Busy Busy Day Yesterday

Well, I am finally getting a little time to update. The family and I have been at my mom's for the tradition the I started 11 years ago. I have always went and spent the night with her the night before Thanksgiving to help her prepare the feast. As we started having kids, I just started taking them with me. And usually Michael goes out with friends, however, he went with us last night also.

So with that said, Madison had to go to the orthodontist yesterday. She had to go in and make the molds for the apparatus that is to stretch out her jaws. Everything was quick and easy. Then off to do some quick shopping and lunch. I also had planned to do some family pictures. So that was next on our list. I have been taking them myself now for 2 years and am completely happy with the way they turn out. It is much cheaper than professional pictures. A big THANK YOU to Terry and Carol Ronnebaum and Jim and Misty Adkins for letting us borrow their beautiful yards to take the pictures. We had a good day and a great time for taking them.

Once we arrived home then it was off to Grandmas to help her out. For my records, a few things that were said and done and need jotted down. Syd was a big help in the kitchen and loves to cook and wash dishes. She told Grandma last night that she was a dishaholic. And before I forget last week at the Windmill Inn when all she wanted to eat was her roll, she called herself a breadgatarian:-) And a couple weeks ago, she came up stairs from bed one morning and told me that Dylan gave her the hick ups. Because he had had them the night before, and I guess they are now contagious. Not to mention she had the hick ups yesterday morning and she said mom, my hick ups lost their voice! And I said what?? She said , I have the hick ups, but they aren't making any noise. How cute??!! And then on to Madison. She wanted Michael to get up this morning and put on this Halloween mask and scare Grandma. He asked where she was at and Madison replied, "in the shower." Michael ask her how he was supposed to scare her if she was in the shower and she simply replied "go in there and scare her" Like hello, I don't think so. It was so cute.

Any way I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and hope you enjoy a few of the pictures we took yesterday!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING !!

Wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!! Enjoy your turkey day.

My Love Hate Relationship

So it is that time of year again. The time when I realize how much I both love and hate the season. And I am not talking about the cold since many of you know how much I really do hate cold weather. And by cold I mean 50 or below.

Anyway, my love hate relationship comes because I love Thanksgiving and Christmas. I love to bake and cook, and burn spicy smelling candles, and put up all the decorations. But I also hate the roller coaster of emotions that comes with it. Not only did I suddenly lose my dad to cancer this time of year, but also our precious Angel, Mariah. So this year it is running through my head, what my dad would be making for whom at Christmas time. He was always so sneaky when he would be making something for someone. And what he might think of Xavier and having another grandson. And another grand baby on the way. The other night Michael and i were watching Jeff Dunham's Christmas special on Comedy Central. And for those of you that don't know Jeff Dunham, he is a comedian and ventriloquist. My dad and Michael used to watch Comedy Central all the time on Saturday nights, and they would just belly laugh the whole time. I was laughing so hard the other night, and all I could think of was that dad would have loved that Christmas show. Thought the same thing watching blue collar comedy the other night.

And Mariah would be turning 11 years old on December 17th. Of course she wasn't due until May, but her birthday is the 17th. What would she want? What kind of clothes would she be into? Would she be more like Madison or Syd? Or maybe just herself. What would her class be doing in school this time of year? What would their roll in the Christmas program at school be? Would she want long or short hair and what color it might be? All of these thoughts roll more through my mind this time of year. I do think the holidays bring on emotions as you notice the empty spaces in your heart when family is all together. But also the fact that this is the time of year that we lost them also.

I am sure many of you have noticed the changes I have made on the blog as well. By trying to include Mariah in everything. For the past 11 years, she has been very much a part of our lives, however I fail to include her lots of times. Not trying to forget her, for the meer fact of trying to avoid questions. For instance, people ask how many children you have, do you answer 4 or 5. And if you answer 5 are they going to ask what ages and gender? And if they do, do you have to go through the whole story of how you only have 4 living and 1 deceased and why? I used to thing it would just be easier to answer if I didn't speak of her. However, I feel as if I am not including her to be a part of us. So I am working on doing so yet being comfortable with the possibility that there may be questions.

The kids always ask about her. What she might look like. What her and Madison could be doing. They always go with us to decorate her grave for Christmas and her birthday. I know she is in great hands and also know that she and my dad are the best of buddies. That he loved his grand babies. I wonder if he picks on her like he did Syd and Madison? And at the same time I see my Grandpa Flentie and how he used to pick on my sister and wonder what a time they are having!

Sorry this got so long. My emotional hat is on today. Of course it is grandparents day at school and I don't think that helps. I think about my poor kids and how they have only 1 Grandpa alive. Little Xavier will only know one. And then think back to myself at their age. I had 4 Grandpas, and 5 Grandmas. I just try to teach them to enjoy every moment they have with the ones they got.

If I don't get another post in. Happy Turkey Day to all!

Happy Birthday to Me, Vomit, and K State Tickets!!

I know you are all probably thinking by the title, what is that crazy woman thinking!! But truth be known, it is all on my mind. I think I have esp. I have had this feeling for about a week that one of my kids would be sick. And sure enough, this morning around 5:45, Syd got sick. She came up stairs to our bedroom and said her throat hurt. I told her to go lay in the daybed in the office/nursery. (Xavier's dresser and toys are there, but his crib is in our room) Not five minutes after tucking her in, I heard her get sick. The poor little thing. I felt sooooooo bad for her. She would only get about 3-5 minutes break between times. It just wore her out. So after 2 hours of this and a little blood in her emesis, we took her to the dr. They gave her some medicine to calm her stomach. And she has been feeling much much better since. She now has diarrhea, and is pale and sleepy, not to mention dizzy, but at least she has enough energy to let you know she is okay.

So needless to say, she didn't give me a great birthday. Although I don't mind. It makes me feel good to know that she wants to be loved and cared for, and wants her mommy. What is a birthday at my age anyway? Really just another day.

And now for the tickets. We had tickets to take Madison and Dylan to the game today. I was going to have Michael take them after Syd got sick this morning. But then they were fighting, and I told them enough was enough and that they were not going to the game. So we gave the tickets away to Michael's sister Jessica and her husband Joe and some friends of theirs. I guess we will have to go extra next year to make up for not making it to a game this year. Michael went last week, but he is the only one that went. Toooo cold for me!!

Yesterday I went to Topeka and had my back injected. Talk about hurt. It was a very uncomfortable procedure. Today my back is sore and the leg pain is still there. I am hoping that it will be gone tomorrow. It may be a little better today. More of a pain in the rear of my thigh, rather than all the way down my leg. So we will see what happens. I am hoping all is well tomorrow and that the weather is super nice. I am wanting to get some family pictures taken. Don't know if we will achieve that or not. We will have to wait and see what tomorrow is like.

Wow, What a Day!!

Did you notice all the changes to the blog!? I have been hard at work trying to figure out how to customize our blog. I love the Family Bumper Sticker. Isn't it cute. And fun to create also. So with that said, now I can better view if people are coming to look at our blog. Sometimes I wish there would be more comments left, so that I would feel more appalled to post. This way I will better be able to see if more people are visiting than the ones leaving comments, and maybe it will jump start me to post more often. So if you are visiting, please leave me a comment, question, words of encouragement, anything. Keep checking as there will probably be more new changes coming.

About the last post

Just wanted to let everyone know, I played and played with those pictures and the captions to get them right and before I post they look fine, but when I post they get screwed up. I put them and the playlist on late last night and pretty much gave up on making them completely correct. So for those of you who gripe to me to update the blog, or those who don't gripe, but visit every day and think, no new updates. ENJOY!!, and yes you know who you are.

More pictures

Syd dressed up in her Snow White dress, with her cowgirl hat, and of course her horse, Willow.

Random cute pictures of Xavier. He was lying on the floor, rolled over and decided to use Tigger for a pillow.

Xavier decided on day to take a nap, and without my knowledge. He didn't need his binky, as he found his fingers, something better!! And he has done this several times now.

Madison showing off her muscles?? Found this picture in my camera. Not sure who took it or why, but gotta love those pictures!!

This is a picture of the kids on Halloween with Great Grandma Kennedy (Boeckman). She fell and broke her hip so she is in the care home recovering. But she is 87 and in great health and normally lives at home and takes good care of herself.

Okay I can't figure out how to get these two pictures by themselves, so the first one is of Syd one Saturday when we were headed out to my moms to work at her house. And the second with Dylan is at the Cow Creek Opry. The guy in the photo works for us and he was doing the sound that night at the opry. Dylan wanted to help him out. We told Dylan not to touch anything and if he did blame it on Tanner.

And just a random picture of Syd watching TV one evening in her PJ's with her sun glasses on : -)

Where to Start??

Okay, I guess the pictures are first. I am still working on figuring this all out and couldn't figure out how to put the pics at the bottom. So this is what you get. Just some fun pictures of Xavier. The last one is from his first cereal feeding on September 24th.

Once again it has been awhile since I have posted. I really am trying to be better at this, just seems as though time gets away from me. A lot has happened since I last posted.

Xavier had his 4 month check up on Thursday, the 13th. We did it a week early since earlier in the week he seemed to have a little tummy bug. Of course, since I scheduled him to see the Dr. it magically got better. Nothing wrong with that though. He was needing to go regardless so that is out of the way. Four months meant more shots, three to be exact. He did really well with them. He weighed 15lb 2 oz and was 25 inches long with a head circumference of 16. This was the same weight as when I took him to the Dr back in October, so they are sure he was not really gaining due to the diarrhea he had. So I have also started him on formula. I am still nursing him morning and bedtime, otherwise he is on formula. He is also loving fruits and veggies. We started him on veggies, (squash to be exact) on Oct 26. He just loves to eat. He has also started rolling over, the little squirt. He not only goes back to tummy, but tummy to back. I tried to get a video of this to play for all of you, but he would not perform in front of the camera. I will try to capture that in the near future. I am going to include some pictures of him. Oh yeah, and he is really teething, likes to chew on everything.

Sydnie has started reading at school. She has a ring of words we read, and she is on her second book. She is really loving the fact that she can read. She thinks she is big stuff. Her report from her teacher was excellent. They are having a feast next week at school and she is very excited to be bringing pumpkin pie. We are so proud of her. It is hard to believe she will be 5 in the very near future. She is such a good kid, always ready and willing to help others.

Dylan broke out with his usual fall hives last week. Nov 9th to be exact (for my records). We think now that he is allergic to the flu vaccine. The last two years it has been exactly 5 days after his flu shot that he has gotten the hives. So we will talk with his allergy Dr at Children's Mercy and see what she thinks.

Now on to Madison. We took her to the orthodontist today. She is really crowded which we have known for some time now. We are going to have to do two phases on her teeth to get them right. Talk about expensive. The first phase will place some metal devices in her mouth that will "stretch" her jaw out. This will give her more room in her mouth for her teeth. Then she will have to get braces to pull the upper teeth back to the right. So we will be putting her college fund into her mouth for the next couple of years.

So with all of that said, I will try to post more often. When things happen instead of a week or two later. I am going to include some photos for all of you as well.

Halloween, Flu shots and more.

Well, I will have to post pictures later. But Halloween was a success here at the Boeckman home. The kids raked in the candy. I have taken it all away from them and believe it or not they have not asked for it since Saturday. BIG SURPRISE!! Madison was a witch, Dylan Harry Potter, Syd Jasmine, and Xavier was a Jack-o-lantern. They all had a great time.

Today I had to take Syd to the dr to get an ingrown toenail taken care of. She was so brave. Then we all, except Xavier, (he is not old enough yet) got our flu shots. Syd wanted to go first. Such a brave little girl. All of the kids did great. So I can now mark that off of our list of things that need to be done.

Xavier is eating a little bit of veggies, and fruit. He seems to like it well. He really loves squash and peas. Those seem to be his favorites so far. He has almost doubled his birth weight, just a few ounces to go. He is ready to roll over. He actually does roll over, but his arm usually holds him up, so that he cannot go on over onto his belly. He is just growing up to fast.

The weather is ready to change to fall like weather, I guess it is time. I really don't care for winter like weather, but so be it. We had thunderstorms tonight and rain. There is a chance for snow early next week. The kids love winter, so I do look forward to them having a great time our in the snow.