I miss my Mom and Dad

But we had a great time! It was mostly low key, and hanging out, but I loved every minute of it.

We took a tour of the Chocolate Factory.

I always knew I was weird. And now I know why...

Yes, folks, you are seeing correctly. That is my dad, stealing candy off the sanitized table. And eating it. In front of the tour guide. With zero remorse. I think our tour guide nearly fainted. Next time, they will have to hand out gloves in addition to hair nets.

TURTLES!!!

Here eating the free (tour guide approved) samples.

My parents have been on Campus three times. The first two times the Basilica was locked.

But we were persistent, and Wa La! So totally worth the frigid cold walk in icy wind to get there.

Oh, yeah, and they bought us a Wii for Christmas! (sigh) I love my mom and dad.

Highlights of Christmas

It's a wee bit creepy looking out our window at night and seeing two "men" looking in.

Christmas Eve Dinner. Yummmm
Notice baby Jesus in utero, and below, baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes weighing in around 35 pounds. Yikes! Poor Mary.
Lohn and I went to Midnight Mass at the Basilica. I am so glad we went. The whole service was centered around Christ and worshipping him, and I can't help but think that made Him happy. I learned a lot, and left with even more questions. My dad took a picture of the service we went to as it was being broadcast on TV.
Tamsyn got a squirrel webkinz. I think it rather resembles the ones on steroids on Campus. (Have you seen the SIZE of those critters???)
Ander was delighted to get Pixos finally. I haven't given in till now. I am hoping they have resolved the cocaine drugged induced problems when ingested.
Gunnar got his green dragon. I am so thankful he decided he wanted that instead of a Manta Ray. Dragons are much easier to find.
Sylas with his Zu Zu pet. I just barely retrieved it from his crib since it was talking away and bound to wake him up.
My most favorite picture of the day. And yes, he loves chocolate. And he has gotten very good at cheesing for pictures.
An example of a squirrel on steroids. My dad took this picture today on our campus walk. Isn't he a great photographer???!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Joint sickness

Thats what Tamsyn calls it. Her joint sickness. 2 years ago, just after recovering from a super nasty flu (I suspect swine), Tamsyn developed joint pain. It started in her toes, then went to her ankles and then knees, then hips (at which point she could no longer walk) and up to her shoulders and wrists. I had to carry her to the bathroom. I had to carry her into the doctors office. I helped her dress. It was awful and I felt so bad for her and she hurt so bad. They did extensive blood work, and she just seemed to recover on her own over a space of a month. Since then, her feet always hurt, and sometimes she complains when she kneels for family prayer. I have kept a wary eye on her, but have done nothing. But this week has been bad again. Not as bad as two years ago, thank heavens, but she has had a very hard time walking. I took her back to the doctor today, and they did more blood work. My doctor suspects Juvenile Rhuematoid Arthritis. But he had blood work done for Lymes Disease as well, just to rule it out. After we get the results, he is referring us to the childrens hospital in Chicago. My brave daughter endured another round of blood extraction, after which she nearly fainted. Is fainting genetic after needle visual? I need to know. And if so, how many of my children got this defective gene from Lohn? Any ways, she seems to be doing better now, especially now that she is on ibuprofen, and I am trying hard not to FREAK out, like I did two years ago. Dear Lord, please bless my little girl, and dearest peeps, please pray for my angel.

Computer CRASHES

And so here I am typing on Lohn's laptop. A few weeks ago, I downloaded the newest version of iTunes, and Viola! No more iTunes. And also, every time I clicked on Finder, my computer would restart. Weird huh? Our computer is about 5 years old, and Lohn and I looked at the cost of replacing it. The costs were astronomical and WAY out of our budget. So I called the new Apple store just ten minutes from our home, got us an appointment within just a few hours, they looked at it and said they would fix it for free. FREE! Turns out, my father-in-law bought some fantastic warranty for our computer when it was purchased. THANK-YOU DAD! 5 years down the road, and the warranty is still good. They said we will lose everything, which I am not happy about, but we have Carbonite. I will let you know in the next few days what I think of Carbonite. Either I will praise them to no end, or I will spend a lengthy blog on how evil and useless they are. Carbonite, serve me well or PAY!

Revenge...

So Lohn splashed water in my face and when I hollered, he dumped a full cup of cold water over my head. I am currently planning my revenge and Lohn is walking around the house wearing a rain coat... Any devilish semi-evil ideas on what form my revenge should take?

It's Christmas time!

I woke this morning, went to get Sylas, and noticed he was NAKED. I'm pretty sure he went to bed last night that way, because all of his bedding was wet with urine. Maybe we will duct tape his diaper on tonight. Also notice he is only diaper clad in the picture above. He LOVES being naked.

Family ice skating night

As soon as Ander found out that we were going ice skating, he was VERY apprehensive. He kept asking me if he could get skates that weren't on a thin blade. And as we walked towards the ice, he kept saying, "I don't want to skate mom!" Me, being the understanding parent that I am, said "Well you have too!" I forced him on the ice, and this is what we got.

He kept turning around to go back and I wouldn't let him. So he just clung to the wall and cried. Well, I forced my EXCELLENT parenting skills into motion and told him, "If you keep crying, I will take you to the middle of the rink!" How's that for a threat? Please understand, Lohn had Sylas and I had to put skates on 3 whining children and people were EVERYWHERE. I really need to stop leaving the house with four kids. It's not good for my equilibrium. But, gratefully Daddy was more patient, see below.

After a little bit of coaxing and encouragement from daddy, this was the result. He was even convinced as we left that he had fun!


I thank the Lord everyday in my prayers for my wonderful husband and I am so glad he is patient and loving with the kids to make up for the days when I am less so.

In case ya'll fear that I've lost all Christmas Spirit due to last post...

I promise, I haven't. We have been listening to Christmas music. I have my favorite CD in the car, so I turn it on every time we leave the house. We have been watching Christmas shows. Also, I have my kids super excited about doing the twelve days of Christmas to a family. My mom and dad always had me do the drop, knock and run every Christmas. It taught me a lot about the joy of giving to others anonymously. Because of their great example, I plan on my kids doing the same thing this year. I remember the service being the most special part of Christmas, and I am trying hard to harness that feeling for my children to experience. I have not done much Christmas shopping yet, but that will start happening as soon as Lohn is done with finals. I really do love Christmas time, I promise. It isn't TOTALLY the month from Hell. Just the barfing, snotting, coughing, feverish side of it is. So no fear, you will never hear me say Bah Humbug!

December, the month from HELL

At least, that was how it was last December. I counted our doctor visits last December, and it was 8. EIGHT times to the doctor, folks. And the health forecast is gloomy this month, with a chance of more puke and more boogies, and more sore throats. Poor Ander got in trouble in school today because he laid his head down on his desk. Because he had a headache. Ahem (holding my tongue here). Also he was quite distraught because the cinnamon roll at lunch didn't look good. Gunnar woke up just in time this morning to decorate our house with puke. Many thanks to the Vomit Fairy, I look forward to another visit from you in 5 days. And I can't swallow. If I had tonsils, they would be swollen to the size of a lime. And Tamsyn darlin' is right there with me. We keep downing the hot cider, it's the only thing that brings temporary relief. I am grateful for the lack of ear-infections thus far (knocking on wood VERY hard) and I am grateful for a husband who doesn't get sick. Ever. Lohn has never been to the doctor for an illness in the 11.5 years that I have known him. So we are just going to hunker down in our apartment, quarantine ourselves for the benefit of the world, and pass our germs back and forth between us with wild abandon. Okay, I am done grumping now. I am going to go clean up the confetti my children unearthed from who knows where. So long world, we will see you again in April when we resurface from our solitary confinement.

My favorite Gunnarisms of the day

I posted this on facebook, but I am posting it here too. It's just too cute.

Gunnar: Mom, what is that?
Me: Thats my birthday cake.
Gunnar: You are making your birthday cake BY YOURSELF? (insert astonished face)

Later after Gunnar tripped and tumbled
"Mom, when you fall down, thats how falling beats you. But when you stand up, thats how you beat falling"
Seriously? What a deep thought for a 4 year old.

My little Cuteness

I am so in LOVE with this little guy! He makes me giggle. He also drives me crazy. Every time I turn my back, he does something disastrous. Like pushing the chair up to the sink to play with the dirty dishes (including knives). If the chair is gone, he opens the oven and climbs up that way. Or dumps out the blocks I just cleaned up. Lohns glasses are currently missing (YIKES). He can't stand it if I am using the sewing machine, and will get on the table and poke the machine, just to hear me squawk. And he likes to crumble his crackers and drop them on the floor or rub yogurt in his hair. Goodness, I could go ON and ON, but really, it is all of these things that add to his adorableness. He loves to tease and will steal our seat as soon as we stand up, and giggle at us. He loves to hand out the scriptures at scripture study time and collect them at the end and put them away. When it is bed time, he will run away from us, climb into someones bed and pretends to sleep. He's a sweet baby, I love to cuddle him, and I melt when he calls me Mommer. I've never had a kid call me Mommer before. I am thankful every day for my sweet baby.