Christmas highlights

Merry Christmas! We had a very relaxed day with present opening, food eating, and toy playing (in that order!). It was really great watching the kids open their gifts and thoroughly enjoy them today. Tomorrow, before the break of dawn, we are traveling to Ohio for a visit with our families. So, in a way, the holidays will continue for the kids for almost another week. Hmmm, I think we needed this day of quiet, reflective family time!

One of E.'s favorite gifts was skateboarding gear.
All of the kids breaking in one of P.'s gifts.
One of my favorite photos from the day!
We bought Chester a new chew toy, which kept him busy all morning. And his teeth are cleaner, too. Mission: Accomplished!
S. loves everything pink. So did she like her new pink Pony? I think so. =)
Poor thing. Opening gifts is tough work!
This is the game we spent over an hour putting together today. It was worth it though ... a fun marble race, and it stands almost as tall as E!
S. loves wearing my shoes, sneaking into my makeup, and putting on Tyler's deodorant (his must smell better than mine!). So we got her a little clothes chest with outfits for three princesses. She is absolutely adorable all dolled up!

The biggest hit with P. today is what Tyler began calling, "The Freaky Horse." This present was a dumpster dive. I normally abhor pulling things from the trash, but I am so glad that I "saved" this little guy. P. enjoys it so so much.

Say cheese! Ok, STOP saying cheese!

When mom and dad were in town, we ventured out to try and capture some good pics of the kids. I think we succeeded! Surprisingly, my most photogenic child—S.—ended up fizzling out first and refused to smile anymore. We told E. to just keep saying cheese so that he wouldn't stop "smiling," but the photographer got sick of hearing it and actually told him to stop!

We ended up getting a good pic of each of them individually and a good group shot, so I was glad we went. If these copies look a little distorted, I think they are; the online quality isn't the greatest. Enjoy!

Our little pumpkin has turned 1

With all three of our children having their birthdays right on top of a holiday, P.'s is definitely going to be the most challenging to truly celebrate. Born on Thanksgiving Day, I had a lot to be thankful for this year ... including not being in labor! (Sorry for the joyful exaltation to all of my soon-to-deliver friends, but when Macy's parade started I was absolutely giddy that I didn't have Pitocin running through my veins at that moment and didn't have to demand that the TV be shut off because the Sesame Street float was grating my nerves.) We stayed in town for Thanksgiving so we were able to have a little party for her and my parents came in for the weekend. Here are some photo highlights and a video to enjoy. The video is of a birthday card being opened for the first time and her reaction to it (thanks, Aunt Jayme ... the girls are still playing with it!).

My favorite thing to do with P. is just watch her from across the room. When she catches me watching her, her entire face lights up and she gets a huge smile on her face knowing that she wasn't overlooked or forgotten. I hope she grows up to know that she is worthy of such secret admiration! She is such a sweet, sweet girl. I hope this next year only brings out more sweetness in her little personality. Happy birthday, Sweet P. We love you!

Birthday dinner—pizza, pizza, pizza!

Opening her first gift.

S.'s reaction when she was told none of the presents were for her. =)

"I like your car."

"I like yours, too."
"Is it a Jeep?"
"A Subaru."

I love this sport utility vehicle Veggie Tales silly song! The girl in it reminds me of an old friend from Kentucky.

For E.'s birthday this year, grandma and grandpa bought him his own Jeep. (Why wait until you are 16?!?) The kids love driving it around and P. even got a ride. Here they are breaking it in ...

More baby steps

You may recall that some weeks ago I mentioned that our little P. took her first steps. Since then she went a little stagnant, not venturing off more than one step and choosing to crawl around instead ... until this week! She is now letting go of the furniture and our fingers more quickly and letting her two little legs take her where they can. It is fun to celebrate with her as a family as she discovers a new "talent." Enjoy the video!



Unseasonably warm
Like most of the nation, it has been really warm for November. We have been trying to take advantage of the nice weather and have been going on some hikes. I think walking trails may be my favorite outdoor activity. The kids can have the freedom to run and explore without getting into too much trouble and it is quiet. I especially like that it is quiet. I suspect that I am going to be one of those crotchety old ladies who turns her hearing aid off to block everyone out. =)

What are we coming to?

The kids and I went to McDonalds for lunch the other day. We were sitting by a tech-savvy family that was discussing grandpa’s new iPhone and Kindle. About halfway through our meal, I heard, "Do you have Wi-Fi?" I looked over and saw the grandfather on his iPhone, holding up his McDonalds receipt. Did he really just call this McDonalds, sitting only feet from the front counter?!? It was confirmed when his grandson declared, "Hey! There's the lady you are talking to!"

While I will admit that he was quite resourceful, I was in shock that he didn't just ask one of the many employees standing behind the counter. I then wondered how increased technology will ultimately impact us, picturing the people riding floating chairs on the spaceship in the movie Wall-E. I really hope a tight, red jumpsuit is not in my future.

Me and my big foot

Yes, I posted a picture of my foot and I know what you must be thinking, "Get a pedicure already." Don't I know it—leftover nail polish from this past summer and all! But look closely at my middle toe. Nice bruising, eh? About a week ago I think I broke my toe. But before you send me flowers and feel too badly for me, it really doesn't hurt that much. In fact, with the right shoes on, I barely notice a tinge of pain at all. If it is indeed broken, this is the first bone on my body to break. And I wish there was a glorious story to tell, besides accidentally kicking the bunk bed when getting P. out of her crib in the middle of the night.

Random things you might find in our garage
When we moved into our new house, many outdoor-related items were placed in our garage that we needed to sort through post-move. Tyler has been working on getting our garage in order and we pretty much finished cleaning it out this morning. And you wouldn't believe some of the things we found out there! The most notable item was ultrasound pictures of P. Other items of note: leftover guitar strings, Tyler's wallet-sized diploma from university, and Christmas stockings. All very odd. During the cleaning, S. put on her bike helmet and practiced riding a tricycle. We then got E.'s old bike down and started working with her on that. She was so cute in her little helmet trying to peddle. I was thinking to myself that putting her on a bike all of the time might be a good way to break her of her finger-sucking habit (since she has to hang on to the handlebars). However, at the end of our "training" session, she just leaned forward on the handlebars and put two fingers in her mouth and one up her nose (totally S. style).

A new "room" for the kids

We have an addition on the back of our house that is pretty big. We have our dining room table in there, our piano, and (regrettably) stacks of boxes still from the second floor re-carpeting. Tyler and I didn't have a clue what we wanted to do with the south half of the room and the lack of furniture allowed for too much acoustic ability, displayed by of the kids’ enthusiastic, echoing screams. Then I pitched the idea of a kids’ area. I spend most of my time in the kitchen or at the table, so I wanted to have the kids close where I could keep an eye on them while they play. Thanks to an IKEA catalog and a recent trip to Cincinnati, we have started to roll out the new room. We still need a 3-cube shelf for all of the art/drawing supplies, canvas containers for some of the cubicles, a selection of toys dug out of our endless supply still boxed up, and some fun pictures on the walls, but so far it is coming together as well as I had hoped it would. If it keeps the kids from fighting constantly over toys, crawling up the walls, and jumping on the furniture all winter long, then it is definitely worth it! I am hoping that we will get the walls painted a light yellow back there soon, which will hopefully tie everything together.

Blue and yellow ... does that get us ousted out of the family, Buckeye fans?

First steps

She has done it! P. took her first steps this past Saturday. She has been cruising great and been at that stage where she hangs onto my legs and walks in between them with me. But it was still a surprise that she is so close to becoming bipedal already! We were all clapping and hooting and hollering afterward. She looked so pleased with herself and sat on the floor clapping with us. Her emerging personality is adorable.

Here is a short video of the way she was laughing for us during breakfast yesterday morning. Tyler called it a cackle. I called it super cute.



Under the weather
S. was sick this past weekend, so we didn't get to do the birthday surprises we had planned for E. She just laid on the couch and slept all day. She didn't want to eat. She didn't want anything to drink. She didn't even talk. Poor thing! Her fever broke really early on Monday morning, so I asked her to show me later that morning how she had been feeling. Enjoy the before and after photos!

As of today, E. and P. are now both sick. P.'s sickness has played out much like S.'s—she has been constantly sleeping. E., on the other hand, has been vomiting ... even on the couch. I am wondering if it is inevitable that I will get sick, too, after wiping endless noses, behinds, and cleaning up vom. I have been washing my hands so much that they are really dry and cracked. A small price to pay to not have to endure the feeling of my stomach pouring out of my mouth!

To pumpkin or not to pumpkin
Who wouldn't want to rip into a pumpkin, pull out its guts, and create a piece of art? E. apparently. This past weekend we had hot cider, donuts, and pumpkins all at the ready but he wasn't too interested in much other than the food. S. was sick on the couch watching Curious George and E. decided that he would rather watch Curious George too. Crazy kid! A license to make a mess and he passed it up! Shown here is E. with his final pumpkin. He wanted to carve a car into it, but lacked the motivation. So did I! (I think I was in it for the food, too.) Tyler finished his pumpkin up though and we lit it on the porch for the night. I hope he wasn't modeling that nose after me. ;)

That's one smart six year old!

E-man just turned six years old. I can't believe he is six! I also can't believe that he wanted to decorate his own birthday cake. He has recently been obsessed with drawing, so I handed it over to him ... and he drew a Christmas tree on the cake. I wish I had a picture of it! We didn't have a formal birthday party for him here in town this year because we were going out of town for a wedding, but we wanted to do something on the flip side. When I asked him what he wanted to do, like a play party at the park or a sleepover or a trip to the movies with friends and he responded, "I want to have my friends over to play chess." What?!? To play chess? How old are you again? Ironically, as the more academic type, I have no idea how to play chess. That was all Tyler's doing!

He's a sneaky little thing
E. likes to play Hangman. The night of his birthday the girls were sleeping and Ty was at work, so we played a little Hangman together. My first puzzle for him was, "Happy birthday, E---". He took one look at it and said, "Happy birthday, E---." Hmmm, am I that predictable? I required him to still play it out though because it was good practice sounding out words. When he was stuck on a letter, the little sneak took a peek at his birthday cake to check the spelling!

Happy birthday, Little Jedi. I love you.

Procrastination

Why is procrastination so incredibly easy? Take tonight for instance. I sit down to start working and think, "Hmm, I better check our family email account first." Done. "Oh yeah, and maybe I can think of something witty to write as my Facebook status." I couldn't think of anything so I just read all the other postings. Then I thought, "Did that check for our new carpet ever clear?" "Ok, I am ready to settle into work now. Wait! I haven't read any blogs in awhile." Thankfully I took this detour because there were some really, really funny postings to catch up on. And I even commented on one, which I rarely do. And that's when I noticed it. It was there on my comment. You have probably noticed it, too. It was the profile picture for our family blog ... which is almost a year old! Yikes. P. looked like a fake little doll. And I looked, well, I will spare you that rabbit trail. So, still procrastinating, I thought I should get into my account and update that picture to something way more recent. And then I realized, "This is pathetic. I have only made two posts this month. Well, tonight is probably my last chance for the next couple of weeks because we are going to Family Camp this weekend and a wedding in Ohio next weekend." So here I am. Posting about how I haven't posted. Very intelligent, Kim.

Ok, enough procrastinating for one night! I would like to get a couple of hours of work in before my husband gets home from work. Oh, and that profile picture update? Yeah, that will have to wait for another night.

Thirty-something

I am officially 30-something ... for the next 9 years! Thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes, cards, and gifts. Unexpectedly, I ended up getting a few more "birthday" surprises this week. (Note: none were actually for my birthday, it just ended up all happening then.) Tyler ordered me a new cell phone so that I could jump onto his plan. I haven't had the time to even set it up so he graciously set the voice mail and ring tones for me. That was probably a mistake! I will have to call my own phone to see how scary the message is. We also finally ordered new carpet for the house. They measured the rooms yesterday and we are well on our way to being odor-free. Hopefully. We also purchased window blinds for the entire house. Now we can walk around naked. (Kidding! Kidding!) It has been nice to get more things done inside the house to make it more our own and not such an eyesore. Now, if we could only decide on paint colors ...

Looking forward to week two

This past week was amazingly busy! The highlight was the start of our homeschool semester with E. We are using a curriculum called Five in a Row and I was surprised at how advanced some of the topics were. But nothing E. can't handle, so we dove right in on Monday. He did great this first week and was so excited to start learning new things. We bought school supplies on Sunday night and first thing on Monday morning he was begging to start school. He just kept toting his supplies around and even hid some of them in his room! While we were outside learning about pollution, he was excited to tell our neighbor that he was in the middle of class. So cute. ("Pollution" was one of his vocabulary words for language arts. Watch out grandma and grandpa, he might confront you about your "pollution" the next time he sees you smoking!)

This past week we also had our first homeschool co-op, our first night at Awana, and I had my first Bible study of the semester. Driving back north to the city for it all proved to be tiresome, but definitely worth it. I am teaching two of the preschool classes at our co-op so if you have any fun ideas for active play and tactile play with a bunch of little munchkins, I am all ears. I was so focused on E. starting school that I totally overlooked the milestone that S. was also starting preschool!

Another change in schedule
Due to the insanity of our home, our family, and inside my own head (perhaps just an increase in insanity there!), I resigned from my full-time position with Answers in Genesis and scaled back to just 10 hours a week. This past week was my first week back to work after taking a couple off and it was surprising—I didn't even have time to work a full 10 hours. Now knowing how time consuming homeschooling is going to be and how many different commitments we are going to be juggling each week, I am glad that we made the decision for this switch. It was a sudden change, but I don't think another week could have been pulled off. We needed to get off the tightrope before we lost the balancing act! Sadly, I didn't even have time to unpack one more box or clean up one more room so we are no closer to getting "settled." But Tyler is also changing his schedule starting October 1 so that he will no longer be working on the weekends. We are really going to need to make the most of those Saturdays before winter comes and it is gets too late to paint, lay new carpet, reface the fireplace, etc.

A tooth for a tooth
E. lost his first tooth this past week and P. got her first one! I also noticed that S. is getting her 2-year molars in right now as well (that would explain her gnawing on everything). P. also hit another milestone in the past couple of weeks—she now claps every time you say "yay"! While she is being super cute, S. is being super mischievous. Her feats these past couple of weeks? Drawing with crayons on E.'s bed and walls, drawing with crayons on the family room floor, pooping on the family room floor, pooping in the middle of the hallway at church, putting her toothbrush into the potty, and—my absolute least favorite–dumping a half gallon of iced tea down our carpeted stairs. (I am so glad we haven't gotten new carpet laid yet! And I keep asking myself why we would get new carpet ... but then I smell it and say, "Oh yeah, that's right. A decade of dog.")

And we are off again!
We are off to small group this evening for some time with friends and a helpful refocus on what is important. There was a church picnic today which was really relaxing and fun, but we ran home this afternoon to have a guy from church install our 220 outlet for us. (As I type I can hear them through the vent and Tyler just let out a huge "Woooooo!" after a hacksaw was turned off. Men and power tools—a hilarious relationship!) It is a huge blessing because, as we recently found out, electricians get paid a nice hourly rate. He wants to do it for free and so we just have to pay the cost of material. Wow—the body of Christ is continually such a testimony to us! We have had so many people serve us in huge ways like this that we are throwing a "thank you" party for all of them and their families. Now, if we can just find time to pull that together because October is already looking to be a very full month! But more on that another time ...

Vacation 2009

When Tyler and I got married, we both decided that taking an annual family vacation was almost considered a requirement for us. Not only to get away and relax, but also to reconnect as a family and to spend intentional time making memories together.

Well, we did it! Despite all of the changes that occurred during August in our lives, we planned a last minute vacation for our family before the summer ended. In the past we have been to places like Hot Springs, Wisconsin Dells, and Gatlinburg. This year we headed up north to Mackinaw City, MI. It was a blast and really relaxing. Besides knowing which hotel we were staying at, we didn't plan a thing. (Harrowing for me, but it was good practice to begin adding a little spontaneity to my life!)

We are now back home and preparing for impact with the addition of numerous things to our schedules starting next week. Meanwhile, the attempt to get settled into our new home continued to get a little closer today with the half-bath getting half cleaned and the visit of an electrician who wanted my right arm in exchange for a 220 outlet for our dryer. (I am desperate to do laundry, but not that desperate!) We are also all over the map on deciding when/if to get new carpet. Painting is looking farther and farther down the road as we try to address more immediate concerns (which we wanted to do before installing new carpet), and our children and dog are giving us new reasons almost daily to delay getting new carpet (pee, crayons, poop, markers, vomit ... moving into a new house didn't suspend these things like I had hoped it would). So what is stopping us from just waiting on the carpet? Just get a whiff! That and the three types of mismatching carpeting used throughout!

Photo highlights
We had so much fun on vacation and took so many good pictures that I had a hard time narrowing them down. So I posted a bunch of them for your enjoyment! (I figure that after not blogging for so long, posting a long blog with tons of photos is semi-required!)

This is what it looked like when we asked E. to put his arm around S.
This is what it looked like when we settled for him holding her hand!


Our hotelThe shopping village in Mackinaw City
Exhausted, S. fell asleep eating her ice cream cone.


E. had fun burying S. in the sand!


S. had fun returning the favor.

P.'s latest funny face—tucking her upper lip in her lower one.



The ferry ride to Mackinac Island was one of my favorite times of the week. It was sure a chilly ride, but beautiful.
Fort Mackinac on Mackinac Island

S. loved the horses on the island. For the first hour we were there, she pointed at every set of horses and said, "Mom! Mom! Horse! Horse!"





Our final days back in the city.







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Disregarding the marinara sauce all over their faces, don't they look so much older?!?