On the fourth day of Christmas: we celebrated with my mom. Robb spent the morning attempting to pack all the kids new toys and our gifts plus luggage into our car. It was hilarious to look in the back of our car when he was done. There was no room for anything else.
We went to my moms for lunch. We had so much food! We had brought tomato soup, my mom made chicken noodle and my brother made 2 kinds of chili. So we stuffed ourselves with soup and snacks.
We then let the kids open their presents. They were pros by this point. They again got very nice presents from everyone. My sister made me the coolest picture frame. She has one in her house that I always admire but I don't have the talent to make something like that so she made one for me. I was so excited.
The boys had fun playing with Draven and running all over my moms house. Abby was pretty tired so she wanted mom, dad or grandma to hold her and play with her. Later in the afternoon my aunt and uncle and cousins that live in Missouri stopped by. It was fun to see them. We visited for awhile and then loaded everyone up to head home.
It was nice to be headed home, Robb and I were exhausted. We were so excited to finally get to sleep in our own bed.
That night Abby gave us one of the best gifts ever, she slept through the night so we got to sleep through the night too.
We had a wonderful Christmas holiday and we are so blessed to have such a wonderful family to spend it with.

On the third day of Christmas we celebrated with the Mattern's. On Christmas Day we went to my dads house in Plainview. I must say it was nice not having to worry about traveling this year, like we did during the blizzard last year. My dad and Cindy had made a wonderful meal for us. The kids had fun playing with their cousin Draven and Grandma and Grandpa. They opened their gifts and then conned Uncle Mitch and Courtney into playing the games with them. It was a very enjoyable afternoon. It was nice to see my brother, sister and Jess again. A little later we sat in the living room to talk and Bryce fell asleep with Grandpa and Abby fell asleep on Grandma. I think they were exhausted. Caleb wasn't going to take a nap if he didn't have to, so he stayed up and played his harmonica for us. We headed back to Norfolk around 6:00. I was exhausted but the boys were ready to go since Bryce had napped on grandpa and Caleb napped in the car.
When we got back to Norfolk the boys, Robb, Andy and Grandpa headed to the theatre to see the Yogi movie. Abby and I got to have a quiet night.

On the second day of Christmas: Santa came and we celebrated with the Lutz's. It was a wonderful Christmas Eve. The kids got up bright and early to see if Santa had come and if they were on the nice list. It was fun to see their eyes light up when they saw the toys sitting by the fireplace. Later we learned that the boys had found one of the Santa toys in the basement so we had to lie our way through that. I guess we will have to be better at hiding things next year.
Not long after getting up Robb and I started packing up the car to head to Norfolk. Every year it becomes more apparent that we need a bigger car (we have an Expedition) or we need to take a trailer home at Christmas time.
We got to the Lutz's at about 2:30 and the kids were ready for another round of gifts. Their cousin Brook got to have the first gift since it was 2 kitties that Robb's parents had been hiding in their bathroom for the last 2 weeks. All the kids loved the little kitties but Robb and I made it very clear that we would not be getting a Christmas pet Ever! The kids had a wonderful time opening gifts and played together until 5:00 church.
Robb and I always worry about our kids being completely disruptive in church especially when it is right at supper time. The boys did pretty good but Abby was naughty. It was just too long for her to sit at that time of day. The church service was very nice this year. The pastor read the Christmas story out of a kids book so the kids recognized the story and listened to some of the service.
We headed back to Bob and Susie's house for a wonderful meal and the adults got to open their gifts while the kids played. It was such and enjoyable day. Although Christmas is always very busy trying to celebrate with all of our families, we are so lucky to have such wonderful families.

The 4 Days of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas (Thursday) we celebrated as a family. Robb took half a day vacation from work and we did our little families Christmas. It was so much fun! The kids had been waiting all day to open gifts so we did gifts before supper. Bryce's favorite gift was his batman car, Caleb's was his monster truck with motorcycles in it and Abby's was her Rapunzel doll. We had let the kids buy each other gifts this year so it was fun to see all the thought they had put into each others gifts. I got Robb and the boys a mini wakeboard so they can try wakeboarding next year. Robb was so excited! I think he was happy to see that I approved of them learning this next summer. I was very excited to get a cricut machine and a gypsy. For those of you who aren't scrapbookers, this is the coolest new thing in scrapbooking. We had a nice meal and had fun playing with the kids and their toys the rest of the night.

Dinosaur Museum Pictures

Dinosaur Museum

Monday morning the kids were wild and tearing around the house at 8am. I knew the day was going to be long if we didn't get out of the house. I had heard about a Dinosaur Museum in Milford so I loaded everyone in the car and we decided to go check it out.
The place was out in the middle of nowhere. If you have ever wondered about the T Rex along the interstate, this is where the museum is. It was very impressive for such a small town. They had room after room of dinosaur skeletons and huge statues of dinosaurs. Abby kept hiding behind my back saying "I Scary". Bryce and Caleb loved it. They wanted me to read each plaque so they could know the name of the dinosaur and what it ate. I'm sure anyone that heard me trying to pronounce all the crazy names had a good laugh. We were one of 2 families in there so the kids just got to do their own thing.
Towards the end there was a mirror maze that was quite the hit. The maze made me nervous because I had trouble keeping track of all three of them at once. It didn't help that I took the stroller into the maze. I would go to grab someone and my hand would hit a mirror. After the first time through I realized it was very small and the entrance and exit ended in the same spot so the boys got to go by themselves a couple times. Abby on the other hand always had to be holding a hand, she didn't get the concept at all and would run full speed into the mirrors. She would knock her head, fall down, and look surprised time and time again.
It was a great place to take the kids. Its too bad that it ended up being pretty expensive for 2 hours of fun but I'm guessing they don't get enough business to be cheap. We will have to go again so the boys can show Robb everything.

Abby

Poor Abby

Little Miss Abby has been battling a chronic sinus infection since September. She has been into the doctor multiple times and has been on 3 different kinds of medicine 5 times now. I feel so bad for her. She constantly has a disgustingly green runny nose and is always saying "tenek" (her word for Kleenex. 3 weeks ago now our pediatrician referred us to an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist in Omaha. Our pediatrician was worried that the bridge of her nose was too flat and that was causing some of the problems but the ENT in Omaha just thought it was all due to her adenoids. At Children's Hospital in Omaha they did soft tissue xrays of her neck and throat and said she had very large adenoids. We scheduled her surgery for January 4. The problem now is that we have to get her to her surgery date without having a sick crabby girl constantly. We took her in again yesterday, after a very sleepless night and she had her sinus infection plus a double ear infection all while on a fairly strong antibiotic. We are the people that are contributing to the making of super resistant strains of these bacteria but what do ya do? So, we are on our very last ditch effort of killing this thing with an oral antibiotic. The trick is getting her to take it. It tastes horrible and she doesn't do many things she doesn't want to do. Wish us luck getting her to take it or else we have to stick around Lincoln for the holidays so she can go into the doctor every other day for injectable antibiotics. The pediatrican said beg, plead and give gifts to get her to take it. I guess that is what we will do.

Santa Pictures

SANTA

On Sunday the Lincoln Multiples Club had their annual Christmas party. We have never been able to attend so I was excited to take the kids. Santa was going to be there so the kids were very excited! The boys were trying to decide what toys they were going to tell him that they wanted and Abby just kept saying "Santa". When it came time to actually sit on his lap Abby wasn't quite as excited about Santa as she had been in the car. She wouldn't sit on his lap but she sat next to Caleb on the bench, so we could at least snap a quick picture. Bryce sat on his lap and Caleb sat next to him. They both told him their list. Bryce's list this year was: Spiderman (I think he got nervous and that is all he could remember. Caleb asked for: motorcycles and a monster truck. Santa asked Abby if she wanted a Barbie and she was pretty excited about that. They got cute little gift bags from Santa also. We kept teasing the boys that they should ask if they were even on the nice list this year. They didn't think that was very funny.
The kids had a great time at the Christmas party. They had craft tables set up to make Christmas ornaments, photo frames, bookmarks and bracelets but their favorite was the decorate your own cookie station. Bryce used half a tube of gel frosting and Caleb used almost an entire thing of sprinkles. It was a great night.

The Decorating

The Tree

Decorating the Tree

We came back from Norfolk on the Friday after Thanksgiving so we could have some time at home, but most of all so we could get the Christmas decorations up. I love getting a Christmas tree and decorating the house for Christmas. Every year I have to force myself to follow my mom's old rule of no Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving. I can still hear her telling us this. She would say "Let Thanksgiving be celebrated too. Don't just rush through it." As much as I love decorating, I like my mom's theory too.

So... We went to get the tree early Saturday morning. We have been going to the same floral shop to get the tree since we have been married. The first year, I got a 5+ foot tree to put in our small ghetto apartment. I can still remember Robb laughing at me. Its not a Christmas tree farm but it is a special tradition to Robb and I. We picked a big beautiful tree with the help of the kids. Its always fun to watch Robb tie the tree to the top of the car.
My motto for picking a tree has always been:"I need a tree taller than me". So we got our 6 1/2 foot tree home and found out the trunk was too big to fit into our old stand. After a trip to the hardware store for a bigger tree stand, we got started.

It is always fun to unpack all the ornaments and remember the occasion that we got it for and who gave it too us. The kids have some really neat ornaments from family and friends. Bryce and Caleb seemed like they understood the concept of spreading the ornaments out more and decorating the entire tree this year. They did a great job. It was cute to watch Abby stare in wonder at the fact that we put a tree in our house. Eventually she joined in the fun too, but she liked to take the ornaments off and come show you the "pretty" that she found.

3D

Thanksgiving Pictures

Thanksgiving

I love this time of year! I love getting together with family, cooking and all the good food! This time of year truly makes me realize how many things I have to be thankful for. I have a wonderful supportive husband, three beautiful and healthy kids and cute pup, great family and friends and a nice warm house to go home to.
This year to celebrate we headed back to Norfolk on Wednesday night. We celebrated Thanksgiving lunch at Robb's parents house. We had a wonderful lunch and it was so nice to see his grandparents and the kids had fun seeing their cousins. It is nice that the kids are getting to the point where they can go play with Brook without us constantly having to supervise what they are doing.
At about 4 we headed to my moms to celebrate for supper. The kids were tired but they were troopers. They played nice with Draven without having any meltdowns even though they didn't take a nap. We had a wonderful supper there too. We were all so stuffed I don't think anyone touched the 4 pies we had. My grandparents were there and so was my sis and brother. My brother and his girl friend are RA's at their dorm and they had a couple of international students that didn't have anywhere to go for the holiday so they brought them home with them. It was fun to talk to them about their culture. They thought it was hilarious that we had a holiday where we ate so much in one day. Leave it to us Americans to over due it on food!
It was a wonderful Thanksgiving!
We stayed in Norfolk Thanksgiving night. Robb's mom and I braved the stores on Friday. We were not die hard Black Friday shoppers though. I think we started at about 9 am instead of 3 am like some people. We weren't after any electronics so all of the stuff we wanted from the adds was still there. Robb headed back to Lincoln with his dad to go to the Husker game. Ginger and I felt brave and took Brook, Bryce, Caleb and Draven to the movie Tangled. The boys have been talking about this movie for weeks now. The preschool teacher said that Tangled has been the talk at preschool. When you are going and what theatre you are going too. The kids had a great time! It was in 3D so they had to wear the glasses which was very funny. The movie was very cute and all the kids were very good during the movie. We only had to make one bathroom trip and we only spilled one of the popcorn's. All in all a successful trip.

Little Haircutter

I took the boys to Supercuts to get their hair cut before Thanksgiving. They were both pretty shaggy! We went to our usual lady and when she started cutting Caleb's hair she said "Uh oh you better come look at this." I was terrified he had head lice or something but much to my relief she just wanted to show me that he had cut his hair. He had taken a chunk out of the top and had cut it down to the scalp. Little turd! I asked him if he cut his hair and he said Yep. So needless to say we had to have a long talk about why we don't cut our hair at home. I really never thought it would be Caleb that would cut his hair. My money was on Abby cutting hers first.

Halloween Pictures

The kids had a great time Trick or Treating. Bryce and Caleb were pros at it this year and Abby was even a trooper. When Robb went back to hand out candy, Abby wanted to keep going even though her little hands were freezing.

Where does our meat come from?

We have been talking about where meat comes from because the boys never believed us when we would try to explain that chicken nuggets were really a chicken (well kind of). So they have been very curious about where all their food comes from now. They want to know what animal a waffle, yogurt or a poptart comes from. So needless to say we have some work to do before they will fully understand. Last week I was making a whole chicken and was rinsing it off when Caleb asked "Mom, Is that an owl!?" Oh goodness! I hope he didn't go to school and tell his teacher we had owl soup for supper. The boys have also been talking about Thanksgiving and turkey at school. Their little friends and them have been playing turkey hunting during their nature walks at preschool. So the other day Bryce asked me if dad had killed our Thanksgiving turkey yet. I think he is going to be pretty disappointed to find out his dad doesn't hunt and we just buy our turkey at Russ's market. To top off all this talk of where our food comes from, Bryce about made Robb and I spit our water across the table the other night at the Chinese restaurant that we were eating at. We had ordered princess beef and all the kids were eating really well. All of a sudden Bryce looks up at me and says "Mom is this meat chopped up Princess?". Some of the things our kids say is so hilarious! Robb and I looked at each other and just cracked up laughing.

Trunk or Treat

The Multiples Club annual Trunk or Treat was tonight. The kids had a good time doing this last year so we thought we would do it again this year. The kids have been looking forward to this all weekend. Bryce picked to be a Hulk this year. He looks so cute with his big muscle costume. Caleb is Buzz Lightyear. He picked this costume because it had wings and he wants to fly. We had to make an agreement that their would not be any flying. Abby is a princess this year. She loves everything "censis" so it was an obvious choice.
The kids had a great time! Quite a few people were there and I think their were about 4 Buzz Lightyears. The boys were pro trick or treater and Abby caught on pretty quick. They got a lot of candy so let the sugar highs begin.

Halloween Party

The annual neighborhood Halloween party was on Saturday. Megan the boy's godmother had agreed to watch the kids so we could go. We were the costume winners last year so we had to come up with something good again. We decided to be hippies. It was pretty funny! When we came downstairs with our wigs on, Abby wouldn't even go to Robb until he took the wig off. Since Megan had agreed to babysit and since she is thier godmother we figure she has to love them even if they are wild and rowdy. We went out to eat too. So all in all it was a very fun night. Robb and I got to eat supper out together and we had a good time with friends and neighbors at the party. The kids had a great time with Megan and her mom. They did craft and art time, something mom doesn't let them do enough. We didn't take home the trophy for the second year in a row though. Maybe next year.

Sleeping Cuties

Bedtime Chaos

Lately bedtime at our house has been horrible! We decided about 2 weeks ago to finally stack the boys bunk beds. Their room is kind of small anyway and they keep accumulating more and more stuff, so we needed the room. We thought they would be excited about sleeping on the top bunk and we worried that we would have a constant fight about who was going to sleep on the top. The exact opposite happened. No one ever slept on the top bunk! Bryce at one point told me he wasn't afraid of the monsters in the haunted house at the pumpkin patch just sleeping on the top bed. So needless to say the boys haven't been sleeping well because they have been sharing the full size bed on the bottom. Although they would occasionally sleep together before, they sleep much better in separate beds. We are somewhat transitioning away from taking an afternoon nap about half the time. With the boys sleeping in the same beds naps had become non existent.
So this weekend we took the beds down. It was kind of a sad day. It was so nice to have that extra floor space in their room but I'm not willing to sacrifice sleep for walking room in their bedroom. So hopefully we have cured the boys sleeping problems.
Abby has been a sleeping disaster from the start. I don't know if its the fact that she is a singleton, a girl or probably our last baby, but we haven't ever put our foot down when it came to her bedtime. She is now 20 months old and as embarrassing as this is to admit we have been holding her until she goes to sleep and then putting her in her bed. I know this is against anything any child raising book says. We have just got into a rut and now we feel bad changing everything on her. We have also now reached the point where she is done with her crib so there is no way to contain her now while we attempt to change her sleeping habits. So not only do we hold her until she is asleep, we go in and sleep in her full size bed with her when she wakes up during the night and to top it off we still give her a cup of milk in the middle of the night. I know what you are probably thinking by now, you are probably laughing your head off thinking we are the biggest suckers ever. We really did much better with the boys! By the time they were 12 months they would put themselves to sleep in their cribs and sleep through the night without a milk cup. Like I said many wrong turns and sleep deprived decisions have gotten us to the point where we are. So Saturday night was my breaking point. I was attempting to put Abby to sleep but I was really just wanting to spend my Saturday evening with my hubby instead of going to bed at 9:00. Abby was crawling all over me saying No No Nigh Night. She had head butted my twice and was sticking her fingers in my mouth, eyes and ears. It was very apparent that this was not going to be a quick bedtime. I laid there with her dinking around for about 40 min and I was done! Robb tried putting her to bed for another 20 min and the decision was made. She was going to go to sleep in her own bed if we had to say up all night for that to happen. We put her in her bed with her blankie and doll and told her goodnight. After we left she screamed her head off, kicked the door and babbled angrily which sounded a lot like she was cussing us out. We let that go on for 10 min and went in to comfort her and then the same thing happened another 4 times before she finally gave up and went to sleep. It was horrible! We felt like such crummy parents putting her through this at such an old age. I hope to God she doesn't remember!
I am happy to report last night was not nearly as painful of a process. We put her to bed in her own room by herself and she fell asleep in about 10 min. Although at midnight she was crying and I did end up sleeping in her room the rest of the night. I guess we just need to undo this mess we have created one thing at a time. Wish us luck and patience!

Scarecrow Making

Saturday we went to a workshop at the Children's Museum where you got to make scarecrow. I was very excited to make a scarecrow with the kids. I'm not sure Robb shared my excitement but he was a good sport. Bryce picked out the overalls, Caleb picked out the shirt and Abby picked the hat. I was surprised how much paper stuffing a scarecrow takes. The boys did a good job with helping out but we lost Abby's attention pretty quick. Luckily we kept her at the table with fruit snacks and a princess book. About half way through our big art project a reporter from Fremont asked if he could take some pictures of the kids for a story he was working on. He took pictures while the kids helped us put stuffing in and glue the face on. He also asked the boys what their favorite part of the Children's Museum was. It was very cute to hear their answers. I am curious to see if they make his story on Monday. Our finished scarecrow turned out pretty cute and the boys are pretty proud of him.

Pumpkin Painting

The whole group.

Abby painting away

Bryce putting the stickers on

Caleb painting his name
Tuesday night we took the kids to the Multiples Club pumpkin painting party. We brought our own pumpkins that we had picked out at Russ's the night before. We had planned to make it to the pumpkin patch again to actually get pumpkins but it seems like October has flown by. Emalea, the head of the club provided stickers, foam pieces and paints. The kids dug right in. Bryce and Caleb put the sticker faces on very carefully and started painting. Abby decided to put her sticker face on completely upside down. I guess she was being creative. They all did a great job painting. Bryce's goal was to paint as much of the pumpkin as he could. Caleb was making hair for his and Abby wanted to put as many girly colors on as possible.
The club had a really good turn out, partially due to the beautiful weather. This time last year we had already had snow. The kids ate treats and then ran around like crazy playing tag outside. It was a really fun family night!