Video

This was just too cute not to share.

Happy New Year!!!

Can you believe it's 2009?! I'm excited for a new year. My hope is that this will be the year all 3 of my children start to sleep through the night consistently. Oh, the sleep I could get. I've missed it so much!

We had a good Christmas. We started out at Matt & Jolene's house (John's sister & her husband) near Wichita. Having piles of presents for 5 kids on Christmas may have made it slightly chaotic, but oh how fun! We always have such a good time while we're there, and this time was no exception. Jolene made lots of wonderful food, and I ate way too much of it. The day after Christmas we got together with Elaine's side of family, where we again ate too much and played an Amazing Race type game that John put together. He did great! I have to say the highlight of the day was watching Elaine and her siblings playing Wii Tennis. I still laugh thinking about how "into it" they were.

The Saturday after Christmas we headed to Hutch to celebrate with my parents. The kids got more toys, we ate more food...it was good all the way around. :) Ainsley got a new nightgown from Mom & Dad that she wants to wear 24/7. She's developed an interesting strategy for not letting it fall into the toilet when she's in the restroom. I walked by the bathroom and saw her sitting there with her gown all the way up over her head, as she blindly went about her business.

On Christmas Eve, Daniel asked Stephanie to marry him and she said Yes!!! They're hoping to get married sooner rather than later, so we're on pins and needles waiting to hear the final date and location. It looks as though we may be headed to Florida! We're so excited for them.

I seem to have misplaced my camera cord but I'll get pictures on soon. I wish you all the best for 2009!

What better time for blogging?

It's 1:42 a.m. and Miss Maggie is ready to party. So I guess while she sits in the dark and plays with her toys, I'll play catch up on here. It's either that or watch infomercials...


Here's a video of Will that people on my side of the family will appreciate. Grandma and Great Aunt Clara have been teaching him a little Pennsylvania Dutch, and I caught the two phrases he knows on video. "Unfuschtandich" is an expression that loosely translates to something like, "Goodness gracious!" and "Ich bin un smauta boo" translates to "I am a smart boy." I'm sure I butchered the spelling on those, but you get the idea.

Gender Roles

Yesterday at lunch, Ainsley proclaimed, "Daddy and Will and Uncle Wayne are boys. Mommy and me and Maggie are girls. And it's the girls' job to organize the boys." She's quite perceptive, that one is.

I am woefully behind on blogging. There's much to post when I can find a little time, I just wanted to share that little Ainsley funny while I had a second.

:) Cheers and more soon!

Baby Squirrel

Just a quick update on us before I post pictures of the little creature my kids made friends with. Ainsley is still doing well at school. Today is picture day so she got to princess it up. Hopefully she won't get too cold - it's in the 50's and rainy today! Just sending her on MWF seems to be a really good balance for us. She gets some school/social time a few times a week, and also some mornings to just relax and be at home. I miss her while she's gone, but there are some advantages to just having two kids a few mornings a week. I've been using that time to run my errands and get a little more one-on-one time with the youngest two, especially Will. It's also been nice to go on walks in the morning. With the 3 of them Ainsley either has to walk, which means we can't go fast or far, or I have to wear Maggie in the Bjorn, which also means we can't go fast or far. It's been great to get a couple nice, long walks in.

In a few weeks we'll be going to the Lake of the Ozarks with Mom & Dad. Ainsley is extremely excited about going to stay at the "cabinet" with Grandma and Grandpa! :) She's counting down the night naps now.

The other day the kids and I were outside; I was chatting the neighbor while the kids rode their bikes back and forth between our houses. While we were chatting, a baby squirrel came hopping up to us. I called the kids over while Janet ran in to grab some pecans. He ate right out of Ainsley's hands, and climbed into my lap when I sat down. He wanted to climb on the kids but they weren't sure about that. They'd back away from him and he'd end up chasing them around in circles. I wish I had gotten a video of it, but I was too busy making sure they didn't step on him. Wouldn't that be a traumatic childhood memory? I don't know what became of the little guy, but one can only hope his mom found him and took back up to the nest. I was telling one of my friends about the experience and she said, "I thought that kind of thing only happened in Disney movies!"

Life Can Slow Down a Little Now

Goodness, we've been busy lately! Three weeks ago John was in Minneapolis for work so the kids and I went to Wichita to see John's sister & her family, and then to Hutch. We had a great time in both places and the kids got to go to Mom & Dad's annual pool party. A few days after we got back Will came down with Hand Foot & Mouth Disease, and Maggie followed a few days later. We had friends come to town that weekend to go to a Royals game with us. We had to change plans around a little so our kids wouldn't infect their kids, but we still got to spend time with them and have a great time (all thanks to John's mom who did some babysitting for us!).

Last week we went to Hutch for Uncle Joe's funeral. It's still hard to believe he's gone, but his memorial service was lovely and we really enjoyed spending time with the family. We came home on Saturday, and then on Sunday John had to fly out to Portland for work. It's my first week alone with the kids since we've had Maggie. It's going pretty well, but man am I exhausted!

Of course the most exciting thing to happen lately is that today was Ainsley's first day of preschool! She woke up at 5 this morning and was too excited to go back to sleep. She did great and had a good time, though she was disappointed that they didn't do a craft project. I did great too, and only shed a few tears. :) Getting them all ready and out of the house on time was a challenge. I look forward to next week when John will be doing the drop-off! Here are some pictures - her backpack is almost as big as she is!

Prayers

Seems like there is so much sad news coming in lately. My Uncle Joe collapsed yesterday morning from a heart attack and was gone a couple hours later. He was a really, really good man and I still can't believe he's gone. I can't stop thinking about his wife, Mary. I also worry about my grandmother. I'm glad I'll get to see her soon, but I sure wish it was under different circumstances.

My Uncle Jay is also in the hospital, facing possible paralysis. We're praying hard for a full recovery for him.

Hopefully this is the end of the bad news for this family. You all take care of yourselves!