Christmas 2010

What a great Christmas we had this year!! It started with a number of weeks of practice for Ryan and Kyle for the Christmas Eve service at church. It was so fun to see the kids get into the songs this year and the true spirit of Christmas.


Our church does such a great job of including the kids into the celebration. Every year the church hosts a family friendly kids service Christmas Eve and all the kids get to be part of the nativity. This year Kyle as a shepherd and Ryan as wise man. Kyle even helped the pastor with the sermon, he did a great job. As our tradition, we celebrated Baby Jesus' birthday with singing happy birthday Jesus and blowing out a candle in a Hostess Cupcake. The kids love it and sure makes dessert easy on Christmas Eve.



We were home for Christmas morning this year again. Papa and Dee Dee were with us to enjoy the excitement of Christmas morning. My brother Matt and sister-in-law Tomeaka join us also via Skype from the Cayman Islands. The boys have a great time opening presents even, Brady loved it. Santa this year brought all the boys new sleds and we had fun taking them out for a test ride Christmas day after all the present opening.

(this was the inside dry run we hit the sledding hill later)

Christmas Prep 2010

Christmas this year seemed to come fast. So fast my blogging is way behind. Keeping up with Brady I think is the biggest difference this year. He is truly a 17 month old little boy and into everything.

The Christmas card this year was a good display of our family. Really no great picture. But a combo of pictures that showed how a typical photo shoot goes in our family right now. We even tried a few different times to get a great picture but as you can see it never really worked.

Pre Christmas this year was also filled with some sickness. Kyle won this competition with three months of a lung issues that we could not get under control. Our doctor almost admitted him to the hospital for IV steroids days before Christmas because she had given him everything else and he was still sick. After more blood work and a CT scan we found out Kyle had sever back sinus infections that the 3 previous rounds of antibiotics had not killed. Bottom line, after test results were sent to Mayo Clinic, Kyle seems to have limited to no anti bodies to a number of bacteria. Therefore his body is very susceptible to sickness if he is exposed to one of these bacterias. Well pre Christmas we were able to get him over the infection and therefore his lungs got a lot better and we have been sent to a doctor who specializes in immune deficiencies. Here is hoping in 2011 we figure out how to keep Kyle well.

(Kyle doing one of many breathing treatments...at least it was good reading time as well.)

Even with the business of pre Christmas we all did seem to manage to get into the Christmas spirit. Brady loved the Christmas hats and headbands and the big boys never let us forget our family advent wreath lighting every Sunday.

Pumpkin Carving

I have to say I make sure we do it every year, but it is not one of my most favorite activities...Pumpkin Carving! This year we went to Papa's Pumpkin Patch and the boys got to pick out their favorite pumpkin. I was prepared to help them carve the pumpkins when Stephanie (a previous babysitter who is living with us temporarily) said her sister was coming and they would like to carve pumpkins with the boys. I very happily said yes!!


It was so neat to see this year the boys really get into it. Ryan even dug out the insides.( in years past he would not even reach his hand inside.) Kyle also did a great job and was excited when his was done and looked great.

Stephanie even baked the seeds and they actually tasted great. Then they did some pumpkin painting and the boys loved that as well. Stephanie has a very special relationship with the boys and it is great that both Stephanie and the boys love doing things together.


We went trick-or-treating with our good friends the Murch's again this year. The boys... I mean the Mummy, cowboy on his horse and Nemo the fish had a great time!!

Kyle the Birthday Boy!!

I can't believe it he is 7!! Kyle turned 7 on October 13th and it is still hard to believe. It is so great to see Kyle mature and really become such a nice young man. His is a great student (loved by his teacher) and a really nice friend.

For his birthday this year I had to be out of state on business, but we did a little pre-celebration the night before and the morning of his birthday. He was so surprised to find birthday balloons and a birthday banner all for him. I had Mother's guilt for having to leave before anyone was up to catch a flight, so I did a little extra. Kyle told me on the phone that night that he loved the balloons but he thought Brady liked them the most.

We celebrated his birthday on Sunday with his Papa and Dee Dee and our friends the Dole's. This years cake request was Yoda with his light saber. Though I am no Cake Boss, from the TLC show Kyle loves to watch, I think I did a pretty good job. Kyle loved it and that is the only one I was trying to please.

Kyle got some really nice things for his birthday and was very excited to be seven, even though I keep telling him he is not allowed to be seven :). We are so blessed we have a healthy, happy and kindhearted seven year old.

Ryan Gymnastics

We have been looking for an activity for Ryan and finally found something he is so excited about. A few weeks ago he started gymnastics and thinks it is the best thing ever. The class looks like fun and he gets to jump around and do what he calls "special moves", but his excitement could also have to do with his "girlfriend" Macie's parents owning the business and she there for his class. I said it before, the boy is going to like the ladies, and guess what, the ladies love him :).

Anyways, it's been very nice to see Ryan shine with is own thing. And he is so excited to show anyone that comes over all his gymnastics skills.

Soccer Star

Kyle once again this year decided to play soccer. I remember his first year of soccer when we thought, "oh man he is not going to get this." Well, this year we have seen Kyle really get it. He understands the strategy of the game, how to dribble around people, and even pass the ball to his teammates. The first game of the season I think he scored 4 goals and has at least averaged 2 goals a game since.

It is so great to see him be such a good teammate and have great sportsmanship. He cheers for his teammates and after he scores a goal he just hustles back to the center to be ready for the game to start again. Though it is fun to watch him have success at soccer this year it is even better to see him be such a great team member. Oh, but lets be real, the snack at the end is still a huge hit!!

Brady Boy!!

One thing you can say about our house is, it is never quiet. Well, at least not before 8pm. Brady is one factor in the volume level. The funny thing is he is not even talking yet. Well, that is not true, he has a few words- Uh Oh, Hot (which is said using just the HHHH sound). Though he has few words, he definitely makes himself known.

Brady's 15 months and oh so sweet. He loves to give hugs and kisses. He now blows kisses and waves when people leave. He is learning to come down the stairs pretty well so maybe we will be free of gates soon. The brothers like that Brady can't get out of the family room so they can have their toys on the other side of the gates.

Brady loves being outside. He also loves putting everything in his mouth. He really loves the hard cherries from a tree in our front yard, but he also like acorn and sticks. What? a little fiber will do him good, right?

And sand too!!

Brady sure does keep us hopping (because he is into everything) but we all sure do love him. I have to say I even love some of the special quiet time we get EARLY in the am when he is up before everyone else. Though, I will be the first to say when he outgrows that I will not be too disappointed :).

He loves his brothers!!!