BROKEN!

This were NOT the word I was thinking would happen to MY child before any of my siblings children, but it was!

On Sunday I was getting lunch ready, while Alan shoveled, Zachary & Kye played with blocks, & Emma was reading. It was a lovely Sunday morning where everything was going SMOOTHLY ...

Until the SCREAMS of pain started from Kye.

The screaming wasn't shocking, but it DIDN'T STOP --- that was the SHOCKING part.

Our TV speaker had fallen right on top of his little foot --- OWIE!

Kye's foot was IMMEDIATELY bruised & swolled when Daddy brought him upstairs.

I KNEW something just wasn't right.

He screamed for a good 45 minutes until his Daddy distracted him with a Peek-a-boo game ... good ol' Daddy to the RESCUE!

We made an appt. with the x-ray people at Wee Care Pediatrics & proceeded onto church.

{I had to be there to do sharing time & Al had to be there to give the closing prayer}

Alan left church early to take Kye to his appt, while I did sharing time & gathered up our other 2 once church was over.

--- YEP, the x-ray showed a nice, clean break right on the GROWTH PLATE OF THE BIG TOE!He was in this temporary boot Sunday to Monday & was ABSOLUTELY miserable!!! He wouldn't walk on it, put pressure on it, or allow ANYTHING to touch it.

{Sunday night was WORSE than your first night home with a NEWBORN ... he was just so miserable. No pain medicine even touched the pain he was in, & he was just restless, sleepless, & couldn't get comfy.}

Monday morning we got up, had a bath, got the call for our next appt with the Pediatric Surgeon, & waited around until NAP time to go to it ... UGH!

Oh well, at least they were FAST, EFFICIENT, & good to Kye.

They explained that what we do NOW is not necessarily the ONLY thing we'll have to do or the sure fix. Since his break is on his growth plate of the ONLY toe that matters, we would cast it, decide after the cast came off if it helped, & then wait & see if the toe really still does grow ... Instead of pin it immediately.

Now that sounds like FUN! :)

He did really well having his foot wrapped in a cast.

He only wimpered a little having it done.

Immediately after they did it, he would put pressure on it, but couldn't REALLY walk since it was so bulky & slippery.

By Tuesday he was cruising on it & climbing like normal. I'm glad he caught onto life FAST cause let's just say a miserable 2 year old make a MISERABLE household!

He'll wear his cast for 3 weeks & then we'll see what the next step will be ...

He still gets tired by the end of the day hauling his leg around, but he gets better & better by the day.

He get frustrated when his cast gets stuck or caught on things --- which happens often enough to cause ANYONE a headache!

But all-in-all I'm glad it's "HEALING"!!!

We're glad that this little "incident" is able to HEAL & not really have detremental consequences!

It is kinda cute to see him "PEG-LEG" around the house!

It brings a smile to my face.

I'm so grateful kids are so adaptable to life ---

I strive to be more child-like in SOOOO many ways!

SNOW!!!

At the first of January it had been a really long time since we had seen snow. My kids had been BEGGING me to go sledding, but with no snow that wasn't going to happen. Finally one Saturday we woke-up to SNOW!! {& lots of it!!!}

It was HEAVY, WET, EXHAUSTING to shovel snow, but my kids were STOKED!!! That's ALL I heard about was going sledding. So I threw all my "Saturday Plans" out the window & headed to the store to buy sleds. The only problem was: Daddy was outta town & I wasn't taking 3 kids to a crowded sledding hill by myself. {there's really only 1 hill anywhere near us, we live in a pretty FLAT area!} SOOOO ... I improvised & built a HILL in our front yard with all the snow I had shoveled off the driveway.

PERFECT for them ... PERFECT for ME!

My kids & I had a good 3 hours of F-U-N together!!!!

While we were buying sleds I also happened upon this LOVELY machine & just couldn't pass it up:It was muchly enjoyed THAT day & for MANY, MANY, MANY days after!

I LOVE me some HOT COCOA!!!!

*** Adult Game Night ***

The night before Ashely & Luis left to go back to California we got together as couples at Dave's new house. We ate pizza, talked/socialized, played games, had snacks, & laughed A LOT!!

It was fun to have one last HOOOO-RAH with them before they left!

I didn't get many pictures, but I did want to remember the night so here's the POST:{We were lucky enough to have Santa eat with us!!!}

Although I didn't get pics of EVERYONE we were all there except Daddy-o. :(

Thank y'all for coming & enjoying the night with us & thanks Dave for hosting it for us!!!

{I BAWLED all the way home knowing that I wouldn't get to see Ash & Lu at Mom's the next time I went :(}

Good Luck having your baby Sista!!! Can't wait to see Little Miss Moreno!

{isn't she TEENEY TINY for being due the end of January!! I'm glad I'm not pregnant next to her!!!}

December 26th

I quite liked that Alfie got the day AFTER Christmas off!

It was like the holiday just kept going & it was LOVELY!

We both got a nice run in that morning, & then we got to enjoy reading ALL the Christmas books before they got put on the book shelf! :)Then it was off the return some items & then to FIVE GUYS ... YUMM-O!

I LOVE this place!

My kids LOVE the peanuts, & the grilled cheese!& the SODA, of course!

{soda is a RARE commidity as our house}

& I LOVE IT ALL!!!Alan was probably SICK of eating at the place since thats what he has been outta town building is a Five Guys in Washington. He gets to eat at either of the other stores in Washington ANYTIME he wants ... FOR FREE! So needless to say, he does eat there at least twice a week --- LUCKY!!!!! But he KNOWS how much I like to eat here too, so he suprised me & drove us there for lunch --- THANKS BABE!After lunch we came home & waited for Grandpa & Grandma Fergy, Dave, Ashley & Luis to come over to visit us. We had a WONDERFUL visit & got spoiled from them TOO!!We relaxed, talked, ate some more, ---& enjoyed some DANCING!!!Grandma was convinced to color with Emma instead of dancing & I think Grandmas couldn't of been HAPPIER!!
It was FABULOUS to be able to stretch out the holiday for 2 days!
{At least it felt that way to me!}

Christmas 2011

We woke up Christmas Morning at about 8:00am, ahh it's wonderful to have GOOD sleeping kids!!! Emma was the first awake & because we put the kiddy gate at the top of the stairs she couldn't go anywhere, but into our room. We FINALLY woke up Zachary & Kye about 8:15.

And guess what ... ... SANTA had come!!!So we got all lined up ready to roll, said a family prayer, & unleashed the F-U-N!{yes, that is WHITE printer paper that Emma is so EXSTATIC about in the picture above ... MOST USED PRESENT from Christmas!!!}

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After we opened Santa presents/stockings & a few more we ate our yummy crepe breakfast & got ready for church.

{I was too busy trying to get breakfast put together/cleaned-up & be on time to church that I didn't get a picture of our gourmet crepe bar ... BUMMER}The kids got new church clothes from Santa.It was fun to go to church.

It prolonged the opening of presents & it was such an amazing meeting with wonderful messages, & musical numbers.

I'm always a little sad once it's ALL over! But it was really fun to have all 3 kids REALLY into the opening of presents & all their toys they got!

After a quick clean-up we had Grammy & Grandpa Madsen & Nate over for lunch & a visit. It's always fun to visit with family during the holidays!

Then it was off for NAP TIME!! {HALLELUJAH!}

After naps & a light dinner we headed off the see the lights at Temple Square as a FAMILY.{We went last year on Christmas Day & have decided that's the day to go as LONG as we go early. It isn't as crowded as usual & I love bringing Christmas full swing!}

After warming up with Hot Chocolate & Toast, we headed downstairs to play our new Wii.

Just Dance was a HUGE Hit!The Cars 2 game is a little advanced for our kids, but they'll "grow" into it!

It's still a fun one to watch them play as they think they are driving really well!!

It was a MERRY MERRY Christmas!

I'm so blessed to have a WONDERFUL husband & kids!!!This holiday season was different not having Al home a lot of it, but it made us all value the time we did spend together!

We were lucky enough to have Daddy stay in town the whole week after Christmas so we got to enjoy LOTS of family time before Emma went back on track.

{Daddy still worked in town, but was HOME for dinner if not before then!}

It was a fun holiday season where ALL of our kids were excited to open presents & reactions to different things were PRICLESS!!!

There were also many FHE lessons where I felt like my kids "got" the true meaing of Christmas & that was an awesome spirit in our home all month long.

It was awesome to be able to spend all month with ALL of my kids doing fun RANDOM things whenever we wanted! Emma was off school, so we had no schedule & nap time was non-exsistent, or we had it while driving to our adventure for the day. {which was actually not that bad considering night time was then a BREEZE!} It was fun to have my Twinster & her hubby around for part of December as well!!

I'm so grateful for my Savior! I'm grateful to know that he did live on this earth. That he died for us all. That he LOVES & knows me & my family. He KNOWS ME! He knows what I can handle & is there to help me every step of the way. I'm grateful to have had this time of year to re-focus my life on him. What a blessing it is to have such a LOVING Savior in my life!!

I hope you all had a VERY MERRY Christmas!!

Christmas Eve

This was such a LOW-KEY wonderful day!

We got to spend the WHOLE day together as a FAMILY & that was the BEST part!

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In the morning we started off with Santa Pancakes!They were truely ENJOYED by ALL!

{I got this WONDERFUL idea off of pinterest & my whole family was impressed by my cooking skills. My kids ask for these EVERY morning. "Too bad it can't be Christmas EVERY day," is what Emma hints at breakfast.}

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Then we did MANY chirstmas-y crafts with the kids while I made dinner.{I only got a picture of this coloring page cause my hands were dirty.}

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Then we ENJOYED the feast that I made ... YUMM-O!----

After dinner we all decided about what "PARTS" we were going to play for the nativity.

It was fun to hear Emma & Zachary's discussion about Zach wanting to be an ANGEL.Alas he got to be the belevoed angel & everyone was HAPPY as could be!

It was awesome to read the story together & realize that my kids are understanding the REAL meaning of Christmas ... at least on Christmas Eve. :)

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Then it was time for DESSERT!

This was an EXPERIMENT:But for making Red Velvet Cake for the 1st time from scratch I'd say it turned out EXCELLENT!

Yes, there are a few things I'd do differently, but it was DIVINE!

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Then we opened NEW CHRISTMAS PJ'S!That was FUN!

We haven't done them other years, but ALL my kids needed new jammies this year so we did it.

I think it's a NEW tradition for EVERY year!

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Then we read a few stories, left our milk & cookies, hung Santa's Key on the doory, & it was off to BED!The most GLORIOUS part is we had NO WRAPPING to do!

So we snuggled in our bed & "watched", aka fell asleep, a movie together.

{don't worry we did wake up once the show was over, 2-hours later, so we could put up Christmas, shower, & make crepes for the morning}

It was such an ENJOYABLE, EASY-GOING Christmas Eve!!