I could probably be charged with blog neglect. Let’s hope nobody turns me in!

Needless to say, November and December were pretty busy months for us and not because of the holidays. We sold the house, bought a new one over Thanksgiving and then spent the rest of the year packing up all of our belongings. Christmas was pretty low key, but I have to say that not having to worry about all the Santa stuff was a huge relief this year. We went to Christmas Eve service and then opened our presents when we got home. Almost all of us enjoyed sleeping in Christmas morning… Jay, of course, was up early for one of his final duck hunts.

Packing the truck was more than a little stressful. We were all very doubtful that we’d be able to fit all of our belongings on the truck! It was a super tight squeeze, but our friends worked some magic and packed it all in. Loading day was gorgeous… we couldn’t have asked for nicer weather. Moving day was a whole other story! It was cold and windy and bad weather forced us to take a different route. It took us nearly 9 hours to make the journey that usually takes us 6!

So, we’re settling in and boxes are gradually disappearing. We love the new house! You should come for a visit if you haven’t already :)

The Lord has really blessed us and it’s been very clear to us during this move.  We left behind some truly amazing friends in North Platte that we’ll have to stay in contact with.  Life won’t be the same without them :(

Aren’t they cute? :)

Someone please tell the 9-year-old that it really is ok to smile and show some teeth for these things!

The weather was beautiful this year for Trick-or-Treating! Some friends came by and we walked about a mile, gathering entirely too much candy.

McKenna had a hard time choosing a costume this year. She really wanted something super scary (which I nixed) and didn’t want anything girly (good thing because apparantly the trend this year is super slutty), so we finally settled on a pirate.

The boys were zombie soccer players. Jake’s soccer coach had a great idea for this costume and the boys loved it! Jay did a great job attaching the balls to the jerseys!

Josh had the scary zombie look down pat!

The dogs were a little late to the game, since I refused to pay $7 for a dog costume. I got suckered in last night when Kenna noticed that they were 75% off ;)

Diego was not a fan… at all.

Daisy tolerated it long enough for me to snap a picture and then she was pawing it off of her head. I guess I don’t really blame her!

Poor Diego… he’s such a good sport! Here’s Jake pretending to bite the "hot dog!"

My poor, little neglected blog. I can’t believe I’ve gone a month without at least saying hello! Needless to say, it’s been more than a little busy around here!

Soccer season is over, thank goodness. As much as I love watching the kids play, I’m not a huge fan of the driving all over creation. Kenna’s team placed 3rd in fall league. The last few games were pretty brutal, but the girls had fun. Jake’s team came together for a tournament a few weekends ago and kicked bootay! It was so awesome to see the boys mesh and play like they’d been playing soccer together all summer. (A little back story… the head and assistant coach quit before the season was over and took about half the team with them. The club ended up combining the 2 U10 teams, so these boys had about 3 weeks of practicing together before the tournament.) The Blue Devils won all 3 games… what an awesome way to end the year!

The kids are all doing great! We have conferences this coming week and I’m hoping to hear what wonderful little angels I have! Hey, no laughing!

The biggest news of all is that we are moving! We stuck the "for sale" sign in the yard about a week ago and are praying for a speedy sale! Jay has to be there in January and we’d really like to move together. We’ve had quite a bit of activity and even a repeat showing, so I’m hoping that we’ll be hearing something soon.

Well, the wrist is not actually broken.  Thankfully, what the doc thought was a fracture wasn’t and she’s not tender in the spots where she was last week.  She is, however, tender in other spots… so, it’s still a sports injury, it’s just not as bad!  It’s likely just a bad sprain.  Her hand/wrist is still pretty swollen and there is some bruising, not to mention pain when she rotates her forearm or when pressure is applied.  Prescription… wrap it, ice it and take some ibuprofen.  I did make an appointment with the sports medicine facility, but the earliest they could get her in was next week.  I guess we’ll keep the appointment unless she’s miraculously healed in the meantime!

We experienced our first broken bone yesterday. McKenna was doing a drill at soccer practice and fell while back peddling (running backwards for all of us non-sports people, me included). I took her home and we iced it through dinner. It was swelling despite the ice and painful to the touch, so I took her to urgent care. X-rays showed a fracture on the radial fossa (or "anatomical snuff box"). He wasn’t sure if she fractured her growth plate as well, but will re-check her in a week.

So, she’s splinted up and still in some pain. Such a trooper though! She didn’t want to leave practice last night and insisted on still participating in P.E. today (they were running a mile). We’re hoping that she’ll still be able to play soccer since they’ve only got 4 games left in a few weeks, but if she can’t I know she’ll make a fabulous cheerleader for her team :)

A big milestone for Joshua this past weekend… he learned to ride his bike without training wheels! He’s covered in war wounds, but he is so proud of himself and so are we! There were many times when he wanted to quit, but Jay persuaded him to keep trying. At one point on Friday night they were out in the dark cul de sac (they only had the light from the street lamp) and Josh wiped out. He was crying, but Jay was encouraging him to get back on the bike. Josh had had enough and said, "Dad, I know it’s past my bed time. I should really go in." He was pretty desperate to get off that bike and, honestly, I can’t say that I blame him. His poor knees will never be the same!

Here’s a little video of him really riding on his own for the first time :)

Sunday, McKenna stepped on the field as an official club player. They lost their first game (heartbreaking… the only goal was scored in the last 30 seconds of the game), but won the 2nd game.

She played for only a minute or two in the first game, but ended up getting a decent amount of playing time the 2nd game. I suspect that her coach will play her more often as he gets a feel for how she plays. I prepared her in advance so she wouldn’t be sad about not playing much and she said she didn’t really care. She was just happy to be able to cheer on and support her team :)

It was fun to watch them play, but so different than watching the boys. I look forward to seeing her get comfortable with this team and grow as a player.

We celebrated 7 years with Josh yesterday! It seems like we’ve gone from this…

to this…

in the blink of an eye!

Ok, well, not really. This kid has definitely put a number of gray hairs on my head, but he’s still my little love bug at the ripe old age of 7. I treasure all the hugs and kisses he bestows upon me daily because I’m sure there will come a day when it’s just not cool to do those things any more.

Here’s a link to last year’s post where I recounted his birth story. Joshua’s Birth Story

Our summer vacation has officially come to an end. All 3 kiddos went back to school today. McKenna survived her first day of middle school, although the real test will come tomorrow when the upper grades are there too! We went in this evening and met all of her teachers and walked her around to all of her classes since she only met with her home room teacher today. I think she’s most excited about Art and Reading! The boys are happy to be back in school, mostly because they get to see all of their friends on a daily basis. Can’t say that I blame them!

It never ceases to amaze me how much the kids change from year to year (month to month some of the time)! They’ve all grown about an inch and a half since about April, which means McKenna is only a few inches shorter than I am! Anyway, I love doing the comparisons so here we go…

2008

2007

2006

2005