ugh....

zander has his first double ear infection...his first ear infection ever!!! he's almost 5! apparently having a cold and then going sledding and swimming causes an infection to go crazy...my poor boy!

Palm Springs 2009

well we have been in palm springs since monday night. it has been a lot of fun but very busy! tuesday we went swimming at my parents condo and then tuesday night we had christmas with them at their place. on wednesday we took the kids to the top of the ariel tram to see snow. it had recently snowed and it was beautiful! it reminded me of colorado! the sky was so blue! ronan was excited but a little freaked out by small things. he didn't like sledding cause it was too fast. it also stressed him out that the snow stuck to his little gloves. he kept tearing them off saying they were dirty! jade liked the snow till she face planted...my fault. and she liked sledding with daddy. zander loved everything about it! sledding, snow angels, snowmen, climbing on fallen trees, and of course snow ball fights. and he threw an ice block at my face and slashed my chin. hmm...mama didn't like that one. that night we ate dinner with my parents and then went to the living desert to see the light display. its beautiful there! zander even tried to 'ice skate' for the first time. it was actually the 'iceless' iceskating cause it was a sheet of plastic or something. it was HARD! even ben struggled skating. it was like a cruel joke...let's let the so cal kids try ice skating for the first time on impossible fake ice so that they'll never ever want to try it again. but zander loved it and did much better with ben helping him.

today we had a simply laid back day by the pool. zander has learned to snorkel even though he still can't swim without water wings. but he's REALLY good at snorkling! i honestly thought he'd hate it and not want to do it...but then i realized that's me and snorkling! :) introduce it young i guess. ronan is fearless in the water with his little waterwings. its cute. and jade, well she gets down right excited to be splashing and kicking. she loves it. and they sleep GREAT afterwards! tonight we had christmas eve dinner at the cheesecake factory. we brought our cheesecake back to the room and watched alittle of elf before we put the kids to bed. tomorrow we head home. sad...forutnately ben is home friday, saturday and doesn't have to do worship on sunday. it will be nice to be together with nothing to do. but i have to say....i miss my extended family bad. :( my parents leave for michigan tomorrow and i'm jealous. who knows...maybe next year i'll have oodles of extra cash and the determination to fly with three kids...or maybe not. :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL!

ps...if you wanna see more pics of the vacation you'll have to check out facebook.

The Boys singing

tired of pictures yet?

ok, picture freak here...but its the holidays! the pictures loaded backwards so its in reverse order.

this was the boys at church singing. it was ronan's first performance and he sang and rang his bell! they were both so cute!!!

Zander saw me taking a pic and shoved the bell in ronan's ear....brothers.

singing their hearts out!

coming in to the stage.

finally, jade in her christmas dress!

cannot believe how happy they all are! ben was doing some crazy stuff to get these laughs!

the cutest boys in the world.

this is before zander's preschool performance

Zander at his preschool doing sign language to silent night.

no, he's not flicking you off...its the sign for virgin

and well, i have so many cute outfits and so few days for jade to wear them before she outgrows them! how many pictures can i take in front of the tree? :)

Jade's 9 month pics

we got jade's 9 month pics today and she was adorable! the photographer said when i come back to pick them up that they will probably have a consent release form for me to sign to use her pics on publications, etc. :) awww...nice.

A trend

I've started noticing a trend among mothers. its really funny and once its pointed out, i'm sure you'll notice it too; or hear it. :) its always in public. i hear the annoying voice of a young child badgering their mother with their incessant talking. then the mother says something like "i have no idea LOVE!" (or my love). but there's always a stutter right before they speak the word love through their gritted teeth. its like calling them love keeps them from calling their children you "obnoxious, loud mouth little buttmunch!" which you know is what is going on in their heads. why do i know this? cause well, i've had those moments. i love my children, but sometimes they just don't stop talking! so to make your concious feel better you throw out the word "love" so it makes you feel like your children aren't hearing your crazy annoyance with their talking. cause you know that's not right...they're just children and they talk. but you're annoyed anyways. so listen up the next time you're in walmart or target...:) or listen to yourself! ok, silly rant over.

practice makes perfect

some friends of mine let me practice taking pics on their kids. here are just a few. they were adorable subjects! however, please keep in mind these are completely unedited so cute me some slack on the lighting and coloring!

little isaiah marte (ronan's bestest buddie)
his big brother noah (and z's buddie)

Elizabeth Riley

Her twin sister Caitlin

they were just gorgeous

Jade's 9 month Stats

Jade went to the doctor today for her 9 mo check up. well weirdly enough she gained no weight from the last time she was there at 6 mo! she's still at 20 lbs, 29 1/2 " long (97%), and i can't remember her head. so the doctor asks me how much formula i'm feeding her in addition to her food, and i told her about 20-24 oz a day. so she says that jade should be eating 26-30 at this age. what the heck?! last time i was there she told me i was giving her too much! ugh...so now i feel like i've been starving the poor girl. so we're upping the formula yet again. and if you've seen jade it's not like she's tiny...so i had no idea. i'm still not convinced their scale wasn't off. but she's moving all over the place now so i'm sure that's part of it too. she dropped from 89% for weight to 76%. so she's still above average for sure. :)

Jade Giggling

Jade does jingle bells

ok i know i shouldn't have allowed this to happen, but i was taking pics, then it just looked cute...and well, i was close by the whole time. so here is Jade and her jingle bell!

Zander's 3 Cavities

Today was zander's big day for his 3 cavities. They gave him laughing gas, numbing gel, and shots. he kept throwing his hands in the air and waving them around. it was very funny. the funny thing is, that zander on laughing gas, is pretty much as bizarre as zander normal. it was hard to tell if it was even having an effect on him at all. but he did a great job and kept his mouth open and was very patient. aftewards however, he was a NIGHTMARE! everything made him cry. he whined, he pouted, he just was a pill. and his face itched and that drove him crazy. but fortunately by tonight he was doing a lot better and less obnoxious. btw, ronan just came out from bed and said he had a booger in his nose he couldn't get it out and for me to be gentle. ahhh...poor ronan. i'm off to pick.

A little bit about Miss Jade

or jadey as ronan says. and sissy as zander says. i swear the girl has completely changed in just a few days. first off she has 5 teeth that she got in four weeks! yes it's been brutal. she got her bottom two, her top two FANGS! and her one top middle tooth in the center. yes, she decided to get her teeth in her own order, not anyone elses. and then the last two days we've been cooped up because of the weather and plumbing, and all sorts of other things. well jade decided that she can cover the entire span of our square footage in about five minutes. she doesn't get up on her knees, but she pulls herself across the hardwood floors like a penguin. she's always figured out how to go from lying on her belly to sitting up. i think mostly to escape ronan trying to get to her hair. and she tried to go up and down the stairs. i'm not sure if she could have succeeded cause i stopped her before she smashed her head. she also slides under the furniture trying to get toys, dirt, and anything else that sticks to her fingers. then yesterday at dinner she decided she would finally start trying to feed herself. usually the fingers have problems getting the food to her mouth. but not anymore...super baby is here! she's growing up too fast and i can't stand it. i want to wrap her up and keep her my baby. i love to cuddle her and squish her and i don't want to let that go. if she's my last baby this is a really precious time and its disappearing way too quickly! she's so happy but she cries now when i drop her off in the nursery if it's a new worker. i hate that! her little pouty lip is soooo sad! her cries unnerve me way more than the boys' cries did. i just want to pick her up and save her from anything that could possibly be bothering her. not that i didn't want that with the boys, it just was a little easier to ignore them and get the necessities done first. jade just stresses me out when she cries! anyways, that's about it.
oh except on the work front. my amazing, hardworking, dedicated, above average husband got his six month review this last week! and it was AMAZING (the review and well....the RAISE!)!!! i am sooo proud of him and God is good! i'm so thankful ben got a job at ashford and has been doing so well!

i've been gone....

mentally that is. thanskgiving was good. i enjoyed having my brother here and the kids adore him! black friday...went really good. got everything in needed and wanted. 4:30 at walmart...good times. christmas tree stuff up. even my car is decorated with christmas lights thank you ben. went to ben's christmas party! got sick that morning and that night but somehow made it through his party. took christmas card pics today. so here's just a buttload of pics and i'll try to catch up with my life later.

setting up the tree

Ben's christmas party

my precious daughter!

my adorable boys!

the whole family!