www.simplicitybychristy.com

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Thanksgiving week

a few more pictures from Thanksgiving week.

picking up acorns down by grami's pond.


Aunt Libby brought puppets for the kids to make. Will's blue bird said "roar".

oklahoma birthday party

We spent the past week in Oklahoma for a wedding and Thanksgiving. We don't usually travel over the holidays but since we were in Oklahoma we decided to celebrate the kids' birthdays while we were there.

Bella and her Barbie ballerina cake.

Amelia chose Tinkerbell.

Will with Mater and Lightning McQueen.

Amelia blowing out the candles. This is right before they "burned her nose".

Will blew his out pretty quickly and got to do it again.

Uncle "Zheff's" makeover

the lovely Kristen and Drew.

Will and his buddy Savanna.

Gavin. He does bottles but no diapers.

Friday, November 27, 2009

we blinked...

and you went from this

to this

Happy 5th Birthday big girl. We love you!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, here a few things I am thankful for:

Andrew. This time last year I was so sick I could barely function and was still considered a higher-risk pregnancy. I'm so thankful that everything turned out okay and we have a beautiful, healthy baby boy.

Four beautiful, healthy children. I always dreamed of having 2 girls and 2 boys by the time I was 30. I’m so blessed that things worked out the way I wanted them too.

The roof over our head. I had hoped by this time said roof would belong to someone else. There's always next year.

Jason's job. Even though I dislike the traveling and long hours, I am happy that Jason has a job to complain about.

Facebook and the Internet, the only two vices I have. Living in different states hours away from friends and family is extremely difficult on a good day.

Jason. You are the best husband and father. You always put our family ahead of everything else and take such good care of us.

Our military serving overseas and their families. They are spending Thanksgiving apart so our world can be a safer place.

The wonderful teachers and women at Mother's Morning Out. Thank you for giving me a few hours to myself every week, this truly helps me be a better mother.

Happy Thanksgiving from our house to yours.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

annual pictures

I just realized that I forgot to post a few of the kids annual pictures. A huge thank you to my wonderful photographer, www.simplicitybychristy.com.





Wednesday, November 18, 2009

beware of the QTip

I am a fan of the QTip. I have listened to warnings for as long as I can remember about using them. Don't put anything in your ear but your elbow, etc. I am slightly addicted to the little cotton swabs and use them more than I should. I even obsess about cleaning the kids ears with them. They are all susceptible to wax build up. I just can't stand the feeling of water or moisture in my ears. Either way my days of being a QTip groupie are o.v.e.r.

Yesterday I was swabbing away and couldn't seem to get all the water out of my ear. I leaned over (like an idiot) to let the water drain out onto the QTip for maybe 30 seconds. I remember thinking be careful, the QTip is still in your ear. I started to stand up and somehow bumped QTip. The pain was awful and brought me to tears, my ears started ringing and I became dizzy and nauseaus almost immediately. My ear started bleeding and I finally got approval from my PCM to head to the ER. After waiting three hours, I got sent home with some pain medication and an appointment with an ENT. I have slight hearing loss in my right ear and we are hopeful that it is temporary. Right now everything sounds like it's coming through a tunnel and is extremely painful. It hurts to swallow, it hurts to talk, it hurts to sleep. This might just top the tonsillectomy of 2000 which has well surpassed any other pain I've ever experienced. Who knew a QTip could cause so much damage, pain and drama?

Monday, November 16, 2009

a house divided


At the beginning of every football season, Jason and I agree to disagree. We know that we always have and always will favor different football teams. This became overly apparent when we were still dating and I took him to meet some friends at BWs to watch the game. We lost to Wisconsin and I think everyone in the bar was crushed. Except Jason who sat there smiling because he was rooting against us the entire game. Over the years we have called many truces and agreed to keep the trash talking to a minimum. Let me point out, since this is my blog, that when our teams did actually meet in January of 2005 my OSU walked away victorious. Was there any doubt? I didn't think so. The kids divide their game gear into orange and black and scarlet and grey. T-sirts and cheerleading outfits sent in from friends and family to help them support their teams. They wear it with pride and can sing the Buckeye Battle Cry and shoot em up like Pistol Pete himself. We have taught them well.

When we moved to our current home, we were asked (almost immediately) which football team we would cheer for. Jason has followed his Cowboys through four countries and six states. While I might have left Ohio, the Buckeye in me definitely has not. We do agree on one thing, the SEC is not the be all-end all of college football. I never thought I would say this..ever..but I despise Florida and their beloved QB more than I have ever hated Michigan. Unheard of from a Buckeye. We also realize we are clearly the minority in an area where crimson or orange/navy can be seen in all directions. We quietly listen but our loyalty remains to our team. We were hopeful that even though the three youngest children were born in Bama they wouldn't follow the football teams.

You can imagine our surprise Sunday afternoon when we heard both our girls, in their southern drawls no less, running around chanting "rooooooooollll tiiiiide roooooooooooolll tiiiide rooooooooooooollllllll tiiide" I looked at Jason as if they had just dropped a four letter word and said "what did they just say?!" His response, "You've got to be kidding me." Mine, "I think I just threw up in my mouth."

A house divided indeed.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

the sweetest sound


A few days ago Drew started "talking". Until today he would only talk with me. If I got the camera out, he would stop and just look at me. Finally he did it tonight while we were eating dinner and I ran and got the camera. There really is nothing better than hearing his soft, sweet little voice.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

pumpkin patch

We were finally able to go on Bella's field trip to the pumpkin patch this week. We were previously rained out and we didn't even get to go as a family this year. I was pretty disappointed because it is a great place and we look forward to going every year. Bella had a great time going with her classmates. We took a hayride, picked pumpkins, played in the corncrib, pet the baby animals and went through a hay maize.