UNDER QUARANTINE

Seriously. It seems like the last 6 weeks has been one or more of us sick all the time. Finally, enough is enough. Levi has RSV and AJ has bronchitis. Our house sounds like a TB ward or something. Anyhow, we decided to stay away from church and pretty much everywhere else for a few weeks since it seems like everytime they are finally getting well they pick up the next thing so after bouts with the flu, pink eye, a couple of colds and now this...maybe the quarantine will help us to get over and strong enough not to catch the next bug that visits. They look like angels in this pic but trust me, a grumpy AJ is no angel, demon maybe is a better description. I can't remember but he probably tried to choke Levi after this pic was taken, just kidding. Anyway, we haven't fallen off the earth or been abducted by aliens or gone inactive or anything, just hiding for awhile.

OUR LITTLE ENTEPRENEURS

Have I mentioned how much I love Jake and Caleb's school this year!? I'm certain I have but anyhow... Today the 3rd grade had a "shopping day". All of the 3rd grade students decided on a service or product to sell to their fellow students. Each classroom was set up as a store and each student was given $3 play money to spend on whatever they wanted. At the end they were to count up their gross profit and figure their net profit and figure out what went well and what didn't and why. They are learning math and free enterprise in the 3rd grade! I love it. More importantly the kids loved it and get this... LEARNED!!! So Jake came home today and decided to set up a face painting/ lemonade stand in front of the house. Thanks to some awesome neighbors and a high traffic location, they made $5, but Caleb lost one and doesn't know where. They were so excited and our awesome neighbors stopped for "curbside service" lemonades and some went home and came back for good sport face painting and lemonade. Their biggest customers, teenagers that were cool enough to humor these darling boys. As you can see, the practiced the fine art of face painting on each other. I know I'm biased but tell me these aren't the cutest kids in the world!

HAPPY 2010!!!

All I can say is wow! Another year gone by... my kids are growing so much I threaten them to stop feeding them and make them walk around with books on their heads to make them stop. They are so much fun though, they just yell NO everytime I say it. Christmas was fun. My dad and brother came with his girlfriend and that was so fun. They played with my kids and spoiled them and did all of the awesome stuff visiting family is supposed to do. We went shooting on Christmas morning, Sean laughed at me like we were a bunch of dumb rednecks when I told him we were planning to and then his girlfriend wanted to come too so they came and get this... HAD FUN! AJ got to shoot the .22 with some help and decided he would rather stick to the bb gun. Jake and Caleb had fun too but Levi is still too little and stayed home to sleep. We had to speak in church the Sunday after Christmas but I guess after living here for 4 years, it was about time. New Years we played cards with friends and stayed up too late but the boys had fun then too. Now into another year of adventure. AJ started Sunbeams and so did I ( as a teacher but not his), we have 3 Sunbeam classes. Jake is excited about being "Valiant" Caleb is getting ready to be baptized this year. WOW! Levi is in nursery without me and we'll see how that goes. Ryan is working like a dog, same as always. So what does this year have in store for us? HMMM... I've set some new goals, I feel pretty good about last years and while I'll keep up with them, it's time for some more. So...
1. speak softer-always
2. exercise and eat healthier-sweets 1x a week
3. read scriptures daily
4. family home evening weekly
5. magnify my calling
6. stay on budget and save every month.
Now that I'm reading them it seems like alot but they are written down so I can't forget or get lazy or give up.

ANSWERED PRAYERS

Yesterday started out basicly like most days. Get the big boys off to school. Ryan is sleeping since he has to work tonight. AJ and Levi are vying for my attention and I'm trying to get things done. Thankfully Wednesday is playgroup which gives all of us something to look forward to. We went to playgroup and came home and Levi was still crabby but I figured it was due to a bad nights sleep the night before and we were both due for a nap. I put him down and went to lay down with Ryan but he awoke screaming and grabbing his stomach only 30 minutes later. That kept up the rest of the day with him playing one minute and crying and grabbing his stomach the next. Long story short after deciding to take him in to Good Night Pediatrics, LOVE THEM, we ended up at children's hospital in the ER. Here is where the Lord's hand became more obvious. The first Dr. who saw us at GNP was sending us home when while we were waiting for his insurance to be verified, he had another fit. The dr was standing around the corner and saw and heard and decided we should go to the hospital immediately. We did. Once at Children's he was immediately triaged and put into a room, immediately seen by a nurse and Dr and an ultrasound was ordered to check to see if he had intussusception. I've never seen everything go so smoothly. He was getting his ultrasound immediately AND immediately the radiologist was in the ultrasound room giving me the results. Immediately after that he was in a different room in xray getting it reduced with an air enema. Again the Lord's hand is clear, it worked, no surgery needed. Levi was not happy about the enema but since he doesn't understand the alternative, oh well. He woke up this am screaming don't and no and kicking and punching me poor guy but other than that, you'd never know that last night he was in the worst pain of his short life and only a short while from bowel surgery. I'm so thankful for the Lord's watchful care. It couldn't have gone any smoother, no delay anywhere. No waiting for Dr.'s to be called in. No waiting for tests, no waiting for a room, no waiting for anything and best of all... NO SURGERY! Today he is running around and causing problems and eating again! I was so relieved that I couldn't avert the tears last night as we went back to his er room after it was over. I'm so thankful for answered prayers especially the short and quiet ones last night.

Our 2009 Family Christmas Photo

Alright I waited and waited for a good time to take a REAL family picture. It never came. I gave up and asked Ryan if he minded if I just took one of the kids and sent it off for our Christmas card. He didn't so here it is. I actually didn't intend to include the dogs but they kept getting in the picture so we decided to let them. This is the one I ended up picking. These are my favorites but I decided they probably shouldn't be sent out.
I love AJ hugging his dog and who couldn't love that look on Levi's face! And Caleb hugging him! Too bad Jake looked away just as I snapped the pic. BUMMER!!! I was completely set to send out Levi's nose picker pic but alas... How about Jake's face. My mom thinks he looks like someone is poking him. I love Caleb's smile! I'm sure Ryan would have killed me.

Sinking in

As I'm sitting here posting my last post my boys are building a fort in the front room with cushions and blankets. As always there are some heated "discussions" about how it should be done and from there I hear Jake say " No fighting on Sunday!" I'm choosing to be happy about the fact that he is in some form observing the Sabbath and trying to be a peacemaker. I did think it was funny the implied you can fight on the other 6 days of the week just not Sunday. I love my boys!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEVI

My sweet Levi turned 2 this past week. We had a small birthday party for him yesterday and it was fun. It was very laid back but the boys seemed to have a good time. They definitely enjoyed the cupcakes. I made an "Elmo" pull apart cake with cupcakes that I was very pleased with. It turned out a lot better than I was afraid it would. Anyhow the boys shoved the cupcakes in their mouths and I heard Reed say more words than he's ever said in nursery the whole time I've known him when he said, "I want more cupcake" after he licked the paper and picked up every crumb he dropped. It was definitely one of the highlights. I hope that Tiffany doesn't hate me forever for giving it to him. Myron shoved his into his mouth pretending to be Cookie Monster but Levi wanted to make sure he didn't lose sight of his truck he got before he would eat his.

All in all it was fun to watch and I'm glad I didn't let Levi's birthday get swallowed up in all the Christmas celebrations which is basicly why I really wanted to have the party in the first place. I know, I'm really paranoid about it. It was worth it. Sorry Tiffany about the cupcake, I hope you forgive me!