A little like her mama.

This year for Thanksgiving I wanted the kids to spend a little extra time being thankful.  So on Thursday morning, I gave the kids pieces of paper and asked them to make a list of the things they were thankful for.

It was so fun to see the progression from a four year-old's list to that of a nine year-old.  The things that matter to them are sweet and funny. 

Isabella wanted help spelling each word correctly and Chris helped her.  Her list looked like this:  "I am thankful for my family, Sadie, cousins, my plants and flowers, my house, God and Jesus, going to my friends houses, my grandparents, my food, the rainbow, the heavens and the earth, and water."  Love it! 

Sam had a list of 35 things.  In the end he was just looking around the room naming things.  His first few were Mama, froggy (his favorite stuffed animal), Daddy, his sisters and dog, froggy's pillow, and wrestling with Daddy.  Number 17 was Moses and number 34 was Daddy's coffee. Pretty funny.  And I did point out to Chris that froggy beat him out for the number two spot! 

Anna made a long list as well starting with her family, her house and her stuffed elephant.  She had some fun items like sharpening her pencils, hamburgers, conditioner and Daddy's underwear.  I guess we're all thankful for that!

Sophia made an extensive list of 60 things she's thankful for.  Her family, dog, and stuffed polar bear topped the list followed by God and Jesus and the swim team.   As the list got longer, she was thankful for the USA military and the USA Navy, lots of states, the Earth and the Milky Way. 

But what I love most is that after she finished writing her list she asked to type it on the computer.  You see, in many, many ways, she's a lot like Chris.  She can be serious and also ridiculously goofy.  She is a book worm and loves learning new facts.  She LOVES the great outdoors, climbing trees, going on hikes, and finding "critters."  And physically, she shares a lot of his characteristics.  But typing a list....well that's all me.  I typed all my notes in college so they were organized and easy to study.  Honestly, it really warmed my heart to see her act a little like her mama. 

It's so nice to stop and really focus on all the amazing things we're thankful for.  The little things in our lives that bring us so much joy and happiness.  Even if it is Daddy's underwear! 

"Look what I brought home from school!"

Dreaded words for this mama.  I never know what they'll bring home, but usually, if it's announced with any amount of enthusiasm, I'm probably not going to like it very much.

This week Sophia's class dissected owl pellets.  Um, maybe you're a little smarter than me, but I wasn't quite sure what that was and had to google it.  I sort-of wish I hadn't!  Apparently, if I understand correctly, owls don't have teeth and can't chew their food so they rip their pray apart with their beaks and then swallow the large chunks whole.  As they digest it, they separate the meat from the bones then regurgitate the bones, feathers and fur in a pellet.  So appetizing.  It looks something like this:

Since my daughter loves all things gross, she and her lab partner divided their treasures and brought them home to share with all of us. 

More loveliness.  Now this bag of treasures sits on my kitchen counter.  I have no idea what to do with it because she's rather proud  of it.  She even said she saved the mouse's hip bone just for me.  I wasn't really sure how to respond to that.  But in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I'm just going to be thankful she thought of me. 

 

The date to trash mountain...

Chris' parents like to take our kids out on a special date in honor of their birthday.  The girls usually go to lunch and a movie and out for a little shopping.  They LOVE the one-on-one time they get and it makes them feel very special!  Sam has really never gone since he's been so young.  But this year he got his chance.

When they asked him what he wanted to do, he told them he wanted to go on a date to the dump.  A date to the dump.  Yep, you read that correctly.  My guy dreams big!  Sam loves trash trucks, dump trucks, excavators.  If it's got wheels and moves, he loves it! 

So yesterday, Sam, Chris and Howard set out for a trip to the dump.  Or, as Howard affectionately called it, "trash mountain."  Howard had to get rid of an old, broken, sidewalk.  Afterwards, they planned to head to the sandpit to get a trailer load of sand for the new sidewalk.  Sam was told to bring his shovel along for the trip.  Here are a few pictures from the big date. 

 

 

They ended their day with a trip to McDonald's where a firetruck pulled up and Sam got to check it out.  Great way to end a day!  He had a blast!  I'm thinking Sam is going to enjoy "helping" Papa with more projects which might require trips to the dump in the coming years!  

 

On becoming a Nitro.

This fall Sophia and Anna joined the Newton Nitro's year-round swimming team. Honestly, I'm not really sure what a Nitro is, but I guess that's not really the point.  Isabella also joined the team for their winter league.  It's only two months long and is set up to teach the younger ones the basics and work with the older ones on their technique.  She can't really swim yet, but it's only a matter of time I'm sure.  

Last Thursday they had a practice swim meet.  This was the first time we've had all three girls in a meet together.  So cute!   

They were so sweet and had an older girl walk along with Isabella and the other younger ones in the pool so they could at least try to participate.  She was very proud and tried the 25m free, back and fly.  Her little arms and legs were pretty sore that night! 

 

On Saturday, we took Sophia and Anna to compete at the Monster Splash at K-State.  We had to be on the road by 5:30am, so that meant Chris and I got up at 4:45.  Holy Moly!  I usually wake up at 7am so that was crazy early!   The night before I told Sam we were leaving before the sun would rise and he told me he would not get up before the sun.  A boy after my own heart!  

 

The girls did great getting best times in all of their events.  Then we walked around campus a little and took a picture in front of the student union to send to Uncle Chris!  The kids' Great Grandpa Walz built many of the buildings on campus so it was great to show them around a bit.  

 

 

We've had a busy few days around here, but lots of fun family time together!  And you can't beat that!  

 

Isabella's Baptism

Yesterday my sweet Isabella Grace was baptised by her Daddy.  It was such a special day.  She has been asking to be baptised for several months now.  But we waited until all three sets of her Grandparents could be there to watch.   

The water was a little more full than usual and she is just so stinkin' short that she couldn't really reach the bottom.  Her legs just kept floating to the side.  Pretty cute though. She might be small, but she has big faith in God and loves to pray for everyone in her sweet little voice!

Love the way she's looking at Chris! 

 

 

What a great Sunday!

 

On sending my baby to preschool....

Yes, he's four, but he's still my baby!  My last baby.  And he has already been in preschool almost a month.  It's still taking me a little bit of time to adjust.  But, for the first time in 9 years and 4 months I am not 100% responsible for another human being for a few hours a week. 9 years and 4 months!!!!  It's been a while! 

But, two days a week, I have 2 1/2 hours to myself.  All four of my kids are in school for those 5 hours each week. All of them!   Now, Thursdays I am at work at church during that time, but on some of those Tuesdays, I'm totally and completely free to do what I want.  I have big plans.  Exercising.  Shopping.  Vegging out.  Yesterday, I did a little work at church and went to Wal-mart.  Not too exciting, but it doesn't matter, because I could have done anything during that time!  It's a good thing Sam has 2 years of preschool because I think it will take me that long to adjust to all of my kids being in school all day. 

Here's what he looked like on his first day of school!  Did I cry when I dropped him off?  Surprisingly, my eyes only watered a bit.  I just knew he'd be fine.  He'd be happy and he'd do his best to listen and follow directions.  He's grown up in church and our Parent's Day Out program, so going to class isn't a new thing.  And man does he love it!  As soon as his sisters get on the school bus he's asking me every two minutes if it's time to leave for preschool.  For 50 minutes he does this!  Some days I just put him in the car early just to get him to stop asking.  But, it's a good thing.  He loves going to school and is super excited to get there.  I'm hoping that continues for a long time! 

 

The August I missed.

On August 1st we had our first of two well-child appointments.  Two, because my not-so-family-friendly pediatrician won't see all four kids in consecutive appointments.  It is apparently too difficult for her to make sure she does her job right.  (I'm paraphrasing of course!)  But, being that I'm a stay-at-home mom, all four kids came with me to the appointments anyways.  Go figure. 

The very next day Sophia was sick with a high fever.  Coincidence?  On a totally unrelated note, I think I'm done with well-child appointments unless the kiddos need immunizations.  Totally unrelated, of course!  The high fever lasted an entire week.  She was officially fever-free for the first day of school.  Then Chris got it for several days.  He has this amazing ability to sleep through his illnesses.  I dream of being able to just sleep the days/nights away when I'm sick.  Never happens. 

As soon as Chris was better Anna and I got sick.  But, oh, this virus took a turn for the worse!  Let me describe a few of the symptoms.  High fever, aches/pains, dizziness, exhaustion, terrible cough, sore throat, nauseousness, throwing up, headaches.  Well, you get the picture.  But it started with just the fever and sore throat.  I took her in right away to be tested for strep since that was already going around the school.  Awesome.  She didn't have strep, luckily.  A few days later her nurse called to give us the strep results and I asked again about the high fever.  According to Tylenol/IBP, you shouldn't stay continually on meds for that long.  But the nurse said to keep trying to manage the fever and continue on.  Then the cough came for both of us. And all the other symptoms! 

Finally, after a week of this I knew we needed to get to the doctor, but I couldn't even drive at that point, so we waited until Chris could take us to Immediate Care.  Anna was tested for Whooping Cough and diagnosed with Pneumonia.  They diagnosed me with dehydration and said they'd have to get me on an IV, but since they were closing soon, I should just start drinking 5 bottles of Gatorade a day.  Not so easy on a nauseous tummy!  Anna got a quick shot of drugs, but our regular doctor (lover her) wanted us to come in the next day so she could determine what antibiotics she wanted Anna on rather than let the other doctor just prescribe us something.  Nice of her really.  Uggh.  Of course, I still couldn't drive, so my mom came over to help!  We went in the next day  so she could write a script and so she could chastise me in front of an intern for not coming to her sooner.  Yes, I did take her in once, and talk to the nurse about it a few days later.  I'm pretty sure that counts for something. 

Then she told me I needed to get in to see my doctor asap.  So, I got an appointment for the next day.  Of course I still couldn't drive so mom came back again.  And I was loaded up with drugs.   Two different antibiotics, a prescription cough syrup and prescription pain killer.  Lovely.  It took Anna and I a full two weeks of being sick to see the light of day.  Then it took over a week to regain our energy to where we could actually stay awake all day long without a nap.  It then took Anna an extra week to get her body rested up so that she could stop being incredibly grouchy.  

But, I am here to say that after about 6 weeks, we all seem to be doing okay.  Sam and Isabella seemed to escape most of it except for a mild cough.  And for that day or two that my mom visited, my house was clean, laundry done, and the rest of the family had yummy home-cooked meals.  Thanks mom! 

But I feel like I missed August and part of September.  Our lives didn't stop.  We started our first year of school with all three girls going all day.  Sam started preschool.  I helped organize our elementary school's fun run fundraiser.  (I would not recommend trying to count thousands of dollars while you are deliriously sick.  Doesn't work well!!)  We had church, started year-round swimming, and life just kept going.  But it was a blur.  Here's hoping we all developed some strong resistance for the coming cold/flu season at least!  Because I might not survive another month like August!!  Here's hoping that your August went a little better than ours!