Time to decorate

It's Monday, nothing exciting happening...just laundry and house catch up. I have a pretty calm week planned . We got the Christmas tree up and lights on the house over the weekend. The kids all get to pick out one new ornament each year so we had fun doing that on Friday.

After two nights of Raegan waking up and being up for over an hour in the middle of the night she is finally sleeping good again. I started freaking out a bit that something wasn't right with the tubes, being that that is what she did every time she had an infection and she wasn't having any drainage...my sign that she has an infection now...so pheww looks like we are good!

Happy Monday, hope you have a great start to your week!

Watch out!

We have had three very relaxing days! The weather...i would take this all winter long absolutely beautiful weather that has called the kids outside. They have been playing outdoors for two days straight and loving it!

But if you are playing outside in this part of Kansas...watch out, you may run into a herd (though i don't know if groups of dinos are considered herds, not really up on that) of dinosaurs and be in for the fight of your life...when i came upon these children they had just narrowly escaped with their lives...they were so kind as to pose for pictures after explaining what on earth they had all over their faces (and tummy's). Thank goodness they didn't need any medical attention...just a good bath for the weary fighters!

The monkeys are all gone

just getting to the pre-op room and she was in no way interested in being there at first

once they brought a car in she started warming up to the place!

she found gummy treats in the diaper bag and wanted them SO bad

coloring this bear kept her occupied for a good 30 minutes!

in recovery after she did away with the hospital gown

After two years of frequent doctors visits to get Raegan's ears checked there will be no more ear check visits wondering if she has an ear infection. According to what they tell me, we will now know that there is infection because her ears will drain fluid when she does...and the best part...she won't need antibiotics, we will just start putting drops right in her ear if she does start having drainage!

After what seemed like all night of dreaming that she had woke up and gotten a juice herself and then we had to cancel surgery....we got up and watched some Dora (helped distract from our daily morning juice) We headed to the hospital and had a little physical to make sure she was good to go...then headed down to same day surgery and got all checked in. She played in the cars and colored her doll that they gave her to keep her occupied.

It was finally her turn to go. As they came in to start getting her ready to go she started to cling. I walked part way down the hallway with them, the nurse carrying her and as it was my turn to exit to the waiting room kissed her and she started bawling.

The surgery was quick and easy and i was back with her in no time at all. She already had a brand new sippy cup with juice by the time i got back to her.

As i sat in the waiting room and overheard stories of other families talking about their son who has cancer, another Grandma that kept breaking down over in a corner, i couldn't help but be thankful that i had a healthy child...my child was there for a simple procedure of getting tubes in her ears...i will never take the health of my children for granted and am so thankful that so far God has provided good health to them! We have our minor issues, but nothing major or life threatening that so may others have to deal with! With Thanksgiving this week, Thank you Lord for my children's health!

Oh yeah, and to explain the title...every time we go to the dr i always say "they need to check to see if there are any monkeys in your ears" it has always seemed to help make her settle down and let them look in. So today has been called "the day we go get the monkeys out of your ears day" No more monkeys please!

Avery got baptized

before church

waiting her turn...there were 10 being baptized today

Avery has been SO excited for today because today she got baptized! She went forward last November after a presentation by David Wood of Jesus death on the cross and prayed to ask Jesus to come into her heart.

She has been very hesitant to get baptized and we have not pushed her saying she could do it when she felt ready. She needed to be assured often the past year that she would go to Heaven regardless if she had been baptized or not but that she was just showing outwardly the decision she had made inwardly. She decided today was the day...her cousins Kassidy and Kasey got baptized along with her so that was extra special for her. She has been excitedly waiting for Sunday so that she could get baptized!

We are so proud of you Avery! We pray you grow up to be a godly young lady!

Comic relief

Trey is a nut. Hmmm...who does he take after?? We have been eating at home a lot lately and their is never a shortage of laughter at the dinner table! (along of course with a lot of "settle down, that's enoughs, and get busy and eat") And if you think that Avery is quiet all the time, come peek in at dinner time...she has her silly button on! She will admit to you she is a clutz. We tell her this, it is no secret. She spills things, runs into things....she and daddy have a joke. Every time she knocks something over and spills it (almost every meal) daddy says "did you turn your brain off again avery?' and she will say "i guess so", and turn an imaginary switch on her head to "turn her brain back on".Trey says he wants to be steve erkel for halloween next year.

My dad is having knee surgery today after tearing his acl, mcl and meniscus a couple of weeks ago. My mom has a stress fracture after completing the half-marathon, so they have been quite the pair. Praying that surgery goes well today and that they both heal nicely. I'm sure both of them will be happy to put their boots, braces in the closet for good once this is all over. At least if anyone has an injury we have a new orthopedic supply store in Hutch at the Neir house :)

Wordless Wednesday

Bad dream

"you left me mommy...you left me with that king and he was SO mad at me! Why did you leave me mommy? I was in an elevator and i had a lightsaber! Why did you leave me?!"

Ethan had a bad dream and was not too happy that "i left him"....with a very mad king at that! How dare i?!

this was a picture from the other day when he came in and said..."let's go running mommy"

Things that make you

need to take slow deep breaths into a paper bag...well not actually, but almost! T-minus 2 minutes till needing to walk out the door for a birthday party, hair is getting brushed, shoes being put on...and suddenly i smell a strong odor that makes my heart skip a beat especially since all old enough to touch the stuff is in the same room that i am in...i enter the room and behold...my sweet little angel so innocently looks up at me taking a break from painting her baby doll as i let out a half scream, half moan! I quickly grabbed her arms screaming for a wet wipe, as her hands were covered. I was in no frame of mind to take pictures at the time but here is the damage that she did. It looks like such a small little spot on the rug in the picture but it's pretty much done for, although i am doing my research on how to get nail polish out of a rug...oh Raegan!!

Your the mommy, i'm the daddy

These two play so nice most days. It's cute to watch them play mommy and daddy. Ethan was being quite the hands on daddy this particular day, he was putting diapers on the baby and changing their "poopy" diapers. He has a hands on daddy to model after!

Tidbits

Trey- is in strings at school and plays the viola. I will have to get a picture of him practicing. The boy loves to talk. He loves to have me sit on his bed at night and talk about anything and everything. He loves his kitten and is already planning it's 1 yr birthday party in August! He fell after church last night and twisted his ankle so is limping around today. He is a wiz at spelling he says "it's almost feels like i'm cheating, it feels like i have spelling -check in my brain" if only we could switch on the math-check in his brain! :)

Avery is still always in a book. I love watching her with her room...she always has it perfect, she makes her bed, she organizes and has everything just so. She, unlike Trey does not have spell-check in her brain and struggles with spelling. She on the other hand does not struggle with math quite like he does. She pulled out her loose tooth on Tuesday and started screaming "i did it, i did it!" then started looking for the tooth but must have swallowed it because we never found it. She wrote a note of explanation to the tooth fairy.

Ethan is all about doing whatever his big brother is doing. He plays clone troopers, plays with Trey's transformers (this upsets Trey) and i catch him every now and then playing with the nintendo ds. As soon as i start cooking dinner, he starts panicking and asking what we are having and if he is going to have to eat the meat portion of the meal. He is at a very lovey stage and often comes and kisses my hand just to be sweet. He is still an awesome napper. He sleeps about 3 hrs for me every day.

Raegan is all about max and ruby and dora these days. She does not understand yet that when it goes to commercial that it will come back on so freaks out at every commercial. She is learning her manners well and uses please and thank you pretty well. She tooted in the store the other day and said "exxxcuuse me, i pooped". She is also napping great for me these days. She is getting tubes in her ears on November 24th due to her too many to count ear infections!

Two

Friday night we decided to go out to eat with the kids. Dinner out these days is not a relaxing experience by an means. We first threatened the kids about their behavior (due to a previous bad experience) besides a few little spats between the kids, the oldest three did great. It's just my little, non-stop moving 2 year old that exhausts me these days on pretty much any outing! We have started letting her sit in a chair, i know first mistake you say...if we don't want her to serenade the restaurant with her screams, and that we don't... so we compromise...she is two

She is up and down on her chair and all around climbing onto mommy's lap, smearing queso on mommy's clothes, dropping her fork umpteen times, going into her crying fit if just everything is not perfectly to her liking...she is two

After dinner we patiently (pretending to be patient) wait for the whole payment process, while our monkey has had it...she is breaking out and we are quickly losing control...she is two

She yanks away when i try to pick her up to exit the restaurant "i walk" she says but then refuses to hold daddy's hand into the parking lot and so get's picked up and proceeds with the -stiffen body and scream and writhe around routine-anyone who has not had the fun of putting a screaming stiff bodied tantrum throwing two year old into her car seat, well, either your fun is yet to come or you are beyond that stage...bless your soul...no actually bless mine right now...she is two!!

Apparently i am not the only on exhausted by this dinner outing, for five minutes after i put her in bed this is how i found our little two year old.

A hiking we will go

this is what we got when we said "silly faces"

this is the point that Raegan was officially done walking. She got comfy and started playing in the leaves, not caring if she got left behind.

Ethan and Raegan- these two can be such good buddies but let me tell you, they can fight with the best of them!

We slept in today, was very nice. Raegan woke me yelling that she wanted to watch Max and Ruby, her new tv show obsession. Between Dora and that we just go back and forth. I went for a run and then came home and the whole family got ready to go for a hike. We went to Ernie Miller Nature Center and hiked for two hours. The last time we went hiking there, Ethan was a baby and we carried him in the bjorn. This time all walked until that is Raegan decided she had had enough. She wanted to be carried and that was that. And besides that she wanted noone to carry her except for mommy. That girl is getting quite heavy!

Trey wanted to take every trail that led off the main path, Ethan and Avery loved going over the water so they could "cool their sweaty faces off". It was a fun time, but we were all pretty tired after two hours of hiking and were ready to get back to the van! What a beautiful November day it was today...very warm! Just like i like it!

Timber Ridge

everything was done as a team

giving the "quiet pinky wave" the only way the kids were alowed to wave to the other groups

me and my 5th grader

I was able to go on the 5 & 6th grade field trip today to Timber Ridge Adventure Center. They have different physical challenges that the kids have to figure out together how to accomplish. We as parents had to keep our mouths shut and let them work through it together till they got it. Really cool learning experience for the kids!

This was Trey's last field trip as a grade school student (that i will be going on) as 6th grade will start being a part of middle school beginning next year. I am not ready for that, but like it or not he's growing up entirely too fast!

Two ninjas, a flower and a cowgirl

avery making her little spider night lite

avery and her little flower

Trey and his harley davidson teacher

trey and his buddy drake

hanging out a little bit with ethan and raegan

ready to go around to a few neighbors before heading to trunk-or-treat

gotham city

making their rounds for the ???? time

ethan and his good friend samantha

a tuckered out little flower at the end of the night

trey and braden going at it

There were two days for the kids to dress up this year. The kids school class parties were on Friday, so i dressed the little kids up that day too and then on Saturday we had trunk-or-treat at the church.

We now have entirely too much candy floating around our house....the kids teeth may rot and johnny and i are probably going to gain about 10 lbs each!