6:00 AM excitment

I heard sirens at about 6:00 AM one morning but they quit so I assumed that they were coming from the main road, about a mile away. Then I heard someone driving on the gravel, I assumed the neighbor next door was getting an early start to working since he works from his backyard. By this time I HAD pee, pregnancy will do that to you. Coming back into the bedroom I noticed red spinning lights. I woke John up to tell him that there was something going on. We ran to both windows and saw flames out the front one. Because I didn't have my glasses/contacts I thought the neighbors house was on fire. John assured me that it was behind the house. He went running out to see if there was anything we could do but with 4 fire engines, 5 fire marshals, 2 ambulances and 3 cop cars we weren't really needed. The neighbors barn caught fire and no one knew until about 5:45. They're not sure what caused it or how long it had been going, but no houses or people were hurt. The kids loved seeing all the emergency vehicles, and a couple of them fell back asleep watching cartoons.

Food Dudes

Alexis'

Drew's

For my apprenticeship this semester I helped with the Food Dudes study. They measure the kids' carotenoid levels, among other things, before and after they've given fruits and vegetables to the kids during the lunch hour, for about a month. I was curious to see what our levels were so I took the kids and did their measurements. Alexis' score was more like what everyone else in the house was at, except Drew. Drew was off the charts. I knew he was our fruit and vege eater, I didn't realize how much more he was eating than the other kids! (The red region is the norm for people in general. Anything above red is above average and the blue is the upper limits of measurements.)

I took 19 credits this last semester, including this apprenticeship. I was really stressed about just passing one class in particular as she was a beastly teacher. No, it wasn't just me. The mean on her first test was 20/50. I don't think that there was a single mean above 30/50, on all five tests! There were a number of people taking her class for the second or third time. I was praying for a C-, seriously, I would've been SO happy with a C-.   I ended up with a B- because I aced the last test. Oh, happy day! The B- was my lowest grade, I ended up with a 3.49 GPA this semester. Only one class left to go and I can graduate! I don't know if I'm truly excited about that, but John is!

Thanksgiving

I love this picture of Drew and Grandpa John Drew. I wish we would've brought the good camera, the one that actually focuses!

We did Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa Wadley's house this year. Everyone came but Rob and Tina who are too far away. It was a fun day for the kids, they love running around with their cousins and being crazy!

Old Main sledding

 

  After taking a test I thought it would be fun to bundle everyone up and go sledding down Old Main Hill. There were a few people sledding there and the hill is big enough with a nice slow-down area. Because my belly is housing another little person I didn't get to sled and Jocelyn fell asleep on the way over so she didn't get to either. John had fun carting the kids up and down, he even went down a few times with them. All three kids were loading into the sled and John gave them a push down the hill. Unfortunately, the kids took a sharp left and a tree brought them to a sudden stop. Drew was thrown out of the sled, Madison was folded up inside and we're not sure what happened to Alexis. Because they wouldn't quit whining about being in pain we decided to take them home.

If you look at Madison's forehead you'll notice a nice big bump. When we took her beanie off, it was embedded in her head. The next day she had lots of little scabs where we pulled it off her head.

Drew's nose is red, his eye is black and that entire side of his face was swollen for a couple of days.

Madison unfortunately didn't have just a bump on her head. We took her for x-ray's because she kept complaining that her leg bone was hurting. The x-ray's didn't show a broken bone and the doctor we saw thought that she had ligament damage. He referred us to an orthopedist to see what was going on. Monday we went to the orthopedist and he put Madison in a cast because he thought she had a growth plate break. Madison LOVED her yellow sparkly cast. The doctor was nice enough to made the cast removable so that she could bathe and stretch her leg occasionally. Madison was told that she wasn't allowed to walk on her leg for three weeks, which meant great fun for mommy! About two weeks after getting her cast she figured out she could hobble around. Within a few days she'd figured out she could run. By the time we got back to the orthopedist the bottom of her cast was worn out! When we went back three weeks later they did x-rays again and it didn't show any break at all, instead the orthopedist thought that she basically compressed her bone right next to the growth plate. We could see regrowth around the edges but still no obvious break. She still limps somewhat, but it doesn't hurt any longer!

Alexis escaped with no injuries - the doctors correctly guessed that she was the one on the back of the sled! Needless to say, we will not be going back to Old Main Hill for sledding.

Funny kids

The kids love to put on makeup, or lipstick all over their faces. They also love to wear my shoes. Because John's shoes are too big, according to Drew, he has to wear my shoes too! 

 I have no clue who was taking all of these pictures, but they are too adorable to not put up!

BYU date night

John and I got to go on a date - with just us! Even though it was FREEZING cold and it was supposed to snow during the game, we went anyway. Right after arriving we ran into Aunt Pam at the bathroom entrance! What are the chances of that?

As you can see we had nose-bleed seats, but they were free - the best kind!

During half-time they gave this Lamborghini Murcielago. I have to admit that I was slightly jealous. That car probably costs twice as much as my house!

Since BYU was completely blowing out the other team there were a number of people leaving before half time! John and I took advantage and moved down to the third row!

The crazy people in front of us got us all on ESPN for a few seconds! 

On the way home we stopped to see Grandpa Rappleye. The kids had fun wandering around the rest home. Jocelyn made a few new friends because she kept pushing doors open!

Changing seasons

We went from this

to this in just two days! The small hill in the backyard is perfect for sledding.

Halloween

After we dropped Grandma Tobi and Grandpa Fred at the airport we ran home to get ready for Halloween. It was a nice day so we didn't have to wear huge coats over the costumes this year! Madison insisted that she be Snow White. The costume is tattered and has nail polish all down the front, but she would have it no other way. Alexis was Cinderella, Drew was Buzz Lightyear and Jocelyn went as a butterfly. Dad walked them around the neighborhood and they had so much fun getting all sorts of candy!

Playing with Grandma Tobi

Grandma Tobi and Grandpa Fred came up for Max's homecoming and we were lucky enough to be the ones that got to take them to the airport. We stopped at the Conference Center on our way home - the kids thought all the water was really cool! They also loved being able to see where conference is held, hopefully that means they'll watch more than 10 seconds in April.

Elephants! The kids really liked seeing the little baby elephant - although if my baby was that big I think I'd cry.

We stopped at the zoo to play before we had to go run Grandma Tobi and Grandpa Fred to the airport. Aunt Janet came too and made it lots of fun!

Jocelyn wasn't so sure about this ride, she loosened up by the end, but I don't know that she would've gone again!

Madison and Aunt Janet are like peas in a pod. They had so much more fun on this than anyone should!

This tiger was HUGE! It made me a little nervous that all the separation we had was a thin fence.

Grandpa Fred with the kids. I'm so excited that I was pregnant - you read that right - because I didn't have to push Grandpa up and down the hills. Janet got a great work-out though!

A baby

I found Jocelyn asleep curled up in a ball like a new baby! Doesn't she look adorable? Little does she realize that she's not going to be the baby in the family much longer! That's right, we're expecting another new addition. This little peanut happens to have a little peanut = boy!! We're very excited to get Drew a little brother!

We decided to keep the pregnancy a secret until Max's homecoming when I'd be 15 weeks. We figured that I'd be a lot bigger at that point than I really was. We ended up telling people because most couldn't tell until they were told that it was a new baby and not left overs from previous pregnancies!

We are expecting new baby boy Wadley approximately March 31st!

Drew turns 5!

For Drew's birthday party we had pumpkin bowling. They rolled the pumpkin down the hill and tried to knock down liters of soda pop!

They tried to avoid getting touched by the balloons on the trampoline, not so easy to do!

Drew wanted cupcakes and a pumpkin pie for his birthday. He wanted an insect birthday party so we made his cake and pie into a spider! The only problem we ran into was that I was so busy I forgot to add the sugar to the pumpkin pie - it didn't taste too good!

Drew thought it was fun to make himself a mustache. One day he'll understand why this is so funny.

Drew is getting so big - he reads, knows all his numbers, goes to preschool, and is turning into such a boy!

For his Kindergarten shots, which he doesn't need for another year, we got all his stats.

He is 36 pounds = 16%. He is 42" = 30%. Instead of measuring his head, they give you the BMI - crazy to be thinking about that already! When he was two he wasn't even on the BMI scale, he was below 0%! He is now in the 15%! 

Jocelyn got her check-up at the same time as Drew. She was 18.81 lbs = 3%, 29.5" = 24%, and her head was 17.9" = 40%! She's getting pretty big too!

Drew is such a good little helper, he helps to clean the bathroom, does laundry and cleans his own room. He has a very active imagination, which leads to my walls being colored frequently! He loves to catch grasshoppers and pull their jumping legs off so they can't away. He still loves fruits and vegetables. He especially loves steamed broccoli, carrots (cooked or uncooked), cucumbers, and tomatoes. We love him lots and we're glad he gets to be ours forever!