Happenings and Happy New Year!

Caution: a little long
Christmas:
Christmas was very enjoyable. We went to Brent's parents on christmas eve, we were able to see family and enjoy a nice evening at his parents house, with some yummy food.
Christmas morning the kids woke up around 7:00am (lucky for us...they went to bed at around 11:00pm) I was not ready to get up so I told them they had to wait. Sarah and I had slept HORRIBLE that night and I was exhausted and poor Sarah was still sound asleep. I made the kids do the normal use the bathroom and wait for us to set up the video camera, I woke Sarah and we headed downstairs to see what Santa brought....


Megan got a sled, Lucky the dog(an interactive dog and responds to its name and does "tricks"), and Webkinz. She got all she asked for and was so excited. She is displaying it on her new sled, except for Lucky, I don't where he was. Probably off tooting somewhere and then says "uh-oh sorry" this is pretty funny to the kids! She also received a game, a video, a much needed hello kitty alarm clock!, and more Webkinz, Thanks Uncle Chad and Bailee and Grandma and Grandpa!!!



Joseph also got a sled, a race track with hot wheels cars, and a scooter. He also got all he wanted. He loved the sled and often pretended he was sledding on the couch. They were also used for boats and beds and whatever else they could think of. He also got a webkinz dino from Megan and a very cool remote control Hummer, a game, cool walking dinosaur, and more Thanks Uncle Chad and Grandma and Grandpa!



Sarah unfortanelty did not get her dinosaur cake she wanted for christmas but she did get a microwave that works with pretend food, a cash register, a camera, and an elmo laptop. She was ecstatic and thoroughly LOVED playing with all of it. I was able to get Megan and Joseph dressed Christmas day but Sarah REFUSED, she did get a bath and was put right back into pajammies (as she calls them)


Mom and dad were pretty boring with gifts this year and they all just received a new outfit from us!

A picture of all of them and cousin Bailee.




The day before Christmas Eve we opened up all the gifts under our tree from all my family out in Utah. The 3 kiddos were Very excited to receive a Wii from Grandma and Grandpa Schow! They also were given clothes and new pajamas. From Uncle Bob and Aunt Robyn and kids, they received stickers and coloring items, I received some awesome recipe books, one of which is a collection of family recipes!!!!! Can't wait to try some of them! Thanks to Everyone. We had a good time!


New years:
Today is New years day and I don't know what the plans are...hopefully just relaxing, like we did the day before that and the day before that and the day before that......:) Brent took all of this week off and doesn't go back until the kids go back to school on monday. I went to the dr. and we all heard the baby's heart beat (150) and everything sounds good. I am 18 weeks and haven't gained a pound! Hopefully that means with this last one I won't gain much! (wishful thinking?)
I took a few pictures of the kids this morning.
Joseph insisted on doing an open mouth shot.....


then Megan did......



then Sarah did......!
If you'll notice the nice big red spot next to Sarah's eye....she fell down our steps for the first time yesterday. :( She usually does really good about going down on her bottom but every now and then she thinks she will be a big girl and walk down the stairs. Fortunately Megan was at the bottom of the stairs and caught her before she landed on the hardwood floor at the bottom, she fell from the 3rd step from the top so she fell all the way down. Her poor face was all red on the left side and then this morning she looked like she had a little black eye. I think she must have scraped her face pretty hard on the carpet, I believe the big red spot is a carpet burn :( She is fine now though!




Just a cute picture



This last picture needs a little explaining. If you have been to our house you know most of the artwork hung on the walls is the kids'. Joseph has learned how to write all our names and with another baby coming we can not come up with a name....we have a girl name but no boy name yet (ultrasound January 26th!!!) So he had been coloring one day and didn't show me what he had done. So I walked into the kitchen and noticed new art work and this was it.....he calls our unborn baby No Name. So NONAM is our baby. I thought this was pretty funny and cute.


So with the new year, many people set new goals and resolutions. This has always driven me crazy. I am not good at the whole goal thing. I like the way a friend put it in her blog of putting new focus on daily things. This is more of the way I think too. So this year....I want to become a better mother and wife, and bring a new healthy baby into our family in may or beginning of june, I want to magnify my calling in primary to be a great president and teach the gospel to the wonderful children in our ward including my own, I want to keep a healthy diet, keep a somewhat more organized house (which has gone downhill the last few months), increase my knowledge and spirit in the gospel and just be an overall better and happier person!

I wish you all a great upcoming new year!!!!

what do you want for christmas?

Here is the winning photo for our christmas cards. It was a little more cropped than this, but we thought it was a good picture of them all. It is a little funny though, the last 3 years Megan has had Sarah on her lap for each christmas card.



We went to see Santa at the mall and ride the train. The kids were pretty excited. Especially for the train! Sarah went right up to it with Megan, climbed in and sat down. Fun!



Megan telling Santa what she wants and Joseph thinking about it

Posing with Santa!

Sarah didn't want to sit with Santa and just watch so Daddy held her a safe distance away!

What I want for christmas...a new videa camera and to not feel morning sick ever again.

Brent....no snow and warm temptures! (and maybe a new car)(not happening)

Megan....a real life dog (not a real one) that is really cute, webkinz, and a sled

Joseph....hot wheels cars, sled, race track, scooter and everything else he saw on tv commercials that is for boys!

Sarah....kitchen items (she likes to cook) a new elmo, and a cake! (?)

I can handle.....

I can handle the constant sometimes barely there, sometimes Really there nausea feeling everyday. I can handle not being able to eat the healthy foods I really liked a couple of months ago because they make me gag. I can handle craving Subway subs (turkey on wheat with lettuce, green peppers, yellow peppers, olives, lots of mayo, and s&p, mmmmmmmmmm). :) I can handle junk food sounding yuck yuck yuck. I can handle throwing up every morning just the yuck empty stomach contents and on occasion breakfast or lunch.

But the one thing that I can barely stand is brushing my teeth every day and having to gag and gag my way through it. I have been able to handle not throwing up during this process so far....until last night. I made it through maybe 30 sec. and then I had to say goodbye to dinner and dessert(which we rarely have). Then brush my teeth all over again. I went to bed with a very sore throat and a growling stomach and still nauseaus. I can't handle that again.....
(sorry this is a gross post, I want to look back soon and think..."did I really feel like that?)

m a m spells Maam

Megan taught Joseph much what she learned in kindergarten, he starts kindergarten next year, but he already knows all the sounds the letters make and is starting to sound out words and read.
He is a tough one when it comes to bed time, won't stay in bed, needs water, then says goodnight about a hundred times to us. I finally started putting books on his bed and he can look at them, this gets him to stay in bed and eventually fall asleep, but his new favorite thing to do when he gets out of bed is tell me how something is spelled. Anything he thinks of lying in bed. Last night it was : "mom I know how to spell maam m - a - m" smiles and runs back to bed
we have also heard many others d-o-g, h-d(hood), m-o-m (this is what is spells when he wants my attention), noo(new), he is getting the hang of it, he will even rewind a commercial or video if he sees a word to spell it and has to spell or sound out all the stores we go to. This is pretty fun to see him growing and learning so much. Smart boy if I do say so myself!

On another note, we always take our own christmas picture to send to family and friends each year. Dress the kids up, put them in front of the fireplace, tell a few jokes to get some good smiles, take the pictures to the kiosk at hy-vee, get christmas cards back in an hour, send them out. Lots of fun!
This is last years picture 2007, I couldn't find the one the year before that when Sarah was just 2 weeks old. So cute!


and this was one of the runner ups for cards this year, you'll have to wait to see the winner if you get one in the mail or I will post the winner once I get them sent.
Sarah's lip is all red because she has been doing the lower lip above the upper lip and got all chapped, but for the winner we covered it with a little makeup!

Sarah turns 2:
Our little girl turned 2 on thanksgiving! Everytime we asked her what she wanted for her birthday she would say "a blue kitty cake and ice cream". So we went to the store to pick out a cake (I was in no mood to actaully bake and decorate a cake) and I picked out a hello kitty cake and an Elmo cake. Elmo won by a long shot. She was SO excited! We celebrated her birthday a day early since her actual birthday was on thanksgiving day.

"What I am really 2 now? I can open these presents?!"


Sarah opening her coloring book and other presents.


The wonderful Elmo cake with Sarah in the back waiting patiently to blowout candles and eat it!


On her actual birthday at Grandma's eating ice cream! YUM


We were telling Sarah "You're going to be 2" for so long now if you ask her how old she is she says"I'm gonna be 2" She hasn't quite figured it out yet she is 2, even though she acts very much like a 2 year old.


Sarah and Joseph love it when our cats get up on the couch with them. Sarah will actually pat the couch and call in a high pitched voice "come here Winnie come here" This day the cat finally got up on her lap and laid there for awhile. Sarah was beyond excited.

Punishment for not listening: call them by a different name. Joseph = Henry, Billy, Elmo, George, Oscar.....and many more. Megan = Zoey, just had to use it once so far. My kids, mostly Joseph, is going through a bad stage of not listening lately. So I decided, his ears didn't need cleaned out, he wasn't responding to Joseph, so there was just one other option....that wasn't his name. So the above mentioned names are just a few of the new names that we are trying out to see if he will finally responds and behaves appropriately. So far it seems to be working. The kids think it is kind of funny and it diverts attention away from whatever they were doing.

On another note, we had a good thanksgiving. There wasn't a lot of us at Brent's aunt and uncles house but it was nice and as always the food was sooooo yummy. It is always much easier to eat food during my morning sickness when others prepare the food and not me! We have much to be grateful for. I feel as the years go by there is more and more to be grateful for. Our kids, our continued health, our families, our many friends, our stability in this economy, our callings, and sooooo much more.

I heard the babys heart beat again today. That is always so reassuring to hear and is included in my list of things to be thankful for. Healthy, fairly easy pregnancies.

Now I need to kick it in gear and go out and start my christmas shopping that I haven't started yet! Wish me luck!

Graphic

My sister left a comment and suggested that I show Megan pictures of the baby as it grows and develops because Megan thinks it is really neat to hear about it. It reminded me of this:

At my first dr. appt. they gave us a whole bag filled with "goods", about 10 magazines and a thick pregnancy book, many items about being preggo and the first few months after. So I was looking through one with the kids that night. This book was one with a real life picture of the baby in utero and talked about the development month by month. They kids really thought it was cool. We get to month 8 (the book is half on my lap half on Megans) so I turn the page to the last month and what is the picture for that month? A full picture of the Delivery Docs veiw of delivery. I mean the head crowning, half way out and out with umbilical cord still attached. Graphic! So I quickly took the book, skipped that page and went on to the baby being cleaned and a newborn. I thought I would wait until she is older and then traumatize here when she is a teenager with those pictures!

I don't know about you but I am not one to have the mirror and watch as I deliver, maybe with this last one, so it will convince me to never do it again. I know the whole getting pregnant and having a baby is just amazing but I don't want to see the down there parts of it. Anyway, what would you do? Would you let your 7 year old see those pictures or keep it until shes older? My kids seem to be pretty innocent still, they don't know about all that "stuff" that goes into creating a baby and I would rather keep it that way for a while longer yet. Tell me what you think.

Can you believe it?!

$23.23.....this is how much it cost to fill up my van today, the gas light was on and it was near empty. A full tank $23.23......I hope it lasts........:)