Good Grief!

Her "filmstrip" of pictures from her trip to Oregon last summer. A few more pics. & we can put it up.

Poor taylor has a crease!

Her & Quinn need to switch their beds still.

Last night was supposed to be Ashleigh's last home game for b-ball, but all athletics were canceled. Not sure if it was completely due to the weather, but "Freshmen night" was scheduled at the H.S. at the exact same time! It's pretty bizarre, she's at the middle school and the H.S. shares the same name, yet due to boundaries it's actually in a different district (about a half mile up the road). All that to say, they obviously didn't coordinate sports and the meeting last night.

I was the one to take her & I was not looking forward to walking in the rain, or should I say running in the rain, to their gym! Just as we go in, the principal gets up and introduces himself and happens to mention a tornado warning! (and why did I come to this?!) Not that the chances of that happening are very likely, however that told me that driving conditions were going to be a tad scary!

We mainly listened for about a half hour and then they had their band play, and spirit line come out and do their thing. It's actually alot smaller than most high schools- it's only 1600. It's very different inside, no lockers to be found, alot of brick and exposed ceilings-It looks alot like a loft apt. in New York or something. It's upstairs and down, and very open. I think I like the "traditional" looking high schools better. Oh well, I guess it really doesn't matter what I like, the fact that it's a little smaller is prob. a good thing for Ashleigh's sake.

She did sign up for cheer, she's always liked doing that type of thing and putting together little routines even here at home.

As I suspected, it was very hard to see driving home last night......all the wind and rain splashing onto the van, some dark roads and swaying telephone wires-yikes. I just drived as slow as I could and prayed that we would make it home safely! Our greenbelt now looks like a lake ! The twins wanted to put their rubber ducky's in it-thought that was cute!

I tried to get some pictures from last night, but somebody wouldn't let me-so none from that, but a few from her room being finished :)

A New Woman :)

Two Days Prior To Surgery-Movie Night! January 18th

We Got There A Little After 6 A.M.-Getting Closer To Surgery Time. 7:15

Using Her New Markers & Paper, Grandma Donna Brought Over For Her. Thanks!

Thinks Her "Outfit" Just Isn't Cutting It!!

Our Little Sweet Pea After Surgery-Enjoying An Otter Pop.

Miss Mikaila has been battling congestion and nasal issues for quite a while now. Numerous trips to the doctor, just thinking she's sick all the time, quickly became frustrating! Allergies? Nope. Sooo, we decided to take her to an ENT specialist a few weeks ago, and boom, he knew immediately that her adnoids were HUGE on the right hand side and blocking about 90% of her air flow. I was glad to finally know what the true issue was, but a little bit apprehensive at the thought of some "young looking" doctor taking them out!

"So, you've done this before, have ya?"

O.k. I didn't really say that, BUT I thought it!

I know it kind of stinks for a kid to have surgery on their day off and all, BUT when you have four other kids at home, you have to be somewhat practical. Fortunately, Joel just ended up staying home the whole day and everything worked out great. I'm glad it's over with for her sake & mine too! :) Ahhhh, now she can enjoy her pudding!

R Weekend

"Daddy of the day award" goes to........

Sissy & Camden Saturday morning.

Strong little Case, bringing his tube back up the hill.

The sky looks amazing!

Cam

Case

Quinn & Camden

This past weekend was a new experience for the twins.....SNOW! We had been talking about going for several weekends, and it just didn't happen.

Well, when Mikaila got a phone call from her best friend (who she only gets to see like twice a year) inviting her to her slumber party the same day we are supposed to go to the snow.....well, let's just say Quinn was a bit upset. Ok. we can figure this out, and make everyone happy somehow! Another factor into the weekend was me being able to get back to finishing the painting I had previously started in Ashleigh's room.

So, Joel was going to take the boys to the snow, by way of dropping Ashleigh and Mikaila off at their friend's house and I would have a house to myself to get stuff done. I could prob. think of a million other ways I could have spent my Saturday, but I was thankful for the opportunity to have uninterrupted work time! I had everything prepared for the boys and of course a thermos full of hot water for their hot cocoa. Over ten hrs. later, and that bad boy was still hot!

Joel was quite the trooper to take on the task of caring for three boys all day, in and out of car seats, rest stop, putting their snow clothes on, video recording for me, and taking a few pictures-not an easy task by any means! Thank you! :)

Sunday, we picked the girls up after church and headed over to my parent's house to watch the game and have lunch. I could tell a lot of prep time went into making such a nice meal, and we really appreciated it! Homemade rolls, chicken, homemade fruit salad, potatoes, beans and a green salad-awesome!

As I am not a humongous football fan, I too enjoy a game that's 'on the line" and boy, what an amazing finish!!!! Good luck on Saturday Cards-could this be the year!? We hope so. :)

All in all, a very fun weekend!

Snowballs

This was supposed to go with the other one of Q & M at the bottom -Oh well!

Dad looks a little worn out from shopping. Not too many people in Pizza Hut at 8:00 at night on a Thursday.

Casey laying on the butterfly at the play area.

Sorry about the red eyes Mikaila-you're still a cutie.

Camden looks like he's up to something.

Filling up on chips and salsa.

Admiring her sweet dad.

Christmas Eve. Quinn & Mikaila

No, not really snowballs, it just seems that way when I go a week or two without updating our blog!

Well, Christmas has come and gone and hopefully the kids enjoyed what they received. Being that we made a comittment a while back not to use cc's, we were very happy to get through Christmas with that same principle.

Christmas eve was spent at our new church at their candlelight service, and then our usual tradition of going out to eat. This year we chose Macayo's Mexican restaurant. One would think you would order Mexican food, but the kids all ordered hamburgers-go figure! Ashleigh, Joel and myself got the "good stuff!"

Christmas morning was very nice and meaningful. I try hard to make memories for the kids whenever possible, so I made sure to set a nice table for lunch with a tablecloth and candle. Anything is better than just an ordinary lunch, and it's always more special to have us all sitting at the table together.

These past two weeks have been kind of like the movie Groundhogs day. Being that Joel and the kids were home, and each day seemed pretty similar........twins open up our bedroom door, come in, turn the cricket noise on from my sound machine, crawl into our bed and then ask for cereal. Next day....repeat. :)

Of course, what would time off from school be like without getting some shopping in, so we made our trip to the mall. We let the little guys play in the play area and then went out for pizza afterwards.

Today everyone is back to work and school and I am enjoying my usual caring for the boys, and trying to keep our home decent :)

Have a wonderful week!