Friday, December 26, 2008

Happy Birthday Jesus!

What a day!


Nathan was feeling sick on Christmas Eve, which made me very nervous. No one wants to be sick for Christmas. He was on guard for kids coming downstairs, a.k.a asleep on the couch, and was able to rest until he felt better.


Garrett woke up at 1 a.m. and was VERY EXCITED to see that Santa had already been to our house. He was wide awake and ready to open presents, but we were able to convince him to sleep a little longer (atleast 5 hours!!!) and then we could all see what Santa had brought.


The kids were very excited to come down and see all of their presents.


Dylan said that Santa is like a wise man, because he brought us presents, just like they brought presents to Jesus. They all think Santa is very nice.


We began our morning reading about Jesus' birth and the kids sang "Happy Birthday Jesus". We then attempted to open presents one at a time - CRAZY!!!! How do you do that with 5 kids?????


Grandma Theresa came for Christmas Brunch, which is another new tradition, and that night when Sami and Macy went to have Christmas with their mom and her family, Grandma babysat Garrett, Dylan and Sydney so that we could relax. That was by far the best Christmas Present we could have received! We went to a movie! It was so much fun, and the kids got to have fun playing with Grandma.


That night I got sick with the flu, which was horrible, but I was so thankful to make it through Christmas first. I did miss a family Christmas with the Smith's on Saturday, but Nathan was well by then and able to take the kids all over.... which gave me a few hours to rest without children climbing on me or asking me for a drink, a snack, to play, etc... Brent and Rachel were a great help to Nathan, as were Dan and Kim and Phil and Kathy. The kids had lots of fun being there.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Christmas Eve











Grandma Theresa and Great Grandma Connie joined us this year for a Christmas Eve Dinner. Last year was our first year to have Christmas with my side of the family at our house. It made more sense for them to come here, rather than for all 7 of us to go to my mom's. She seems to really enjoy it, and has several times said "This is a great new tradition!" I never knew how much work went into preparing these dinner's until my mom relinquished the task to me.

Garrett loves to cook, in fact, one of the many things he'd like to be when he grows up is a Chef. He was in charge of the christmas cookies and did a terrific job.

The kids loved their gifts from Grandma Theresa. Sami's favorite gifts were her Chad and Ryan High School Musical Dolls and floor pillow..... OF COURSE!!!!! She is such a fan, and those were the only ones she did not have. Dylan loved his Batman and Robin action figures, Garrett hasn't stopped playing with his Creepy Crawler maker and loves his new pixos. Sydney loves her Glo Bear and Macy got the perfect gift - a pony in a purse (her 2 favorite things). Thanks Grandma!

After dinner and gifts, we all got jammies on and put out cookies and milk for Santa and a great big carrott for the reindeer. We also sprinkled reindeer food and glitter in the yard. We watched Santa on the Santa Tracker and saw that he was already in South America so the kids were in quite a hurry to get to sleep.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Master Shifu 2

A little over a week after Garrett got his gerbils, Master Shifu passed away. I was on my way home from visiting my brother, when I got a call from Nathan. Garrett had very bad news! He got on the phone, crying, that his gerbil had died. He already had come to love that gerbil and was going to miss it.
We were able to get a new gerbil, Master Shifu 2 and Garrett and Daddy buried Master Shifu 1 in the back yard, complete with a little cross. It was a very sad day. It has stirred lots of conversations up about heaven.
Do gerbils go to heaven?
How do you get to heaven?
Does your blood float up to heaven?
Are animals in people heaven?

Monday, December 22, 2008

Karing for Kids

There is a ministry at our church, started by a family who lost their daughter in a car accident called Karing for Kids. They help kids in the area in several different ways, but one of the biggest things they do is the ANGEL TREE. This year, they helped buy presents for 440 kids (8 gifts each). It is a great ministry and we had lots of fun at the Karing for Kids wrapping party. Nathan got to be Santa this year, and though Garrett and Sami had planned on being Santa's elfs, on the delivery day it was freezing, and I thought it was too cold and icy for them to be out and about. They are looking forward to next year though.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

New Gerbils



Garrett went on a walk this summer with Sami and Macy and Uncle Brian to the pet store a couple of blocks away. Ever since that walk he has talked about getting a hamster. We told him that we wanted him to take over feeding the cats, to show us that he'd be ready for a hamster and maybe he could get one for his birthday. Well he is a very responsible little guy and he did a terrific job. So his birthday was coming and he had not mentioned the hamster for a couple of weeks, and I had thought that he had changed his mind.
He didn't!
He decided to use birthday money that he had gotten from Cheesy (GG) Pap to get a hamster. We went to the pet store, and after talking to someone at the store, decided to go with gerbils. (They bite less and are awake during the day, while hamsters are nocturnal) Well, gerbils like to have friends, while hamsters don't so, of course, Garrett did not want his gerbil to be lonely. We needed 2 gerbils. He picked a blonde one and a grey one. We picked out a cage with a wheel and a tunnel and all the supplies we'd need.
Garrett knew right away that the blonde gerbil would be Isaac, after one of his favorite people ever, his 11 year old uncle Isaac! The grey gerbil was trying to escape from his container they sent him home in and Garrett saw some Kung Fu moves, so he named him Master Shifu.
Now our family has 5 kids and 5 pets! (2 cats, 2 gerbils and 1 dog)

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Christmas Pictures


Pictures of the kids after they finished decorating the tree.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Ice Storm part 2



Ice Storm






We got the anticipated ice storm early this morning, and have stayed inside warm and cozy. We are fortunate to still have our power, which over 120,000 people in the area were without. Thank goodness, I can't imagine what I'd do with 5 little ones and no electricity. We've had lots of limbs/branches falling throughout the day. Fortunately no damage yet. There are some branches and limbs that look ready to fall at any minute. We will have quite a cleanup when this is all done!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Decorating the Tree





















Decorating the tree is always a lot of fun. We let Garrett decide when we would put decorations up, before or after his birthday. With his birthday being in December, we want to make sure that he knows his birthday is still so special. He wanted it up before Christmas, so we slowly started decorating. (It's a little hard to decorate with so many little ones running around, getting into everything, and being mischievous because they know you are busy.) Plus we ran into a slight snag when opening our ornament tote - a water globe had leaked! Wet ornaments, airtight container, 12 months = mold! YUCK!!!! but we saved what we could and decorated away.

It is quite a haphazard looking tree, decorated entirely by a 2 year old, a 3 year old, a 4 year old, a 6 year old and an 8 year old. Nathan did put the final touch on, a star, which now doesn't work :) due to the water globe incidence, but still, we like it.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Build a Bear Birthdays






Happy Birthday Sami and Garrett! We love you!
Our niece, Sami, turned 8 Nov. 27th and our little boy, Garrett, turned 6 on Dec. 7th. So hard to believe that so much time has passed. Both had decided that they wanted to make a build-a-bear for their birthdays. So we all went, even Grandma Theresa, and they both made their bears. Sami made a high school musical bear, of course, and named it Gabriella. Garrett made a koala, dressed like a rollerskating Santa Clause and named it Santa Clause. It was a lot of fun, and Macy is looking forward to making her birthday bear in March, and Sydney in June.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

The Palmer Point Birthday Carnival





After watching an episode of Franklin this summer, the kids began talking about and planning a carnival. They all wanted to call it Palmer Point. So they planned and planned and planned. They knew what games they wanted to play, who they would invite, and what kind of cake they wanted. Dylan's birthday is in October, Sami's is in November and Garrett's is in December. We decided to have one big party for the 3 of them.

Headaches, Headaches, Headaches

Well I have come to realize that I must have too many headaches. Lately that has been the topic of discussion between Dylan, Sydney and Macy. I hear alot of the "SHHHHHH! I got headache." Then, "No! I got headache!" "Mommy, Macy sed she got headache!" It's quite funny, but then I think what 2, 3 or 4 year olds do I know besides my own that sit around arguing over who has "the most headache"? It is true that I have had a nonstop headache for several weeks now, but after a follow up at my dr. today found out that I have an ear infection and sinus infection..... Well that might explain it! So hopefully my headaches will be gone soon, and the kids will find something else to discuss.... still it's cute!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Election Day 2008

Garrett, Sami and I went to the polls today so that they could see what voting is all about. They sat so patiently while I voted. (Nathan had already voted) They have a Veterans Day program at school next week and I thought it was important for them to see some of the freedoms we have because of those veterans. They can hardly wait to see who will win.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween















We have 2 nights of trick or treating here, so we hand out candy on the first night and the kids go around the neighborhood on Halloween. They had a lot of fun giving candy, and a lot more fun getting candy :)

October 2008

October was a very busy month. We had lots of doctor appointments and so much happening. Dylan turned 4 on the 15th and I turned 31 on the 30th. We had lots of fun painting pumpkins, tie dying shirts, and making lots of fall crafts. We ended the month with a night of trick or treating as we took out our Ninja (Garrett), Batman then Buzz (Dylan), our fairy (Sydney), tinkerbell (Macy) and an enchanted princess (Sami). I helped out at the school with a Monsters Inc. scarecrow and with halloween crafts. Then to end the month and begin our new month we had a Birthday Carnival for Dylan, Garrett and Sami. It was a huge success. With their birthdays all being within a 7 week time frame and all 3 of them wanting a carnival, we decided to do one big party. It was so much fun. I made Dylan an Incredible's cake and Garrett a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cake and Sami had a High School Musical cake. We had lots of games and prizes and food, and only pulled it off with the help of some terrific friends and family members.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Painting Pumpkins





This year, instead of carving EVERYONE's pumpkin, which seemed a little overwhelming, we decided to paint pumpkins. Grandma Theresa came over to help and brought lots and lots of paint. We covered the table with newspapers, the kids with smocks and hoped for the best. They loved it! Sami, Garrett and Grandma Theresa made faces on their pumpkins. Dylan, Macy and Sydney all worked very hard to cover every bare spot with paint. They turned out beautiful. Sydney did not like getting messy so she kept asking for baby wipes, and Dylan was so proud of himself he kept saying "ta-da!"

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DYLAN


Happy Birthday Dylan! We can't believe he's 4 years old. He is such a blessing to us, always making us smile and laugh. We love watching him grow up, though we long to keep him little as long as we can :).

A "Build-A-Bear" Birthday








Dylan loves elephants. Dylan loves Batman. What better birthday present could there be than to make an elephant and have him dress up like batman? On Dylan's special day, we headed to the mall for Dylan's first ever Build-A-Bear. Well Dylan was so excited to go and make his elephant. Though he is typically a little hesitant to participate in new things, he jumped right in and did EVERYTHING. He picked out his elephant, picked out his sound and his heart. He even played along and gave his elephant brains, love, and muscles. He loved stomping on that petal to shoot the stuffing in and then giving the elephant a shower and picking out his costume. Garrett was there the whole time being a super big brother. The girls were all there too, and they really loved watching Dylan and have all decided that's what they want to do for their birthdays too :). It was all so much fun! And look at him, isn't he precious with that Elephant.