Ahh, just breathe!

Our little getaway.

Gorgeous mountains surrounded us.

Outside of Uncle Uli's where we ate lots of fondue!

Kent and I were very fortunate to have a night away! My mom came and stayed with the kids while we used a gift certificate for a B & B in Leavenworth. What a wonderful 24+ hours of relaxing, talking, and walking. It's so nice to be able to hang out with my husband without our screaming, needy children. :) It's fun to meet the guy that I married and be able to laugh with him again, without all the stress of "normal" life.

Leavenworth is a cute little Bavarian town with lots of shops and snow sports. We walked and ate our way through the beautiful streets. It was the first time either one of us had been there and we would definitely go back, it was such a great getaway! Thanks Mom!

Computer overload and lots of rambling

Ok, it has been a while since I have posted.....things have been crazy, busy. Kent took a week off, so I wasn't on the computer as much as usual. Then our computer crashed...then we got it fixed, then it crashed again, and I just realized none of our pics. are on our computer. uh, hello, that is a huge deal, hopefully Kent was smarter than me and has them backed up somewhere...? anywhere...? I was planning on posting some X-mas pics. so I guess I will just ramble about the latest happenings.....

Ellie: We are on day 3 of potty training! This time it is for reals! The first day she was 1/6, I did a whole load of laundry just from her clothes that day. The good news is, the one out of six opportunities, she pooped on the potty! Phew! It has gotten better everyday since. She loves her "pretty panties" and she struts around the house with just a shirt and her pretty panties. Some are flowers, some are princesses, some are B's old underwear. :) The funny thing is, they're all different sizes and about half of them are too big and ride up her bum like a thong. I know, I know, that is horrible to say, especially when it's your OWN two year old. Come on, baby Elle, I don't want to have to start worrying about such things. She is going to give us a run for our money, along with Miss Dan Dan:

Dani: Miss Danielle is on her own schedule, and isn't even pretending to be interested in the potty, she won't even sit on it now. The bad thing is, Ellie will get potty treats (2-3 mini M & Ms) and SHARE them with Dani. What do you do in that situation? Ellie is being super sweet, but not helping on the motivation front for D. ?? Danielle has been busy with her "Brand new baby" (this is the baby's name), my mom and dad got the girls a high chair, stroller, and bed set and the girls LOVE it! She is quite the little mommy, she takes very good care of her baby. The other day she was picking it up from the stroller and she grunted, "uhhh." Kent and I looked at each other and thought, 'maybe we shouldn't grunt or be exasperated every time we pick Dani up.' It's just that D is solid and seems heavier than E even though they're the same weight. You learn alot about your parenting skills when you watch your kids with their babies. :) I won't go into detail about the time-outs, and all the trips they take to go get coffee with their strollers. hehe...

Brayden: B is our little dictator of the house. He seems to have become more and more bossy, and the girls take it. They pretty much do anything he says or suggests. He has a very bossy tone and he stands with his hand on his hip while he addresses them. I have no idea where he learned this behavior. Some of his phrases I've overheard make me grimace. "How many times do I have to tell you....? Are you listening to me? I told you to... Man, who is the bossy one? I guess I am just teaching him good leadership skills, right?

Kent: Kent is in Detroit this week, probably thrilled to have some quiet time after the holiday chaos and a week home with us. No, I know he was really disappointed to leave us. :)

Christy: I have a very sore, tired body from working out at the Y and swimming laps in the pool. Swimmers out there, I need help! First of all, I never realized how much work REAL swimming is. I get so tired....I have to alternate with a kick board so I don't drown, which brought me to the idea of wearing flippers. :) I know how hot I would look, then I decided against it because I figure they won't let me wear flippers in the sprint triathlon I signed up for in July. YES, I am going to do it, right now I am on my own, does anyone want to join me in training, or for the race? It is in Coeur d' Alene on July 25th. I have digressed, my swimming questions are: 1. My swim cap squeezes my head so tight, it feels like my brains are going to ooze out of my ears. Is this normal? Does it eventually stretch out? Are there different sizes, cuz I couldn't find sizes? This also results in lovely lines on my forehead, which don't go away for hours....painful, very painful. I swam without the cap the other day and it was much better! I am just worried all the chlorine in the Y pool is going to make my hair dry, turn green, and/or fall out. My other question is: Tips? Any tips on how to improve form/stamina, besides doing it over and over? I need all the help I can get!

That's all for now, thank you for reading my rambling, if you made it through it all, and let me know if you have any tips for potty training or swimming.

New traditions?!?

Last Wed. morning Brayden had his school performance at a retirement/nursing home. He was pretty excited, but I think he viewed it as a job to get done. Grandma Phillips was able to come and watch and we laughed the whole time because B was so serious. Just like his Dad, he was there to complete a mission and move on to something else.

My three munchkins running around before the show. I'm sure the old ladies loved listening to them shriek and scream with excitement!

Me with my perfect little angels. :) Ellie is hiding in my lap.

Brayden singing away. This is the only pic. where he is halfway smiling.


After we got home, we had to take off all the "fancy" clothes as soon as possible! Ellie was a good girl and tinkled and pooped on the potty! (I know you are tired of seeing my kids on the toilet, but I have to document that it does happen occasionally).

This is the funniest pic. though:

While E was on the potty, Dani was changing her own bum. She took her wet diaper off, then put a new, dry one on, and then got dressed. If she can change her own bum, does that mean it's time to be potty trained? Can you please let her know that!?!


Last Friday was a good opportunity to head downtown and do some festive, holiday stuff. It was 40 degrees! I couldn't believe there wasn't any snow on the ground and it was above freezing! It was the perfect night to stand in line for an hour and a half to ride in a carriage for 10 minutes! :) What a great tradition we may have started. hehe. There's a story behind this.... of course. We got downtown and 5:15 and got in line. It was great, there were only about 12-15 people ahead of us. We waited and waited and waited.... finally at 5:45 when no carriage had arrived, therefore no progress in the line was made, I heard someone say, "They're on their break until 6." Perfect! My tummy was hungry, since we usually eat at 5 pm on the dot. (No we don't have any blue hair). So I was starving at getting grumpy (imagine that) and I made the executive decision that we were going to go eat dinner and then come back.

It was a good choice, I also grabbed a hot chocolate and peppermint brownie from Starbucks. Oh my, talk about heavenly! The kids were much more patient for the next 45 minutes in line while they got to sip hot chocolate with full tummies.

Ellie playing peek-a-boo while we waited and waited.

Dani not too thrilled to be in line again.

B with a little left over cocoa on his face.

YAY! It's almost our turn!

Kent, super excited to be on the carriage and sitting down!

Dani, me and Brayden. When did I get so old and haggard looking? I am going to venture a guess and say within the last couple (2 1/2) years? Every time I see pics. I swear I am going to start wearing (more) make-up. I guess I need to make that more of a priority in the mornings. :)

After our carriage experience we walked a couple of blocks down to the Davenport hotel. It was beautiful and the kids loved all the fancy trees and decorations.

They also had tons of themed gingerbread houses that were amazing!

Overall, it was a very fun evening. What will the rest of the week entail? I just hope we all make it out of the holiday season alive. Are anyone else's kids walking a thin, thin line?

It's finally here!

The snow has arrived! We have had a few dusting's of it, but last night 5 inches dumped. The kids were thrilled! Brayden has been asking to go sledding with every sprinkle of snow. After I shoveled for a half hour, I let the kids out to play...... Between the time of me going in the house to grab my camera and coming back down, through the window I saw B chuck a snowball right at Dani's face. I walked into the garage and told B to sit in time out. He said, "I was just having fun, she likes it!" I have to admit, Danielle didn't even cry, but that's only because ever since she has been born, B has been chucking snow at her. Tough girl, but he still had to do his time. I didn't realize he was in time out while I was snapping all the pics. so I don't have any of him in the snow......next time.

Working and working....after a few shovel fulls I decided I needed to bust out Kent's new toy. I went in the garage, read the directions, looked and looked at the snow blower, and felt like such a girl! It said turn the key in the ignition.... I thought, 'I can do that.' Low and behold, I couldn't even FIND the key. I hate feeling so stupid! So I took my anger out on the snow and shovel! (Kent is in San Diego this week, so he couldn't help, although if I called him he probably could have walked me through each step, but I had way too much dignity for that. LOL :) Plus it was a good warm up for my work out at the gym.

Here it is: the new toy, with plastic and all! Really, did we have to get the biggest one possible?

After all of the shoveling I took Brayden to school, went to the gym as fast as I could because I had to be back at B's school within an hour and a half for the X-mas show. I hustled my buns in ZUMBA and zoomed back to the school as fast as I could on the snowy roads. When I arrived I realized I didn't even THINK to dress B up for his Christmas performance. (Granted, I have been thinking the real show is tomorrow at the nursing home, so he will look very handsome tomorrow). AND I was all sweaty, and stinky. Ellie looks like a chemo. baby, (which is very, very sad), and Dani's hair hasn't been combed since yesterday morning, and she has a huge scrape under her eye from falling down the stairs and landing on her baby doll.....wow, I am thinking I am super mom! Good thing I'm not too concerned about our appearances! We will look better tomorrow for the old folks! :)

The show was fantastic! It's fun to see B as one of the older kids, he really took the lead and sang every song and did all the hand motions, I was a proud Mama! Plus he was one of the few kids who DIDN'T pick his nose during the performance. Phew, we lucked out on that one! That is my friend, Julie's daughter, Madison next to B. They're so cute!

Here's most of the gang, I realized, I never got a picture of Ms. Jenny. I will have to do that tomorrow too, I better start making a list: Take a shower, dress nicely, comb hair, take picture of the teacher.

After our crazy morning, Brayden and I made Pumpkin Crisp during nap time. It was so great and so easy! Thanks for the recipe Tami, it's a keeper! I LOVE pumpkin!

Frank is back...... (with a brand new edition.....)

Our elf on the shelf is back....I have missed Frank over the past year! Hopefully his presence will help restore some manners, and listening skills in my children. I know it is really kind of creepy (especially when Kent wants to put him on Brayden's night stand and have Frank stare at him all night), but at this stage of the game, I am willing to do just about ANYTHING to have my children listen and be well behaved for even a few minutes at a time. Apparently it works to some degree. The second morning Brayden woke up and found Frank on the shelf next to the TV.

Brayden said, "That is a silly place for Frank to watch us, I'm never naughty when I'm sitting on the couch watching TV." Take note Frank, keep an eye out where they can get up to mischief. i.e. bathroom, art closet, basement DVD cabinet, bedrooms (jumping on beds). You would think Frank would be smarter at this point. I guess it's a STEEP learning curve! Happy Holidays!

The Best/Worst Santa picture ever!

One of our traditions that I've carried over for my children is getting a Santa picture every year. No matter how traumatized they are, I have to get that one picture. Before we went and saw Santa this year we spent the whole week talking about it/preparing for it.

Ellie said, "I don't like Santa, he squeezes me too hard. Will he wear his mittens?" Is it possible that she remembered her experience last year and how tightly he had to hold on to her? AMAZING! Yet again, he scared her to death, and had to squeeze her harder than ever. So I suppose she will hate it again next year.....

Not only are my girls struggling to get free, but the chick cut off half of my boy! Can you believe it? I paid $20.00 to get half of my boy and my ballistic girls. After it was all done I didn't have the heart to make the girls sit down again and scream, so I had to settle with half of my sweet boy. Yay for traditions!

Trees, turkey, Sara, rock wall, ZUMBA, Cousins.... oh my!

We were fortunate enough to have Turkey Day down the road at Sarah and Kelly's! This meant we could spend the morning decorating! We put up the tree AND finished decorating the house. The kids did a great job on the tree, though I don't have a finished product pic. Cousin Sarah, we missed you, we could have used your expertise. :)

Dani

Brayden

Ellie

I don't know what Ellie is grinning about, maybe because she is in control of her OWN ornaments!

Turkey day kids table. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! All six kids did a great job, all the adults got to sit and visit and we even got to play some games! This was the first time in YEARS (probably five) that this has happened! YAY US!

Sandy, Uncle Pete, Sarah, Kelly, Kent and I went and saw the Sara Evans concert on Friday night. We had so much fun! She put on a great show. None of my pics. turned out inside the concert, I will have to get some from Sarah. It was a great night, maybe a family tradition now? Head out to the casino the Friday after turkey day, see a show, lose some money.....

I have forgotten to mention the we joined the YMCA a few weeks ago. I LOVE it! The kids love it too. We have gone swimming a few times and they have a great water slide that they all love. When I exercise the kids go to the daycare and I call it the "Y School." The girls think they're so cool when they get to go to "their"school! I have started going to ZUMBA a few times a week and I can't get enough of it! It is so fun and it puts you in the best mood. I had no idea what it was, the instructor told us, "It's a Latin party!" It's dancing, cardio, and toning all rolled into fast paced music.... shaking, rolling of the hips and lots of other crazy stuff.... I can't even imagine what I look like when I do it... there will be no pics. posted of this..... but I highly recommend it. It's the most fun you can have while exercising!

This brings us to B: He has been wanting to do the rock wall ever since we joined. Here he is:

I was quite impressed with his skill and determination. I think he would have stayed there all day if we would have let him! He was so cute, I can't believe how big he is!

COUSINS- Brayden and Keegan

Great- G & G Petrousek, Uncle Pete and the gang.

COUSINS- Ally, Brayden and Keegan