We are still alive (barely)

Well it has been quite the new year!!! We started off with our traditional eggnog toast followed by what was the best thing about the previous year was. The kids all picked going to Disney World and if truth be told Daddy probably would have picked that one too. He loves that place!!!

After that Ryan took off to the bowl game. I asked him if it was a bummer to spend all of that money for a blow out. He said as long as it was the Hawkeyes doing the blowing out that he was just fine with spending that money.
The next week Ryan and I went back to Florida. He ran the Disney marathon and I ran the Circle of Life 5K. It was a lot of fun to spend the time together and to accomplish the goals we had set for ourselves. Let me tell you that it is a lot easier to spot your runner in Florida than it is in Chicago.

Can you pick us out? Where are the Werlings?


While we were in Florida Kinnick started the next marathon for our familythat we are yet to complete. We have decided to name this marathon the Indianola sickie bug marathon. I intentionally left the word "annual" out in hopes that this never happens again! Kinnick spent the entire weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Blue house throwing up everything that touched his tummy. He also claimed that Grandma and Grandpa didn't feed him anything, or nuffin as he would say it, all weekend long. Can you imagine Grandma Jan not feeding a child or anybody of any age for that matter. :) After that I got strep throat followed by Hayden and then Christian getting it as well. Christian had the priviledge of throwing up that entire day as well. Let me tell you that was a great Inaguration day!!! Definitely memorable that's for sure!!! Next came the "Ballerina" or diarhea bug that went through Joey then Kinnick then Christian followed up by Hayden. This brings us to this week which is a nasty virus that involves a very sore throat and owie tummy. Christian had the priviledge of starting this one off followed by Hayden who is lying in our bed watching the "Tinkerbell" movie as I type. You wouldn't believe how many times I've been told to find a good doctor.:) The thing is that Ryan has always been right and they have all been virus' that have gone away on their own even though it has taken longer than I would have liked.
The one day in between all of the sickie bugs the kids, I mean Ryan, went outside and made an alligator that was actually supposed to be a whale but ended up as an alligator for some reason.

Well enough complaining! Although it has been a rough month we are very grateful that all of our children have never been seriously ill and that they've all been minor illnesses. We're hoping this isn't a clue as to what this year will be like!
Oh and I forgot that in the middle of all of this I've been trying to potty train a new puppy named Bolt. Don't ask Daddy about it however because he still isn't claiming him as a part of the family. :) He is probably only the size of something that our previous dog Frank would have pooped but we love him anyway!


We hope that all of you are having a better start to the year and are all in good health. If you're not, I do know a good doc!:)

We survived again

Well at the end of November we decided to journey to Disney World again. Ryan has decided that we should go as much as we can while the awe of the big beautiful huge castle is still there. This time we recruited help and had a wonderful time! Thanks so much for coming Amy you were a huge help!!!
Nothing absolutely amazing took place but we had a wonderful time being together as a family. The weather was kind of chilly that week but it was okay with us because it kept the lines small and the sunburns very minimal. The kids actually braved the weather one day and went swimming. None of the adults were brave enough. Here are a bunch of pictures in very random order because I still can't figure out how to upload them in a nice and neat order.

The picture on the right is Christian and Hayden's favorite roller coaster.Christian got to help a dolphin do some tricks. The other picture is right before Joey fell out onto her forhead. Joey got to dress up like Jo-Jo the circus clown and Jo- Jo took her all around the resturaunt pretending that she was the actual attraction to see at the resturaunt. The guy above put on shows at Hollywood Studios and was a riot! We thought having our picture taken with Goofy was pretty fitting. Amy and I got ate by Bruce.This is the Mickey that gave Amy a kiss. I think she fell in love! Pooh had better watch out!The kids got to dress up one day which helped with them always being cold. They were a big hit with the characters as well in their outfits.This was the best character we saw. He was a lot of fun!Talk about a huge chilli dog! This is where I got two huge beverages spilled down my back and in turn got two t-shirts and a bunch of espn pins for free. Kinnick was so proud to have his picture taken with Eyore. We had a lot of fun but were pretty worn out by the end of the trip as you can tell. Actually I think that this picture was taken before we even left for Florida but we were even more tired on the way back! We had a lot of fun and can't wait to go back again.

Last but NOT Least

Well we celebrated our last kid birthday of the year. I get so tired of streamers and balloons by December but the kids absolutely love having their special day decorated. Kinnick was a hoot on his birthday. Everything that he did was because he was the birthday boy. He even told me that he went pee because he was the birthday boy at one point during the day. He was definitely ready for his turn. Especially after watching his other siblings get present after present for three months and not being able to play with them because it was their birthday and not his. He definitely ate the no sharing rule for 2 days after your birthday up. He is very happy that he is four now and thinks he can now do anything. Here are some pictures of his big day.
Kinnick's Handy Manny tool box was definitely the biggest hit.He thought that he needed a snowman cake which was by far the easiest cake of all four of them!We were all very thankful that he no longer spits when he blows out his candles out.
Kinnick is getting to be such a big boy and we are enjoying every step of the way. Well except when he thinks he's the big cheese of the house.
We love you Kinnick!

God, thank you for magnets! Amen.

Last night I had the wonderful opportunity to have my niece, Sophia, stay over night at my house. Her brother got very sick and ended up in the hospital. He's doing much better now but last night Sophie needed somewhere to sleep and I gladly volunteered. I had let Ryan put the kids to bed and was enjoying some time with my friend Amy when the kids started begging that I come up and say good night. After dragging myself upstairs unwillingly I was blessed in a major way. The girls all wanted to say prayers so I let them and Joey and Hayden's prayers were precious but really pretty repetitive of past prayers. Then Sophie started her prayer.

Sophia's prayer:
Dear God,
Thank you for loving me God and for wrapping your heart around me. Thank you for my friends, for my bunk beds, for my family and for my grandma and my grandpa. Thank you for scissors and for paper to cut. And God do you know what? I think you're wonderful! Thank you for magnets.
Amen

This little girl just turned 4. I was so blessed by the simplicity of her prayer yet the depth at the same time. God has wrapped His heart completely around us in many different ways! He sent His only son to die a horrible death just for you and me. God loves us so much that He found a way that we can continue to sin, like He knew we would, but yet He can still see us as white as snow and love us as though we hadn't just torn His heart in two with the sins that we continually commit. She also just seemed to get what a prayer was at her young age; a conversation between her and her wonderful Heavenly Father! I am so lucky to have Sophia in my life! I love her dearly! Thank you for the humbling lesson in prayer last night sweetie!

Not perfect

If ever I thought that I was on the verge of being a perfect mother it was all shot down this week. Christian has been learning a new word every week at school. We get a list of these words and had I reviewed these words sooner I could have seen this coming. Christian jumped into the car after school and got all buckled in along with his sister and we were off. The kids were just chattering away when all of the sudden Christian piped up above them all.
Christian: "Mom?"
Mom: "Yes Chrsitian."
Christian: " I really wish our house was orderly."
Mom: "What!?"
Chrisitan: "I really wish our house was orderly because our house is always messy."
Mom: "Sorry buddy that's just the way it goes sometimes."

In the back of my mind all I could think of was, "Did he tell his teacher this?"
Oh well. Maybe in a few years our house can be orderly Christian. Especially if I have 4 little helpers instead of destroyers.! :)

Boy that boy is cool!

Well in the last three weeks Christian has really grown up!

First off he can officially ride his own bike (not his sisters) all by his self.

The second thing is that he has finally lost his first tooth. He already has two of his adult teeth grown in, so there's only a little hole where the baby one used to be.

He was sooo proud of losing this thing. He didn't cry when I actually pulled it. 3 minutes later when he looked in the mirror and saw the blood however is when the water works started! I really wish I would have gotten it on camera.
After he had shown his tooth to everyone that was at their house he decided he would write a story about it.

The cover page is to Mrs. Strong which says, " Ihope you like my story."The story says:
Once upon a time there was a boy. He lost his tooth.
Boy that boy is cool!
The end

I thought this was priceless!!
He sure is growing up fast!!!

Another year older

Well within a week we celebrated two birthdays. Hayden turned 6 and Joey turned 5. They both think that over the night before their birthdays that they grew. Hayden thinks that she can now read because she's six. She's getting closer but not quite there. Joey thinks that pants that were too big for her two days ago should now fit her. Sorry Joey, I think that you might end up being vertically challenged. :( The days turned out to be pretty big successes. Hayden actually got to celebrate her day for a day and a half because of Daddy's work schedule which was just fine with her. Joey turned out to be like I was with just being completely excited that the day was all about her. I hope she is always like that! The cakes weren't nearly the disasters that Christian's was. I even got it down to only two cans of frosting. Here are some pictures of their days.

Hayden insisted on a pink horse with sparkles on it.She seemed to really like it.When opening her gifts she didn't take much time to actually look at them. We made her hold up this one so we would have a least one present on record.Here's Hayden wearing her new tapping shoes that both Joey and her were dying to have!!!

Joey got to look with me on the computer to figure out which cake she wanted. She finally decided on a duck after looking for an hour.

When Joey came downstairs the morning of her birthday she immediately started trying to guess what was inside each box. Who does that sound like? (Grandpa Werling):)

When she started opening her gifts she discovered that she had only gotten 2 of them right. Maybe after a little more practice she'll have it down to a science.:)

Sorry it's been so long since we've posted a blog. We had some trouble with our pictures downloading. We promise we'll get you caught up.

Thank you for this deal!

I was thinking about all of the funny things that our kids say so I thought I would share the latest funnies.

The other day it was just Kinnick and I at home for the morning. He came up to me while I was doing something and he asked, "Mom can I please have a snack?" This was right after I had just given him a fruit snack so I said, "No." He thought that if he continued to ask my answer might change so he did so about three more times. After my third no it got pretty quiet for a while until I heard this very sad, "Mom." I stopped what I was doing and gave him my full attention.
Kinnick: Mommy?
Mommy: What Kinnick?
Kinnick: Mommy, I might die if I don't get a snack.
The way this three year old asked was so pathetic and sad that I died laughing and then gave in.

Joey came up to me one day out of the blue and stated, "Mommy, you are so compilated!"
I did spell that right she must have heard someone else say that they were complicated and then repeated it. I'm not really sure where it came from however because, to my recollection, neither Ryan or I have ever said that to the kids (not that we haven't thought it!).

Christian has had to wear a patch on his right eye for the last two weeks because his left eye is weak. He had a neighbor friend over yesterday while he was wearing his patch and the neighbor asked, "Why do you have that patch on your eye?". After a little bit of silence Christian looked at the neighbor with the most serious face and told him, "My eye fell out." Ryan and I both died laughing! He was so serious.

Every night we say prayers with the kids before they go to bed. Hayden insists that she says a prayer as well which is fine with us. They have listened to us say prayer and now copy what we say at the beginning of our prayers. Ryan always prays, "Dear God, thank you for this day...." Hayden for the longest time mumbled very bad while she said her prayer and we have just recently made her speak clear while she prays. When we could finally understand what she was saying we realized that, at bed time, she would say, "Bless this food to our bodies and make us healthy and strong." twice. We also realized when opening her prayer she would say, "Dear God, Thank you for this deal...."
This struck me funny because our days at times seem to be quite the deal.
Although they are messy and loud and full of pure chaos we still need to be thankful that God has provided the day for us to live and praise Him!
So... Dear God, I truly do thank you for this deal that you've given us to live through and be blessed by!

Weird Events

Well school is well under way and we have had some weird things happen already. Two days ago Hayden came home and informed us all that she now has a boyfriend. SHE'S IN KINDERGARTEN!! Daddy was not very happy. I think Hayden might have a tough time convincing Ryan that she can date.:) This is definitely a different story than when she was convinced that her daddy wasn't a doctor but was in fact Super Man.
Christian came home yesterday and told us that in art class they learned about Vincent Van Gogh and they watched a video that talked about him cutting his ear off. We didn't think anything of it until bed time came and he, all of the sudden, was terrified to go to sleep. They must have played some scary music in the video while they were talking about Van Gogh's ear. We contemplated whether or not he was just trying to get out of going to go to bed until the tears started pouring down his face. Poor guy!!! Who knew History could be so scary.
Joey and Kinnick haven't done anything too surprising yet so I'm chalking it up to grade school. I'm now making sure that I enjoy every moment of the preschool years that I have left. If the last few days are a hint of what is to come I think that we're in for a rough road!:)
I'm sure it will be just fine but is a little surprising right now!

She did it!!!

Well after a long summer of Joey trying to learn how to ride her bike with the help of her dad and mom she decided that she would just learn by herself! Her best friend Hannah came over one day this week and helped her because she had already learned how to ride (which is what started this whole endeavor). Two days later Joey got her bike out and took off by herself. She's not so great at steering through tight places. We found this out when she ran over her sister who was sitting on the sidewalk. Oh boy was Hayden mad! Other than that she was doing great.
Once Joey is determined to get something done it will be done!!

She got to be great at riding until we decided to go on to the sidewalk where she was a little more limited as to where she could ride. It really frustrated her for a while but she didn't give up and now can ride anywhere she wants! She even made her brother a little upset that she could ride and he couldn't so he got on Hayden's bike and learned as well. He was doing great until the chain broke on his bike and we had to take a break to go get his old bike. For some reason the ride from here to Grandma yellow house made him scared and it was a war to try to get him to ride back. I think we're back to square 1 and a half. Not quite as bad as it was but not really riding on our own anymore. Oh well maybe this weekend he'll learn. I'm not really sure that Hayden has any interest at all yet. Needless to say Joey is the go getter of the family. She has accomplished many things before her brother and sister.
It kind of freaks me out!!!