Make a Smilebox scrapbook

This is our 2008 Christmas card. Merry Christmas to all of you and Happy Holidays.

As many of you know I have been staying home for the last 6 weeks and loving it. It has been a good reflecting period. I LOVE Love love to be home with my family. Although my house feels never clean it is fun to organize things and realize how I want my home to look and the feeling I want it to have. As I look back on all my working years and having done everything from working nights, full time, part time, on call, not working, doing day care, etc I realize that I can still be a good mom and nurse all at the same time. So now with Christmas looming and not working and having even less moneywise it is humbling to realize all that we do have. Our Christmas may not have all the things that others have but it allows us to focus on what it is really about. Our children are grateful for what they have and I can't think of really anything I could possibly want. Each year something has imterrupted our planned spending for Christmas or there just plain wasn't enough but this year I am not even stressed about it. The kids know they are getting one big thing and have only asked for one big thing. How easy is that? We are so much more able to spend our time at home at night warm by the fire reading Christmas stories instead of frantically shopping. I couldn't be more grateful for this feeling and maybe each year I can be this at peace. Maybe our children will learn that things just aren't that important and instead it is how you feel.

Kids stats:

Kid Age Height Weight

Jared 10 5'3" 137#

Jayden 7.5 4'6" 72#

Katelyn 3.5 3'6" 41#

Christian 1 30.5" 20.5#

We won't put mommy or daddy weights on here right now. Ha!

Kate is in the clear. No more kidney reflux. There is a 10%-15% chance it could recur 85% it won't. No more daily meds and what an answer to prayer. Thanks to all for your prayers. We could feel them. Now onto tubes for Christian next Fri but no big deal. We feel we are getting to be old pros at this hospital/surgery thing. Hopefully after this we can put this medical year with it's problems behind us.

I love this picture. It is the 1 year pic mom took on my actual birthday - Nov. 7. We celebrated with family 1 week later. I spent my real birthday in the car going to Kansas City. At least I got to swim at the hotel that night but mom's camera was broken so there are no pics.

Sometimes I like to trick my mom and smile after the camera goes off. Still sooo cute if I do say so myself.

What's that? It's my birthday you say? Where's the cake?

Oh, there it is. I love Diego. My mom laughs at me because the only time I hold still is when I watch Diego or am drinking my bottle before bed.

Cake!!! Mom, why is your mouth open if I'm supposed to eat this? Silly mommy.

Pretty good if I do say so myself. I ate my whole piece. Thanks CH for the great cake.

Now on to the toys. I like all the noises these make.

Wait, wait!!! Just wanted everyone to see my shirt. It says Master of Disaster and that is what I do right now. I learned to crawl 2 weeks before my 1st birthday and am much happier but still like to scream and watch everyone's heads turn. What a day. One is wonderful.

These are a few things I have made lately and thought I'd share. The kids are each modeling their hats except for Jared who doesn't want to at this momtne. Kate calls hers the Strawberry hat. I also made these little purses or cases - whatever you want to call them - but nonetheless they are for a quiet church meeting and hold 10 Crayola markers. I also made some to hold colored pencils. Way easy to make and again my own design. Fun and it keeps my hands busy. Anyone want some? I think I will sell them cheap for Christmas if anyone wants them.

Why is it so hard for me to decide things? I wish someone could just decide for me. Yesterday I went up to my old workplace at the hospital with some flyers looking for children to babysit. I knew some of my old coworkers well and knew some of them may need child care. I told them I never should have left to try another job and they said I could come back. I would just like to fill in around my kids things and church for now and I thought they had done away with the "fill in" position. They told me to ask the boss's boss. Sooo as I was leaving I ran into her in the hallway and she said hello and how they missed me. She said she would gladly let me return because she knew I would fulfill the requirements of the "fill in", which is filling in their gaps where they are short staffed. She also wants me to watch her newborn. She sent me to HR right away and they told me I haven't been gone long so they would also give me back my seniority. Wow! That's huge after 8 years of being there. So now I am so confused. I had made up my mind to be home but not wanting 100 kids to watch. I thought Heavenly Father wanted mommies at home. So why was this so easy yesterday? What in the world should I do?

This year has been a fun Halloween. The first pics are the witch and dino wrestling on the gym floor, the next are my kids at trunk or treating for church, the clan that traditionally meets each year at our house, and some fun treats I made. We only ate fruits and veggies yesterday since I knew the kids and myself would only eat garbage all night. I love the veggie man and the olive is supposed to be a belly button for any of you sicko's out there. Ha!

Dino Baby

As many of you know our little baby has this dino scream/roar lately much to his parents dismay. So I saw it so fitting to make him a dinosaur hat. I made up the pattern and stayed up until 1:30 making it the other night. I love to crochet so much. Too bad I can't just stay home and make things for a living. Does anyone want one for a small fee? I could make alien hats, cat ears, bunny ears, Santa hats, or whatever. And speaking of staying home, I am seriously thinking about watching kids in my home so I can stay home. I have always wanted to sooooo badly. Does anyone know anyone who needs a sitter before/after school or whenever? Please call me if you do. And Happy Halloween everyone. Hope you all have a safe and fun T or T.

Sorry to be so out of touch lately. So here is an update along with some pics. If you are close with me you know what has gone on recently but for those of you who don't I thought I's blog. I am really struggling lately as some of you know. I am now jobless due to some unfortunate circumstances and a little scarred. This kind of thing has hapenned before but one never gets used to being treated like dirt or told mean things. Words hurt! I have decided the nursing profession is one with a lot of Type A personalities. I am not one of them. A lot of people like to be on a power trip. I chose to be a nurse for the compassion I have and so I could help people. Right now I am wanting to give up my nursing and not sure if I want to do it any longer. I could also watch kids in my home. Oh how I would love to stay home. One catch - one hour as a nurse equals a whole day of babysitting one child. Hmmmm. I also recently lost my wedding ring. I am sooo sad about this. It flew off my finger while driving so I knew it was in the car. But after searching the car high and low and not finding it we finally got out at the football game. Then I was sure it was in the grass. We waited until everyone went home so I could shine the lights in the grass but still nothing. After a sleepless night I woke up just as the sun was coming up to go look again in the daylight but - you guessed it - it is gone. So sad.

The kids are getting so old and growing so much. Jared just finished another season of football and is almost as tall as his mom. Jayden continues to love gymnastics. Kate just started gymnastics and is enjoying preschool taught by some friends mom's. Christian is on the move. He has also discovered this terrible scream. I know it is his only way to communicate but man is it loud! He does it randomly and it doesn't necessarily even mean he is even mad. Now I know why old people are deaf.

So that is it for lately. Any feedback on what I should do now is appreciated.

Photo Shoot
We had so much fun doing this photo shoot. Just thought we'd share some of our favorites. The boys went to JC Penney last week and had theirs together so now it was the girls turn. I will post the Penney ones when I get them. The sailor dresses were ones that my sister and I wore for a pic when we were about these same ages. My mother always loved them and they were one of her prized possessions. She made us save them for our girls one day. She would really love to see these pics. I tried not to get emotional knowing how much she loved them. Anyway, enjoy!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Just a quick note. 2 things. Frustration and Gratefulness. Do these two words really go together? Many of you may know that we have really struggled with our youngest 2 children's health this year. Can I just tell you we (Jer and I) hate it. I wish it was me going through this instead of them. I hate watching their pain as they go through it. How do you tell them another test means another IV, another catheter, another traumatizing experience? How do you prepare a 3 yr old for this? Please pray for us as we go to Iowa City on Fri for more tests and hopefully a fix for Kate's kidney reflux and to prevent any more hospitalizations. I know things could be so much worse and there are so many illnesses and problems out there. We want our cute bouncing blondie back to normal for good. On the other hand - Grateful. So grateful for a new job, so grateful for their understanding of the trials, and so grateful for wonderful friends and family who care and help us sooo much. For example, my friend who came over on short notice Tues - to watch 4 children on top of her 3 - AND then brought and cooked us dinner. Seriously! Thanks CH! Blessed by family for covering all the babysitting while Jer and I overlap shifts. Whew! What a job. Grateful that things are not any worse.

It has been too long since I blogged. Sorry everyone. What a fun and busy summer. Just thought I'd post a few pics of the summer so far. I will be better.

I told Jer recently that I have a new man in my life. He is cuter, funner, and just so lovable. I told him my heart was completely taken by this new person, I am totally obsessed with him and can't get enough of him. Yep, you guessed it - it's the baby. Although I do think Jer was scared just for a moment. I do love my kids...and my hubby, too.

Whew! What a busy weekend!
I started out thinking I had plenty of energy. It all started out simply enough. I worked in the middle of the night from 3 am -7 am. I volunteered myself to do a used book sale at the kids school that day and Fri. Fri am started out with Kate's 3rd birthday with Polly Pocket and Barbie, clothes, and dolls. Thanks everyone who came. Then on to the book fair again. We made $160.00.

Then on to the Pinewood Derby Fri night. Very fun to watch with a crazy announcer (the Cedar Falls bishop) to make it really fun. The guys worked very hard on the car "Red Baron".

Sat I again worked from 3 am-7am and then took Jayden to a gymnastics meet. She got 1st and 2nd places. Then again there were only 3 girls and each got a medal. Very rewarding for all the kids.

And what was Baby C doing. Being so good through all these adventures. Well when I thought he was sleeping he really wasn't. This picture tells it all. So funny.

Then I worked on Sun. and met my dad for his birthday later that night. Mon I worked also. Then I crashed. It seems that many days can go by with no work, no plans and absolute boredom and then everything happens at once. Maybe when I'm 50 I can take a nap. I look forward to it.

Things I love about my baby boy:

That fuzzy hair and those big bright eyes.

His sweet little hands.

How he loves to be snuggled.

Four months and healthy.

Congrats Jayden and Jubilee on your tumbling meet! What a fun weekend and what a great job. Great job to Elly too!