Prayers Please!

Please keep this sweet family in your prayers! Courtney was recently diagnosed with breast cancer & will be starting her chemo treatment today. She is one of my best friends...my go-to gal...my source for laughter. She is an amazing mommy, a wonderful friend & one of the sweetest gals I know! Love you Carpenters!

Who needs hair gel...

If you give this girl a dipping sauce with her food...it ALWAYS ends up in her hair.

If you came to my house right now...

You would see:

*a pile of blocks on the living room floor
*3 children still in pajamas, one in her crib, one asleep on the loveseat & one in the recliner watching Dino Dan
*a potty chair in the middle of the floor...Zoe was potty training her dolls
*a mommy still in her pajamas with wild hair
*a pile of crumpled newspaper that a toddler pulled off of a table
*a kitchen counter full of dirty dishes, miscellaneous paper piles, etc
*2 unmade children's beds
*a bed piled with clothes, some folded, some not
*a dog wandering around hoping that it's owner will soon take him out
*miscellaneous toys, books, shoes & mismatched socks all over the floor

We once again have the flu bug in our house & the only thing this momma has done today is:
*bleach 2 bathrooms
*wash bedding & towels that were on the not-so-nice receiving end of the flu
*snuggle on a couch with a sick boy & his siblings
*a short nap when all 3 children were asleep at the same time (nothing short of a miracle at this house).

I'm hoping that since we have been battling sicknesses off & on since the week before Christmas, that we will be done with them by the time baby arrives in about 5 weeks! This sick-season has been a doozy for our family and so many of my friends! Be gone bugs!

And a cute pic of my kids playing a couple days ago when they were all healthy :) The transformers were saving princess Dorothy from a Terosaur...whatever that is...

First Day

Yesterday, Brecken started his '2nd (1/2 year)' of preschool. He was excited to go & enjoyed it!


Leighton wasn't too keen on the idea & was quite upset with me when we returned home. He wanted to go 'somewhere' too. It's a good thing we were experiencing sub-zero temps yesterday & DIDN'T go anywhere, because 'ole preggers here, left the teapot on the stove...and we would have been in trouble had we been gone much longer!

Leighton worked on an art project while we attempted a nap for Zoe. When that proved to be unsuccessful, the 2 of them settled for some reading time :)

Light-weight

This little cutie had her 18 month check-up last week. Her stats were:
Weight: 16lbs 14oz (.2%)
Height: 30.25 inches (13%)
Head: 44.5cm (5%)
If you compare this to her 15 month appointment, she grew 1.25 inches, but only gained 5 oz. So, we are being referred to an Endocrinologist at Children's Mercy, to have her evaluated & make sure everything is ok. Developmentally, she is doing everything she should be doing at her age - she is just on the small side. We are still waiting to hear back from Children's on our appointment date, but assume it will be sometime this month or next. Mommy was on the small side as an toddler/child too...so we aren't overly concerned about this, but of course would welcome any prayers!

Christmas Pics

Before the Christmas Eve Service...

After unwrapping presents, Christmas morning...

Zoe & Donovan on Christmas morning...

The Wertenberger cousins...

hmmm....

Back in February, I was going to let this go...but after a second occurrence today, this girl needs to be called out. I know what I'm sending her for Christmas - a book of stamps :) Love you KCT!

18 months!

At 18 months, you absolutely LOVE 'tubbies' or taking a shower with mom or dad. Anytime you hear bath or shower, you do the sign for tubby & start stripping down...even if you JUST had one.

You love to feed yourself. You can use a spoon & fork, but fingers work so much better.

You love shoes. You usually have several pairs on during the day...whether it be mommy's, daddy's, yours or your brothers!

You are an excellent sleeper - going to bed at 8pm and waking up around 6:30 or 7. You are good for a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon too. You are chatting up a storm, have a mouth full of teeth (just waiting on canine teeth & 2yr molars) and love keeping up with your brothers. You can put your shoes on, take your clothes off (we discovered after nap one day...) and follow directions very well (your brothers could take lessons). You say thank you without being asked & always say Amen when daddy's done praying at dinner (and sometimes several times during the prayer).

You are a little peanut! You just started wearing some 12-18 months, but for the most part are still in your 6-12 month clothes. Mommy's starting to grow tired of them :) We go to the doctor next week to see how big you are!

We love you Zoe-zoo, Zo-Zo, Zoester, Princess, Baby Girl...our little Zoe Lynnae!

At the end of the day...

they truly do love each other!

First Snow

We had a light snow this weekend & the boys were SO excited about it! They ran downstairs & got their snow gear on & ran outside to play.

They played out back...

The scooped the driveway...

They tried to build a snowman, but the conditions just weren't right. They made snow angels in the driveway instead & hurried in for hot chocolate! I love that they enjoy being outside & the excitement of snow :)

Random pics from December

Here are a few random pictures...because I feel badly that I haven't updated my blog in so long.

I was straightening up the house & found the kids snuggling in the recliner together. Times like these are what I need to think about when they are fighting & being mean to each other :)

A visit to Santa - no one wanted to sit on his lap. The boys asked for real guns...for hunting. They told Santa that Zoe would like a baby doll. They also questioned why his beard is so short...

A family pic on the couch - we were settled in for a movie.

30 weeks preggers. So hard to believe that in 10 weeks we will be meeting our new addition! The excitement is building & we are working hard on choosing a name!

A little dress up. The boys like to play in our closet. They decided yesterday was a good day for dress up :)

Past 5 Christmas Pics

Here are our Christmas pics from the past 5 years. I'll humor you with earlier ones when I find my album :)

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Dancing

We are getting Christmas decorations out today and found our singing Christmas mouse. Zoe dances everytime it turns on...and the boys joined her.

Thanksgiving Week!

We had a fun-filled extended week of Thanksgiving travels & adventure!

Nov 19 - Had a couple friends visiting in the morning - notice Leighton in his Incredible Bob outfit. This was the first day he insisted on wearing it ...today is the first day SINCE then that he hasn't had it on... He wore it throughout our Thanksgiving travels, usually underneath his other clothes...in case he needed it.

Traveled to the grandparents that afternoon. The boys got to feed our bull calf that was born on my birthday :) His momma died from something freakish :( The boys named him "Rudy" & enjoyed feeding him & leading him around the yard throughout the week.

We traveled to Fremont, NE to celebrate Thanksgiving with Aaron's great-aunt Mabel who turned 96 last week! She's a character - it's always fun to see her & listen to her stories.

Cousin Kirt taking Zoe for a horse ride.


Aaron & I returned home on Monday with Zoe in tow. We hung Christmas lights, installed a storm door, put up some Christmas decorations & tidied up the house. It's amazing how much easier that is to do with just Zoe around!

On Tuesday, we went to KC to visit some friends that were in town & to tackle some Christmas shopping. The shopping came to a halt when we received a phone call with news of extra KSU-Duke tickets for that evening! We enjoyed watching the game, although the Cats looked sluggish...and fell short of the win.

On Wednesday, we picked up the boys & returned home...and discovered that Elfie had also returned to our home! (see him hanging from the light)

Thursday - Thanksgiving with my family. Zoe LOVES to hold Berklee & be around her. She's going to be such a big 'helper' when this baby arrives...

Great-grandpa Jack reading a book to Zoe.

Friday - we returned to the farm to celebrate Thanksgiving with Aaron's family. The boys had fun jumping hay bales, going on a scavenger hunt & playing with their cousins. We enjoyed visiting with family & seeing friends from high school & college!
Saturday - we celebrated nephew Kirt's 3rd birthday.

Saturday evening sunset...the windmills are a new addition this fall...they are QUITE close to the house & definitely change the scenery! We made the trip home after dinner!

Sunday we enjoyed just being at home! We enjoyed our travels, but it's nice to be back to 'normal' :)

Not old :)

I thought this story was appropriate after celebrating my birthday yesterday :)

Last week, I told the boys that a 'lady' was going to be stopping by to drop off some stuff at our house. We were having dinner when she arrived & after she left, the following conversation took place:

Brecken: THAT wasn't a lady.
Me: Well, then what was she?
Brecken: A GIRL!
Me: Ok...well what's mommy?
Brecken: A girl! Ladies are OLD!

So, I was quite happy to still be in the 'girl' category, at least, according to my 5 year old :)

100 Days...

It's hard to believe that we are down to 100 days left before BabyW4 arrives! This pregnancy has flown by VERY quickly, which is good in some ways...and a little alarming in some ways :) These past couple months, my mind has been consumed with moving. The next couple months will, I'm sure, be consumed with the holidays. That leaves about 7-8 weeks for my mind to be consumed with preparing for this sweet baby! It still hasn't really hit me that we are going to have 4 children :) I tend to forget I'm pregnant, until I catch a glimpse of my belly in the mirror...or find a few minutes to sit & relax & feel those kicks! I guess that's good - it means I've been feeling good!

Bed stealers

A couple nights ago, I was up with Zoe in the middle of the night. She apparently woke the boys up, because they pitter pattered out into the living room & said they wanted me to come lay with them. I told them, they would have to get their dad, because I was getting Zoe back to sleep. They ran off to my room...and never came out. The little stinks, snuck into our bed & this is how I found them...



It was chilly in the house & I didn't have the heart to wake them & make them go back to their beds, so they slept with daddy & I slept in their room.

A little Leighton story...

Today we were trying to get out the door for some errands. The boys wanted a quick snack, so I grabbed 2 fruit roll-ups, unwrapped them & told Leighton, "Do you promise to go take this to Brecken?" (who was already in the van) He assured me he would. As I was gathering up my purse & Zoe, Brecken stormed in and said, "I need TWO fruit roll ups because Leighton just ate mine!"

I grabbed another fruit roll up for Brecken & we headed to the van. Conversation follows:

Mommy: Did you eat both fruit roll ups?
Leighton: No, I gave it to him.
Mommy: Brecken said you ate his.
Leighton: Well, he GAVE it to me!
Mommy: Brecken?
Brecken: HE took a bite out of it!
Mommy: Leighton?
Leighton: Well, I did, but THEN, I gave it to him!
Brecken: I didn't want to eat it - YOU took a bite out of it.

After having Leighton apologize, I proceeded to explain that he did the wrong thing & that he made a mistake (thinking, just maybe, he forgot and took a bite...)

He quickly said, "Mommy, I didn't make a mistake."
I said, "You meant to take a bite?"
He said, "Yes."

Points for honesty the 2nd time around??? This kid...

In a blogging funk

I'm in a blogging funk...we haven't been up to anything...I'm so tired of the moving stuff that I don't want to blog about it...we've had the flu...and I'm too tired to think of anything inspiring to say.

So I apologize for my 'exciting' post today, but here's my newly discovered handy tip - which I'm sure MANY of you are doing anyway.

We've always had one large dirty clothes basket that we all pitch our dirty clothes in...and I typically wait until it's overflowing to attack it...and then sort & end up with 12 loads of laundry in a day. Well, with the move, I decided to try something new. Each bedroom now has it's own dirty clothes basket & I choose one basket (sometimes 2 if I'm ambitious) each day to attack. It makes laundry so much easier - why on earth did it take me this long to figure it out? Now when I fold clothes, I have less piles...less socks to sort & only one room to put clothes away in for that day.

Genius, I know. How do you do your laundry? What are your secrets? :)

Plumber...

Sissy sue was playing in our kitchen & daddy had to snap some pictures of her little 'plumber butt'.

Halloween

The boys had fun carving pumpkins - scooping out the slimy insides & cutting on them with their little saws. Mommy & daddy did most of the work, but they enjoyed doing their little part!




Dressed up for trick-or-treating!


After trick-or-treating...and eating a big ole red sucker. The boys said, it looks like Zoe has lipstick on!