Friday, December 25, 2009

Christmas!

Christmas Eve brought a winter storm (blizzard actually), so Daddy spent the day home with us. We were very blessed this year with not only Christmas Eve, but the entire weekend. It was awesome to have Steve home for four and a half days - very much like an unplanned vacation! I could certainly do with it more often!

On Christmas Eve, we made sugar cookies for Santa. Aidan, Nathanial, Ethan, Noah, and Hannah all helped decorate the cookies. Noah didn't last very long at all - just long enough to load one full of frosting and eat it! Hannah thoroughly enjoyed her cookie that she "made" (with a lot of help) and so did Nathanial and Ethan. Aidan really worked hard at making cookies and not just eating them so that Santa would have some to enjoy, also!

After all our cookies were made, we all showered and got dressed for Christmas Eve service. The service was wonderful and afterwards, we were talking about a certain country song. Everyone was shocked that I had no idea what it was, so as soon as I got in the car, I asked Steve about it and he was amazed I didn't know it either. In my defense, I grew up with a dad that was very into rock and roll and not so much country, so we never (and I do mean never) listened to country. As it turns out {surprise, surprise} Steve just happened to have the cd at home. As soon as we all got inside and got coats off, Daddy found the cd and we had a little impromptu dance. It was a lot of fun and we all really enjoyed it! I was actually very thankful for the discussion after service about the song! I also tried to get a picture of all six kids in their Christmas finery, but it didn't turn out the greatest...it is not easy to get six little people to sit still for a picture! After a while of dancing, everyone got their jammies on and headed to bed.

Christmas morning brought children up far too early for their mother's taste. Austin and Aidan were up at 4:30 am!! Dad thought that was just fine, I told them I would not get up until at least 6:30 and noone was going downstairs until then. By 5:30, everyone except Hannah was awake, so Daddy gave them all a bath (which is why they are wet) to waste a little more time. I finally got up, but was not real pleased to have been bugged every five minutes from 4:30 on. I probably should have gotten up, let them open presents, and went back to bed, but I knew there was no way I would be going back to bed, so I stalled. Probably makes me a bad mommy, but that's just how it is! When I finally woke up a very testy Hannah (who is used to sleeping until at least 8), we all went down and enjoyed the morning.

I had rolls rising on the counter that Noah just could not leave alone. I was a little perturbed at first that my perfect, pretty rolls were destroyed by a two year old in a very short period of time, but it did not last long. He was enjoying himself so much it was hard to stay upset with him! He then shoved more rolls into the small loaf pan I had made. I did pull some of the rolls off the top and had him "help" me reshape them. He did a great job - and I have to admit his bread was phenomenal!

We had a great Christmas as a family and really cherish the memories we are making with each of them. In some ways, we are just getting started and in others, we are almost done. It seems these years are going by so very fast and I thank God for each of my children. On Christmas especially, I cannot imagine having a child with the precise knowledge that he would one day (just a short 33 years later) be sacrificed for everyone else. Thank you, God, for the amazing gift of salvation you give to each one of us!!

Monday, December 21, 2009

Sick Mommy Awards

Today's SMA's* go to the following:
*Sick Mommy Awards

Thank you to PBSKids
Thank you, PBSKids, for providing quality, educational television so I can feel less guilty about allowing my children to watch all morning long. Thank you for being such a great babysitter!


Thank you, also, to my very own big, comfy, couch.

Thank you, Mr. Couch, for being so very cuddly and comforting me, while allowing me to keep one eye on my many small children.


Thank you, Peanut Butter.
Thank you, Peanut Butter, for being a fairly healthy option that is quick, easy, and takes no thought to feed my many small children lunch. Thank you for providing lots of necessary protein!


Thank you, Naptime!!

Ahhh, naptime. How I love thee!! You deserve so very many thank you's and I barely know where to start. Thank you, Naptime, for giving me a chance to catch my breath, every day. Thank you, Naptime, for giving me this special little two hours of Mommy time, especially when Mommy doesn't feel so great! Thank you, Naptime, for recharging my little people and taking away the crankiness.

And now, I am off to lie on said couch and veg while my many small children enjoy their naptime!!


Sunday, December 20, 2009

Christmas Programs, Christmas Programs, Christmas Programs!

December brought with it three different Christmas programs - Aidan's school program, Austin's vocal program, and the church program. Aidan was very excited for his very first school Christmas program at the big school (high school) and he did a great job! My camera takes horrible far away pictures, so some are just not real fabulous, but you get the gist of it. Aidan is in the way back row, all the way to the right, with the red sweater and shirt sticking out the bottom.

This is both Kindergarten classes together.

Little better picture of Aidan...looking all serious.

And his head got a touch cut off, but they look so cute singing away.

Austin's vocal program.
The only decent picture I got of him that was close enough to identify him.
Austin is on the right corner of the piano...red sweater.


Aidan's all ready for the church program - I do not know what is up with the odd faces lately.
The black eye is compliments of some child in PE who rammed into Aidan while playing some little game. I tried to fix it, but I can't because of where it is. Ahhh....memories!

The girls at church all ready...and all looking beautiful!

The boys turn. All looking mighty handsome!
(Don't ask about the newspaper Noah had to carry with him.)



Ali and Hannah Hannah and Noah waiting for it to start
(again with the paper...)



Ethan is waiting and lounging

Hannah is waiting patiently

Aidan - facing away from the camera. Again, horrible shots from distance, but I was only 3 rows back. Still, I kept getting people's heads!

This shot is really, really bad, BUT Aidan was so cute doing all the actions, that I didn't even care that it was fuzzy!

The triplets and Hannah were forced to wait until Aidan's part was over, but then really wanted to just go to the "toys" (as Noah calls it) to play. This is how I spent the remainder of the play. Thankfully, I was able to see it in rehearsal, so I had seen some version of it prior to the actual night!

Hannah loves the little rocky-thingy.

Ethan loves the elephant slide.
{They all do, actually!}

Nathanial playing nicely.Noah and Hannah putting the train together.
{Never mind the two different colored socks....}

Nathanial serving Ethan something to eat.



Ethan serves HannahAll four enjoying a little "snack"
The programs were a lot of fun and really reminded us of what Christmas is all about. Without Jesus, it would all be nothing and I am thankful to have the opportunity to take time out to reflect upon that during the busy season that Christmas can become if you let it!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

November/December Fun

The end of November and the entire month of December brought bitter cold temps, huge dumps of snow, and nasty windchills - which means we had to come up with lots of creative ideas to spend a lot of time indoors. The triplets were quite fascinated by the first blizzard of the year as they did not remember snow from last year. It was so fun to watch their excitement at the snow coming down and piling up.

{Ethan loves to write}

{Aidan loves to draw and Hannah really wanted to try}

{Hannah "drawing" with her syringe}

{Ethan and Aidan - writing and drawing}

{Noah loves to scribble}

Nathanial put on a little impromptu concert for us all one day and everyone loved it!


{Noah and Hannah enjoyed the performance}

We were so amazed by the snow falling outside we sat and watched it in the dining room for hours, it seemed!


The next morning, we woke up to a winter wonderland in our backyard!

Somebody had to go outside and clear all that snow from the driveway and sidewalk!
{Hint: It really wasn't Aidan}

{Austin was truly freezing, but a HUGE help to Dad}
{Aidan enjoyed playing in the snow!}

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Oh, Christmas Tree!


Once again this year, we found ourselves with just Steve, Aidan, and I going out to cut down the tree (I'm hoping this rectifies itself next year and we all go!). We went to the tree farm and Aidan picked out a tree he liked - with our approval - and worked on cutting it down. Why Dad trusted him with a saw is beyond me, but he gave up pretty quickly!

When we got home, we got it set up and then left it alone for a couple of days until we all had time to decorate it together. Even Hannah helped and we all enjoyed the afternoon together. It's fun to watch the changes in each of them year to year with what they are able to help with and do with decorating!

Monday, November 30, 2009

Thanksgiving

We had two wonderful Thanksgivings this year. It was our year to have Thanksgiving with my family on Thanksgiving day and we spent the day visiting and very relaxed. I didn't get any pictures at my Dad's of Thanksgiving (thanks to a dead camera battery) and only one at my Grandparent's. At least I got one. Everyone enjoyed themselves and had a ton of fun as always!

{Hannah and Grandma Janet}
On the weekend, we went to Steve's side for Thanksgiving/Austin B's birthday. The triplets are getting to the point where they really enjoy themselves and Hannah is getting more and more independent, so she also enjoyed some time playing with all the little people. My sister in law always does a fun ornament craft and we did that also. This year she had two - one for the little people and one for the grown ups. It worked out perfect and the older cousins were great sports about helping the little cousins!

{Kendra and Noah}

{Hannah is still tiny enough to stand up under a pool table.}

{Aidan}

{Hannah, Nathanial, and Kendra are fascinated with Aunt Sue's pictures}

{Aaron "helping" Hannah make her craft}

{Troy helped Nathanial, but Nathanial wanted to do it himself}

{Aidan working hard on his craft}

{Shane helping Noah}

{Austin helping Ethan - they make a great team!}
As always, we take a grandkids photo for Grandma Lee and Grandpa Kenny's Christmas card.
{Noah, Troy with Kendra, Austin B with Thano, Austin C with Ethan, Shane with Hannah, Aidan}