Sick of being sick!

December has been very rough for our family! We all were sick in one form or another, but Dallin, Callie, and Ava fared the worse! We all had the nasty cold/cough/fever thing, and I think we have yet to have a full nights sleep this month:( Poor Callie and Dallin had coughs so bad at night, and it seemed to take several day to figure out what meds would help them the best. Dallin recovered after a week and a half, and Callie hung on to hers for three and a half weeks! She missed most of her preschool in December, and missed her Christmas party too. She was so sick at night, that she napped a lot in the day. On this particular day, she was so exhausted that she just fell asleep on the floor with her "duckie blankie" on top of books, video game controllers and all!


And my poor Ava caught the same thing, but ended up with a high fever, diarrhea so bad it caused a chemical burn bleeding diaper rash, and a terrible ear infection! After we got home from the clinic, I put her in the high chair so I could fix lunch. She sat there and whimpered and cried, and pulled at her ear, and looked so sad and pathetic. I wanted to take a picture of her sad little sick face, and as soon as I took the camera out she smiled!!! I tried to get another shot, and she smiled again!!! I wonder if she is trained to preform the camera is out or what!! I'm just so grateful everyone was healthy by Christmas!

O' Christmas Tree!

The past several years we have driven up north to a great tree farm to cut down our own Christmas tree. The kids love the fact that they have a petting zoo, free hot cider, horse drawn sleigh rides, and Santa of course! We love the fact that we get an amazing tree for $35, and a great activity with the kids, that is well, quickly becoming our family Christmas tradition!







We did a coin toss this year, and the kids won. We ended up with an enormous 10 foot tall tree that was almost as wide as it was tall. I wanted a tall narrow tree, that would take up less space in our living room, but I guess I'll have to wait until next year! I was trying to take a picture of Callie in front of the tree while Chuck was cutting it down, when it quickly fell to the ground, ruining my shot, and dang near taking out my daughter! I was starting to regret the fact that I agreed to the coin toss after we got home. Not only was it a total pain to get in the house and in the stand, but a few hours later while I was hanging the lights, it came crashing down flooding my living room with a gallon of water!


Chuck happened to only be a few minutes away from home, and came home to help me mop up and reset our tree. We had to weigh it down with sand bags all around the base so it wouldn't fall again! I'm just grateful Ava wasn't crawling around, and that I hadn't decorated it yet! I have to say it's been a great tree after all that, and has helped fill our home with the magic of Christmas!

Break The Daddy's Back!

The kid's evening wrestling matches with Dad have turned a bit into hog pile piggy back rides! It all started with Dallin and Grant jumping onto Chuck's back at the same time. Chuck of course had to prove his strength by standing up and walking around with them on his back, and then Callie wanted to join in the fun too. With a lot of tries and retries, we finally got all three on his back (Poor Dad!)!

I love that I have a husband who loves to play with his kids...it brings back a lot of very vivid memories of my dad giving me piggie and horsie rides as a child. I know that these little playful moments with dad will be something our children will treasure.

Miss Independent!

The other morning Callie asked me to get her some paper and the markers so she could make a sign for her bedroom door to keep the boys out. This is what is says.....

A little translation may be in order here. It says (just in case you don't read Callie) "Do not come in Callie's room! No brothers allowed! No Babies too! Love, Callie!" I wonder if she is trying to express her independence? She also rarely wants help with her hair, as I'm sure you can see!

She makes me laugh and smile everyday! I love you Sissy Lou!

Our Halloween

I am a total failure of a mother because I didn't get any pictures of my kids in their Halloween costumes this year! What is my deal! Chuck says that I can kiss the Mother of the Year award good-bye! (As if I was even in the running!) You'll have to imagine a picture of Dallin as a Skeleton, Grant as a Ninja, and Callie as a Princess (big surprise!). Chuck was sick on Halloween night, so I took Grant and Callie around the neighborhood, and Dallin went with his friend Joe. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful night to go trick or treating, it was in the 50's! That is almost unheard of in Minnesota! Chuck and I had a good laugh at how the kids sprint from house to house the first block, by the next block they are walking, and by the third it's...I'm tired, can we go home, can you carry me, my legs hurt, you mean we have to walk back home?!

Chuck and I went to a party that our good friend threw, and had such a blast! The costumes were great, and I can't believe I didn't get pictures of everyone. I had issues in October with pictures I guess! I made our costume last year, and Annette (the host) asked us to wear it again this year, so we did. It's boarder line appropriate, but hey we're married! Barbie, AKA Annette gets the prize in my opinion, I couldn't look at her all night with out cracking up!

The night before Halloween we carved our pumpkins. The kids love it, and I HATE the mess! I do however LOVE the roasted pumpkin seeds that I get to make with all the "guts"! This year the seed were my best ever-yum! I'm grateful now that the candy is gone, and I managed not to have a weight gain!

The Return of ER Grant!

About a year and a half ago, Grant got the nick name "ER Grant" due to his many, many injuries, stitches and the like. Talk about medical bills! He is unfortunately very fearless! About 2 weeks ago after dinner, he wanted to go jump on the tramp, no big deal, the kids are ALWAYS jumping! This happened to be after the time change, and it was pitch black out at 6pm. He was trying to get off the tramp, and come in the house when he tripped and fell head first onto the patio paver step in front of the trampoline. I was cleaning up dinner inside and I heard the impact (sick!) and then heard his immediate scream as he came tearing into the house. I have to admit, my stomach turned when I saw him because it was the biggest goose egg I had ever seen, and it appeared so quickly! We knew he wasn't knocked out (thankfully!) and we iced it and watched him very closely for 2 hours for any signs of nausea. We debated about taking him in to urgent care, but we knew he didn't have a concussion, and needed no stitches, and they would have probably just told us to watch him, ice it, and give him advil....all of which we did. Poor kid was in tough shape, but by the next morning was back to himself.

I did call the Doctor a few days later because as the bump was going down, his eyelids were swelling, and his eyes were turning black and blue! They said it was just he fluid draining from the injury, and just ice it , and treat him with advil for the swelling. He looked pretty rough for a week, but is now doing much better.....keep posted for the next ER Grant adventure!

Third Party for Her Fourth Birthday!

Callie was truly the queen of the parties this year....a little out of control I'd say! We promised her a friends party this year, and she talked about it weekly for over 6 months! She wanted a princess cake and a princess party, and that's what she got! We had 11 kids in all, and she had a fantastic time at yet another birthday party!

My favorite qoute from the day was something she said after her friends all left. She put on a dress up set, a pair of shoes, and a pair of princess gloves, all of which were gifts from her party, and she looked up at me with the biggest smile and said , "Wow Mom, I am sooooo sparkly and sooooo shiny!" She had the time of her life, and ended up with lots of little girl loot:)