Christmas, ER, Happy New Year!

Poor little Levi has been having pretty bad stomach pains off and on for the past several days.  This afternoon it happened again.  He was crying hysterically and nothing seemed to help him, so we decided it was time to take him in to get it checked out.  I took him to the Urgent Care and of course by the time we got there he was feeling fine.  The dr. was concerned that it might be appendicitis so they sent us straight over to the ER.  We got in fairly quick and they did a few x-rays of his chest and stomach.  I was preparing for the worst and figured if he did need to have surgery, now would be the best time because Tyler was off work for Christmas Break.  After 3 popsicles, some apple juice, and his first time peeing in a cup, the ER dr. came back and said the x-ray showed that he was just really backed up.  Yay! No appendicitis!  We were sooooo thankful it wasn't anything really serious! Clear liquids it is for him for a couple days!

Last Friday we had an Ugly Christmas Sweater/White Elephant Gift Exchange party with a few other couples from our ward.  It was fun to get together and get to know some of them a little better.  

My sweater had little snowballs and a snowman made out of cotton balls on it,
but Ryder pulled them all off! It looked a lot better before that. 

My sister and her family came to visit Saturday night and stayed until Christmas Eve.  The kids really enjoyed having their cousins here to play.  

Christmas was good, except we were missing Taylor and Jon.  Everyone got lots of fun new things from our wish lists.   

Tyler had a wrestling meet at Ironwood High School in Phoenix on Friday.  There were only 4 wrestlers from Havasu that were able to go.  One placed 4th and one placed 1st.  The guy who took 1st has only lost 3 times so far this year and 2 of those 3 times was to the kid he beat this time. 

I love Christmas and all, but while Tyler was gone I decided to take down our Christmas decorations.  I love putting everything up, but I love taking it down too.  It's nice not to have to worry about kids getting into the Christmas tree or pulling it over on top of them now- haha!  

We miss being with family this time of year for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Dad’s Birthday, & New Years.  It was fun to have everyone texting back and forth on Christmas and Dad's Birthday- made it seem like we weren’t so far away.  We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and wish everyone a Happy New Year! 

Surviving the Christmas craziness.......

I need to get to bed..... just two days left!   I just might make it!  Our Christmas party was the smallest to date.  Aleisa and her family ended up not coming.  Wade and Dorothy didn't come.  ( Wade had his other knee replaced)  We did have two new attendees...  Becky and Mike Solano.  It was fun to have them come.

Highlight of the evening for me was when I received the adorable necklace with the little charms representing each family!  How fun!  Thank you everyone!   I love you all so very much!   Short post, I realize, but must get some sleep.

I wish all of you a wonderful Christmas!  May you continue to live your lives in a positive manner.  XOXO

Hello Family! I am school is finally out for the break!  My kids are all playing outside and I'm so glad to not be preparing for something.  I decided to post on the blog during this down time:)  

Maddie had a minor surgery to remove a benign lesion on her tongue.  She LOVED having scheduled sick time home from school.  She was crazy loopy when she woke up from the anesthesia.  Couldn't stop talking about how she did NOT want fruit.

 Corey and I (and the littles) helped in the kids' class Christmas parties today. Isaac was too busy playing twister to take a picture with us:)

 The kids piano recital was last Saturday.  Isaac played a duet with his friend Jackson.  All three kids played beautifully.  This picture of Miss hazel was outside the recital, dancing in the leaves.  She can't look at the camera anymore.  She just can't.

 Crafting at the ward Christmas party last Saturday

 Maddie has become a runner!  She doesn't want to do the swim team anymore.  She wants to run instead.  We're having so much fun!

 These two.  Seriously.  I don't know who even took this picture or what they were doing standing up there.  There must have been a tasty treat on top of the fridge.

 After our ice storm and freezing spell, we got lucky.  In the sixties all week.  It reached 70 once.  We are loving the sunshine and the outside playing!

Last year on this day, we were traveling to Idaho for a Christmas visit!  We're glad to be escaping such a travel day this year, but super sad to miss the fake Christmas Eve and other festivities we're used to.  Since we got married, we have only spent one Christmas away from Idaho, and that was 14 years ago.  We'll get homesick for sure, but are excited to do all the traditions we're used to here in Texas.  We actually might not go find a grocery store that will let us sing Christmas songs on a microphone with an organ playing--but other than that, we're going to do them all!

Love you!  Those of you getting together, you need to Skype or FaceTime so we can see the festivities!
Kristie

The last month at the Peterson's

Back on November 26th the girls got to perform at a girls high school basketball game for their cheer clinic. Worst Mom of the year award goes to me during this game and I can't believe I haven't posted since then and almost missed sharing it with you all! I dropped off the girls early and then went and took the boys to eat and play at McDonalds. When we came back we found a place to sit on the bleachers and I gave Miles my iPod and went to take pictures of the girls sitting in the stands about 10 feet from us doing cheers with the cheer leaders. When I turned back around Miles was gone. Gasp! I asked a lady if she had seen him walk past her and as she was telling me no I heard the whistle blow down on the court. I turn around to see Miles out on the basketball court in the middle of the game skipping around looking at the iPod with headphones on! I ran down to get him as I see a girl from the stands come an put her arm around him and lead him to the doors! Then I had to walk past everyone with him so they knew I was the bad Mom. Well I was completely embarrassed and so I made sure I had him next to me and was texting Joel what had happened. When I get done I look to find Tommy gone! What the heck? I start to panic and the lady behind me leans forward and said "He went to get a drink so I sent my daughter with him". Yes proud moments indeed! I never lose them and I lost them both in  5 minutes! Well here is a cute picture of the girls anyway. They had a TON of fun!

Millie turned 6! I can't believe how sweet and gentle this little sassy pants has turned. She LOVES me to tell the story about how I called Mom one day because I just didn't know what to do with her because she was so spicy. She had a short fuse, was stubborn and the boss! Mom told me and this is Millies favorite part "Sometimes kids like that end up growing up to really sweet". She was so very right.  We decided to have a friend party this year. She invited the little kids from her primary class and Sam. When they came in off the bus they ran in to see her cake and Sam said "WOW that is awesome! It is either Santa Claus or a pig". I guess my Santa wasn't as cute as I thought. We did a little pin the beard on Santa game and then we decorated felt Christmas trees. She had so much fun! (She also chose to wear a spring outfit that was a hand-me-down from Maizy, but it was her birthday she got what she wanted!)

 

Maizy's gifted and talented class did their presentations on Wednesday. She did hers on "Damage caused by the sun". When I was looking for the pictures of that horrid sunburn I got in college that puffed up an entire side of my body I found these pictures....

Aren't they great?! I just love them!

 

The of course our ward Christmas party. We had really great food and the kids did their little presentation and Santa came!

It was pretty cold on Friday as it has been a lot lately of course. Millie has a first year teacher and she is just overwhelmed! You can tell before I even heard she was. They don't do anything extra or even crafts for that matter. If she does a fun project it is because a Mom went in and did it with them. She told me once that her teacher makes them run back and forth at recess when they are naughty. I was pretty annoyed about the teacher using running as a punishment but didn't know if that was actually what was happening or not. Well, when Maizy came home Friday it just happen to come up and Millie said "we were bad again today so Ms. Mackay made us run outside for recess again, but this time we didn't get to wear our coats". It was 14 degrees at noon.  I scared both the girls because I said "Maizy get me the phone" and I must have looked really mad because they both got really embarrassed. I called and luckily she was there. I told her that Millie and I were talking today and she told me something that I was sure wasn't right so I was wondering if she could clarify it for me. I said Millie said they were made to run outside today without their coats and could she tell me what happened. She told me about how the kids had been talking a lot and it was the end of the day so she had them go outside to get their wiggles out. I said "Did you make them run" She said "yes I had them go outside during recess and run" I said "Did they have their coats on?" she answered very quietly "They did not". Oh my goodness, for a Mom like me that doesn't like to cause problems with teachers or get involved I felt my blood boil and Maizy said she knew what Ms. Mackay said because I couldn't contain my anger. I told her how Millie had RSV as a baby and gets coughing fits so bad she can't go 30 seconds without coughing and that she was not to be sent outside without her coat and that was NOT and acceptable punishment! She started talking about how Millie was a really good student blah blah blah. I finally just said "Thank you" and got off the phone. She called back a few minutes later and said she realized that was a mistake and that it was dangerous and that she would never do it again. Then she proceeded to tell me that Millie was really good in class so she was the first one that got to come in. Well, that just infuriated me more because I realized that she was punishing everyone even if they didn't do anything wrong and that they were being forced to stay out there longer if they were talking more. They are 5 and it was 14 degrees! I asked Millie exactly what she said and she told me that she said "You guys are going to have to go run this recess and you don't get to wear your coats". She actually planned it. I was mad and told the girls at book club about it and one of the older Mom's said that if you saw your neighbor doing that to her kids as punishment, sending them outside to run without their coat when it was cold they would be turned in to child protective services. Sigh....I am not mad a the teacher but I think she definitely needs some help. I am trying to decide if I should go in and talk to the principal. Not to tell on her but to explain that she needs to employ positive reinforcement instead of punishment as I am sure she learned in college that she just graduated from. She is definitely not headed in the right direction the way she is thinking and she needs some help with knowing how to deal with 5 year olds!



Party, Party, Party!

We’ve been partying a lot this week!  Thursday night was our ward Relief Society Christmas Party, Friday morning was Max’s Preschool Christmas Party, Friday night I had a Paparazzi Party, and Saturday night was our Ward Christmas Party.  We have one more Christmas party this coming Friday night that a few of my friends and I are hosting.  It’s a White Elephant Gift Exchange and Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest J  We invited a bunch of couples in our ward so it should be fun!   

Wednesday Tyler had a wrestling meet in Phoenix.  They went 0 and 3- losing one of the matches by only 1 point.  Tyler said it was good to see what they needed to work on. 

Tonight Taylor and I went to a Christmas Music and Spoken Word presentation that our ward and the other ward here in Lake Havasu put together.  It was really nice and helped to set the tone for Christmas.  

My sister, Melanie, and her family are coming on Saturday and will be here for a couple days before they head to Phoenix for Christmas.  We are excited for visitors J 

Tyler and I were finally able to find some time lastnight to go and do a little Christmas shopping.  It was good to get some of it done. Hopefully we’ll be able to get the rest done before Christmas- haha!  Can’t believe it’s only a little over a week away!! 

Taylor and Jon leave on Sunday to head to CA for Christmas L We will miss them, but I’m sure they will have an enjoyable time. 

Ryder is 9 months old today!  It doesn’t seem like it can possibly be that long ago when he was born.  Wasn’t it just the other day?! 

Well, I think that’s about it for now.  We miss everyone so much and hope you all have a great week!

 Ryder- 9 months old

not so RAD

Well we got back from Washington on Tuesday night around midnight. Dan's camera was stolen. Talk about lame right?! I updated the whole story on my blog. My fingers and brain can't type it again. Just know that we are sad and very much missing our camera. Especially with Christmas just around the corner.  :(
Dan started his application for Law School (finally) :) and worked lot's to make up for being gone for a week.
The girls and I played at Arctic Circle and spent a lot of time watching Christmas movies.
I haven't ran since Thanksgiving.
I've had lot's of ice cream
I'm not pregnant
and I love my little family.
That's about all I have to write. Oh and Sylvie goes back to the Dr. on wednesday to see what that lump on her neck is! Hopefully I can update with good news next week! Love you all and see some of you really soon for Fake Christmas Eve!!!!

Happy Thanksgivingmas Time!

So here is what we have been up to.  

On T-Day, with all 12 children and 6 adults we had in the house, (Kristie's brother's Justin and Tracen brought their families to us) we put the kiddos to bed and then hung out for a couple more hours.  When we went to lock up, Kristie found that it was raining IN the garage.  The upstairs toilet had been plugged and was still running.  The carpet was soaked and the drywall in the garage and some in the master bath were also soaked.  We spent the next week listening to six industrial strength fans and one dehumidifier roaring in our home.  The good news is even though the home owner has insurance, our realtor put in the lease that it would be our responsibility to fix.  I'm going to punch him in the neck if I see him again, so that will be fun.  

We had a great ice storm come through.  It was really cold and everything froze.  Some of the most beautiful trees are now bowing down to the ground and breaking.  It is sad.  School was cancelled and I could't go to work on Friday.  

We are still trying to get our house plans finalized, but it seems more important to us than it does to the designer who is taking his sweet time.  He's a nice guy, but I don't think he knows what a hurry we are in to get started.  We are wanting to start in January.  We need to be done by September 1.

I'm sure there is more to say, but I can't think it right now.  I put up the evenings textings so that Mom could see what she started.  :)