November 2013

We had some amazing people in our ward that volunteered to babysit the kiddos so Moms and Dads could go

I am so grateful for temples. I am grateful to have a piece of Heaven on Earth, where you can leave the world outside and learn and serve. I am also grateful that families can be together forever. I want to be with these rascals for eternity.

 

Also in November, my Mom came over and taught us a long awaited lesson of making homemade noodles. The boys were SO excited and loved every minute. The pictures aren't that great because of the bad lighting, but the looks on their faces tell all.

We ate some of those noodles for Thanksgiving. Reese may have had five helpings. I stopped counting after his third. Abram later wrote this about Thanksgiving..



October 2013 Continued.....

I feel like there is so much I have left out in an attempt to get my blog up to date. It's overwhelming to say the least, and hard because now that I am past this, the emotions aren't as raw, and although they are easier to write about-I feel sad that it won't convey how I was feeling at the time. Honestly, August-February was really hard for our family. Kris started back in construction (which was an answer to prayer and fasting) but it required him to be gone all week, home on the weekends-which turned into every other weekend, which turned into being gone a month at a time. I struggled, and would not have made it through if I didn't have amazing friends. It's the truth. Friends who invited us to dinner, friends who watched my kids so I could have "alone time" to go to the grocery store, friends who would have play dates with me to make the day go faster, friends that would have their kids watch mine and let me have a much needed girls night. Dang it, I get teary eyed just thinking about it. It was so hard, and yet I made a commitment. I knew that if I did was I supposed to do, Heavenly Father would do the rest-and He did. Literally, I felt like I lowered my head and just kept moving forward. On nights when I was alone and cleaning up vomit for the third time, stripping sheets, freaking out because Abram put his hand in it, and then I slipped and fell in it at 3am. Where I had to literally laugh out loud or I would have curled up in a ball and just sobbed uncontrollably. But, my burdens were made light. I was able to keep trudging on.

I was able to run the Ragnar again last year. I was stronger this year, because I knew what to train for. It was really fun, and because we had some really fast runners this year, we got to start about three hours and we finished 2 and a half hours earlier than we planned. My amazing friend Lori made her traditional movie......

and if that isn't enough to motivate you to be in a van for 36 hours and run I don't know what will.

After Ragnar, Halloween came quickly-the kiddos went for a Star Wars theme and were the cutest Darth Vader

and Jango Fett

 

you have ever seen.

 

Since we had a candy overload, the boys and I decided to go to the Pumpkin Patch ON Halloween. This was pretty much the best decision ever, due to the fact there were maybe five families there along with the teenagers that worked there. No waiting, and we did whatever we wanted as much as we wanted. It was a ghost town, and we loved it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a nice wind, and the only thing that was missing was Kris.

 

Shark Teeth October 2013

Abram has been trying to lose a tooth since he was four. No joke. One day I walked in and saw that he had marks on the foot board of his bed. I asked if he had been driving cars alongside it-nope, not cars, just HIS TEETH!!! "Mo-om, I really want to loose a tooth!" Thankfully the scratched foot board kept me from laughing-poor kid. So we had a talk about loosing teeth, and waited, and waited, and waited, and he would swear that one was loose, and yet-it didn't really happen. But then he started complaining that his tooth hurt-I kind of blew it off until a lump started forming behind a tooth-lo and behold, his big tooth was growing in behind it!! This poor kid who had been TRYING TO LOSE A TOOTH FOR 2 YEARS had a tooth growing in behind it, not making the one in front loose enough to fall out. I looked up some info and found out it's sometimes referred to as "shark teeth"-which being a shark lover-Abram was content with that. Thinking maybe his love of sharks could have been a contributing factor. Okay, I may have suggested that to ease the disappointment. So we visited the dentist...

Abram is so funny, whenever he gets nervous he is always polite about it. He kept saying, "Uhhh...no thanks." and as you will notice, he kept one and a half legs over the side in case he needed to make a quick get a away-seriously. At first he kept sitting up, "...uhhhh no thanks, no thanks." The dentist came in and asked if he could help with that tooth. "Uhhh no thanks" as I was nodding enthusiastically. A little numbing cream, a sweet set of pliers-and it was out. Abram was in shock.

Reese also got to visit the dentist (for his first time) a few days later. He thought it was great, chatted it up with the hygienist for a good 15 minutes-until he realized the equipment he had been playing with was actually to be used on him......and then the screaming started, and the hyperventilating, and the "scene" making-oh and did I tell you I saw someone I used to work with-there with her kids? Yaaaah. The funny part was he almost got an x-ray done (which I think is the "hardest part" because of the stuff you have to hold in your mouth makes you gag). He had the stuff in his mouth fine, sat down and as soon as she was about to click the picture (you know, where nothing happens-except a picture) the screaming started again.

We left without getting his teeth cleaned.

First Grade and Preschool 2013

We were rezoned this year because of a new school being built. Abram's new school is A LOT bigger than the one he went to Kindergarten. I was a little nervous about that, but so far he has only gotten lost once :) This was the first year he became a bus rider (on the way home)-I was really nervous about that too-UNTIL we became the first stop and I realized not only did he love the bus, but waiting five minutes at the bus stop versus 45 minutes on the street was a little piece of heaven. First day of school...

The Reesemiester started preschool the next week. There was a definite transition period-but now he LOVES it, even when he says he doesn't I know he does. He will constantly talk about what he learns, or shout fun facts and I will ask how he knew and he says, "Ms. Mary told me." His teachers are fantastic-I love them. They love Reese, and that is the best part. I don't even mind when he is upset that I am there to pick him up because he is "busy". He was also excited to bring his lunch to school.

This one is blurry, but I was waiting for the "Don't leave me!" speech, and instead I got the, "Hey, there's Daniel." (friend from church) and he sat down and got to it. Might I say it was the strangest feeling walking away without a child?? I constantly felt like I was missing something all day.

Personalities (2013)

This past Summer, Abram went through this phase of wanting to wear Kris's name tag from his mission. It was completely random, and he wore it to church for weeks. He was always really careful with it, like he knew how important it was to Kris. One Sunday I tried to take a picture of the boys together. I HATE that this turned out so blurry because it captures so much of their personalities. In fact, it's one we may have to redo in 11 years or so...

 
 ...and this one below just melts me. I already have a master plan for two pictures in a frame side by side-I hope he always remembers how important he is. How important it is to make good choices. How much he is loved. It's so funny, when my kids talk about going on missions for our church-Abram says he is going to the Rainforest, Reese says he is going to Ohio. I don't know if it's possible to love them more.

Summer 2012-Cousin Time

When pictures are more than words....