A Dean Thing - Family Updates

2011 Interviews

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 21:55:13 CST

We're a few days behind with our New Year's celebration, but due to traveling and illness tonight is what worked for us. We had our traditional carpet picnic, parade, noise makers and confetti balloons...all at 6:30 when the alarms went off. Whoever picked midnight as the time to celebrate obviously didn't have a house full of wee ones! We also did our yearly interview of each of the kids and reviewed last years' odd answers. It's fun to see how the kids have changed by their answers each year. Here's a few of this year's favorites.... Kasia: Favorite song-Itsy Bitsy Spider Dessert- Daddy's foot Friend- 'Gace' Animal- 'mok-ee' (monkey) What do you want to be when you grow up? When we didn't get an answer we clarified by asking if she wanted to be a nuclear astrophysicist. She said 'YEAH!!' Grace: Toy-pricesses Song- 'The Jesus song and story that I made up' Friend- Sadie What do you want to be when you grow up? A mama If you could change your name to anything what would it be? Bell Leeza: Toy- kitchen Song- Jesus Loves Me TV show- Mary Poppins What do you want to be when you grow up? a Mama If you could change your name to anything what would it be? G Josiah: Toy- planes Food- Candy cane Game- Christmas Angry Birds with Percy TV Show- Wild Krats What do you want to be when you grow up? a 'plane driver' What is one thing you want to do next year? eat pizza If you could change your name to anything what would it be? Hubert

Happy Birthday Kas!

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 22:50:19 CST

Our baby turns 2 tomorrow and the kids have informed me that that means she's no longer really a baby. That and the fact that she can practically change her own diaper, get dressed alone and is speaking in full sentences. She reminds me so much of Josiah at this age, but with a bit more spunk and a lot less caution. She can hold her own in a wrestling match with any of her siblings, can put away more food than an adult when she chooses to, but would still rather be on my hip holding her blanket than anywhere else in the world. As some of our kids are truly losing their 'little kid' looks it's so comforting to still have my little girl who wants to cuddle up and rock whenever I offer. The house is all ready for her big day tomorrow, complete with streamers, balloons, fancy table settings, a pinata and her new big-kid pillow I made for her. The sock monkey cake is done and the older kids have helped pick her favorites for her birthday dinner...hot dogs, apple sauce and carrots. I should probably get to bed so I can keep up with them as they party all day tomorrow, but first a few favorites: [list] [*]Food: hot dogs, bananas, cookies, yogurt [*]Game: Running and jumping into my arms [*]Word: WHY? (thanks for teaching her that big kids!) [*]Toy: her blankets or a princess wand she can hit people with [*]Thing to do: read books in the rocking chair or put her shoes on to leave...and then take them off in the car [*]Song: The Itsy Bitsy Spider and the Birthday song [*]People: Mama, Daddy, 'Gace,' Nanny, Ms. Sandi [/list]

On The Road Again - Sleeping

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 20:52:32 CST

So, we went to my families for Thanksgiving. We had a blast as usual and the kids did great. We even visited Michael's and Erin's and played with the goats and rabbits without any major or even minor fits. I have some pictures of that I will try to get up soon. This post is to show of one the the most amazing feats ever seen, and it was performed by our very own Grace!!! We like to call this - the amazing sleeping person! Grace doesn't usually take a nap, but when she does she is OUT. On the normal day Kim or I can just pick her up and slowly wake her up.... in the car it is a little harder. So we used it as an opportunity to entertain the other kids.... and you. Enjoy!!! :)

Workout Routine

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 15:12:46 CST

So I told Kimmie that I was going to post this. She groaned a little but didn't forbid me do it. :-) To be honest, it is just too cute not to share with everyone. So, pay no attention to the gorgeous brunette on the on the left and focus all your attention to the adorable blond in the center. These are, after all, the best workout videos you will ever see!!

Just Keep Running

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:48:34 CST

Life seems to be moving so fast right now and most days we're barely keeping up. Josiah turned 5 last week and had a robot birthday party with some of his friends (and all his sisters of course). He received 3 new Transformers that quickly became his pride and joy...and a source of prayer for me as I try to transform them each day. We had the traditional birthday pinata (made by the kids) and ate enough sugar to tide us over until next month when Leeza turns 5. Everyone started school this week. Leeza is in Alternative Kindergarten at Lisbon and goes 3 hours every day. It took most of the last month to work out all the problems in her equipment, medications and bowel program to get her ready to start. Her teacher seems great and insisted she have a helper with her for at least part of the day to help her when she has classes outside of their classroom...something for which I had been asking for most of the summer and was enormously grateful for. Josiah is enrolled in the Home School program here and will start his supplemental classes there next month, but we started our classes here the same day Leeza started. Josiah is working on Kindergarten work, Grace is doing preschool and Kasia is eating crayons and trying to sit on the table. I'm still trying to convince Josiah that what we're doing is 'real' school, but it's been tough because he sees Leeza go to the 'big building' with her back pack. (Actually, her principal holds it for her as he helps her walk in each day and it's humorous to see him wearing a tiny pink back pack.) Hopefully once Josiah's classes and field trips start up he'll believe this is 'real.' I've had to take a couple weeks off running because I pulled a muscles and am hoping I can slowly start back up this weekend. If all goes well I might still be able to find a half marathon to do this fall, but I definitely won't be ready for the one I thought I would run next month. Philip is working like crazy right now while his program is in another crunch time. In our 'free time' we are still trying to keep the crab grass from eating up the entire yard (we are champion crab grass growers in case you haven't heard) and Philip is always working on getting wood for the burner this winter. We've also agreed to be a host family for an international student at the local college. Our girl is from Brazil and should be arriving some time next week. She'll be living at the school, but will hopefully join us for meals frequently. Grace wakes up each morning asking if her friend is here yet. That's about it for now. Can't promise I'll keep the blog updated any better than I've done recently, but I will try to get a few pictures up soon!

Adventures in Naptime

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 02:20:50 CST

Nap time around our house is really a misnomer since 3 of the 4 kids don't nap anymore. They are required to stay in their rooms and are SUPPOSED to be quiet. Some days that works better than others. All of the following have happened during this 'relaxing' period of our day in the past week: -I have found Josiah sitting on top of Leeza yelling at her because she hit him. Yep, that's exactly how I taught them to handle conflict...so glad to know they were listening. -Josiah and Leeza decided that throwing their wooden blocks around the room to make a 'wooden tornado' would be an excellent quiet-time activity. -Grace learned how to tiptoe so she could sneak into the kitchen and steal the broccoli I had cut up for dinner that night. She managed to get a half pound into her room before I realized what she was doing. Sort of backfired on her when she had to eat all the stolen broccoli for dinner. But the best naptime adventure happened today when Grace took a tube of blue kids' toothpaste into her room and proceeded to squish it out onto the Twister game so she could slide around on it. I was so proud of her for staying quiet in her room for once, until I saw her smurf-like legs and toothpaste EVERYWHERE. She had apparently eaten part of it too so we learned, via Poison Control, that a 30 lb child can consume up to 14 teaspoons of toothpaste before it's toxic to them. Not something I planned to learn today.

A Little Older

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 15:21:29 CST

I turned 33 yesterday and I learned a few things... -The kids still need food, diapers, timeouts and play time despite my desire for 'birthday me-time.' When I can learn to accept this I'll be doing a little better. -Hearing your kids actually sing the birthday song to you for the first year (instead of just smiling as Philip sings it) is cool. -When you let your kids pick out your cake you end up with Funfetti and pink icing. They decorated it with plastic animals and chocolate chips, which sort of ends up looking like a herd of wild animals just pooped across your cake. No matter, it was good! -A preschoolers' idea of a gift is to empty out the toy box and present you with each precious object. By the end of the day I had cars, tractors and a pile of Megablock 'gifts' by my computer. -Ever the party planner, Josiah told me we were supposed to do something fun on my birthday. Translated into preschooler...'what fun things are you going to do for us today?' (We ended up at the splash pad). -When your husband presents you with a stack of '15 minute massage' gift cards and forgets to put a disclaimers like 'cannot be used in succession' or 'cannot be duplicated' you know you've hit the jackpot! :) -Our kids think we are hideously old. When they asked 'how many' I was this year I told them 103 and their only question was, "But Daddy's still older, right?"

It's Just Not The Same

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 16:43:44 CST

A friend posted this recently and I loved it. Having a career out in the 'real world' is NOT easy, but there are a few challenges you get to avoid. Just thought I'd pass it along.... 1.When you walked into work this morning and pleasantly greeted your co-worker Jim, was his first reaction to scream NO! WANT JASON!" followed by an office supply being thrown at you? 2.Has a colleague ever climbed up on your lap while you were using your computer and slammed the keyboard with both fists until the up arrow no longer worked? 3.Do you have to lock yourself in the supply closet or bathroom on a regular basis in order to make phone calls? 4.Did you finish a complete thought at any time during the day? 5.When you went out to lunch with your fellow workers, did you have to pack a diaper/juice/extra outfit for them? Did you have to wipe their faces? Smile an apology and leave an extra tip for the waiter on their behalf? 6.When a co-worker needed you for something, did she sit at her desk with her head tilted back toward the ceiling and repeatedly scream SEAN! SEEEEANNNN! SEAAAAAAN! until you came to find him? 7.When you needed a specific colleague, did you search all over for him, only to finally find him giggling in the cabinet under the sink? Did you also find six pairs of your church shoes under there with him? 8.Have you had to come to an associates aid because she fell off her desk after trying to climb on top of it using a rolling chair? 9.When you reached for the report a co-worker was handing you, did he snatch them away at the last second and scream MINE! while shoving you backwards? 10.Does your colleague lift up her shirt and pick things out of her belly button every time she comes over to ask a question? 11.While you are using the restroom, do various co-workers come in the stall and ask you to settle a disagreement or open a packet of fruit snacks? 12.During a board meeting when everyone is present, do you notice a smell and then have to check all your colleagues pants to locate it? In fact, at ANY point in your day do you have to deal with another person's feces? And a few of my own.... 13. Did you spend your entire day telling coworkers to get their pens, shoes, calculators and shirts out of their mouths? 14. When one coworker wants to communicate with another do they always tell you so you can pass the information along...even when they are sitting right beside each other? 15. Does every meeting start with, "Now we're going to use inside voices and not whine at each other. Who can talk like a big person today?" 16. Do you have an office mate who changes clothes 10 times before lunch, only to show up the 11th time completely nude, announcing "So I just peed on your desk."? 17. But then again, how often to you get to tell your coworkers that your plan for the day has totally tanked and you've decided everyone will go outside and play in the sprinkler instead? :)

Oh. My. Goodness.

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 22:23:40 CST

In the past week we have had teething, 2 ear infections, strep, a fever virus, a shunt malfunction and we're still trying to figure out what Josiah has (the doc thinks maybe mono). It's been quite a week! We spent 3 days in the hospital with Leeza for shunt problems and got her home just in time to start shuttling kids out to the urgent care clinic all weekend. Despite the fact that we're all getting pretty tired, it is getting somewhat humorous. Or maybe we're just more tired than we realize. I have caught myself getting whiny and wondering why all of this is hitting at the same time...and then I remember the kids on the peds floor that we played with. Leeza and I attended some of the special events they have planned for the kids who are there and it's hard not to be struck by what you're seeing. While making pizzas and playing Bingo they're laughing and picking on each other and acting so normal...but 4 of them were hooked to IVs full of chemo drugs, 5 were bald, 4 had to leave in the middle of group to get medications and at least one of the little girls at our table may not make it through the year. These are kids who know all the nursing staff and doctors by name because they spend more time in the hospital than out. They know how to take their own blood pressure, how to make those insane machines stop beeping, which nurses will let them run in the halls (and which won't), and when each new group of volunteers will show up with gift boxes for them. It's an eye opening experience each time we're there and it feels strange to realize we're one of the families that they're starting to recognize because we've been up there often enough this year. But so far we haven't been there for anything life threatening, which makes me pray for those who are and be filled with gratitude that we haven't found ourselves in that position. So now we're all at home trying to adjust some attitudes...illness and hospital stays don't seem to bring out the best in our group. Chores and vegetables have returned along with warmer weather so hopefully we'll be outside some this week to burn off the extra energy and keep an eye out for the butterflies we released this weekend. Just as everyone started to feel better the caterpillars we'd been taking care of came out of their cocoons and we were able to let our 3 butterflies go. The kids stood in the yard yelling at them to come back and visit some time and they've been watching to see if they come back to eat from our flower beds.

Run!

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 16:56:47 CST

I have to brag on my sweet hubby who, despite his incredible dislike of running, has taken it up to be healthier and so we can have a shared hobby. We ran the Flood Run together yesterday and had a great time! He did the 5K in 25 minutes...totally amazing for someone who's only been running 3 weeks! I ran the 7mile in a much less impressive time, but I didn't stop, which was my goal. In typical Philip-style he didn't just lace on some shoes and hit the road. Even on a run the boy is connected to the Internet and wires! He's been tracking his mileage and speeds (and making some great progress) and figuring out what earphones and gadgets work best to keep him interested and looking for gadgets that I'll tolerate to help me get better. The kids had such a good time at our race in TX earlier this year that they've been asking to participate in one too. We have their race (and Philip's potential first 10K!) on the calendar in July. And we're working on our IL family to get a few running converts so we can run together over there in August. My overall goal for the year is a half marathon in either September or October. I think I might be able to pull it off if I can be really creative in finding time to train. We're planning to keep our bib numbers and race results in a Race Scrapbook so we can remember the fun we're having together and so many years from now we'll have proof to show the kids that we really used to be able to run this far! :)

She's a New Number!

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 22:17:44 CST

Grace turned a 'new number' last week...she can't remember what number it is most of the time, but we all know she turned 3. I've decided the 3rd birthday is my favorite. The kids are old enough to really anticipate it, but they don't connect it at all with gifts yet. It's all about having fun with your friends and eating a big cake. Grace decided she wanted a pink princess party this year. Since we don't watch many Disney movies I was curious to see what she thought princesses did. According to her they eat pink and purple cake with lots of frosting with their friends, have tu-tus and pinwheels, dance and sing and have a pinata. I managed to make a pink and purple castle cake (I'm definitely better at train cakes), made up pink and purple tu tus for our girls and 2 best friends (and a prince cape for Josiah) and the kids helped make the pinata. It's fun to watch a bunch of kids in tu tus and crowns with princess wands whack a pinata with everything they've got! We finished off the day at the DesMoines Zoo and had a blast. Grace wore her tu tu and carried her wand and was terribly excited when there were a couple zoo workers dressed up as princesses too. She also thought the lady in a sari was a princess...I'm hoping she took that as a compliment! After a very long drive home she got to sleep in her newly converted 'big kid' bed. So far she's done really well staying in her bed. She also got her first big kid bike. She loves it. She has no idea how to pedal so she just sits on it with her helmet on. Works for me. Since before she was born Grace has had her own, very loud, very attention-getting personality. As she grows up it's fun to see who she is becoming. She's still tiny, but she's also the most likely of our gang to push her way to the front of any line and make sure everyone knows she's there! She has very little fear. She loves to play in the dirt and rocks, wear pink dresses, run around playing 'Gracinator' and insists on wearing either flip flops or cowboy boots. She makes the most hilarious faces when she's talking to you and has a voice that always gets attention. As she's often called by friends, she's our 'little baby doll with long hair'...and a loud personality! [b]A few Gracie stats:[/b] [list][*]Height: [*]Weight:27 lbs [*]Shoe size: 7 [*]Favorite food: bananas, hot dogs, chicken 'nuts' (nuggets), dessert, green beans [*]Favorite past times: ripping books, playing in the sprinkler, snuggling with Mama, being LOUD, dancing and mixing all the Play Doh colors together. [*]Favorite song: The Gracie song (her name spelled out to the Barney song tune) and the Belly Button song from Veggie Tales [*]Favorite book: my old Bible and the kids thesaurus [*]Funny words: 'dish ring' (air conditioning), 'person' (purse), 'piw-wohw' (pillow), 'prinsa' (princess), 'Let's squirrel!' (Let's twirl!)[/list]

A Fly On the Wall

Mon, 16 May 2011 22:00:14 CST

If you were a fly on the wall in our house you might have heard some of these things said in the past month... [b]From Mama:[/b] [list][*]Corn does not go in your clothes. [*]No squeaking in the house. [*]Rocks do not eat with us. [*]Don't pick your nose with a shrimp. [*]Get the fork off your head. [*]Is that corn in your mouth still from lunch? (found in her cheek after a 2hr nap) [*]Quit sitting on your head![/list] [b]From Kids:[/b] [list][*]Why does Grace have corn in her sleeve? [*]Did you know Grace can spit corn? [*]How do our stomach and small intestine digest our food so our body can use it? [*]Does juice have fiber in it? If not, why would anyone ever want to drink it? [*]I found an easier way to clean out the toys in my bed...it's really fast and easy when I just throw them all on the floor. [*]Tell me a story about a princess and a pickle! [*]Please turn on the 'dish ring.' (Found out later she meant the air conditioning)[/list] [b]And you would have learned a few lessons:[/b] [list][*]Taking 4 kids to a large public park on the first warm day in a month is NOT a good idea. You will get dirty looks from other parents when you insist your child in a walker has to learn how to get back up by herself when she falls or when another child runs away from you for the sole purpose of finding an adult and telling them "My mama left me and I'm scared!" Twerp. [*]Never assume that the potty chair you think is only being used as a step stool is in fact only being used for that purpose by all members of your family.[/list]

Easter Wine

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 20:14:39 CST

Actually, in our house that would be 'Easter Whine.' The kids have had a good time, but this is by far the most whine-filled Easter we've ever celebrated. We spent the week working towards Easter with our Easter advent calendar. Some highlights would be Philip giving donkey rides to all the kids and having a banquet night with the kids (acting out the parable of the wedding banquet). This weekend we got to participate in the community Easter egg hunt, have dinner and another hunt with wonderful friends, made our resurrection cookies and ate them for breakfast this morning before we had another egg hunt around the house. We made our way to church and spent a good portion of the time walking kids out to the car for a 'talkin' to' because of behavior. The girls got to wear their sister dresses that a friend made for them to celebrate their first Easter as sisters and we headed home for our annual egg war. The kids and I have been filling empty egg shells with confetti for the past few weeks so we could enjoy chasing each other around the front yard throwing them at each other and making a huge mess. It's actually quite therapeutic to crack an egg over a kids' head after they've spent the day whining at you! In the midst of all the eggs and diapers and time outs and baskets you sometimes wonder if the kids have absorbed any of the real reason for the celebration. It was encouraging to overhear Josiah teaching Leeza the Easter story during nap time and Gracie getting upset when we got to the crucifixion part of our reading. Leeza has no idea what's going on, but she's learned to yell 'Hosanna' when she's excited about something...it's a start. :)

And so it begins

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 21:53:51 CST

If you are curious, the images above is how the older girls where entertaining themselves while their brother was busy. Kasia? Well she was off being amazingly adorable somewhere else in the house. So, exactly what was Josiah off being so busy about? Well, I am glad you asked. I finally got the kids computer set up and they (Josiah) is very excited about it. We decided they would earn computer time in various ways. One of these is for Josiah to practice his reading. So, he does! If given the chance he would go through 10 or more books a day. Just watch him below: Yep, he's a natural. I expect we will be moving on to Pride & Prejudice within the year. On a very different note, I also have a video of our 2 hour wait in the Neurosurgery clinic before heading down to Texas last month. What else do you do with four kids under five in a 6' x 10x room full of medical equipment? We weren't sure so we recorded it. I hope you enjoy!

I'm Tired

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 16:03:35 CST

As a parent you expect to be woken up for things like dirty diapers, midnight feedings, wet beds, throw up and a baby cutting teeth. At least one of those things happens at least once a week around here. It's the other, more creative reasons, that are causing me to turn to caffeine far too many mornings. Here's just a few we've had recently... [list][*]"My foot itches/hurts and I want you to scratch/massage it." [*]"My stuffed animal fell over and I want you to pick him up." [*]"My water is old. I want fresh water." [*]"What are we going to have for breakfast?" (at 4am) [*]"Leeza sent me to get you because she got her arm stuck in her shirt." [*]"Leeza crawled into a cubby hole and she's stuck. But she's reading a book so she's ok." [*]"I've been trying to read, but you turned all the lights off and that makes it really hard." (It was 2am) [*]"I think I might have to poop but I don't want to do it without you." [*]"I think I have a boogie in my nose. Would you check?" [*]"It's 2:37. You said I could get up where there was a '7' on my clock." [*]"My blankets fell off and I'm too tired to put them back on. You do it." [*]"The girls are going swimming so why won't you let ME? And where is my snack?" (he was still dreaming)[/list] I'm wondering if it's really immoral to drug your children to sleep...just once a week or so. Just kidding. Sort of.

Stir Fry Trauma

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 20:56:13 CST

Meal times have turned into traumatic events around here lately. Leeza apparently has a lifelong goal to never voluntarily eat a vegetable and Grace has entered the 'BUT IT'S YUCKY!!!' stage. Unfortunately the house rule is that you must at least take a no-thank-you-bite of everything on your plate or you sit there until nap/bed time and are re-served the same plate at the next meal. It's not a lot of fun, but we're sticking to our guns and refusing to have picky kids. Hopefully some day mealtimes will once again be pleasant, but for now we end up with kids sitting at the table an hour after dinner.

Trips and Pooh

Sun, 20 Feb 2011 16:49:23 CST

We made our first real road trip last weekend since Leeza's been home and it went amazingly well. Leeza had calmed down about being in the car for longer than 30 minutes and Kasia got to face forward for the first time so she loved it...until she starting throwing up. A little over half way to Minnesota to visit some friends she got sick and by that time it made more sense to keep going so we could get her settled for the night in a hotel. Even sick she's a trooper! God has truly given us a ray of sunshine in her to get through some hard days recently. That night, as all 6 of us were supposed to be quieting down to sleep, Philip and I listened as Josiah explained to Leeza how to get into Heaven, Kasia threw up, Grace coughed and then spontaneously broke out in a loud version of the Zacheaus song and Leeza kept trying to convince Josiah it was OK if she laid on him. We had a good time, but we're VERY thankful we don't live in a one-room house! Our other funny for the week happened at the chiropractor's office. When I walked in the doctor had told me I had something on my shirt and brushed it off for me. I didn't think much of it and figured it was just a bit of fuzz or something. Later as I was being adjusted he was talking to Leeza who was sitting on the floor watching. He was happily chatting with her when I heard him ask her, "Do you have pooh on your shirt?" My first thought was that she (and maybe I!) had poop on our shirts somehow. With 4 kids you just really never know. It suddenly dawned on me that she had her Pooh Bear sweater on. Man, was I relieved! I trust that some day our trips will be quiet and our shirts pooh-free...until then I suppose we just have to laugh at it. :)

Notes to Egypt

Sun, 13 Feb 2011 00:00:37 CST

**This post is a few days old, but at least it's finally finished.** Our house has been invaded this week. A nasty virus managed to knock out 3 of the 4 kids and is about to knock Philip and I out if they don't start sleeping through the night again. Two of them are on the mend, but Grace is still feeling pretty puny. I'm just praying we can make it through tonight without having to do laundry at 2am. Thankfully Leeza was spared so she could go get her sutures out yesterday and she enjoyed her first bath in almost 3 weeks this morning. I've never seen a kid get so excited about a bath before! We happened to have the TV on the morning when news that Egypt's ruler had finally stepped down. Josiah and Grace thought it was cool to see Egyptians because we had recently read about the Exodus. I told them our job now was to pray that God would bring godly leaders to their country to teach them about Jesus. Josiah got very excited about this since his new passion is writing notes in a little spiral he got from the Awana store. He informed me he could write letters about God and send them to Egypt to help them learn. The funny thing is, his grandparents are going to Egypt later this year so he could actually do this.

Uh-Oh!

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 17:14:49 CST

Josiah and Grace's first words were a bit prophetic. Josiah, our book worm, started with 'book.' Grace, our social child, started with 'hi!' This makes us a little nervous because Kasia said her first real word last night...and it was 'uh-oh.' Since then she's said 'Mama' and I'm considering just conveniently forgetting that first word and putting down 'Mama' in the baby book. We also wanted to take a chance to say Happy Birthday to Mimi! When I called her today she informed me she was 38. Considering that I know how old my mother is I'm not sure how she pulled that off. They have some funny math down there in Texas. :) Regardless of how young she is we wish we were there to help her polish off some birthday cake tonight. Love you Mimi!

Happy Bell Day Bomp!

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 23:22:58 CST

Bomp celebrated his last day of chemo today by ringing the bell at the center as he left and we were celebrating for him up here! We had our own bell ceremony in his honor. Way to go Mr. Bill! We love you!

This Week

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 15:04:15 CST

This week we are... [list][*]still working on potty training Grace. Some days she gets it...some days she doesn't. [*]still working on bowel training Leeza. I think it's safe to say she does NOT get it. [*]learning about the fruits of the Spirit again and are trying to catch the kids showing 'fruit' so they can put a fruit up on the tree on the dining room wall. We have a lot of 'lemons of Love' right now. [*]laughing at Kasia when she bullies her way through all the kids when it's time to brush her teeth so she can stand on the stool and brush too. All 9 of her teeth are very clean. [*]working really hard to keep Leeza infection-free so we don't have to reschedule her surgery again. There's a question about whether she has one right now so she's hyped up on multiple antibiotics and we'll retest tomorrow. Please pray she's good to go! [*]helping Kasia cut at least 3 of her molars all at the same time. I'm betting #4 isn't far behind. [*]laughing as I learn how to use the BB gun to shot that squirrel away from our bird feeder. I got him today and the kids all cheered...mainly because I finally figured out how to make it shoot. [*]starting Perspectives again. It's a great reminder of why we're in the unusual situation we're in right now. We don't leave Leeza with anyone else yet so we wait until the kids are all in bed and then we sneak out. She sleeps like a log and never knows we're gone. [*]learning that our tax refund might be huge. This is a relief as I watch the mileage on my car near 200,000. [*]grateful that Philip is ok after being hit by an ambulance that didn't have it's sirens on. The car is a little worse for wear, but the husband is fine. Thank you God! [*]working on training plans for me. I'm trying to run a 10k in March and a half marathon in October. [*]working on getting the kids to help out more around the house. I have a feeling they're holding out on us![/list]

Didn't See That One Coming

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 14:48:44 CST

Spending 24 hours a day with 4 preschoolers leads me to believe that I can be considered somewhat of an expert on these little people...and then they do things I just never saw coming. In the midst of a week during which Grace is potty training, Kasia reminded us that oranges do not agree with her system and Leeza is defying all expectations of the urology department (NOT in a good way!), I really did not expect the weirdest bodily-function-story to come from Josiah. I was trying to squeeze in a work out during nap time yesterday when I realized Leeza had scooted out of her room. She was coming to get me because Josiah had trapped himself on the toilet by accidentally peeing all over the floor...and his own head. I thought I had lost my sense of humor over messes like this, but it was really hard to keep a straight face as he tried to explain this one! After a day that had included changing 29 diapers (no, that's not a typo) I thought I had found a way to have a little good-natured fun at the expense of the child who had used most of those diapers. While making lemonade I gave Leeza her first lemon and sat poised with the camera to get the 'lemon face' picture. Turns out she loves them...guess I have a few more years before I'm an expert. ...Ok, this post is already over a week old because I couldn't get the picture to work. Maybe Philip will stick it in here later. :)...

The Best of 2010

Fri, 31 Dec 2010 23:33:20 CST

We had our annual preschool New Year's Eve party here tonight complete with carpet picnic, kids interviews, noise makers, confetti balloons and a parade. No way are we staying up till midnight with this group...our alarms were all set for about 6:45pm. We partied hard and got 'em all to bed by 7:30! Here's some of this year's interview answers... Favorite food: bananas (K), 'Sadie' (L), Cherries (J & G) Favorite toy: Mama (K), none (L), the toy box (G), Transformers (J) Best friend: Mama (K), none (L), 'Uncle Ryan' (G), Sadie (J) What do you want to be when you grow up? 'Sadie and EmmaJo' (L), 'A big monster' (G), 'A train driver with a car full of candy gummy fish' (J) What do you hope you get to do this year? 'Kasia' (L), 'Make dinner with Mama' (G), 'Get to go to Memama's and Nanny and Papa's houses' (J) If you could change your name, what would you choose? 'Naah' (K), Josiah (L), 'mouth' (G), Thomas (J) And our family New Years' Resolution...a boring year (and getting down to 1 kid in diapers would be cool too)!

Happy Birthday Kasia!

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 14:47:27 CST

This is a little late, but most things are these days. Just pretend like it's still December 16th. :) Our baby is 1! Hard to believe that just a year ago we were constantly watching the weather reports to make sure we weren't going to be snowed-in when Kasia decided to make her appearance. She apparently got all her drama out early on and has been the easiest, most laid-back baby we've had. Our sweet girl looks a great deal like Josiah did as a baby, loves to play with blocks, wrestle with Daddy and the big kids and snuggle with Mama. She wiggles with joy when she sees a banana or her blankets and instinctively seems to know when the other kids are getting dessert and she's being left out. She had NO problem figuring out what to do with her banana-shaped cake (special ordered for her by Josiah, our resident party planner). In keeping with the tradition Grace started, Kasia also received antibiotics for her 1st birthday for an ear infection...unlike Grace we found out she is allergic to most antibiotics. :( We're waiting for her to take her first steps soon. She's very close and Josiah and Grace both started walking during their birthday weeks so we expect she'll start toodling around here soon too. She hasn't said any real words yet, but I'm betting her first will be 'Mama.' While I'm excited to get to see Kasia's personality blossom this year, it makes me sad to know there won't be a baby in the house soon. We have no idea what God has in store for us in the future, but for now our hands are full. Something tells me I'll be one of those moms who sneaks into the church nursery to get my 'baby fix' from time to time. So, time for some 1 year stats: Height: ? We'll find out later this week Weight: 19lbs (she'll be forward-facing soon!) Favorite food: bananas and mandarin oranges Favorite toy: wooden blocks Favorite game: holding our hands so she can walk Hair color: 2 toned (blond roots, brown tips...very stylish) Eye color: blue Shoe size: 2 Clothing size: 12mo Favorite trick: clapping Favorite place: Mom's arms

Thankfuls

Thu, 25 Nov 2010 22:52:21 CST

We did our Thankful Tree again this year. Here's a synopsis of what we had...fun, serious and just plain weird (all of those would be from Grace). Daddy: computers, coming home, a quiet evening, family, happy kids, lunch with friends Josiah: oranges, Awanas, thankfuls, apricots, paper dinosaurs, ground beef, Indian corn, Mrs. Chris, getting to eat his favorite meat, his helicopter, Daddy coming home early Leeza: about halfway through the month she learned that 'food' was a good answer and she's said it every day since Kasia: (all obviously interpreted by us) squash, Josiah, bread, peaches, pancakes, getting changed, graham crackers, milk, being held a lot Mama: firewood, sunshine, Leeza sleeping through the night, coffee, working out, Dexter, bedtime, caths that work, Daddy Grace: pizza, getting to fly (which she didn't), bread, the inside of her cheek (?), cheese, eating PlayDoh, reading books, quesadillas, getting to eat squash (which she wouldn't touch), eating oranges and broccoli, focaccia, getting to swim (which she didn't)

A Work in Progress

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 14:51:32 CST

Life has just not been normal lately. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it takes some getting used to. In the midst of not enough sleep and trying to learn how to make life work with 4 kids we've had a few interesting moments.... -Reading the Bible after dinner is always a challenge and one night recently was no different. As I tried to read a little louder than kids were talking and keep an eye on who was trying to squirm out of their chair I meant to tell Leeza to sit down and instead ended up telling Jesus to. The kids did get quiet for a second...and then burst out laughing at me. -While Philip had Josiah and Gracie at Awanas one night I thought I could load Leeza and Kasia up in the small car and get the grocery shopping done. We did just fine until I got to the store and realized I had no stroller and could not physically pick up both girls to get them into the store (no outside carts at this store either). Thankfully, Walmart always has carts outside so I could actually get the shopping done. -This past Sunday we were feeling pretty good about ourselves. We got to church with everything Philip needed to do a talk for Orphan Sunday (he did a GREAT job, by the way!), our shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child, diapers for all the girls AND we were even early. We'd been inside 5 minutes putting everything where it belonged before we realized neither of us had gotten Kasia out of the car! Apparently we're not as together as we thought we were.

Comin' Back

Sun, 10 Oct 2010 22:08:50 CST

Philip and Leeza should be on their way home this week and it's time to start making the move back to this blog since the adoption is (almost!) over. I'll keep this short since I've got the 3 kids here alone and down time is pretty much non-existent, but something funny happened yesterday that I don't want to forget...mainly so we can laugh about it later when Kasia's old enough to realize what her older brother called her. (at a picnic table at the state park) Josiah: Mama, there's an animal crawling around over there, but it doesn't look like a squirrel. What is it? Me: Probably some kind of rodent. Josiah: What's a rodent? Me: A small animal. Josiah: Like a lady bug? Me: No, rodents are mammals. Josiah: Is a caterpillar a rodent? Me: No, mammals are hairy sort of like caterpillars, but they're a little bigger. So a rodent is a small mammal that's hairy. Josiah: Oh, like Kasia. Yep, he called his sister a rodent.

Were are we?

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:35:47 CST

Just to let those of you that follow this blog know as well, we are over at our Adoption Blog giving regular updates. If you don't follow that one you might want to for the next few weeks. Life has gone a little nuts now that we are officially eight timezones further east! See you there!!

The Week in Review

Sun, 01 Aug 2010 16:32:33 CST

[b]Monday-[/b] Josiah comes home and the bickering returns. There are advantages to only having one child who can talk in the house. :) [b]Tuesday-[/b] babysit for a friend and inadvertently teach her daughter to climb out of a crib. I'M SO SORRY! [b]Wednesday-[/b] get 10.5 inches cut off my hair and get to sit still for an hour. Wonderful! [b]Thursday-[/b] all 3 kids get to swim in a real pool together for the first time. Josiah did great paddling around, Grace wasn't so sure and Kasia tried to drink all the water. We also received word that our dossier was submitted for Big Grace! [b]Friday-[/b] tried to help Philip by moving one of the cribs into the new kid room, only to realize I had to totally dismantle it to make it fit through the doors. I had 3 little very eager helpers and we almost got the whole thing reassembled by the time he got home. [b]Saturday-[/b] Philip got more of the wood shed built and Josiah got his first big-kid bike. Some wonderful friends dropped it off for him as a special surprise and he learned how to ride it in one afternoon. He's so big! [b]Sunday-[/b] left church in an embarrassed hurry after watching helplessly as Josiah decided to do a victory lap around the sanctuary during the final song. There wasn't much I could do but wait until he finished it and endure the surprised faces of friends. Parenthood is humbling.

Time to Come Home

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:03:40 CST

Josiah has been with Nanny and Papa visiting some family for several days...and it's time for our little dude to come home! From what we've heard he's had a blast playing with cousins and getting lots of attention. And in his absence Grace has had some extra snuggle time and been able to take over some of the 'big kid' responsibilities, like turning off the TV and lights. I think the major perk for Philip and me has been the realization that without a 3 year old to wake them up, the girls will sleep an extra hour or two in the mornings! Bliss! We've both been amazed at how much easier everything is with just 2 kids. I can't count the number of times I've had people tell me that after the first 2 kids any others just seem to fit right into your schedule and aren't as big an adjustment...in my personal experience, and after this week, I can say that this has NOT been our experience! Don't get me wrong, we love our 3 (soon to be 4), and wouldn't change the size of our family if we could have a do-over, but life certainly runs at a different pace with just the 2. Even with that, we'll be expectantly watching the driveway this afternoon, waiting for Josiah to return. Sometimes bigger, messier, louder and crazier is better. :)