It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Because we seem to enjoy chaos, we decided before we even unpacked from our recent trip to IN, to bring out even MORE crap, so we could decorate for Christmas yesterday. We're gluttons for punishment, what can I say? But, with Pete leaving Friday for his 2-week stint in China, we're on the clock and trying to get all those family things out of the way now, since he won't be back until the week before Christmas.




We headed to the store and looked for some more lights for outside, so we could put lights all the way around the house, but Pete really wanted LED lights and they didn't have enough strands, so we've decided to do that next year instead. Opting THIS year to get this really fun LED tree. :-) Pete and Noah put it together, while watching the Colts play. Pete's informed me that he now hates the Bears, because they suck so much and will now cheer on the Colts. I'm sure my best friends are thrilled!

This is what our house looks like now with the outside lights. We don't have gutters on the rooftop, so we put our lights in the ground. See the cool tree?! Only problem with putting them in the ground is that inevitably the ground freezes and we have lights out until Feb. We don't turn them on though, so that makes it somehow better, right?

We brought the tree up, but didn't actually get around to decorating last night. Pete once again decided to upgrade and wanted LED lights on the tree, so he went out last night and didn't get home until almost bedtime so we decided to put the ornaments on tonight instead. Madie had dance class, so they put up ornaments very quickly when she got home. So quickly in fact, that I was on the phone and Pete was on the computer when we realized they got the ornaments out themselves and had decorated the entire lower-half of the tree without our knowledge! So, we quickly swooped in and moved some things around, so it didn't look so bottom heavy.

Here are my shelves we decorated yesterday. Not really happy with how it turned out, but honestly can't figure out how to make it look better and I was too tired to mess with it, so that's the way it's gonna stay.

This year is the first year I've had this couch at Christmas time and because we now have a solid-color couch, I could buy Christmas pillows!!! Yay!! Was sooo excited to buy Christmas pillows. The kids have been informed they are not to lay on the Christmas pillows. The green pillows are our normal, every day pillows, so those are the ones they are permitted to use. I expect this rule to last maybe another day or two at most, since most of my rules are ignored. Oh well. I'm enjoying them anyway - however brief that time is.

So, we are kind of ready now for December. Not really ready for Christmas and everything that comes with it - parties, field trips, etc... And, certainly not ready for Pete to be gone when all this is happening. Not easy to be a mom of 3 very active, busy kids without my partner, but we'll manage. Just praying for safe travels for him and healthy, safe times for us. Let Christmas Begin!!

Another Tooth Bites the Dust!

Noah lost his 2nd tooth in less than a week!!! He lost his last one, if you remember, during SS at dad's church. Well, today at Em and Jeff's house, he hit his tooth on something, which really hurt him, but it knocked that old tooth of his straight out! It was bleeding and Noah was crying, so I held up a kleenex to stop the bleeding and while I did that, I twisted it and wiggled it until it finally came out. He looks so cute with his missing teeth!! Let's just hope the tooth fairy doesn't fall asleep too early tonight or get side-tracked, so Noah gets his money this time. :-)

Thanksgiving at the Trolingers

Well, we just got back from IN about an hour ago and here I am blogging about our trip already! We had a really fun time! We got to Warsaw on Wed night and Pete's Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Nancy were already there. They live in KY and we only get to see them once a year when they are up for Thanksgiving, so we always look forward to that. :-) We had a fun time hanging out with them and Pete's parents that night. Thursday was actually a pretty relaxing day. Sue had made the turkey the day before, so all she had to do was heat it up and make the trimmings. I got a few texts from my friends, got to look at ads for Black Friday, and enjoy sitting around and chatting. Not a bad way to spend a day!



Thanksgiving isn't complete without mashed potatoes and gravy. And, since mashed potatoes are Pete's favorite, he always takes on the task of mixing them up! Doesn't he look sexy in his green apron? Woo-Hoo! Nothing like a man in the kitchen, if you ask me! :-)

While we were getting the tables set and the last of the food made, the kids - meaning our kids and our niece Allyssa - were playing in legos in the playroom. The kids had so much fun playing together. It was nice that they were able to spend time together.

We all gathered around the table and enjoyed the food. :-)

The kids sat at the table behind us. Nana made a plate of crescent rolls just for Noah. Thankfully he shared with his sisters. They ate those up in no time!

The rest of our visit was nice. I sadly came down with the MOST upset stomach I have had in a while. I hadn't taken my Prilosec properly, I think, because after we ate on Thurs (and I only had a single plate) I was miserable for the next 6 hours. Did the same thing on Friday. Not even an hour after I ate lunch, I was in misery until about 7. Just awful. But, I was able to still enjoy hanging out and seeing our families. On Black Friday, I got up at 4am and headed up to Goshen to shop with Em and Jeff. Oh my gosh! That was so fun! I have a ball every year. Poor Em though. She was SOOO swollen after just a couple hours and got worse as the morning went on. I left them around 11 or so that morning and her feet had expanded out of her shoes and her hands were so puffed up. Just felt so bad for her. It seriously looked like you could poke her with a fork and her feet were spirt out water. She was doing much better by that evening when she had gotten home and put her feet up. After I was done shopping, went back to the Trolingers and we all talked about our purchases. Pete had gone out shopping with his Uncle Ronnie, so I got to show his aunt and mom what I got and they showed me what they got. They got some great things too! We left around 5 to go up to my sister's house where they had mom and dad come over and we all had supper together. Thankfully by the time I got up there, my stomach had begun to settle. We had a fun time with them, though we were all so sleepy from the 4am wake-up call, that only Pete made it all the way through the movie we were watching. Just wish we had more time, because it's always goes by so quickly! Hope everyone else had a wonderful Thanksgiving and feel thankful for the wonderful things God does for us each and every day. Sometimes things come up that make it hard to see God's provision. We get frustrated by people in our life or the situations that come up, but God doesn't fail us. He loves us and provides for us. And, gives us comfort and joy when those difficult times come up. I am so thankful for a loving and faithful God that gives us all we could ever ask for or imagine. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Em's Baby Shower

We went back to IN this weekend to celebrate my niece's impending arrival with Em's baby shower. It was so much fun!!




Here's Em showing off her growing baby bump by the plethora of presents she received and those weren't even all of them. She had a few more stragglers that came after this picture was taken and she got few more with them.

The shower was at 10:30 and we had a wonderful brunch. Jeff's mom Sharma has friends from work that love to cook and have all these beautiful serving pieces. They offered to provide all the food for the shower and boy, did they provide some food!!! Delicious stuff! They even decorated with cute little baby girl things and candles and all that.

I had enough tables to seat 30 people, but we had to bring out another table, because we ended up with 36! It was a BIG shower! Em, Jeff, and I decorated the night before. Jeff hung all the snowflakes for us, since he's the tallest. While Em and I worked on making the centerpiece baskets. We had decorated everything in lavenders and yellows and had a mock mimosas at the tables for everyone. They were yummy!!

We played a couple games, then went into present opening. She got lots of beautiful blankets, clothes, bibs, toys, etc... And, got a couple bigger items too. A pack-'n-play and bumbo seat. Jeff's mom and grandma got them a crib and mom and dad got her a bottle warmer and some blankets and stuff. I went to her house later that night and they are in the midst of sorting and getting everything ready for her arrival. The nursery is almost done and is looking so cute!! We're going back later this week for Thanksgiving and I'm planning on helping them finish up their sorting, so they are ready for this baby to come. And, since I love organizing, I'm really looking forward to it!! Now, if I could only get motivated to organize MY house!

Here are Em and Jeff after the shower. I'm so excited for them! They are going to make terrific parents and this baby will be a blessing to our whole family. Can't wait to babysit!!!!!!

Noah's First Tooth

We were in IN this weekend for my sister's baby shower. I'll post those pics later. But, at church yesterday, Noah was eating vanilla wafers and realized his tooth was missing!! It had been super-wiggly and it fell right out. :-) But, the sad thing was, he swallowed it, so he had no tooth to give the tooth fairy.




Here he is after Sunday School with his missing tooth. :-)

So, last night, when we got home, he wrote a note to the tooth fairy. Cracked me up! Straight and to the point. :-) There was a bit of a debacle this morning though, because he came in at 6:30 to tell us the tooth fairy forgot to give him money. He was very disappointed. I told him that the tooth fairy doesn't usually come on Sundays, since it is the "day of rest" and he bought that, so he was fine. In the tooth fairy's defense, she watched the midnight showing of "New Moon" on Fri, then proceeded to stay up late all weekend at her parents' house, so when we got home yesterday, she fell asleep before 8pm, so she didn't have a chance to deliver the money. But, her husband, the sneaky fairy he is, went into Noah's room, while he was watching TV and put the money under the other pillow in his room that he didn't check under and mentioned to Noah that he should look under BOTH pillows. So, Noah discovered the money and was thrilled to pieces. So, the day was saved!!! His other tooth is also very, very wiggly, so I won't be surprised if he loses that one too this week.

New Moon

OH. MY. LAWN!!!! I went to see "New Moon" at the midnight showing early Friday morning. I met my friends at 10pm (they had gotten there at 9:30) and the crowd had filled up the entrance of the theater. It was crazy!! Imagine Black Friday crowds and it was basically the same thing, minus the carts and the shopping. Just wall-to-wall people. And, I'm proud to say I was not the oldest one there! They started filling up theaters at 11 and we just missed being part of theater one, which worked out for us, because we got great seats in theater 2. After the 30 freaking minutes of previews, the movie finally started at 12:29am. I didn't get home until 3am. But, it was worth every single minute of it!!!! Absolutely loved it! In fact, loved it so much, my sister and I went again last night for the 9pm showing. When I went on Friday, everyone was so worked up, that girls were cheering Edward's name as the movie began. When Edward came on screen the first time, everyone sighed and giggled. When Jacob came on, there was gasping at the sight of his gorgeousness. :-) Last night, the cheers and cat calls were at a minimum, but still happened, which just made me laugh. It was really a fun atmosphere and a great way to watch the movie. I mean, it's nearly impossible NOT to sigh when you see Edward and Jacob. They're beautiful! So, if any of you out there still on the cusp about reading and watching the Twilight series, I say "Turn that corner!" and get caught up! Great, great stuff!!

The Web Cam

Pete went out last night and got us some web cams, so when he's in China he can talk with us, video and all, over Skype. As you can see above, the kids LOVE getting to do this. I thought it would be fun to do talky blogs with them once in a while. Looking forward to doing some talky blogs with my dad this weekend for his blog as well. Just adds a little something extra. This way you don't have to always READ about the silliness that is our daily life, but you get to see it first hand. Aren't you lucky?! ;-) I will warn you that any (and probably all) talky blogs we do will be loud and crazy and more than likely will not make a whole lot of sense. But, that is the life of a mom with 3 active kids, so get ready for the insanity!

You Know They're Well Again When...

....they've replaced napping and quiet time with screaming and laughing. You can tell my kids are well again just by the way they acted at supper tonight. And, this part I recorded was fairly normal. Earlier Livie had been yelling and singing in her monster voice as loud as she could. And, Noah was cracking everyone up with his talk about cornacopias, which apparently are the most hilarious thing in the world to 6 and 8 yr olds. I could literally not hear Pete who was just 2 seats away from me at several points tonight. Guess I should be thankful they're all well and back to their crazy ways. I like the insanity more than the sick-induced quiet that we've had for the past couple of weeks. But, it's no wonder why my hearing is rapidly getting worse. Good grief!! They have followed me in here as I type this to continue their loud craziness. Guess things are back to normal now! I will mention though, that the sweater-tossing is not normal for even a crazy day. Don't know where in the heck that came from!

New Moon is Coming!!

I have officially changed my background and header in preparation of the premiere of "New Moon" which comes out Friday. I am going with friends to the midnight showing of it this Thurs/Fri and I can't wait!!! I had heard all the hype about the movie "Twilight" when it came out last fall and really had never heard of the series and didn't understand why anyone would be interested in a vampire movie. But, shortly after the movie came out, my sister told me that she read "Twilight" and loved it and was reading the rest of the series. So, I asked for it for Christmas and got it. Well, I also got 7 other books, so I read those first, because honestly, wasn't that interested in the book, but I trust my sister's choices and finally broke down and read it in Feb. I remember the day exactly, because it was a Sunday and I was bored and thought I'd go ahead and read it. I had a meeting that afternoon and by the time that meeting rolled around I was so sucked into the book that I didn't want to put it down!!! I did. Long enough to complete my obligation to this meeting, but as soon as I got home, that book was in my hands and I read the rest of it that night. Well, here it was Sunday night and I didn't have the other 3 books of the series!!! I went to Amazon and had them 2nd day air them to me, because even an hour after finishing "Twilight" I was having withdrawl symptoms. ;-) So, I reread "Twilight" until "New Moon", "Eclipse", and "Breaking Dawn" came. Read those 3 books on Wed and Thurs, my brain turning to mush, but totally and completely in love with a 17 yr old vampire by the time I was done with them. I have reread the series now several times and can't WAIT for the movie to come. Wasn't as impressed with the movie as I have been with the books, but when has a movie ever done a book justice? Plus with Rob and Taylor, it's worth the $10 just to see them in those roles! So, this week, my blog's background and header will be dedicated to this awesome series!!

Madie's Famous!

Madie's in the newspaper! Well, not so much "her" as "her head". We've been getting free weekly newspaper by a new place in Ottawa, called "Ottawa Delivered" and when I took it out of the mailbox on Friday, I recognized some of the kids on the front page and realized "Hey! That's Madie's class!". Since I volunteer in there, I know where she sits and sure enough, there was her head. You can see where she is in the red circle. I know it's not much, but for an 8 yr old, it was thrilling! And, thankfully she looks like she was studying hard. Pretty cool to have a front-page spread in an Ottawa paper when we're from Marseilles. That doesn't happen often.

This is What Happens....

Hard to see this picture, because our stupid, foul, filth, and foul camera's flash won't work!! But, I digress. This is what happens when you're up half the night coughing from swine flu. You sit in the corner of the room, under an electric blanket, and fall fast asleep. :-( Poor thing. Both Noah and Livie are home from school today after successfully going back to school on Tuesday. Doh! Last night they started getting the infamous, end-of-the-flu cough. I don't know if it's infamous, but it seems to be happening to my family and to others I've talked to that have had it. So, we got one good night of sleep a couple days ago in order for us to make it through these next couple of days of coughing. Hopefully that means they are nearly done and will be better soon, but these kids have been falling asleep in the oddest places and napping nearly every day, which is so unlike them. Livie curled up with me while I was reading a book yesterday and fell asleep. Even when I tried laying her down beside me, she sat right back up to snuggle. Sad she was sick, but LOVED the snuggling! Noah was laying on the floor doing something yesterday afternoon as well and fell fast asleep. When he woke up, he thought it was time to get ready for school. He didn't understand that he fell asleep during the afternoon and that it was now 5pm. It took a while for his brain to catch up with that concept. So, it's been an ongoing, interesting couple of weeks for us. Just praying that tonight they do better and will be cough-free/flu-free very, very soon. :-)

I Hate Broccoli

My summer broccoli shirt:


My new winter broccoli shirt:



As you can see in the first picture, my summer shirt was beginning to fade from all the use! I wore it almost weekly to promote our cause and was afraid that the message was becoming unclear, so today I made a new one - my winter version. I think this one is even bolder than the last! :-) I haven't posted lately about our mission, because I've been so busy. But, nothing has ever deviated me from the point at hand. When taking Livie to school one day, Noah was with me, wearing his shirt and a grandmother jokingly said, "Oh those kids. You try and give them healthy foods, but they just don't like them, do they?" I had to correct her and tell her that it's actually not just him, but a family mission statement of ours to hate broccoli. She looked at me as though I had lost my mind, but that's ok. I'm used to those looks. It's all in the name of the cause. We did have a bit of a minor setback with one of our members late last month. My dad, one of the founding members of BMBD, actually cooked up some broccoli for my mom. I guess he had taken the wrong medication and it made him temporarily lose his mind, because I can't believe for one minute he would do that of his own free will, but as he was cooking it, the putrid smell of the broccoli suddenly brought him back to senses and he realized he was making the filth. He said the smell was so bad that even Hobbes left the room and let me tell you, Hobbes is nearly 18 yrs old. He himself smells literally of death, licks his own butt, and drinks from the toilet - yet HE was offended by the broccoli. I'm not telling you this to throw my dad under the bus. He quickly realized the errors of his ways and had to suffer through a day's worth of stench as his punishment, but I thought it was important to share this to remind us all of the hideousness of this weed and not stray from our mission of its eradication. So, those of you who already have shirts, wear them proudly. Those who do not and are interested, if you send me a shirt, I will gladly put our logo on it and send it back free of charge. After all, it's all for the betterment of our country and world. So, send in your shirts and become a proud member of BMBD. Boldly denounce this frightening trend of broccoli consumption. You'll feel better for having done it!

Fall

It is such a beautiful day outside, so while I was out Christmas shopping, Pete took them out while he worked on our disaster of a flower garden. It's been so cold and rainy all month, we haven't been able to do any of our fall clean-up. Well, when I got there, I helped rake the few leaves we had in our yard and the kids thought this was the perfect chance for them to play in them. For those of you who haven't ever been out here, we have A tree. Not 2 trees or 3 trees, A single tree. And, it's a plum tree, so it has very small leaves. Our neighbors have trees and those leaves blow into our yard, so we were able to rake up a small pile, which the kids loved. They've never jumped in a leaf pile before. Isn't that sad. So, here are some videos of them playing in the leaves today. :-)

Oh, and another Swine Flu update.... Livie has it. How she has it after having the vaccine is unknown to me, except that she only got 1 of the 2 doses, so maybe that's why. So, while Madie is almost completely over it, Noah and Livie have been fighting the fevers and coughs and made for a couple rough nights. Thank goodness for our "medical journal" though. Between 3 kids getting 2 kinds of medicine, we've had to write down each dose we give them at what time, so we can keep it all straight!

Cuteness and H1N1 Update

Took this picture today during lunch. Livie was supposed to be eating, but she got awfully quiet, so I looked over at her and she was sound asleep! And, in the weirdest position too! So cute. :-) Anyway, thought I'd give you all an update on our lovely bout of Swine Flu. Seriously soooo many people around here have it, I'm not surprised at all that we do too. Madie was well enough to go back to school today. She was really anxious to get back. Guess she got bored with sitting home all day and doing homework all night. So, hopefully her day went well. Noah had a rough night last night. Pretty high temp and pretty yucky coughing. He went back to sleep after he got some medicine, but this worried mom had a hard time going back to sleep, so I'm pretty tired today. He seems to be doing ok today. Fever off and on and coughing off and on, but I'm trying to stay up on the medicine to keep it all at bay. I was talking on the phone last night to a friend of mine from church. She's 2 weeks into Swine Flu with her family and she was giving me tips on what to do. She had talked to a doctor and he said to keep up on the antihistamine, because the mucas is the part that is causing the coughing/bronchitis/pneumonia that is so bad for these kids. And, honestly I noticed when I gave Madie Triaminic with that in it, she did much better than she did taking just cough medicine like Robitussen. So, Noah's strictly on Triaminic and that seems to be working ok. I worry about him, because he has a tendancy to get really terrible coughs and at times can be weezy, so I'm watching him closely. Please be praying that it passes through our family without too much upset. Livie had an H1N1 vaccine the day before Madie got sick, so I'm hoping that means she's going to be ok, but she's had cold symptoms since she got the vaccine, so I'm not sure if it's just a side effect or something more. So, that is our update. Still pushing along and trying to get everyone well and keep those of us that ARE well in that same position.

Turkeys!!

There isn't a lot about where we live that I enjoy. There are more bars than churches, there's no shopping to speak of, and it's apparently rampant with skunks! But, there is something that happens this time of year, every year, that makes it a lot of fun. The turkeys come out! Every year from the end of October until early December, we will be driving down our road and we'll see a rafter of turkeys (and yes, I had to look that up!). Madie's home today, just to make sure her fever is gone, before sending her back to school, so after we dropped off Noah, we drove back and came across 20 turkeys crossing the road. So, I pulled over, Madie got Livie out of her car seat, and I rolled down the windows, so the girls could talk to them. They were on both sides of the street, with many still on the street, so I couldn't drive by. But, they finally all passed, so I drove a few doors down to our home and got my camera. By the time I got back they were in a neighbor's yard - about 7 houses down - at her bird feeders. This is why they come every year. They feed on her bird feeders. She might be annoyed by it, but the kids and I look forward to it every year. When they were little, they would shout at them "Go hide or we'll eat you!!!". Livie said the same thing today. So funny! So, turkey season has begun! Bring on Thanksgiving!!!