December shorts and bare feet

................It was more like spring here the other day. We had shorts and no shoes on. The weather is up and down here. This was 2 days ago and today it is in the 30's. We never know if it is winter or spring.

And then we went to see Santa, which Natalie absolutely loved(J/K). I have been showing her Santa everywhere in hopes to prepare her for the visit, but it didn't work out as I had planned.

We quickly took the picture and got out of there, I am sure Santa was glad that visit was over.

He asked the boys what they wanted for Christmas. As I listned in, I was thrilled to know that I had 2 of the 3 items he listed. Then Evan, who always surprises us, asked for a tool box! That was the first I had heard that one. And of course a dinosaur, I had that one in the bag weeks ago, but a tool box. I have no idea where he got that and I have no idea where he is going to get that. Let's hope he can turn one of his other items into that. And I am sure I did the same thing to my mother. One of the many joys of Christmas.

Christmas visitors

After we recouped we had family come visit us to start the holiday season. Gabriel's parents came shortly after Thanksgiving from Virginia. We had a nice visit with them and did some fun things with them. The kids wished they could have stayed longer. But thanks to Daddy we can see them fairly often.

Then Grandma Lowder came from Idaho

This is a favorite picture of mine. I was surprised at her reaction to seeing Grandma after 6 months of not seeing her. I am sure it made Grandma feel good too!

Grandma Lowder helped us make many a gingerbread houses. I wanted to get one more in this year, I was going to do a plane for Gabe's work, but I think I am all gingered out! Natalie helped taste the candy and made sure it was okay for babies! She also was constipated for the first time in her life as a result of her tasting job!!

House for Zach's teacher

........Evan's house he gave to his teacher

We had fun with all of our grandparents and can't wait to see them again.

Can I call in sick?

Thanksgiving was great at our house. We went to a friends house and enjoyed being with another family. Gabriel and I were reflecting the other day. We realized this is the first year in awhile that we have spent Thanksgiving with someone and the first year that he will not have to work Christmas day!! Santa usually visits our house the day after or day before, because daddy works in the morning. But this year Santa will be coming on the 25th!!! What simple pleasures I have!!

Anyway, just before Thanksgiving came our three little family members started to come down with something. Then after Thanksgiving we got nailed with it. (Hence, the lack of posting) Then the other night I was begging to call in sick and do you think they took my call?! I put all the kids to bed, Gabe was at work, and then finished picking up the house. Then as I was laying in bed, Natalie woke up screaming! I went in to see to her and she was all plugged up and couldn't breathe. I tried everything, but nothing seemed to work. So, after 1 1/2 hours of trying to get her to sleep I caved and brought her into bed with me. Hoping that if she layed on one of our pillows she could breathe. Just after we had settled into bed, Zach came in coughing up a storm. So, Nat and I put him back in bed, opened a window, got him a drink and propped up his bed. Then she and I went back to bed and got all ready to snooze and dad comes home! She was so excited to see him, it's 11:00pm mind you (she has never been up past 9:00, she's having a ball!!) He went to check on Zach, who is on the other end of the house and you can hear him hacking away. (I couldn't believe Evan was sleeping through all this, I wish they all were)

We couldn't get Zach to stop coughing and it was so constant and hard, it scared me at times. So, after about 30 min of none of us sleeping, except Evan, I took Zach into a steaming bathroom. Oh, how I hoped this would work. (All I wanted to do was sleep, even though with Nat in our bed I knew that probably wasn't very likely) It worked, Zach stopped coughing after about 10 min of being in the bathroom. A few minutes after that I took him back to bed, thinking how nice it would be to climb into bed and go to sleep. As I left his room relieved to be going to bed, what happens? No, no he didn't start coughing or Evan didn't wake up. Our blessed fire alarm goes off!!! Of all things to happen! So, of course everyone in the house is awake now and it is only midnight. All I could do was laugh! I just stood in the hallway and laughed. The boys were scared, Gabe was frustrated and Natalie was just happy to be awake in the middle of night.

Well, we finally all got to sleep. Yes, Nat stayed in our bed. So, no I didn't get a ton of sleep. But, hey, I got some. Needless to say Mom demanded that everyone go to the doctor bright and early the next day! They all got medicine and are now on the mend. My nights since then have been even more cherished. I hope the next time they let me call in sick though!

Sick little faces are just so sad looking, you feel so bad for them. And don't you love it when the kids are sick they sleep wherever. Hope you all weather the sick season better than we are!

American soldiers

I got this website from a friend and it was very moving.
It sure made me stop and think about how blessed we are, because of those who are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. And what an appropriate time to thank them and our Father in Heaven for what we have. Listen to this song all the way through and enjoy!
http://www.flashdemo.net/gallery/wake/index.htm

Recently, Gabriel took part in the U.S. Marine Corps Mud Run. We just thought you might want to see what a real man looks like. As you can see, he had to take his shirt off in one of the pictures. Obviously, Trina is a lucky woman. Feel free to make it the wallpaper for your computers at home or work.

Evan's birthday

Evan's birthday occured during our computer downfall, so none of his birthday stuff made it up. So, per his request here is Evan's party. His cake turned out way better looking, but I guess we all have our good and bad days. Thank goodness this age doesn't noticed most of our mistakes!

My sweet husband also had a great idea for a twist on musical chairs, which was a game Evan wanted to play. When you take a chair away no one gets out, you have to share a chair. Til in the end everyone is sitting on the same chair. The kids loved it. We also did a dinosaur stomp, you all know Evan's obsession with dinos. We got bubble wrap and the kids had to walk on a strip without popping any bubbles. After everyone had a turn we let them loose at popping them. It was in our kitchen and it was louder than fireworks, but the kids had a blast!

Party time

Zach's party was yesterday, he turned 7 on the 7th. He had a blast! He wanted a transformer party and I actually had a lot of fun getting ready for the day. All the games were a blessing I found on executivehomemaker.com (a new fav website). And the cake, well it didn't turn out how I was hoping, but the kids thought it was cool so that is all that matters anyway!

Our Home

Okay, we have been told frequently that our new home has not made it onto the blog.

Well here it is! Gabriel has really enjoyed having a yard as much as the kids! He has become our weed expert, he loves pulling weeds! And what a blessing that is for me!

A few pictures from the pumpkin patch.
A great family time!

She really wanted some help picking it up!!

Rethinking Goals

Okay, so obviously my goal to post something every week didn't quite pan out. Shortly after I posted last our computer decided to have a major breakdown and completely shut down. We were out of touch with the world, as my husband would say, for about 3 weeks. And then when we finally did get it back I was so involved with Zach's class that I haven't had any time. So, to rethink my goal I better make it once a month and then if I do get more on you all can just think that I am supper mom!!
Not much has happened this last month. Evan has had his usual funny little moments. He just will say the funniest things. And then there is our Zach. He is turning into our little spiritual man. There have been a few times that mom has gotten lost and Zach will always say he has a great idea "say a prayer mom"! The other day they got locked in their play room and were trying to get my attention, I thought that they were only playing. They had been yelling and then it got quiet. I went to see what they were doing and the door was locked. Talk about feeling like an awful parent, locking your kids in their playroom!!! I opened the door to see three little kids sitting in front of the door praying. Evan said "Mom, we were locked and so we said a prayer and look how fast Jesus helped us!"
Today we went to a pumkim patch and had a blast! Natalie was so entranced with all of the pumpkins. She loved them! The boys liked running and all of the train and hayrides they had. There were little picture spots everywhere with little pumpkins and kid show characters. We couldn't stay as long as mom wanted to take tons of pictures. So, we will be going back and getting more pictures. They had so many cute picture spots!

This was Natalie's first zoo trip. And she was so entranced with all of the animals. The boys really liked this big display of spiders. Creapy!!! We all had a great day at the zoo. I think the boys' favorite was watching the shark feeding!!

Nat really enjoyed Evan's birthday cake. She liked his more than hers!

This was our big guy's first day of school. He was so excited to ride the bus, he did not even look back once when that bus showed up. He loves school and really likes his teacher. The school is a really great one and we are so grateful we found it!