Here are the pictures

Makenzi's school Christmas party:
Kenzi eating pizza with her friends (it was also her birthday)

Santa came to Kenzi's party



Braxton's School Christmas Party
Making a bird feeder

Made a Santa hat

Santa came to his party too


The kids are getting these two lovely gifts in Christmas Eve morning
Ruff (the striped one) and Tumble (the black one)

Busy 2 weeks coming

Christmas is coming and with Christmas comes a busy time. It started Last Thursday for us and won't end until January. Last Thursday was Makenzi's 6th Birthday. I have pictures to add...I am only a week late. I am not sure how the last 6 years have gone so fast but they have. Thursday morning I took cupcakes into her classroom for her to share with her friends. The cupcakes were a huge hit. I then ran to pick the boy and his cousins up from school, quickly dropped them at grandparents houses and then ran back to Kenzi's school for her Christmas party. I need to upload those pics too.

Friday we headed to my inlaws so we could celebrate Makenzi's birthday with them. They got her a cute outfit and a stationary set. She loved both.

Saturday we went and bought our new washing machine since ours died. Then we had friends over. They brought the kids Christmas presents over which was really nice of them to do. They got Makenzi and Braxton an Uno Moo game which they totally love. They got Ahna a nice warm pair of pajamas which she desperately needed. Thank you! Then they helped us work on a Christmas project...which was great otherwise it might not be ready for Christmas.

Sunday I spent the afternoon at Urgent Care with Kenzi. That was a bad trip that got us no where.

Monday I spent the morning at the doctors with Makenzi which didn't get me much farther. Strep test ran, urine sample done...waiting on results.

Today I spent the morning with Braxton at his Christmas party (thank you mom for watching sickie Makenzi). His party was great! I then had a meeting in Saginaw at 2. I got a call from the peds office saying Makenzi's 24 hour strep culture was negative we will see what the urine and 48 hour strep say tomorrow.

Tomorrow I have to go pick up one last present! The kids will be excited.

Christmas Eve and Christmas day are always busy.

Saturday and Sunday will settle down. Monday we are going to meet friends and let the kids play.

Next weekend is busy as well. Thursday is my husband's 28th birthday! Friday we have invited friends and his family out for a game night.

Saturday our children will be getting Baptized at St. Michael's here in Maple Grove. We are doing the ceremony after mass and just keeping it small. We are very excited. The oldest two children are extremely involved in St. Michaels. They are in the Atrium classes (a class that teaches the children all about the things that happen in the church, all about Jesus and lots of other stuff). They are both going to Vacation Bible School in the summer (Kenzi went this past summer and B gets to go this year).

After that I think things slow down until I start classes again on January 11th.

I will have to add photos later..ran out of time.

Christmas 2009

We had our first Christmas party last night. It was my mom's year to put it on. This party is the easiest on of the two parties that we do a year. We went into the gym yesterday morning and set up at 10 and were out by 11am. Everybody headed home to eat lunch and get the kids naps. Thankfully Braxton and Ahna both napped well. Makenzi didn't nap and it definitely showed late last night. We didn't make it home until 1130 and the kids were exhausted and so were we. Nobody moved until 930 this morning. I have lots of photos to add from last night.

Our 2009 Family Christmas Photo (what a job this is...I am surprised we got a decent one)


The 8 grandchildren on my side of the family
Back Row: Hope, Leo, Braxton, Aaron, Makenzi
Front Row: Josie, Alex, Arianna


Braxton with Santa


Makenzi with Santa


Arianna with Santa



My nephew Aaron who is 14 with Santa...he wasn't very impressed


My mom with Santa

Christmas Fun is beginning

Well I am sure we all know that this time of year is super busy. I have finished almost all of my Christmas shopping...only need some stocking stuffers for the kids and Scott. I think it is going to be a great Christmas in this house this year. The kids are going to be so excited on Christmas morning and I did it fairly cheap as well. Makenzi is getting two of the big things she asked for (a Nintendo DS-used, and a doll house- homemade by daddy and mommy). Braxton is getting an awesome ride on vehicle and he has no idea (it is a huge firetruck- orignal cost 649.00 or something crazy like that- I got it used for 20.00 and in brand new condition). Arianna is getting a couple small toys but she will love them (twin babies, ball popper). I can't wait to see their faces when they come down the stairs to a Merry Christmas.

Our December run down:

The Wendling Family Christmas party (Santa comes and brings a gift for each child) we have over 130 people attend...it is lots of fun.
On the 17th we will have a 6 year old in the house...man time sure flies by. Makenzi has requested to see her Grandma Sharon and Big Papa (Scott's parents) so we are heading out there for an evening of fun. Sharon is making dinner for us and we are taking cupcakes. Makenzi has requested a garden theme.
On the 17th Makenzi has her school party. She is very excited since she missed her Halloween party this year. Praying everybody stays healthy this month.
On Christmas Eve we will go to church all together and pray the kids don't get us banned (they aren't very good in church).
On Christmas day we will open presents at home! Then we will go to my parents house and have brunch and then open presents (we do this the same every year), then we will head to Scott's family Christmas. We are all gathering at his parent's house. Sharon is making dinner for us.
Then on New Year's Eve we will celebrate Scott's 28th birthday.
Maybe on New Years Day we will do a Poker party at our house for his birthday...who knows. Sounds like fun.

That is a pretty easy Holiday month for us. It will be nice. Usually it is crazy.

Winter Wonderland

Well the first snow has fallen and the children are extremely excited. We got about 2 inches yesterday and you would have thought we had 2 feet the way they acted. Braxton wasn't even out of bed yet and he was screaming about the snow. He was ready to go outside at 730 and couldn't understand why we were saying no. We ended up going to my parents house so Scott could pull all the triplets (Braxton, my niece Josie, and nephew Leo) on the sled. Braxton forgot that we did this last year and we when said sledding he thought we were going to the big hill to go sledding...oops. They had a blast though once they got going. They played outside for the longest time...Scott taught them how to make snowballs and throw them.

Yesterday afternoon when Kenzi got home from school the kids went outside here. Even little miss Ahna got to go outside for awhile. She loved it as well.

This morning we had hot chocolate and put up our Christmas tree. It is never as much fun as it should be. The tree has seen its last year. It has broken branches and just has been squished back into a box too many times. Of course we had a couple broken bulbs since we have children who forget what the word gentle and breakable mean until it is too late. Thankfully they weren't the special ornamanets. This year each child got a bulb with their name on it. That was an adventure in itself thanks to certain staff members at Bronner's.

After that the oldest two went outside to play in the snow again. They spent a lot of time out there. Kenzi has an issue when it is cold outside with her cheeks. When she comes in her cheeks are red except for a big white raised spot on each cheek. We have done lots of research and it is actually the cheek freezing and blood flow stops to those parts. We need to go buy her a couple face masks but they are hard to find. I hate to have the cold do serious damage to her cheeks or any other part of her body. We were hoping that since we were extra careful last year and healing all over the summer as well she would be okay but I guess not. I need to take pictures and take it into her pediatrician to show them and see what they say.

Lets fast forward

Well December is not starting off any better than November did. We are only 2 days in and I am already dreading the rest of the month. When will winter be over? My pediatrician sure hit the nail on the head when she told us to brace for a rough/hard winter. One of us has been sick every week since the Sunday before Halloween. That is just crazy. The children are on multivitamins but it must not be enough.

2 weeks ago my nephew came down with the stomach flu, but by the time he showed signs he had already infected everybody else. 4 days later my dad and Braxton came down with the bug...yuck. It lasted a few hours of Braxton and the next day he was drinking and eating. 5 days after Braxton and dad got sick, my mom got sick. Which was really weird to us because she is the one that took care of my nephew the day he came down with it along with myself. My mom got it Thanksgiving night after we were all together...not a huge deal since we had already been exposed and she had no idea she was getting it. Monday night of this week, Scott got sick while in the semi. I was actually glad that he wasn't home. I was hopefully we wouldn't get it. Well last night Makenzi came home from school was all excited because she had girl scouts and church class. We ate dinner (she didn't eat much but said she was excited). We got to girl scouts and within a few minutes Kenzi complained her belly hurt. We quickly left and on the way home the vomit struck. I hate vomit and I usually don't do so well cleaning it up but I guess my stomach has gotten tougher over the years thankfully. Thankfully she is already feeling better. She has been drinking this morning and acting fine. Definitely hoping and praying nobody else gets it in the next five days.

The next major thing is Scott has had a job change. He is still with Werner but he is no longer training unfortunately. They have changed the runs and the truck he has for this run is only equipped for 1 driver. This is a bummer for us because Scott really enjoyed training. He is looking into his options of different accounts to drive for that he can train on but we are just thankful he has a steady job. In this economy we can't be too picky. We are just thankful for a paycheck.

Goodbye November, Hello December

Thankfully November is almost over. Hoping December is a much better month for us. November was full of germs for us. First Arianna, then Makenzi, then Scott and I, and then Braxton. We all had different symptoms but definitely all had the same bug. Thanks to the piggy flu.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with our family though. Scott came home on Wednesday and got a bunch of stuff done around the house. On Thursday he got up and went bird hunting with my dad, brothers and 14 year old nephew. They do this every year and had a good time. When the kids woke up we headed over to my mom's house to help her prepare for our dinner. Everybody made it this year which was a miracle with all the sickies that everybody had. We played cards, the kids played together and just had an all around good time.

At 4 we left there and headed to St. Louis, MI to see Scott's family. We had a big dinner with them as well. It was nice to see everybody again since we haven't seen his siblings since this summer and some since January! We hadn't seen his parents since October. Braxton had a blast with Annabelle, he still talks about her daily. Kenzi had a lot of fun playing Rummy Cube with Uncle Eddie, Aunt Natalie, Uncle Joe, and her daddy! She is really excited to go back and see everybody at Christmas time. I think we are going to have to make an extra trip out her in a couple weeks...she wants to see them for her birthday!

I can't wait to get the next couple weeks over with! Finals for this semester so I can then have a 4 week break! It is desperately needed! I just finished my 7 page Culture paper...thanks to Kat and Cris! Colombia and Chile are very amazing cultures!

Some things our family is thankful this year:

~ We have a warm house with new windows, siding, foam board, and new plaster going up in the dining and bathroom.
~ My husband has a very good job.
~ Our children are amazing.
~ Our parents and siblings are wonderful and fun to hang out with. That we all have children close in age so they can play and have a great time together.
~ That we have 2 reliable vehicles.

There are many more but it is time to relax for the night and enjoy some peace and quiet!

What a Month

Man November has been a rough month at our house! I am ready for summer already.

The beginning of November I got a speeding ticket :( . That was a bad day all around. Scott was involved in an accident that day as well...thanks to his student driver and the driver of the other vehicle. The other driver was found at the most fault so a ticket was avoided...thank you State Troopers. This was especially good since a month ago Scott received a speeding ticket in Lansing while driving the semi. Driver's legal fought that for him since his cruise was set and he was going down a hill when he was clocked. Scott won so he didn't get any points! I have decided that I need a Driver's Legal Plan so if I get pulled over they can fight it and win so I won't get points on my license.

Last Monday when Kenzi got off the bus I knew she wasn't feeling well. She had a fever and a cough that she had had for over 10 days already. We headed to Urgent Care in Frankenmuth. Her ears, lungs, and throat all looked good so they ruled it viral with 99% certainty it was H1N1. Thankfully she had a short week at school anyways so she only missed 2 days but with the 2 days in October she is up to 4 already. She got lots of rest and fluids and quickly recovered but never fully bounced back. She started complaining of an earache so Friday we took her into the pediatrician. Her right ear was severely infected so she was put on antibiotics. Thankfully she is back to school this week and I am praying she stays healthy.

Braxton got to bird "hunting" with my dad one day. They took my dads new dog Gator out in the woods to run off some energy. Braxton was so excited he got to go hunting for the day! Braxton is also loving this time of year because all the combines are running. Every day he wakes up he ask if it is still harvest time! He is definitely going to be a farmer when he gets older.

I am ready for the germs to cease and summer weather. It is going to be a long winter I am afraid but I have the house stocked with vinegar, motrin, tylenol, soup, crackers, tissues and a puke bucket. Praying we stay healthy for the rest of the winter!

Annual Shopping Trip

Every year the girls in our family go shopping for the day. We plan for weeks. We look through the ads, make our lists, and get all excited. Saturday morning came and we met at my moms' house (my 2 sister in laws and myself). We headed out around 845 and headed towards Saginaw. We went to Kmart, Toys R Us, Game Stop, Joann's, Target, Gander Mountain, JcPenney, Meijer, and Walmart. We were gone a total of 17 hours. We had many things go wrong during our trip this year. At every store we had something hold us. We got some great deals as well though. We had a lot of fun. I am still shocked that we didn't make it home until 215 this morning though. I felt like my head hit the pillow and we had to get up already to head to a meeting we had scheduled this morning. My Christmas shopping is almost completely done though. Just a few small things that I need to pick up and I will be ready for the holidays.

Crazy Things happen

Have you ever had something happen that you weren't real sure how it unfolded that way?

This morning we were running late (nothing new lately) and Braxton was giving me a hard time. I pulled out of the garage and halfway down our driveway and he informed me he couldn't get buckled. I stopped the van, unlocked the doors and jumped out of the van. I left the driver door open and went around the front of the van. I reached the sliding door to get to Braxton and when I grabbed the handle the van started to roll backwards. I knew there were cars coming from both directions and I ran around the van and was able to jump in and slam on the brakes just as the van was at the end of the driveway. All I could think about was how Braxton was not buckled and it was going to be bad if the van was hit by a car or hit the ditch across the road. Thankfully I left the door open so I could just jump back in otherwise it would have been worse. Braxton was in a panic, screaming for me to stop the van and Little miss Ahna had no clue thank goodness. Needless to say I forgot to put the van in park...duh. I am still stunned that the van never moved until I got all the way around it. I am just thankful that it worked out well but man it made my heart stop.

Craptastic Week

This week was a rough one in our house. Sunday night Arianna woke up with a fever around 11pm. My first thought was an ear infection since she had just come off an antibiotic the night before. On Monday I figured I should take her in because she was still running the fever and was digging/rubbing at her ears. We had a 4:20 appointment and the waiting room was overflowing. We were in the standing room only category. I tried to stay far away from everybody else because I didn't want anything else. We finally got back to the room at 445. They took her temp and it was 104.7 Lots of nurses entered the room with cool wash cloths, motrin, tylenol and thermometers. The doctor finally came in and her ears were clear, throat looked good. They swabbed for Influenza A and B..both were negative. They decided to do a blood test and a urine test. At 600 they drew the blood test (CBC) and a blood culture. They tried to get a urine sample but Ahna was refusing to drink anything so she wouldn't pee. We came home with the bag. I took her sample in on Tuesday...of course on the way I got pulled over by a cop and received a ticket...that really helped top my day off. She has to redo the urine sample because she had blood in her urine as well as sugar. That has been quite the process in itself.

Now Makenzi is home sick today. She is complaining of a tummy ache and headache. No other symptoms though. I guess time will tell.

I tried registering for my winter semester classes but the classes I need are waitlisted. I really wish Delta offered more classes in the high demand fields. A Math class should not be waitlisted.

Family Update!

Scott~ is doing very well. He is loving his job which is great. He is still driving for Werner Enterprises and doing training for them. He has his stable run from London, OH to Lansing, MI to Grand Rapids, MI back to London, OH every day. He has been now taking his break in Lansing, MI and working during the day with the guy that trained Scott at Werner. This guy owns his own business where he purchases houses, remodels them, and then rents them out. Scott has been helping with remodeling, cleaning etc for the last few weeks. He enjoys this. It keeps him active during the day instead of sitting around bored in the semi, plus it gives him more experience in this field which he enjoys.

Me~ I am doing well. School is going very well. I have thankfully fallen into a routine with school work so that is helpful. I really enjoy my communications class, government is boring as it always was and psychology is interesting but requires way to much time and work in my opinion. Oh well I gotta get it done now so I don't have to redo it later. I am staying busy with the kids as well.

Makenzi~ is loving kindergarten. She has informed me that the teacher says that she will be reading by Christmas time. That is so shocking to me but I am excited to see Kenzi learn to read. I guess Santa needs to bring some early reader books. Any suggestions? Kenzi has started writing sentences the last week or so. They are silly sentences but sentences none the less. I am a cat. I am a dog. I am a mom. I am a dad. She is even starting to sound words out and write them like cat, bat, sat, man, ran, can, etc. It is so exciting to watch her do all of this stuff.

Braxton~ is enjoying school but never wants to go until we get there. We went on a field trip on Tuesday to the Fire Department. That was fun. We walked 3 blocks with 19 preschoolers (age 3-5). They all did extremely well. They got to see a fire fighter dressed in all of his gear, sit in a couple different fire trucks, got to spray water out of a fire house. They had a really good time. Next week they are going to Leaman's Greenapple Barn. I am excited to go with him on that trip as well. Hopefully we get a nice day.

Arianna~ is growing up so fast. I miss that little baby but enjoy watching her do lots of new stuff. She can now go up and down the stairs. Going down still requires some close observation and always being ready to catch her. She is getting good at following one step directions. She loves to get her shoes, her coat, her blanket, throw her diaper away. She is starting to really talk now too. She says momma, dadda, hi, yes, no, uh oh. Just last week we couldn't really get her to say anything so this is major improvement. We have decided that she says momma and dadda a lot more now because she gets left behind more than she used to. When we come home she runs to us saying momma or dadda and raising her arms to be picked up.

Success!

Well after a year of trying to potty train the boy we have success! He has been pee trained for a few months but not until I fully took the pull ups away did it really happen. That was a huge step since he was still pooping his pants every day. I was at a loss with him. He could hold it for several days and the second we forgot to watch him he would sneak off and do it. I was at a breaking point thinking he would be graduating high school still pooping his pants.

Last Friday my mom had Braxton for the day and he pooped his pants at her house. The war was on because she had had it and we had discussed it and knew we didn't have any more options. I told her I was willing to try anything. She gave him one swat on the butt, made him clean out his own pants and his butt, plus he got a time out and he had to come home. I wasn't so sure it would work but I knew I had to give it a shot.

On Monday the next time he had to poop he went in and sat on the potty willingly when we put him on it. He ended up going within just a few minutes. I have never seen so much excitement over somebody going potty before. He has gone on the potty every time since. It was so awesome. Within just a couple days of this he was telling us when he has to go. We still need to watch his signs but overall I can finally say that my son is potty trained! Such an amazing achievement. Braxton is so proud of himself as well. Now I don't have to worry when he is at school, church or a friends house. Such a relief.

Our Life

Braxton has started preschool and he loves it! He isn't so sure about mom leaving him but has never had tears as long as I am positive I am coming back for him. The first day he just about plowed the doors down trying to get to me at pick up time though but he was happy. They have done some cute projects already and have a field trip planned in a couple weeks. His teachers are amazing. I have photos to add.






Kenzi is doing really well in Kindergarten although I wasn't real concerned about her.

Ahna is getting big. She is 16 months old already. She has an attitude like no other baby I have ever seen though but it is her personality.

School is going well for me. I have finally fallen into a routine so that is helpful. I have a big exam coming up on Wednesday so I am nervous about that. Hopefully it goes well. Our house is almost done. They are waiting on some supplies to come before they can finish. Hopefully that happens soon. We have the window rep coming out because some things are wrong with the windows so they will need to be fixed or replaced...which should be lots of fun.

Today is my birthday so we had a fun filled weekend. Scott took me on a shopping spree, out to lunch, then we picked the kids up and went out to dinner at Zehnders in Frankenmuth (very good food), then we stayed at a hotel in Birch Run and let the kids swim. We ended up at Bronners today and I got a bulb for each kid and they got to pick the color they wanted their bulb to be. Braxton chose green of course, Kenzi chose purple and Arianna recieved red (Kenzi and I picked). I have lots of photos to add from this weekend
Getting ready for our surprise

Ahna by the pool



Kenzi and Braxton at Bronners


Silly Ahna faces

Silly faces

First week of school and house

We survived the first week of school! Kenzi did very well. She was nervous about riding the bus but never hesitated the first day which was wonderful. I was expecting tears from her. She was very excited that morning and was ready and waiting for the bus at 6:50 even though the bus wasn't expected until 6:15-6:20. Braxton wasn't sure he wanted Kenzi to go to school. After Kenzi got on he said "where are they taking her, I will miss her". He was very sad. I kept him busy this week so he couldn't think about her being gone.

Eating breakfast

Watching for the bus

Waiting outside for the bus

There she goes



I am finally getting into a routine with my classes. The first two weeks were rough but now they are much better. Thank goodness.

Braxton starts school this week as well. Lets hope him and his two little cousins have a smooth adjustment as well. They are going 2 days a week for 3 hours a day.

The house is coming well. Everything is done except by the living room which is where we are waiting on the new windows to come in. They are projected to be here on Tuesday...hopefully that is right. I am anxious to see the finished project. It is looking good so far. It is weird to come home to a tan house instead of a white house. It looks so different to us.

The front North end of the house

North end which is now done

New soffit and fascia...so time consuming.

The back of the house

House, School etc.

Our house is coming along nicely. I will add some pictures to the post. The south side of the garage is done, the back side of the garage is done, and the bottom half of the back of the house up to the deck is done. All the new windows are in except for 3. Our living room ones (which we had to reorder) and the one above the living room at the top of the stairs. On the rest of the back and north side it is tyvek, taping the windows, siding, soffit and fascia. Soffit and fascia are so time consuming. I am really happy with the color we chose although I will admit at first when just a little was put up I was second guessing our decision. The more that goes up the more I like it. I also did that when the first new light went up as well...I wasn't so sure about it but the more I look at it the better I like it. On to pictures now.

Day 5 progress Back of garage

Back of kitchen area, new windows

entrance into garage in back

Back of house, new windows in bedrooms

Day 6 progress Back of garage done

Door into garage

New light above garage entrance

Kitchen area back of house





Schooling is going to kick my butt until I get into a routine. I am taking 9 credits, 6 credits (2 classes) online and 3 credits (1 class) face to face yet a lot of it is online. I went today for my first face to face class. My teacher is really nice and keeps us interacting. We already had to get up and speak in front of the class though...not my favorite thing to do. Homework will be hard to get used to again. Braxton wasn't so sure he wanted to be left this morning...he hasn't had to be left for a whole day since Ahna was born. He did pretty good though. Ahna never realized what was happening because she has never been left really. When I got home Ahna squealed so loud when she seen me...she was all smiles, full of hugs and kisses and wouldn't let me out of sight...we will see how next week goes.

Makenzi is very excited to start school on Tuesday. She isn't as confident about riding the bus but I am sure she will adjust fine. Her older cousins and her little friend are all riding the same bus. Change is never easy with her. I need to remember to get all of her stuff together this weekend so the first week goes smooth.

Braxton starts preschool the following week. He is going 2 days a week for a few hours a day. He is also going with his two little cousins (we call the three of them triplets). I am sure he will do fine. Hopefully he handles being dropped off well along with the other 2.

House Progress

Well our contractors started on Monday morning bright and early. They have been here everyday since until today. The rain has made it impossible to work today. We have 1 new window in Ahna's room, her other window is temporarily boarded up, the bathroom is boarded up for good, 2 new windows in our bedroom, 2 new windows in Kenzi's room, 2 new windows in the kitchen, 2 windows put in the garage, 1 new door placed in the garage, 1 door replaced in the garage, foam board is going up, tyvek is going up, and 1 wall of the house has siding on. I will be adding lots of pictures of the progress below.

Day 1 Progress...if you want to call it that. Lots of tearing off the old siding happened today.


These pictures are after our first delivery.


Day 2 Progress. New Windows went in, foam board went up.



Day 3 of Progress




Day 4 Progress...the side of the garage is looking good.