Oh, Christmas Tree!

Our Christmas tree is up, decorated and twinkly! We decided to try to have a Christmas picture taken at home this year to put with our Christmas cards, so Brent wanted to go ahead and put the tree up a little early. Brent got the furniture moved around and the tree put up while the kids and I were at Bible study, then we decorated it last night. I'm so glad we did--it looks great! The kids love it and they can't stop looking at it. We have a gate around it to keep "little hands" from touching it--I'll post pictures soon.

Tomorrow is our last MAPS session for the semester, but the kids and I will unfortunately miss it. I'm scheduled for a CT scan in the morning to see if they can figure out my mystery pain. I'll keep you posted.

Yesterday was my Bible study group's turn to work with the kids in the nursery during our normal class time. My friend Shanee and I teamed up and did craft and song time together. The craft was a long piece of paper that the kids spread glue on with foam "brushes", then sprinkled colored sand on to symbolize all of Abraham's descendants. It was a neat idea, but a MESS! I have such an appreciation for teachers!!

Toaster oven?

Graham's ear doesn't seem to bother him a bit. He also doesn't seem to mind the taste of his antibiotic...we're lucking out! I hope it's doing the trick.

Not much new at our house--trying to transition the boys from bottles to sippy cups, hoping to get Sophie potty-trained before the end of the year, and starting to put some thought into Christmas gifts.

I'm thinking that I'd like to have a toaster oven. (We had one when we were a "pre-children" household, but it broke and we never replaced it because we never used it.) Now I think it would be a dream-come-true...for things like english muffin pizzas, chicken nuggets, fish sticks, dinner rolls. Does anyone have one gathering dust at their house that you want to sell? I hate to spend $75+ on something until I know if I'm a toaster oven gal...

Update on Graham's ear

We got in to see the doctor yesterday, and she said Graham's eardrum definitely ruptured. She was surprised that the other eardrum hadn't ruptured yet--apparently it's pretty bad, too. POOR GUY! She gave him an antibiotic to take for 10 days, then we go back to see her in about 3 weeks to make sure the hole in his eardrum has healed up. She said only about 2% of babies need to have surgical correction to the eardrum after it ruptures, so we're prayerful that he'll heal up fine. He's a toughy!

To add insult to injury, all three of the kids got a flu vaccination yesterday, too. I didn't think they'd give Graham one since he's sick, but they did. Sophie was able to take the nasal mist vaccination, but the boys got shots in the leg. They need to go back in a month to get the second dose (since it's their first year getting one, they have to have two to make sure it "sticks".) They both handled it pretty well! One little grunt out of Graham, and a couple minutes of crying out of Blake. He's sensitive like his mommy. :-)

Sophie is either a night owl or an insomniac. Last night she wouldn't go to bed until 11:30pm--if I put her in her room she would scream a blood-curdling scream until I went back in. It wasn't her normal "I'm bored, please come entertain me" cry--it was a fearful cry--so I don't feel good about letting her cry it out. We're cutting her naps way back and not letting her sleep so late in the morning...hopefully it will solve itself.

Graham's eardrum

Poor Graham--his eardrum ruptured! I was taking him out of the bathtub tonight and getting him ready for bed, and green ick started pouring out of his ear. He hasn't been acting like anything's been bothering him, so it was a total surprise! All three of them have had runny noses for a day or so (and Blake feels like he has a little fever tonight), but nothing indicated that Graham was having such trouble. I called the doctor and she reassured me that he probably feels much better now that it ruptured, and to call her office first thing tomorrow morning to get him in to see her. He feel right to sleep, and never did cry about it or anything. (Then why do I feel like a terrible mom that might have missed a sign that he was having trouble???)

Sophie had a terrible night last night--she wouldn't go to sleep until after 11pm, then woke up several times during the night screaming for us. I finally grabbed a blanket and curled up with her in her tiny little bed. My back feels like it's in knots today, but by golly--she finally slept! Those nights won't be so rough once we move her up to a full-size bed, but this toddler bed with its itty-bitty mattress is torture. :-)

I'll let you know what the doctor says tomorrow!

Happy Belated 60th, Aunt Kris!! (updated with pics!)

I goofed!! I had today marked on my calendar for my Aunt Kris' 60th birthday, but it was actually on the 1st...HAPPY BELATED 60th, AUNT KRIS!!

As promised, here are a couple of videos of the big walkers (push the play button to the lower left of each of the pictures to play the video) :

Happy post-Election Day!

Aren't you glad it's over?? I've not said much about the election (I don't feel qualified to throw my two cents around), but I'm so glad to have yesterday behind us! Maybe our phone will stop ringing with all of the political recordings? Some of the most intelligent, successful people we know had passionately opposing opinions on which candidate was the best choice. I've never had more desire to host a dinner party and let them duke it out.
:-) Our own "town hall debate"--Stiles style! Nothing fancy--just BBQ and two podiums. Brent admits that he probably would have been the most opinionated guest there, though, so it's probably better that the party never happened. :-)

Blake has a new tooth! Another top one--that makes four on bottom and three on top!

Lots of weekend pictures

The kids had a fun Halloween, and the boys have an uncanny ability to dig through a bucket of candy to find the suckers. Here are a few pictures of the weekend!

The kids opening their Halloween cards from Grandma & Grandpa Schuler:

We went to Melissa's office first, then to the bank. Graham really wanted to share his sucker!


Kelly made them each treat bags full of candy and Easy Mac. HA!! They love Easy Mac!!

While the kids napped after their sugar buzz, Brent carved pumpkins--with his power tools. :-) He says this is the way he plans to do it every year from now on! It has a bit of a learning curve, though--notice the pumpkin in the middle is missing an eyeball, and the one on the left should be a big smile with teeth...we got a good laugh over those!

Time for trick-or-treating!

We went to Exploration Place over the weekend to check out their children's area. It was just what we'd been looking for! With the weather getting cooler, I've been looking for somewhere to take the kids to play. They have a water station with bathtub toys, a play kitchen, a Lego table and train tables. The section that we played in is for ages 3 and under, so the toys are geared towards their size and age. The steps are wide and shallow, and the boys loved climbing up and down them. They had it figured out in no time!



Here's a video of the kids playing in the water!

We spent some time in the main exhibit areas, too. They have an aviation exhibit that's permanent (we are the Air Capitol of the World!), and two traveling exhibits--one on the human body and one on POOP. Seriously.

Brent had fun playing the flight simulation games in the aviation exhibit.

This is a video of the wall in the aviation room. The entire wall is covered with tiny metal discs, and the tower holds two high-powered fans. You can "steer" the wind to see changes in wind currents. (This is only a small portion of this wall--it's huge! Notice the girl at the bottom of the screen--that gives you an indication of the wall's height.) Cool stuff!