Monday, December 31, 2007

Christmas

Christmas Eve we went over to the Wahlquist's house and went caroling and then ate chocolate fondue. It was a lot of fun. We also got together with Thomases on Christmas day for games and food. I'm so thankful we have a lot of great friends here to share the holiday season with.

CarolingJordan eating chocolate

Kailyn eating fondue

Kailyn testing out her new bike. She loves it!

Saturday, December 22, 2007

The Year in Review

Wow! This has been quite the year. A very busy year with lots of changes. Really it was a year of firsts.

Caden's first steps
Our first paycheck in a really long time
First time Ken has been called Dr. Bassett (so weird! Sometimes I still can't believe he is a doctor)
We bought our first home.
Kailyn had her first day of preschool.
First time Jordan is truly potty trained.
First time living in Ohio.
First time we didn't go home to Montana for Christmas.
First time in awhile we didn't spend all summer in the pool.
First time our yard has been weeded and cared for in years.
First time I have ever been so thankful to be able to butter a piece of bread and hug and hold my kids and hope to be able to do it for years to come. (I had a scare early this year. I had some weird pain/stiffness/swelling/weakness that all pointed to Rhumatiod Arthritis or other chronic condition. To the surprise of us and the doctor it ended up being related to strep. We truly feel so blessed that it turned out to be nothing serious.)
First time I have gone a whole year without seeing anyone from my side of the family.
First time I have flown with all 3 kids alone. (it really was quite the adventure but it was better than driving all day in the car for 3 days straight.)

We definitely had a lot of change this year but we have also been greatly blessed. Here are some of the things we are thankful for.

Our health. That we are physically able to do the day to day things in life.
A great neighbor. He has helped us out so much. He has let us borrow his lawn mower when we first moved in, let us borrow his hedge clippers, given advice, and recently surprised me by cleaning up a massive pile of wood that the previous owners created (it was filled with branches and old christmas trees. I had been working at it but it was slow going with such a big pile and three little kids).
A great ward. They have been so great. I was really nervous to move from Arizona (I loved our old ward) but they have made it easier with walking group, book club, cooking group, and playgroup.
For people that have given us so much. We have been truly blessed by people's generosity (our couches, tv stand, dining room table, the girls' day bed, christmas tree...to name a few).
For every moment we get with Ken.
No longer living off of loans. It is so nice to actually have an income.

We have missed all of our family and friends very much but as you can tell we have been very blessed to move to such a great area where we have been able to make new friends and hope to continue to do so.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! Today is Christmas--well, for us, that is. Ken has to work all of next week so today was the only day we could celebrate. But first let me tell you about our Christmas Eve. Kailyn had a sing along at her preschool. I was impressed with how well the kids learned all of the Christmas songs. That night, per Kailyn's express request, we made cookies for Santa and put out "reindeer food" for Rudolph so he could find our house (it was a mix of puffed cereal, oats and glitter Kailyn got from preschool). We also read a book "The BEST thing about Christmas," watched the Luke II video, and sang Christmas carols around the tree. Finally, we put up our stockings for Santa. It was a really fun night.
Sing-a-long at Kailyn's Preschool

Scattering the reindeer food.
Making cookies for Santa
Christmas Day
Kailyn woke up this morning at 4 am and came into our room to say she was hungry (Ken, of course, slept through it all). I told her it wasn't morning time yet, to turn off the hall light and to back go to bed. After saying she was hungry again she went to bed. (We found out the next morning that she had peeked in her stocking, too).

After a yummy breakfast we opened presents. It was so fun watching the kids open their presents. They of course loved everything! Caden's favorite was a flashlight from Grandma and Grandpa J. He would turn it on and shine it in his eyes or mouth and say "cheese." He also loved a book he got from Aunt Sandy and Uncle Dave. Ken tried to take it from him at one point (so he could open another present) and Caden let it be known that he did not like having his book taken from him. I think Jordan would have been happy with just her stocking. It was hard to get her away from her chocolate so that she could open presents. Kailyn was very excited to give me the present she made at preschool. It was a hand print in some plaster with a little poem on the back. She was so proud of it, it was very cute and precious.

So this was our first Christmas all on our own, in years past we have gone home for Christmas. It was a lot of fun starting some of our own traditions. I must admit though, it feels a bit weird not to not be around a lot of the people we love.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Let it snow! Let it snow!

So Saturday night a huge storm came through Toledo. We got about 10" of snow in a 12 hour period. Church was canceled and so was preschool on Monday. Kailyn has been loving the snow. Anytime we go anywhere she feels the need to fall into the snow and make a snow angel...in her jeans and no gloves. She's also learned the wonders of snowballs. I've learned not to hold the door open for her when we get home because she is impossible to get in, which is actually ok with me (fresh air and exercise).
Here is one Kailyn's many snow angels.


Today Ken was post call. So after a nap we went out and made some snowmen/women. Kailyn was thrilled to have someone out helping her make snowpersons and to have a snowball fight with. Being the fair-minded lady she is, she insisted on making a snowperson representing each person in our family (Dad, Mom, Kailyn, Jordan, and Caden snowmen). Jordan is not so keen on the cold and outdoors right now, which is a bit weird because she is normally the one begging to go outside. Caden had fun stomping around in the snow and even helped roll a couple of snow balls.





Santa Claus is coming to town

Saturday, we had our ward Christmas party. It was a really good turn out. There were a lot of people and a lot of food. Ken was on call but was able to join us for part of the celebration (a wonderful/pleasant surprise). They had a little reenactment of the nativity, put on by the primary kids. It was very cute. Kailyn was one of many shepherds. (Pictured above in the yellow with dark blue head cover)

The big guy in red also stopped by. The girls were very excited to see him. When asked what she wanted for Christmas, Kailyn responded "presents." I think I can handle that one.

Jordan was acting a bit shy and refused to even look at Santa.

I was a bit nervous for Caden. He sat on Santa's lap and gave a look of question. I held my breath and waited for the freak out--you know the crying, squirming and look of "please save me! Get me off this strange guy's lap!" But he didn't cry, in fact he got a huge grin on his face and seemed quite happy to have met the guy (especially since he got a candy cane out of it).


Going Bananas

Ok, so last Saturday I needed to make a quick run to the store. When I got to Meijer's (it's similar to a Super Walmart for you Western people) it was crazy. Not only was it the last weekend to shop for things that needed to be mailed, but it was also the day before a major storm was predicted to hit (everyone was stocking up). Well, we got our few items and then got into the lines. They were very long even though every single one of the checkout lines were open. After being in line for awhile I realized I wanted some bananas. So I sent the two girls (We were right next to the produce) "Go and get a bunch of bananas--just one bunch of bananas, OK?" Well, they were gone for awhile and I was really not wanting to get out of the line I had waited in forever. Just when I was about to get out of line and go on the missing children search they suddenly appeared--each carrying as many bananas as their little arms could hold. I couldn't hold it in--I busted out laughing while everyone in surrounding lines started stepping back and reaching for cell phones to call the nut house (they couldn't see the girls--it must have appeared that I was going "bananas" and laughing at, well, nothing). Yeah, I should have seen that coming...they did get a bunch of bananas. Luckily, I was able to talk Kailyn into taking some of them back. I wasn't as successful with Jordan, so we were left with a whole "bunch" of bananas. Kailyn's response, "It's ok mom. Now we have some to eat and some to use for banana bread."

Friday, December 14, 2007

Tagged

Wow, I can't believe it has been so long since I posted last. Sorry. So Ken (my most wonderful, amazing husband) finally got it so I could download pics again. Three cheers for Ken. So I thought it would be fun to tag my kids. Here are a few things you may not know about them. Like I said Ken just got the program up and running today so I only have pics from the last couple of days. Now that I know I can download again hopefully I will be better about taking pictures. So here it goes....

Caden


1. He loves water. He gets so excited about water, drinking it that is. He is constantly asking for a drink (using sign language).
2. He does not like milk or juice. He is to the point where he won't even look at them, let alone try them.
3. He has a reflex that makes him cough when you put something in his ear (ie, when the doctor is looking in his ear or his ears are getting cleaned out)
4. Loves toast but refuses to eat anything else bread-related. He won't even eat the bread for sacrament. Totally opposite from our girls who love bread.
5. Has just recently, in the last few months, started sleeping past 5:30am. It is not unusual for him to wake up during the night, sometimes he asks for a drink but most of the time we have no idea why he is awake.
6. He is a drooler. The front of his short is constantly wet.

Jordan



1. Whenever she has to use the restroom and she is in the kitchen, she says, "Mommy, mommy I have to go potty!" She then proceeds to run the long way to the bathroom. She does this everytime. Even Kailyn has noticed. One time Jordan took the short way and Kailyn asked, "Why did she go that way?"
2. She is an insomniac. If she gets up during the night to go to the restroom it is guaranteed that she will be up at least 3 times after that just coming into our room and waking me up. She also sometimes just gets up during the night for no known reason, except to disrupt my sleep I'm sure.
3. Loves cereal. She is overjoyed when I let her eat cereal instead of the pancakes, waffles, etc. that I normally make.
4. Does not like eggs. She will sometimes ask for it because Kailyn asks for them (Kailyn loves eggs in any form), but then she won't eat them.
5. Will often carry around food forever. For example, the other day she was at a friend's house and she got some marshmallows. Well, when I came to get her an hour later she was still holding it. it is funny cause she will want something so bad but then will just hold it in her hand and it is not unusual that she will never eat it.
6. Loves to dress up and dance in this blue little outfit I got for free from somewhere. She is constantly coming up to me and asking me to turn on music so she can dance. I try to have her wear her clothes underneath the blue outfit because our house is a bit cold but she refuses. I don't know how she can stand to wear so little when it is so cold.

Kailyn



1. Is a rule follower. She is very literal. If it says do it this way that is the way we better do it.
2. Has no knee reflex. Ok so Ken says she has a little one (he can actually get it). Last time we were at the doctor there was a medical student there and the poor guy tried so hard to get her knee to jerk. Poor guy was probably thinking he was doing something wrong since he had just started Peds and this was one of his first rotations. The doctor then came in and checked her and she too tried and tried to get her knee to jerk. I had totally forgotten about her little quirk until after the doctor was struggling too.
3. Can be so hot and cold. It is great when she is in a good mood and wants to help and be a little mommy, but bad when she is stubborn and refuses to do anything. She is normally stubborn when she has not gotten enough sleep.
4. Kind of going along with the above, she gets so excited about things. Like when packages come for her, she gets so excited! Right now she is SO excited for Christmas. She loves counting down everyday with her advent calendar (She loves it, Mom, thanks). Every morning, "Mom how many days till Christmas?" She then spends the rest of the day telling people how many days are left.
5. Can be so brave. She bore her testimony at church even though no other kids in our ward were. Gave a talk in primary with minimal help (I had to prompt her in the beginning but she did the rest). She is always surprising me with things she will/can do. She has never been very afraid of strangers (except when she is being stubborn). She went to nursery without a problem when she was little. She often jumps off/into things I never thought she would.
6. She is deathly afraid of needles. She can't even watch others get poked. She always asks to leave the room when Caden or Jordan are getting their shots. Kailyn got a sliver once and it was awful trying to get that thing out. You would have thought we were torturing her the way she yelled/panicked/freaked out/kicked/thrashed about. I was so glad this year when they offered the nose spray version for her flu shot.

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Love/Hate

I have a love, hate relationship with a lot of things this week. Here are a few:

LOVE having a dishwasher. Washing dishes by hand in our last apartment was not fun (tiny single-bin sink, no counter space).
HATE that ours broke down a couple weeks ago. Back to washing by hand...
Solution We finally bought a new dishwasher last night! Yeah! Hopefully we can get it hooked up today.

LOVE having a van. I dragged my feet about getting one but I love the extra space and not having to bend over to buckle kids.
HATE when said van has problems.
Solution I took our car in (apparently the belt falling off is a common problem with this make/model/year). The permanent repair is pricey but after some research on the net I think it is the best option. Also, we are lucky cuz this solution came out early this year (not sure why it took so long to get one)

LOVE the computer.
HATE that our power cord has issues. This means I can't access or download any pictures right now, thus the reason I haven't posted in awhile and there are no pics today.
Solution I think it is time to say bye to the computer (hopefully we can get it up and running long enough to get all of our stuff off of it)

LOVE
that people have been complementing Jordan lately. Here are some of the comments I have gotten from people at the YMCA "She should get the sister of the year award." (apparently she was sharing her snack with Caden, making sure he got his share even if she had to hunt him down to give it to him). "Is she this quiet at home?" "Does she normally get along so well with her brother? (at which I thought, "Oh no, what did she do?) She was so sweet to him, giving him hugs and kisses and helping him."
HATE that she is not always this sweet. I laughed when the lady asked if Jordan was always so quiet. We often comment that Jordan needs a volume control. "Jordan remember to use your inside voice."
Solution OK so she isn't always perfect but I can be thankful that she is at least good a lot of the time.

LOVE the beautiful fall colors.
HATE that these leaves fall into my yard.
Solution I spend all day Saturday raking the leaves off our yard (it seriously took most of the day. One person+huge yard=lots of time). I was so tired that night.

LOVE that Jordan and Kailyn played together so well and helped keep Caden happy while I raked.
HATE ...what is there to hate? Did you read what I wrote? Kailyn and Jordan get along and make Caden happy, what is there to hate about that?
Solution actually more of a question than a solution. How do I get them to always be so helpful?

LOVE having a more normal-sized oven. I can actually fit my pizza pan in (it is bigger than our previous oven, but it is still smaller than most)
HATE that it seems to be having issues. We knew when we bought the house that the temp was off but I can't figure out by how much. (it seems like it has gotten worse since we moved in).
Solution I need to get something that will read the internal temp of the oven.

LOVE that we got our first snow storm. The kids were so excited. I loved watching them get so excited.
HATE the constant cold. It is actually not so bad right now but I know I am going to be so sick of it by the time winter is over.
Solution bring on the layers. Socks and slippers indoors are a must.

Love/Hate

I have a love, hate relationship with a lot of things this week. Here are a few:

LOVE having a dishwasher. Washing dishes by hand in our last apartment was not fun (tiny single-bin sink, no counter space).
HATE that ours broke down a couple weeks ago. Back to washing by hand...
Solution We finally bought a new dishwasher last night! Yeah! Hopefully we can get it hooked up today.

LOVE having a van. I dragged my feet about getting one but I love the extra space and not having to bend over to buckle kids.
HATE when said van has problems.
Solution I took our car in (apparently the belt falling off is a common problem with this make/model/year). The permanent repair is pricey but after some research on the net I think it is the best option. Also, we are lucky cuz this solution came out early this year (not sure why it took so long to get one)

LOVE the computer.
HATE that our power cord has issues. This means I can't access or download any pictures right now, thus the reason I haven't posted in awhile and there are no pics today.
Solution I think it is time to say bye to the computer (hopefully we can get it up and running long enough to get all of our stuff off of it)

LOVE
that people have been complementing Jordan lately. Here are some of the comments I have gotten from people at the YMCA "She should get the sister of the year award." (apparently she was sharing her snack with Caden, making sure he got his share even if she had to hunt him down to give it to him). "Is she this quiet at home?" "Does she normally get along so well with her brother? (at which I thought, "Oh no, what did she do?) She was so sweet to him, giving him hugs and kisses and helping him."
HATE that she is not always this sweet. I laughed when the lady asked if Jordan was always so quiet. We often comment that Jordan needs a volume control. "Jordan remember to use your inside voice."
Solution OK so she isn't always perfect but I can be thankful that she is at least good a lot of the time.

LOVE the beautiful fall colors.
HATE that these leaves fall off into my yard.
Solution I spend all day Saturday racking the leaves off our yard (it was seriously most the day. One person+huge yard=lots of time). I was so tired that night.

LOVE that Jordan and Kailyn played together so well and helped keep Caden happy while I racked.
HATE ...what is there to hate? Did you read what I wrote? Kailyn and Jordan get along and make Caden happy, what is there to hate about that?
Solution actually more of a question than a solution. How do I get them to always be so helpful?

LOVE having a more normal sized stove, I can actually fit my pizza pan in (it is bigger than our last one but it is still smaller than most)
HATE that it seems to be having issues. We knew when we bought the house that the temp was off but I can't figure out by how much. (it seems like it has gotten worse since we moved in)
Solution I need to get something that will read the internal temp of the oven.

LOVE that we got our first snow storm. The kids were so excited. I loved watching them get so excited.
HATE the constant cold. It is actually not so bad right now but I know I am going to be so sick of it by the time winter is over.
Solution bring on the layers. Socks are a must.