Kalen's new phrase

Kalen's speech has really progressed lately and he's saying some funny things.  My current favorite is when I walk in the door from being gone and he runs to hug me.   He exclaims "Mommy!  You're here!  You missed me!"

The Birds and Bees by Dr. Greta

To be honest,  with three brothers, I should've expected this conversation to come sooner than later but today was the day that Isabel asked the question while I'm changing Zeke's diaper.  It went a little something like this:

Isabel: "why does Zeke look like that?"
Mommy: "that is Zeke's boy part."
Isabel: "yes, I know that but why does it look like that."
Mommy: "Because boys and girls have different parts."
Isabel: "yes, I know that but why does his look like that!"
Mommy: "you know how you have an outy belly button and Mommy has an inny belly button?  Well, girls have inny pee-pee parts
                  and boys have outy pee-pee parts.  It's the way God made us."
Isabel: "oh, okay!"

what a difference a month makes?

Holy cow!  It goes fast!

Zeke at one day

Zeke at one month

Zeke at two months

so did January just fly by?

Maybe I'm a slacker or maybe I'm still getting used to having four kids but man, January is practically over and I've dropped the ball big time on this here blog.  So here is my January update....hang on to your hats, it's a long ride.
For New Year's Eve, I get on youtube and look up the Ball dropping in Time Square from the year before.  Then we watch it at 8:00pm wearing our hats and drinking our "sparkling juice".  We wish each other "Happy New Year", give kisses and go off to bed!  It's wonderful!  Here's the kids watching the ball drop!

The beginning of January came in great and we had Zeke's baby blessing on January 6.  He wore an adorable Tuxedo onesie and spit up on it before I could get pictures so I put it on him yesterday and redid pictures.  He'll never know the picture wasn't from his blessing day unless he reads it here and then in that case, well crud!

We had been struggling to find a renter or sell the old house for four months so on the day of Zeke's blessing, I asked some friends and family to fast with us on what to do about the house.  That very afternoon, the phone rang and it was  a potential renter who wanted to look at the house the very next day.  The following day, they looked at the house and told Kurtis they wanted to rent.  They are moving in on Feb. 1!  I felt like the heavens had opened up and I'm sure I heard a choir of angels singing "Hallelujah!" at that moment.  I've never really had such an unbelievable response to fasting and prayer but boy am I a believer now!

Unfortunately, the night after we found renters I woke up terribly sick with this horrendous stomach flu that has been plaguing people everywhere.  I was up the entire night with vomitting and diarrhea.  Kurtis took the next day off of work.  He went to drop Izzy off at kindergarten at 12:30pm.  At 1:15 the school called saying Sam was throwing up.  Kurtis trotted back up to Bethel to get Sam.  No sooner did he get home then he received a call at 2:00 saying Izzy was now sick at school.  My beloved husband nursed all three of us for two days while trying to keep himself and the youngest two safe from the germies!  My silver lining to all this: as I was starting to get sick, I prayed that I would not vomit before my abdominal incision was healed.   The Lord heard me and I didn't throw up until I was 6 weeks postpartum exactly!  They say that 6 wks is when the internal incision is clear.  I suppose I should be more careful about how I pray!

Since that hideous day, we've managed to heal up and stay healthy for the most part.  We went to see my grandparents and show off the new baby.  My grandpa will be 89 this June and Grandma is 86.  I'm so glad that my kids have had a chance to get to know them.

We also found time to get a family portrait taken.  I got a super great deal on groupon and was able to purchase a $130 canvas for $25!  We will most likely never be able to afford one again but I had to get it and enjoy it.  This is a picture of my picture :)

I managed to snag a picture of Zeke smiling yesterday.  I had to take a few bad ones to get a good one and I was constantly tickling his lips to get him to do it but boy, was it worth it!  He's way too cute for me to handle and I just love this stage we're in with him.

I'll close with some of his fancy duds from this month!

"Handsome runs in the family"

tender moments with Kalen

that sweet moment when your buck-naked 3 year old wraps his arms around your neck and his legs around your waist and hugs you tight...and all you can think of is "please don't pee on me!" 
yeah, those moments are great!

Christmas Rundown 2012

Well, this is just a little post to keep for the kids so when Sam is 20, he can look back at this and realize just how awesome Christmas was as a kid, even if we didn't have tons of money.  Here's hoping that maybe when Sam is 20, we WILL have tons of money....but I won't hold my breath!

On Dec.22nd we had Christmas with my family at our house.  We did just a small lunch with lunch meat, chips, and cookies!  The kids were super excited to open presents b/c my brother had shown up the week before and left all his wrapped presents at our house.  My beloved children had to see those presents under the tree for an entire week before they were allowed to open them. So when everyone arrived, we opened presents first.  That's not something we usually do but I couldn't stand making them wait longer.  Sam got a drumset and camcorder from my parents, a hexbug from Becky, and Joe and Karrie got him Pokemon Conquest for DS and $5!  Isabel got a doll, a pram for the doll, an Ariel bathset, an Ariel playset, and a Princess Cupcake game.  Kalen got a Hotwheels Bike, several Big Boots figures/vehicles and a Mickey Mouse DVD!  The best response was when Dad brought in his bike and Kalen exclaimed "For me!?  I love my motorcycle!"  That is now what he calls it!  Sam also jumped up and down repeatedly screaming "oh my, oh my, thank you!" for the drumset!  It was a fun day indeed!  Zeke got a box of diapers and some little things here and there.  Kurtis got a Sam's club membership and I got a lava lamp!

Christmas Eve was spent with Kurtis' family.  The kids and some adults went carolling after dinner and as tradition, Grandpa Eber read the birth story of Christ from scriptures.  We really enjoyed our time with them.  Sam got a new card game called Skip Bo, Isabel got a Ariel Play Dough set and Kalen got some airplanes!  Zeke got another box of diapers and we're super excited about that!

On Christmas morning we were shocked that the children slept until 8am!  Even Izzy came and climbed in bed with us.  I asked her if Santa came and left presents and she said "yeah, I saw them on my way to your room"  and then she curled up next to Daddy and went back to sleep.  When the boys woke up, everyone went out to the tree.  By the time I got out of the bathroom, Isabel had opened everyone's stockings....including mine!  They were so excited!  Sam really made out with "Skylanders Giants for Wii", a Bakugan Dragonoid, a Star Wars Lego carrying case and the present he's been begging for: an R/C Air Hogs helicopter!  The funny thing was that Kurtis couldn't get the helicopter to fly until he gave Kalen a turn to try and sure enough, the 3yo figured out how to make the thing fly!  Izzy got a Cinderella Castle dollhouse that looks just like the one in DisneyWorld, a giraffe blanket, a Christmas dress with matching dress for her American Girl doll, and Dora Gymnastic video!  Kalen got a talking dumptruck, a Lego set for his age, a HotWheels semi that carries other Hotwheels and shoots them out the front, and a Chase Transformer.  He spent most of Christmas morning going from gift to gift shouting "open this!  open this!"  Zeke finally got some toys from Santa!  A doggie blankey, a mirror that lays on the floor for when he practices belly time and a music box that connects to his crib!  Daddy got a Brooklyn Nets t-shirt and Jason Mraz CD and Mommy got a Notre Dame t-shirt and a t-shirt that says "Aggies!" on it (you have to know the story behind that one).
After we opened our presents and got ready for the day, we went to Springboro Police Dept and had lunch with Papaw, Mamaw and Aunt Fern.  My dad had to work for the holiday and it was so nice to just go and spend a little time with him.  Kalen loved seeing the Police cars and seeing Papaw as a police officer!  They even turned on the lights and sirens on the cruiser!!!  It may be a new family tradition.  My dad often talks about how the older officers would work on Christmas morning so Dad could be there with us when we were younger.  And now he does it for the other younger officers!  I'm so proud of my dad for that.  I was also proud of my kids for being willing to give up "play time with our new toys" to go spend time with Papaw!  It really is the best part of the holidays!

words of wisdom by Sam

Daddy told Sam that if he made the Naughty list by Santa, he would only get coal for Christmas.
Sam: "I'm okay with getting coal for Christmas!  Wanna know why?  B/c then I can put it in my rock collection!"
He's ever the optimist!

While Kalen chases him around the house, hitting him with a plastic sword:
Sam: "it doesn't hurt me when he hits me with the sword...unless he hits my head....or my neck...and my hand!"