Winter update

Hi! Look how big I am getting!!!

Cole did this to me... First it was my hat then he put it on my face!

Watching out for my big brother is tiring!

Christmas! Don't I look thrilled?

At Grandpa Troyer's house...

Okay enough about Miss Sierra now on to the rest of the family.

The week before Christmas an awful virus visited our family...Ashlyn & Cole got it the same night & she had very little rest that night.:( I was downstairs on one couch she was on the other & Dale had Cole upstairs in bed with him... Needless to say we all felt pretty foggy that morning!

Ashlyn was still feeling weak, but wanted to open her presents.:)

Polly's were a great past time while traveling!

New shirts.:)

Briana wanted a new dress for her Josefina... I made one instead of buying it. She was so surprised.:)

Cole likes anything with a trailer & a little man.:)

The morning of the 22nd we started our journey to PA. There was snow forecasted for the next day & we wanted to leave before the mountains got blasted with snow! About midnight Shane came in our room & said he didn't make it to the bathroom & had puked on the carpet.:( Ugh, please don't tell me he is going to be puking while we are traveling... He slept okay the rest of the night, but puked again when we got him up in the morning. We went ahead & left anyway, I texted a bunch of friends to please pray for him. He didn't eat most of the day, but he did not puke again.:) By the time we stopped somewhere in Iowa for the night Dale was not feeling well.:( I was so scared he was going to be dreadfully sick by morning! He still felt ill the next day but was able to do most of the driving. Who would have thought at that point that we were going to expose the rest of the family to it! By the time we got to PA Friday evening our family was feeling better. Well Sunday morning Mom was sick, by noon Garrett was sick, 5 hours later Emily had it. Monday Brit felt sick, Tuesday was a doozy! Waneta, Nate, Marv, Sean & Sky all got it. What a wonderful reunion...

Cousins...

At Grandpa's. People & presents all over!

Logan! He is such a cute little boy.:)

We left PA on Friday & went out to Glen's[Dale's sister Esther] in Middlebury IN.[That took about 6 hours off of our driving time to get to CO.;)] We stayed with them till Sunday morning. While we were there we took the children shopping in Shipshewana, they loved the carousel at the mercantile [I was really upset that I forgot to take my camera along that day!]. And we went to visit old friends from SC... That evening "New Years Eve" more of Dale's family came over & we had a wonderful time with all of them!

This was at Glen's, the pop toy is his horse.:)

A gift from my man... :)

Briana longed to do a gingerbread house when they came out before Christmas. Her stingy mom told her just wait they will clearance them after Christmas then I will get you one.:)

So long!

Christmas cookies

Why do I so easily forget how time consuming these things are?

I really wish my camera would have been handy when we were in the middle of the BIG mess! I spread frosting & the children had a lot of fun with the sprinkles.:) Believe me if you eat one of our cutout cookies you will  have plenty of crunchy sprinkles to eat!

This is what happens to the rest of the house!

Sierra had just had enough of it & went to sleep.:)

We have enough cookies & choc. candy around here now for a good long while! This weekend feels like the kick off to a Christmas vacation.:) Party tonight, ladies Christmas supper Saturday night, caroling Sunday evening, school program on Wednesday & Thursday we start out LONG journey to PA... We are really looking forward to being together with family again, but the getting there is what I am not anticipating!

Look who is sitting big in her "blue" bumbo.:)

Love that little raised arm, like she is riding a bronco.:)

Sitting on the couch with Brit...

Who needs toys?

Cole loves playing with pillows... They are bucking broncos, racing dirt bikes... Today we even had a fire truck in the house! The one on the video is a very calm horse.:) BTW the side show from the girls was not planned :(
 Other excitement for the week... We got SNOW! Saturday morning we awoke to the sight of freshly fallen snow 3-4 inches of it. Dale was not expecting it to snow & felt his heart sink to his toes when he saw it. Snow removal is part of his work & the commercial jobs want theirs complete by 7:00. It was after 7:00 when we woke up! But all was well, snow in this part of CO can be very spotty. We got a good bit, but Montrose where his jobs are got just a little skiff of it.:)
 Last night it snowed again & he got a taste of snow removal! He was out the drive by 2:00 am & didn't come home till around 11:00am. He sure is glad it doesn't snow every night!

Thankful

Today I feel so blessed... For the first time in 3 weeks I've had a day that was virtually pain free!!! Wow, its amazing what it does for my disposition to feel good again. Having said that I am convicted of the fact that I should also be able to be joyful in the midst of pain... Nevertheless I am REALLY thankful that God has brought me to this side of things.
 Whats wrong you ask? First I had a bad tooth & rather then pay 2k to have it repaired I chose to have it extracted... Warning! Having this done means a long slow recovery.
 I am positive I had a dry socket & was constantly on Tylenol, in desperation I started searching for other pain relief & discovered clove oil. WONDERFUL stuff! I really think it helped my gum to close up & heal, after using it for 2 days I saw a big difference in the over all appearance of my gum & it started closing up.
  9 days after the tooth was pulled, when I knelt beside the tub to wash my hair I felt sharp pain in my left knee. That was the beginning of another whole story! I believe what happened was something called housemaids knee, & the pain of it is nothing to be laughed at. Throughout that Friday my knee kept hurting & getting hot [feverish], by Saturday it was REALLY bad. After taking ibuprofen for a few days it got much better & then I over did it & the next day it was awful again. Twice this foolish woman over did it & the last time was the worst yet. I learned my lesson then & decided to take it easy for a good week till the thing is healed. Today is day 6 of that week & I can really tell a difference in it.
 I don't know what all I was to learn from this experience but I know that I am much more aware of what living in pain feels like...
 Today I marvel at how wonderful it feels to snuggle my baby girl, to listen to the prayers of my precious children, I count my blessings, they are far to many to list.
 Ashlyn has been very concerned that I will die from my sore knee... She has told me many times that she hopes I won't die from it because she likes her mama! 
 Another thing that I often thanked God for was my dear husband. He has had to pretty much take care of everything on my really bad days, its good this all happened now while he is able to be at home. His lawn work is pretty much over for the season, now he waits for snow to fall. :)

Elsewhere in the family... Miss Sierra is doing great! Hard to believe that she is 12 weeks old already. Those 12 weeks went much faster then the previous 12 did!

Shane is 7 now!!! Party pics will come later :)

Micah gave him his one pump bb gun :)

This is what happens when Ashlyn bribes you to let her comb your hair!

He was just as impressed as he looks.:)

Little missy herself :)

She still loves holding her baby sister

And Briana is still a great nanny.:)

Miss Ashlyn is 5!!!

Her big day finally arrived. :) [Now Cole, whose birthday isn't till Feb, keeps saying "My birthday is this Saturday..."] Why is it so important to turn one year older when you are under 20 & now I really don't care how long it takes my next birthday to roll around!

Nope that's not a fish on the cake ;) She wanted a football on it.:)

She was DELIGHTED to have her best buddies here...

Kyle & Aaron Mast... They are actually Micah's friends, but she thinks they are the best friends around.:)

Notice the basketball & footballs??? That's our little girl for ya!

We waited to give Ashlyn her presents from us till the next morning...

She has been without a bike since I drove over hers earlier this summer.:(

She is quite happy with her bike, even if it isn't the "dirt bike style" one she had picked out.

She did a great job sweeping the floor for me this morning!

Drum Roll Please....

This big boy is potty trained!!!!!!!! [Can you tell his mom is very happy?]

One evening last week Inez & I went shopping in Grand Junction. We've lived here 3 months & I still hadn't gone there to shop! It was great fun, I think we should make it a scheduled activity.;)

One of our stops was Hobby Lobby, I found this cute little gingerbread man/woman kit for the children.

They got a bit carried away with the decorating & didn't have enough deco left for the last 6 men. Now we have little foam gingerbread men all over the house.:)

When I uploaded pics I was shocked that I had no new ones of Sierra! I'll have to take care of that tomorrow. She is growing fast, and is starting to enjoy her bouncy seat & swing a little more.

Oh yes, SNOW...

Saturday afternoon some flakes started falling & the excitement was so high among the children, that I wished for 6 inches of the stuff just for them to enjoy.:)
 You can hardly see him[in front of Briana] but Cole is right there with the rest of them gazing out at the wonder of falling snow.:)