Anticipating Christmas......

I sometimes wish I could be a kid again at Christmas. I remember laying under our tree and looking up. My kids were doing the same thing the other night. Its still fun to see it through their eyes.
A rare peaceful moment in our house.

Happy Belated Birthday!!

This is a week overdue but we have been moving for the past week and I finally got all my equipment together to post photos. Gabriella, Ryan, and Brooke turned 3 last Sunday and have since had 4 celebrations. They will think their birthday lasts a week every year.

We did things a little more casual this year with just a last minute store bought cake. I know, I didn't get one for each child, at this point they don't care. I will try to go back to each their own cake next year. For the record, they loved the balloon cake and the fact that there were candles that were "ABC's".

I hoped the shopping carts would come in handy for picking up toys and inspire them to help clean. It seems to help. They also love to zoom around and around the house where our bathroom has 2 doors and makes a circle through the kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and dining room.

Well this is not the order that I wanted the text and photos to go in but my computer doesn't seem to want to let me rearrange them so I'm not wasting any more time on it. Hope you enjoy it "as is".

Happy Birthday again to my little sweeties. I hope someday that you may read this and remember all the happy times we had and not so much the difficult times. Know that I love you no matter what and you will always make me proud to be your mother.

First oficial snow. Is it Winter already?

It usually snows for the first time here around Halloween. Actually its usually the very night of Halloween so its a little early this year. So does that mean that we are getting it all over with sooner or that the winter is going to be long and horrible?

Homecoming 2009.

Here is Ashlyn's first time riding in the Homecoming parade. Its hard to see because even though my friend Dorinda reminded me to bring my camera....I forgot again. So I took these on a camera phone. She is second from the left. The little boy in the sunglasses on the right side of her is her current "boyfriend" from what she says. His name is Austin. I asked if he was nice and Lance asked if he was rich. She said "yes he is nice and what does rich mean?"

Here she is waving from the bus. She is wearing a hat and mittens because it was like 45 degrees today.

Pray for us, please.

I've been dreading this post for a while but I didn't want anyone to feel left in the dark. Some of you already know this, but we could really use your prayer and support.

For those of you that don't already know, I'm sorry and I hope you don't hold it against me but I've had a hard time talking about it without crying. I hate to cry so I've been sort of hoping that people would just find out from other people and eliminate the need for me to do any more crying.

Lance and I have just recently gotten divorced. It was final last week. If you're surprised then you are in the majority. It seems sudden but has been on the horizon for quite a while.

I don't want to go into it too much right now because I don't have the strength and the kids are currently destroying the living room. Soon they'll be chopping up the trim and starting a bonfire.

Specifically, please pray for our children, and that we can always put them first. Secondly I'd appreciate prayer that my sanity will not leave me, as now is when I could use it the most.

1st day--part two.

Snack time.
Kayla and Ashlyn on the bus together.

Ashlyn and her funny faces. They get to sit next to each other on the trip home. Ashlyn was angry that I wanted a photo and she wanted to get on the bus.

Funny thing that when I gave birth to Ashlyn I purposely picked a rare name so that she wouldn't have to share it with another class mate. Guess what the only double name in her whole class is? Yes, she is now Ashlyn O.

1st Day of Preschool.

I'm in shock and denial that my baby is starting school already. I still see an infant in a baby seat when I think of her. When I commented about her being my baby and that she is growing up, she said "well, sometimes babies grow up".

I guess they do. And I better get dressed or we will be late for her first day.

Our trip in a nutshell.

Here's Ashlyn at the airport waiting for our plane. We arrived a little early, which after almost missing our plane on the way home, I highly recommend. Here's our plane in the background. 1st trip for her and 3rd for me on a plane. I love to fly and would rather do that than drive any day. I hate driving.Ashlyn on the plane by her window seat. Her latest phase is acting like a lion if you can't tell.She also likes to pose like she is on the cover of Vogue. Maybe I should send this to United airlines. They could use it for advertisement and I could make some cash."We love to fly and it shows".Here we are at Dorinda's and in her makeshift ball pit. Sorry I was not better at capturing the whole trip on film. We had so much fun I forgot to take out my camera.We went shopping for her birthday. Oh and I forgot, I got my hair cut. For the first time that I can remember I allowed the stylist to cut my hair how ever she wanted. I really like it I just hope I can find the time to straighten it. How do you like my Jessica Simpson boots? OK, even if I wanted to wear these "stripper boots" they were over $100. I don't know which Ashlyn like better these or the red patent leather stilettos. She has style, what can I say?Here is Ashlyn modeling her new princess watch and her new outfit.One of her obsessions was the family cat. His name was lollipop. He was not as impressed with her as she was with him. Cats always seem to have that bored look though so who could tell.This was right before we boarded the plane to come home. I think Ashlyn is trying to show her sadness.This was a model of the Lincoln memorial (I think) that was in the Chicago airport. We had to change planes there.

Sorry I don't have more photos. If you check out Dorinda's blog you can see a few more. The photos could never have done it justice anyway.

Ashlyn had a blast playing with Kaitlyn and Caleb. I really never even missed my kids much because her triplets couldn't have been more like my own. Except Ryan of course is a boy and she has 3 girls. They were climbing right into my lap and calling me mommy after about a day. I even feel like I miss them now that I am home. Its such a shame that we don't live closer.

Thanks for the great vacation Nelsons!!

Virginia looks just like home.

I have photos to come when I get home to download them. We are having so much fun.

For those of you that don't already know Ashlyn and I flew to VA to wish a blogger friend a happy birthday. The time flew by and we are coming home today. I miss my 3 other children and can't wait to see them but I also wish we had more time here.

So wish Dorinda a happy birthday at http://www.nelsontriplets.blogspot.com/ and I'll be home soon.

Our little starlet.

On Sunday we took the kids to the local annual Threshing/harvest show. This was the first year I had gone since I was a kid and went with my dad and grandpa.

I couldn't wait until my kids were old enough to enjoy it because I really had a good time when I went. It was especially fun to watch my grandpa's excitement to watch the threshing. He loved anything related to the old time farming since that was how he grew up.

They had a pedal pull and as you can see Brooke got her photo taken. She wasn't actually even old enough to enter but before they started they let the 3 year olds try it. The kids each tried it even though they aren't quite 3. She did pretty good with assistance and so did Ryan but Gaby could have probably entered the contest. She is awesome at pedaling. She can already ride Ashlyn's bike at home.

They had a nice little playground near the eating area and the kids played on these sea saws for a long time. It was pretty pathetic that we had to teach them how to play on the playground. Guess that's what you have to do for farm kids.And I definitely have to get me one of these. They were all very willing to go in and we had to coax them back out. Time outs would be a lot easier for me.We had a really good time. The weather was nice. The kids got to try cotton candy for the first time. At first Gaby wouldn't eat it. She touched it to her mouth and tried to put it back. I finally shoved some in her mouth and then she was eating it by the handful. I never have known a kid that doesn't like sugar.

Notice anything?

If you are new to this blog you may be thinking "wow, what a cool blog". If you've been here before you may have noticed I redecorated a little bit. How's it look? Too flashy?

Meet Coco.

Ashlyn was begging for a horse one day and I made the mistake of suggesting we get a pony. Well a week later, after thinking about all the expense and risk a horse would bring to our family I told Lance I had changed my mind.As you can see it was too late. Lance had said something to Grandpa Ray and he went and bought 6 horses. This little pony was one of them.Ashlyn was thrilled for a whole 2 days. She was either riding him or standing beside him and chasing flies off of his face. The newness has worn off now so he only gets the occasional visit but he really seems to like her. One day she wasn't paying much attention to him even though he was following her so he nipped her on the back.Gaby gives a whole new meaning to the term bareback. Don't ask me why she isn't wearing a shirt. At least she has on pants.

A 4 year olds point of view.

When we took Ashlyn away for her birthday we got her a little camera of her own. These are some of her artwork. It doesn't even have a flash so I think she does a pretty good job. Apparently she is a shoe fanatic.

There is a really great one of Gaby with her finger up her nose but she would be embarrassed some day if I posted it.