby showers.
And that pretty much covers our life lately! Hope yours is going well and your family is healthy!
We've just been enjoying the usual routine of life lately. Kyle's parents were in town for a few weeks so we had fun visiting with them. They had been on a 4-month European vacation all summer, so it was nice to finally catch up with them and for the kids to enjoy their grandparents again. Now, my mom is on a 4-week European vacation. So needless to say, we're getting a little jealous of all the travelling everyone else seems to be doing!!! :) Ah, reasons to look forward to retirement.
So here's the recap for everyone:
Kyle - has been working at ExxonMobil in Houston for several weeks now. We're a little afraid that may come to an end by the end of this month, but we're enjoying it while we can. The kids and I love having him home in the evenings!
Andy - loves first grade way more than kindergarten because of all the new fun stuff. And his teacher is a huge science fan, so they get to do science experiments all the time. He loves that kind of stuff. Still tempermental - but I'm guessing that won't ever change! Really enjoys soccer, but is still obsessed with baseball. He wants baseball at all times - either playing in the living room, throwing a ball against the wall, watching it on TV, or playing it on the computer. He's still trying to teach me the proper way to throw a ball and the roster of the Houston Astros - I don't think I'm a very good student though.
Colin - having lots of fun in his pre-K class and at Bible study each week. He's still our sweet, cuddly little boy, but is getting more of an attitude. I think once kids turn 4, they develop a little attitude and feel the need to test the boundaries a little more. Maybe it's just our house. But he still cracks us up because he's really funny and personable. He's enjoying soccer too, but he spends a good bit of game time spinning circles with his arms outstretched in the middle of the field and we're pretty sure he has no idea where his team's goal is. You gotta love him, though.
Elizabeth - currently has several large bumps on her head and looks pitiful. She fell at school the other day and banged the side of her forehead on a bookshelf. Yesterday, she fell backwards out of a chair in the living room and cut her head on the corner of the windowsill. Now there's a large bloody goose egg on the back of her head. We're wondering how many times the poor child has to hit her head before permanent damage is done! But she's really enjoying Mother's Day Out and no longer cries at drop-off. She's still the loudest kid in the house, even with Andy's baseballs constantly flying across the living room. But she's sweet and girly too. A friend of ours has a 2-month old little girl and Elizabeth LOVES holding and kissing her.
Ryan - still the sweet baby of the family, but getting more independent each day. He insists on climbing in the car by himself and doing part of his seatbelt by himself (his world falls apart if you do it for him). He doesn't cry at school any more either, so I think they're both really liking it. Ryan does his best everyday to keep up with his big brothers and it's so funny to watch. He loves to follow them into the bathroom and tries to take his diaper off so he can go too. This behavior is both really cute and really annoying for me! :)
Me - well, I pretty much take care of the kids and house constantly. Allergies and a cold have been going on for awhile now, but THANKFULLY no one else has been sick and the flu has yet to hit our house! A lot of our friends at church are having babies around this time, so I've been busy with many baby showers.
And that pretty much covers our life lately! Hope yours is going well and your family is healthy!
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