Christmas is coming

I'm so excited to announce that we are going home (to Iowa) for Christmas this year!!! This is the first time in 5 years that we'll be there for this holiday and I'm stoked. Taryn has never been to Iowa for Christmas and she is just as excited as the other kids. Since she is the only one that doesn't have a concept of time, she thinks that Christmas is "tomorrow" and that we are going to Grampy's any moment. She has her bags packed... so cute!

I have not started shopping and honestly don't even know what to get the kids this year. I'm struggling to figure out a few things... Do we have Santa come early and celebrate Christmas early, do we ship gifts there and have Santa find us there to let them open Christmas morning, do we wait and have Santa come while we are gone and celebrate after the fact? I just don't know what to do! It makes sense to do it early but I can't imagine the kids not opening gifts from Santa Christmas morning. What to do - what to do...

I have asked each of the kids what they want for Christmas. Jayden said he wants books and more nerf guns, Kiarra wants a cell phone and an iPod, Tamia wants clothes and jewelry and Taryn wants and iPod and a "real" laptop. Why is it that my 4 year old is suddenly more expensive than the older girls!??! Taryn told me she does not want any more babies or books, because she has enough. She is going to be one disappointed little girl come Christmas morning (or whenever we celebrate).

Jayden had a reading benchmark a few weeks back and he passed with a 97% (missing only 1 question). He only needed a 65 to pass and he killed it, we are so proud of him. Yesterday, Kiarra brought home her reading benchmark (that she stressed out about for a week) and she scored a 95% (missing only 2 questions). I think she needed a 75 to pass but regardless she did awesome and we are so proud of her as well. Taryn just moved up to the next room as pre-school. She is such a big girl and so grown!

Thankful

This time of year reminds me of all I’m thankful for. Tomorrow, my family will sit around the breakfast table and we’ll all express what we are thankful for. We get silly answers like “the Wii” or “my dollies” but it’s the ones mentioned that have no $$ value that melt my heart. Last year Kiarra told me she was thankful for being a big sister, Jayden said he was thankful for being loved and having a home, and Taryn said she was thankful for her slippers (I know, materialistic – but still so cute)… Today and always I’m thankful for:

• Freedom of Religion – Can you imagine being forced into a religion that you don’t believe in? I’m so thankful for the opportunity to choose Christianity. The love God has for me and my family (and all of you too) is unfathomable. It’s an honor to serve Him and call Him my hero.
  
• My Husband – He is my love, my rock, my everything.
  
• My Kids – They are my heart, each and every one of them has it.
  
• My Mom – She is the best. She's been there for me through it all! I can’t imagine life without this lady.
  
• Family and friends – What would we do without a great family and set of friends who keep us real? There are too many to count but you know who you are!
  
• Military, Police, Firemen, etc – God bless those who serve our country, fight for our freedom and put their lives on the line to keep us safe.
  
• Teachers – These men and woman are amazing and truly gifted.
  
• Doctors & Nurses - I can’t say enough about this profession. I’m so thankful for our doctors and nurses.

There are countless more but I’ll stop there for now…I’m supposed to be working.

Taryn turned 4!

Wow, my baby girl is 4 years old. How can this be? It seems like yesterday we brought her home from the hospital, so tiny and so cute, our precious baby girl. I am amazed daily by her beauty, cuteness and grace. She is 110% girly girl. I barely remember life without her by my side; she is such a joy each and every day. She is totally into being a mommy right now. I understand this is a natural gift God gives all baby girls; there is just something so sweet about the way she holds and cares for her babies. If I’m not feeling well or one of the kids or Jeff is hurt or sick, she is there by our side to care for us, stroking our face or hair telling us that it’s going to be ok. On the flip side, she is by far the most stubborn of my kids. I hate to brag or sound ridiculous but our kids have typically been good kids, they’re obedient and well mannered, of course they’ve made mistakes but they’ve learned from them. Taryn is different; she challenges us, A LOT, and is whinier than the others (which I can’t stand) and I want to think it’s the third child (or youngest) thing and I know my older brothers would agree the youngest child gets away with more…blah blah blah… I used to argue this point with them but I now agree and understand what they’ve been telling me since I was 14! We would never let Kiarra and Jayden get away with the things Taryn gets away with. Even with the loosened discipline she is still a great kid…besides the fact that she cut her own hair when she “wanted bangs”, and cut her clothes when they “didn’t fit right” and lets not forget the time she spread gum ALL over the stairs… Ahh, the lovely memories.

Since I was going to be out of town for her actual b-day, we had a small celebration for her the weekend prior to her b-day. Mom came over and I made Taryn’s favorite meal, spaghetti, and we let her open the gifts we got her. It was then; right there in our family room that I really realized she is 4! FOUR years old! I’m just blown away at how fast she’s grown up! She was such a big girl when I told her I would be out of town for her b-day. She didn’t cry she acted as if she actually understood. If you’ve talked to me in the past 2 weeks you know how pissed off I was that I had to miss her b-day. I’ve never been away for my kids b-days... NEVER! I will always remember that I wasn’t with her on her 4th b-day… Ugh, this thing called a job!

This past weekend we had her real party and it was wet and cold. I originally scheduled it at the bowling alley but then remembered how much fun we used to have hosting big parties at our house so I quickly changed it. Of course that was before I knew it was going to be raining! It’s actually a good thing a few families didn’t show up because we were out of room in our garage. The rain held off all day...but yup you guessed it, it started drizzling minutes before the party started. It didn’t seem to bother the kids much; they still had a great time jumping and playing in the moonwalk and they enjoyed playing a few other games as well. We had a great group of kids, the majority of our friends have kids the ages of our other kids so there were only a few her age. That didn’t bother her a bit; she can run and hold her own with the older kids!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl! We love you LOTS!!!