This is my dream home

We've been in our home now for about 7 months.... and I love it! But every room I go in I have this mental record of all the things I want to do to that room to make it better, prettier, more functional, etc. {pinterest does not help this} and in the last few weeks it's kind of made it so I've been enjoying our home a bit less because it's not living up to the pictures in my head of what it could be. My newest dream is to put in butcher block counter tops, a white farmhouse sink and paint our cabinets white in the kitchen. A few nights ago after the kids went to bed I ran to the grocery store and on the way home this question popped in to my head, "Even if you had $2,000 to spend on the kitchen, would you choose that over taking the kids on an awesome vacation?" And I didn't even hesitate in answering myself, "No! Of course not. I'd pick an amazing family vacation over an updated kitchen any day!" It was a great moment for me because I realized that although I'll never stop dreaming of all the things I want to do to the house, it isn't as important to me as I was beginning to think it was! And the reality is we are a big family living on one moderate income, paying off our student loans and doing our best to save money where we can. We've chosen this life. To live on a tight budget so I can stay home with our kids. And even though I have dreams of beautiful rugs and farmhouse sinks and big kitchen tables and new carpets and new couches - all of it would mean nothing to me without these four:

because they are what make this my dream home.

There was a Christmas card...

I did actually print a Christmas card this year.... and I wrote the letter.... and I even bought the stamps! But they never made it in to the mail. I could blame it on being sick and pregnant and the kids being sick and a host of other things. But the simple truth is that I looked at 3 different stores for envelopes to fit my cards and couldn't find any! Lame! But I did learn a valuable lesson - next year I am just going to order cards somewhere that will also send envelopes with them. So to give myself peace of mind and allow me to throw my stack of cards that were never mailed in the recycling bin and move on with my life, I am going to post it on here so it will at least be recorded! So here it is. 

Merry Christmas!

Christmas letter 2012:

 2012 has been an exciting year for our family. We have lived in Monona, Wisconsin now for about 15 months and we are finding that it’s a pretty great place to live! Some things we’ve enjoyed doing this year are going to the zoo, walking to the many parks that are close by, going to the library, walking down by the lake, fishing (well – the kids do the fishing), playing games, riding bikes & roller blading and just being together. Two pretty big things happened this year. We bought our first home and we got a puppy! We felt very blessed to find our home just a block from where we were renting. We really wanted to stay in the same neighborhood and school district and we found the perfect home for us and moved here in June. We’ve had our puppy, Scooter, since February and he is now a big part of our family. There were a few times of regret (puppies are SO much work!) but we all love him and are glad he is ours. He is very patient with the kids and very loving, he hates to see anyone crying! He was worth all the work of the first 5 months.

Brian does his best to keep up with all the demands on his time. He is enjoying his work at UW Madison and is a great professor to many students and is always working on multiple research projects. He is in our church bishopric and busy with the demands of serving in that calling which he enjoys, and we are grateful he is a part of that right now. He's also a great home teacher who puts every effort in to every family on his list (and last I heard there were 13 on there!) He also makes the time to be a wonderful husband and father. The kids all count down the minutes until daddy gets home from work (mommy, too!) and he is usually attacked loved by all four of them and the dog before he even takes off his coat! Yep, we’re lucky!

I love being able to stay at home with the kids and wear my pajamas every day. In fact, if I put on “regular clothes” Scooter automatically knows we are going on a walk or he is going in his kennel because it means we’re leaving! I stay busy with all the demands of motherhood, which I love. Between dance, girl scouts, activity days, play-dates, volunteering at the school, keeping the house clean, the laundry done and everyone fed it can be a bit crazy at times, but I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else. I have a calling at church that I’ve never had before, the Primary Chorister, and I’ve found that I absolutely love it! It’s so fun to play and sing with the sweet kids in primary each week. If I actually have a few minutes to myself I can usually be found reading, sewing doll clothes for the girls' dolls or looking at pinterest! I am looking forward to gardening this spring.

Sophie is in 4^th grade and is doing well in all areas, especially reading. This girl loves to read and is usually in the middle of 2 or 3 books at a time. Her current favorite reads are The Secret Garden and Harry Potter (she just finished number 5). She is growing up quick and is loving the benefits of being the oldest. She now gets to walk home from school by herself (luckily it’s only 3 blocks!) But mom still watches anxiously out the window every day J.  She loves nature and research and currently wants to be a wildlife biologist when she grows up. She is hilarious and a great big sister and can be very helpful if she’s in the right mood!

Nora is in 2^nd grade and doing well also, especially in Math. When Sophie is in bed reading, Nora is in bed with a notebook and pencil writing out her own math problems! She loves creating and crafting and can’t seem to sit still for more than a few moments at a time. She loves to climb things and be outside, which has been a challenge for mom during the winter months! Nora is tenderhearted and very loving. She needs lots of hugs and cuddles from mom and dad. She adores Care Bears – especially her Birthday Bear Teddy that Great Grandma Betty made for mom when she was a little girl. Nora and Teddy are never far apart when she’s home. Nora loves to sew as well and is often sewing up little sleeping bags, hair things, pillows and clothes for all the kids’ toys. She is very generous and sweet.

Miles is in 4k and goes to school ½ day every day of the week. He even rides the bus now and thinks it’s pretty great! He loves school and his teacher always gives us glowing reports on his behavior and academics at school. He loves his cars and hotwheel sets and Batman and his newest obsession is Transformer Rescue Bots. Miles looks forward every day to his computer game time, and taking it away is a very successful discipline tool J. He is funny and sweet and loves his sisters! He and Wesley love to play together and can often be found playing legos, cars or trains together. He can hardly wait for his birthday in February!

Wesley is an adventure every day! He is loveable and feisty and he pretty much runs the household…. don’t most 2 year olds? He is funny and adorable and we all strive for his love and attention. He says such funny things that make us laugh and has a killer smile. He is finally getting used to being in Nursery at church (only after 10 months…) and now only cries for the first 10 minutes instead of the first hour. He loves all the things Miles loves and he and Scooter are pretty good buddies! Some classic Wesley sayings are: “Me so yunny!” , “Me freak out!” , “Go way!” , “Don’t you do dat!”, “Me yuv you too”, “ Me want daddy!” and “Boo boy cooter”. There is never a dull moment with Wesley in the family.

We feel so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives and we hope that this Christmas season finds your homes, hearts and families full of love and the spirit of our Savior Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Sickies.

The past few weeks have been.... long. Wesley got hit with a bug that turned our happy and feisty little guy from this:

into this:

  

He was pretty much on the couch or in our arms 24/7 for almost an entire week. It started out with a high fever and throwing up and then turned to a snotty nose/cough by the weeks end. He ate next to nothing all week as well and probably lost a few pounds. He is now doing much better, but is still in recovery mode and not sleeping as soundly as we'd like. Yesterday he climbed in bed and fell asleep at 10am! I thought we were all in the clear after a week but yesterday Miles stayed home sick and barely moved from the couch all day and took 2 naps.... and he never naps. He still has a fever but luckily no puking. And this morning Nora woke up with a fever. So we are taking it easy eating popsicles, drinking juice, watching movies and reading books all day long.

Love these sweet little faces!

Last of Winter Break...

While Naunie and Grandpa were here we went up to the Wisconsin Dells and stayed in a condo up there. It was a big effort to get there and we got lost on the way, but once we made it we had a great time. Grandpa's birthday is the 27th so we celebrated with him. Here is his lemon pie:

Wesley loves his golden puff cereal!

Breakfast! We watched movies, swam at the swimming pool and played a few games at the arcade. And watched more movies..... there really isn't all that much to do in hotels/condos besides watch tv when the weather is bad!

Here are Naunie and Nora working on Nora's friendship bracelet kit:

The boys playing with their Batman guys:

Wesley and Grandpa:

 

Scooter in his new bed and with his new toy. He fell asleep hugging and chewing on his toy:

Wesley and Naunie playing:

Grandpa was pretty nice to play with Scooter!

Grandpa and the boys watching something on the tv that Naunie and Grandpa gave us!

 

Saying good-bye! :( 

5 is a great number.

On Christmas Eve after the kids opened their pajamas we had one more present for Wesley.... a new shirt! He wasn't all that thrilled about getting a shirt, but it was what it said on the shirt that was fun: 

It took the kids about 10 seconds to figure out that Wesley's shirt meant this:

They have a sibling on the way! Sophie and Nora were super excited, Sophie has been asking us for months if we are ever going to have another baby! The girls are both hoping for a sister and the boys are hoping for a brother. We are thinking this little one will be the caboose of our family so we will be finding out what he/she is! Also, this baby will actually have a room to call their own so I am going to need to do some re-decorating in our office! Fun! On December 29th, the day we got home from the condo with my mom and John I started having some very heavy bleeding. I instantly knew I was miscarrying because I've had a few miscarriages over the years and have never experienced any bleeding with my other 4 pregnancies. I called the doctor but since it was a weekend I would have had to go to the emergency room and didn't want to wait in there forever and pay a $75 co-pay just for them to tell me what I figured I already knew was happening. So we e-mailed our families and told the kids we weren't having a baby after all. The next day, Sunday, the bleeding had really slowed down so I went to church and felt fine all day. Monday morning I had stopped bleeding so I called the doctor and got an appointment with a family doc at our clinic. Brian and I went down and she did an exam and was going to send me to the lab to do some blood work and I asked her to check for a heartbeat because I had heard one at the doctor just a few days before. I didn't think she would find one at all, I just wanted to be sure. But she found it! We were pretty surprised and a teeny bit hopeful, but still not thinking that all would be well. She sent us to the hospital for an ultrasound and told us we may be sent home or we may be sent to the operating room. Scary! So Brian and I went to the hospital. This was New Years Eve and our experience at the hospital wasn't super, but since they were short staffed and it was a Holiday we figured that at least everyone was very nice so hopefully on a regular day things work a bit more smoothly there! Once we got to the right place for the ultrasound I laid down and when she started it we immediately could see the baby moving and it's tiny heart beating! Since the ultrasound tech can't tell you anything (lame!) we left the room trying not to feel too hopeful, because I truly thought they would tell us that there was more bleeding or a tear or something and I would need to plan on having a miscarriage, but it would take a while. After waiting a while the ultrasound tech came and told us we could go home (great news!) and our doctor would give us a call. She called not too long after we arrived home and said that everything looked fine and she could see no reason why I would have been bleeding so heavily! I was really shocked, but very excited of course. I've still been a bit cautious thinking there is still a chance something could be wrong, but I had another ultrasound yesterday and I've still been feeling sick and completely pregnant. :) So we got to e-mail our families and tell our kids once again that we indeed are going to have a summer baby. What an emotional roller coaster that was! But I am feeling so grateful all is well. Besides the sadness of a miscarriage, I was not looking forward to going through the 1st trimester all over again! We can't wait for baby #5 to join our family... and maybe make us complete?

Christmas!

The kids were surprised this year by having Naunie and Grandpa Dalley come for two weeks during Christmas break! They got here about 10pm on the 19th and in the morning we woke up to this:

these trees usually stand really tall! Brian went and shook the snow off them a few times so they wouldn't break. The last two days of school were cancelled and we were so glad Naunie and Grandpa got here when they did or they probably wouldn't have been able to get here for a few more days!

We decided to tile the dining room while they were here because grandpa has done it quite a bit and we have a friend with a tile saw. It ended up being more work and more money than we'd planned (as these things usually do!) but we love how it turned out and were grateful to have grandpa's help! Now Brian knows how to do it and can do the kitchen as well.

 

before...

 during...

On Christmas Eve we decorated gingerbread cookies to leave out for Santa. Wesley had this huge bruise on his forehead from running in to a table at the library. :(

We also had our Christmas Eve program. Naunie and the girls performed the classic "Chinnies" and sang Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

Sophie played Away in a Manger on the piano...

Brian played a David Lanz Christmas song...

I read "The Gift of the Magi" but couldn't finish because I was crying (I just love that story!) so Brian finished reading it for me. Nora performed her ballet routine and Naunie read "The Night before Christmas". Grandpa sang a song and played the guitar and the boys did some various cartwheels and tricks for us... for some reason no pictures were taken for some of these! Oops!

The kids got their Christmas Eve jammies and a family puzzle. Wesley refused to wear his new jammies though - silly boy!

 

Checking to see where Santa is on the Santa tracker website!

Leaving a note and the cookies for Santa right before bed:

 

We push the beds together and let the kids all sleep together on Christmas Eve. Although we did end up moving Wes to his own bed. 

 Here are their stockings and Santa bags on Christmas morning!

 

Santa brought Miles a stealth rider remote control car.

 

 Santa brought Sophie some binoculars and a nature book.

Santa brought Nora a rock smoother. She had written him a letter that said, "Dear Santa, I have been good all year long! Please get me at least one thing from my list! I really want a rock smoother because I've been collecting rocks my whole life with nothing to do with them exsept to look at them!" Love, Nora.... how could Santa not oblige to that? She was pretty excited.

 

Santa brought Wesley a Chuck truck, which he loved. The kids also got a stuffed animal and a book from Santa in their bags. 

 

Miles and his Rescue Bot! Wesley actually ended up LOVING the Rescue Bot and wanted it constantly so Miles decided to give it to him and we took Miles out and got him a different one. Now they play with them together every day.

Grandpa got some nice Bose headphones that really came in handy while he was here, since they are noise blocking :)

Naunie got an ipad! She was excited and we all had a great time playing Fruit Ninja on it while she was here.

Nora got a bunch of Junie B. Jones books. 

We decided gifts within our family had to be homemade. Sophie made Brian a football board game. She worked hard on it and it turned out pretty cute. Miles painted Brian this picture to hang in his office at work.

 Sophie made me a rice pack and Nora made me a weaved picture.

I also got all of the Harry Potter DVD's. I bought them on Black Friday and was pretty excited. Brian got a calendar for his office and an old Reader's Digest Piano Book with all the great old school children's songs in it. It was kind of funny because my sister in law Hannah has this book and when I saw it this summer at our family reunion I knew I wanted to get it for Brian for Christmas. On Amazon it was $50 plus shipping so I wasn't going to spend that much. But Hannah had said her neighbor had one so I ended up buying it for $15 from Hannah's neighbor and then they mailed it to us! I was to thankful, it's a fun book and I can't wait for Brian to play us some songs from it.

Naunie and Grandpa got their annual Family Album, which they love. Nora got a box of Care bears I'd been picking up at thrift stores (all with the tags still on!) She is very in to Care Bears these days and was pretty excited!

 And a shot of the girls with the rocks before putting them in to the Rock Smoother. Once they are out we will have to add an "after" shot.

Naunie and Grandpa got the girls a Calico Critter doll house. Of course they were thrilled with this. They love those sweet little animal families, and so do I!

Naunie and Grandpa got the boys a Batman Imaginext Batcave. They were also thrilled and it has been played with daily, sometimes even by all four kids! Thanks Naunie and Grandpa! It was a great Christmas. We felt so blessed to have Naunie and Grandpa here with us to celebrate this special time of year. It was a great first Christmas in our new home.