The Elf on the Shelf

This year we had a visit from a new friend! Have you heard of the Elf on the Shelf? LOVE it! I love the magic of Christmas and the wonder, and we had lots of fun with this. One morning "Buddy" as the kids named him, showed up with a letter from santa. He would be coming to the house every morning to a new hiding place they had to find him in. He would watch them all day, and at night, report back to Santa. Then on Christmas Eve when Santa comes to leave the presents, he would take Buddy back to the North Pole till next year close to Christmas. I wish I could say it helped with the behavior, it did not. We were tempted to send the Elf to live in Sage's room to keep an eye on her! I wish I had taken more pictures of his hiding places. Or a close up of him. This is up above our dining room, hiding in my collection of Nutcrackers. He was a sneaky elf for sure!

Our Christmas Dinner

For the holidays we have tried to make it a point to have a special family dinner night, just the 7 of us. We did fondue for our Christmas dinner this year and it was as yummy as before! If you have never done a fondue dinner with your kids, I promise you it is a dinner you will not regret! Even with out a fondue pot it can be done and they will think you are the BEST. We had it complete with sparkling grape juice. Our fav!
In the past we have let the kids draw a name of a sibling and choose a gift to give them. We changed things up a little this year. We decided our family night we would keep the focus on Christ and what Christmas is really all about. We once again acted out the nativity. Complete with some throwing around of certain nativity pieces by certain children. I admit it goes through my head as we are trying to be all spiritual and Mommy is losing it because the nativity pieces are flying through the air, I ain't getting any awards for playing the part of Mary well! ;-)
After we were done playing soccer, I mean telling the Christmas story, we moved on to our Jesus stocking.
I read this idea on a blog a few years ago and finally put it into action this year. We had the kids each write down things on cards that our family, or themselves could do to serve God. Ideas were serving at a homeless shelter, sending a package to the soldiers who serve, a siblings chores etc... We then put it all in the stocking as our gift to Jesus. We will keep the stocking out all year as a reminder to pull out our cards and actually do the jobs we said we would.
Counting down till Christmas!

Maverys Mullet & Heart Update

Mavery had a lung profusion scan done this week. We saw the cardiologist last week and the pressures were still borderline, so they decided the lung scan would decide if we needed to do another heart cath now or later. She had to be put out for the lung scan because they have to lay still and quiet. With an IV in the arm that puts dye through the lungs. There was NO WAY she was going to lay still if they came at her with a needle. So we opted for the drugs. She did better this time. She did come out swinging, like a bucking bronco! She is STRONG! But the results were good. Before, the lung pressures were 95% on the right and only 5% on the left. Normal is 45% on the left. This time the left is 30%. So for now we just wait and watch that they stay there. It could be that the stent that was put in over the summer, will continue to allow more blood flow on it's own. That is our prayer. Anytime she has to go in for these things it is hard on her, and on us! Which is why we opted for drugs on this test. The other option was to hold her down for it and as we are still working on attachment issues, felt that was not the right thing to do. Give her a drink that makes her forget it all, seemed the smartest.

So afterwards, she was still pretty loopy the rest of the night. And as you can see in the above photos, got out of our site for just long enough to have some fun. It could have been worse, I realize that. But for how long we have worked to get hair, ugh!

We are thankful for good heart news and appreciate all of your prayers.

Sugar Cookie Fun!

My kids love to make sugar cookies. We had fun this week icing & decorating. Beginning to feel alot like Christmas!

Merry Early Christmas to me!

Finally! Mark surprised me with a new computer this week. We went with the Apple Macbook and so far LOVE IT! Now, no excuse for not blogging!

Malaine loses another tooth!

Sawyer's Brother Song

Every once in awhile Sawyer decides he has had it with being the only boy around here. Alot of the time he claims he enjoys his role. But lately he has been on a kick of wanting a brother. I should get it on video, but here are a few of the lyrics from his "song". And no, we are not adding a boy anytime soon. I would consider a BOY dog before a boy boy. ;-) For the record, we HAVE considered getting ANOTHER dog, but then our common sense did kick in (which is rare actually, that we use common sense!) and we decided now might not be the best time for a puppy either.

"I am only 9 years old

nah nah nah nah

And I am tortured from my head to my toes

nah nah nah nah

I have ONE

nah nah

TWO

nah nah

THREE

nah nah

FOUR sisters

and it is not fair, I need a brotherrrrrrrrrrrr"

There was more to it, maybe I can get him to re-sing for a video! This boy of mine is pretty hilarious.

** I did add a few Sage posts under this one.

My baby turns 4!

Such an odd thing when suddenly you realize you can leave the house with out a diaper bag, or sippie cups, and that you don't have to have to worry if there will be booster chairs available. This is the first time in 12 years that I have not had a baby or waiting for a baby. VERY strange to be honest. But for now, I LIKE IT! ;-)

However, to be honest, when I really think that my BABY, our Sage is 4, it does make me sad. I tell her all the time she has to stop growing. And sometimes she says ok, she wants to stay my baby. Other times she tells me to " get on a plane & go to China and get my own baby because she is NOT the baby anymore! "

Some Sage stuff for 4 years old....

• she is SMART. To smart that is for sure. You can just see the wheels turning. She can spell her first & last name along with most of our names in the house. She remembers EVERYTHING. (which is not always good for me!) She came home with a paper from school today and I swear I could have mistaken it for Makennas handwriting. Can count high, knows all her letters, recites the books of the bible, and knows the words to just about any song that comes on the radio.
• Still has her deep voice. her singing is hilarious it is so low.
• Likes school, but is my first child that is getting in trouble in school! She has a listening issue. If Ms Renee tells her to get in line, she might, or she might not. Depends.
• VERY athletic. And competitive. Not a good combination I am going to guess. She is determined and will practice her cartwheels forever till it is right. Or kicking a soccer ball. Or riding a bike. I have never seen someone go faster on a scooter that is twice their size than with her!
• She is HILARIOUS! i have honestly never met anyone funnier than my daughter. No matter how mad I am at her, (and believe me, she is STILL spicy!) one look at her and I crack up. I don't know what you do with that. She cutesies her way out of everything. Which is so annoying to the other children, but she typically has the same effect on them.
• Which leads us back to the not listening issue. She does not listen. EVER. She is in her own little world much of the time. We are working on this. Cute won't get her out of all school trouble I am afraid!
• Still has her spicy moments. Often. Tonight as we cleaned her room we uncovered PILES of candy that she had stashed and had been enjoying during "naptime". (chewed up gum in the carpet, suckers stuck to the rugs...) Still forgets (yeah right!) that my furniture is not for drawing on. For whatever reason she still believes that if you are not eating or drinking at your place, she is free to go to your spot and have her fill. She is the child you will find climbing the unclimbable, actually this is a whole post in itself so I will just stop here!

Sage ChenYi Mae. My baby and a true blessing to our family. She is a pure joy and I am still in awe that God picked ME to be her mommy forever. My heart is full as we celebrate 4 years of our gift, my Sage.

Sage party pictures

A princess Cinderella party for our little princess.

Guard your mouth!

Psalm 141:3

"Set a guard Oh Lord over my mouth, Keep watch over the door of my lips. "

A few weeks ago our sermon in church was all about controlling our mouth. We ALL have an issue with that in our house, so we were talking about how we need to work on that. I offered the children some sort of bribe if they could go a day with out speaking ugly to each other, or to me. This is what I came in the room and saw. Quite comical and it was a pretty quiet day!

Muffin Tin Monday Catching Up

I want to be a good blogger, I really really do. I am envious of those who blog on a regular basis. I do still blame it on not having my own computer. Makes it tough. So, here we are trying to catch up on our muffin tins. We have been very dedicated to our muffin tin lunches. The kids have come to expect them that is for sure. However, I have to give the credit to Makenna. I give her the ideas, she runs with them. Actually I typically steal/borrow the ideas off of a website that I need to share, and then she runs with them. Here you go:Halloween: Mummy Dogs, boiled egg Eyeballs, spider crackers, finger cheese sticks, mummy marshmallows, mac & cheese guts.

Foods that are Round

Space Theme: Planet pb & J-popcorn meteors-cheese stars-grape clouds, rocket ship pickle and the candy says it all.

Foods we are thankful for: pb & J taco, hard boiled eggs, mac & cheese, pirate booty, we LOVE that stuff!, chocolate milk!

Thanksgiving! Turkey Sandwich, cornucopia of pirate booty, goldfish for the fish the pilgrims caught, pumpkin muffins, and raisins in a turkey cup.

Thankful

Hope your day is full of many blessings. I know I am counting ALL of mine today.

Sage turns 4!!

Her choice of lunch. Dinner was her favorite spaghetti, but she was to sick to eat either. She was very excited that "she got to use a glass plate because that is what big girls use!"

Lip gloss from Makenna was her favorite!

I love that smile, those eyes, such a happy girl!

she is yelling here, we match we match I am stitchy!

So much to say about my baby turning 4, my BABY!!! but wanted to share the pictures while I had a minute. Sage has been really sick, bronchitis, we still had fun. She was very excited about her "Stitchy" cake. She loves Lilo & Stitch and while I tried to convince her that she would like pink cupcakes made by mommy, she insisted on Stitch. Yes, it resembles a bunny rabbit, but not in her eyes. ;-) Will add more soon of her ride in the birthday Saddle at Texas Roadhouse and her Cinderella party.