Holidays

I wanted to do a quick update on all the fun we have had over the holiday season.  We started with Halloween.  Eli was a Southwest Pilot, Cora was Snow White, and Asher was a skeleton.  Eli has more passion for trick-or-treating than anyone I know and is a complete chatterbox going from house to house blessing everyone with his cheerful commentary.  He told everyone, "This is my favorite candy!  Thank you so much!  I'll see you next year!"  Cora had a blast this year with her cousins.  Asher picked it right up and would say, "TREAT" and "THANK YOU" after he got his candy.  They all had a blast! 

We headed to Texas for Thanksgiving, even though we had two kids with croup.  They were troopers and we made the best of it!  The kids had a blast in the hot tub, making hot chocolate with Grams, shooting off rockets, going to a trampoline park, and visiting cousin Gavin's new house.  It was fun to spend time with all of my in-laws and eat some awesome food together!  We have so much to be thankful for.    

This Christmas season was downright magical!  Having three kids old enough to participate in all of the fun Christmas activities and traditions was just a blast.  It was a very joyful season for us this year.  The kids loved doing our Jesse Tree where every night we read a bible story leading up to Jesus birth and put on an ornament.  We enjoyed The Illuminations at Botanica, Heartspring's Lights on the Lake, The Lights on St. Paul, and Christmas lights in our neighborhood.  Asher LOVED Christmas lights!  We baked goodies for all of our neighbors and tried to bless as many teachers and people in our lives that have enriched it in so many ways.  We have done a lot of crafts and other fun traditions.  This was our first Christmas to be at home and it was wonderful to not be traveling and just get to enjoy it.  My parents and brother and Brandon's parents and brother Lance all came to celebrate with us (my Mom brought the two rambunctious kittens with her and they were the hit of Christmas).  We had a big dinner and went to the Christmas Eve service where Brandon led music and the kids walked around playing drums to Little Drummer Boy and singing Away in a Manger.  The kids loved lighting candles!  Christmas morning Eli was determined he heard Santa the night before and they all had fun opening presents.  Eli had a "space" Christmas, Cora had a "barbie" Christmas, and Asher got some farm toys, a light saber and hex bug.  We are savoring every day of Brandon's long Christmas vacation and Eli and Cora's two week break.  I am so thankful for the blessings in our lives and for Jesus!  

16 Month Surgery

Asher started having ear troubles off and on as soon as he turned one.  It was time to wave the white flag and have ear tubes put in to keep him from getting fluid buildups and be more comfortable in the night.  It is a very quick routine procedure, but still was very stressful and exhausting to this worrying mom!  We have some amazing friends who cared for Eli and took him to school that morning (he says he'd like to move in with them ha ha), and Cora got to go play with her best friend for a few hours and had a blast.  It gave me such peace of mind knowing they were in great hands.  Asher was a trooper and did quite well without food and water after midnight and charmed everyone in the waiting room.  He happily dressed in his gown and played with a coloring book/stickers before the procedure.  I now know I should have brought WAY more toys and distractions for the pre-surgery waiting period, but we made it through by letting him call and talk to all his grandparents.  It was very hard to watch the nurses carry him away while he was crying and calling "Mama", but the anesthesiologist had assured me that the more they are crying the faster they go under and in 30 seconds he would be out.  It was about a 12 minutes surgery and the ENT came out and told me he had done great (they had successfully removed the fluid and put the tubes in) and they would come and get me when he was waking up.  An amazing God thing about this all is that our church leader's wife was Asher's recovery nurse.  I had e-mailed her before and she happened to be scheduled the same day!  They came and got us before he was even fully awake and I got to hold him while he was sort of thrashing around in a daze.  He was completely out of it, but after settling down in my arms and napping a few minutes he popped up and we gave him some applesauce and a drink and he was completely himself.  He very excitedly picked a soccer ball out of the treasure box and we were on our way (we were only in recovery for probably 15 min...total time there was two hours).  You would have NEVER known he had had surgery.  He never acted like he was in pain and it never slowed him down a bit.  He ran around and played as usual.  I am very thankful that it is over with and we can move forward!

15 Months

Asher turned 15 months a couple of weeks ago and is a busy boy!  He is talking up a storm, which is so much fun!  He can play more and more with the bigger kids and wants to be included in everything.  I can tell he is missing his brother and sister when they are at school and gives long hugs when they return.  He will ask me several times during the day, "Where's Liyah?" (what he calls Eli).  I am enjoying my one and one time with him while the big kids have a blast at school.  At 15 Months:
1.  Asher can say a LOT of words such as:  Mama, Dada, Nana, Papa, Bum, Becca, Eli, More, One more, Go car, Go walk, Bird, This, tree, baba, ball, banana, book, shoes, Munny (for bunny), and Marney (for barney), bye bye ___, Hi, Bubble, shoes, I want, juice, etc.  He is doing some phrases and copying wonderfully!
2.  Loves to run, wrestle, and go for walks or bike rides in the trailer.
3.  He is a monkey!  He is our first climber!  He climbs everything especially the little play kitchen, chairs, and the kitchen table.
4.  He loves reading books (especially ones about trucks or animals) and all of a sudden is a fan of Barney and the Wiggles.
5.  Asher is wearing size 4 shoes and 12-18 month clothes.
6.  He is a tiny little guy!  He is like 3% for weight and less than 3% for height.
7.  He is super affectionate and loves to give hugs (and pat your back while hugging), loves snuggling, and likes to be rocked to sleep.  He also sleeps through the night now unless he is sick or teething (has already cut all of his molars).
8.  Asher is my big helper.  He will clean up a spill, bring the other kids their shoes or backpacks, and follows directions wonderfully!
9. He likes playing with blocks, airplanes, cars, balls, animals, and anything the big kids have.
10.  He LOVES art and music.  He and Cora love to color, playdoh, paint, stickers, etc.  He also loves to dance to kid's praise songs.  He claps and grooves with his sister.
11.  He has started going to Sunday school and has made it the entire time two weeks in a row (with some periods of crying).
12.  Asher still loves his Nana more than anyone on this earth (even me) and asks for her all the time.
13.  He got his first big boy short haircut and looks a lot more like Eli than we realized with it!  He is very proud of it and showed everyone we saw for the first few days after he got it.
14.  Asher is still just the sweetest little boy.  We all adore him!

Preschool

Cora started preschool this week with the same teacher Eli had when he was three!  I am so excited for her to have this special time with friends, learning, and fun!  She shed a few tears before we got there but the second we walked in the building she was so excited and joined right in.  She had her second day today and absolutely loves it!  My little sunshine is growing up!

Kindergarten

Eli started his first day of Kindergarten yesterday!  He is going to an amazing Leadership Magnet school in our neighborhood.  He was so excited that it really got me excited as well.  I spent several weeks really mourning my time with him, so by the time school actually started I wasn't a mess.  Brandon took off work so he could go with me to drop him off and pick him up.  We couldn't believe how confident he was and during the morning assembly he even asked, "Aren't you guys supposed to leave?"  ha ha.  He has a friend that he already knows in his class and everyone is raving about how amazing his teacher Mrs. A is.  Seeing his smiling face after school was priceless.  He absolutely LOVED it and can't wait to go back.  His favorite parts were eating lunch with his friends, his teacher, getting to choose an animal name (Eli Elephant), and having the librarian read them a book in the library.  I am so happy he had such an amazing day and loves it!  I am one proud Mama!  Here is a link to a song I wrote for him about starting school.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLEGfmUrU_M

8th Anniversary trip to Tahoe

We had the most splendid vacation to Lake Tahoe a few weeks ago!  We went and stayed at our family cabin and had a lot of fun celebrating our 8th Anniversary at the same time.  The kids were in heaven.  They love flying and traveling and at one point the pilot even let Eli come in and sit in the cockpit.  Asher did great and napped almost all the flights and loved on his Nana who came with us (his absolute favorite person).  I spent time every summer in Tahoe and it is such a treat for me to get to see my own kids love it as much as I do.  We spent time on the beach swimming, kayaking, playing pirates in the caves, catching crawdads and minnows, playing in the sand, riding on floaties, etc.  At the cabin, we loved eating out on the porch every meal, playing Jumanji board game, doing playdoh, sleeping in the bunk beds, watching the blue jays and squirrels come and eat the treats we would leave them, drinking special sodas, riding the scooter and walking along the road, and more.  We hiked to Spencer's cabin near Spooner Lake and also hiked up to the top of Cave Rock.  Every morning we took the kids hiking or to different playgrounds.  We loved picking up Starbucks and enjoying the cool fresh mornings that have our favorite scent (pine mixed with sage brush).  My mom insisted on babysitting TWICE for us to go out for our anniversary.  It was such a treat.  One day we drove to Incline and had a beautiful lunch on the beach and the other night we had dinner on top of Harvey's at Stateline looking out on beautiful views of the lake.  On our anniversary day, we took the kids to play at the awesome play place at Harrahs and then went and got ice cream in "California" and watched the gondolas at Heavenly Valley.  We stayed at my Papa Buck's house the last night in Reno.  The kids loved seeing him and talked his ear off and he taught them all about the pinball machines (which they played and LOVED).  We both agreed nothing will top this anniversary!  It was really special and so much fun!  The kids are already begging to go back!