Thanksgiving

What a busy week!  It started off with a birthday party for Chris (Scott's girlfriend) and I.  We went to the Olive Garden for a filling dinner, home for presents and cake.  Since the whole family couldn't be together on Thanksgiving, it was nice to have a big dinner a couple days before where the whole family could be together (all 13 of us).

                                     Sabrina and Mommy at her birthday party.

                                        The birthday cake...Princess, what else?

                 The big girls with Mommy...we all were matching that night :)

The four girls watching a little TV before it was time to leave Grandpa and Nana's house.

We had Thanksgiving at Grandma's house.  You never know how Thanksgiving will go...we are all in charge of different food items and you never know if everything will be done at the same time and how it will taste.  This year we ate on time and everything tasted great!  We though Sabrina had no taste buds since she loves everything she eats, but we found out she does not like Deviled Eggs...at least we know she has taste buds :)  We watched the Macy's Parade...and saw Santa...always a big deal.  The big girls colored the turkey in the newspaper, each year the turkeys look better and better.

                                           Jumping on Grandma's trampoline.

       The kids recognized Ronald McDonald....not sure if that is a good thing :)

 Uncle Jeff and Heather were in charge of the turkey...it was smoked this year.

                                     Aubrie and Ashlyn coloring their turkeys.

Here is a video of the girls seeing Santa at the end of the parade.  The girls decided to scream at Santa and ask him for gifts like laptops and iphones....ummm, pretty sure Santa will not be bringing those gifts.

The day after Thanksgiving, Mommy and Daddy did a little shopping and then we got our Christmas Tree up and decorated...by "we" I mean Jim :)  The little girls were napping so it was fun to see their reactions to the tree.  This video is of Kadence coming out...she saw the dancing Santa we have, but didn't care about the tree until I pointed it out...it is funny to she the reaction, "oh, look there is a tree".

Our Christmas lights are up outside...a plus to have mild weather still.  Now, I am ready for just a dusting of snow.  That will make it all a little more festive.

We went to visit Uncle Scott's new dog, Fannie.  She is 4 years old and so far quite a doll.  The girls loved her and she did so well with all of them around.  We have one more day all together and then it is a busy time of year for us.  Not only do we have 8 choir concerts between the two of us, Ashlyn has a church Christmas concert and her Allegro Choral Academy concert, Jim has 7-8 musical performances and many rehearsals...so busy and a little stressful.   Meanwhile, we are potty training the little girls.  Kadence just made it through her first day in underwear with NO ACCIDENTS!!  She was in a pull-up for nap time, but we will work on staying dry while sleeping at a later time.  We were very proud of her. Sabrina is also beginning to show interest in the potty.  We have used "Santa" to help us with potty training.  He called our house and told the girls to use the potty.  When Sabrina goes she says, "Santa happy!".  Whatever works at this point.

                                                                      Fannie

November

The beginning of the month was busy with conferences for both Jim and I and we both had our first high school concerts of the year.  Jim had a performance with the Minnesota Valley Men's Chorale, a group he actually sings in...not conducting.  Jim has been rehearsing for his school's musical, A Christmas Carol, which will be performed in December.  We will be happy to have Daddy home once the musical is done :) Jim and I went to a music conference at Gustavus Adolphus College last weekend.  We had a great time and enjoyed spending time together, without kids.  We heard great music, listened to fabulous speakers and enjoyed the first snowfall of the season...although the drive home was a little uneasy.

I had another birthday...which was spent with my kids :)  There is nothing better than spending a day with your children (even when they get crabby).  The hugs and kisses make up for the crabbiness!

Ashlyn continues to do well in school.  2nd grade is bringing on more homework, fun times spent in phy ed and recess, but also a few mean kids at times...it is taking some adjusting.  She does well in math, reading, and of course, music :)  She continues to take piano lessons and swim lessons will begin in January.

Aubrie loves preschool and has many friends, as most preschoolers do.  She loves to tell us about her days.  She loves to sing, read books, and watch movies.  She is learning her phone number and address.  She is a really loving child who loves her one on one cuddle time with Mommy and Daddy.

Sabrina's eyes have adjusted and are now straight!!!  There is still some pinkness to her eyes as they still continue to heal from the surgery.  We are happy with the outcome and look forward to hear what her doctor has to say in December.  Sabrina is very fun to cuddle with and she has a very funny personality. She is very stubborn, but she gets that from me :)

Kadence is working on potty training.  She wears pull-ups and has good days, and not so good days.  It is a work in progress, but she is doing so well.  I hope Santa brings some underwear this Christmas!!

We videotaped the girls performing the other day...for fun, and we watched the videos on our TV...they enjoy watching themselves.  Here are a couple videos taken that night :)

Aubrie singing "Tomorrow" from Annie...her favorite song to sing.  She makes up her own words at time, but you can still hear the tune.  She tries to hit a high note at the end, but it came out really out of tune...too funny!

The little girls have been learning "Jesus Loves Me" at church using some sign language.  Ignore the big girls in the back ground...they needed some attention as well.

Up next for our family...Thanksgiving!!!

November Already...yikes!

October was a busy month full of soccer, swimming, conferences, Sabrina's surgery and all the appointments that went along with that, and of course, Halloween.  Sabrina's surgery went very well and she is recovering very well.  We were worried since her eyes started to cross inward, but her doctor assured  us that was normal and it will go away, we have already noticed a difference.  The redness has improved greatly, although you can still see the eye healing.  Her next appointment is right after Christmas and we will see if the surgery worked and if it affected her perfect eye sight at all.  We also got Sabrina's blood results back (from her oncologist) and her numbers still look good.  One number went up a little, but that is not the number they are worried about.  It was "normal" at her diagnosis, but the other number was off the charts and that one is still normal.

On Saturday we had a Halloween party.  The Mothers of Multiples group that I am involved in has holiday parties and it is a nice, low key event.  They were cookies to decorate and eat, coloring pages, fun little games with prizes and a parade to show off costumes.  The girls love it and with all the kids running around it makes our life seem normal with all the chaos that surrounds having so many children.

                        Kadence, Ashlyn, Aubrie and Sabrina

 

                             Sabrina decorating her cookie!

            Bowling with small pumpkins...serious business.

On Sunday, we celebrated Uncle Scott's birthday.  The girls were so excited that he wanted to go bowling.  We were worried how the little girls would do, but they LOVED it!!  Kadence would cheer everyone else on and asked when her turn was coming up.  We were there from 12-2 or so and three girls were dead asleep when we got home...only Kadence stayed asleep for a little nap.  

                           Grandpa bowling with Kadence.

              Ashlyn and Aubrie helped Scott open his presents.

                            The girls were VERY tired!

After the party, it was time to carve pumpkins.  Kadence slept through most of it, but still was able to paint her small pumpkin.

Ashlyn cleaned out the inside of her own pumpkin...well, most of it.

 Sabrina was a little concerned about what Grandpa was doing to the pumpkin.

                       Kadence painting her little pumpkin.

                                  The finished products!

That evening Ashlyn got hit with a stomach bug...we are talking about things exiting her body both ways :(  This meant Ashlyn has to miss school on Halloween, which is very traumatic to a 2nd grader.  She cried a few times this morning, but she understood she couldn't go.  After midnight, she was able to sleep and her tummy has been fine since.  We are waiting for the other girls to get it, Kadence is beginning to show signs (ugh!)  Ashlyn was able to go Trick or Treating so at least she could dress up again.  The little girls finally have caught on to Halloween and how it works.  They were pros running up and down driveways, saying "Trick or Treat", grabbing candy and only had to be reminded to say "thank you" a few times.  We got enough candy to last all year...my students will be excited (that is how I get rid of most of it...I steal a little every day to bribe my students with).

                          The girls all ready to go!

 Waiting with Grandpa...mommy had not given the go-ahead yet.

               Running up to a house...excited as can be.

                         Look at all of our candy mom!!!

  Oh look, more candy...it took two large, over sized bowls to hold all this candy.

Our Fall Season

We made our annual trip to the apple orchard.  We were hoping to get lots of apples, but found the trees empty.  We were fortunate to find one set of trees still with apples on it and had fun picking the apples with Grandma and Grandpa.  Besides the lack of apples on trees, we had a great time out in our beautiful MN weather.  We were also still able to make some apple pies and apple crisp...always favorites around here.

Ashlyn and Aubrie's soccer seasons came to an end.  It was a very chilly Saturday morning for a game and it made Mommy a little glad that it was the last one.  The girls both played great this season and we look forward to Spring.  Swimming lessons are still going for 2 weeks and Aubrie is able to move up a level next session!

 Our big news....Sabrina had her eye surgery!!  Over the past year her eyes have been wandering when she is tired or trying to focus on something far away.  Her vision is good, but when her eyes wander she is seeing two images at once.  We tried patching her eyes, but they continued to get worse.  We decided surgery was our best bet to fix her eyes before her vision is affected.  Today was the day and she was a trooper.

 We got up super early and arrived at 6:15 am.  Sabrina put on some hospital pajamas and was pro when it came time for the nurse to check her over and check her O2 levels.  She loved the hospital slipper socks :)

 She then had time to play in the toy area with the other children having surgery.  The kids all ignored one another and the parents all sat nearby...all of us looking a little nervous.

 Sabrina had fun playing with Daddy...and was pretty goofy for the nurses.  While she was playing other children went in for sedation with their parents...when the parents came out, the mothers were normally a little teary...so sad.  Sabrina was a pro with her sedation, it was nice they gave her gas to sedate her and then gave the IV once she was sleeping and away from Mommy and Daddy...it made it easier to hold her as she went down...no pain is good.

 When her surgery was over, they brought us in to see her.  She was crying pretty hard and fighting the nurses.  Once she was in Mommy's arms, she relaxed and fell asleep, still upsucking.  She took a little nap before waking up and drinking some juice.

 Once she was awake, we were able to see her eyes.  The lights were bright so we kept them off and let her relax.  We brought sunglasses for her to wear home, which the nurses recommended.  Even though it was cloudy today, the glasses helped.

 She was able to relax in the car and take another little nap.

Her eyes are not as red as we thought...well, the outsides of her eyes are, but not the inside.  She is doing pretty well as far as not scratching, but she still rubs her eyes.  The eye drops are hard to get it since she cries and right now her tears are bloody...a little gross, but we can deal with that.  We are proud of her and her eyes should be straight most of the time now!!

Busy lives...

Well, life is busy around here and we have become dependent upon our calendar, but that makes for no dull moments.  The kids have shared pink eye and a nasty cold...the first of many this fall season.   The twins have found their own ways to keep busy while people are coming in and out of our doors to babysit while we haul the big girls to all their activities.  Kadence has learned to become a master and Sabrina...a puppy.  Watch this video and see how they play fetch.

The big girls continue to enjoy soccer.  The weather has been a little nicer lately and hopefully will continue that way for the rest of the season.  Ashlyn is being challenged playing with older kids...with her height she fits is better with the 2nd and 3rd graders.  Aubrie and the other 4 years make us giggle while they "play"soccer.  One girl gets hurt and the rest stand around making sure she is okay before continuing.  The white out of bounds lines mean nothing to the 4 year olds...they keep playing well beyond the lines while a whistle blows, and blows, and blows.  Girls will pick up the ball to get it free...not okay in the game of soccer.  The girls are learning which goal is theirs to score in...Aubrie scored for the other team in one game, and then another girl on her team scored for the other team...they are just too nice.  This is a video of one of Aubrie's goals...she has made 8 this season (7 for her team and 1 for another).  Aubrie is number 10 on the white team and she has a blue hood coming out from her jersey.

Our family participated in the Cure Search walk to raise funds for childhood cancer.  The goal is to search for a cure for all childhood cancers.  It was held in Minneapolis around Lake Calhoun...a beautiful setting and a beautiful day.  All four girls came along and Ashlyn walked almost the whole way herself (over 3 miles)...she rode on Mommy's back for 1/4 mile or so.  There were many family and friends present of children who are survivors, fighters, and angels.  Families of the angels released balloons in their memory...a very moving moment.  The survivors and fighters announced their names...including Sabrina (who also said she was two).  There were many doctors and nurses from Children's Hospitals and Clinics as well as the University of Minnesota Hospital.  It was great to see so many people.  We look forward to next year!

 The girls ready for the walk...the kelly green bandanas were to show we were walking in honor of a survivor.

 We were in the middle of the pack of walkers...here is a photo of the front of the pack.

             This is a photo behind us...the line goes on and on.

Here we are at the end of the walk...still happy.  The girls were given little gifts along the way to keep them motivated...like bags, magnets and jump ropes.

The beginning of school...

These past few weeks have been busy.  We have been learning how to juggle our new schedule full of school, soccer, swimming, piano lessons, and church.  Did I forget to mention the typical household chores and paying of bills.

Jim and I started new jobs and we both seem to be settling in nicely.  We miss out old jobs and our former students, but we are meeting new students and making the best of our new positions.  Jim is learning to adapt to middle schoolers, but enjoys his high school classes.  I am turning the middle school program into my own and I enjoy working with high school girls.  I am also lucky to have great choir/band colleagues at both schools.

Ashlyn started 2nd grade...so hard to believe.  She is reading chapter books, excelling in math, and loving her social life.  In the mail today we received a certificate stating Ashlyn was named Student of the Week in her class...she was thrilled to see this, as were we.

Aubrie started her first school experience...Preschool!!  She is so proud that she is now a "big girl".  She is making new friends, loves story time, play time, and science.  She loves playing with the magnifying glass and looking at the grasshoppers.  She comes home with plenty of stories and VERY tired.

Both Ashlyn and Aubrie have started swimming lessons.  This will be the first time they have taken swimming.  Ashlyn was a little weary at first since they started off swimming under water...she was a little scared of having her face underwater...she is now easing her way in.  Aubrie loves to splash in the water and enjoys jumping in off the side of the pool.

The big girls are also in the midst of soccer season.  It is hard to know what season we are in...the first soccer game was near 90 degrees, the second game was cold, windy and we had winter coats and mittens on...welcome to Minnesota fall.   Ashlyn continues to excel in the defense side.  She loves playing goalie and has yet to let a goal through.  She cheers her team on and is quite competitive.  Aubrie is playing on her first official team.  It is fun to watch 4 year olds running around after a ball.  Aubrie is very aggressive and has scored 7 times in two games...6 for her team and 1 for another :)  She gets right in the middle of the bunch and steals the ball.  We are proud of both of them.

Today we took the girls for a surprise trip after school.  We went to the Mall of America to Sea Life (formerly Underwater World).  It was a special "teacher" day and we all got in free and also had a little tour behind the scenes.  The girls loved seeing sharks, turtles, and jelly fish.  The little girls had never experienced this before and Aubrie probably doesn't remember it.  It was so nice to spend family time together where everyone was having fun and no one cried...until we left the gift shop empty handed...Sabrina wanted a stuffed dolphin.

                            Aubrie with the Jelly Fish!!

                Up close and personal with a few sharks

Does this remind anyone of a scene in Jaws...remember when the walls started leaking and the sharks tried to break through...a little scary.

Life will continue and we treasure each day...busy or not.  We hope this fall weather sticks around for a while and winter stays a way.

Independence...

Independence is a good thing....right?  Sabrina is turning into little Miss Independent (as well as a Daddy's girl).  As much as we wanted our girls to be independent...she is a little too independent.  She wants to get dressed and undressed on her own, brush her teeth by herself, climb stairs on her own, get in the car and carseat on her own, climb out of the car on her own, walk everywhere...without holding the hand of a responsible party, and she tucks herself into bed.  She is still our baby...we hope she can find a happy median... and soon.  If any of you have kids you know, if you help an independent child with anything it creates a very loud complaint from the child.  Sabrina has great lungs and a very nice dramatic tantrum routine.  One can imagine how many times a day that routine may be seen.

In other news...Ashlyn will start 2nd grade on Tuesday, Aubrie will meet her preschool teachers that day as well, but won't start school until the 13th.  The big girls are also beginning swim lessons and soccer this next week.  We filled out our calendar for the next 9 1/2 months and we don't have a free day...well, maybe one or two every month.  Life will be busy for us, but soon it will be summer once again.

We recently had our family photos taken by Nicole Reyes...she did out family photos last fall as well.  She is a survivor of Neuroblastoma, the same cancer Sabrina had, that is how we met.  We LOVE her photos and highly recommend her to everyone.  The pictures on this site are a couple that were taken...as well as these.

Sabrina was mad that Kadence wouldn't sit by her...Kadence wanted her own space...it was towards the end of the shoot and they were getting restless...kind of cute.