Pictures

The kids love to sled, and thankfully the boys don't mind helping Aleah. Every Christmas Eve, we sled at my parents house....it's one of those traditions that I hope doesn't ever change.

This is Carter's first year in band. He wanted to play the ALTO saxophone, not the tenor. That thing has to be just as heavy as he is. I can almost guarantee this will be the only year in band.

Our family picture - 2009

Don't they look like they LOVE each other??

Ok, yes, I am one of those crazy people that goes out shopping on Black Friday! But I love it! My sister and I have been going for a number of years.....this year it seemed particularly busy though!

Whew!!

I figured it out. Yep, all I had to do was remove the old background. Ok so it's been awhile. Life has been, well.....it's been. That's all I'm going to say about it. Carter and Trent were busy with basketball, which ended a couple weeks ago. Now baseball has started. Carter has practice every Sunday evening for his All-Star team and just had try-outs for regular season b-ball. I anticipate practices for both Carter and Evan starting sometime in the next few weeks. Until then, we take full advantage of our nights at home. I looked at the calendar for the summer and between June 1st and the Sept. 1st, we have NO Saturday's free....it's either a baseball tournament, vacation or me working! Wow. Should be quite the summer.

So what else is new...

* Aleah has started potty training. On days she cares, she does great, otherwise....I'm going to hit up the store soon to buy little incentives for her. The skittles just aren't working anymore.

* Evan has become a fabulous reader. Right now he is reading at a 3rd grade level! It's been a blast to watch his reading abilities flourish this year.

* Carter made the honor roll at school both 1st and 2nd quarters this year. We're in the middle of 3rd quarter, so we'll see if he can make it 3/3!

* Aleah is our little princess. (in every sense of the word!) She is ALL girl....loves to have her nails painted, wear dresses - especially princess dresses, loves singing and dancing, plays with her babies, etc...We're considering putting her in a dance class this summer. It's fitting that the name of the class is "the Dazzling Princess Class" ! Talk about a new world for us....all we've ever known is baseball, basketball, cars, etc...

* Like I said above, Carter and Evan will be starting baseball soon. They are both excited and hoping that our neighbor is their coach. That would be wonderful! Our neighbor Chris, was the one who agreed to be Trent's assistant coach for basketball, so we're anticipating that Trent will once again find himself in the world of coaching!

Help!

I know it's been forever, but now I really want to post pictures and I'm stuck in some sort of time freeze....Thanksgiving. Grrrrr. I have tried countless times to change my background following the directions on "Cutest Blog on the Block", but it doesn't seem to take it! Suggestions??? Help please!

We're still here!

The past 3 1/2 weeks have been filled with one common theme around our house....sickness! It first started with Evan's questionable H1N1, then the following week Aleah got the stomach flu, followed by Trent, Evan, and Carter. Then for some reason, Aleah decided since she started the stomach flu, she should end the cycle too!! I am proud to announce that at this current moment....we are ALL healthy!! Today I'll finish cleaning the house. Yesterday was cleaning all the bathrooms AGAIN (it's been done so many times in the past 3 weeks, it's quite ridiculous!) and disinfecting all the door handles, light switches, etc...

I'm so glad that I'm pretty much done Christmas shopping. Really only Trent is left...and I can't make up my mind. We continue to work on the "hole" for the boys (that's their Christmas present along w/ a few goodies that come along with it). We got a lot done the weekend after Thanksgiving, but then Trent ended up w/ the flu so it's been put on hold for awhile. Unfortunately, we've got a lot to do still. I'll try to post pictures when it's done. Our goal, 2 years ago when we talked about our "forever" home, was that we would have a place for our kids to bring their friends. A safe place for them to hang out. When we moved into our house, that was the one thing that it lacked. A kid's hangout. So we decided to turn the actual basement, which isn't huge, into a hangout area for them. It will also be a fun family hangout area....we were able to find a really nice fooseball table on craigslist, for really cheap. And Target was clearancing Guitar Hero out, so we picked that up. The boys will wonder what's going on, when they have 2 presents under the tree....and one of them is a set of sheets! :) We're so excited to see the response!!

Sounds like we're going to get our first snowstorm tonight. Is it bad to hope for a snowday tomorrow? :)

We're Back!!

Ok, so we didn't really go anywhere....I just realized it's been 2 weeks since I posted lasted. OOPS....so much for a frequent chronicle of our family happenings!

Halloween was 2 weeks ago....the kids got lots of candy! In fact I'm pretty convinced we'll still be eating it when all the Christmas candy and other goodies start arriving!

Aleah had a GREAT time trick or treating....by the time the night was done, her little bucket was FULL!

Flag football, for Carter has also started. He's having a great time. It's a good learning experience for him and he's able to meet lots of new kids. He has also started basketball practice (Trent is actually his coach) and their first tournament is December 5th. They start playing at 9:00 and will play 4 games during the day, ending around supper time.

We went last weekend to my parents house. Every fall we go to help clean out the woods on their property....taking dead trees down, limbs that have fallen, picking up leaves in the yard, burning brush, etc.... It was beautiful weather and we had a great time together. We always end the day with a campfire, roasting hot dogs and smores! Yum!! Right before we were getting ready to leave, my dad mentioned that they really wanted to get rid of the couch and loveseat from the basement....did we know of anyone that would want it?? Um.....yeah.....US!! We want to turn our "hole" (it's our actual basement - but it's a small area) into an area for the boys. A nice place that they can invite their friends....a safe environment that's fun and in OUR house....especially important as they get older. Well, I've been praying that God would provide a nice, but very cheap couch for us. We really don't have the extra funds to spend a lot of money on a couch for the basement. God provides. They are in very good condition and they are FREE! So I think we're going to go get them this weekend!

Carter learned how to drive the riding lawnmower this year. He thinks he's pretty hot stuff....little does he know that next year his job will be to pick up all the leaves with it! I think it's nearly impossible to get a good picture of all 3 of them!

Evan has kept our house exciting this past week. Last Saturday, while at my parents house he started not feeling very well. By that evening, he had a fever....ran a low grade fever all day Sunday....spiked Sunday night and was gone by Monday morning. Due to school protocol, he stayed home on Monday, but went back to school on Tuesday. Tuesday evening, we took all the kids to get the H1N1 vaccine. Wednesday morning, Evan woke up again with a fever. With Tylenol it went down temporarily, but by 2:30 it was over 103 degrees! By Thursday morning it was gone again, but of course he was home again because he had not been fever free for 24 hours. Today there wasn't school, which was good. He's definitely doing better, but he's very congested, has a little cough, and just isn't back to his normal self. I'm hoping after one more good night of sick-free sleep, he'll be back to his old self! After talking to the nurse on Wednesday, she's pretty convinced that Evan had H1N1....not getting it from the vaccine, but he most likely started with it last weekend and the vaccine kind of "re-fueled" it.

God continues to protect us, provide for us and love us....God is good, we couldn't ask for anything more!

The Chaos Continues

Well, we've had a little break from the chaos of life and now it's time to get back into it. It's been gradual increase in activities, but starting Sunday, everything will have started.......maybe the winter will go by fast if we're busy. So let's see....Sunday is church (which Trent and I are part of leading worship 2 Sundays a month) and basketball practice for Carter and Trent, who is coaching. Monday....I play soccer, Tuesday.....Trent plays dartball, Wednesday....Carter has church, Trent and I lead a small group and worship team practice, Thursday....Carter plays flag football, Friday.....it's empty for now, but starting in December will probably be taken up with travelling to basketball tournys. Now you just need to add in there Trent working everyday, me working 2 days a week, another basketball practice at some point during the week, practicing for a band lesson, homework with the boys, reading with the boys and PLEASE don't forget cleaning the house, laundry, grocery shopping, etc......Oh it makes me tired just thinking about it! Maybe, just maybe we overbook ourselves a bit. :) Oh well, we take one day at a time and believe me....we LOVE nights at home when there is nothing going on! Tonight Trent and I are going on a date.....gotta fill those love tanks! :) And then tomorrow is Halloween. The kids are excited....I'll just be glad when it's done. The amount of money that people spend on Halloween, drives me crazy. We have gotten to the point that we don't buy costumes...instead the boys come up with creative ideas on their own. I refuse to spend 20+ dollars on something they will wear for an hour or two. So this year, they both decided to be baseball players. Tomorrow night, they'll go trick or treating in our neighborhood and we may take them to one of the grocery stores that does "trick or treating" in the morning. It's something a little different and I think Aleah would especially enjoy it.

Please Pray!

Could you please pray for a friend of mine? Her name is Jen and her family is going through a big trial. I don't feel like I should give many details in this blog, but her Dad is being sentenced in court tomorrow morning at 11:00. Pray for leniency on the judges part and for peace for Jen and her family. Thanks.