This Girl...

This Girl...she is amazing!

Not even 2 years ago, she had a heart cath done at Children's Mercy in KC...she usually ends up in the hospital 2 or 3 times a year for her asthma. The girl takes more medicine every day than my 90 year old grandma. But...you'd never know it! Nothing stops her or slows her down. She loves to try new things and works hard to do her very best.

I am so very glad God blessed us with this child.

Frousins

These girls are so lucky. So lucky to be friends and cousins. Frousins as they call it. This picture was taken at Rhonda's on Christmas. Can you imagine being 13 and having your best friend at your family Christmas? The best of both worlds.

E & AO

Ethan's nickname is E. His friend, Anthony's nickname is AO. Their friends are pretty creative, aren't they?

Christmas in Goodland- Part 2

My dad and step-mom met us in Goodland too. One of our traditions with them is to stay at The Comfort Inn. We always open presents in the breakfast area and then the kids swim forever. We had a great time.

I wonder what that was about?

The mother hen.

She deserves this. If you are gonna pose for a picture then expect to see it again!

Nothing better than true laughter...I wonder what was so funny!

There is just something about this sugar pop I can't get enough of...and neither can Cassidy.

I realized I don't have many pictures of the boys except in the pool. I guess they are always off doing their own thing.

I know it's steamy. But there is something about this picture that I love.

And the fun is over....

Christmas in Goodland- Part 1

We went to Goodland over New Year's to celebrate Christmas with my mom and grandma. My sister and her family met us there, as well as my aunt and uncle from Colorado. The whole clan.
GG with her great grandchildren.

This license plate from Uncle Gary was one of Avery's favorite gifts.

Alli and GG-I love this picture!

Ethan with a wii game we never would have bought him--too much shooting!

Alli with her first $50 bill. Gotta love Grandmas!

Bethany tearing into it!

Another one bites the dust...

Bethany is sick now. Not sure if it is the same thing that Avery has or not. But she does not feel good. Fever of 100.3 (which is definitely lower than Avery's was). Peak flow of 85. Waiting to hear back from the dr. The good news is that Avery slept through the night last night for the first time since last Friday. She is definitely on the mend. Praying that Bethany's steroids kick in quickly and she feels better soon.

It smells worse than barf

Avery is sick. She's been sick since Saturday. High fever and cough. A bad cough. She had a chest xray done on Tuesday. They couldn't find anything to 100% confirm that she has pneumonia. But one area on her left lung was cloudy, so they are treating it as such. She feels miserable. We have pulled out absolutely everything in our cough arsenal. Sunday night, we decided to try rubbing vicks on her feet. I think my dad is the one who sent me an email suggesting that once. Anyway, I think she is too sick for a quick remedy like that. And to be honest, she was not impressed. She cried and cried. Then Randy and I secretly giggled when we asked her why she was crying and she said, "It smells worse than barf." Geesh, good thing it was the cherry flavor. On Tuesday, the doctor gave us two kinds of cough syrup to try. The first one is carbofed dm. I think it is definitely starting to loosen up her cough. The second one is promethazine with codeine. About 15 minutes after giving her the second one, she was kind of whining, so I asked her what was wrong. She looked up at me and said, "I keep making the throw up face."

Poor little sugar! I'm glad she's never had to take that nasty orange Triaminic my mom used to give us kids. Now that stuff definitely causes the throw up face!

Love Hate Relationship

This is my pedometer. I have a love hate relationship with it. I bought them for Randy and I for our anniversary. They came with great software and download onto the computer so you can track your progress. We set a goal to get 7500 steps in everyday. The days when I am at the school, 7500 steps is pretty easy to come by. That is an extremely long hallway I walk up and down each day. However, days at home with a sick kid, 7500 steps is definitely a stretch. In fact, if you look close you will notice that the time is 10:34 a.m. and I have only walked 715 steps. The program gives you a smiley face when you achieve your goal. I never realized how important smiley faces would become to me. Looks like I'll be spending some time on the treadmill this evening.

"Fravery" and Lucas

Avery is in Pre-K at Cradle to Crayons this year. She goes 3 mornings a week and for the most part, really enjoys it. She especially enjoys playing with one certain little boy, named Lucas Micheal Beasley. As I watch the two of them, I see so many differences. Lucas is tall, Avery is short. Lucas is the oldest of the family and has that Type A personality, Avery is the baby and most definitely acts like it. Lucas is incredibly outgoing, Avery hides behind my leg until she feels super comfortable with you. Lucas is all boy, Avery is all girl. I'm glad though, that I am the one that sees those differences and not them.

I have several cute stories about the two of them and I've decided I should share a couple of them. The first one, is "Fravery." The short version of the story is that Lucas and his dad were having a conversation in the car about girlfriends. (A conversation that his mom could overhear). They were discussing whether or not Lucas had a girlfriend. In the end, Lucas said he did but wasn't willing to share her name. He did decide that he would tell his dad a word that rhymed with her name though. And you guessed it....he said it rhymes with "Fravery"! I love that! Oftentimes when I talk about her with his mom, we refer to her as Fravery. Oh the fun I am going to have with that boy in about 10 years!

The second story took place the first day back from Christmas break. Like I said earlier, Avery is all girl. She loves to fix her own hair and pick out her own clothes. Being the 4th child, she does get this luxury quite often because frankly it is just easier that way. Avery got some new duds for Christmas from Grandma Kaufman. She LOVES them! Especially one specific outfit. She decided she was wearing that the first day back. As we left for school that morning, big sister Alli made a big fuss about how cute she looked and Avery was feeling pretty special. Then, as I made the drop off at Cradle to Crayons and was helping her take off her coat, several of the teachers were making a big fuss as well. Avery was loving it! But poor Lucas, who had rushed right over to get to play with her, was stuck. There he was waiting for his friend that he hadn't seen in 2 weeks, while she listened to all the oohs and ahhs about her cute little outfit. Poor guy! His mom asked him about Avery's new outfit when she picked him up that day. He agreed that it was new. He hadn't seen her wear it before. Then he said he wonders why Avery likes to wear dresses so much. His mom told him, "Well she is a girl."

I hope they don't start seeing the differences between them anytime soon!

Fravery and Lucas at the Christmas Program in December.

Favorite Things Party

One of my favorite holiday traditions is my friend, Steph's "Favorite Things Christmas Party". It is our own little spin off of "Oprah's Favorite Things". 10 of us girls get together and we all bring something that has been one of our favorite things in the past year for each person there. I absolute love it. It is a chance to try to new products and oftentimes they become one of my favorite things too. This year was especially fun for me because I didn't get to go last year due to the death of my father-in-law.

You can count on some things to be the same every year....

Bobbi will always have her gifts wrapped up really cool and I will be embarrassed by mine. (wish I had a picture of the cool bags she brought her gift in this year)

Stephennie will hug every single person when she gets there.

Steph will make delicious cream cheese bread and I will eat way too much of it.

I will get some WAY cool gifts.

We will laugh and laugh and laugh...sometimes until it hurts.

Shannon and I will get a little silly.

I will go home and thank God for bringing these beautiful women into my life.

Thank you ladies for your sweet friendship. I love each of you. And Steph, please don't ever stop inviting me.

Back from Turkey

My brother, Ld is in the Air National Guard and has been in Turkey since November. (Turkey in November, isn't that funny?) This is the 2nd time he has volunteered for active duty over the holidays so that someone else can come home. We are grateful for the sacrifice he makes for our country and VERY grateful that he is home safely.

Alli wants facebook

Alli wants to get facebook. I've put it off long enough and it's time. Randy and I decided to make her sign a contract first. So, I have copied it below in case some of you need one in the future. (I'm sure we missed some things and by the time Ethan wants facebook it will be more than just one page! ha!)


Alli Rice Facebook Contract

This contract is between Alli Rice and her parents, Randy and Sara Rice and shall begin on 01/07/2010.
The following rules apply to Alli's facebook account and computer use:
1. She has to be a friend of Sara Rice (and Randy Rice if he ever gets Facebook).
2. She can only be friends with someone she has seen face to face.
3. She cannot join any fan sites.
4. She cannot play any online games through Facebook.
5. She cannot change her status more than twice a day.
6. No profanity or vulgar language.
7. Randy and Sara must have her Log-in and Password and she cannot change either one without notifying them.
8. Computer time will be allowed AFTER all homework is done and there will be a set time to get off so that she will have adequate time to shower and get to bed.
If any of these rules are broken once, it will result in 1 week of no Facebook. If the rules are broken a second time, it will result in her losing her Facebook account.

______________________ ___________________________
Alli Rice ___________________________
Randy and Sara Rice

Also, I changed it so you don't have to have gmail to leave a comment. If you are stopping by, I'd love to hear from you.