A Carnival

Here are some pictures from the kids' winter carnival at preschool that was on Friday the 29th. My parents were watching the kids that night, so they went ahead and took them. They ate a dinner of hotdogs (which you can see on Xander's face if you look close enough), played games and did the bounce houses, which they talked about for 2 days afterward. They had a good time! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Hoefs for taking them! If you are wondering what Brian and I were doing that night, we had tickets to a show at the Lied Center and went to dinner before hand. But, it was a special night for us, because it was our 10th anniversary! We can hardly believe it's been 10 years, but it has. Crazy, I know!

Sorry this post has been so late in coming. No excuse really, except I feel like I've been playing catch up for two weeks. I got really behind on things at school with the snowdays, the quarter ending and being sick, plus our house was just a disaster. So, I've spent the last two weeks working like a maniac to catch up and school and take care of everything at the house that needed to get done. I think I'm finally caught up, for the most part, so things are finally calming down. We haven't been all that busy, activity wise, just the normal things. We had a short healthy streak, after our big weeks of illnesses. But, Xander started coughing again last weekend. Of course, being paranoid as I am after his bout of pneumonia, I took him back to the doctor on Tuesday. Turns out it wasn't the pneumonia coming back, it was a totally new cold. He's still coughing and it's a week later. I don't want to be "that" mom, but if it doesn't get better, we'll go back this week again. Xander is on his last chance with Dr. Swisher. He's had just enough problems with his lungs and "reactive airway disease" that if he has one more major problem, he will probably put him on a low dose of Pulmicort, like Will. That tells us that he has just a mild case of asthma, not like Will's severe case. (Which by the way, if pretty under control. He had a good checkup at the asthma doctor last week.) It may be a pain to give both boys medicine everyday, twice a day, but I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

I am still working on that 4 year old video/update thing I have planned. I WILL do it, hopefully this week. I would really love to get them having a conversation on tape. They have the best conversations now. They ask each other tons of questions and I love hearing their thoughts and ideas. They have even started finishing each others' sentences and having inside jokes. Will will say something funny and Xander will answer something funny and they'll die laughing. I guess that comes from spending every waking minute together! They have also started becoming more imaginative. Grace told me they played pirates at daycare on Friday. When I asked her what they did when they played she told me "Someone was the captain and he said "hoist the sails!" and we said "Aye, aye captain!" Funny! They also speak with so much inflection and body language now. Grace talks with her hands a lot and Will's new thing is to shrug his shoulder, put his hands palm up and say "Whatever". Brian and I die laughing when he does this, which only encourages him more. Will is definitely starting to be the most outgoing of the three. He talks and interacts with more random people now than the other two. He even had a conversation with a nurse at the asthma doctor last week. I was so proud of him! You don't know how long I've hoped they would overcome their shyness. As hard as this might be for you to believe, I was a little shy as a kid and you all know how shy Brian was. So, I'm glad Will is overcoming his genetics.

Look for our 4 year old updates sometime soon and I promise it won't be two weeks between posts again! Take care everyone.

"And the award goes to...."

Welcome to the 1st Annual "Sickie" awards, presented to the Niebuhr family, of Lincoln, Nebraska. These awards were created to award the most outstanding sick performances in the Niebuhr household in the month of January 2010.

The award for "Sickest child" goes to:
Xander Niebuhr for his bout of pneumonia!
Xander: "I would like to thank Dr. Swisher for discovering my pneumonia after I had been sick for only 4 days. My mom would have probably waited longer to take me to the doctor, but we happened to see him for our 4 year old appointment and he ordered an x-ray and discovered I had bacterial pneumonia. I also want to thank Dr. Swisher for the great antibiotics he gave me. I am back to my regular self now, except for the lingering bad cough!"

The award for "Most illnesses in 2 weeks" goes to:
William Niebuhr for his stomach flu, cold and ear infection!
Will: "I would like all the kids I was around for giving me these illnesses. I couldn't have done it without you! I would also like to thank Dr. Swisher for the antibiotics for my ear infection and for not giving me steroids for my coughing. A big shout out to my nebulizer and albuterol. You've helped me through some hard times. Finally, a great big thanks to my parents, especially my dad who stayed home from work on Friday and drug all three of us to the doctor, only to wait for over an hour so I could be seen for my sore ear. He was really a trooper. Thanks dad!

The award for "Grumpiest sick person" goes to:
Grace Niebuhr for her week long cold!
Grace: "I would like to thank my mom for coddling me for an entire week, teaching me that when I whine and cry, I get attention. I would also like to thank the bottle of Motrin mom bought at Target, that helped me feel somewhat normal while I had a 102 degree fever for 5 days. I hardly every get sick, so this award is a huge honor for me! Thank you so much!"

The award for "Most helpful person in a household of sick people" goes to:
It's a tie - Grandma Ellen and daddy!
Both of these two have been extraordinarily helpful in these last two weeks. Ellen watched the kids several extra days last week during my bout of strep throat. She also came through for me when we were at the doctor's office during naptime on Tuesday for the 4 year old check up that was taking waaaaayyyyy too long. While I was waiting with Xander for an x-ray and breathing treatment, she picked up the other two and took them home for me. Brian also deserves the award for most helpful, first by taking the day off at the last minute on Friday when Will said his ear really hurt. Then for watching the kids entirely on his own on Saturday, while I was sick with the stomach flu.

The award for "Best timing" goes to:
Mother Nature, for the snowstorm/cold snap that came at just the right time, so neither Erin or Brian had to take off work for the first round of illness last week.

And finally, the award for "Staying healthy the longest" goes to:
Brian, even though he finally succumbed to the stomach flu today!

The timeline goes something like this:
Sunday (the 3rd) - Erin gets strep throat
Monday - Erin is dying. Ellen takes kids - Will gets stomach flu after lunch. Throws up all afternoon/evening. Pam takes other two, so Will and Erin can commiserate on the couch together Monday evening.
Tuesday - Will stops throwing up, Erin is still dying. Ellen takes kids again. Will does not go to preschool, but the others do.
Wednesday - Erin is off her death bed, Ellen has kids in the evening. School is cancelled.
Thursday - School is cancelled again, kids do not get to take cupcakes to preschool for their birthday, but they wouldn't have gone anyway. Will and Grace are getting colds, Grace has a 102 fever, Will is coughing his head off.
Friday - school is cancelled, everyone is still sick.
Saturday - Only Erin is better. We're supposed to go to my dad's office holiday party, but we don't at the last minute, because Xander starts throwing up around 4:00.
Sunday - Xander stops throwing up, but gets the cold. Grace and Will still sick. We don't go anywhere again.
Monday - Xander is pretty sick, but I decide not to take him in on Monday, because we have an appt the next day. He just sits on couch.
Tuesday - 4 year old check up at 1:30. Dr. Swisher says that Will and Grace just have colds, no big deal. He also says he doesn't like the sound of Xander's lungs. Would like to give him an albuterol treatment to see if it improves, if not, x-ray. Does not help, orders x-ray, sees pneumonia on left side. He is sure it's bacterial, because it is only on one side, and viral is usually on both sides. Leave with antibiotics and a falling asleep 4 year old, because it's 4:30 by this time.
Wednesday - I actually have to go to work today. Ellen takes kids at usual time. We decide to touch base at bedtime to decide whether or not she's going to take them to preschool on Thursday morning.
Thursday - We decide they are not going to preschool or daycare. Xander is not better enough, and we'd like to try to keep the kids away from germs while their immune systems are down. Ellen keeps them all day, and I pick them up after school.
Friday - Everyone seems on the mend, and we have intentions of going to daycare. Will wakes up and says his ear hurts and he is still coughing up a storm. Brian decides to take the day off and hauls them to the doctor. Ear infection, but Dr. Swisher just thinks his coughing is an upper respiratory infection that will clear up without steroids, (Thank God!).
Saturday - Erin starts throwing up around 4 a.m. Brian has to watch kids all day because I can't even get up!
Sunday (today) - Brian starts to feel sick to his stomach. Good thing he has the day off tomorrow...And here's to Grandma Pam who has offered to take the kids for some extra time tomorrow, Lord knows both Brian and I could use a break!

We hope you have enjoyed our 1st Annual "Sickie" Awards. Let's hope we don't have a repeat performance any time soon!

Happy 4th Birthday!

The triplets celebrated their 4th birthday last Friday. As you know, we didn't do anything special. We had cake and ice cream here at the house, and sang happy birthday to each of them. Some of you may have heard my mom's funny story about Will and Bob the Builder. They were playing in a dark bedroom with flashlights at mom's house one day back in the fall when they came across some unwrapped toys (intended to be Christmas presents). Will kept talking about them all day and REALLY wanted to play with them. Finally, my mom told him he couldn't play with them until he was four. He seemed to accept that answer, but would talk about it occassionally. So, my parents brought those toys over for them to open on their 4th birthday. They were very excited and have enjoyed playing with them. Grandma and Grandpa Niebuhr also brought over balloons, which they love. Unfortunately, the kids weren't feeling too swell for their party, so it was a low-key occasion. It was a quick shower then bed for three sick 4 year olds. The illness situation didn't get much better as the weekend wore on, I'll save that for my next post. Also, be looking for some video I'd like to post of the kids talking about their favorite things. Every time they hit a milestone, I post about what they're like and what their favorite things are at that age. I decided they're old enough to tell you themselves! I'll try and take that video this weekend. I've been waiting until everyone is healthy and in better spirits. Check back next week!

Cold Days at Home

We've been spending many days at home lately. With all the snow, ice and cold temperatures we just haven't been wanting to get out much. We were snowed in for 3 days after Christmas, so it was lucky that the kids had new Christmas toys to play with to keep them occupied. Now, LPS is on our 6th snowday for the year, and that means a lot of extra time spent at home, not at preschool or daycare. Don't get me wrong, I love the days off, but the days can get long when we can't get out or don't want to get out (as in the case of today and tomorrow).

As I already mentioned, the kids have been getting some quality time in with their new toys. Some clear favorites have emerged, these popular ones get played with for hours a day. So far, the most popular has been the Tag Reading system from Aunt Lisa and Uncle Chad. For you who don't know what this is, the kids call it the "magic pencil." It's a wand that you use on special books. You download the book onto the wand and it will read the book to you. You can read word by word by pushing each word, or you can push a special button on each page and it will read that page with sound effects, voices and music, then it will ding to turn the page. The kids love to do this. They know how to turn it on, start it and push the right buttons. The pictures also talk and some pages have games to play. Let me tell you, they love this magic pencil. We have four books, and they spend hours taking turns using the magic pencil on those 4 books. One day, they read each book 3 times, that's 9 times! It took at least an hour. When they have some time alone with the magic pencil, they play the games, answer questions and explore everything it does. I highly recommend this toy for anyone with pre-reading kids, they love it!

The other favorite toy is a marble race. It has many pieces that you build and make the marbles race from the top to the bottom, through tunnels and ramps. This appeals to Xander's building sensibilities. It's the first thing he does in the morning and spends all day honing his towers. Batman, Grace's new toy dog named "Whitemas" (don't ask, she came up with that name all by herself!) and the new sing along CD player round out the list of most popular toys getting played with everyday. They got lots of games and puzzles, and we've done some of those, too. However, the puzzles are 60- 100 pieces and they have a hard time doing those without help. So, we haven't been doing that as often.

In other news, a round of sickness has gone through the house, although everyone who has been sick has had something different! I started it off by getting sick on Sunday with what I was pretty sure was strep throat. By Monday, I thought I was dying. I took the kids to Grandma Ellen and she watched them while I went to the doctor. She kept them until after lunch. When she brought them back, she told me that Will had thrown up at her house. Well, he kept throwing up all afternoon. I had canceled my Monday piano lessons, but my mom came and picked up Xander and Grace. Will and I spent the rest of the day watching movies and dozing on the couch. Tuesday, Will was better, but I was not. So, they all spent some more time at Grandma Ellen's that day. Will perked up and was back to his normal self by the end of the day. Wednesday was a snowday, but I had planned not to go to school before it was called off for snow. Luckily the kids went to Ellen's for a third day, so I was able to rest a little more, and by the end of the day was starting to feel more like myself. Since school was called off Thursday too, Dale and Ellen brought the kids home Wed night. Grace woke up today with rosy cheeks and a cough. She ran a 102 degree temp all day today and was coughing from postnasal drip, I think. Poor thing. She has drank a lot today, so I'm hoping it is short lived. The snow days came at a good time, no one had to take days off for illnesses!!!

Two other small but notable developments. On Christmas Day, Will had to pee while we were in the car, so my dad pulled over and helped him pee on the side of the road. Well, that made me think that we should teach the boys how to pee standing up. So, Brian took advantage of his days off to help the boys do this. Now they will pee standing up if they remember. Old habits die hard! So far, no big misses or messes and they put the toilet seat down. They have been taught well! The other small development is that I took the bed rails off Xander and Grace's bed. No reason really while we hadn't done it already, but I just arbitrarily decided to do it by their 4th birthday (which is tomorrow, Friday). So far so good with that. It seems kind of silly that we waited so long to do these two things, but I guess we just got comfortable where we were and didn't think about moving up! That's it for now. Stay warm everyone. Thanks for checking up on us, here's hoping we're all healthy by next week!

Our Christmas

Sorry for the late post. It has been such a nice break, that we've been doing a lot of other things and I've forgotten about the blog. I'll post here about our Christmas, and I'll leave other news for another post.

We spent Christmas Eve day with the Niebuhrs, because Lisa had to work Christmas Day. So, we went over there in the morning and opened presents first thing. The kids were very spoiled and got some great things, including but not limited to: a CD player with microphones to sing along, a marble run, puzzles, Bilibos, a Tag reading system, dragons, a little Fur Real toy dog, clothes, and much more! We had a nice lunch and played some more. We put them down for a nap at Niebuhrs, so Brian could do a jigsaw puzzle with his parents and we didn't have to drive all over town in the snow. We got them up and got all dressed up and went to church at 4:30. By this time, it was snowing pretty heavily. We were a little worried, because we were supposed to drive out to Kara and Wes' after church. So, church was fine and we decided to go ahead and drive out there. The roads weren't too bad, it was just that there was so much blowing snow. But, we braved it and got out there with no problems. We ate our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of chili and pressed chicken sandwiches, then we decided to get home so Santa could visit. The ride back was a little scarier, because of the snow, but we did make it with no problems.

Santa did indeed visit that night (even in the snow!). The kids were so excited to wake up to those presents. This Christmas was really fun in that respect. It was really fun to see them so excited about Santa visiting. We took turns opening presents and they had a lot of fun. After every present he opened, Will exclaimed "That is just what I needed!" We were a little worried about Will. He had been telling people for 3 weeks that he wanted Santa to bring him a dragon cave. Well, my mom had bought it for him, not Santa. We were really afraid that he was going to be disappointed that Santa didn't bring it, because he wasn't going to open it from my parents until Christmas night. So when he said something about it on Christmas morning, we just told him that sometimes Santa tells grandparents what presents to buy and maybe Santa told Grandma Pam about the dragon cave. He was OK with that, luckily. From Santa and us they got some superhero jammies (tinkerbell for Grace), superhero t-shirts, new toothbrushes, books, a Beauty and the Beast DVD and Batman Batcave and accessories.

Well, it had snowed a bunch that night. Both of our families were supposed to come over for brunch around 10:30 Christmas morning. They all started calling around 8:30 to see if we were still doing it. I said we could do it as long as people could make it over. Well, Chad and Lisa got stuck coming over, so they had to turn around and go home. Mom and Dad, Wes and Kara all made it in their large 4 wheel drive trucks. Dale and Ellen got stuck trying to turn onto our street, so ended up parking at Cavett school and walking the block and a half here. So, we were able to still have breakfast. However, we knew that the minivan would never make it through the snow, we weren't sure how we'd make it to mom's for Christmas night. Dad ended up coming back after the kids' nap and picking us up in the Suburban then bringing us home. It was so great that we were able to all fit in the car, otherwise Christmas would have been pretty dull here. We had a good dinner at the Hoefs, then more presents. The kids got Toy Story pajamas, DVDs, bed tents and toys (Tinkerbell for Grace), clothes, the dragon cave and more dragons, Grace got a makeup vanity and much more.

Unfortunately, we were snowed in until Monday. We were able to get out on Sunday evening, because Mom and Dad came over in the suburban and we drove that out. Otherwise we didn't get plowed out until Monday morning. So, we have had a lot of family time at home. We've watched several movies and luckily the kids have been very occupied with all their new toys!

We hope you all had a blessed Christmas. We have had a nice break from our regular schedule, but it will be nice to get back into a routine next week. We've had a lot of days going to bed late, sleeping in and eating TONS of food. More later! Happy new year!

A Christmas message

Here is a special message from the kids. They sing their new favorite Christmas song, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Last year is was Jingle Bells, but now they are really partial to Rudolph and Jingle Bell Rock (they think the line "giddyup jingle horse" is hilarious).

This little post is also serving as my christmas greeting for this year. As I said in a previous post, things have been busier than usual this month with the kids in so many activities and myself at school, that an actual mailed letter just didn't happen. If you follow our blog, you know our day to day happenings, so I don't need to go into that. However, I do want to take this opportunity to say how thankful we are that we have such wonderful friends and family surrounding us. It has been a big year of changes with the kids starting preschool and me going back to work, that we just couldn't have adjusted as well as we did without the support of so many people. We have been so blessed to have grandparents that are willing (and want to!) spend so much time with the kids. We also are blessed to have found such a wonderful daycare and preschool (thanks Christy for pointing us in that direction!) that the kids love and are loved in return.

We wish everyone a safe, happy, healthy holiday season. Thanks for taking time to look in on us so often. We hope you'll continue following us in the new year as our three year olds turn into four year olds and continue having wonderful experiences together. Merry Christmas everyone!

December Update

Here are some pictures of them decorating their little trees. They are filled with a variety of ornaments they have made this year at preschool, sunday school and parties. The trees are very full and decorated just how they want them. I actually took these over Thanksgiving weekend, but haven't posted them until now.

I realized the other day that I had been posting a lot of pictures lately, but very little content updates. So, I decided I had better tell some funny stories about the kids and what they've been up to lately before I forget it all!

It has been a very busy month, both for us and the kids. We've had a lot of extra things like concerts, programs and parties. You've read about the multiples club party last week and their program at preschool. This weekend the kids participated in an "impromptu" christmas pageant at church. They were sheep. Their line was "baa." We also went to a holiday open house tonight at their daycare provider, Gina's, house. The kids ate candy and appetizers for dinner and played with their daycare friends while parents chatted. Gina gave each of the kids a present and they were so excited. They are pretty excited for Christmas to come. We've been getting a lot of questions about Santa. Most often are "How does Santa fit into our fireplace when we don't have a chimney?" and "Where is Santa?" We've just answered that Santa is magic and he can make a chimney if we don't have one. That has seemed to appease them. Grace is asking for a tinkerbell puzzle and an angel from Santa. Will still really wants a dinosaur cave, which he is getting from mom and dad and not Santa. Xander wants a black batman to match his Halloween costume. I think they will be pleased with Santa's choices.

They learned a lot in December about baby Jesus and Christmas, mostly from preschool. They have been coming home asking questions like "Where is Bethlehem?" and "Where is heaven and how do we get there?" Grace is positive that "if we get a map, a drink of water and a horse, we can find our way to Bethlehem." Heaven is a little harder to explain. We told them that God takes us there and Will thinks that God needs to fly an airplane to get there.

But, the best question by far came from Will the other day. (I was glad that Brian handled that one, not me.) He asked "Daddy, where does my pee come from?" Brian told him it came from his tummy. That seemed to satify his curiosity, because he hasn't asked again.

Xander is starting to get a little less ornery lately. We've had zero tolerance for hitting and all the other things he does to Will and Grace. He sat in time out a lot at first, but now he's down to once a day or so, which is a huge improvement. He still likes to test us, though. He's been answering "no" a lot when we tell him to do something. He is a stubborn boy!

I think that's about all for now. Check back later this week. I will post a special holiday message from the kids on video and our Christmas letter. I have not had enough time to do anything but plop a picture into an envelope this year. So, I also though I'd go green and put our letter online. Be sure to come back and check it out. Thanks for checking up on us this week!

Multiples Club Gingerbread man party

LAFM holiday party 09

Finally, the holiday party has come and gone. It was great fun but also a ton of work. I was the committe chair for the party and I have been planning it for 2 months. We had over 150 people there, and I think it went as smoothly as it could have. So, here is a photo album of pictures I managed to take while there. There are a lot of people you won't know, but I took some for the club's webpage, so I just uploaded them all. There are a lot of the kids, though.

So you know, it was a gingerbread man themed party. We had gingerbread men and houses for decorations. All the games and crafts were gingerbread men themed (decorating gingerbread cookies, making ornaments, etc.) We had a great Santa, all the kids got to sit on his lap. We had dinner catered by Olive Garden. We were supposed to have the NE high school drama club do a Gingerbread man skit for us, but because of the bad weather they didn't get any rehearsal time, so they didn't come. At the last minute, a mom of triplets who owns a preschool read a gingerbread man book to the kids. It all worked out! It was a nice party, but boy am I glad it's over. I am not planning another party this year! Too much work! Enjoy the pictures!

Preschool program video

So here is the video of their concert. We were sitting kind of far back and they didn't sing very loud, so turn up your volume. The applause is pretty loud, though, when the volume is up, so be warned! You can see Xander bothering Will at the beginning. Stinker! I appreciate Mrs. Thimijan putting them all together. She did that for the two sets of twins, too. I think otherwise they wouldn't have stood by each other. You can tell how much taller Xander is and I would have put him in back, if I had been the teacher in charge. If you can't see it, there is a little baby doll in a manger in front of them, so they sing to it and point to it. Enjoy!

Christmas program at preschool

Here are some pictures from their preschool program on Sunday. Sorry they're so dark. My camera is terrible. If you click on the picture, you can see it larger and you might be able to make out some things.

The program was short but very cute. Xander poked Will the whole time, we were a little embarrassed. I have the video I will post later. They sang songs about baby Jesus. I had been hearing those songs around the house for a month, so it was cute to see them in context. They were a little shy at first and didn't sing much, but got into it by the end. After the program there were photo ops (see 1st and 3rd pics), cookies and crafts. Both sets of grandparents came and I think the kids were really proud of themselves! Afterwards, we drove thru and got a quick dinner, then came home to watch the Husker game.

Baptism

Mom, Dad, Kara, Wes and Sebastian after church.

Kara, Wes and baby Sebastian

This one's a little dark, but here Sebastian is being baptized by Pastor Larry.

The whole family after church.

Kara and Wes with Pastor Larry.

Well, Kara and Wes had Sebastian baptized at Mom and Dad's chruch (First Methodist next to Wesleyan) on Sunday. We ended up going to early service at our church, because Brian and I sang with the adult choir (they sang something from Handel's "Messiah" that Brian and I wanted to sing), then the kids went to part of Sunday school then we ran up to First Methodist for their late service. The kids got to leave during part of the service and do Sunday school at the Methodist church. They pull the kids out during the service after the children's sermon and they do a craft and play a game, then they came back for the baptism. They had fun. They made a little Mary, Joseph and Jesus out of thread spools that are now under their little Christmas trees.

Sebastian was a good boy during church and his baptism. After church, we had our big Thanksgiving lunch with the Hoefs. Eveyrone, kids and adults, took a nap at mom and dad's after lunch. We finally trudged home in the afternoon, feeling tired and full. We fed the kids a little dinner of scrambled eggs and grapes and had movie night, then went to bed early. It was a long day, but everyone had fun.

A happy Thanksgiving

Grandpa Dale playing with Grace
Me feeding a marshmallow to Camden. I think he liked it!

Our family on Thanksgiving Day.

Daddy and his little clone.

Aunt Lisa, Daddy and Will.

Sorry for only a few Thanksgiving pictures. I'm afraid I didn't bring my camera to the Niebuhrs that day. These pictures are courtesy of Ellen, (thanks Ellen!). We had a nice day on Thanksgiving. We ended up doing our share of the baking in the morning and the kids played and watched some of the Thanksgiving parade on TV. We headed to the Niebuhrs around 10:30 and had our Thanksgiving dinner around noon. We got home around 2 and put the kids down for a nap (and boy did they need it!). When the kids woke up, we went to Kara and Wes' for a light dinner. Wes made chili, and we just hung out, played with Sebastian and watched Charlie Brown Thanksgiving on tv. It was a nice relaxed evening. The rest of the weekend was pretty busy (more on that later), but we had a great Thanksgiving.

Busy, busy, busy!

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. We have had quite a few things going on lately. I'll give you a quick rundown of our goings-on, then I'll share the kids' latest news.

Since Halloween, we've had all of our usual activities, preschool/daycare, storytime at the library, time at grandparent's house and bells. Brian and I have had some meetings in the evenings, so it's been busy in the evenings. We've also had some extra rehearsals for things happening at church. Our weekends have been filled with church/Sunday school, family time, celebrations for my birthday with both sides of the family and an open house today for Oma's (Gisela) 80th birthday. We've also enjoyed watching all the Husker football games on TV, and Brian and I went to the K-State game on Saturday. The kids stayed with Dale and Ellen, and watched it on TV. The kids tried to look for us, but we were never on TV. :-) We had a play/dinner date with Hannah and Haylea, our 4 year old twin friends, on Friday night. Their mom, Emalea, brought them over so she and I could do some work for the multiples club Christmas party and all the kids played. We ate McDonald's together then the girls left at bedtime. It was fun to play with some friends their age!

The kids were lucky enough to get an H1N1 shot on Friday the 13th. I am so glad about that! We avoided the flu, luckily, and now I don't have to worry about Will getting really sick with it. That is a huge load off. They boys did have small colds about 2 weeks ago, but Will has gotten over it. A couple of days of albuterol is all he needed. Xander never really did get over it. Friday night, he was really congested and back to running a 101 fever. So, I called the doctor Saturday morning and took him in. He has a sinus infection and is on antibiotics. Poor kids seems to get those fairly often. But, he's tons better already today, and after a good night's sleep tonight, he should be even better tomorrow.

Our biggest news is that we had the kids' first parent-teacher conferences on Wednesday the 18th. Mrs. Thimijan was very happy with the kids in preschool. We talked about each one individually, but then spent a lot of time talking about them as a whole. She had a little conversation with each one about what they liked about preschool and what they have learned about Jesus. Xander said "Jesus is nice." True. They all said they liked playing with Jack (their new friend). They are all also getting better at writing their name. Especially Will, his is very legible. Grace just needs to work on her E and she'll have her whole name. Xander is working on his A and N. Mrs. Thimijan also said that they are pretty quiet at the right times, and run and play at the right times. She said they listen very well and even answer questions. They pray and sing a lot and they also participate at those times. They are preparing for a Christmas program at preschool. It will be on December 5th. I hope to post some video of it after it happens. It is sure to be cute. She says they sing and do all the actions. So, overall it was a good report.

We have a funny story about Jack, their new friend from preschool. When we got out of the car at the library on Wednesday and were walking in, Grace said "Mommy, that boy walking backward looks like Jack." Sure enough, it was Jack. He and all the kids followed each other around the library until story time. Then, he came and sat by them at storytime. A little while later, I looked over and Jack had his arm around Grace. He sat like that for most of the time. She apparently didn't mind. It was so cute!!

We have a pretty laid-back Thanksgiving weekend planned. We're having Thanksgiving lunch with the Niebuhrs on Thursday and the Hoefs are doing a big dinner on Sunday after Sebastian's baptism. I'll post pictures early next week. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone!

Family Pictures!

Here are some of our favorite pictures from our photo shoot with Curt last month. I just thought I would share them with you, because they were so cute. However, I did not include our Christmas card ones. You'll have to wait to get our christmas card to see the winning snapshots! Enjoy!

Halloween Night

I realized I hadn't posted pictures from Halloween night. Here we are ready to go trick or treating. There is also a picture of us with baby Sebastian at mom and dad's house. Enjoy!

Carving pumpkins

Here we are on Friday night carving our pumpkins. The kids helped this year. They spent their time pulling out the insides and seeds. They thought it was kind of yucky at first, but then were a fair amount of help. They consulted on the look of their pumpkins, then watched as we carved the actual faces. The top two pictures are of our finished products. The top picture is mine (the big one) and Grace's. The second picture is Brian's (the angel/devil), Xander's the mean looking small one and the other is Will's. The pumpkins are still on the front porch and they go out there periodically to admire them. I think they will be sad when I throw them away in a couple of days.