Hold on tight...it's picture time!

Christmas Eve we have always let the kids open one of their gifts. Trey thought he might die before he made it to Christmas Eve! He drove us NUTS asking how much longer, how much longer...he knew what was in the package...he had the shape scoped out and had already compared at the store...

Ethan and his cousin Meryn made sure that the reindeer had plenty to eat on their stop!

Avery LOVES Webkinz...she quickly had to get to work logging her new ones in!

Christmas morning. Can you tell which one we had just pulled out of bed? ha! She was still in a bit of a daze!

my dad prepared Christmas dinner at the church. They have a HUGE table at home but not quite big enough for 40 people!

this was just a little while after Avery fainted on us while getting her plate fixed for Christmas lunch. She dropped her plate of food and then continued to give mommy a good scare for the next 5-10 minutes. The color on her face and lips i would prefer to never see again! We took her in for an appointment on Monday to see her doctor just to get her checked over. They did an ekg which was normal...a blood glucose test which was a little low...today we went in for a fasting blood chemistry profile and have not heard yet about those results. She has felt fine since so hopefully it was just a one time thing. The dr thinks it may have been blood sugar related. I am hypoglycemic, so maybe she is going to take after mommy.

all of the cousins together waiting to open presents. can you believe we had each one do one present at a time? Yes, it took awhile but well worth knowing what your kids were opening and who it was from and then being able to rescue the present into each family's pile of safe keeping.

the Christmas dinner chef was worn out!

Can you tell Avery was thrilled with her new Easy bake oven?!

My three sisters and I...Julie, June, Susan and yours truly

our first born daughters in the same order of who they belong to above

Wow, i know my mom takes a lot of pictures...it exhausts me too!

Family portrait

FLOPS

This is what we get when we try to get a family picture.

There is this... (what are you pondering Ethan? we are taking a picture!)

or even better yet....(what on earth are ya doing Trey?)

So there you have it!

Monday

Happy Monday! Do you have some major playing catch up to do like i do today? Wow, the house is filled with boxes of presents that need new homes in the bedrooms. Laundry is far from being caught up even though i stayed up til 1 am doing a few loads. Refrigerator is almost empty which means i'm going to have to make a grocery shopping trip with kids...and you all know how much i dislike those trips!

Taking Avery to the doctor this morning to get checked over after her fainting episode on Christmas day. We just would rather play it safe and have her seen...even if it was just a one- time thing, or maybe low blood sugar? It scared the daylights out of her momma...i'll tell you that!

So hope you are having a good Monday...i have lot's of pictures of Christmas...boy i have to get busy!

Christmas Eve

Maggie, Avery, Malia and Meryn

Meryn, Avery and Maggie

Raegan was busy talking great Grandma Tucker's ear off

Avery and Aunt Roberta

Ethan browsing the snack table

Brooklyn and Raegan post raiding the snack table

Johnny and the boys enjoying our new laptop computer...what you don't see in the picture is the 8 or 9 other laptops laying all around the living room...it's laptop central, i tell ya!

Greg, Johnny, Susan and Brendon

I was on my way to church last night at 6:30 and was talking to Johnny on the phone and he decided to check with his work to see if it was possible to get his Thursday morning covered since he was to be off by 11 anyway. Bad weather was supposed to be starting and we really wanted to miss it. He made a quick call to work and called back saying he was off. After hearing about the weather in KC today...i'm glad we came down last night!

We dropped off the presents at church that we needed to and headed home to quickly pack and hit the road to Hutchinson. I packed in about an hour which is a miracle for me...i'm a list packer, not a throw it all together packer...but i threw it all together and we got on the road by about 9 pm.

All of my siblings besides my youngest brother are home and he (weather permitting) will be coming tomorrow. We had a very full house with lot's of rambunctious kids running around.

It has been a great day...we put some very tired kids into bed (i think raegan was asleep in two minutes) another fun day tomorrow...

Many, many more pictures to come...

Dear Jesus

Dear Jesus, We thank you for coming to earth as a baby so that you could grow to become a man and then die for our sins on a cross! We thank you for making a way possible so that we can go to Heaven someday. Thank you for your wonderful gift!

Be with our family and friends this Christmas time and give them all a wonderful Christmas! Be with those that are without this Christmas and please make it special for them as well. Please be with those that are hurting right now, let them see a little sunshine this Christmas!

Oh and since you say to ask, no ice on the roads tomorrow please Jesus...

From our family to yours, we hope you have a very blessed and special Christmas! Merry Christmas from the Seaba family!

Exploring San Fran

I don't remember if i even have any pictures. I'm sure i do somewhere but where...who knows. Johnny had just turned 21 the month before. I was not even 21 yet...we had just gotten married and were setting out on a honey moon to a location we had randomly picked together. San Francisco!

We had a huge ordeal getting our rental vehicle due to our age even though it had all been okayed prior...it took a couple of hours...but we finally did get one.

It felt so weird driving through another city all on our own...our first trip! We didn't even get lost, which amazed us both...i was the navigator and i got lost everywhere i went! I have since learned my directions...getting smart in my old age! We stayed in this awesome hotel and were told when we checked in that we had been upgraded to a suite...we had no idea why but were extremely excited! I found some pictures on the web of places we visited... this first was our downtown hotel...

We did an extreme amount of walking while there! We took a tour bus around the whole city and over the bridge. We visited Alcatrez Island and bought matching "dig, dash, dive t-shirts. We walked around Chinatown. We walked up and back down Lombard Street. We had a fabulous dinner and shopping at Pier 39. We walked on the beach and talked about our future life together. We rode the cable cars.

Such a fun, fun trip to celebrate starting our life out together. Such great memories! One of these days we will go back and visit San Fran, maybe on our 20th anniversary. We shall see.

So what part of the world did you honeymoon in? Fun to see the different locations that people choose, and why. As for us, like i said very random choice but for us was a great choice!

Pass the hand sanitizer please

I took the kids to a school skate party the other night. I took the little two too so Johnny could go play basketball, cause i'm nice and all...sometimes. While Trey and Avery were having fun on the rink playing the limbo, doing the chicken dance, and skating their little hearts out, Ethan was having fun watching kids play skeeball and handing the balls to each player, pretending he was playing the race car driving game over and over and being ecstatic that he got FOUR WHOLE tickets with the two quarters i did give him...a tootsie roll is five tickets for goodness sakes! Thank goodness for nice prize counter attendant that thought my fifty cents was worth a tootsie roll to a very excited four year old. And then their was Raegan...she walked around with her arms crossed telling me she was going to "pay games", spent some time hanging out digging at the candy machines trying to get some out and then being caught doing this...oh good gracious what to do with this girl...

Gasp...and gasp i did! if there had been a bathtub in there i probably would have thrown her in! I was just happy I did not see two legs! And in her defense there was a tunnel between the two stalls, really who can resist the fun of that really? As nauseated as this picture makes me i'm glad i had my camera in my hand...now i'm going to go bathe her hands in hand sanitizer...AGAIN!

Four, four and under

I'm watching a couple of our friends kids today. I have four kids today that are four and under! We even braved a preschool Christmas party. The kids thought the magic show at the party was "awesome". Ethan thought it was awesome that he got to go to preschool with his bud even if only for two hours.

I have the youngest two down for naps...one i just went in and caught sitting in her bed naked...bet you can't guess which one that would be...since the baby is too young to undress herself i guess i will admit that one was mine...and as for the other one, she is crying and determined not to take a nap for me...little booger.

The two boys are outside chasing our kitten with their play guns...poor things going to be traumatized. They are getting along amazingly well today. They fight like brothers, but are best of buds most of the time!

Me, i'm looking forward to having an hour or two of shopping without children, without anyone, just by myself, when Johnny get's home. I have a Starbucks gift card that is calling me to use it tonight!!

Wait, is that quiet that i hear??....aww yes, the little booger just fell fast asleep...but the naked one is still talking. Oh no, of course i didn't leave her naked!

And her's a picture of the kitten chasers who have since i started this blog post come in with poop all over one of their shoes! The above picture is in their more innocent days. you know, before they ran around outside and got into poop!

I think i better go check on the little monsters cause it appears they are trying to chop down our bush out front...tudleloo...

So where do you

shop? If you are like our family you are starting to frequent (even more than normal) Target and Walmart as shopping days are quickly winding down!

I'm a Target shopper, i love Target pretty much everything about it! I even grocery shopped their UNTIL that is Super Walmart came very near to my house and i had to give it a try (groceries). So much drives me crazy about Walmart...the carts weigh what feels like 200 lbs and when you fill them with groceries and put that 24 pak of water on the bottom...that's it, there is no more steering capability...add on a kid or two riding on the end of the cart and my patience is shot (ha, like that takes very much). Where are the help boxes (push that lovely little button and help comes a runnin), no no help boxes at Walmart...you just learn to shinny up the shelf and grab that pack of size 4 diapers a half mile back on the shelf!

But, did i stay with buying groceries at Target? After a few times of shopping at Walmart i did go back and try Target again and of course was happy to be back in my "comfortable turf" with the plastic carts that didn't weigh 200 pounds! The price difference for groceries and this money saving momma's good conscience sent me shopping for things to fill my hungry's kids tummy's back to the 200 pound cart land...please tell me i'm not the only one that has trouble pushing these...am i really that weak? I continue to wait in the god forsaken long lines that Walmart seems to think might be good for your health or something, and as i stand their i daydream about how if i was at Target they would be jumping on other lanes to ease the lines.

But, all in the name of money i go and i go again, week after week...pushing my 200 pound cart with my 24 bottles of water on the bottom, two kids hanging off the end of the cart doing my one-stop, get everything shopping trip!

So where do you grocery shop...do you go to 200 pound cart land? Or are you a lover of the Target handy dandy help box? Oh trust me, i go to Target still a plenty, just not for the groceries.

Powerful song

I'm sure most have heard this song and have probably sung it in church...it is by far one of my favorites that makes me teary every time we sing it...shared it on facebook a while back but thought i would share the video here too. Truth be told, i just figured out how to put a youtube video on my blog thanks to google! I'm so computer illiterate but i do ok with step by step instructions :) You may need to press pause on my music player if you scroll down so that you are not hearing two songs at once. Have a fantastic, freezing cold day...that is if you live where i live...and if not...once again, can we trade places please?

A season of life

Some things will never be forgotten, somethings made an impression on my life and changed me forever. Those three things were three years that were three of the hardest years of my life thus far...they were filled with three pregnancy losses, months after months of trying to get pregnant (those who have had to try for periods of time understand the frustration this brings along with other emotions), medical tests, medical procedures, medicines and most of all a host of emotions from sadness, frustration, anger, happiness and then back to sadness. Questions for doctors, questions for God..."what are you trying to show me God?" What more can i learn that i haven't already learned?"

Looking back, i think i was starting to be if not already somewhat depressed. I knew God was in control, i knew there was a reason, i knew God had a plan that i could not see...even though i knew these things, i was sad and that was bottom line!

After many tests, we started the medical intervention of artificial insemination...and as it sounds there is nothing romantic about it...at the first month after some testing we were told we should not waste our time due to the unfavorable test results unless our insurance was paying...they were, so we continued on. After several months of this it was getting old...we decided to take a month off...i went off my meds, i don't even remember why other than i was resigning to the fact that our family may be complete and was beginning to accept (not wholeheartedly) this.

God had a surprise that month for us. God was working out His plan, God was answering our prayers as we had a positive test with no intervention and unfavorable circumstances. It wasn't how we planned our family, it wasn't how we wanted to get to child #3...but God's plans as often are were different than our own.

I remember going to the fertility specialist office to see if there was a heartbeat (my hcg numbers were low so i had been warned of a possible miscarriage once again) i thought my heart might jump out of my chest while laying on that table staring at the screen...and there it was...a beating heart that instantly sent me into tears! To say my heart was guarded during my pregnancy with Ethan would be an understatement!

So what was God trying to teach me? I don't know specifically but i could list a number of things that i did learn. I'm thankful that God was patient with me even when i was angry with Him for a time, I'm thankful that He stayed with me through the whole three years even though His plans were different than ours. I'm thankful He gently held my hand even though at times my fists were clenched, and i am so thankful for the two additional blessings (Ethan and Raegan) that He decided to entrust us with.

Life is a miracle! I will never forget my three angel babies in Heaven that forever changed me!

I am thankful that this season of life is past but thankful for what it taught me! The song "Praise You in This Storm" (in my music playlist) was one of the songs that helped me through "this season".

I was thankful during this time to be able to be part of an online support Hannah's Prayer Ministries in which i was able to meet others online and actually a couple in person who were going through some of the same struggles from primary infertility, secondary infertility, pregnancy loss, infant death, ect. It opened my eyes to SO much! It was wonderful to have supportive prayerful ladies during that time!

Words

Our little two year old is exploding with words. A few things she says often these days are :

1. i lub (love) you
2. my do it myself
3. i watch Dora- swiper no swiping! she yells at the tv and when they say something twice, she will say I AM!
4. my walk- what she says anytime we enter a store, the last time i let her do this i chased her from one end of walmart to the other, i think she was mistaken and thought she was in a foot race...she was huffing and puffing literally, i am not exaggerating!
5. chusick (music) on! This was a really hard one to figure out...and it still takes me a couple of times to remember what she is hollering from the backseat. When we turn the music on she sometimes sings (in her own singing way) loudly with the music.
6. my Dora books (yes, she is quite obsessed with Dora right now) she must have her 5 dora books in bed with her. Thank goodness for Savers...every time i go there i find a Dora book to add to her collection!
7. so and so (insert sibling name) bugging me!
8. yi yi (a pen)
9. nanny (her very loved pink silky blankie)

She got the all clear at the Ent the other day. her ear tube "clog" was completely gone! The screaming that went along with the ear drops of hydrogen peroxide were worth it.They did a tympanogram just to make absolutely sure. We will not have to go back now for 6 months.

She is one busy little girl...so sweet...so independent...is completely convinced the couch and beds in the house are trampolines made just for her...full of kisses...and can melt your heart...whenever she is not throwing a full-throttled temper tantrum!

Put in our place

This afternoon Johnny and i had a childish argument...i know you have them too...something that doesn't even really matter but you find a reason to argue about it. We try to not argue in front of the kids but sometimes it happens (gasp) . At dinner time as we were filling the kids bowls with chili working together but acting like the other didn't exist in the kitchen, taking frustrations out on the crackers we were smashing into the bowls... the kids were feeling the tension and i think we both knew it was time to give it up but i'll admit i was still holding my ground at being petty and stubborn.

As we sat down to eat the two oldest started shooting "why are you guys arguing?" "uum we could hear ya" " and then one of them said "no one is talking" (there is a lot of talking at the table normally) one of us said " we are talking" to which the kids replied "yea, but you are not talking to each other"!

That was all it took, i let it go, Johnny had already let it go...remember i was being the stubborn one...we can act like everything is normal but our kids see right through us...they know when we are upset at each other, they don't like it and i was reminded that everything we do, every way we act, our kids don't miss a beat...something i know but obviously just needed a swift kick in the pants reminder tonight.

And then after being put in our place...we enjoyed the rest of dinner. I like to blog about the good things in life, but let's face it life isn't always a bed of roses. Sometimes we are at each other's throats all day, sometimes the kids get on my very last nerve, sometimes there is non stop sibling rivalry that makes us want to pull ours and their hair out, sometimes there is financial stress, sometimes i think my hormones have gone off the deep end, sometimes there is just stress from trying to keep up with everything that goes along with raising a family in general...and i will blog about that too...cause that's real life...and if yours is all a bed of roses....either your lying or...can we move in next door?

Do you hear them?

The angels singing? They are! A little guy, just four years old was watching Diego this morning. His mommy quickly getting ready for an appointment that his sister had. He out of the blue said "do you know Grandma's phone number? i want to talk to her about Heaven" Mommy called Grandma, they had a little talk, he said "i love you and goodbye". As he was sitting there his mommy and him talked a little more about Heaven and about how we get there and that when he was ready he could ask Jesus into his heart. His mommy, not wanting to push anything too young said that we could do it now or later when he got a little bigger. He wanted to do it "right now"!

The clock was ticking and being late to an appointment was a possiblility but at that particular moment, time stood still...none of that mattered...it didn't matter that mommy was in a towel, a little boy wanted to ask Jesus into his heart! Mommy and boy kneeled by the bed, mommy having a lump in her throat and tears in her eyes the little boy repeated mommy's words asking Jesus to come into his heart and save him so that he can go to Heaven one day.

As they ended the prayer, mommy asked him where he was going to go some day (we don't mention die, cause that word is too upsetting to him) and he put both hands in the air like he just scored a goal and said "Heaven, YES!"

Will he remember this day? I hope so. Is it possible that he won't and will later make sure of his salvation? Certainly possible. Which was the case with his two older sibling who also prayed the prayer at the age of 4 and made sure of their salvation last year. Is it fantastic that he wanted to do it? Absolutely!! Are his mommy and daddy proud of him? You bet!!

So let the angels sing... a little 4 year old has Jesus in his heart!!

Romans 10:13 For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

5th grade strings

Trey chose between band and the trombone or strings and the viola. We left it completely up to him and he chose to play the viola. He has to practice each night and even though i had him take a picture with the bow....they are still "picking" and learning the notes without the bow. He rattled off all the notes for me the other night and i must say i was impressed. He really wants to learn to play the piano too so we are going to get him into piano lessons after we get something for him to practice on.

I asked nicely

Yes, you saw me (if you read my post from last week) ask for no more monkeys and i used the word please, before you think i've lost my marbles completely...the monkeys are ear problems, we check for monkeys when we go to get Raegan's ears checked... whatever works...

For two nights after getting her tubes she was up in the middle of the night just like in the past with ear infections, but for the past few nights all has been good.

We went to her post-op appointment this morning and first ear-"looks great" second ear- "oh no, we got a clog" this happens to be the same ear that she had been holding saying it hurt those couple of nights...They explained it to me like this... that instead of the excess fluid that had been in her ears draining out after surgery like it should have, it balled up and hardened and is blocking the tube so that no fluid can drain, so she has a lot of fluid back there....wonderful! They took her to the "microscope" room which was really cool...they put drops in to try to loosen the clog (all the while we are watching on a tv screen the inside of her ear, i could see the tube and everything) then they had to vacuum the drops back out...did not work...tried using an instrument to "bump" the clog and possibly move it, did not work...Raegan is screaming bloody murder while two of us are holding her down this whole time!

With no success at budging it we now are to use hydrogen peroxide in her ear twice a day for the next two days and then start on 7 days of antibiotic drops....we got back Monday for them to check to see if we have had any success.

They warned me that on some kids the hydrogen peroxide can hurt pretty bad when put in, so i am waiting on daddy to try that the first time!

Pretty please, seriously...monkeys be gone!!

Just cause

Cause i was looking through old photo files

Cause i love the beach

Cause i miss this age

Cause the kids are growing up to darn fast

Cause her smile makes me smile...