A new tradition!

Last night we went to a Christmas tree farm a little north of us. After getting lost, due to mommy's bad directions, we found this cute house and a tree farm behind it. We were pleasantly surprised when they handed bread to the kids and said we could go feed the goats. The kids of course loved the goats and Lorelei squealed with glee, boy does she love animals! The kids got to ride around in a wagon while we looked for a tree. We have never gotten a tree from a tree farm and last year was our first time for a real tree. We ended up picking a pre-cut fur tree because we liked it the best. Josh didn't get to use his handy dandy saw but truthfully I was a little relieved about that! We ended the tree farm experience with some hot coco and cookies. It was really a neat little experience and I think it will become a new family Christmas tradition! We got the tree all set up with lights and ornaments- it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!

The Final Product!!

Turkey Week!!

The Arkansas Crew

(from left top: Kim, Lorelei, Grandma, Nana, Aunt Amy, Emily, Aunt Angela, Rylee

bottom row: Josh, Paxton, Papa, Uncle Jerry, Uncle Jon, Ryann)

Well, we are back my blogging friends! We just returned from a week in Arkansas visiting Josh's family. We had a nice time seeing all of his family since we haven't seen them in a while or been there in a year. We tried something new this year, driving all night long to get there. If you have ever driven the LONG trek out to Harding then you kind of know how this trip can be. It is even worse with two small children, turning the trip into a 10 hour drive. This year Josh and I decided to let the kids sleep all night and make the drive. It turned out ok actually. The good news, it only took 7 1/2 hours to get there and the kids slept most of the way! The bad news, when we got there at 3 am, they both wanted to stay up and play. We did the same thing last night so today we are all feeling quite tired, but it is good to be home!

We had a great week with Josh's family. We went to the zoo one day and they had this thing called Lorekeet Landing, where birds come in and land on your head and shoulders. It was a little unnerving for me but the kids loved it. Lorelei loved the giraffes and Paxton enjoyed the goats.


One night, Josh's Uncle Joe came over and got his guitar and harmonica out and played along with Papa. Paxton and Lorelei loved it! They clapped and sang and danced. Paxton was fascinated with the guitar too! Maybe Santa will bring him one this year!

We had turkey day over at Josh's sister's house. Aunt Amy and Uncle Jerry did a great job with all the cooking! She is braver than I am, cooking all that food and with little Emily there too! She did awesome and was so generous to have us all over to ransack her home! We got some great cousin pictures and family pictures while we were there too!

Other things the kids loved doing out in Arkansas: Riding Papa's tractor! Paxton and Papa would ride up and down the street on that thing with Paxton grinning from ear to ear the whole time! Also a big hit: Bo the puppy! Yes, Nana and Papa have a new puppy poodle (he is 9 months) and my kids loved him! Paxton was a little nervous at first with the puppy jumping on him but he got used to it and was loving him by the second day. Lorelei and Paxton for some reason loved getting in the puppy's kennel. Maybe I should get one of those for my house? Paxton also loved sleeping in his little bed in Nana and Papa's room! We had a great visit and we are thankful to have gotten to spend time with family. Thanks Nana and Papa for a great week and we can't wait to see you at Christmas!!

Pil Suhng!!

Tonight Paxton got to try for his next karate belt, the senior white belt. He got to go a ceremony with some other white belt students and show everyone his moves. He was soooo cute! He did a really good job with his block punch, front kick, and front punch. We really like his teacher because she really demands respect (yes mam' every time!!) but is so sweet and loving towards Paxton and the other students. Ms. Sue is also so patient, which I guess you have to be when teaching 3 and 4 year olds Choi Kwang Do. Paxton had his typical 3 year old moments tonight when he refused to get up and do the moves and he wasn't always "focused" (a big part of choi kwang do). Although he did announce to everyone there tonight, when it was silent, that he had a lot of focus tonight.

The best part of the night was when Paxton got to karate chop a piece of wood. We were so surprised when he did it the first time, I think he was a little surprised himself! So now we have a senior white belt among us. I guess we know who to look to now to protect us! By the way, Pil Suhng is what they students say to their instructor as they bow. It means 'certain victory.'

My little white belt!

I bet you haven't seen many 3 and 4 year olds sitting this still recently!

My front punch!

Waiting with hands by his side, Paxton is about to give it all he's got!!

Punch, punch, kick, kick! Use all that energy up boy!

Getting ready to punch the board in half, AAAYAAHHH!!

Amazing!! A perfect split the first time!! Way to go Pax!

Getting his SENIOR white belt tied by an instructor, so proud!!

These are the group of white belt students Paxton particpated with tonight. Only a few of these kids are in his actual class.

Ms. Sue and Paxton, loving it!!!

Wiggle Mania!

Sunday night we got to go to the Wiggles concert! We have been looking forward to this for a while and it was a blast!! I am not sure who had more fun, the parents or the kids! After watching the videos the past year, we know the words to most songs and of course all the members of the Wiggles band too! It was really cool to see them up close, we had great seats! Captain Feathersword even tickled Lorelei with his feather! Jeff came close enough for a high five, but unfortunately he skipped over Josh, who was very disappointed. Anyway, if you have kids and you have sat through the endless kid DVDs and the cheezy acting and singing, you know that after a while it starts to stick with you and it even becomes cool (well maybe only some of it). It was a good experience for us and we had a great time. Once again, no good pictures because of all the lights and motion, sorry!!

Rituals

One of our new morning rituals is for the kids to sit on Paxton's stool step and brush their teeth together. Yes, I do brush their teeth first and no, the new ritual is not brushing the kids teeth! Anyway, it's funny and usually Lorelei ends up trying to brush Paxton's teeth with her toothbrush. They have been doing this for a while but I finally caught it on camera yesterday.

Just to update you on Paxton, he is doing a little better. Most of the tests came back negative (still waiting on a couple) but they went ahead and put him on an antibiotic. So after 10 days of diarrhea (the not so nice kind) we are finally slowing down a little bit. It has been rough and we are ready for some healthy kids. The pediatrician says we have really bad luck, but I told Josh that I thought we were actually really blessed that our kids always turn out good! They just like to baffle doctors and get really sick sometimes!!

My little girl is growing up!! She finally has enough hair to put up in pigtails! I was so excited to be able to but I was also sad because she is getting so big!!

Up to my ears . .

in poop that is! Paxton has had some kind of stomach nastiness this week and boy has it been a week. He has missed school all week and we have been running back and forth to the doctor with "samples" and such. If you have a child and have had to deal with this kind of sickness, you know how yucky it is! Even with a child who is potty trained, sometimes things don't go where they are supposed to, if you know what I mean. Anyway, Josh, Lorelei and I all have the allergies and cold stuff going on too. It gets discouraging and the days at home are long(thanks to my mom and Josh for them not having to be too long!). But like Josh says, "This is what we signed up for." New pics and posts to come!

Daily Happenings

We are recovering from our sugar high and having a good family weekend. I wanted to update everyone on Lorelei. She does seem to be eating better with the appetite stimulant medication. We also took her to the OT this week and after some discussion she feels that Lorelei should come to a program they have there twice a week. It is kind of like a mother's morning out but they have an eating time and they want to work with her there on eating more food. They want me to send only food that she does not eat. I am torn because I really didn't want to send my baby to any program yet away from me but then again this is what was recommended. Do I think it will work? Well, let's just say this, they got her to eat a whole bowl of broccoli on Thursday. If you know Lorelei, this is truly shocking! I am still undecided on what to do, Josh is for it as is my mom, I still need to ponder on it.

My Minnie Mouse Overalls!!

In other news, Paxton keeps us hopping. Yesterday, Josh teasingly told him that we were going to get on rocket and fly to the moon when it got dark. (Paxton asked what we were going to do that evening) We didn't think anything of it until it got dark and Paxton became insistent that we needed to find a rocket and fly to the moon. Well, let's just say one simple explanation didn't do it for him. Josh had a lot of explaining to do before Paxton let it go! Here is another example of how Paxton keeps us on our toes: Last week at a family dinner we were discussing how so and so got fired from her job. Paxton wanted every detail of "fired" meant and was truly concerned about the whole thing. We really have to be careful what we say because he wants to know EVERYTHING!!

Paxton LOVES the computer! He is really getting good at using the mouse and following instructions on the games.

Ahhhh. . . nothing like a Sunday afternoon nap!