The Weather Has Changed!

It has gotten so cold here!! It's been in the fourties. I know, I know all you guys are probably thinking, "cold what is she talking about." Well here in Northern Arizona it gets alot colder than other areas of the state. And I know that we should be used to the cold weather from growing up in Idaho, but after living in this area for almost seven years now, we can say its cold. We do get some snow, but not enough to have alot of fun in. You can build a snowman, and its melted within a day or two. We are hoping for more this year, so we can attempt to go skiing in Flagstaff. (the ski resort there was only open for one month last year. They are trying to make fake snow, but the Indians don't want them to because the mountains are sacred there. They have gone to court a couple of times over it.)We laugh because when we first moved here we would leave our windows open year round because it seemed so warm to us and everyone thought we were crazy. I would love it to be cold with snow, that for it to be just cold!! Burr!!! I'm hoping that spring comes fast this year.

And the Stocking Were Hung.....

By the chimney with care. We decorated the house on Friday with the kids. They had so much fun! Cris finished the lights on the outside of the house. But he needs to get another extention cord. They keep blowing a fuse. I'll have to post a picture when he fixes them. We are so excited for Christmas this year. Here are a few pictures of our decorations.

My Willow Tree nativity. For the past two years my mom and dad have been giving us a set. Last year we got Mary, Joseph, a Shepard and some animals. This year we got the other Shepard and more animals. I look forward to every year now to get a new part of it, and can't wait to have the complete set.

My favorite part of our tree are the traditional candles, and holders my parents brought back form a trip to Germany. It reminds me of Christmas when I was younger. We used to light them at my Grandmas house, and sing Christmas carols in German while they burned.

The tree I tried taking a picture without the flash so you could see the lights, but it kept turning out blurry. I think there is something wrong with the camera or me.

BLACK FRIDAY!!!

We had a great time today shopping. We woke up at 2:30 so we could get to Flagstaff by 4. I'm shocked that I'm still alive, and not crashed out on my bed asleep. I can now say that I know how Cris feels when he has only gotten four or five hours of sleep, and then has to go to work. I was a little disappointed because the tree I wanted to get from JC Penny's was not at all like the picture in the ad. In the ad it looked all nice and full and beautiful, but nope! It was very holey. I really wanted a new Christmas tree, one that is pre-lite. Oh, well I will have to wait till next year, or the day after Christmas. Not getting the tree meant that I could spend more money elsewhere. I'm almost done with the kids. One more thing for Kennedy, and one more thing for Jocelyn, and I'll be done. Yea!! I would tell you what I got, but now that I have kids that can read, they might see the blog, and find out everything that we got them. They were already trying to peek in the garage when I got home. Stinker kids!! I remember snooping when I was younger. Well, I think that I will now go sit on the couch, and veg out while the kids run wild in the house and destroy everything. I'm so tired, I don't want to even cook dinner.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!! I'm cooking the turkey for us this year. Crystal and Lance will be coming and also Rich and Allison. (maybe just Rich, Allison is in labor right now!! WooHoo!) I'm more excited about going shopping Friday than the whole Thanksgiving dinner. And I have no ambition to clean my house. Cole has been sick again. Just when we think he is doing better, he throws up again. Poor baby boy! Anywho, have a great Thanksgiving!!!

A Boy After His Fathers Heart

Kaden looks as though he is deep in thought as he plays Halo 3. Look at him biting his lower lip. I'm sure if I took some pictures of Cris playing he would look just like this. Kaden usually plays here and there with Cris, but he had to go to work tonight. So, I got the privilege of being beaten at a video game by a six year old. I had so much fun playing with him!! I can't wait until Christmas when Kennedy and Kaden see the Wii under the tree. It will be so much more family friendly than the XBOX. And Cris and I can't wait to play it. We will be testing it out Christmas eve after the kids go to bed.

I didn't do it!

This is a conversation I had with Jocelyn this morning.
Jocelyn: Mom, someone colored on my stomach and it wasn't me
Me: Are you sure?
As she is holding the evidence in her hands
Jocelyn: Mom, I didn't do it! I swear.
Me: O.K. so who colored on you?
Jocelyn: I don't know?
Me: Jocelyn, you know better than to do that to your body.
So then she breaks down in tears. It's so funny how they learn do deceive you at such a young age. I know that she did this because of the look on her face, like oh, man I'm going to be in so much trouble, I need to blame this on someone else.
On, a side note the playroom/computer room was a big mess from Kaden having a friend over, my house does not usually look this way.

Silly Little Boy!!

Cris' mom sent him a package for his birthday.(it's not until Monday)

Cole thought that the box was great! It was a pretty small box and he climbed in and out of it all day. I guess I should take the things I got him for Christmas back, and get him a box to play with instead. He had so much fun. What an imagination!!

A Few Updates

My sharing time went well! I filled my time and the kids were pretty good. The Senior Primary was worse than the Junior Primary when we did one of our activities. All, in all it went well.
On, to my hernia dilemma. I haven't had any problems with it since my last post. I went to spin class( this kicks my butt, so if you are wanting to lose weight or just get into shape this is a great cardio workout. Your butt will be sore for a few days afterwards from sitting on the bikes) I also ran yesterday morning and this morning. I think I will keep on training until I go to the Dr. and we will see what he says. I haven't registered for the marathon yet, I don't want to lose the $100 it costs if the Dr. says to stop what I'm doing and have surgery right away. It's non refundable.
The kids are doing great and can't wait to have a week break from school next week. I'm not sure I''m as excited as they are. But it will be fun to have them home for awhile. I can't wait until next Friday. Black Friday here we come. I'm hoping to find some good deals for the rest of the kids Christmas. We are almost done!! Cole is completely done and I only have to get one more thing for Jocelyn,unless I find something else for them.(which usually happens when I start shopping this soon) And we have to get a few more things for Kennedy and Kaden. I'm so excited for Christmas this year. Every year gets better and better with the kids. There is nothing better than to see my kids faces light up with happiness this time of year.

A Family of Hernias

So, I just have to vent a little in this post. Half of the six of us in our family have hernias. Cole actually had three but we had two repaired when he was 5 months old.( he was born with two inguinal hernias) Now he just had his umbilical hernia. Jocelyn also has a umbilical hernia, and guess who also has a umbilical hernia......ME!!! See what child bearing can do to ya. You know how your belly button pokes out when you are pregnant well, mine never went back in. It's never really bothered me, except when I was pregnant with Cole it would be sore every now and again. Well today it hurt sooo bad when I was running, that I had to stop. It felt like someone punched me in the stomach. So I guess it is time to take a time out and take care of myself. I called a surgeon and they can't get me in untill December. I'm not to happy about it cause they really didn't give me any advice on it. They told me, "well if it hurts while you are exercising again, stop and take it easy." Hello lady, I just told you I'm trying to train for a marathon. So do I need to stop or not. I got very vague answers. So I will try to run again tomorrow and see what happens. She also told me to buy a hernia belt to use while exercising. Ugh!! I guess I shouldn't have put this off for so long, I was wanting to wait till I ran my marathon, to have surgery. So now the whole marathon is up in the air. Oh, what to do???

Sharing Time

I have to do sharing time in primary tomorrow. I am so nervous. I have no clue way I am. I have to keep telling myself that they are just little kids. They won't be judgemental, heck I'm sure I will be lucky to get comments from them.(or at least comments that pertain to the lesson.) I'm almost done preparing my lesson, and Cris will be my guini pig tonight when I practice it on him. I have never been good at filling a 20 minute window for a talk at church. I hope that I can fill the 20 minutes in primary. At least I will be doing a couple of activities with them, to pass by some of the time. Thank you so much Jayne Ann for the web sites you gave me. They are helping alot!!!

The Quarantine!!!

We were quarantined for a week. You could say what goes around comes around. We all had the cold/sinus infection that Kaden brought home from school over a week ago. Cole had it the worst as you all know it turned to croup.The poor little guy still hasn't gotten his voice back. Kennedy had it the least, she just coughed for one day. Kaden missed four days of school. It would have only been three, but he coughed so much on the playground one day that he threw up so they sent him home after being at school for just two hours. He was sooooo bored, he kept asking what we could do for fun, and I had to keep telling him , that when your sick, you don't get to do anything fun. Jocelyn just coughed alittle, and had a sore throat. Me and Cris also had it. I'm still hoarse, and Cris is still stuffy. I about died last week staying home all week and not going anywhere. Thanks to my good friend Allison, we had milk in the fridge, and cereal in the cupboard. Now that we are all better life is great again.

The E.R.

We had a little stay in the emergency room yesterday afternoon and evening. Cole wasn't breathing to his best ability. So Cris ran him to the doctors office, and they did a breathing treatment. It worked well, until they took it off him, and then he started breathing bad again. So they sent him to the E.R. They did three more treatments on him, and gave him some more steroids. I couldn't stand sitting at home, so I got a babysitter,( these are the times I wished we lived closer to family) and went to sit with him, and Cris. We were there from, 3:30, to 6:50. Luckily they didn't have to keep him overnight. We got home, and he is doing much better. He is finally wanting to wander around the house, and not be held all the time. This means I can get some much needed house work done. My house is a wreck, I can't get anything done with a sick child in my arms. I hope he gets better soon, so I can see my happy smiling boy once again.

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween!!! The kids had a lot of fun last night! They went to the "trunk or treat" at the church with Cris. I stayed home with a sick gorilla (a.k.a. Cole) Kennedy and Jocelyn were both Tinker Bell, and Kaden was a Pirate. Thankfully these were all costumes we already had. Yeah!! I didn't have to buy anything. After the trunk or treat, they went around the block, and then I took them to Grandma and Grandpa Terri's house. This is a couple in our ward, that one day just out of the blue Kennedy started to call them Grandma and Grandpa. It's great since both Grandparents live far away. So my kids are their adopted grandchildren.

This is the only smile I got out of him all day

Don't I look lovely! My hair was so frizzy after sitting in the bathroom with Cole with the shower on.

The Great Potato/Apple Contest

Here are the pictures of the kids with their Potato and Apple things they had to make for school. I do have to say I think that they turned out good. But of coarse I helped them do it, along with Grandma and Grandpa Cziep

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