Christmas Eve

Our New Camera

 

 

 

 

Rob found himself a new camera for a birthday present and early Christmas present. He wanted a camera that could take beautiful pictures of our kids and capture our everyday life with bright colorful pictures. This camera does just that. It is a Pentax K 2000 (I believe it's called a digital SLR). I know very little about it, but that it does take nice pictures very fast! Rob and I have a lot of reading to learn how to use this beast of a camera and I hope someday we become pretty good at it. Here are few pictures that I feel like show off how awesome this camera is!

Elizabeth's 4th Birthday

Whew! I am way behind! Elizabeth turned 4 on November 8th. She had a birthday weekend. On Saturday we invited some of her friends over for our first kid party. She and her girlfriends had fun playing games, making fairy dust playdough, getting tatoos, and eating cupcakes. She received lots of fun toys and gifts. Most of them her brothers really liked too and we had a hard time letting Elizabeth play with all of her new toys first. Sunday we had the family birthday party. I will get to those pictures later. I have lots of good pictures from the last month to catch up on!

Trick or Treat

 

 

 

The accident that totaled our van

 

Ugh! What a bummer of a week. Good thing it is over and it ends on Halloween. I LOVE Halloween. I especially LOVE trick or treating with the kids. Each year as they get older the fun increases. This year I think Micah is getting the hang of it. He says Happy Halloween so well. We just went over Trick or Treating ground rules before nap time. We talked about saying thank you, staying out of the street and sticking with mom and dad. The sun is finally out, so I think it will make for a nice night to go around our neighborhood with our new neighbor/schoolmate friends!
Anyway, the accident. I happened Monday October 26th after taking Elizabeth to the dentist. It was raining, the roads were slick and we were exiting the hwy onto Page. As I slowly braked I felt the wheels hydroplane, but thought I could correct it. Suddenly it was getting worse and I was losing control of the car somewhere around 50 mph. We spun around completely and the back of the van smashed into the cement median. Immediately the car stopped working properly. I pushed on the brakes and couldn't stop, I put the car in park and I was still sliding. I even pulled the keys out of the ignition and I continued sliding down the hwy. I had my phone and at this point had called 911. The car eventually stopped in the far right line. I was hysterical and kept asking Elizabeth and Micah if they were ok. They were crying, but said yes, they were fine. Worst part of the whole thing-NO ONE who witnessed the accident stopped to help, find out if I was ok or just call the police. A man did stop who saw me petering down the road with the bumper hanging off to check on us. He was so kind and stayed with us for a while. I am so thankful for him. The police, an ambulance and firetruck finally arrived. I chose to stay at the scene and not go to the hospital. At the time I was fine physically, just an emotional wreck. I couldn't get a hold of Rob or my mother in law, Helen to come get me and when I finally talked to Rob he left school and talked to our neighbor who came and got us. It was a scary horrible thing to go through and I hope it never happens again. Our van was only 3 yrs old with about 40,000 miles on it and due to the mess the back third of the van was in the insurance company totalled it. I am beyond thankful that Elizabeth, Micah and I are ok, but a little sad to say goodbye to our van. We have been on many road trips together and it has been such a reliable car. Now we have the joy of car searching which will cause us to go backwards in paying off our 2nd car. On Tuesday I decided to get myself checked out at the ER since I was having neck and back pain and some lightheadedness. I was diagnosed with whiplash and a cervical sprain. I was given some muscle relaxers, an anti-inflammatory, and darvocet. I don't know how much they are helping, but feel a little better when I do take them. I know I will probably be sore for a while and I will deal with that. I am just so thankful I have my 2 healthy, uninjured and beautiful children here to go out with me on Halloween night.

School Picture

 

Obviously Micah wasn't so thrilled with the photographer. I think he was tired of smiling and ready for his nap. Ellie's pictures are fantastic and Micah's photos by himself aren't too bad either!

Kirkwood Farmer's Market

 

 

 

Happy Fall!!

My Little Monkeys

 

 

 

This is just CRAZY!!!

Now THAT'S a big baby!
Has everyone seen this story? Crazy!

An Indonesia woman named Ani gave birth to 19.2-lb baby yesterday in Medan, North Sumatra. The boy, Muhammad Akbar Risuddin, is among the heaviest babies ever delivered who survived. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he was delivered by Caesarean section.

A gynecologist who took part in the operation said the "special delivery" was no easy feat.
"This heavy baby made the surgery really tough, especially the process of taking him out of his (mother's) womb. His legs were so big," Binsar Sitanggang said.

The boy is said to be healthy despite having to initially be given oxygen to overcome breathing problems.

Sitanggang described the baby as "extraordinary" in almost every way.

"He's got a strong appetite, every minute, it's almost nonstop feeding," he said. "This baby boy is extraordinary, the way he's crying is not like a usual baby. It's really loud.


19.2 pound
24.4 inches
(AP Photo/Andi Anshari)

Miniature Golf

I have to say I was really excited to have a 3 day weekend with the family doing family things and hanging out. Last weekend was busy with a baby shower I attended and a bridal shower I hosted. We just needed a break to do some fun things. HOWEVER, Friday started and most of us had the stomach flu. It hit us fast and only lasted 24hrs. I still was sad that we couldn't have the weekend we hoped for. Finally on Sunday we started feeling better, so we went out for some put put golf! It was pretty funny watching Micah hit the turf. He obviously had no clue how to play, but loved hitting his ball the best he could and then running after it. Ellie did pretty good, but seemed to get bored after a while. Benjamin just got better with each hole. It was a fun family event despite the soggy ground and gloomy weather. We had lunch at Longhorn and headed home for some naps. At 5pm we went to the Family Arena for Disney on Ice. I took the 3 kids. It was awesome! The kids loved it! The show feature most of the popular Disney characters like Buzz and Woody, Aladdin, the Disney Princesses, Pinocchio, the Incredibles, and of course Mickey and Minnie Mouse. When we had to leave Micah threw a fit (a bad one) and in the car was crying, "go back, go back". I have never heard him say that before. Guess he really liked it. I think we will make this an annual event!
On Monday, we went to the zoo with the Hardees and had fun seeing very active animals including the large female lion perched up in a tree! I forgot my camera, so I don't have any good pictures from the zoo, but it was a gorgeous day and fun to get out!

Love it!

 

When they are nice together it is soooo cute!

Random

 

 

 

Random photos to show my kids ROCK!

Ellie and Micah painted my nails!!

 

Benjamin's first day of Kindergarten

 

 

 

 

His first day was actually last Thurs., August 13th. Benjamin is going to full day Kindergarten here in the Ritenour school district. His teacher is a petite Mrs. Hall who he says he really likes. I can't decide yet. She is not the warm, fuzzy, cuddly teacher I pictured (don't know why I had that image). However, she has probably been a K teacher for 20 yrs and is really good at it. He has around 21 kids in his class and goes from 8:55 to 3:25. I still can't get over a 6hr school day. No wonder summer is only 2 months long. He seems to have made friends and is doing well with the letter Bb this week. I was at a work meeting this afternoon and arrived home around bedtime. Benjamin informed me he fell asleep at his desk today. No note in the backpack about it, but I am pretty sure they do not have "rest time." Poor Ben has been woken up at 6am by Micah the past 2 mornings. I think that would explain his overwhelming fatigue at school. PLUS Ben, at age 6, still takes naps from time to time. I know a good nap will be in store for the weekend after finishing his first full week of Kindergarten. Man, they grow up fast!
On another note I have felt a little stressed out and carrying little patience with the kids. I feel so guilty when I get upset with them, but biting and screaming DO have consequences in our house. I was hoping going back to school would settle us into a nice routine, but I don't feel that yet. So far I am still adjusting to my new work schedule of 2 shifts a week, Ben going to Kindergarten, Ellie and Micah having a new babysitter, and Rob starting his new job at Clyde Miller Career Academy in the city. Plus Ellie and Micah will be going to mother's day out twice a week starting Sept. 8th. Maybe by October I will have our new routine down??!! I do believe kids ARE the hardest job I will ever love!

Summer 2009 (Turny Loi!)

We have had a really great summer. Even though we never went on a vacation we had tons of fun doing things around St. Louis. Most of our time was spent with my sister Julie and her kiddos. We had a blast out at the lake, at Six Flags, parks, swimming, and bbqs at our house. I do not take for granted that we live 20 minutes from each other and have kids the same age growing up together. This summer was one of the most fun we have spent together with our kids. We have laughed so hard and will have such wonderful memories to share! I am so thankful that Julie has the summer off and I work part time. I love her so much and can't imagine spending summers without her. I made a slideshow of pictures for her put to music of our adventures. Unfortunately I don't know how to do the music thing on here, but you can enjoy the pictures of "The Best Summer!!"

Micah's first haircut

 

 

 

 

Finally at 2yrs old and 3months it was time for Micah to shed the blond surfer dude hair. He did sooooo well. Probably because he was really sick with croup. I took him anyway because I had already rescheduled once and just wanted it done. Now I have a super cute and very handsome toddler!!

AFTER

 

 

 

Micah did really well getting his first haircut. He is sick with croup which made him very mellow. He sat very still and let Ms. Sandy cut away. He looks soooo handsome and much more like a little boy!

BEFORE

 

 

 

Micah is getting his FIRST haircut tonight, so I took some before pictures of his long, thin, blond hair. Who's kid is this anyway???

Switching Rooms

 

The boy's new bunkbeds!! Yeah! We just need to buy a new mattress for Benjamin on the top bunk. Until then, he will sleep on the bottom and Micah in the racecar bed.

 

 

Rob said with 5 beds for kids in our 3 bedroom house it looks like we are running an orphanage...