Christmas Pictures!

 

So I am very slow on getting this done, but I have a very good excuse! I got 7 new books for Christmas! On Christmas day Zach asked why I wasn't reading any new books and I told him he knows how I get so if I start reading then nothing gets done. He said it was no biggie I needed to read and enjoy it so I did! And for three days nothing got done! I"did read 4 books though! When I finished the 4th Zach asked "So do we get you back now?"

We didn't take a lot of pictures this year. I realized we have a lot less of Ryan, but he was opening so fast I am not sure I could tell you all he got still. And I am sure in his mad dash to open he opened things that weren't his. It happens every year! Usually it's Cody's stuff so he never knows the difference. For those that don't know our boys DO NOT wake up early on Christmas. I am not kidding either. Every year we finally go get them up! This year Tyler set his alarm for 6am! As soon as Ryan heard Tyler say presents he was up, but Cody would rather have slept. He really prefers to wake up on his own. So he had a slower start and really didn't care about presents at first. We managed to get him through it all, but he was so slow Ryan and Tyler had all their presents opened, taken out of packaging and were playing!

I always make home made cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning so we did that and had a nice day hanging out in jammies, playing, listening to new CD's, trying out new video games, and me reading! Oh and we didn't do a big Christmas dinner this year, we had crab legs, salmon, and shrimp. It'll never be the same since we left Alaska, but we were missing it so much we treated ourselves! And it was a lot less work for me! Can't beat that!

The cleanup!

I know I am weird, but just about every year I take pictures of the before and after of the cleaning process. This year I had cleaned a lot before remembering to take the pictures. At one point Ryan, Tyler and Cody were completely surrounded by wrapping paper, and new things! When they started opening the star wars guys and I realized how many small pieces came with them I knew it was time to start clearing! So the end product was 5 recycle bags plus some boxes that were too big to fit! I really filled the recylce bags too and mashed as much as I could into each! The living room never really got cleaned up until Saturday when I just couldn't take it anymore.

Now we are in the process of moving around bedrooms since I sold Cody's bed with the slide. We have given up the battle for him to sleep in it. He likes the bottom bunk of Ryan's bed so we bought Ryan a new bed and he will move into Cody's room. I also bought Tyler a new bed since we never planned to take his bunk bed with us. It's just to close to the ceiling for him! I don't blame him one bit! we have it up for sale, but have plenty of time so aren't worried. We are already starting to prepare to move even though we have no idea where we are headed. For those that know me well know I LOVE to get rid of things and moving is the best time! I know it drives Zach insane, but he was the one that mentioned we might as well start early so we have the summer to enjoy our last bit of time here! And Christmas is the best time to downsize on toys since the boys got so much new stuff! They don't mind me clearing some out, but in a few months they will so I have to take my chance now! Okay so I really got off the subject of Christmas clean up! Guess I need to blog more!

Finally a girl!

We have tossed around getting a puppy for a while, but being overseas had put it off. Ryan has really struggled this past year and we finally decided after a very big breakdown with him that it was time to get a puppy. He was so upset and said he just wanted a friend that doesn't move away which he has been saying for a few years now. So Zach and I started researching what dogs are good with kids and what we thought would work best for our family. As much as we like golden retrievers, the size is just not ideal. We finally decided a beagle fit the description rather well so started looking for them in the paper. There were 5 listed and all were sold. The day after Christmas Zach was at work with nothing to do so him and another guy started looking up dogs and found an add for beagle puppies that were born December 21st. I emailed the owners and today we went to see the puppies. We decided on the one pictured above! It was a bit of a drive since they live about 3 hours away, but we were very impressed with the family and the mother dog. They really did their homework when it came to breading their dog. The mom is an american bred beagle and the dad is a german bred beagle. The end of February our little girl puppy will be old enough to bring home. It's nice having some time to prepare. The owners are going to email us pictures as she grows since we aren't close enough to go visit. We are still in limbo over the name, but as soon as we pick one they asked us to email so they could start using it with her. Right now the boys like Lucy or Cheyenne. Any votes???

Christmas Break Entertainment!

Monday the kids and I needed to get Christmas goodies made for friends so spent the morning making a mess, having fun and ending up with some pretty tasty treats! I didn't take a picture of the cookies, just the mice and chocolate covered pretzels. Tyler dipped them himself and Cody was in charge of sprinkles! He went a little crazy on some! It was fun and the mess took a while to clean up, but it was worth it. I wish the we made more mice, but this was a last minute let's see if we can figure it out from a party treat Ryan had at school! I think they turned out cute!

Cody has an ear infection!

This is a first for us! The boys have not been on an antibiotic (unless you count Tyler's eye drops after his surgery) up to this point. Cody has been miserable since Thursday night, well actually I will back up to Tuesday. The boys were running around and Cody had socks on so when he went from carpet to tile he ate it....big time! he was very upset and kept holding his left foots saying it hurt. He wouldn't walk on it, instead he crawled everywhere. We decided to let him sleep on it and see if anything had changed Wednesday. He didn't sleep well and was limping when he got up. He just laid around so I figured I had better have his foot checked. Tyler broke his at 2 1/2 jumping off the couch so you never know! I got an appointment and the doctor seemed irritated I even brought him in. Cody would not say where it hurt and the doctor was asking questions that yes a typical 4 year old might be able to answer, but not one with lmiited expressive language. So the doctor pretty much passed it off and was sending us on our way. Then he saw Cody try to walk and decided to get x-rays. He said he would call back with the x-ray results and in the mean time give Cody motrin (air force candy as we like to call it!) Of course the doctor never called back so Thursday morning I called and no one would give me any info.

Thurdsday after Cody went to sleep he started running a fever. I gave him motrin, but he still slept restessly which means I didn't sleep. Friday he was miserable and still running fevers. He was all congested and just wanted to be held. I remember the doctor asking me Wednesday if he had been running a fever and I said no. Kind of an odd thing to ask when the child is limping. So now I was beginning to wonder what the connection could be. I started rotating Tylenol and Motrin, but after 2 hours the meds would wear off and Cody would be miserable again. Sunday I had to go to church since I was teaching so left Zach and the boys home. Cody was pretty happy when I got home so we thought he was good to go. He said his ear hurt but he had been laying on it so we figured that was why it hurt. Then we got night 4of no sleep! By this point I am grouchy, Zach is grouchy and Cody is miserable! I called today to see what the doctor thought and they had an appoinment so I took it. I got a much better doctor this time and he checked his ears and said yep he has a nasty infection in his left ear, the one he had been saying hurt! So I felt bad I let him suffer so many days.

Now he is on some amoxicillan and feeling much better! I really hope to get sleep tonight as well! I don't think I can do this 30 minute nap stuff for another night in row! And I am glad he won't be miserable on Christmas. We have worked pretty hard to get him excited although he wants nothing to do with Santa!

Bastogne, Belgium

 

First I have to say I updated to a new picassa and I am not happy with it! So that is one reason why I have not finished the Paris trip and another reason why I am behind on posting. I finally got a collage to work for our day trip to Bastogne on Saturday. Orginally when we planned this trip we were going to do a 6K walk and all, but Cody's program was Friday night so we were not able to drive up and stay overnight like planned. I am kind of glad becuase it was freezing, Tyler ended up leaving his coat at home and Ryan seemed to never have gloves or a hat that he brought, but kept leaving in the van!

I guess I should give you background as to how we decided to go to Bastogne in the middle of winter! This past weekend was the 64th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge. For those that are not history know it alls (that would be Zach's department) you can go to http://www.army.mil/botb/overview.html to read about the battle. My version, that is not near as detailed or good as the internet and books, is that the city of Bastogne became surrounded by Hitler's armies as they pushed their way through Luxembourg, Belgium and France. The American troops were cut off with all roads into the city being blocked. The Germans sent an ultimatum to surrender and Gen. McCauliffe replied with one word.....NUTS! They held the city until Patton's troops broke through and relieved them. The museum there had a great movie that I wish I could get a copy of that summed up the whole battle. It had all the footage from the time and maps, and the kids really enjoyed it.

Anyway along with seeing all the battle memorials and such we ate waffles that were so tasty and even bought some Belgian chocolate! It was a cold day,but we had fun!

Tyler's birthday party

Tyler chose to have a party at the bowling alley this year which was fine with me considering the busy busy week leading up to it! He invited 8 friends and almost all made it. Our camera has been acting up a lot lately and we know we need a new one, but are waiting till after we move so we have more options than what the crappy BX has here. So I didn't get too many pictures and Tyler is a pain, hates pictures so conveniently disapears or covers himself when the camera comes out. The kids had fun bowling even though the one lane broke and they had to move them to another lane. In the process of doing that the lady accidentally cancelled another family's game and put us on their lane. Ooops! A few of the boys are really good at bowling, but I have no idea what any of the final scores were. We just tried to keep it as fun as possible.