Happy New Years 2007!

Happy New Years yeah its 2007!

Well I hope everyone had a great new years. Didn't do much I did stay up with the kids till midnight to watch the ball drop at Times Square and see the fireworks going outside. Kelly went to bed several hours ago, he never stays up for it he's not a big fireworks fan. The kids liked it though except Maddie missed it she fell asleep around 11:30 and when Joshua tried to wake her up she just got upset and was crying so I sent her off to my bed for the night.

I don't blame her for being tired we had a busy morning. We decided to take the kids up to the mountain to play in the snow they were cold but had a lot of fun.

Sorry for so many pictures. I just couldn't choose. I love snow pictures they just seem to come out so well!

Well I have many hopes for this new year. I would love to lose some weight for one, of course that is the

traditional new years resolution so I am not going to make it a resolution, just something I would like to do..

I hope to go a year with minal drs appts for any of us and good health for all of us and our friends and family also! Its a new year a time to start fresh right!? I have high hopes like every year. One of those big hopes is that Kelly's lawsuit from the car accident will finally be settled, it

happened almost 3 years ago and it seems to be taking forever. We really need this to happen since we really want to move to Alaska and this is the main thing holding it up, not just the money but he has visits with their "specialists" and the attorneys so it wouldn't make sense for us to move out of state till it is done. We will have to see the last several months

we have seen more action from both sides then we have seen in the last 3 years so maybe, just maybe we can be done with it and get on with our plans! We shall see..................

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I don't know about that maybe sometimes what about you?

Our Christmas at home and Grandpa Dunns

For once I was able to get to bed at a decent time on Christmas eve. I don't ever end up wrapping gifts until Christmas eve, I just never seem to find the time before then and I end up wrapping gifts till about 3 in the morning only to get up around 6 to wake the kids and start unwrapping them. This year Kelly actually decided to help me wrap gifts which was great I was in bed before midnight so I was much more prepared for waking up at 6:30 on Christmas morning.

We get up so early because of Kelly, he gets up at 4 in the morning normally and can't seem to change his inner clock even on mornings he doesn't need to get up that early (me on the other hand if no one wakes me up I can sleep till late morning regardless). We got up got the coffee started and started the movie A Christmas Story (Kellys favorite we don't go a Christmas without watching it a million times as long as I remember) then woke the kids up to start unwrapping gifts. They really had a good Christmas this year I would say they got all they wanted and Maddie did get her Barbie bike that she asked Santa for. Kelly was really happy with one of his gifts which was the dvd series for the show Firefly he loved that show but it only lasted one season, for some reason though it was a hard one to find and I had to go to several stores it was sold out of and found it downtown at a Borders. There are 14 episodes and we haved watched everyone of them now since Christmas day including the movie Serenity, he says we will start at the beginning tomorrow. I guess it is a good thing I like the show also or it could be getting really old real quick.

After we opened our presents and got dressed we went to Kellys dads house for gifts and breakfast. We had to get there kind of early as they had plans to go to his wifes brothers house for Christmas dinner. That was okay but I have issues going to my father in laws. He loves to argue and I can only take so much.

I know it sounds like the last couple of posts seem a little down I guess that is how I am feeling right now. Usually I love Christmas it is my favorite time of year. I love winter and I love buying gifts and seeing the reactions from people when I give them a well thought out gift or gift that I have poured my heart into making but this year I really haven't been able to get into it so much, I am not really sure what it is.

Hope ya had a Merry Christmas

Our Christmas wasn't bad we went to my parents house on Sunday for dinner and gifts with my family. My sister and her kids were there. I guess it was nice last time we even knew where they were at Christmas the boys were babies and the girls weren't even around yet. That was about 9 years ago....... There is a long story about the history with my sister and I am not totally to ready talk about it on the internet yet (I know that came out weird). We have only seen my sister on Christmas since my nephew was born (he's now 22) about 3 times, they only remember the one 9 years ago. It was a good visit and my grandmother was there also, she never comes because she always spends it with my uncle Tony he has MS and doesn't get out much anymore but even before that we didn't really spend Christmas with them either he has an issue with my parents because they are Christian and he basically doesn't believe in God its not such a bad thing though because he smells like marijuana from a mile away (he got a medical marijuana card for the MS although that just means he uses it legally now unlike the many years he did it before the MS). I have some good pictures from the day though

Here are the girls with my dad Madison was taking pictures.















My nephew and his girlfriend who also happens to sub at the kids school and has subed in Kenzies class before. They are engaged I wonder if they get married would it make a difference if she was teacher one of her cousins??










Kids opening presents at Grandma and Papa's house.




























All the cousins together we don't have any pictures of them all together except 9 years ago and that was minus my 2 little girls here this time Roger is now 22 and engaged to be married so she gets in on the picture also and the kids just seem so big last time 3 were still babies!


I say we had a good visit with reservations though I was happy my mom was happy we were all together and I am trying really hard to make sure things work with my sister and her family staying around but everytime we do something with them I spend my time holding back a lot there is so much I really want to get out, you know, to say to them for where the last 9 years have gone. The not seeing them has nothing to do with me or my family or parents it is something that always happens when we get back in thouch with them they are around for a few months then disappear within the city for several years, so much time goes by and I grow up a little more and really need to protect my kids from that kind of experience but I don't know how. I mean I want to know the kids and maybe actually have a sister again since I really haven't had one since I was 7 myself but I feel like I can't count on it to keep up the way it is I always feel like I can't get my hopes to high and get to excited about it because I know from experience that when everything crashes it hurts that much more each time. Also I don't want my kids to experience that hurt and have to try to explain to them that it may not last.
Sorry this post is not so happy for parts but it is my journal of sorts and I don't feel like I can really discuss anything with anyone right now, I guess writing it out gets it out a little. There is so much more I could go into but like I said right now I am really not ready for it.

Visit to Santa Clause

We took the girls to see Santa yesterday aren't they cute?

No I didn't make the dresses I am not that good a seamstress, but I have been getting asked that a lot with there dresses. I found them at a resale shop in October for 5.95 each. I thought it was a great price and Kenzie was with me she fell in love with them and we had to get them.

Anyway I hope you enjoy their picture I think it is cute!

Oh Maddie forgot to ask Santa for her teeth though, I guess a new Barbie bike is more important! lol....

The boys don't beleive in Santa anymore :( so they didn't go with us since they think they are to old to sit on his lap anymore. I am really sad for the day that the girls don't beleive in Santa anymore either. I love taking them to see him it's another thing I didn't get to do as a kid. My parents celebrated Christmas but similar to the Halloween thing. They did celebrate it but we didn't see Santa and they never told my brother and I there was one. Once again when I had my kids I decided that I was going to do things differently and wanted to tell about Santa and take them to tell Santa what they wanted every year. It also works as a good reason for not putting the presents under the tree till Christmas even since I know what I did myself when my parents weren't watching to try to figure out what was in the packages. I became really good at slightly unwrapping things just enough so my parents couldn't tell! I know thats bad and sometimes I regreted it because the Christmas morning was gone for some of it and that is why I don't want our presents out early!

Miscellanius Ramblings

So not to much exciting going on around our house right now last week was Madisons birthday and she is officially a 6 year old but don't call her a big girl or she will argue with you. She is the baby always will be according to her and there is just no sense in trying to discuss it with her. I suppose it is a good thing my tubes are tied and I won't be having anymore kids (unless God has other plans) I don't know what she would do if we had another she would probably be beside her self and not know what to say, oh wait a minut this is Maddie we are talking about she always has something to say you just never know what its gonna be! Anyway I know one thing it would take her time to get used to!

So the girls also had there annual visits with the dr to make sure they are doing okay they are both still little Madison weighs in at 41 pounds and is 42 inches tall (or 3' 6") putting her squarly in the 20% for height and weight McKenzie was 52 lbs and 45 inches tall (or 3' 9") same with her she is squarly in the 20th % for both if you look that up and they keep up there averages they will not be much taller then 5' if they are lucky since my mom is 5' and their other Grandma was 4'8" (which is shorter then Izzak already). I guess it is good they are girls because nobody really cares about girls being short! I talked to their dr about Kenzies face breaking out all the time and her allergic reaction this summer (the bad one I posted about here ) he wanted to start with the blood test that can test for food allergies. She is such an awesome kid though I think the lab expected her to cry and fight them as they put her in the room with a bed and were trying to see if I could hold her in my lap to keep her calm. Well when they suggested that Kenzie looked up at them and said "whats the big deal my mom gets more upset then I do?" I had to laugh she is so funny and just watches the lab person stick the needle in and doesn't even flinch. The lab person said she was the easiest kid she has ever drawn. I guess some of that comes from the fact she has had a lot of blood draws, I don't know. She is pretty proud of herself though and can usually tell the lab people where to find a good vein. Anyway the labs came back yesterday and the dr says they didn't show any food allergies so I think I want to move on the an allergist and have her tested for more then foods just so I know what is causing her break out so bad, that and I am starting to wonder if any of her stomach problems could be allergy related just not to foods. I am pretty positive she is allergic to molds due to the problems she had with her asthma at an appartment we lived in.
Izzak got his cast off yesterday. I was really glad about that. He has been driving everyone nuts with it both us and his teachers. He figured it was a good excuse to get out of doing anything at home or school or just about anywhere! It is much better now though and isn't bothering him at all. Oh well thats all for now.

To All Moms

Somebody said it takes about six weeks to get back to normal after you've had a baby .........

Somebody doesn't know that once you're a mother, "Normal," is history.

Somebody said you learn how to be a mother by instinct ....

Somebody never took a three-year-old shopping.

Somebody said being a mother is boring ......

Somebody never rode in a car driven by a teenager with a driver's permit.

Somebody said if you're a "good" mother, your child will "turn out good."...........

Somebody thinks a child comes with directions and a guarantee.

Somebody said "good" mothers never raise their voices ........

Somebody never came out the back door just in time to see her child hit a golf ball through the neighbor's kitchen window.

Somebody said you don't need an education to be a mother......

Somebody never helped a fourth grader with her math.

Somebody said you can't love the fifth child as much as you love the first......

Somebody doesn't have five children.

Somebody said a mother can find all the answers to her child-rearing questions in the books .......

Somebody never had a child stuff beans up his nose or in his ears.

Somebody said the hardest part of being a mother is labor and delivery .....

Somebody never watched her "baby" get on the bus for the first day of kindergarten or on a plane headed for military "boot camp."

Somebody said a mother can do her job with her eyes closed and one hand tied behind her back .......

somebody never organized four giggling Brownies to sell cookies.

Somebody said a mother can stop worrying after her child gets married ...

Somebody doesn't know that marriage adds a new son or daughter-in-law to a mother's heartstrings.

Somebody said a mother's job is done when her last child leaves home ....

Somebody never had grandchildren.

Somebody said your mother knows you love her, so you don't need to tell her ......

Somebody isn't a mother.

Pass this along to all the "mothers" in your life.Have a Blessed Day!

Happy Birthday! Madison is 6 on 12/6/06 there are a lot of 6's in there!

Happy Birthday Maddie! She is getting so big and I can hardly believe she is 6 already. It makes me feel old. I don't really have any babies anymore and no toddlers either, that is such a strange feeling for me since my kids were so close and with 4 of them I have always had little kids. Does she qualify as a little kid anymore? Just ask her she will tell you she still is! She likes to remind me she is the baby which is true she is the youngest on both sides of our family!

Kids are cute

"If I could reach up and hold a star for every time you've made me smile, the entire evening sky would be in the palm of my hand." Author Unknown

Madison and I were standing outside for a bit the other night getting something out of the car when Madison looks up at the moon and says

"I know the moon isn't real"

Me: "Oh really why do you say that?"

"Because I can see its eyes and that means it isn't real"

Me: "huh?"

I wasn't sure how to respond to that...... After all she knows we have eyes and we are real? Kids are silly! I mean I didn't really want to do things to her imagination so I just left it at that, someday she will beleive the moon is real and just as sadly probably when she learns that Santa doesn't really exist either....

Santa Clause is comming!

We had a good weekend with lots of pre Christmas activities! It really is my favorite time of year! On Saturday we went to my parents house to help decorate their tree and put up other decorations. The kids loved it of course and have always insisted on helping with decorating Grandma and Papa's tree.
On Sunday we got our tree at a tree farm in Oregon City. We went with my sister, her husband Ron and their youngest daughter Alyson.
We always like to go to the tree farms so we can cut the tree ourselves. I just think they are fresher and last longer then a tree from a lot and generally there is a better selection of many more trees also they tend to be less expensive.
We got about a 7 ' maybe a little more Douglas Fir. I love Dougs because they are so full and plenty of branches for my huge ornament collection. My sisters family bought a Noble Fir. We haven't put the tree up yet as we found when we got home that our stand is not big enough so I will need to go out tomorrow to find a bigger one. Wish me luck! I will have to post pictures when we get it up. Also this year my parents decided they didn't want to put the train that goes around their tree and talked the kids into taking it home for our tree. As long as they don't play the song is sings over and over it should be cute!

Today was my first day back to work since my surgery. It went okay I worked in one of our Immediate Care facilities though and since it was

Monday we were very busy.... Work is okay but as I said in a post last week I really wish I didn't have to work.

Good Days and its officially 4 teeth for Christmas!

So it is official Madison and now ask Santa for 4 teeth this Christmas. After I got a couple of comments about the first picture in my last post I wanted to show this one first, she really is a caracter isn't she? Oh and she is only playing wiht the pacifier we were looking in her box of baby stuff earlier and it obviously didn't get put back right away, I will have to figure out where she put it. Here are a couple of cute no teeth pictures for viewing pleasure, She is such a cutie
And another silly face!
Also yesterday Joshua and Kenzie had their belt testing for Tae Kwon Do and they both advanced

Kenzie is now officially a yellow belt and she did great not to mention she was really cute she did way better then

the boy who was also testing with her in the white to yellow group.

she had really great form and she has the cutest little girl yell. I know they are supposed to sound intimidating but she is such a girly girl its cute! Although part of her belt testing is non contact sparing and I have to say the boy is lucky she wasn't supposed to hit him because she probably would have knocked him on his butt with her high kicks, boy can the girl kick high and she has some force behind it! I guess having two older brothers probably contributes to the fact she is not afraid to fight a boy. I am trying to figure out how to post the video clip of her sparing but need to figure out how. Any ideas?

And Joshua is now a high green belt which means he has a black stripe that runs through the center of a green belt. It was pretty cool with his also he only got his low green 2 months ago and he did awesome on his testing already and the 2 other boys testing one has been a green for a year and the other 4 months and I think he looked the best when he was testing it is fun to watch him also because of the look on his face I love the look he gets when he is concentrating on something fully. I have a clip of part of his testing also so need to figure out how to post that as well.

Both Kenzie and Joshua in their new belts. Joshua was really proud of McKenzie for getting hers, he has been working with her to get her things down and she actually got her yellow quicker then he did.

Also Kelly came home from work in a really good mood today! He came home turned on his music and was playing with the girls most the night. I had to get pictures because since his accident almost 3 years ago these kind of occasions don't happen as often and we would like. I hope he isn't paying for the fun to much tomorrow morning but unfortunatly he probably will. I am hoping he will be fine tomorrow since we have a busy weekend!

In this one Daddy and Maddie were spinning each other around and Kelly actually had his stocking cap pulled over his eyes and Madison was "making" him turn in circles, they were both dizzy.

Then we get Daddy dancing with his baby girl of course spinning her. I really love this picture its to sweet. Please ignore any mess you see, we have piles going right now trying to get things ready for Christmas decorations and a tree we are getting on Sunday!

Then we get Daddy dancing with Kenzie. I love this one also Kelly really has a sweet look on his face for his daughter and Kenzie and Maddie were loving the attention they were getting!

And of course what daddy could resist flipping the little daughter upside down? Just look at that happy face on Kenzie and Daddy!

Like I said Kelly is not always feeling up to kind of activity but when he does he definetly dotes on his kids, the boys of course are way to big for lifting and dancing with Dad would be kind of weird. They get hunting and camping trips with Dad.