Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

This year has been full of changes, but change is good! We are excited about the changes that may be coming in 2009 and we have learned so much from all that has happened in 2008. We are excited to be visiting all our good friends in Kentucky! And we are also excited about the newest addition to the family, my brother Mike (Ryan) and his wife Laura had their first child a baby boy! I do not know any other details, the communication in my family is not the greatest! So I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and we will be missing all of you who are not going to be with us this year hopefully we will catch you during our summer visit out west!

Missing One

Julianna is gone this week with Grandparents, on a trip to New Mexico for Kierra's Baptism and Thanksgiving. I know she has been gone less than 24 hours but I really miss her! I missed brushing her hair this morning, that is the weirdest thing because it is always a huge fight, she has a sensitive head and cries the whole time but this morning I missed it. I know she is having a good time! Kevin yesterday started missing her too and he even called to check up on her, she hadn't been gone that long so it was kind of sweet. This will be a great experience for her and I am sure she will remember it for a long time but a small part of me wants to jump in the car and got to New Mexico and be with her!

Evelyn

Evelyn is my DRAMA child, she has to have things her way or no way at all. She has always been an expert at temper tantrums, and Kevin and I had a hard time not laughing because it was always so cute and dramatic. Everything she does is over the top, if she is upset, if she is happy, its always the extreme! I love giving her little gifts because her gratitude is so overwhelming, also when she watches a movie she really gets into the feelings of the characters. Evelyn was watching Tinkerbell the other day and at one point in the movie Tink doesn't feel like she fits in so she is sitting sadly outside of the group, well this just gripped Evelyn's little heart and she started to cry because Tink was sad. She watched the Jesus Christ video where they crucify him and when the soldiers started to whip him she was crying "Mom what are they doing? Why are they doing that to Jesus?" It goes both way s when someone on TV is happy Eva will Laugh and smile with them. She is a delight her personality shines through in everyting that she does, you can just see it all over her face! Here are some snap shots I took of her the other day at Leslie's house. I did not pose her for any of them she did that on her own!

BATS part III

The animal control people just called and the results for the rabies test came in!!! The bat we found in our house did not have rabies! So it doesn't matter that Kaiden touched it. The national statistic for infected bats is about 10% of bats are infected with rabies.

BATS part II

So Sunday I had to go to church early for meetings and stay after for meetings so when I got home I was very tired and wanted a nap! Unfortunately the kids were awake and not tired at all so I sent them upstairs to the play room in the attic so I could sleep, Kaiden asked "what if there are bats up there?" I promptly replied "there are no bats just go." The next thing I know Kaiden is yelling "there is a bat on the stairs and I touched it, its scary it showed it teeth at me!" Sure enough it was a bat! and it was alive and Kaiden touched it! Well Kevin got a jar and we caught it and called animal control to come and get it so they can test it for rabies. Meanwhile we did some research to see how exposed you need to be before you need a shot, Kaiden swears he was not bit but it made me nervous. Bat bites are extremely easy to overlook because there teeth are so small and sharp it just feels like a pin prick so you might not even know if you were bit!! Kevin decided that he felt Kaiden was safe not to get the shot so we didn't go to the hospital. Kevin continued to research for the whole day and by that evening he was a little freaked out and thought maybe Kaiden should have a shot after all, by this time he was in bed asleep and I didn't want to wake him so we decided to wait until the next morning. Well to make a long story a little shorter we didn't take him to the doctor we decided to give him a blessing. I feel comfortable with that and I think he will be fine. We will get the results of the rabies test on Wed. or Thur. so I will update you all then. Needless to say I did not get my nap!

BATS part I

Well we moved into this beautiful house and there was a dead bat in one of the closets, yuck but no big deal. Right?

So about a week goes by and then there is another bat this time it is one the stairs heading to the attic play room. I sent the kids up to play and Kaiden yelled "Mom there is a bat and its alive!" I am totally not into the whole disposing of dangerous animals thing, so Kevin got a cup and trapped it and then took it in the back yard and "did it in" and then buried it. Problem solved! Ya until about three days later...

I was up at night reading a book (about vampires) out of the corner of my eye I see something black heading up the stairs, in my mind I hear "don't worry it's just the cat. wait what we don't have a cat, holy crap its a bat!" So like the sissy girl I am I ran into our room shut the door and yelled for Kevin to wake up! Kevin is difficult to wake up if he is fully asleep so I had to shake him a little. Well the next thing I hear Kaiden is screaming "mom, dad there's a bat in my room!" it had flown out of the hallway and into his room and was circling his ceiling, this would not have been that bad but Kaiden has a bunk bed so it put him right up there in all the action. Kevin was awake by now so we decided he would go in and get Kaiden, I went and shut Julianna's and Evelyn's bedroom doors so the bat couldn't get in with them. Then we turned on Kaiden's light and off the hall light it worked the bat immediately flew back into the hallway and then down stairs. Kaiden was shook up but OK he just decided he would sleep in our bed for the rest of the night. Kevin went downstairs armed with a broom and wearing a child's play table on his arm like a shield (it had one of the wires with beads on it that kids love so he used that as a handle). We opened the front door and turned all but the front hall lights on and after a few minuted of herding the bat it flew out the front door! We then blocked off the fire place since we thought that might be were they were coming in at. We were bat free for almost a month and a half. The latest Bat story is by far the worst...

KEITH!

So my youngest has decided to be a trial! I Love him so much but he is definitely a menace. It all started last week, I was doing laundry and not paying attention to him and suddenly he and Evelyn are covered in pink and purple acrylic paint. This lovely artwork is also all over my white carpet! I really didn't know what to do at that point he is only two and I am not sure he understands the gravity of what he did. He served his time in the corner, but as soon as I let him out he was pointing and laughing at the "pretty" mess on the floor. But wait there's more...

This week I had Visiting Teaching to do so I was taking a shower early in the morning instead of at nap time, while I was otherwise occupied he decided to climb up on the counter and get into the brand new HUGE bag of cereal. Keith proceeded to dump the entire bag out in the living room and then crunch it like it was bubble wrap. I enjoyed my shower but really it was not worth it I should have just waited, I am sure my VT would have understood. So you would think that I had totally learned my lesson but...

Just yesterday as I was talking on the phone with my MIL Leslie I noticed Keith had something white on his face so as soon as I got off the phone I tracked him down. He had gotten into the fridge and gotten out a tub of whipped topping he then "painted" with it all over my couch and his body. Thankfully it cleans easily so I just had to go into the kitchen and get a clean wet cloth, I felt something sticky and wet on my feet and when I looked down I realized that the whipped topping was not the only thing he had gotten into. There were three eggs cracked on my kitchen floor and I had walked right through the mess.

This child of mine has extreme ninja skills I almost never hear him when he is up to mischief. I do not know what to do about all the messes he makes. I try to have activities for the kids so they don't get bored but I do need to get house work done and as it stands now I can only work when he is in bed for the night or napping. I just keep telling myself that one day I will miss him at this stage, but really I worry he will just graduate from this type of mess making to a whole other level when he is older.

I love him and I know that others have it way worse than I do, I just thought I would share a little of why I call him menace! I would also say that he is my most affectionate child. He is always snuggling and hugging me, he loves to give kisses and he says I love lou all the time. he brings just as much joy as trouble into my life.

Grandma Leslie read Princess Peepers.

Kaiden's 6th Birthday Party!!

Cousins!!

Evelyn and Kevin Painting her room PURPLE!!! It is her favorite color and most of the time the only color she will wear!!!

these are some pics of the kids playing around and posing at grandma & Grandpa Johnson's house

moving day was off the hook! we worked like crazy at the last minute and were able to get on our way without a hitch the kids loved the moving van, but they were very sad to leave our house and there were even a few tears.

we are settling in MO quite well and I hope to have pics of our new place soon! We have a pool so the kids are very pleased with that!

It has Begun!

All right I have started a separate blog for family info for those of you who want to know about us and not stamping or scraping!!! I will post some photos and stories later.

I hope you all enjoy this blog!