In early December we took the kids to see Sesame Street Live. It was so much fun! The kids had a blast. Their eyes were like saucers when all the characters came out on stage. Nathan is a HUGE 'Melmo" fan. That is all he wants to watch. And of course, Kaitlyn can't get enough of Abby Cadabby. Even Lauren had a great time. It was a perfect family event. All my pictures are out of order but I am too lazy to fix them.
Here is a picture of Abby Cadabby waving at us. Kaitlyn loved that.
Nathan pretty much had this same expression on his face the entire time. Pure fascination. He was so cute to watch.
Towards the end of the show, we let the girls got down to the bottom of the seating area to watch and get a closer look at the characters. None other than Elmo came over to shake their hand. I absolutely love the expression on Lauren's face. They were so excited to be able to touch Elmo.
There was a short ten minute intermission. Nathan kept looking around for Elmo and couldn't figure out where he went. I told him he would be back in a second. So he starts yelling, "Melmo!", over and over again. I have it on video and it is hilarious! Seriously a highlight of the morning. It was so cute. When intermission was over, the lights started to go down again and Nathan turns around and scrambles into his chair as fast as he could. Here he is yelling for Elmo.
Merry Christmas everyone! We hope everyone had a very happy and safe holiday. We had a great Christmas this year. We did a lot of fun Christmas activities. We spent a few nights looking at all the wonderful Christmas lights. We saw real reindeer, made yummy treats, had a great visit with Santa himself, made fun Christmas crafts, found new tree ornaments and had so much fun Christmas shopping. This year, we were able to help out a local family in need and it was such a sweet experience. Lauren and Kaitlyn each took some money from their piggy banks to help someone else have a happy Christmas. They were so excited to help out. We loved seeing them give up something of their own for someone else.
Christmas Eve was spent with family. We ate some pizza and had yummy treats. When I was growing up, we had Little Caesars pizza EVERY Christmas Eve. Back then, Little Caesars was really good, remember....square pizzas! Mmm.... So it was fun to continue the tradition of pizza. Grandma Familia made extremely cute outfits for all the grandkids. They had a great time opening them on Christmas Eve. Don't they look so cute?
Last year we started watching a Nativity movie produced by the church and then headed over to our neighbors house to look at their beautiful nativity scene. We did the same this year and hope to make it a yearly tradition. We loved looking at the nativity and singing songs together. It is one of my favorite parts of the season. We feel the spirit of Christmas so strongly with this actvity.
Christmas morning was wonderful as well. I love watching the kids' faces when they come downstairs and when they are opening presents. Their excitement and joy is priceless. We had great gifts to give and receive. Kaitlyn wanted a princess hair salon set. Lauren and Nathan got it for her. She spent a good portion of the day doing everyone's hair. Even Nathan would sit occasionally and let her work her magic. She is combing his hair in this picture. Ignore all the garbage in the background....that is just part of Christmas. :)
Nathan, unfortunately, was sick on Christmas and although he tried to be happy, he just didn't feel very well. The combination of a yucky cough, pink eye and getting in one of his two-year molars was a little too much for him. Thank heavens for his pacifier and blanket. He has started feeling a little better the last couple of days and has started really playing with and enjoying his new toys. Lauren was given a Leapster 2. And this is what she did pretty much all day....
I love fall! It is such a great time of year. Playing in the leaves is one of my favorite activities! The kids loved it too. Lauren has been obsessed with raking leaves this year. She likes to make a nice, neat pile. The sad thing is, she has a broken arm, so she can only rake with one hand. She was out raking one afternoon in the front yard. She looked so pitiful dragging the rake behind her. I am sure anyone who saw her wondered what on earth I was doing making her rake leaves with a broken arm! Whatever makes her happy.
Kaitlyn and Rachel really got into leaf throwing. They were jumping and screaming and throwing like crazy! Aren't they all such cute kids?
Nathan watched all the action for awhile, probably wondering what we were doing. He eventually figured it out and had lots of fun throwing leaves at people. I hope fall plans to stay for a few more weeks.
Don't forget! The auction for Benson and Claire starts today. Go here to help out an amazing family and to get some really great stuff!
October is one crazy, fun month! Every year we check out the Scarecrow Festival and the kids absolutely LOVE the blow up slides. Thankfully we headed up there before Lauren broke her arm so everyone was able to have a good time.
The girls wanted their faces painted this year and I think they turned out really cute.
Nathan loved the games.
We enjoyed some really yummy treats this month too! Check out this amazing spider cake. A lady in our neighborhood makes cakes for weddings and other events. She does an awesome job. The kids thought this cake was great!
We were a little late carving our pumpkins, but at least we got them done. I love Lauren's face in this picture.
We had five Halloween parties/events in the last three days. Needless to say, I am happy I don't have to dress all my kids up in costumes anymore. They sure were cute though. In case you can't tell, Lauren was Snow White, Kaitlyn was Abby Cadabby and Nathan was a lion. Halloween really is such an exciting holiday. Our kids were going crazy with all the parties and activities. We had a lot of fun. Trick-or-treating was a little cold, but I love that we go house to house and don't have to do trunk-or-treat. It just reminds me of being a kid again.
Bill decided to be Handy Manny for Halloween. It was so fun. Every where we went little kids would see him and say to their parents, "Hey! Its Handy Manny!" He really did look the part too. It's just too bad he can't talk like Handy Manny. ;) I decided to dress up like Kelly from Handy Manny. It was a little bit harder and with Lauren's arm stuff this last week or so, I didn't get the whole costume finished. But oh well, its the thought that counts and the kids enjoyed it. (Yes, that is Nathan lying on the ground crying. Don't worry though, we picked him up right after the picture was taken and he was babied the rest of the night...like always. Good thing the little guy is so cute!)
This is Claire and Benson...
Claire and Benson are the niece and nephew of one of my dearest friends from high school. They were both born with a rare genetic disease called Primary Hyperoxaluria Type (PH1). Claire's condition has progressed much faster than Benson's. She has been on dialysis since she was three months old and is on dialysis three hours a day, six days a week. She is now on the waiting list to recieve a combined kidney/liver transplant. It is expected Benson will eventually need similar transplants.
An online auction has been put together for this sweet family. You can view all the great auction items at http://bensonandclaireauction.blogspot.com/. There are many items available and they would make nice Christmas presents. The auction opens on November 2nd and closes November 16th. Please take time to check out the auction and do what you can to help.
Lauren has always been our little dare devil. She loves to climb and play on anything she can get her hands on. The playset in the backyard is one of her favorite places to climb. She gets on the roof and climbs around, she goes to the tallest slide and swings her legs ovcr and drops off. Seriously, I don't even like to watch her. She just plain scares me. I am so surprised she hasn't gotten seriously hurt before now.
Last Tuesday I got a call from the school telling me Lauren had fallen and wanted me to come and get her. She was fine sitting in the office but when I walked in and she saw me, she just started crying. It was so sad. She said she fell on her arm. We took her to the doctor and he seemed to think everything was okay. She didn't say it hurt that bad and she had a little bit of motion in her arm. We thought maybe everything would be okay. She got steadily worse over the next two days. I took her into get an x-ray on Thursday and sure enough, her arm is BROKEN!! Yes, my poor little six year old has a broken arm. After a very long process and many phone calls, the pediatrics office decided to send her to a orthopedic surgeon. Lauren was so upset the night before her appointment. She was so nervous and really didn't want a cast. We went in and they took another set of x-rays. They pointed out the break to me and it was so hard not to cry. It is so bad. The break is at the top of her humerus bone on her left arm. It just looked horrible. I couldn't believe that was a picture of my daughters bone! My poor little girl. The only way to cast her arm is to basically cast her entire left side. Both the doctor and I agreed that isn't the best solution. For now, she has a sling that is keeping her arm nice and tight by her body and hopefully her arm will heal just fine. The doctor seems to think it will heal itself pretty well. We have to head back for x-rays every couple of weeks to check to make sure everything is moving along correctly. I really didn't want her to have a cast, but I also don't want her arm just hanging there. It is so hard to look at her arm and know it is just broken like that. I almost wish I hadn't seen the x-rays. It hurts her alot....we are hopeful that the pain will lessen soon. She has been such a brave girl! We are so proud of her. She has been so tough and has been through a lot lately. So many people have done so many thoughtful things for us and for her. She has received many wonderul gifts that have really lifted her spirits. My mom even came down for a few days just to help out and give moral support. Thanks to everyone who has helped in any small way, we owe all of you. Where would we be without our family, neighbors and friends? THANK YOU!
Our little boy is getting big! Nathan turned 18 months on Kaitlyn's birthday. He is such a bundle of everything! One minute he is constantly crying and driving us all crazy and the next, he has every one of us laughing. His personality is so full and fun. He is starting to do better with sleeping too. He typically sleeps through the night once a week or so. He is also doing better with his naps. And he eats like crazy! I can't wait to see what he eats when he is 15! We love Nathan and even though he is literaly the 'baby' of the family, he is the best 18 month old.
I think Nathan spends a little too much time with his sisters. If he didn't love to get messy and wrestle, I would be worried about him.
Nathan LOVES to read books. In the morning he wants to sit on the chair and just read. He makes all kinds of noises and laughs when he sees something funny. I hope he keeps his love for books for a long time.
Isn't he just so cute?
He also LOVES Oreo's!
This is how he folds his arms. He likes to lay down and look at the pictures with his arms folded during scripture time. It doesn't usually last long, but he is adorable when he does it.
He is a big-time wrestler! He loves a good wrestle with Dad. He thinks it is hilarious to sit on everyone's face.
