Christmas Day

We went to church on Christmas Eve, and then came home and did our last box in the "What God Wants for Christmas" book, and opened presents. Then, on Christmas morning, we opened stockings, and played with toys for awhile and then went to my Mom's for dinner. It was a fun day. I didn't get any good pictures at Mom's, because my camera battery was dead, but here are some from in the morning.

Christmas Eve at Home

Our Christmas Get Away

We went to Kearney on Tuesday, did some Christmas shopping and stayed at Holiday Inn for Kendra's birthday. Kendra had a blast on the water slides. Then we went to Grand Island to the singing Christmas Tree there. It was a really fun time as a family.

Collin loved kicking his feet in the water.


I couldn't figure out how to put my camera on no flash, so I took a few clips of it. This is when Jesus came out of the tomb.

Christmas Program

Kendra was in the Christmas program at church last Sunday night. This is a video of her saying her line, although you can't hear her very well. It was "Move over little fellas, we're comin' through, we've got to get to the stable". She did say them, so I was proud! :)

Kendra's 5th Birthday Party

Birthday Party

We had Kendra's birthday party yesterday. Here's a little clip of blowing out candles!

My "Baby" Girl

My little girl is going to turn 5 years old on the 21st. It hardly seems like she should be that old, and already starting school next fall! Here are some pictures of her growing up.

Brand new baby!

1 year old, and LOVING that cake!

2 years old

I'm 3!

4 years old. She wanted a "farm" party!

I'll post pictures of birthday #5 very soon!

Playing in the Snow

We took the kids sledding late the other afternoon, and it was just a LITTLE bit cold! Okay, a LOT cold! It was fun for the few minutes we were out! :)

Ready to go out.

Collin after getting dumped off of the sled...oops!

Fun!

Kendra before falling off face first.....

Kendra after falling off face first!

Kendra and I made cookies. Can you tell she loves sprinkles?!

Decorating For Christmas

Decorating for Christmas has been an ongoing thing at our house this year, we have done it gradually! Kendra and Collin have "helped", and it has been fun!

We just got our basement family room painted, and it looks so much more "homey" down there. That is where we have our Christmas together.

The tree downstairs
Some of the decorating we have done since getting it painted

We started a Bearfoots collection of sorts, they are so cute!

Kendra made these decorations with Grandma Margaret and at MOPS, so we had to hang them up.

I bought these gel gems to put in our big dining room window, thinking it would be fun for the kids, although I did not anticipate Collin tearing baby Jesus all up! I had to patch Him back together, and it will work for this year, but next year we may have an expanded set! We are missing the angel, because we had to move it out of his reach, and I cut off one Wise Man! You can see we have had some snow again outside!

Collin's New Words

Collin is starting to say more, although it's not always really clear. Anytime I get out the camera, he won't say a thing, but last night I caught him saying "puppy" and "car". Not a very good clip, though, because it is so dark.

Cool Shades

Collin was just in one of those moods last night, and he had me laughing so hard! He came out of the bedroom with these sunglasses on like he was the coolest thing ever.

My Little Reader

I took this picture of Collin the other night. He loves to read books.

Collin's Ears- Update

We took Collin for his follow up checkup a week after surgery, and there was a blood clot blocking one of the tubes, so they had us doing drops, and he was just screaming when we would do it. Then he started running a fever, so I took him last week to see our family doctor. She said he probably had a virus, but that the tube looked clear, so we quit giving him drops then. I took him in yesterday for his checkup again at the ENT specialist, and he said everything looks great, and unless something seems wrong, we don't have to go back until April! Yeah! I think they are helping, because he seems to be hearing more, and he had a cold, and didn't get an infection.

Thanksgiving at Mom's

We had Thanksgiving at Mom's house on Sunday after Thanksgiving. It was lots of good food, and lots of fun!

Can I help, Grandma?

Kendra and Maycee decorating the tree.

Collin begging Aunt Renee for more pie.

Read me a book, Grandma!

Ready to go outside!

Christmas on the Bley Side

Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving with Mike's parents for lunch, then came home in the afternoon. It was a fun day.

Collin decided to give the lizard a swim in Kendra's cereal bowl after breakfast. :)

He had a new coat, and I put it on him to see if it fit. He was ready to go out the door as soon as I put it on him!

Kendra helping Papa Ron with the turkey.

Collin stuffing in a roll.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today I am thankful for:

Being able to sleep in

Being able to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with my kids

The yummy turkey dinner we will have in a little while

The fingerprints on my front door :)

My family

My friends

My home

My health

The brave Pilgrims who came here in the first place so that we can freely worship the Lord

So, so many other blessings!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Sleeping Peacefully

Collin is such a goof when he sleeps. His pajamas always look something like this. They are stretched about as far as they stretch I think.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

It was so fun to wake up this morning to see SNOW! Mike got called in early, so I actually knew before I got up, but it was fun to see what the kids thought of it. Collin was in awe, he couldn't quite figure it out when he touched it! :) I snapped this picture quick before I headed out the door to work. We have Christmas with Mike's family on Friday, so it puts me more in the mood!

Our Weekend In Wichita

We went to Wichita for the weekend, since we had a long one to see some close friends (Angie and Amy) we had not had a chance to see in a long time. (Marty and Renee also went.) It was a really great time for us to catch up, and just have fun together, and for the guys and kids to all get to know each other. As we were leaving Kendra said "Mom, we HAVE to do this again...it was fun!", and I agree! :)

Our Weekend In Wichita

Collin's Surgery

Well, we took Collin in for surgery at 7:00 our time this morning. It only took about 15 minutes, and we were able to go and hold him right away. He did really good, they said that they don't see too many go as smoothly as his! He didn't fight the anesthesia at all, and only cried a little bit after waking up. He did have a lot of fluid on his right ear, and they said this should definitely help. He act almost like he normally does, just wants held a little more than usual, but he's been running around playing since we got home. Thank you for all of your prayers!

Good Advice

I received some good advice from both my mom and my mother in law about Collin's plugs. They said that he may do better if Kendra had plugs. Sure enough, we had a much happier bath time tonight! Yea! We had quite a time getting them in, but once he was in the tub it went pretty smooth! Thank you for the good advice, and thank you all for your prayers!

Collin's Ears...Update

Collin got his ear plugs made that he will have to wear any time he is in the water after surgery. They told us to start having him wear them in the bath now, so he is used to them when he has to wear them. Lets just say I was crying after bath time last night...I sure hope it gets easier. He did not like them at all, and it was a fight the whole time. I think the part that bothers me the most is that he LOVES bath time, and so do I. It's like the time of day we both look forward to most, and now I am afraid he will start to not like it anymore. Here he is this morning trying them out. :)

Collin's Ears

As many of you know, Collin has had lots of ear infections in his short little life so far. Kendra is now pretending to be an "Ear, Nose Throat Specialist"! He runs around the house checking his own ears a lot too.

He will be having surgery next Tuesday morning bright and early to have tubes put in.