Christmas Morning

The excitment of getting underwear...Don't wory Ethan, it will wear off in the next few years. haha

Donna with Hannah Montanah hair.

Ethan watching Percy come out of the tunnel.

One of our favorite parts of Christmas, Singing happy birthday to Jesus.

Christmas Eve

(The TV is not a new gift)

Church Christmas Program

Chloe was Mary. She did such a great job!!! Donna danced a Creative Movement number, and Alex was a Shephard with speaking lines. (I got video of them and didn't take pics. :( I'll get some from someone else.



Here are some pics we took of the kids with the Stable backdrop.

Merry Christmas!!!

(Click the picture to see it larger and read the lyrics around the outside)

So often this season I have siad "This is the last year that..." or "This is the last year that..."

It is so sad at times to think that our youngest child is leaving the baby years behind, and so exciting at the same time. As we wrapped gifts for hours tonight, I think about how next year, the kids will all be old enough to leave them alone and not unwrap them in advance. hehe

Today we had one gift for each person under the tree all day. Every year I get the kids PJ's to open on Christmas eve so that they can be wearing new PJ's to open gifts in teh morning. So poor Ethan was tempted for about 4 hours till he just couldn't wait any longer. From the other room, I hear paper tearing. "Ethan, don't you open those gifts!!" As I head into the room, Ethan met me in the doorway with his own gift. It has the corner starting to tear. He sadly hands it to me and looks at the floor. lol poor guy.

Have a Merry Christmas filled with warm memories, and a calm silent time alone with God. Celebrate the greatest gift we can ever be given!

That's Blogable!!

That is what Adam told me this weekend. We had been eating around the table after a long weekend. The girls were talking non-stop. Ethan is in his own world, and Alex is explaining how the world spins(well, maybe not how the world spins, but it was something along those lines. That is just how his mind works). Adam and I were just sitting there. The boys were slightly quiet, as the girls began to sing to us. "...in a one half open sleigh..." "Donna, could you girls sing that line to us again" "Sure, (at the top of her lungs now) "In a one halfopen sleigh"

That kinda sums up our weekend. :) It was very fun, very full, very exhausting.

Adam's parents came down saturday, it was honestly one of the best days we have had in a long time. Even though we were on the go the whole time, I felt like we didn't get a good chance to really talk, but LOVED having them down. I felt so sad when they left. They were so helpful all day, and Adam and I never really got to just talk to and enjoy them. I guess that is just all the more reason to get together again sooner than later.

Yesterday was a crazy day, I got a phone call at 5:45. I assumed it was Adam calling me, then I noticed it wasn't his ring. I got asked to work a full day and Stepping Stones. I was in the 2-year-old room. It was a great day, but I was falling asleep before 9pm. lol

I feel very blessed to have wonderful in-laws that I love so much. I feel very blessed that God has my life in his hands, even on the days where I wonder what on earth we are going to do, I turn around and see his hand at work. If only I would trust Him and jump the first time He asked.

Well, the snow is falling and it is beautiful. I work tonight, so I need to get Ethan down for his nap. Have a wonderful and blessed day!!

Looking back (back-forwarding time)

I love having this blog. I wish I did better at telling the cute little stories day to day. I was just looking back at last December. The cute things the kids did and said. The teething issues, the christmas wishes. Last year, I was thinking about how cute it was when Chloe said "back-forward", this year, it is when Ethan calls his blankies "donkies".

Last year, Alex reminded me of just how much I loved him the day he was born. This year, he reminded how pure and simple life can be.

Last year, Donna reminded me that in heaven, there are no plug-ins. This year, she reminds me that you can always change, and say you are sorry.

Last year, Chloe made me smile everytime she asked me to back-forward a show. This year, she makes me smile, as she regains her giggle.

Last year, Ethan was still so little. This year, I daily see how big he is getting.

Last year, the kids felt we should get a kitten and a roller coaster. This year we have the kitten, and the one asking for the roller coaster is nearly attached to it at all times.

Last year, I missed so much due to depression, this year I have far less... but I see so much more.

Last year, we had so many meetings I felt like I was always on the run, this year(december), God has given us a free day every week to enjoy our family thanks to the snow!

Last year, I was worried about how to finish all of my Christmas gifts, this year I know we don't have the money anyway, so I'm much calmer. Enjoying the true reason more.

Last year I was stressed about being ready for my Christmas program, this year I'm excited that I get to be a part of sharing the story... no stress, just emotion about why we are doing this.

This is the climax of Gods story, this is where it all began. (not really, as the kids were asking last night. They all were sure that Jesus was born on the 25th of December.) However this is the time of the year that we have set aside, Christians and non-Christians alike, to celebrat His birthday. His coming down to earth, to be born as a human baby, so that He could take all of our sins on himself and suffer the most aweful death... for us. To save us, because he loves us that much.

As I watch little Ethan flipping from side to side trying to get to sleep, I think about that love. As each child is born, this love that you have no more room for in your heart, is just there. You don't love your other children less, you just have more love. He loves each of us, even more than we love our children. He was born, just to save us. To die, for us... Really think about that. As much as you love your children, would you choose to be born so you could die for them?

What if you were one of the "wise men". You followed a star for months, trusting that at some point the star would lead you to a special king. When it stops, you find yourself at the bed of a tiny infant that was born in a stable full of smelly animals. To a mother with no husband. However, you knew, that this was the king of all mankind. How amazing that must have been. To just know, that this tiny baby was the great king of us all. Wow.... I just had to really stop and soak that all in.

I think this blog is full of my blessings, so I am going to end differently. I need to go spend time in prayer right now, so I'm going to end with a few prayer requests. If you feel led to say a prayer for these, then please do.

Our pastor who has cronic pain and is trying a new procidure to help with it.

A friend who lost his mother this week.

A pastor from another local church that has a daughter Alex's age. He had multiple strokes yesterday and has bleeding on his brain.

A pastor from our sister church (A church that has been by our side helping us in any way they can), her young daughter was hit by a car this morning.

That God would do a miracle in our finances.


Now I am trusting that we will see answers to these prayers. I trust that the next time I blog, I will get to post how they were answered!!!

12 days of Christmas

I saw this on my good friend, Diana's blog and it is one of the best "fun" Christmas songs I have ever heard.

December is here

I just noticed that I haven't posted once in the past week. We seem to be on the run all of the time now. It makes it so hard to truely understand the meaning of this season when we never stand still long enough to. We have events/meetings/practices every day of the week. This past week, we were blessed with a snow day on wednesday! It was so very nice to have an evening with the family. I worked due to it being a snowday, but I get off by 6, so we still had a couple hours together.

This week is going to be one spent on the run again. Monday we have dance, and Alex and Donna's Christmas concert. Alex has a solo, and is very excited! Tuesday, we have dance. Wednesday we have cross-walk. Thursday we have Dress Rehersal for our Christmas Musical at church. Friday I think we may have free. Saturday, the kids have musical practice, then we will have lunch and Adam's parents coming. Then Adam and I have a final practice, before the performance that night. Sunday we will again perform. Then we will start the whole rat race over on Monday.

I have been shocked to see the number of events that are being planned still for Christmas week. When I was a kid, that week was rather quiet. Now, it is just a last rush to get everything fit in. How de we expect to make room for Jesus, when we are running so much to the last moment.

Today I am very blessed to have a family that let me hold a Scrapbooking retreat this past weekend. My husband also let me sleep in today. It was the first time I have slept in for months!

Christmas music

Have you heard any of the newer Christmas music? We don't have a radio or anything, so I can only listen on-line, or to a CD on my PC, or in the car. (The van radio died a few months ago) Today I heard an awesome new song on the way home. So after I shoveled and finaly got in the house, I turned the on-line station for a local Christian radio station. Wow, I was surprised by some of this years songs, not in a bad way.

Kutless - Mary Did You Know
Aaron Shust - O Come O Come Emnanuel
Jim Brickman with Point of Grace - Hope Is Born Again
Mercy Me - Silent Night
Rush of Fools - O Come All Ye Faithful
Third Day w/Julie Miller - Manger Throne
Big Daddy Weave - Christ is Come


Great Christmas music! Some are on the rock side (Kutless) and others are far softer, but I'm very excited to see the wide range! Looks like I'm going to be running the radio on my PC alot for the next month!

Lifes leassons

We are working on some life changes. We have to become more organized!!! So I have been trying to do a little more everyday to get myself back to where I used to be. (Pre-PPD) I have a friend that took before and after pictures of her home as she was cleaning. That takes guts! lol I thought about doing that, but I don't want anyone to see just how bad our home really is! So as we have been working around our house, Adam and I are dreaming of things we can do to change it and make it better. Things aren't going as fast as I would like, but it didn't get this bad overnight, so I guess it will take time to get it all reclaimed.

Something I have always found interesting is that as you are being obediant to God's wishes, often you feel like things go from bad to worse. As I was shoveling the drive today after church, I was thinking that. Why, why is it that as we improve in one area, something totaly different will hit. That is when I felt God tell me to check how I was doing it. Well, I know God wants me to get my house and life back in order, so I am doing it... but that isn't good enough. Am I leaning on Him? Am I starting my day with Him? Nope... so am I really being obediant? not really. Not that what I have done is bad, but I have to get my first priority back to God, then things will fall back into place. I can't drive, I need to let him drive and be willingly in the passangers seat.

So as Adam works on the van, trying to make it run again, I am sitting here praying and putting life back into perspective. God tells us he will provide, he doesn't tell us HOW he will provide. He never said he would keep our van running. He never said he would keep money in our bank account. He never said our kids would have great Christmas gifts. After all, Christmas is about Jesus' birth... why do we get gifts? I need to look for the joy, in each thing that happens around me. Me getting a job has given me a chance to see a new side of Donna. It is forcing us to force Alex to mature. Ethan and Chloe LOVE day care. There are many good things in most every situation. Even those we think are not good. We just have to look for them

Today I am blessed to have had a weekend with my family! What a huge blessing it has been. I am very blessed to be a child of God. To be loved by the maker of our universe... how much better could it get?

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

This year, just as 5 out of the past 6 years, one of the kids got sick ON Thanksgiving day. However, I have learned to be ready for this now. For tyhe first time, a couple days ago I just felt we were all going to be staying home this year, and it felt right. So when Ethan woke me up at 3am I wasn't shocked, not that I was overjoyed, but not surprised. ;)(Adam joked last night "Should we send them all to bed with a puke bucket?") I think this may have been God's way of telling us that we need time as a family. It has been a wonderful day. Ethan acted fine after about 8am, so I think he is past whatever it was. The kids have been helpful, and sweet when they weren't fighting like siblings. hehe

Yesteday, I picked up some fresh herbs. Yummmmm!!! Why on earth doesn't this town always carry them?? I bought them for the stuffing I always make, but after getting home, I changed my mind about making it. So when I started preping the turkey, I remembered them. Our church had made Thanksgiving baskets a couple weeks ago, and we were asked if we could use one. It was soooo wonderful! The turkey that came in it was a pre-cooked turkey. We also got a small bag of sweet potatoes, so I made those for Adam and the 3 youngest. (I can't eat them anymore. Thanks to pregnancies.) I did taste them, they were good, and Adam loved them. It also had cranberry jelly. I have never bought the stuff, but Adam said he wanted it, so I sliced it up, the girls LOVED it. I baked the potatoes rather than mashing them, the kids loved that as well. I was told many times that itwas the best meal I have ever made. Poor Ethan was so tired that he fell asleep in the middle of eating. Adam asked him if he wanted to go to bed, and he said no. 30 seconds later he climbed out of his chair and walked off, he didn't seem to hear anything that we said. He climbed into bed and he is still sleeping now.

We have everything cleaned up and we are now just enjoying eachother. The pumpkin pie I made is still sitting uncut waiting till we are more hungry. hehe As is the keylime pie. (Our new tradition, it's Alex's favorite)However I can't say that the umpkin pie is untuched. Ethan stuck his fingers in it while it was cooling. It has 4 little finger holes in it. :)

Today I am so very thankful and blessed for many things! Mostly for family and a chance to be with eachother!! For a loving heavenly Father who always knows what is best for us. For our church, and the love that they have shown us. Most of all, for God providing for us, in a time that we needed it most, he provided us with a full wonderful Thanksgiving meal, that we couldn't have bought.

Have a very blessed and thankful Thanksgiving!!!

Prayers - by Ethan

My kids have all had times when they LOVE to pray and pray very well (not that you can say a bad prayer in my opinion. Ethan however is taking this to a whole new level. This boy is ahead of my other kids for his age by leaps and bounds, but it really has hit us in the last week, just how much so. Last night as Ethan, Donna, and Pa sat down to eat, Ethan stopped Pa and repremended him for not praying, then he went on to say the prayer.

Last night, I was tucking Ethan in, daddy normaly does it, so I'm not 100% on the right order we do things in. hehe As I was leaning in to give him a kis, he pushed me back and said "PAY mommy, PAY!!" with his sweet little hands folded... (totaly melts my heart!!! So I said "do you want mommy pray, or Ethy(our nickname for him) pray." He looked at me like I was nuts and said "Me, Ethan pray". So he closed his little 2-year-old eyes and cluched his little fingers even more tightly together as he said this prayer "Jesus, thank you mommy, daddy, ICE!!, kitty, blanky, (something I didn't understand), AMEN!!!" and he grinned for ear to ear. The ice was because he has become almost addicted to his sippy with ice in it. It is almost like a blanket or or stuffed toy to other kids.

How simple, and heartfelt.... Some days we sit and don't know how to start, or we fill our prayer with wants and needs. Here is little Ethan, he has nothing that is truely his own. He has to trust that he will get all of his needs from us. He doesn't ask for anything, he knows we will take care of that, he just tells us that he loves us, and prayes his thanks. How very much our Heavenly Father must love those prayers of thanks and love... As I type this my fingers have started to feel numb, and my heart hurts... how many times have I gone to my Heavenly father with my needs, and forgotten to just give him my love and thanks! Yet I get frusterated with my own children when they do that to me.


Thank you Lord for Ethan and the leasons that you have taught me thorugh him. Thank you... I know you love me, you know my needs... but how often do I tell you, just how much I love you? I love you Lord, I truely Love you!

Digital Scrapbooking again

I got Photo shop on my new PC again! I'm so excited to get some new pages made. I just don't have the time or space for paper scrapping that much, nor the money. I am still very much doing that... when I can. However I would like to do this with our newer photos and print them off so I can get pages in all of the kids books. Anyway, here they are. My first attempt at a Quickpage and my first attempt at a template
"akizo_Refreshing_QP" created by akizo
*orange paper - DOA papers... it didn't come with a tou It's from the "Pumpkin Pie Spice" set
*Number Template Series by An Van Laer (annetje77)
*Red paper - Kit: "Pumpkin Pie Spice" by Christina Sava/Sava's Scraps http://savamama.wordpress.com/
*Blue paper - copyright Kristen Rice of tiptoe.studio
*Word art - no TOU, but I think I can find it back

Did your math homework ever do this to you?

I told Alex to finish his math whele I got Ethan down for his nap. Alex was quiet, so I felt I should just leave him alone. After a while, I was sure he had snuck upstairs while I wasn't looking. I thought I would just call him down so he could do it while I made supper. However I never checked to see if he was still there or not...

Adam called me to tell me he was on his way home from work. (only 40 minutes after he hoped to get out which is actually very unusual and wonderful!) He called my cellphone which was charging in the livingroom. I grabbed the phone and was talking with Adam as I noticed that the girls had dissapeared up to their room and oddly were playing quietly... We talked for a bit more and I glanced through the doorway into the dinningroom. On the floor over the heat vent (my kids favorite place in the house. They fight over it often and if we had the money, I would have more put in our house!!!) Was Alex his backside straight up in the air. Guess his staying up the night before caught up with him. lol

Potty

Ethan has been showing signs of being ready to potty train for a while, but never goes when we sit him on the potty. I have just been so confused by it, and have no clue how to do this.

Today after church, Adam ran off to work. So while the kids had a snack, I lost Chloe and Ethan. We have a larger church, but it's not huge and most everyone knows our family, so I wasn't worried, but I did go looking for them. I found my parents first assuming that they were following granny or pa around, nope. Then a gentalman walked over to tell me something. Herold, is a sweet guiet man. He is rather hard of hearing but makes up for that in his amazing painting abilities!!! He said Ethan was back at the table now and fine, but he found him in the bathroom. Herold said he was walking past that bathroom when he heard someone yelling for help, so he opened the door and there was Ethan, standing by the urinal yelling for help to get his pants down. So Herold helpped him(said he couldn't keep from laughing) with his pants. Ethan went potty, then went on his way.

An hour later Ethan got this strange look on his face and told me he needed to go potty. I took him into the potty, and he looked confused and almost scared. I asked him if he wanted to stand or sit, and he just stared at the potty like he didn't know what to do with it... needless to say, I think we are going to be buying a childs urinal for Ethan!

http://visionaireproducts.com/products.php
I saw this a while ago and thought about it. So cute!

Lord, I am so thankful today for Herold! That he not only found Ethan, but allowed him to use the potty.

Ethan and Cinder

I had a very full day yesterday, ending with a scrap-n-chat. Normaly I LOVE those, however now that I am working and feel that I'm never home with my family and dealing with sick kids and very little sleep, I was just blah last night. So I got home, feeling bad that I hadn't gotten much done and walked in to see this:

Ahhhh my heart melted and all the stress of the week dissapeared. It is amazing how much this cat (boy, not a girl we found out) loves Ethan even after being hauld around by it's head.

I feel very blessed that Ethan has a new best friend!

Stuff... :)

So, we have been on the run from one thing to the next lately. I am no longer doing home daycare. I am working for Chloe's preschool. LOTS of adjustmants going on!!!

The cat has fleas, the cat is not so much a girls as it is a boy... lol

Ethan LOVES to go to day-care.

Sooooo much more, however as I was typing up a note to a friend of mine (She lives far from us and I would so love to go visit her, but for now we spend time "talking" on-line)and I remembered something that instantly made me want to cry... I started this blog for a few reasons.

1. help our distant family keep up with what is going on with our family.
~I'm better at this some months than others, but it's ok
2. Start counting my blessings publicly to help me hold myself accountable
~I'm scared to go back and see the last time I did that the way I planned to when I started.

So, I knew I needed to post NOW and get back into the habbit of always closing my blog out with my blessing!

As I am typing, I feel blessed to have a pet for the kids that has lots of energy and is very playful. He never bites them (hard enough to draw blood or leave a mark) and he lets them haul him all over the place. Even as he is jumping all over my desk and making a mess, I am reminded of how much the kids love him.

I am so very blessed with this family! Today has been a good day. I have been working on small jobs around the house all day, and the kids have been good. Not much fighting, and I don't think we have had a single time-out.

I am blessed with great friends! As we talk more and more about our need to move, and see reminders all around me, I have a good friend here in town that helps me keep things in perspective and encourages me. I have a great friend on the east coast that I always know will cheer me up when I read her blog, an email, or a PM from her. We also have great friends in the DesMoines area that care about us and want to hang out with us.

Most importantly, I feel blessed to know that GOD loves me and wants what is best for me. As one dorr closed and I knew we couldn't survive the winter without more income, we trusted God to provide, and I have watched His hand in our lives in the little things, not just the big stuff. We will be ok, because God is on our side!!

Vote!

Today is the big day!!! If you haven't yet voted, go in and vote today!!! If you don't know who you are voting for yet, give me a call and I'll give you some advice.:D

Trick-or-Treat

Boba Fett!! Adam makes Alex's custom costumes every year. Including the mask. What a creative dad he has!

Wonder woman!! Her make-up is so bright in these pics! I feel bad, the red looked nothing like this in real life. I am thinking there must have been some irridesent stuff in the costume make-up. The red in her headband was also a much darker red.

Sleeping beauty, ironicly she fell asleep and we coulnd't get her to wake up enough to eat, and I put her make-up and costume on her as I was waking her up.

Cowboy Ethan! He loved his horse!

I'm to a point where I find it funny to add a group shot. Even when this is the best one we got!

Adam dresses up every year to hand out the candy while I take the kids door to door. This year he was a fire fighter. I think he was hot in that suit, it was a beautiful evening!!!

Donna's is top left, then Alex's on the top right
Chloe's on the bottom left and Ethan's on the ottom right


I didn't think the small pumpkins would work well, but they were sooooo cute!!! And actually easy to carve.

Pumpkin Patch

We went to a new pumpkin patch this year. We wanted to meet up with Asa and let the kids have some time with there cousin Ava. So we went to one in the DesMoines area. Some things I liked about it, so not so much. The prices were great though.

One thing we have learned is that with 4 kids, everytime you do something like this, someone will have a great day (picture wise) and someone else will not. Some days 2-3 will have good days, but the chances of all 4 having great picture days are slim to none. This was the first year for Ethan to really enjoy it, so we were thankful when it was a good day for him.

One thing Ethan loved was that they has a tricycle with a wagon that was painted like a tractor! You don't get much better than that!

Donna jumping in the hay. If you knew how much courage it took to do that you would be far more impressed. The quality of the pic is aweful, but the picture is great!

Ethan thought the baby pigs were great... as long as we didn't ask him to get to close!


I'm touching a tractor!!!!! It's a dream come true mommy!!!! I think we will be going out to great Pa's barn at thanksgiving to visit all of the antique tractors and sit on them!


Alex just hanging out. He has started to always have his hood up, I'm not sure why.

The hayride was soooo much fun! We sat right behind the tractor so Ethan could watch it, and mom could dodge the flying mud.



The girls found a few caterpillars. They asked me to hold them while they played, so I put them on the camera bag, Ethan thought that was so cool!

Do you know how hard it is to get 4 kids to hold still and look at the camera or at least in the general direction at the same time? I told Adam I'm going to do a whole scrapbook of our "photo shots" when we can't get them to look at us. It would be rather funny I think. As well as give me reason to not get upset when we try to get a pic of them all together. The only way we could get them to all look at me (with the camera)was to have the 4 caterpillars climbing all over my neck... not easy to take a pic that way.

Fall Pictures

We had one grumpy group of kids! lol

We ended up with lots of great shots of Donna, one great shot of Alex, one good shot of Chloe, and one ok shot of Ethan. lol The one of Ethna would have been good if the camera had worked. :(
Here they are.









I love this last one. It kinda sums it all up. "I don't want my picture taken!!!" While DOnna is trying not to laugh.... ahhh the life with 4 kids, you can never have them all happy and smiling at the same time.