happy birthday brett!

we didn't do to much this year. 

brett's birthday was on a sunday so we had the vails over.

had dinner and dessert.

some gifts.

tim has the same smiling face as brett!

 

olivia is a little shy?

 

i told brett to look really happy,

this is what i got!

happy birthday brett!

we love you.

thanks for all you do for us!

decorating the tree

we decorated the tree with grandpa and josh tonight.
they did a great job with the lights and we all helped hang up the ornaments.

                                       yes, that is a almost naked kale under the tree!

 we had christmas music playing on pandora.
kale and mallory were very interested.

 grandma jodeene sent these for the kids!
aren't they hiliarious!
i think everyone wore them at some point doing the weekend.

even uncle josh!

liv was dying to put the star on.
brett got her up there and then we realized the trunk of the tree was too thick to fit the star!
grandpa to the rescue!

 he taped it up! 

what a good story to have the rest of our lives!

the tree turned out pretty nice and it was very special to decorate it
with loved ones from far away!



christmas farm take 2

we took the whole family plus grandpa and josh to get a christmas tree!
we went back to the christmas tree farm and santa was there!
no screaming or crying this year!
just sitting nicely, telling what they want for christmas!

there was a chainsaw wood carver there!  it was really neat to see him work.
we stayed for as long as the kids could take the cold.
we didn't get to see the final product but..

can you see what it's going to be?

santa.  see it?

the hat goes to the left with the pom pom at the end of the hat.

cool, huh?

we had a great time in spite of the cold and got a GREAT looking tree!

snow

first really good snow of the season!
just as we were leaving to go get our christmas tree.
grandpa and josh cleared our WHOLE driveway! 
the can come back anytime!
the kids got out there and wanted to help too!

THANK YOU!

 

playing in the snow even with a broken arm!

poor poor mally

poor mally broke her arm.
she was jumping on the blow up mattress and brett was playing with her.
brett took mally's legs out from under her and she fell on her left arm.
brett said he heard it snap!
OUCH!
mallory was in alot of pain and couldn't/wouldn't move her arm,
so we bundled her up and i took her to the emergency room.
on the way there, i calmed down and thought about the situation.
i called my sister, wendy and she helped me remember
the emergency room won't do anything but tell me it's broken and charge me $1000!
we turned around, went home, druged mallory up and went to "sleep".
i took her to the doctor first thing in the morning.
the ulna was broken and the radius was dislocated.
they had to put her to sleep to get the bone back in place and cast her arm.
yikes.  it was scary for mallory and me!

look at this face!  she has a dislocated and broken arm and hasn't eaten in hours! 

watching a movie before she went in for the "surgery".

 

after!

pink cast and all.

she did amazing.  the staff of the surgery center couldn't believe how brave she was.  she didn't cry or anything when they took her away!  neither did i, until she turned the corner and couldn't see me anymore.  then i lost it.  she woke up out of the anesthesia just great too.  the nurses said she was the best 3 year old they had ever had!

she has to wear the cast for 4 1/2 weeks.

  we are thankful it could be fixed and she is ok. 

where is kale?

i always know where kale is these days. 

all i have to do is follow the sound of this musical tree.

this tree plays music and there is a train inside it going around.

kale has spent hours looking and listening to it.

he loves trains and can't get enough of it.

grandpa and josh are here!

grandpa and josh came for the weekend!
we had tons of fun even though mallory broke her arm right when they got here.
it was so nice to have them here to help brett with the kids and give olivia and kale
some attention while mallory and i were at the doctor.
josh just got back from his mission in oct and you hadn't even met kale.
it was fun to get to know him again and we had a blast!

we watched some movies.

 

josh read the girls books before they went to bed everynight! 

the girls thought it was awesome!

thanks uncle josh!

 

josh was slightly addicted to guitar hero. 

we were so excited for them to come we made them a sign!! 
we went to the christmas tree farm and got a tree.
we decorated the tree and the men got the outside all decorated and looking awesome!
the adults watched several movies and even played ticket to ride one night!
oh, their was alot of chess going on too!
thanks for coming grandpa and josh!
we loved every minute of having you here
and thanks for all your help!

fieldtrip #2

i got to go with olivia's class on their second fieldtrip to pick out a tree.
we went to a local tree farm in plainfield and had a really good time!
it was very interesting and we know several new exciting things about christmas trees...
do you know it takes 8 to 10 years to grow a christmas tree!

this lady told us all sorts of cool stuff about the trees. 

they were making wreaths in the barn in all sorts of shapes and sizes. 

trying to find the perfect tree.

 

olivia's class.
we had lots of fun even though it was pretty cold.
we are going to get our christmas tree there on saturday!