Christmas 2008

We are now officially done with Christmas. We had a wonderful Christmas, we spent the entire week celebrating with family. I have to say is was exhausting and fun at the same time and it was really nice spreading it out. I was determined this year to really enjoy the season and to not rush through it or worry about not doing something. We kept all our meals simple and just enjoyed the time with family, after all it's not about the food it's about the people we are with. Here are a few pictures of our celebration.






As you can see everyone was very happy with their gifts, but more importantly we had a wonderful week together and learned/remembered the true meaning of Christmas.

Ice Storm

What an ice storm we had last night. Thankfully we still have power but we did lose a huge limb off the tree in our front yard. The limb blocked the steps to our front porch and our side door. We had to climb through the branches to get out of the house. I think we need to invest in a chain saw, poor Paul had to saw the limbs by hand. Here are some pictures of our mess. We still have more clean up and a few minutes ago we lost another limb so more sawing is in Paul's future.





I have to say that even though the ice is treacherous it can be very beautiful, here are a few more pictures of our ice covered trees.

Sleepy Baby

Last week Ben fell asleep in the van when we were picking Clayton and Eli up from school. Usually he wakes up when I take him in the house but this time he didn't and this is how he slept for about 15 minutes while I fixed lunch for everyone.

Piano

We have a piano! And as you can see the boys love it. We are looking forward to when we can actually hear a song in what they are playing but until then I guess we will use ear plugs...ha ha ha! Actually they are doing very well with it, better than I expected.

Paul is practicing "Carol of the Bells" for Christmas and I have enjoyed listening to him play. I hope to learn to play too...someday.

Prairie Thunder Hockey Game

Grandpa Joe got some tickets to the Prairie Thunder Hockey game last night and since Paul really didn't want to go I took Clayton. I love hockey and it was so much fun sharing that with Clayton at his first game. It was fun watching him too, at first he just watched while I explained a little bit of the game and what they were doing. Then he really got into it and he loved all the music they played between the periods. He also loved the cheerleaders, so much that he refused to go potty until they were done. We were so excited as the Thunder scored 6 goals, but one of the funniest moments happened when the Generals scored their first goal and Clayton looked over at us and said "That was not nice!!!" We all died laughing. It was so much fun watching him get all excited when our team scored or came close to scoring. The final score was the 6-2. The Thunder Won! What a great first game for Clayton he even asked if we could go again tomorrow night.

Morphea

My poor little Eli, yet again my little guy has something wrong with him. He has had a strange spot on his leg for over 2 weeks, it looks like an indentation about the size of an orange on his thigh. I took him to the doctor today and the doctor had never seen anything like it before so he called another doctor in to look at it. That doctor had only seen it once before in a teenager, it's a very rare (1 in 100,000) skin disorder called Morphea or localized scleroderma and the treatment is only available for adults. We have been referred to a dermatologist to see if there is anything we can do about it. We know it's not life threatening, but it can progress or move to other locations so I'm praying that we can do something about it soon. All that I have read about it is freaking me out so I'm trying not to read too much until we see the dermatologist and find out what we need to do.

If you would, please pray that Eli would be healed and that this would not progress to anything worse.

More Milestones

A couple of weeks ago Clayton came to Paul and me and told us that his tooth was broken. After shrugging it off I thought "No way could he be about to loose a tooth". After that thought I had Clayton come to the kitchen where we were and sure enough he had a loose tooth. When we told Clayton that his tooth was going to come out he got very upset. I don't think I have ever seen such a worried look on his face. We reassured him that everyone looses teeth and that a new one will come in it's place.

Well this past Monday Clayton ran out of school so excited because he lost his tooth. It was the first lost tooth in his class and everyone was talking about it. He was as some of the other parents put it "the man of the hour". The teacher gave him a big sticker that says " I lost my tooth", a necklace with a tooth on it and a sugar free sucker. After getting home he had to call daddy and all his grandparents to tell them the big news. We then told him we would put it under his pillow for the tooth fairy to get and that he would leave money in it's place. Of course Paul had to change things up a bit and told Clayton that the Molinator (from the Tim Allen movie the Santa Clause 2) would be bringing the money. Clayton didn't like the idea of some stranger coming in his room so he asked if he could leave it on the table downstairs but we negotiated and left the tooth on his train table in his room. The next morning Clayton came running into the bathroom while I was showering to show me his loot. He started yelling "Mommy, the Molinator came and left me lots of money" ($2.00...inflation). Needless to say he was again very excited. Here is a picture of him without his tooth. It's a bottom tooth.

Another funny story about Clayton. As you heard in the previous story one of his favorite movies is the Santa Clause with Tim Allen and he also loves Toy Story which they watched on Friday. Well tonight Paul and I were watching a show on the history of Pixar the maker of Toy Story and they were interviewing Tim Allen. Clayton came in and said "Hey he looks like Santa Claus and...he sounds like Buzz Lightyear?" Okay we lied to him, he really believes that Tim Allen is Santa Claus so Paul told him that Santa needed something to do in his off season. Clayton did question it at all in fact I think he thought it was quite cool that Santa was also Buzz. (Too Funny!)

First day of Kindergarten

It's so hard to believe that 5 yrs have gone by and Clayton is starting Kindergarten. Today was his first day and he did great. We walked into the building and he showed Eli where his classroom was. The teacher had us stay for story time, she read the book "The Kissing Hand" which is about a little raccoon going to school for the first time. The mommy raccoon kisses the little raccoons hand and draws a heart on his hand and tells him that she will always be with him in his heart. After the story Mrs. Henderson gave us heart stickers to give to our children. Clayton wouldn't let me put it on his hand after I kissed his hand, but he wanted on his shirt however he made me kiss his shirt too. Here are some picture I took at the school.

Last night as I was saying good night to Clayton I asked him if he would please stop growing up so fast and he said, "I grow tall just a little bit more, alright Mommy." Then with his head slightly tilted and that smile of his that just melts your heart he gave me a big hug, a kiss and said "Good night mommy, I love you." I savored the moment as I said good night for the last time to my preschooler because today he is my big Kindergartner.

Art and Sports Camp VBS - Ben's Funny Faces

Last week was VBS and the boys had a blast. Paul ran the sound and Clayton went to sports camp for Martial Arts and Soccer. Eli went to the preschool VBS where he did lots of art projects. The last day was Family Night, Eli got his face painted like a tiger and Clayton got to go on stage and show off his new Martial Arts moves. I wish I had known he was going to be on stage because I would have taken my camera, but I didn't so oh, well. Here is a picture of them when we got home.

Ben's Funny Faces


As you can see Daddy has his hands full with these 3 boys! It's no wonder he is exhausted.

Muscles

"Look at my muscles mommy!" The boys were have a lot of fun the other day stuffing their shirts with extra clothes making muscles. It's always the simple things that make the best memories.

Fibromyalgia

I saw the rheumatologist today and she has diagnosed me with Fibromyalgia as well as RA. She said that 2-4% of women my age with RA will also have Fibromyalgia and I have all the symptoms for it. There are no blood tests for the disease, it is diagnosed by eliminating other forms of arthritis which they have already done. She did do a blood test for a muscle disorder but I don't have those results yet and she will call me when it comes back. She gave me an information sheet about the disease and I have almost all of the symptoms listed. I guess I have a lot more to learn now and more life changes to make.

Sometimes I feel like all this is a big guessing game but I think we are finally narrowing things down and almost have a final answer which is a big relief. I'm not really happy about the final result but at least I know what it is now and hopefully things will start getting better.

Current Happenings

Clayton is growing up so fast, he will be starting Kindergarten in a few weeks and he is so excited. He actually asks me everyday if it’s time for school yet. As we wait for school to start he is having a blast playing outside on the slip-n-slide. He also got to spend about 5 days with Grandma Carol and Granddad this summer which was the longest he has been away from us, he had so much fun that I think he would have stayed all summer if he could have.

Eli is enjoying the Slip-n-Slide too, but he doesn’t quite slide the way Clayton does as you can see in the picture. He walks gingerly down the slide and then drops to his bottom at the end. It’s fun to watch how differently they play and attempt new things. Eli will be in Preschool again this year with the same teacher, his speech is finally beginning to take off and it’s so exciting to be able to have a conversation with him.

Ben is getting huge! As Paul and I like to put it he has “exploded in size” he went from this tiny baby to a huge toddler in nothing flat. He is 14 months old now and is wearing clothes that Eli wore last year, a 2T. He is enjoying the water as much as his brothers, but as you can see in the picture he really enjoys his food! We had Ben evaluated by Easter Seals to make sure he was where he should be developmentally and he is doing great! We were so excited to hear that his speech is at a 17 month old level and cognitively he is where he should be. I was so excited after getting the news that I almost cried. It’s such a relief knowing that he will not need speech therapy like Clayton and Eli did.

Paul and I are doing great! We are getting ready to start some summer house projects….new fence and remodeling the playroom. Paul has been at State Farm for about 6 weeks now. He really likes the challenge and the relaxed work environment and we all love the great park and pool. We all go to the pool at least once a week now and Paul and I enjoyed a great game of miniature golf last night. It’s so nice to be able to do those things without spending any money. That is one great thing about State Farm they really know how to take care of their employees.

That is about it for now. I’ll post more in the coming days.