{Ouch}

This poor little girl has had a rough few days. On Monday she walked into a flying toy microwave and got nailed right in the face . Her dear little brother who is in the habit of throwing things down the stairs just to see them bounce threw it down the stairs and she turned the corner to go up the stairs at just the right time. Honestly we couldn't have timed it any better. For a moment I thought her nose was broken. Then yesterday morning she and Ayden were playing a new game they got for Christmas at the table. All of the sudden she starts screaming and comes running to me with an indent clear down to her skull. She said she tripped getting onto the chair. She had a massive headache as you can imagine all day and was a little more subdued. I am thankful this is all happening on winter break so she doesn't have to go to school with all these battle wounds. Somebody might start asking questions.

Christmas Time

We had some special visitors for Christmas this year, and no it wasn't Santa. Ryan's Dad and step-mom came to spend Christmas with us and boy did we have fun. So much fun I think we plum wore them out. They came Tuesday afternoon and bright and early Wednesday we were off doing a whole list of things. In no particular order this is what we got done in the five days they were here. We started with last minute Christmas shopping, went to "The Princess and the Frog", built an exceptional gingerbread house, made too much good food for any one person to eat and still live to tell about it, played game after game of Connect Four, stuffed ourselves on chocolate fondue, watched "It's a Wonderful Life", wrapped presents, went to the park to play, made and decorated sugar cookies for Santa, read the Christmas story from the scriptures, watched the "Joy to the World" dvd, took much needed naps, watched Christmas movies, had a slight mishap with the ceramic wise man and a ball (he will need plastic surgery to reattach his head but his prognosis is good), had a wonderful Christmas with many more gifts than we deserve and of course spending lots of quality time making memories. I didn't get pictures of the whole list of things, just some of them. We are very grateful that we had family near and could share this holiday with them. We even got to see Ryan's brother and his wife and Ryan's Mom and step-dad. It was a full few days.
One tradition we have is making homemade sugar cookies to leave out for Santa. This recipe is my Great Grandma Brown's and it is beyond good. The kids and Grandma Faith had a wonderful time frosting and decorating the cookies. The theme this year was LOTS and LOTS of sprinkles!!



Another one of our Christmas Eve traditions is having homemade pizza and chocolate fondue. The kids love both and we usually stuff ourselves to the point of no return with both.


Yet another tradition is getting pajamas on Christmas eve. This year Grandma Faith had a fun scavenger hunt set up for the kids to find their pj's. They thought that was fun. After they changed into brand new jammies it was time to read the Christmas story and then leave cookies out for Santa with their letters. Then time for bed, finally!!



This Christmas morning was the longest we have ever experienced. Only because we had to wait for Ryan to get home before the kids could open up the rest of their presents. They played with what Santa brought them and they were actually somewhat content to wait for Dad. Once Dad got home it was truly a free for all though. I guess we needed to have enjoyed the quiet while we had it.

It was a wonderful Christmas with many memories made. We are grateful for this time of year when we can stop and ponder the real reason for the season. We hope you and yours had a great Christmas too.

{Night Float}

Has anyone who reads my blog(all three of you) ever worked nights? If you have you know how it messes up your body!! Ryan is on the rotation that people "lovingly" call night float. Five nights a week he works from 7pm to 7am. When he gets off on the last night of the week, which happens to be in the morning, he stays at the hospital until noon for his clinic. He then comes home and "tries" to stay up or maybe just have a little cat nap so he can try and sleep like a normal human at night. Then on his one day/night of normalcy he tries to engage in conversation, play with the kids and function like a real dad. You may have noticed I have used the word try/tries a lot. The reason is the poor guy just can't keep his eyes open when the sun is up. He looks like a walking zombie!! This week is his 6th and final week of nights, at least until he does another 7 weeks in the Spring. I am so glad that Ryan's class decided to split this rotation into two. Three months of nights would pretty near kill anyone. Ryan gets to work Christmas Eve again this year, it should be interesting to see how long he stays awake on Christmas morning.

The other downside to Ryan working nights is trying to keep the heathens quiet during the day. I probably sound like a broken record to my kids as I am constantly telling them to be quiet, stop running, your daddy's sleeping, talk quieter, ect. Especially with all the kids being home for Christmas break. It rained today, most of the day and so I couldn't send the kids out to play at all. They of course were wanting to act out battles of all kinds and fight, and scream, and cry. It is really a wonder that Ryan gets any kind of sleep at all around here. Tonight when he woke up he looked so haggard. Thankfully he has a whole week off after Christmas so maybe his poor body can get back to it's previously scheduled sleep pattern. I don't {heart} Night Float!!!

{Color}

(It is always better to watch TV with a weapon. The kid slept with that thing last night!!)

About a year and a half ago we got rid of our direct tv. Our year long introductory price has expired and we really didn't feel like paying 70 bucks for a ton of channels that we didn't even watch. So right after Wyatt was born we canceled it. The kids were a little heartbroken at first but honestly after a week or so it seemed like they didn't even miss it. Occasionally Ayden would ask if we could get the color back on our TV, meaning actual channels. A few people thought his terminology for cable was pretty funny. I had someone even ask us if we indeed had a black and white TV. Really?!! My kids have done really well without tv, they have played more, read more and got along sorta ok at times!! I have at times missed being able to watch my cooking shows or other things of that nature but I have so many other things to do that I really liked not having it. I also really liked not having the smut that is so readily available on tv now days in my home. Well we (meaning Ryan) decided that they had missed out on enough sports programming and we got our "COLOR" back about a week ago. When the kids got home from school they were really excited. Adyen exclaimed, "Thanks Mom for getting channels back on our TV. You are the best!!" They have been good about not watching TV all the time, and actually play/pretend more than they watch TV. Ayden's favorite thing to watch recently is sports, especially football. He almost had a meltdown the other night when I sent him to bed before the Colts/Jaguar game was over because he didn't get to see the final score. This morning he woke up and quickly checked to see if there were any football games on today. He was bummed when he had to miss one because we had to do some last minute Christmas shopping. Last night he watched Sports Center so he could get the final scores for basketball, hockey and football games. He stated that he wanted all the ferocious teams to win. For example in the hockey match between the Maple Leafs and the Sabers he sided with the Sabers. Maple leafs don't really strike fear into...well anything. He likes to make a little score card for each game and write down the final score. It is comical to listen to him watching the game. He cheers when someone, anyone scores. He has also decided that he wants to play football this next year instead of baseball. He said he wants to try other sports to see which one fits him the best. It will be fun to watch him decide which one he likes best. As for Ryan, he loves having a partner in crime when it comes to watching sports now!!

{Santa}

Santa made his annual stop at the OB/GYN office party again this year. The kids of course were excited as usual and couldn't wait for him to come. They raced through their lunch and then pestered us about Santa's location for the next 30 minutes. Wyatt passed out from lack of a nap so Ryan got to accept his present. This little party has been a fun tradition for the last few years. And the added bonus is we don't have to wait in line at a crazy mall or store in order for our kids to see the Big Red guy!!!

{R.E.I = 3 More Years}

I'm not talking about REI, the really cool camping and outdoor store. I am talking about Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, for short REI. Ryan found out yesterday that he matched for a civilian sponsored fellowship spot in REI. A civilian sponsored spot means the military will pay for him to complete a civilian fellowship program. The military doesn't have it's own REI fellowship so it pays for two residents/doctors to train each year in civilian programs. We don't know where we will be yet, this was only a pre-select match. Meaning they selected the people they want to start fellowships starting in 2011. We now have to take the next year and apply to the civilian fellowships and go through a separate match process. By the Spring of 2011 we should know where we are headed!! We are excited for this opportunity for Ryan to do something he really enjoys. It will also enable us to have better family time in the end. It does mean 3 more years of training after his residency is completed, but I think the benefits far out way the negatives. So for now bring on the application process which is always fun and at the same time daunting. I am very proud of Ryan and I am really looking forward to this new adventure for our family!!

{Oh, Christmas Tree}

This year we decided to change things up a bit. After having a "Charlie Brown" fake Christmas tree for the last 6 years we thought we would go with a real tree this year. We haven't done a real tree since Ayden was about 18 months old. All the kids have known is a fake tree that you put together using a page of directions and color coded branches. Ayden was a little distraught at the thought of not getting to "build" the tree this year. He takes that task very seriously. But we convinced him that getting to use a saw to cut down the tree would be just as much fun. With the promise of using a tool, Ayden relented to getting a real tree. We also informed the kids that we would have to be diligent about checking the water level so the tree didn't get too dry to ensure that it didn't catch on fire. The kids, especially Meysa, ran away with that one. She fretted over the thought of our Christmas tree burning down our house for several days. We promised that it wouldn't happen and she has been the water Nazi ever since. Well the day came for us to go hunt for our Christmas tree. One thing we are not lacking for here in the Pacific Northwest is pine trees and Christmas tree farms. There are probably four of them within five miles of us. No kidding. So we decided to drive to one that was close and also cheap. We bundled the kids up since it was a bit chilly and headed out to conquer the forest!! We decided to go to Tom's tree farm and it did not disappoint. We only had to walk a short ways to find the perfect tree and it was very reasonably priced. Wyatt insisted on walking all by himself, which made for an interesting venture. His hat kept shifting over one of his eyes and he found every tree stump within a foot radius of himself to trip over. He was bound and determined to do it himself though and didn't fuss at all, even when he couldn't walk two steps without falling down. This is the ONE. It is perfect!! Perfect fullness, perfect height!! It only took us about 5 minutes to find it which made it all the more perfect!!
Ayden had been promised the use of tools so he and dear old Dad are underneath sawing away at the trunk. He loves getting to do the manly things Dad does, and he is actually quiet helpful!!
He held the tree up so that it didn't fall on Dad's head as he finished cutting the last little bit of trunk. See he gets to use his manly muscles too.
Lauryn put in her share of help, holding up one of the branches as the tree was hauled off to the van.
Ayden insisted on helping tie down the tree to the top of the van as well. With him around I am really not any good to anybody anymore. I guess I do get the pictures, that is something!
Lauryn loved frolicking in amongst the trees. She is in a wonderful phase of never looking at the camera and when she does, her eyes are always closed. This is the best we could do folks!!
After falling about 352 times I finally strapped Wyatt into his car seat while we tied down the tree on top of the van. He wasn't too happy about being restrained as you can tell in this shot!

All done and ready to head home to decorate the beautiful tree. Decorating it in and of itself is another story. Something to do with no working Christmas lights in the house or something. The kids have loved having a real tree this year. Ayden said he loved the smell and to be honest it smells like Christmas to me too. I think next year we will have to put it to a vote, real or fake. It'll be interesting to see which one comes out on top!!

{The Nutcracker}

My girls and I went to the Nutcracker yesterday and we had the best time. We went with some of Meysa and Lauryn's friends (and mine too) from church and I think that made it all that much more fun for the girls. My good friend Carrie bought everyone's ticket and set up the whole day. Thanks a ton Carrie!! I had never been to a ballet and of course neither had my girls. They were excited with the idea of watching real ballerinas dancing around but I don't think they had any idea what to expect. Right before it started I leaned over to Meysa to tell her that there wouldn't be any talking, but that they would tell a story through dance and she gave me the funniest look like you have got to be kidding me. But what was neat was that they still followed the story even though there weren't any words. They jumped and giggled at all the right times. They recognized most of the music from the movie Fantasia that they have watched a billion times. The ballet company was selling ornaments to raise money for themselves and the girls got to pick out their own ornament. Meysa chose a crystal heart and Lauryn wanted a pink pair of ballet slippers. They can't wait to put them on our tree tomorrow. Going to the Nutcracker might have to become a Christmas tradition from now on!!

All of the super cute girls before we headed into the show!!

Moms and daughters. There was a nice lady that offered to take our picture so we could be in it with our girls. Thanks nice lady, whoever you are!!

Me and my girls. Oh, it was fun to go out with just them.

Meysa and Lauryn waiting for the show to start. Lauryn did pretty well until the very end of the 2nd act and then she had the wiggles. But for the most part she was enthralled with the action or she was dancing in the aisle. It was a really fun date with just my girls. Boy do I love them!!

{Turkey & Checkers}

We got to extend our Thanksgiving holiday by a day. We decided to have our Thanksgiving dinner on Friday so that Ryan could enjoy it with the family due to his crazy schedule with night float. I did enjoy cooking and baking all the trimmings for the dinner, even though it took me all day and that was with doing pies the day before. Ayden said it was the BEST Thanksgiving dinner EVER, and he had seconds so I guess he would know. I even tried out a new roll recipe this year. I am still undecided as to whether I like it better than my old standby or not. It was nice to be with my little family. Ryan slept most of the day since he had worked all night and while he slept the older kids entertained themselves by playing checkers. Ryan's grandparents had gotten us this over sized checkers game years ago and the kids are finally old enough now to play it on their own. I love that it is so large and pretty indestructible. There is no board to break or rip and it is pretty hard to lose one of the pieces due to their size.
Ayden was always black and Meysa was always red. There was a little sibling rivalry going on between Ayden and Meysa. Ayden is usually the that wins games played between the two, but unfortunately for him he didn't this time around. Meysa had the upper hand and Ayden wasn't too happy about it at first. He has a "little"(read a whole lot) bit of his father's competitive nature and he doesn't like to lose and especially to a girl, and really, really especially to his sister. He kept trying to change the rules so that it would benefit his next move or other such things but they happened to be playing right in front of me so I got to be the referee. It was quiet comical to watch actually.
Ayden ended up being a pretty good sport at losing. He did win a game or two but Meysa pretty much smoked him. Ayden told Meysa she was a really good checker player and she replied with the utmost humility, "Yeah I know, I have been playing for years!!" You got to love kids and the stuff that comes out of their mouths!!

{Happy Thanksgiving}

May we all be ever mindful of our many blessings and always show gratitude for them.