Hello from Cincinnati!

Hey there Yogi Bear! Howdy from Cinci! I've had a blast here, and have been here all week for work. It's my first ever work trip, and I've never been away from hubby and the kids for this long. (Confession: it was a great working vacation! Seriously....when else have I had a bathroom all to myself for a week?) I have never worked or played so hard in a long time. I'll fill you in more later, but the highlights of the week were getting to go to my company's corporate offices and meeting the "big" people, personal freedom, getting to make new friends from all over the US/Canada, plus from the Phillippines and India. Way cool! Also, I have to confess - we stayed out last night forever - I finally got to my hotel room at 5:30am!!!! (Understanding too that I was with a Director over all of North America and we were in several hotel rooms for a long time talking...) Anyways, I need to finish up some work stuff and catch my flight - I am soooooooo ready to get home and see my husband and my babies!!!

Happy New Year!

Our prayer is that 2008 finds all of our friends and family knowing how high, how long, how wide, and how deep is the love of God. Blessings to you all!

The Polar Express

Grammy and Papa had gotten us all tickets to ride the Polar Express the Thursday after Christmas, to take Santa back to the North Pole. We didn't tell the kids until we got there, otherwise they would have been jumping out of their skins. It was SOOOOOOO COOL!!!! (And I'm not 8 years old, and it was soooo COOOL!!!) I was really impressed, as was everyone else, since the only thing missing from the movie was Tom Hanks himself. We all waited out on the platform for the train, and it pulled up, larger than life, bleching out black smoke and hissing steam just like in the movie. We boarded car 6, and each car had their own hot chocolate chef as well (ours was Dylan.) We all sang Christmas carols to start off, complete with songbooks, and the best part was the chefs dancing to the Twelve Days of Christmas. (If I can figure out how to add video on here I'll post it - Az5 still does the partridge in a pear tree one.) Then Santa came in, and of course had a bell for each kiddo. The trip to the North Pole was a bit shorter than we expected, but it was gorgeous - no lights anywhere, and it had snowed the night before - PERFECT! Plus, Santa had it all lit up with beautiful blue and white lights. He hopped off, and we backed down to the train station, enjoying hot chocolate and the storybook of the Polar Express. The kids really seemed to enjoy it all, and I think all of us adults enjoyed watching them enjoy it as well!

Merry Christmas!

I hope yours was as nice as ours. We started the Saturday before Christmas with my parents, opening gifts from us to them and to the kids. It was lots of fun, and very homey - Mom made her homemade soup, we had way too much to eat with snacks, and the kids had a blast opening presents then. Then on Sunday, we drove the 500 miles to Grammy and Papa's house. Gran and Codfish (Hubby's grandparents) were there as well, and we hadn't seen them since an April family wedding. Christmas Eve, we all sang carols (Grammy played the piano and Codfish played his clarinet), plus we read the Christmas story with a neat twist - we all had a piece of a nativity set, and each put their person in at the appropriate time in the story. It was fun for the kids to see how it all came together. Santa Claus came and brought everyone what they had asked for - a pink digital camera for Az4 and a Nintendo DS game for Az3. Plus Grammy and Papa gave the kids their own bikes, which will be so much fun when it warms up. The big surprise for Christmas was the Wii at Grammy and Papa's house - everyone could play, and it was almost more fun to watch people trying to run/jump than actually playing!

Our Christmas card tree

We have the neatest Christmas card holder. It is in the shape of a tree - just a round gold wire that wraps up around and around in the general cone shape of a Christmas tree. It has stars on the wire all around the sides that hold our Christmas cards. I am so pleased to say it is very full already - and I love it!!! It is so good to hear from our family and friends at this special time of year, so to those of you that have already sent cards, thank you very much!! If you haven't yet, keep us on your list! (Ours should be in the mail no later than Thursday...getting pictures done first.) We've also gotten several e-cards, which are great as well - we just print them out and add them on the tree. It is a nice visual reminder for me of all the people that are loving/praying for us as we head towards the finish line in this crazy graduation game - MAY 10, 2008!! :)

Update on Az5

Some of you know that we have struggled with Az5 since her first birthday - she has not ever been able to take regular whole milk. While it doesn't make her sick, let's just politely say that since she's still in diapers, you don't want to be around afterwards.... Anyways, we have tried off and on to switch her from soy milk (which she tolerates) to whole cow's milk and it just hasn't worked. We have done several stool samples to rule out rotavirus, etc, which have all come back normal. We've finally concluded that she is lactose intolerant. We've gotten to the point where we are checking ingredient labels for milk, and have noticed two things. One is that sometimes when it says it contains milk, it is just the whey from milk, and she can handle that without a problem. However, if it says lactose, then it bothers her. Fortunately for us, we have been able to find lactose free milk, cheese-free pizza, and other lactose-free items. My hope and prayer is that she is able to outgrow this as she gets older - closer to 4 or 5. If not, we definitely have more options for her than from even when I was growing up. Bon appetit!

How was Thanksgiving?

Ours was very nice - very thankful too. We stayed here and went to my parents house, where my brother, sister, and my brother-in-law joined us. Everyone arrived on Wednesday, and we came over on Thursday. Of course we had our Thanksgiving morning traditions: all the pumpkin bread we can hold, as well as the Macy's parade on TV. Then it was over to GrandMommy's for cooking/snacking/football. We ended up eating around 4ish I think, and one of the first things we did was go around the table, stating one thing we were the most thankful for. We started with the kids, and both of the older two mentioned very nice things, like family and friends. Then it was the baby's turn.....and she said,"Uuummmm....." and then got down (from the kids' table ;) ) and walked over to our table, to Az1. She outstretched her arms for him to pick her up, and said,"My daddy!" Break out the kleenex!!!! It was a wonderful day, full of good food and being around the family, and also SNOW. Can you believe it? It was bitterly cold, and started snowing before we ate that afternoon. Nothing that stuck past the next morning, but it was very pretty.
Of course the next day we were in for our annual Holiday Urgent Care visit. Honestly, every year since Az3 was two years old, we have visited the Urgent Care place on some holiday during the year for someone. This year Az5 decided to have strep throat the day after Thanksgiving. Fortunately it didn't ruin any shopping plans for us, just delayed getting our tree and decorations up. However, she has since shared nicely with her siblings, and we have completed now 4 rounds of antibiotics between the 3 of them since the day after Thanksgiving. Joy! ;)

Happy Halloween!

Yes, I know...just a tad bit late. But better late than never, right? (Besides I've just now seen some of your kids' pics in email anyway....that's what brought it to mind.)

This year, we are proud to present Zorro, Sleeping Beauty, and Raggedy Ann. Each has a special memory to it - Zorro started out wanting to be Scooby Doo, then a Ninja Turtle, then the Masked Rider (go TECH!), and then we settled on Zorro. Especially with such a cool hat!! Sleeping Beauty was very proud that she didn't have to wear a wig - she "had Sleeping Beauty hair already". LOL!

The best part to me about this year was Raggedy Ann. This is a very special costume to me. My grandparents gave me a Raggedy Ann doll that was about 3 feet tall when I was 4-5 yrs old. I loved that doll to pieces, literally!! My sister wore the costume when she was 3 too. The doll really is gone, but it is such a special memory for me - and what a precious gift too, to have my daughter now wear that. (getting teary now....better just post the pictures...!)

Az3's Bday Party

We had a blast! It was at a local workout place that has an indoor waterpark area - as a mom I was soooooooo pleased to give that to him, because he had been asking almost since his last bday to have his party there. We invited a few church friends and a few school friends, so he had about 7 there; he was so cute too - very insistent that Az4 should come, but not Az5, as she "was a baby, and this was a big kids' party." LOL! They played their little hearts out too - there was a huge bucket at the top of the structure, that would fill with water and tip over every 5 mins. At the beginning, all of the kids would run away when it tipped over, but by the end of the party, they weren't even paying attention. They had over an hour to play too - by time to eat cake, Az4's lips were blue. (It was an indoor water park, but not heated!?!? Explain that one to me....) Anyways, he had a blast that day, so did his friends, and he STILL (over a month later) talks about what a cool/awesome/fun bday party that was. Yay for Mom! :)

The Soccer Drama Continues...

This soccer season has started off interesting, that's for sure! Our coach is very nice (we are on the same team as last year) but he can't give the team the commitment they need. Practice has now been cancelled more than it has been held for the 3 weeks we've been in the season, because his job takes him out of town more than he is here. For example, after Saturday's game (which we lost pitifully due to one practice this last week with 4 players) he announced he would be out of town all week, and there would be no practices AGAIN. Daddy and I have had enough of this, so we announced we would hold practices Tues/Thurs. We'll see who shows up; one player has already transferred to another team. We've decided to hold out this season on the same team, and then we are probably done. Az3 is enjoying it, but not LOVING it. Plus, we really think he has much more of an aptitude for music, so we'll probably get him in something along those lines in the spring.

Speaking of Mr. Az3, he turns 8 tomorrow! Can you believe it?!? Where has the time gone? Where did my baby go? I can still remember the first few times I held him in the hospital, and all the wonder we had for eachother. One thing that hasn't changed: all the love I have for him in my heart. Tomorrow we are going to go to the fair after school, which will be a big treat. Happy Birthday, Mr. A!!!