Our year in number, 2010 edition

Number of people in our family- 6, (that's it we are finally done)
Days Kristin was overdue- 7
Number of minutes from the time Kristin left work to the time she held Ian-94
Number of minutes from standing in the parking lot to holding a baby- 55
Number of times we said "I can't believe it's a boy"- 238,358
Number of people who said "so, you finally got your boy"- 239
Number of pigtails Kristin does before she goes to work- 6
Days spent at the pool- 45
Kids in school-3
IEP meetings-1
New jobs-0
Birthday parties Lauren was invited to- 1
Pounds of apples picked-14
Times we went to the pumpkin patch- 3
Milkshakes made-129
Drinks Bob drank for the world tour- almost 100
Days we snuggled Ian- 335
People who said "well, you certainly have your hands full"- more than I care to count
People who smiled and said "isn't that wonderful"- probably less than 10
Stitches received- 3
Children versus celing fan- 1 (celing fan won)

Days that we remain grateful and thankful for what God has given us- 365

Merry Christmas!!

From my house to yours

Christmas Eve Eve

And the presents are ready...




And the stockings are hung....




And hopefully there are visions of sugar plums dancing in my girly girls heads.

O Christmas Tree

Some pictures from the Jingle Breakfast at church this weekend.

Thoughts on Christmas

I was almost 36 weeks pregnant for Christmas. I have never been that pregnant on any Christmas (and I never will be again). The most pregnant I have been before is 28 weeks pregnant. Much different story.

I will admit that I thought about the Christmas in a new and different way. I was just thankful that no one was making me travel anywhere on a donkey. I know I couldn't have done it.

Merry Christmas

We spend Christmas at my parents house. There is lots of food, dogs, chaos, and presents

Lauren absolutely loved the Fancy Nancy doll she got.



Ellie poses sweetly in front of the presents.


Shannon has a case of too much Christmas


A rare picture of the girly girls and mommy.

Christmas Eve Day

The stockings are hung on the bookcase with care


Lauren got a Belle Ornament. She really likes it.


Ellie looks at the contents of her stocking.


Shannon makes it downstairs. She's already to go.


Shannon digs into her stocking and finds socks.


Opening presents is intense work.


This is actually Lauren's favorite present, once she figured out what it was. She loved her sleeping bag and hugged it and said "My wish came true"


Fancy Nancy is always a hit at our house. Ellie could wait to have this book read to her.



Shannon love the show "Ni-How Keiland". She got little stuffed animals of all the main characters. She kept yelling "My Keiland baby, my Toli Baby, My Ho-ho baby, My Lou-lou Baby, My Rin-too baby, all of my babies". It was definetely a hit. My big baby belly couldn't be left out either.


It was good to have Christmas (well, a day early) at home this year. We had a good time celebrating by ourselves.

Waiting for Christmas

We're going to my parents house tommorow so we are having our Christmas tomorrow. We're all ready.

Our year in numbers 2009

Welcome to the official year in numbers post for our family for 2009.

Members of our family that live outside Kristin's belly-5
Members inside Kristin's belly-1
Times we have referred to the baby as Omega-2093
Times people have looked at us strangely when we call the baby Omega-2090
Times people got the meaning without us explaining it-3
Number of pregnancy tests Kristin took in disbelief-2
Number of times we smiled when people said "wow, you have your hands full-145
Number of preschoolers-1
Number of big first graders-1
Number of girls who love school-2
Number of girls who wish they were in school-1
Number of letters Lauren knows-52 (26 upper case and 26 lower case)
Times we went Trick or treating-2
Pounds of candy brought up-10
Pounds that ended up at someone's place of employment-8
Times the girls went to the zoo-22
Times they went to the Splash Pad-25
Days spent at the Irish Festival-1
Days spent talking about what a good time we had at the Irish Festival-69
Amount of new jobs gotten-0 (finally!)
Number of tickly toes in our house-30
Hours Bob spent watching football- way too many
Amount of strands of lights on our house this year-3
Times a girly girl has said "our house is so pretty for Christmas- 29
Amount of ornaments currently off of our tree- 32
Amount of times Kristin has threatened to take down the tree-509
Days spent at a hotel-1
Slices of Earl's pizza eaten-6
Amount of cookies made by Kristin and the girly girls- dozens and dozens
Times no cookies have been left by the time Bob got home- at least 5
Drinks on the World Tour completed by Bob- 95, as of today! 5 more to go.
Days left in Kristin's last pregnancy-34, but whose counting.
Amount of times Kristin has ordered from Amazon-34
Amount of time shopping in a actual store for Chrismtas- way too many according to Kristin, only 1 hour according to Bob
Days when we are so thankful for each other and the many, many blessings the Lord has blessed us with this year: 365

Just too tired

I'm just too tired to go to the mall to go Christmas shopping. I've discovered the joy of Internet shopping in full this year.

However, we will be going tonight. My little two have a desperate need to see Santa and to sit on his lap. Big words and I'm wondering how it will play out tonight.

I've made heartfelt promises to Lauren that she will not have to sit or say anything to Santa. She does have to go to the mall with us but she can do it.

I keep joking that Bob will miss the UPS man come January. He must come to our house almost everyday. I hope it's not a hard break up. Hey, I signed up for a free trial of Amazon Prime. Nothing beats ordering a Care Bear watch that costs $4.49 and paying no shipping. I don't have to hunt for filler items to get to the magic $25 mark.

I even was late to work today because I was ordering a coming home outfit for the baby. Online, of course. It should be here in a few days and then I'll feel like I'm actually going to have a baby instead of carrying a very heavy bowling ball around.

Today, UPS and Fedex are coming. Maybe they'll show up together. I've always wondered if it's awkward for them.

Christmas fun

Ellie thought her best present was a hat, scarf, and glove set.


Shannon was not feeling good on Christmas but loved this hat.


A fancy Nancy game, Just what I always wanted!


Lauren opens presents.

A Cat Scan for Christmas

Lauren and I got to spend much of Christmas Eve Day at the hospital. She was scheduled for a sedated Cat Scan of her inner ears due to the balance problems she has. I will be shocked if they find anything wrong. When you are very impulsive and you don't think before you do anything, you fall alot.

The procedure was 5 minutes long. It was everything leading up to the Cat scan that was a big ordea. I knew there was no way in this univerese that she would be able to lay still in a big scary machine to get an accurate picture. I mean it's taking us two years for her to be able to get her blood pressure taken. She would have flipped out at the looks of the machine.

So, Lauren was the lucky winner of some sedation which has to be done through an IV. Did I mention Lauren hates needles? Did I mention she has had her blood drawn plenty? And had a lot of crazy procedures? Did I mention she is strong? Really, really strong?

Enter 4 nurses and mommy. It should have gone fine. I mean we have never had a problem with finding a vein. Why start now? Well, I guess Lauren figured that Christmas Eve day was as good as time of any. It took 4 sticks and an IV team to get an IV in. She has the bruises to prove it. I have the hearing loss to prove it as well.

After it was over and she was still out for the count, I had teh pleasure of rocking my 55 lb 5 year old. My big tough kidnergarten slept in my arms for over an hour as we rocked back and forth. I whispered to her how I much I love her and how she has changed my world. I whispered that while I didn't know what I was doing with her, God surely does. I told her that God has big plans for her life.

We just went on and on like that for a while. Then, some other kid got to come in for a sedated Cat scan and we got kicked out to MRI recovery. She eventually woke up after they washed her with cold water. I took her home and spent the next 4 hours curled up in a little ball.

I couldn't have asked for a better Christmas present.

Our year in Numbers

Miles moved-110
Boxes left to unpack- 7
New jobs started- 2
Kids in school- 2
Kids at home- 1
Months Shannon has been known as the baby- 18 and counting!
Trips to North Carolina- 1
Weddings attended- 1
New Family members we've acquired this year (by marriage) 1
New words learned by Shannon- 30
Letters Lauren can identify- 26 (15 upper case and 11 lower case)
Numbers of girl scouts in Lauren's Daisy troop- 7
Numbers of parties we 've gone to in our new neighborhood- 2
Times Lauren has said "Go Bucks"- 237
Times Ellie has worn her ballet skirt to bed- 329
Days Ellie has worn a dress this year- 342
Days we spent at the pool this summer- 52
Hours Bob and Kristin spent pushing kids in the swings- too numberous to count
Books we've read this year- 1052
Times we've seen a Barbie Princess movie- 239
Stitches received- 3 (by Shannon)
Urgent care trips- 4
Ambulance rides- 1
Broken bones- 1 (but in two places)
Number of football games watched according to Bob- not enough
Number of football games watched according to Kristin- way too many
Days we are thankful for what the Lord has given us- 365

It is finished

Christmas shopping that is. I strive every year to keep things simple and practical. We decided that we would get each kid three presents to represent the gifts that were given on that very first Christmas. One is always a book, one is usually an outfit and one is a toy.

This year Shannon is getting bristle blocks (yes, they still make them), Ellie is getting an Easel, and Lauren is getting a Tag reading system that we hope they like.

I finished with the stocking stuffers on Saturday. They get an ornament, a tooth brush, a hat and glove set, and a my little pony (from McDonald's that I had to eat three Happy Meals for).

We try to keep things simple so we can concentrate on why we celebrate Christmas: God became one of us.

Breakfast with Santa

We went to our local high schools breakfast with Santa. It was really, really fun. There were pancakes and crafts. Santa was sitting up on a stage waiting for people to get there pictures taken with him and not walking around greeting people. That was really important for Lauren. At almost 6, she is still absolutely terrified of him. That's one of the many reasons we don't emphasize him during Christmas.

Eating breakfast





Doing crafts




Shannon hanging out during the craft time



Stop the presses a picture of the five of us (and proof that I was there)

Christmas Gifts Advice

During the month of December, DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT go and by yourself a present. It doesn't matter if it is a book, a movie, and Ipod.

It may not occur to you that someone has already purchased that gift for you and is eagerly awaiting giving it to you and seeing your happy face come Christmas morning. Do not take that away from them.

Merry Christmas Bob!

An ornament thief

I keep finding ornaments scattered around the house. I think she might be the culprit.

N-O-E-L???

We have stocking hangers that spell out NOEL. We also have one more with the word NOEL on it. We've misplaced the stockings but I think they might be at my mom's so I'm not buying replacements yet. The re-decoraters keep striking and I keep waking up to L-E-O-N. Hey, at least they are making a word.

Snowball

I was tagged by my friend Joy.

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate. Hot Chocolate of course. The person who had the idea to melt chocolate, put it in milk and heat it up holds a very special place in my heart.

2. Does Santa leave presents wrapped or just sit them under the tree? We don't really do Santa. My 5 year old is terrified of him and has passed on her terror to the others.

3. Colored lights on the tree/house or white? Actually, none as of yet. We just moved to this house in September and haven't got around to it yet. I think we'll go with white. They just appear to be so clean. However, I'll probably get what's really, really on sale after Christmas. The lights on the tree are white. It was one of the last ones on sale so I just took the first one I could get and didn't even read the box until I got home.

4. Do you hang up mistletoe? Nope, never have.

5. When do you put up Christmas decorations? The Sunday after Thanksgiving. We usually do it as a family and order pizza. We then have a birthday party for Jesus after that. We haven't got to the birthday party due to illness. Hopefully, next weekend.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding desert)? Stuffed cabage. It is a Polish food. My parents don't make it for themselves because it is a lot of work. All of my sisters love it so they always make it for us.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child. The year of the fire. My dad was the service director of the city we lived in and one year there was a fire at the house. It was freezing and the water the fireman used cause horrible ice on several of the roads. He had to go out and oversee this. I remember waiting so anxiously for him to go home. It's not really my favorite memory. It's just my most vivid.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I was 12. I found the receipts for a bunch of toys.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Usually not. I think the kids will this year. It will be Christmas PJs.

10. How do you decorate the Christmas tree? With the kids. We have a collection of ornaments that mean something to us... even if it is just some that we bought to "fill" up the tree the first year we were married. They are like old friends to me.

11. Snow, like it or dread it? I like it. I mostly like the crispness of the first snow fall.

12. Can you ice skate? Absolutely not!

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? The necklace my husband gave me last year. I wanted to return it because it was too expensive. However, I didn't and I was able to see the love it was given with.

14. What is the important thing thing about the holidays for you? That God became one of us. That He walked among us. I strive to see the shadow of the cross in the manger. Otherwise, it doesn't make sense and it is simply another story.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Peanut butter blossoms. Just seeing them reminds me of Christmas.

16. What is your favorite Christmas tradition? The Jesus Birthday Party.

17. What tops your tree? A star we just bought today. We have misplaced our tree topper and the kids were complaining so I needed something now.

18. Which do you perfer giving or receiving? I love to give gifts to my children.

19. What is your favorite Christmas song? Mary did you know?

20. Candy Canes! Yum or Yuck? Yuck! I'm a chocolate kind of girl.

21. What do you want for Christmas? A season pass to the zoo. We only live 5 minutes away and I want to go alot with the kids.

22. Do you attend an annual Christmas party? I will do a lunch at work type of thing.

23. Do you dress up for Christmas or wear PJs? We will wear PJs in the morning. The girls will probably wear dresses. We'll just wear pants and a nice shirt.

24. Do you own a Santa hat? No

25. Who do you normally spend Christmas with? My family (life isn't fair). I love being with my sisters.

I don't have one to tag

To me it's breath taking

To most people, it's just a Christmas tree, a not even all the way decorated Christmas tree. However, I look at in just awe.

To me, it is so much more then a tree. The ornaments are like old friends that I tought I would never see again. They were locked away in storage for so long.

We lived with Bob's mom for almost 3 years. I did grow to love his mom and I am forever indebted to her for her kindness. But her house was not mine. I was not in charge. I did not decide what or when to decorate.

This year I did. The day Sunday after Thanksgiving I was busting out with the decorations. We did it, we are finally home.