Maryn's Ear Tube Removal

This is a VERY late post but I wanted to include it. Back in May of this year, Maryn had to have her right ear tube removed. After three years, the tubes pose a risk of puncturing the ear drum so the doctors want to remove them. Luckily her left one fell out just weeks before the surgery but we weren't so lucky on the right side. It was a very simple, fast procedure and she was back to her normal self that very day. Now the unfortunate part is that she's having ear infections again now that the tubes are gone :( We may be looking at surgery #3 to have the tubes put back in. Poor baby.


Mommy getting in a few more snuggles before she had hand over her baby.


Big girl before surgery... she was so brave.


Mommy, Daddy and of course Puppy were there to support Maryn :)


Maryn getting some snuggles and a popsicle post-surgery

Christmas 2011

I was a bad memory keeper this year. No pictures of the girls before church, no pictures of the girls in front of the tree, no pictures from Christmas with either side of the family, and absolutely no video. What is my problem? I was slacking obviously. This is how our Christmas morning played out this year... Makenna woke up first and we made her snuggle in bed with us and wait for her sisters. Maya woke up next, she had to snuggle and wait as well. We finally tried to wake up Maryn and she was grouchy and having nothing to do with it so we all went back to Mommy and Daddy's bed to snuggle. Next thing we hear is Maryn downstairs "Hey Santa ate all of our cookies!" Talk about making all of us patient waiters mad! She somehow snuck past us and went downstairs to check it all out without us. That is so Maryn.

So here are the few pictures that I do have from Christmas morning and Christmas day.


My three loves on Christmas morning... before the chaos ensued :)


Maya's big gift from Santa... a double baby jogging stroller. Now she has plenty of room to wheel around Teddy and all of her babies :)


Unwrapping the Wii from Mom and Dad :)


Doesn't she look like a happy little girl. The one thing she wanted from Santa :)


Makenna's big gift from Santa... a cakeball maker with all kinds of fun sprinkles to decorate and create!


Maryn's new sunglasses from Makenna. So sweet. Makenna earns "money" for the school store by being good at school. She used her money to buy her sister these sunglasses for a Christmas gift. She has such a giving heart.


LOVE this! Maryn thanking Makenna for her new sunglasses.


Maryn and SKINNY markers... she is a big fan!


I'm telling you, it was the simple things at our house this year that were a big hit... marbles were one of Maya's favorites!


Maya and her gummy bears


Some headbands for Makenna


Daddy and the girls trying out the Wii for the first time


Mommy and the girls doing Just Dance on the Wii Christmas afternoon


Christmas cocoa!

Church Christmas Program

This year was the first and only year that all three girls will participate in the church Christmas program together. Makenna will be too big next year :( It was fun seeing little Miss Maya as an angel. She played the role perfectly. All three girls did a terrific job. We had a hard time seeing Maya as she was kind of hidden in the back row, but she was easier to spot for the last song when all the kids sang together.


My angel (with her very sad looking chapped lip)


Maya singing


Makenna's turn on stage


Maryn singing


Trying to get a glimpse of Maya Gracie from the back row. She did a great job on stage for a 2 year old!


Makenna and Maya singing the final song together. Maryn somehow got separated from them going up to the stage and she was on the other side and I couldn't get any pictures of her. But we do have pictures of our friends Landon and Owen who were standing in front of the girls!








My bashful angel Maya


My girls all dressed up for Christmas! I know I'm biased but I think they are the three prettiest things I've ever laid eyes on. I love them so much!

Flashback!

My parents were cleaning house and decided to share all of my stuff with me that I had been keeping at their house. In one of the boxes I found my prom dress from junior year. Oh boy. I don't know what possessed me to do this, but I just had to try it on. It made my day that it still fit 16 years and three children later! Woohoo! The girls thought I was a princess with the dress and Maya called it the snake dress (all the sequins go in a long S pattern). The girls had so many questions... where was I going? Could they where the dress? What did Daddy wear? What do you mean you didn't go with Daddy to the prom? ;) That was a fun one to try and explain.


Outside of the fact that the dress is forest green (which totally screams 1990s!), it actually isn't too bad of a style.


My attempt at posing - HA!

Needed: One Roll Of Paper Towels

It doesn't take much for our family to have fun. Very simple items and LOTS of imagination make life interesting at our house. One night after dinner Maryn started trying to tape a random napkin she found on the floor to her foot (like it was a shoe). Daddy got involved and one thing led to another...





Maya wasn't involved with the paper towel costuming, but she begged me to take her picture anyway... Thank you for sticking your tongue out Gracie!


Daddy at his work station... Master Costume Maker in action!


Whoa! Serious super hero!




At least you can never tell me that my family is boring and that we take ourselves too seriously :) I'm totally pulling these pictures out for their high school graduations!

Christmas Cookies

We had our annual Christmas cookie decorating event the morning after Thanksgiving at my parent's house. This typically ends up being a lot of fun for the kids and lots of work for my mom. She bakes all the cut out cookies before we get there and then we have the fun task of frosting and decorating... and I can't forget eating since some of the little ones tend to do more licking/eating than decorating ;) Unfortunately this year it was a little rushed for our family though because Maryn came down with an ear infection on Thanksgiving night and we needed to take her to the urgent care.


Maya all ready to decorate cookies!


Decorating...


And more decorating.


Josh and Kenna


Maryn and Maya


Eden and Maya enjoying a funny movie on Peepie's lap


Makenna, Maryn and Josh watching a movie on Thanksgiving night


More cousin fun

Pumpkin Patch #2

Yes, I'm behind. Blogging about pumpkins in December was my first clue.

We have a pumpkin patch just about 2 miles up the road from us. We didn't buy our pumpkins at the first pumpkin patch event so we decided to take the girls up the road and give the local farmer our money instead of Hy-Vee. Plus their huge signs advertising "Pony Rides" had our girls begging to go back. Each girl got to ride a pony and we picked out a few wagons full of pumpkins for our family. Beautiful, warm fall day spent with family! Doesn't get any better than that!


Hauling in the pumpkins!


Daddy and Maya checking out the pumpkins


Maya meeting her horse


Maya learning how to ride


The look of pure joy on a child's face :)


Maya riding her pony... isn't the pony small?!


Maryn meeting her horse


Maryn ready to go!


Maryn riding her pony


Makenna getting acquainted with her horse.


Makenna ready to ride!


Makenna's pony ride