Ringing in the New Year-Literally

Cousin time!

Fun with the Hewletts ringing the bell.

Happy New Year everyone!

One of my Favoritist Christmas Pictures Ever

This has got to be one of the best Christmas pictures ever. The thing is...when we actually took the picture, back in 2004, I thought it was bad. I wondered why in the world we couldn't just take a normal picture like a normal family. But see, that was back when I only had three kids. Maybe I didn't really get it or something, I don't know. One thing I do know now, is that I'm rambling. The other thing I know, esp. now that I have four children, is that these are the memories to be treasured. It's a crazy picture but I wouldn't have it any other way.



Here it is:

Some things I love:

The fact that Trey was sucking his thumb and rubbing Zach's hair. Zach hated that, but look at how oblivious he looks. I love it! Everyone in the room was obviously laughing about it, I know I was.

Lexi was picking her nose! and laughing. Probably thinking everyone was laughing at her. Nope!

Dave looks, ummm, fat. Sorry Honey. This was before he started losing weight. I am so proud of him now for the work he has done to change it but it's weird to look back and see him like that.

I just think it's hysterical that Zach is standing there in front and doesn't realize what is going on behind him.

Definately one of my favorites.

Christmas Day

We always spend Christmas Day with Dave's parents.

This year, Sue had a fun game that involved the kids rotating presents every time her story read Jesus. The kids had a blast.

Baby Henry got a jump on opening his presents. "Zach, would you just look at me?"
"Trey, look at me and smile."All the girls with their new pillow pets!

Book Worm

I am very happy to note that this little girl is just like her mom and her big sister.We read until we just can't stay awake any longer.

My Sweet Baby Girl

Look at this picture of my sweet baby Leah.

Poor thing has a cold.

Don't you just love bathtub pictures? I do. I really do.

I'm pretty sure I've subjected all of my children to bathtub pictures.

But it's not really Leah.

This one is Leah.

That top one was Lexi.

Wierd, huh?

Christmas Trees

We did this craft in preschool this year.

You take a sugar ice cream cone and frost it. Then the kids decorate it with candy.

These are Trey's.

These are Lexi's.

These are Leah's.

She had more fun licking the frosting out of the bowl.

Merry Christmas!

We've had a wonderful time this Christmas season. Lots of busyness and parties and family. Here's a snapshot of my family.

Where it all began. My wonderful parents.

My sister Tracy. Tracy is my running buddy. We did the Turkey Trot together with her girls:)My sister Rhonda. Rhonda has been giving me a hard time for not blogging. I could state all my excuses-job, 4 kids, blah, blah, blah. But I won't. I have no excuses. Rhonda gave her sisters a beautiful present this year. This book. It has the pictures of our girl weekend back in May. It made us all cry. It was awesome:) Thanks Rhonda! This is my sister Kris. She and her family win the prize for traveling the farthest to get here. They made the trip in 14 1/2 hours by getting on the road at 3:30 in the morning and only making 2 stops. I like to think we inspired them to try it that way since that's how we got to their house over the summer:) It's great to have them here. This is my sister Laura. They stayed at our house this past weekend. They are wonderful and gracious houseguests and never once complained about having to squeeze into our tiny house. We had a blast.
This is us. I like to think we win the prize for the best color coordination. If only I could take the credit.
This is the whole group. What a lot of people! Thanks to Nana for coming over to take the group shots.
These are my wonderful sisters and parents.
This is one of my favorite pictures. Caroline will turn 3 next week. Leah will turn 3 next month. Deborah and Joanna will turn 3 in May. And my great niece Noa will turn 2 in April. The little girls sang some songs together from D. and J.'s Christmas program. It was super cute.

A Tale of Two Shoppers

Leah and I had this conversation yesterday while walking through Target. She was sitting sideways in the basket holding her Baby.

Leah: Mommy, Baby is crying, you take her.
Me: Me?
Leah: Yes, she NEEDS you!
Me: Ok.
(Walking through Target, pushing a cart and holding a baby to my shoulder. Getting awkward stares from other shoppers.)
Leah: She's crying. I will take her.
Me: Oh, here you go.
Leah: Shhh, Baby, it's okay.

(Next aisle over)
Leah: Mommy, she's crying, you take her.
Me: Ok, come here Baby. Shhh. It's okay. (Getting a little more comfortable with this.)
Leah: She's awake now. I will take her.
Leah: Mommy, she's sick!
Me: She's sick? (Oh boy)
Leah: She's puking! (I look down and she has her hand under the baby's chin) Quick, get me a towel! Hurry, I need a towel! (I find myself frantically looking in the cart for a towel until I realize, Hey, it's a doll!)
Me: Sorry Leah, I don't have a towel.
Leah: Ok. She's crying, here you hold her.
Me: Ok, sure.

Tough Trey Buddy

On Wed. we were in a car crash. A guy pulled out and turned left in front of us and Dave couldn't stop. Dave and I have whiplash, Leah hasn't had any negative effects that we can tell, but poor Trey buddy took the brunt of it. His face hit the back of my seat and split open his lip. He had to ride in an ambulance to the hospital to get stitches. I stayed back with Leah and the car.

He was a super trooper in the hospital. His favorite part was getting to watch Scooby Doo.
He got four stitches above his lip and one inside his nose. That one wasn't fun to watch, for him to get, or for the doctor to stitch. It took him three times to get it through. We are all still getting over the trauma of that one.

He will, I'm sure, have quite the scar.

His swelling is much reduced in his lip today, but now his whole face is swollen.

We are praising God we weren't hurt worse.

On Being Zach's Mother

Sometimes I am still surprised to have a child who is so exactly the opposite of me. Today was a perfect example. We are out and about for the day, just the two of us. Right now we are sitting at Starbucks because he is doing a homework project. Earlier, we decided to go to Chick-fil-A for lunch and low and behold, Zach runs into a friend that he met a couple of weeks ago at Breakaway. So he comes over to the table and says, "I just invited some people to sit with us". I'm thinking okaaayyyy. Granted, the place was packed since it's a Saturday. So this friend and his dad come over and sit with us for lunch. Can you say ackward? Of course, we were all very accomodating and got to know each other. Zach got quite a kick out of it afterwards asking me what I thought. I'm very happy that he doesn't have a problem meeting and talking to new people. Also that he is able to converse with adults. It's an important trait to have. The whole thing surprised me a bit but I have learned with Zach not to be surprised by out-of-the-box behavior. The kid's a nut. In a good way:)

Ouchie!

Leah has been getting into her creams lately. The other day she smeared calendula (a homeopathic healing ointment) everywhere. She had it on the footstool, the couch, herself, the bookshelf. Everywhere. It took me a half hour to clean up. She had also gotten into the stingstop and smeared that everywhere.

Today she was sitting on the couch with me and managed to do it without me knowing. The little sneak! She opened the calendula and proceded to rub it all over her body. Including in the area that should have been covered by a diaper but wasn't because she just went potty. We use the calendula for diaper rash so that's no big deal. But then she started saying ouch, ouch, ouchie! And then it started to dawn on me because I started to smell it. I picked her up and she was pointing down there saying ow. And the smell got stronger and stronger and I could barely breathe. She had opened the Vick's Vapo Rub! I can only imagine how bad that burned! I picked her up and ran for the tub.

And now she's all better. And I hope she learned her lesson!

Pumpkin Party Pooper

I have given myself a nickname. The Pumpkin Party Pooper. I usually take a million pictures of my kids at our church's annual party. This year I have none. Not because I forgot to take the camera, but because I took the camera with a dead battery in it. Bummer.

I did get a picture e-mailed to me. Thanks, Dawn!
Today Leah decided she needed to wear her costume so at least I have some pictures of her.

Calvary Carnival

It's time for Calvary Preschool's Carnival!!

Who are these crazy characters?

Lexi and Sydney! Mikayla!

Trey!

Shelby!

Leah!

The Conquering of an Old Fear

If anyone knows me , they know I'm NOT a dog person. At all. Not even a little bit. I got chased when I did a paper route a million years ago and the dog caught me and I got bit and had to go the hospital and was scarred for life. Emotionally that is.



Fast forward about 5 years. I had many conversations with Dave about what to do when chased by a dog as I was deathly afraid of all dogs. It was really an unhealthy fear. He told me to yell at it. Specifically, a short word like "no" or "stop". Also, to be prepared to throw something at it. I rehearsed those things in my mind over and over because I don't think well on my feet and hopefully, if a situation ever presented itself, I wanted be prepared.



Fast forward another couple years. I was walking with my SIL, Valerie here in Walcott. We came up to a house with two dogs. One was a big ol' dog and one was a little yippy thing. They came around the house in the shadows and I said something to Val like "Oh my word that's a big dog." Well she only saw the little yippy thing and thought I was crazy. But suddenly the big dog charged us, all the way out to the street. I did the only thing I could think to do. (This part is much better in real life when I can demonstrate.) I turned to the dog, bent over with my arms in a 'muscle' pose, and growled at the dog. It stopped, looked at me with it's head tilted, and walked back to the house. Then, I stood up in slow motion and turned around to look at Val, just in time to realize I really looked like an idiot. She was bent over laughing so hard that she almost peed her pants. We laughed all the way home and she has never let me forget about it.



Fast forward to this past summer. I was running on the gravel road where my sister lives in NC. There was a house with two pit bulls who decided to rush me. I was able to turn and yell 'no' and approach them to make them stop. One of them didn't want to stop and came right up to me. I had to keep telling it to stop but it eventually did and they went back to their yard. As I turned back to my run, I was amazed at how calm I felt and was so proud of myself that I had actually passed the test.


I've never really thought of it before, but when you choose an exercise habit like running, you are bound to run into dogs. Duh, but it never coorelated in my mind until now.


Fast forward to the past couple of weeks. There is another house here in Walcott that has two dogs. The house is down a street that is kind of out towards the country and therefore they don't keep the dogs tied up. They have a big ol' dog and a little yippy thing. The big dog is almost always outside and the little one is sometimes out but lots of times inside the garage. Dave and I have been out there together when the big one has come out close to the road. We think it recognizes us now because it stays up close to the house and hardly ever barks. The little one however, barks constantly, from the time it sees us until we are out of sight. The thing doesn't shut up whether it is outside or inside the garage. It thinks it's pretty tough. One day, it was outside and decided to rush me on the road. My friend, Brie, was with me and it came out to the street all running like it was going to get us. The thing is, it's a weiner dog and it is the fattest weiner dog I've ever seen. It's belly drags on the ground when it runs. So it's not hard to imagine this dog running as fast as it can but it looks like it's in slow motion as it lopes along with it's long ears all flopped back on it's head. It's hysterical to watch. As we had a good laugh, I said to Brie, "I know I'm not very fast but even I can outrun that thing." When I told Dave, we both laughed and he said "yes, it's true. Even you could outrun that dog."
The icing on the cake, however, was the other day when I ran out there. The weiner dog was yip, yip, yippeting as loud and fast as it could. It was just going crazy. As I got closer, I noticed the big dog just staring at me. It never did make a sound. I watched as it walked over to the weiner dog, bent down, and 'whispered' something to it. Then the big dog raised it's head and walked away and the little dog never said another word. As long as they could see me, they never made any more noise. As much as the little guy acts like he's in charge, that day proved it to me. The big guy rules the roost.

Catch up time

A lot has happened since Trey's birthday. We had Zach's birthday too of course. He was really excited this year to go shopping with the grandparents. It's always a big thing for him but he got to go twice this year. Once with G and G and then Nana took him all the way to Cedar Rapids to the Stuff and Goodwill stores. He cracks me up.

Dave had a huge race. He did a 50k with his friend Mic in Wisconsin. He did a great job, bettered his last year's time by 45 min. and is excited to do the 50 MILE option next year. I'm very proud of him and the things he has been able to accomplish while staying healthy.

I participated in my first marathon. My sister, Tracy, and I did the Quad Cities half marathon and was pretty proud of myself. It took me 2 hours and 30 min. to complete. I ran the whole thing which was my biggest goal and had an awesome time. I'm definately hooked!!

I have been working 30 plus hours at the preschool each week. This is a job that I kind of fell into. I have subbed for my mom over the years, but this year one of her teachers had surgery over the summer and wasn't able to start the year so I have been filling in for her. I really love it but it has been a change for me to not be home all the time. So that's why some things have fallen by the wayside like, um, my blog. Sometimes that's the way of it.

Baby Henry

Henry came to our house for Trey's birthday party!! We were excited to get some pictures because we didn't have any of him. I forgot my camera when we first saw him after he was born, and then my kids had coughs and colds for 6 weeks and I wouldn't let them visit him even though they asked about him like every day.

Everybody wanted to hold him of course!

Yea! Baby Enry!

Trey Buddy's Birthday

Trey Buddy is now 7 years old! It's so hard to believe we could go, so quickly, from this

to this!

Time has a way of just flying by...

Just a Couple Things

Trey's birthday is coming up this weekend. I asked him what he wanted his birthday dinner to be and he said, "Half baked potatoes!" Ummm, I think that's TWICE baked potatoes buddy:)

In MOPS this morning, our devotion leader got us thinking about memories and brought up the story of her younger daughter having imaginary friends. It got me thinking about Zach and how he used to have two imaginary friends. They were bears and their names were Christopher and Judy. They used to hang out in the trees behind our house, even though we lived in an apartment and their weren't any trees out there. But he would look out every day and tell me how they were doing. They went everywhere with us and he had to buckle them into their seatbelts in the car. After a couple years they must have left because he quit talking about them. I miss those days.

Missing and praying for some people in our lives who are gone this week.
The Adams are down in Mexico on their mission trip to Camp El Monte. I am so excited they have this opportunity and know their family will be a big blessing while they are there.

My parents are in Malaysia for a Marriage Encounter Weekend. I am doing some extra filling in for her at preschool and hope they are having a great time also.

Homecoming

Zach and his friend Jessica

Sisters

When I first wrote this post a year and a half ago, I had just discovered the joy of being the mom and seeing my children interacting and helping each other without prompting. Not that it hadn't happened before but this time it was captured by my camera.

Since that time, Alexis has taken her role as big sister very seriously. She has taken on helping with Leah quite naturally. She helps her get shoes on and clothes. She plays pollys with her and monopoly.

We were surprised, but shouldn't have been when Leah first went potty on the big potty with Lexi helping her. She refused to even sit up there for me and acted like she was afraid of it. But with Lexi in charge, she sat up there and went. Several different times.

The other day I heard noises out the window like Lexi helping Leah ride her big bike. I dismissed it at first because when I help her she acts like she can't do it and doesn't want to try. Which is why I was dumbfounded when Lexi ran in yelling about Leah doing it by herself. And she was. She now rides all the way down the street, by herself.

Craziness. I need to remember this in the future instead of trying to get her to do something. I'll let Lexi act like it was all her idea and 'bam'! Problem solved.