Sunday

For the first time in more than a month, we got to go to church as a family of 4 (5 if you want to be technical). It was so nice. I don't want to take that for granted. The kids each made a Christmas tree ornament. Cute little gingerbread men. We stopped by my parents' to drop off some things for this coming week. We came home and the kids took a nap. Then it was time to head to church again.

Jenelle had AWANA and because we have missed so much, she has been having to recite 2 verses each time. She did it. Yeah. Her class sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus, too. I'm so glad to have that reinforcement.

We kept Clay with us in the prayer service because he had a rough time waking up from his nap and he usually cries when we drop him off. At the end of the singing portion of the service, Clay said, "I want to go to my class." I repeated that back to him to be sure and he really did want to go to class, so I walked him over there and he went right in. I am hoping this is a new pattern for him. I know once doesn't count as a pattern, but we are hopeful.

When we got home from church, we cuddled with the kids after getting them ready for bed and then we got visitors a little after 9. Mike's brother, Dan, flew in from NY and he and Mike's parents dropped by for a quick visit on their way home from the airport. That was nice. My sisters are supposed to fly in tonight from different states, but because of the snow in the great northwest, one of my sisters may be delayed. We hope not, but it is a possibility. It's great having family around at Christmas.

The New Sound in our house

It's not the sound of a baby crying. We still have 3 months till we hear that.

For my birthday, Mike ordered and installed a dishwasher for me! After 9 years of washing dishes by hand, we now have a stainless steel dishwasher. Yeah.

Here is the before picture. (Mike had to take out one drawer and one cabinet,

but we didn't lose the cutting board.)He took out the board for the drawer.

Cutting some more. We found it helpful to put up the gate so he wouldn't have a lot of extra "help."

The hole is completed. He's looking over the dishwasher.

Figuring things out

Taking a look at the new appliance

Figuring out all the options we have for washing

The kids and I taking off the packaging cover

Yeah, my new dishwasher.

We have already run our first load of dishes through and we are pleased with the outcome. I will really enjoy not having to hand wash sippy cups (and bottles in the near future) as often. Thank you, Mike for all the thought and effort that you put into this gift. You're great!

Snow

While we were at church Wednesday night, it snowed. We came home to snow falling. Very exciting. The kids ran right out into the snow. Clay especially loved it and just ran back and forth in the front yard. Snow makes everything so pretty.

Thursday morning this is what we saw out the back.

This morning we still have bits of ice on the back lawn where the sun doesn't shine. We got a pretty good frost last night, too. Clay and I attempted to build a snowman yesterday morning, but all it amounted to was what snowmen look like when they're almost all melted away. We did use a carrot for the nose and two pieces of fudge for eyes. It was an experience.

Jenelle's performance at church

Jenelle sang "The First Noel" nicely. She wasn't yelling, but we could hear her well. She didn't really know the other song since she had just had one night of rehearsal. The kids were dressed up as angels with white robes and gold garland in their hair. Jenelle was on her fourth day of no nap and fell asleep (pretty hard) on our way to church (which took longer than usual because of traffic). She threw a fit about wearing the angel costume and only because of help from a little friend and her mom was Jenelle wearing the garland in her hair, but no angel costume. We've always known she wasn't an angel, but did she have to tell everyone? The only reason we even let her perform was that her grandparents were there to see her. Oh well, she is easy to spot in the pictures/video.:)

More details about the piano open house

I forgot to mention that besides my piano students playing Christmas songs (and any others they wanted to play), Jenelle played 3 songs, Clay played (I'm not sure how many:) ), and I ended up playing 2 songs. I got very nervous! Sad. I should be better at that. Oh well. It still was a fun time.

Saturday

We had our first Christmas piano open house. I would call it a success. It was a little awkward at first as neither of the first two who came wanted to be first to play, but it got better from there. I had 4 or 5 families come with their students. They brought yummy treats, too, and left them here afterwards, so I have been trying to clean up.:)


Saturday evening, Mike and I had our Sunday School class Christmas party. Mike's parents took care of our kids. Thank you, Mom and Dad! Mike and I had a great time at our party. The meal was prepared by a chef who was on site. Yummy appetizers, main dish, apple cider, and then bananas foster for dessert. In between dinner and dessert, the chef also did an ice sculpture of a Christmas tree. Fun to watch. It made me think of the movie "Groundhog Day." After our dessert (Mike's was made with Splenda), we had our traditional white elephant gift exchange. We ended up with some old TV show episodes (Bonanza, Ozzie and Harriet, Andy Griffith and the Dick Van Dyke show) and some candy in plastic jars. Not too bad. It had rained while we were there, but on our way home (10:45pm) the skies were almost completely clear. When we got up this morning, it was 30 degrees! It's now up to 43 degrees at noon.


We didn't go to church this morning since we still hear coughing and sneezing from Jenelle and Mike and I both have sore throats again. We are hoping to take the kids with us to the musical tonight at church. I hope we get to do that. Meanwhile, the kids are playing very nicely--cars, playdough (after which Clay used the Dust Buster to clean up) and now Clay is coloring. He put up the markers and a marker book before getting out the crayons and the coloring book. How responsible. Makes me proud.

Moments of the week

At Target, they had fun wearing Santa hats. I love that they were willing to pose for me. Another moment to stop and enjoy.
On Wednesday, 4 out of 5 of my afternoon lessons canceled. I enjoy teaching, but I never mind the extra time. Since the kids got up a little early from their naps, and Jenelle had been asking almost daily if we could go to the park, I decided we could go to the "Red Park"--so named because the slides are red. They had fun. Jenelle wondered why there were no other friends there. I don't know, but I enjoyed the time with them. I don't have to go down the big slide with Clay any more. He can do it himself and Jenelle is learning how to keep her swing going. They're growing up. On Thursday, I decided to let Jenelle stay out of her room during "room" time. I never was able to take a nap that day, but she did. Look at our little Christmas present under the tree. Last time this happened was when Jenelle was 4 months old. Cute.

On Tuesday, when I took the kids shopping, I wasn't in a rush, so I let them ride the little merry-go-round at 99cent store. They enjoyed it. I like to see them have fun. Sometimes I forget to let them have fun.

Weekly update

Random picture of Jenelle with her pancakes circling her milk. She requested that this picture be taken.:)
Well, the kids and I went to church on Sunday. That was good. Mike had an excruciating headache that lasted about 24 hours. Thank God, it went away.

On Monday, my friend, Rosa, watched the kids while I had my annual optomotrist visit. My eyes are healthy and my prescription hasn't changed.:)

On Tuesday, I took the kids shopping with me and got Mike a present (which he already found, oh well) and went to Target, where there were way too many people. We had lunch with my dad at El Pollo Loco. The kids and I always enjoy that.

On Wednesday, my friend, Corina, watched the kids while I got my teeth cleaned. They look good--except for the one tooth that has a crack and will have to be filled. Oh well. More medical tax write offs.

Today, Thursday, I mowed the leaves on the front lawn, did one load of laundry, washed dishes and vacuumed the house. Thankfully, we have nothing scheduled for today. That's nice in the midst of a busy week. I need to put my Christmas letters/pictures together. Hopefully that will happen--at least get started.:)

This week

Last Saturday, we got our tree set up and have been adding ornaments as the days go by. Our most special ornament we added today. It is of Linus reciting the Luke 2 Christmas story. Mike got it for us last year.

We finally got over Jenelle's 2nd case of pink eye (the other eye this time) after going to the doctor and getting another prescription of eye medicine. We're all glad to be done with the eye drops.:)

I took the kids with me and we did some Christmas shopping. That was my first official trip just to do Christmas shopping. It's not done, but it is started. I was also able to do some shopping online. That's always nice.

We went to my parents' last night to celebrate my dad's birthday (actually on Thursday). He turned 69. It was fun to be with him and my mom to celebrate--chicken and rice, broccoli, cranberry jello salad and banana cake. Mmmm.

Today, I got to go to a Christmas Tea that my friend, Sheri, hosts each year. It was a fun time of chatting and being served. Mike and the kids put up our Christmas lights as a surprise while I was gone. I love them.

Mike's diabetes is getting more under control all the time. We are grateful! He's doing great managing it. I'm very glad he cares about his health--for him and for us.

We may actually get to go to church tomorrow. That would be neat. God is good.

Pumpkin Pie

Mike made 3 pumpkin pies (in spite of diabetes). One made it safely to my parents'. We took another one to Mike's parents'. Before we all got out of the van, I heard Jenelle say, "Oh no!" She had stepped in the pie. It even had her shoe print complete with a heart in it. The other half still tasted good. It just wouldn't have won any prizes.:)

Our Three Kids

Monday

This morning, we got to go to a mom/preschooler fun time at our church. They had fun activities planned--coloring Thanksgiving sheets, taking a walk looking for di-cut pumpkins around the church campus, tracing/cutting/painting their hands and making a turkey out of them with rolled paper (the picture can show you) and finally, they got to make turkeys out of Oreos, Whoppers, red hots, candy corn and icing. No picture of those. They were eaten too fast. Oh yeah, we also "made" butter out of a little salt and heavy whipping cream that we (I) got to shake and then spread on bread. Fun times. It's the only time my kids get to use real paint.

Clay's hand turkeyJenelle's hand turkey--she traced and painted it herself!

I made hand wreaths with the kids last week. Jenelle's is on top and Clay's is on the bottom. They decorate our front door.

The kids were playing with Legos this afternoon and after Clay made something he alternated between saying, "Look, Header" and "Look, Header, Mom." I try not to respond when he calls me "Header" (for Heather). He thinks he's pretty cute and he is. I just try not to let him know I think he is.

Progress

Mike--he found something he could eat tonight and is encouraged that he liked the taste, too! Little by little

Jenelle--her eye is healing. As you can see, she is happy about that. She has gotten much better about not crying as long after getting her eye drops.
Yesterday, I received as a loan, some hair clippers from my mother-in-law. (Thank you very much!) I did clay's hair this morning. I had been trying to keep up with it using the scissors and it wasn't very even. Now it is and it is so easy. I knew how to do it because my friend, Denise, has cut Clay's hair numerous times for me and I got to watch. Clay sits so still that it's a joy to do. This morning, I said, "Let's go cut your hair." He said, "Okay, " and ran to his chair ready for his haircut. Yeah for things that don't take extra effort!

Quite a Week

On Sunday, we returned from our anniversary trip. I was not rested as I had hoped because I had been sick with a cold the whole time, but it sure was nice not having to take care of anyone else while I wasn't feel well.

On Monday, Mike got off early so he could go with me to our level 2 ultrasound. We had this because in our first ultrasound, a spot of light was noticed on our (God's) baby's heart. We knew that there wasn't a problem with the heart because our friend from church had checked into that for us. Thank you, Dale. Anyway, that spot of light was one of six possible soft tissue markers for Down's Syndrome. At our level 2 ultrasound, that same spot was seen, but no others. The doctor took many measurements and found everything to be normal. The only sure way to know if our baby has Down's Syndrome would be to have an amniocentisis (which we won't be having--too much risk). So, we had the best possible news we could have from the level 2 ultrasound. Mike's mom watched our kids. Thank you, Mom.

On Thursday, Mike's mom again watched out kids (thank you, Mom) so I could go with Mike to his dr appt--just a regular appt, but Mike was able to tell his dr about some symptoms that he had been having--very dry mouth (dehydration), losing about 20 pounds without trying and a little bit of blurred vision. After completing Mike's physical, a prick of his finger was done. It turns out that Mike has diabetes. Only 40 years old! That was a shock for us. His blood sugar was at 568 and 60-120 is normal. At 600, you're put into the hospital! Since that time, Mike has taken his pills and eaten no sugar. His number was 226 this morning. Thank You, God for this improvement. We know we have a lot to learn and to change in the way we eat, but God is giving us His peace and strength--through the help of family and friends, too.

On Friday, while still reeling from the news of Mike's diagnosis, Jenelle had a fever and was acting lethargic. I thought she was over that when she woke up this morning, but as the day went on, it would seem that she has pink eye. (Clay got over his about 1 1/2 weeks ago). Here is a picture of her pitiful face.


Overall, it has been a rough week, but God is getting us through. We haven't given up hope, but we sure wouldn't like to repeat this week. Thank you to all who are praying for us. We need you.

Our Anniversary Trip

Our anniversary dessert. Can you see the little card that says "Happy Anniversary"?

We left on Wed. night last week and stayed in the Hotel Parisi. It was quite different than what we're used to. There was one regular desk for check in with one person and one luggage carrier (can't think of the proper term for that) waiting for us. We checked in quite easily about 10 pm. We had stopped at In n Out for our first meal on our trip. Yummy. After we checked in, we decided to take a walk outside. How often do we get to do that at 10:15 pm? Actually, how often are we even awake at that time? Anyway, on Thursday, we strolled down to the beach overlook and enjoyed watching the waves crash on the beach. It was beautiful weather. Mike had made reservations for a restaurant named Georges (no apostrophe). That was part of the package he had won along with 2 nights in the Hotel Parisi. It was quite a fancy restaurant. Being the non risk taker that I am, I opted for tenderloin. It was the most tender steak either of us had ever eaten and served with potato puree--not mashed potatoes (although I couldn't tell the difference).

Here is a picture of us as we headed out to Georges.We ordered dessert, but I don't remember the fancy name of it. We were served complimentary sparkling cider because it was our anniversary. That was very nice. I've never been to a restaurant where they have servers just waiting for you to take a drink of water so they can refill it. My water didn't get lower than 1/3 full. Great service! Fun to experience.

We relaxed. You can tell in these next two pictures.

Part of the package of free things that Mike won, was a pair of tickets to Birch's Scripps aquarium. We spent a couple of hours there on Friday morning.

This is one of the unique creatures we viewed at the aquarium. Can you tell what it is?

We stayed at Embassy Suites on Friday and Saturday nights. We felt at home there. We've been going there for our anniversaries off and on for about 5 years. We shopped at the mall across the street a bit on Friday and Saturday. We went to dinner on Saturday night about 8--again, how often does that happen? Thank you again, parents, for making this possible. We appreciate you more than we can say!

This is one of the first pregnancy pictures we've taken of me.

Anniversary Trip

We are leaving tonight (without the kids, well, we'll take one with us:) ) on our four night anniversary trip. Mike's parents are hosting the kids tonight and my parents will host them the other three nights. We're VERY excited. Not a lot planned. We just won't have to do anything we don't fee like. Thank you, Parents, for supporting our family and our marriage. We appreciate you. We hope you make some good memories with the kids and we'll make some memories without the kids.:)

A type of Bowling

We have saved all these peanut butter jars and sometimes the kids have fun stacking them, but on this occasion, they were used to play a type of bowling. Simple games.

Jenelle's first choir performance

Jenelle is a part of the 3 and 4 year old choir called Petite Praisers. They had their first performance at the Wednesday night service. They had shirts with their names and handprints that they made last week.

During the practice, Jenelle watched her teacher intently and did a great job with the singing and motions. However, during the real performance, she spotted Grandma Cheryl and Papa and watched them the whole time. As they were walking down off the steps, she called out, "Hi Papa. Hi Grandma." Funny. This is the end of the song they sang during the actual performance. She is in the back row second from the right.

Jenelle's interesting nap

Can you find her? I looked in her closet and in her book corner before I found her rolled up in a ball under her bedspread. Silly girl.


Can you find her? I looked in her closet and in her book corner before I found her rolled up in a ball under her bedspread. Silly girl.

Saving myself some work

Less than a week ago, it was dinner time and I was weary. Specifically, weary of washing sippy cups. I know that sounds petty, but that was how I was feeling. So, in order to save myself some work, I gave Clay his milk in a regular plastic cup. Not the smartest thing I've decided. I ended up having to clean up his milk from the floor, his chair and the table. That was more work than cleaning a sippy cup. I now think a little differently.

Our trip through town

Some people do the alphabet game while on the road. We did the "Who can find the 'Yes on 8' sign?" game. It was fun. I guess we'll have to find a new game on Wednesday.

My new haircut

While Jessica was watching the kids last week, I decided to get my hair cut. This is the shortest I've had it since I've had a choice. It's weird to see my shadow and no hair on it. I think I like it.

Harvest Time

On Tuesday, we decided it was time to carve our pumpkin. The kids were excited, but didn't want to help at all. This is Mike saying, "Why am I doing this all alone?" We had to bribe Jenelle into putting her hand into the pumpkin and this is how she felt about it at first. Then she was okay with it and helped some more.

Clay even helped some.

Here's how it turned out. Mike drew on it and carved it. I love how the smile is so friendly.

On Thursday, we met some friends in the beautiful hills around our home and had some fun with animals and hay. Here are my two, Denise's three, and one other friend, Lilly, in the wagon.

Clayton rode the hay cow.

Jenelle rode the other one.

I know that most people got real cute pictures of their kids in the costumes, but I am not most people. This the picture I took of dress rehearsal. On Friday night, Jenelle actually had on black pants and a black shirt under her bee costume. She loved it and wore it 5 or 6 times before we left for the Harvest Festival at church. My friend, Melissa, loaned us these costumes. Very thankful, because I was too cheap to spend any money on them.:)

This is Pooh looking like he needs some more honey. He didn't love the costume, but he was a good sport about it.

Rocket Weekend

A week ago Sunday, it was decided that the family should go shoot rockets. Some of these rockets are at least 20 years old. Anyway, the preparation was on Saturday--including going to the hobby store to purchase engines--A,B,C,D, and E--each one twice as powerful as the one before! Ian put together his first rocket and it did really well. It was sent up 4 times.

Lots of planning involved!

On Sunday, we drove (forever--only stopping once for the bathroom--which doubled as a gas stop, too) and came to this very flat dirt area. Chairs were set up as well as this very appreciated shade. Then the food came out--snacks and water for all. Meanwhile, Mike was actually working on the rockets.:)

Here he is--ready to launch!

Even Clay got in on the action.

This was a grasshopper who may have died this very day--but not before being launched in a rocket and sent up VERY high. He didn't move much after his return. Poor Astro!

While they were looking for one of the rockets landing place, Jenelle found her own rocket and got to launch it a couple of times. Ian and Olivia were real troopers running after and getting all of the rockets. They sure were tired afterwards!

I think it's fun how they're all looking for the rocket. They went very high and sometimes we lost them for a bit in the sky. All were brought back home, though. A successful day of rocket launching!