good bye to 2008

I thought it would be fun to post a few pictures of our 2008. Lots of exciting things happened for our family and here are the highlights...

January: New year and Erin's birthday!
February: We had our nieces live with us for 6 weeks. It was also our 12th wedding anniversary and we bought our first house.
March: We moved into our new house!
April: annual Father Daughter weekend
May: Lazy 5 Ranch field trip with Josh
June: We spent loads of time @ the pool and Clyde joined a soccer team. We spent every Tues. and Thursday for more than 6 weeks watching our man play!
July: Again more pool fun! Libby turned 10 and Clyde had his birthday too! :)
August: Pool fun and School began back!
September: Loads of Birthdays for the Wardlings...mine, Penny turned 3, Jacob turned 5 and Josh turned 8!
October: Josh was baptized!
November: Bam flew in from Spokane to visit with all the Wardlings.
December: Beach trip with family

We hope that you had a wonderful 2008 and I am looking forward to a happy and healthy 2009!

2008

hotel that stretched across the street

This year for Christmas, my family decided to spend some time together @ the beach. We wanted to spend some time together as our gift to one another. We all got rooms in the same hotel and tried to hang out as best as we could. Our hotel had a huge walkway across the street.

We like going on trips over Christmas. Last year we took the Wardlings to Washington DC to see the lights on the temple grounds and to tour DC.

Anyway, we drove down to the beach in a huge caravan stopping once to eat lunch. My folks, my brothers Doc, Gray, and Ty joined us along with their families and girlfriend and our folks. My sister Raegen and her hubby had Steelers tickets in Pittsburg, so they couldn't make the trip and my other brother Kellen and his bride had other plans as well. We missed you!

It was way nice to watch all the cousins play together. Even Dad got in the hot tub and kiddie pool to play with all the grandchildren...11 of them now. (soon to be 12 in June...not us BTW.) I didn't bring my camera down to the pools where they all played together. (I am a bit bummed about it now.) I loved spending time with our families. What a fun Christmas trip!

flea market

Clyde and I love going to the flea market @ the beach. There is absolutely no telling what you can find. There are cool shops and vendors. Grammy had given each of the Wardlings $5 to spend @ the market. Penny chose a cute little ring. Then the boys saw this little shop with monogrammed pocket knives. The blades aren't very big, but sharp. After purchasing Jacob's he immediately cuts his thumb. Thankfully the scout in daddy comes prepared with band-aids in his wallet.
We continued to walk and found one shop that we always stop in upon. It is this samurai sword shop. We have gotten the boys nun chucks, practice sticks, and wooden swords there. I wanted to grab a picture of all 3 boys holding up a sword. Jacob finds one, Clyde finds one to hold, and so we are waiting for Josh to find one. He grabs one, opens the scheeth on it and slices open his pinky finger. Nice. Clyde couldn't find another band aid in his wallet, so I grabbed a wippie to hold pressure on his finger. He probably needed to get a stitch or two in it, but where the cut is (which is right above the 1st knuckle bend and so i think they would have just glued it shut. We bought some liquid band-aid and glued it together ourselves.

(This picture is out of order.) We went to the tanger outlet shop to check out the under armor store for Clyde. There were several fountains where the Wardlings loved to throw pennies in to make a wish. Jacob is sporting the Kanye West shades that we bought @ the flea market.

Poor Josh holding his bloody finger...

Here we are @ the flea market checking out some of the shops.

topins a bag

Sunday morning was the morning that we had time to go out on the beach before we packed up and checked out of our room. Clyde started feeding the birds from our balcony. Hundreds of birds flew in from the whole ocean to get a honeycomb bite. We soon after took the party outside on the beach, where my Mom and Dad joined in on the fun. We gave the birds pinches of bread and just watched. All of us got into feeding these birds. The pigeons really liked Clyde. They perched atop his head and would just wait for more bread. It was cool to see. Once all the bread was gone the Wardlings went to splashed abit in the ocean. I love the way the ocean air smells. The salt in the air, the smell of the sand, the feel of the sand underneath my feet. What a fun morning on the beach.

seagulls

hospital visit

That's right folks...another hospital visit @ the beach. (The last one was about 8 years ago when Libby swallowed a quarter as a 2 year old and had to have it surgically removed. fun times.) We were visiting Grammy & Papa, when we hear Libby say, "Jacob is bleeding!" He had run up their stairs and hit his head on the bottom of their banister and it split his head open. We took him to an urgent care center, but they didn't accept our out-of-state insurance, so we took him into the ER where they said that it was a nice gash, but not deep enough for stitches. So, the Dr. simply glued his wound shut. Jacob was so very brave too. His head was still bleeding when the dr. came in to glue him up. He sat so very bravely, clinching his fists until his little knuckles were white. Jacob had seen the pain number chart on the wall and had asked about it so I explained to him the pain number system. Jacob told me he was @ a zero. When the Dr. was glueing his wound, I asked him if he was @ zero. He just shook his head. Then once the Dr. was all done and walked out the door, Jacob's pain level instantly shot off the charts and tears began to flow. (The glue burns...) He was so brave while the Dr. was in the room. Poor fella!

car crazy

We Wardlings don't prove to be very patient travellers. It all starts out good, but ends up in wiggles, whining, and air drumming. We usually have to stop to let them run to get some of the wiggles out. Actually when we met up with my family for the caravan to the beach, the wiggles began. So, @ the rendez-vous spot, we had the Wardlings get out and run up and down the sidewalk. They did so happily for @ least 15 minutes. I guess it doesn't help that we are all packed in the van like a can of sardines either. Thank goodness for gameboys and MP3 players!

merry christmas!!

We had a wonderful day spent with family. We hope that your Christmas was just as wonderful. Merry Christmas to all our dear family and friends!
I patiently awaited for the Wardlings to come into our room to wake us up. 5am...6am...7am...7:45 is when we started hearing them wake each other up. Josh was the 1st one up this year. We waited for us all to be finished with the bathroom and then all ran downstairs in a giant herd. The Wardlings saw their stockings filled and were excited but none as excited as Penny! It is fun to have a 3yr old @ Christmas! We slowly opened our gifts...one @ a time and ewed and awed over each item.
Clyde made us a beautiful hash brown and eggs breakfast to boot. We had fun opening up each of the packaged toys and marvelled @ how secure each item was to it packaging. Some of us even managed to squeeze in a couple hours of nap time before we headed over to Bubbie and Pop Pops house.
I had a hard time with Christmas this year. I never really got into the spirit of it. I did really enjoy knitting each of the sweaters that I made for the Wardlings. That was my most favorite gift to give this year. While I was knitting I thought of each of them and their likes and dislikes, personalities and it just made me very happy. I loved knitting Clyde's beanie and thinking of him. I think that making things for people during the holidays really makes it for me. I think about each person on my list and how they have touched our lives throughout the year. I know not everyone likes homemade gifts, which was made quite clear this year from a wee fella we gave a monogrammed towel too, but I enjoy making them. That is my selfishness I suppose. Even though I didn't get the Christmas spirit hugely this year, I love that my husband has a job now where he can have the Christmas holidays off and being able to spend time with him and our children. That was my favorite part this year...that and the Cosby DVD series that Clyde got me along with my new down filled vest, funky knee socks, and electric blanket. :)

christmas

nativity

before i forget...

Yesterday was Libby's class party. Me, being the room mom (don't go there) needed to be there to help out. This one boy called me Ashley and I snapped back..."that is not my name to you, young man." I felt as though one of my children had called me Ashley, something that I don't go for. So, there was that joker but then I laughed so hard @ a little girl, that I thought I was going to pee.

The teacher began playing a game called "Bunk." In it she asks the children, boys vs. girls, to answer a question about Christmas. If they answer it correctly then they got to choose a felt square and on the back of it are the points that they earned for the the question...5-20 points. If you choose a bunk then your team looses all of it's points. (A great sharing time idea for Cheryl...) So, the teacher asks the girls team this question...

Teacher: What NC agricultural product is sold mainly in December?
(hands go flying up...) She chooses a girl.

the girl answers: "AVON!!"

Turns out the girls mother sells Avon products. Who knew that Avon was an agricultural product from NC.

santa

santa clyde

Clyde got sweet talked into being Santa this year @ work. He dressed up in this ratty old Santa costume and hit every classroom @ school. He read them a story, passed out candy canes, stirred up trouble in some classrooms, let the students and some of the staff (hi Jam!) sit on his lap, and kept the spirit of Santa alive with alot of students, regular ed and special ed. (He even got Erin to sit on his lap!!) Clyde really is a good example for me. Even though he may have been a smidge embarrassed, extremely hot in the costume, he did it willingly and with good spirits. He even forwarded me this note that circulated around the school:

On behalf of the cross-cat and TMD classes, we want to thank Mr. Ward for taking time to be our "Santa" today. He did a wonderful job and was so enthusiastic about it. Our more "mature" kids couldn't figure out who it really was and our more "young spirited" kids believed it was the real Santa. Although he was about to have a heat stroke, he still read them a book and let each and every kid (regardless of how big they were including Jam) sit on his lap. So, thank you, Mr. Ward for such a wonderful job!!!!

then there were none

Templeton strikes again!! I went outside to work on a Christmas present and when I opened my front door this is what I found...the leftover carcass of our last pumpkin.

etsy shop

I have a few guilty pleasures...one of them is checking out a knitting blog. The gal, who writes it is funny and has great knitting skills. Anyway, she recently opened an etsy shop with a few of her quotes. These were a few of the ones that I liked.

Here is her etsy shop if you are interested.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6604425

all i want for Christmas...

...are my two front teeth...When Papa & Grammy came to visit, they also brought one of the neices, K. We realized that three of the cousins were missing their front teeth.
Here are the Wardlings before Grammy and Papa had to leave.

Thanks for visiting!

and then there were two

I posted last week that a squirrel, Templeton, had eaten one of our pumpkins. This morning we noticed that we were down another pumpkin. last week...

I am curious to see if our Templeton strikes again!

toothless jacob

Last week, Jacob had another filling fall out of his tooth. We just had the other one fixed last month. After weighing the pros and cons we decided to opt for the extraction of the teeth. Having to go back into the dentist and have fillings replaced has served to be a traumatic experience for our wee man. Introducing the new Jacob!
Last picture with his baby front teeth. poor baby!!

We are waiting for the monkey gas and novocaine to do their jobs...

On another note...

This weekend Papa and Grammy came for a quick visit. As I have mentioned in the past, Ed is an Elvis impersonator and he had a gig this weekend. We all went to support him. The Wardlings really got into the show. Then once the show was over we headed back to our house for Christmas. We had a fabulous time with our Papa and Grammy. (See the slideshows below...)

It was shortly after Papa and Grammy left, that we got a phone call from Papa. He said that there was a hiccup in their plans to go back home...Grammy had misstepped out of their van and fell. It turns out that she broke her leg...tibia right below the knee. We feel awful!! It's a wicked nasty break too, requiring surgery to repair it. Let's all pray that she will recover smoothly!!

presents

edvis

zoo field trip

Today was Josh's class field trip to the zoo. I love the zoo! It was the perfect day to go to, because, besides the 3 classes of 2nd graders that went from our school, I may have seen 10-15 other people, who weren't zoo employees. It was a chilly day to be outside, but beautiful. We bundled up and had a blast! Thanks Mom for watching the little Wardlings so that I could go and to R, for picking up Wardling Libby from school! This was a great day spent with my Josh.

zoo

signs?

Have you ever seen the film "Signs?" You know the one where aliens are attacking Mel Gibson, an ex-minister, and his family? The one with Joaquin Pheonix? (by M. Night Schamalyan...-sp) Anyway, if you haven't, then this is such a spoiler... so if you want to see it, then stop reading...

In the end of the movie, this alien is found on their property and everyone has these quirks about them that help to destroy it. The son, who is a Culkin (can't remember his name) has wicked bad asthma and when the alien excretes some type of poisonous gas out of his wrist, it happens that the boy's lungs are closed and thus doesn't breath the fumes in, saving his life. The daughter, who is the little girl from "Little Miss Sunshine" and "No Reservations" has a habit of leaving glasses of water about the house. She has quirks about it...it's too cloudy, it tastes funny, it's green, whatever, won't drink it, but leaves it about the house. Joaquin, who plays Mel's brother, is a baseball player who doesn't play baseball anymore. He had a huge hitting record, but just as big of strike out record. He felt that he had to give each pitch his best effort and swung away @ every single pitch. The mother, Mel's wife, died, when a drunk driver hits her, pinning her to a tree, which has severed her body in 2. This causes him to lose faith and quit the ministry.
Anyway, this alien tries his best to get in the house and though Mel and Joaquin try their darnedest to prevent him from entering, however they fail and the alien gets in. Then these water glasses spill over and burns the alien's skin. What a 'sign' then that the little girl has left water glasses all over the house. Then Joaquin remembers something that Mel's dying wife says, "Tell..so & so, to swing away." He grabs his baseball bat and beats this alien to a pulp. Alien's leave earth. Mel notices all these 'signs' and returns to the ministry. The end.
Now...to my point...every day I am dumping out glasses of water left by someone. This morning, I dumped 4 glasses of water into the kitchen sink. One in the living room on a shelf, one by our microwave, and two on my kitchen counter.(One on each side of the sink.) None of which are mine or Clyde's. Is this a sign that aliens are coming to attack? or is it that I have messy people, possibly forgetful people living in my house. Should I be grateful for said quirk of cups with water in them? Will they save our lives? Seriously, is this a sign that aliens are coming??

templeton feast

I have been so slow to decorate this year for Christmas. I see that others have put up their lights and trimmed their trees weeks ago. I just see the tree up as a ticking clock...reminding me that I only have a few more days to get all that needs to be done, done. I was sewing yesterday & I broke 3 sewing machine needles on one project, 3!! Needless to say lots of hand work will now be done.
I did get our tree and decor stuff out of the attic yesterday. We even strung lights in the front of our house. For FHE we decorated the tree, saving the star of course for Clyde. I love that he adds the star. (I prefer the star to the angel.)
As we were decking out our house with lights, we noticed that a pumpkin of ours had been gnawed on.

Libby and Josh saw a squirrel having a Templeton smorgous borg-feast when they walked up the driveway. (Josh took this picture.) Poor pumpkin!

Penny, Jacob and I got out our lovely furry hamster, Hans Solo to play. They had a fun time with ole Solo. Penny cried when it was time to let him sleep. Hans is getting old...in hamster years that is. We have had him for 2 years and that is about the life span for a hamster. Please Hans make it through Christmas!!

hans

pretty in pink

This is Penny's eye this morning. Just about clear. She still has some poofi-ness around her eye and a smidge of goop in her eye, but it looks good. I'm glad that we don't have to take her back in to see the doctor; not that Penny minds @ all, so long as she doesn't get any s-h-o-t-s. :)

pink eye update

This was Penny's eye this morning. I would have thought that after a few days of antibiotic eye drops that it would look better.
This was her eye yesterday when I got home from church. Still no improvement. I think I am going to give the drops and her eye one more day and then take her back in to the dr.

UGH!:(

pink eye

Thursday afternoon, Penny woke up from her nap, with a red eye. I thought that it may be pink eye, but was hoping that it was just an allergy attack of sorts. It was worse yesterday morning. I took her into their pediatrician, which was diagnosed as pink eye. yeah for us...ugh! So, here was her eye yesterday afternoon, after 2 doses of the way expensive eye drops...
And here it is today. We had just given Penny her 1st dose of eye drops today, so her eye was still watery. She woke up with it all crusty too. Poor girl!

She seems way uncomfortable. Time to wash sheets, pillowcases, towels and anything else she has used in some hot, hot water. :)

I am thankful for antibiotics!

boing!

I tend to be accident prone. Apparently, a few of my children have inherited that trait. I am always running into things, knocking things over, tripping etc. Our Jacob, since his concussion has hit his head about 5 times. His equilibrium must be way off or the clumsiness trait has kicked in. Yesterday, as we are walking into Penny's school, for speech, Jacob walked right into a pole. I was helping Penny pick up some leaves when I heard, "Boing." (You know that sound that you hear when a head runs into a metal pole.) I looked up in time to see him bounce off the pole and fall onto the concrete, bottom first. Poor fella. Then as I was uploading the picture above, he hit his head again on the door jam to our 1/2 bathroom. Wow...maybe we should keep a helmet on this Wardling @ all times!

(If you look closely to the picture you can see the bruise, on his forehead, on his left side.)

christmas concert

Last night we headed down to Erin's school for her choral debut. They had a Christmas musical prepared. It was cute. The cutest part was Erin, because she was so watching us and not her music director. You can see that on the film below. (It is a 5 minute video...) The boys and Penny all got the giggles, so we had to quiet them down.
Erin told me this past weekend that she needed a santa hat for her concert. I thought that we had one in our Christmas storage boxes, but I couldn't find it. Instead of going out to buy one, I searched my stash and found some red, white, and white eyelash yarn. It only took 5 hours, but I finished her hat on time. My finger tips are still hurting. It turned out cute though! I hope you enjoy the video below!

***Here is Jacob's food quote of the day...

Yesterday I heated up chicken nugget left overs from the night before, for lunch. Jacob looks at them and says, "Whenever I eat these, I smell Uno's butt." You smell Uno's butt? was my response. MMM...chicken nuggets.

concert

mannheim steamrollers

A good friend of ours invited Libby to go to a Christmas concert, the Mannheim Steamrollers, last night. Her husband couldn't attend, so the invitation was extended to Libby. Libby came home from school yesterday really excited for the show. I tried to get her to take a nap, but she couldn't. I think these two had a blast! Thanks again for inviting Libby!!

ever wonder...

what it is like to get 5 children to participate in photo-taking?

clothes

the gals

Our good friends, Dede and Ed came for a visit this Thanksgiving weekend. We loved seeing you! We missed all the gals that couldn't make it to the party, that was thrown by Leesa and her family. I miss the girls nights. I looked forward to them each month. That maybe a resolution of 2009...to get the gals together more often. :)

On a separate note...
Jacob has a funny way about expressing himself about food. Usually when I make it, his funny-isms consist of "This is the worst food I ever tasted." or "there's not one good thing about this food." Yesterday he stung us again. Clyde had made this wonderful beef gravy, strognaff dish and served it w/ au gratin potatoes. Jacob gets up from the table and says, "Dad, this food gives me diarrhea!" as he goes into the bathroom. Oh...the sting! I am still laughing about his comment. (Should we tell Jacob that it was all the pears he ate @ Bubbie's house that upset his tummy? He wouldn't believe us if we tried. Nothing can go wrong @ his Bubbie's house!)