Sick Week

It's not that I have completely forgotten about the blog, I just have been having a rough week. Last week, Alissa had a virus that caused vomiting and diarrhea. It was bad and went over the course of a few days. She got better and no one came down with anything for several days. I thought that we were all safe. However, on Sunday Leah complained about her stomach. She came home from Church and said that she wanted a nap (we were shocked). She went to bed and sleep for almost 3 hours. Then when she got up she continued to complain that her stomach hurt. She laid around most of the day with a bucket that she never used, but by evening she was off running around and playing.

On Wednesday, my stomach started hurting really bad. Things just got worse from there. Unfortunately, Rod had to come home that evening instead of going to his brother, Travis' as planned. He had to stay home from work on Thursday because I was completely out of commission and spent most of my time in the bathroom or in bed. By Thursday evening I started to feel a little better. We did learn from this experience that Rod would not want to be a stay at home dad!

Although, I was feeling a bit better on Thursday night, Alissa was especially grumpy. We thought that it was just because she was tired, but she woke up a few hours after we put her down to sleep with a terrible fever. I gave her medicine and put her back to bed. She was still running a terrible fever (102.3 under the arm pit where the say to add a degree) in the morning. The medicine is keeping it down, but I am planning on taking her to the doctor this afternoon. I think she has another ear infection. She has told me a couple of time that her left ear is oowee. This is the same ear that she has been having trouble with infections. If she has one this will be her 3rd infection in the same ear over a 3 month period.

Too top it all off, it is snowing like crazy! This would be no big deal if I was staying home, but I couldn't get an appointment until 3 in the afternoon. I was going to try and go when Leah was at school, but they cancelled PM kindergarten today. So now me and the kids will all venture out in the snow to the doctor. I guess I'll leave early and hope that my kids don't touch anything in the doctors office.

Sorry to complain so much. I'll try and make the next post more upbeat!

Two Peas in a Pod

Ever since Alissa has gotten old enough to interact with the other kids, her and Caleb have been growing closer and closer. Surprising to me, Caleb is the one that tolerates Alissa much better than Leah. He loves to pick on his little sister, but he also loves to play with her. Most of the time it's cute to watch them interact. Alissa now gives him hugs and kisses! However, one of the favorite things for Caleb to do with Alissa is to pick on her. This has been true for the last year. He likes to poke at her, follow really close, and anything else he can do to get her attention. In the last few months Alissa has decided to try this picking stuff herself. She has decided to jump on Caleb when he is sitting on the floor. She also likes to come over and hit him in the head with whatever toy or book she has in her hand. Unfortunately, her actions don't go over very well with Caleb. He usually ends up screaming and crying. Alissa hates it when he cries so she tries to come over and give him a hug. These hugs aren't usually received very well.

The worse part of this whole process beside the whining that occurs from who ever is getting picked on at the time, is that Alissa has decided to take it too far. She is all about getting Caleb's attention and she has decided that if nothing else works that biting does. The only person that she has ever bitten is Caleb and it's not been out of anger. She is so desperate to get Caleb's attention when he won't give it to her. Usually she resorts to this when he is playing with Leah. Unfortunately for Alissa the punishment for biting is very severe even if it is just biting for attention.

Caleb and Alissa love reading together. Many times Caleb will read to Alissa.




Alissa will play with tractors if it will get her brother to give her some much wanted attention.

Happy Kisses! Too Cute!



I don't know how well you can see Caleb's bite mark on his back which turned into a nice bruise!

I just realized that almost all of these pictures where taken with the kids in their pjs. Does this mean that they only play together in the morning or that my kids spend way too much time in the pjs?

The Cat is Staying

For those of you who may not already know, part of Leah's Christmas present was for us to allow her to have an outside cat become and inside cat. There was one cat outside that Leah was in love with. He was a stray cat that came into our yard and Leah needed to feed and love right away. When it was warmer outside she was outside with him all the time. Then when it got cold she would play in the garage with him and beg to bring him inside. After talking to Rod and convincing him that it wouldn't be the worst idea ever, we agreed that we would do it for Leah.

I hadn't blogged about this story earlier since the cat came in the house on probation. The cat had to be able to accept living in the house and the conditions that came with it. Using the litter box being one of the main conditions. The cat did great for the first week. I was actually very surprised that he didn't try and jump on the table and counters to get food. He also doesn't scratch at the furniture or jump all over it. He was doing so good it was hard to believe. However, that didn't last. He did have several accidents in the house and he almost lost his in house status. However, after a couple of adjustments it seems like he has got it down now and he's probably going to be staying in the house. At this point, I don't think that Leah would ever let us kick him out.

The cat is still very good with the kids. There are times that he's had enough and has to get some time to himself, most of the time he is tolerant of them. When he's been ignored for a few hours he will come and find them so that they can torture him some more. Also surprising, he and my cat seem to being doing pretty well. They fight a lot, but it seems to be all in fun. It actually seems to have made my cat happier and more energetic. My cat does let him know when she has had enough.

Since the cat has come in the house Caleb has mentioned that he would like a dog. I am hoping we can put this off for awhile longer!

Leah and Harvey (yes, she did pick his name)

Alissa has to be part of the picture too. Say Cheese!

Sledding Fun

What a busy weekend. This weekend was Rod's birthday! He turned the big 35! I think he had a nice birthday weekend. We took the kids to Stephanie and Adam's house. They loved this because they got to play with their cousins Then we went to a RV and boat show. It was fun to look around at all the different options. It's always fun to dream, not that we will necessarily be buying anything soon. Then Rod and I went an early dinner out. We don't eat out very often and without the kids is even more rare so it was nice.

Sunday, the kids were able to go sledding in our yard. I wasn't sure how it would work out, but it was perfect. It was just steep enough for the kids to go down pretty fast and just short enough that they didn't complain to have to walk back up. They had so much fun. Even Alissa thought it was great fun. She cried when I tried to bring her in early.


I also bought a kid shovel for Caleb. I had been doing a lot of snow shoveling last week and Caleb kept trying to steal my shovel. When I saw the kid one I decided that it would be well worth the money spent and was it ever. He played more with the shovel than he did sledding. He even went out again later to finish digging out his 'tunnel'. The kids had a lot of fun in the snow, but mom still hates the cold and is ready for the spring!

Happy New Year!

I can't believe that another year has gone by. It was a year ago that I decided to start blogging. When I started this blog I wasn't sure how good of an idea it was, but I've really enjoyed keeping it up and sharing some stories. I hope some of you have also enjoyed it!

To ring in the New Year, our family stayed at home and enjoyed a quiet evening. We did try and make it a little special for the kids. I bought some ice cream and got out the pool and balls for them to jump in. I also got a couple of movies. The kids were going a little crazy and started fighting around 10:30. We decided that we would make that midnight for the kids. We did a count down and blew our horns and whistles! Then the kids went to bed. Rod and I did stay up until midnight, but I was in bed shortly after that!

With the New Year, there has been plenty of snow and cold! We have been staying in the house on the really cold days. However, last week before the extra cold weather came in, Rod and the kids enjoyed some time playing in the snow. They built a very large snow man (which fell down a little after they all came in the house) and there was a big snow ball fight. Unfortunately, Alissa couldn't go out since she was very sick and had an ear infection. I was out of a little bit too and was able to get some pictures for you to enjoy!

Leah's a good shot!

Leah making snow balls.

Rod's getting them back!

Making the snowman.

The kids can rool the snowman pieces now by themselves. This makes Rod's job a bit easier!

Time to build the snowman.

Too Cute!

Christmas Fun

I couldn't believe that Christmas was here and now I can't believe Christmas is over! We had a wonderful Christmas here at home and a wonderful Christmas season with all our family. The kids received more toys than they needed, but are happy with all of them. They've already worn the batteries out of most of them. I guess I'll be buying a super sized pack next time I go to the store! There is so much joy for the kids at Christmas time and it makes the whole event so joyous as we watch the kids open and enjoy all their presents. Here are some Christmas pictures (in no particular order).

Merry Christmas!

It's been a very busy Christmas season. It is almost impossible to believe that tomorrow is Christmas Day! The kids are more than ready for it and have been all but bouncing off the walls. I on the other hand am trying to get some last minute things done. Last night I stayed up wrapping presents and Rod put a few things together.

Today I have been doing some last minute baking for Christmas desserts. We are having my brother and his family over and my Dad is supposed to come down. I made a couple of cheese cakes and a Birthday Cake for Jesus! I decided last year that I would make a birthday cake for Christmas. I got this really neat paper about how to do it from church.

We made the cake round for Jesus' love goes 'round and 'round and never ends.

We made it chocolate like the darkness of our sins and covered it with white frosting, like Jesus covers our sins and makes them white as snow.

We topped it with a yellow star and an angel, for they were the first ones to let people know about Jesus' birth.

We put 12 candles on it for the 12 months of the year that Jesus is our light.

We encircle it with evergreens (or a green shell border) to be symbol of everlasting life.

We added red marshmallow stars to represent the blood that Jesus willingly shed for us. (They were supposed to be red cinnamon candies that I forgot to buy. Leah had these from school and was very willing to put them on the cake!)

We will sing happy birthday to Jesus tomorrow! The kids are so excited about the cake and have been talking about Jesus' birthday all morning. It really helps keep the focus where it needs to be! It's a great new tradition for us.

Merry Christmas from the Windles!

Leah and Caleb helped by putting on the Candles! They love the birthday cake!