This and That...

Bo went for his followup appt. on Monday. Dr. said all looked great. His incision in his neck has healed up pretty good. I had said before that the results were negative...he told me at the appt. that the pathologist said they were inflamed and would not have ever gone down without removal. He said that it was from a skin infection. That makes so much since to me and is neat that he said that without knowing this...that Bo had a big ole moloscum behind that left ear that got infected a while back and it must be from that. Bravo!


Luke wanted to go eat lunch at McDonald's today. I told him no and he said "Why? It's free." What? When I broke the news that it wasn't free he said he had always though it was free for kids to eat at McD's and Chick-fil-a. Ha! No wonder he never understood why I'd say NO, we can't go!


Like I said before, Kendall is at work with G today. It is always fascinating for me to watch how the dynamics around here change when just one of my kids is missing. Today the boys have been playing so good together...all boy stuff...Luke and Will are the police and Bo and Noah are the prisoners....hide-and-seek...monster...Legos...roller coaster on the rings (I'll have to put video of that on here later!)...all kinds of stuff. Not a bit of fighting has happened and I have hardly even seen the big boys since Bo and Noah have been napping.


It was the same way when Luke was gone and Will was gone. Different styles of play, but literally no fighting or negative words to each other. G, think we can arrange something on a weekly, or better yet, daily basis? :)


Random pics...




Kendall (and our new kitten??) working on the computer. The kids have been really into typing lately and I plan to teach L and K the keyboard very soon. Pecking the keys looks miserable. Kendall had read the book "Because of Winn Dixie" and she was writing her summary here. For fun.

Geoff got me this pullup bar for Christmas. Really? G, I've totally caught onto the whole "I got you something" trick. Either way, all our kids are going to have big muscles because they love using this bar...

Yesterday we finally got around to decorating the cookies we made a couple days before Christmas. I got the urge last night because I was really ticked off about a certain thing that happened and I was totally up for a good mess to clean up after that. Weird combo of feelings, I know.


Yum.

We are bringing in the new year with our next door neighbors tonight...while enjoying pizza and wings and a mess of other things. And a COKE!! (I have to admit that I drank a coke at Chuck E. Cheese's the other night. I totally choked under Chuck's spell. And I drank 2 tiny kid size cups of coke at ikea the other day. Really, that's the only 2 times I broke my commitment).

There are a few posts I have swirling around in my head. It's so much easier for me to just write about stuff we do, put pictures on here, etc....AND this is a blog that is my only journal/scrapbook for our family...but still. I want it to be more than this. It takes me so much longer to collect my thoughts and put it in words for the bigger things in life, so that's why those type posts haven't been on here much, although there is so much going on in my noggin' right now.

This very well may be my last post for 2009. :)

Luke On Guitar...

Geoff is officially starting guitar lessons with Luke. We are taking a break from Drama this semester (Beauty and the Beast was a little of a let-down to us after Seussical, plus the cost). Luke has been wanting to learn guitar a long time...here is his first song "London Bridge." :)



Again, I want to mention his humility (like with the Rip Stick). :)

Visiting Grandparents/Great-Grandparents...

Can you tell I'm playing catch-up on blogging today?

Yesterday we (my family minus Geoff) and my sister and her family went to visit Grandparents in Winston-Salem.

First we went to see Chickie the Great (my mom's mom) at the retirement center where she lives. There is a piano in the lobby that the kids enjoy playing, and the residents enjoy listening to them play. Gary (my brother-in-law) can play "Chariots of Fire" and that was so beautiful and a hit with the bluehairs.
Luke played a few Christmas Carols...

Then we were off to visit Grandmaw and Pappaw (my dad's parents) at their house...

They had a gift for each of the kids...

My Grandmaw is 85, but doesn't act or look a day older than 60. Seriously, I hope I have her aging genes!

Pappaw is 89. He lights up when the kids are around and gets a big kick out of Bo and Noah. It makes me smile...

They gave Angie and I Snuggies!! I have always wanted to buy one of those, but haven't. I'm so happy to have one!

Noah liked to watch the ice-skaters...

Grandmaw had all kinds of goodies to munch on...

It was a good day and one of my goals for next year is to visit them more often!

Kendall's Birthday...

On Tuesday our family went to Chuck E. Cheese's for supper for K's birthday. Her choice was Monkey Joe's, but it would have cost way too much (and we can go for 1/2 price on Wednesdays for homeschoolers!) So Chuck E. Cheeses's it was, and we all had fun.

Sunday we are having a little party for her at our house with some friends and cousins and grandparents. We are so excited!

To Work With Dad...

Today (New Year's Eve!) was Kendall's day to go to work with Geoff. Guess what shirt she has on under that jacket. Well, none other than a Christmas shirt! Note to self: Hide them tomorrow! :)



Luke's turn was on Monday. He came home a tired boy. :)

Free TV Stand...

Do any of you locals want this? It fits maybe a 27 inch tv max. You can have the tv too if you want it. It's 25 inch I think.

Oh Yeah...

I forgot to say this:

K, it is only appropriate that you wore a Christmas shirt on your birthday today, considering you have worn a Christmas shirt approximately 27 of the last 30 days. And those 3 little days were not by choice and were not without some big tears shed, I will say. I love you for that.

My Girl Is Seven!!

Kendall celebrates her 7th birthday today. I can't believe she's 7. I specifically remember turning 7 when I was little and remember how 'old' I felt...like I was really growing up. So this year is big to me. I have even had a smidgen of sadness realizing that she is growing up so fast and she is not my 'baby girl' anymore. But at the same time I'm so thrilled to see how she is changing and maturing and becoming such a neat little person (more and more by the year).

Kendall Belle,

I cannot tell you enough how much I love you. You are my only little girl, and for now that seems only right since you are so special and more than enough girl for one family to handle. :) You were always such an easy little baby and the most precious toddler ever, with your little short fuzzy hair for the first 2 years of your life. You have always been a peacemaker in our family with your brothers (most of the time anyway) and that is a huge blessing for me. I love to see your curiosity and compassion for those who are hurting or in need and your eagerness to help. I love that you are going to have a pink and purple house when you grow up and are going to adopt kids from Haiti. :) The last 7 years have been a blessing, and even though I'd love to slow your growing up years down, it's so much fun watch the young lady you are becoming unfold before my eyes.

..."but the child who is born on restful Sunday, is happy and cheerful and loves to play."-

that's you baby girl. :)

Love,

Mom

Luke on His Rip Stick...

Luke caught on really fast, I was impressed.



I never thought I would get too old to even just try something like that. And Kendall's pogo stick...I used to hop up and down our long driveway growing up like nobody's business. And handstands-did those with the best of 'em. Now I'm too scared that I'll get injured to even try. And if my head goes below my waist line for any reason, it feels like my head will explode. Man, I hate to see chicken self in 20 more years!!

Christmas Morning...

The first kid woke up at 7 on Christmas morning, but we didn't go downstairs until about 8 a.m. While they waited L, K and W played contentedly with Legos in the boys' room. Crazy.

Annual 'top of the stairs' picture...

Running into the living room...

Finding their 'santa' gifts. Luke was thrilled with his Rip Stick and K liked her pogo stick. Unfortunately we have to exchange the ps because it was too heavy for her...

Will has been waiting a couple of years for a castle. It went on sale a while back so I got it. He was happy...

And Bo and Noah have already gotten lots of use out of the trampoline. It's great for them!

Cute Bo opening his stocking. And Zoe checkin' out the new trampoline...

And Noah digging in his...

Even the cats got a little something from Santa (Fancy Feast)...

The kids (led by the big kids but included Bo and Noah's fingerprints) made Geoff and I a book for our gift. It was so sweet. They drew pictures, put everyone's fingerprints on it, and wrote some things, and put a picture of G and I in there. They wrote "We'll always love you no matter what" which is neat because that's something Geoff tells each of the kids each night before they go to sleep...

I made a little book from Snapfish of the "Brown Bear" post I wrote a while back after our trip to the Zoo. And I was wrong in that post...they were just monkey's, not lemurs. I thought it was called "Lemur Island" but I guess I misread the map. :) And I made them an album from our Disney trip...

Luke and Kendall made these bowling pins for W, B, and N. It is water bottles filled with sand and then paper mache'd (sp???). And taped. They made them without my knowing...

Kendall made Luke this little whirligig to hang from his fan...

It was a fun and relaxing morning and I was thrilled with the appreciation our kids showed for their gifts. They didn't get much from us besides their santa gifts. It was a big goal of mine this Christmas season to not let it be all about the gifts, but not having to nix them. I think we found a good balance-- with the things we did during December to remember the true meaning of Christmas, and by Christmas day our focus was definitely in the right place. For the most part.

A Word to the Locals...

IKEA is having kids eat free from now until January 3rd.

Christmas Eve...

On Christmas Eve my mom came over and went to the 3:00 service at church with us. Then we came back home and ate chili and dessert, did our advent time, exchanged gifts with her, then took Geedi out to see some of the best lights.

Kendall painted the spoon holder for her...

Luke picked out this butterfly magnet for her since she loves butterflies...

Noah was very giddy that night and seemed to discover the stockings, tree, and nutcrackers for the first time...

Opening their fire truck and ambulance from Geed...

Thank you Amy and Chad for these! They loved them, as if Will's face doesn't say it all...

Ready for Christmas morning...