Where have we been??

This was the crew-I know no one is looking but to have them all sitting was all I could hope for

So it has been a little while since I have posted. Not a whole lot has been happening but we are busy none the less. Brayden enjoyed a snow day this week as well as Ron. It was nice to see how well Brayden and Becca still play together. They have their moments of course but fun to see them pretend together. The main reason for lack of updating is that I am on perpetual kid duty till Monday. Ron is out on a ski trip with some friends so myself and the kids are left at home having our own little party. We have been fairly busy-having a sleep over at a friends house, who also has two small kids-Yes, there is someone out there who doesn't seem to mind having three additional kids overnight!

The big event yesterday was an overnight stay at a local hotel with a indoor kiddie park/pool. The kids had a blast. Brayden never stopped running, jumping and just in general going crazy. Becca had fun going down a small frog slide and even the big tube slide. Andrea was her serious little self but loved jumping and getting pulled in the water. We got a hotel room with the Marsh family-minus their dad who is also skiing, making for a total of five little ones. For the record we had all kids sleeping by around 9:30-with no crying fits. Okay, we totally tired them out at the pool, but with two pack-n-plays, a roll away and two beds all full there is something to be said!

I think we were quite a site as at one point while riding down the elevator with all the kids the elevator made an unexpected stop. As the doors opened so did the doors of the other set of elevators directly across from ours. A lady with two small dogs-obviously her babies were getting on. Of course all our kids saw were the dogs and made a bee line off our elevator towards hers. I think she thought the kids all five of them were on a mission to kill her dogs by the look on her face. Funny thing is that myself and Marleny were not far behind trying to herd them all back in to our elevator...We didn't think it was that bad, actually pretty funny.

Tonight is another movie night-something the kids love, even Andrea loves getting her pillow and laying next to Becca and Brayden. Tonight she was convinced that her lovie was in the dryer. Funny, as it was just lost but the last time she couldn't find it I had washed and dried it-the things even she remembers.

Andrea misses her daddy!

COLD- BUT FUN

Today we woke up to find that it is winter in Tulsa. Becca let ephie out this morning and all she could say was...ohhhhhh....cold! The kids were pretty excited to get all their winter clothes on-they knew right were everything was...funny because they can't seem to remember were their socks are . Becca was so proud that she got her snow pants on all by herself. Andrea was very silly, usually we can't keep mittens on her but today she discovered a baby pair with no thumbs, way too small, but she thought they were so fun. She put them on and would walk about the house with her arms in the air along with a big grin on her face.

We decided to head out, seeing as everything is going to be shut down for at least another day or so. Brayden headed right over to our neighbors driveway with his shovel-determined to clear it for them. Becca and Andrea just enjoyed eating the snow. Okay-so compared to the snowfall much of our extended family has this is hardly a dusting but the kids didn't seem to notice. We got the sled out and enjoyed some runs down the road, seeing as no one was out on the road. Funny thing was Andrea didn't fuss or cry-just hung on. Even when she fell out she just would crawl back in.

WINTER WEATHER

This is what I found Andrea doing while unloading grocery's...eating ice off the car.

We love having fires on these cold evenings-although the kids enjoy marshmallows straight from the bag-not mushy, not burnt...according to Brayden

Once again we are under a winter storm warning-actually just ICE. The kids were pretty excited about getting an ice storm. All Brayden could talk about was getting to play ice hockey in the back yard. Becca spent much of the day making sure she was warm along with her bear blackie-who went to bible study wrapped in a blanket with a baby hat on. I don't know how much, if any ice we will get but there is a thin layer as Ephie about wipped out heading out into the backyard tonight.

Andrea is the only one not enjoying the change in weather. She spent the better half of the day either crying, hanging on my leg or banging into me trying to be held. Tonight she decided she was not eating or sitting on her chair at the dinner table which lead to a long fit of crying. This lead to a conversation regarding who was in charge. Brayden informed me that daddy was?!??! followed by mommy. After we realized that we couldn't physically get her to sit we sent her to bed. Unfortunately a short time later she still was just as determined not to sit or eat...I think the only two who learned anything was Becca and Brayden who were on their BEST table manners.

GOOD NIGHT

Bed time prayers are always interesting so I thought I would share

Brayden begins with the typical "Now I lay me down to sleep..... it was at the end, when we talk about what we are thankful for that it got very cute.  Tonight he said "I am thankful that Jesus loves me"  this might not mean  a lot but after today it was wonderful to hear him thank Jesus for his love.  Today was meltdown day for Brayden and during one of the times I tried to talk to him about why he was being punished he just burst into tears and yelled-YOU DON'T LOVE ME, JESUS DOESN'T LOVE ME. Needless to say he was really in no mood to listen to anything I had to say or explain. This is why is was so very sweet to hear his prayer tonight, I guess at some point his little mind heard just a little of what I was trying to tell him.

Becca on the other hand has her sweet little moments as well.  She also says the typical "Now I lay Me"prayer but then wants me to thank Jesus for everything in her bed including pacifies and bears.  Tonight as I was leaving the room she yelled  "I love you mommy, and then after a moments pause, and I love Jesus too!

Okay, so these are the moments I choose to remember and share today, not the ones that have me in the grocery store with brayden-my FOUR year old kicking and throwing a fit in the middle of the check-out.

Pacifiers

This is not the girl that was in our house tonight! I have never seem someone so upset over not being able to go to bed!

I don't think that we are ever going to get rid of the pacifiers in this house. I had all good intentions to dump them all when Becca turned three...lets just say that I lacked the will power. Something about seeing Becca curl up and snuggle in bed with her pipes and bear-blackie just seems comforting to me.

Tonight solidified in my mind why I have not pushed in this area. We had church tonight and so it was a little late when we started on our way home. Becca cried most of the way because she was tired...over and over..."I'm tired, I want to go to bed" Anyway, we get to the house and she runs to her room only to discover that her pipes are gone/lost-you would think the end of her world was coming. Sadly I was unable to locate them which brought on even more tears. Funny thing is that she wasn't concerned that she couldn't find her pipes she just kept saying, "How can I sleep??? I can't sleep" It was at this point, when I couldn't find them that I thought...how am I going to sleep, I am not prepared to do this tonight and yes I will run to walmart and buy her some. Okay, thankfully Ron managed to find them and our world was a happy place once more. BUT, I don't plan to give up her pipes any time soon!

Ride like the Wind

Today I rode my new bike to work.  Since Ceja moved the offices near downtown I have been riding my mountain bike up the Riverside trail to work every once in a while.  With the Road bike I was hoping that I would be so much faster (able to sleep in longer) than my mountain bike.  Today the temp was 29 degrees and there was a 16mph cold wind out of the north.  So I was a little disappointed when I got to work it had taken me about the same time as my mountain bike,  45min 11 miles(including the turkey mountain hill).  Hopefully on the way home I will get a strong tail wind and my time will improve.    

On the way home the wind had died down to less then 5 mph but it was still cold.  With tried legs I got home in 34 min (19mph ave).  Going down the turkey mountain hill I got up to 33mph.  

This morning, (1/21/09) I had my 1st crash.  The last .75 miles to the office is off the bike path and on a sidewalk or on the road.  I was biking on the sidewalk near the Tulsa Mental Health building and was slowing down for a blind driveway and looking up the street for cars.  When I looked down at the sidewalk I notice that it was a dark grey and shiny.  ICE!!  The sprinklers had iced the entire sidewalk and as soon as my smooth road tires hit the ice I and the bike were horizontal.  I had fallen on my side onto the road.  Luckily there was no traffic so I was able to get up and continue on the road.  I was going slow enough so I did not tear my tights or my coat.  I think I will be a little more cautious on the way home (no 33mph on the hill) 

BIKES

I am thinking that after this past weekend we are going to need a second garage to hold all the bikes in this family. Ron has always enjoyed biking, starting early on with mountain biking. Since moving to Tulsa he has done some mountain biking but has been doing a lot more road biking. I on the other hand have been demoted to kid puller! Last year we got focused on running, this year Ron is switching things up and adding some biking into the mix. After some heavy research, test rides and late nights he bought a bike-actually shocking to me as these decisions usually take much longer. He enjoyed a couple rides this weekend and after trying it out I am thinking it rides pretty nice!

Brayden also continues to be the great bike rider. Last week we ran into a man and his son up at a local mountain biking spot who offered us his old BMX bike. Ron took Brayden to go look at it this weekend and....if you can believe it, came back with not just one but two bikes. I think Ron is ready to to some racing out at a track outside of town. I really didn't think Brayden would be able to ride the new bike, it is much bigger and has a hand brake. Well, watch out Brayden rides it just fine-just one little mishap with a garbage can. A bike helmet it now a must at our house. He loves it and is always asking if he can go ride and practice.

Becca is right behind on her cute pink bike with little Blackie in the basket. She is deathly afraid of cars, mostly because she can't maneuver very fast-but I think that at this point this is a good think. She loves trying to keep up with Brayden and just glows when Ron has her ride with him.

Andrea is just a happy camper watching all the action, although she always needs to put the extra bike helmet on just to fit in.

CRAZY FRIDAY

Can you guess what day it was today in Brayden's class???


MISS-MATCH DAY! With a mohawk thrown in .....all for the letter M

Crazy hair and Dr's visit

This is Becca after she woke up from her nap and took our her little pigtails....you can just imagine her giggles.

Kind of crazy but most of the time my kids love to go to the Dr's office. They run in and love getting to watch TV in the waiting room. Once in the actual room they love listening to books or playing hopscotch on the colored floor tiles. Even with the threat of shots they still hardly shed a tear. Not so with Andrea. We were back to check her ears today and it you would have thought we were turning her in for some science experiment the way she carried on...it was so sad. We made a brief stop at the scale, something the other kids love-getting such a proud look on their face when the nurse tells them their weight. Andrea on the other hand burst out into tears. I set her on the scale and she looked at me with her big serious eyes, then the nurse and then just let loose the most sad cry you can imagine-so there she sat till the scale blinked and I could take her off, what a sad sight. During the very brief examination the Dr just put the stethoscope on her chest and there again came those eyes followed closely by some big tears. I don't know how she can sound/look so sad but between the crying and the eyes she was a pretty sorry sight. Good thing was no shots, she didn't even need to get undressed and her ears were clear...but she could care less!

Crazy Weather

This is what Andrea loves to do-snuggle with her babies.

We took this because Becca wanted to show off her socks..she loves picking out "mixed" socks as she calls them.

Winter is quite strange here in Tulsa. Today we picked Brayden up from school and all forgot our jackets, which was really not that big of a deal since it was about 60. After a short snack and video, by the time we made it out doors it was a little breezy and cold enough that all the kids nose were running and winter coats were a must.

So our house turned into the play yard today, always fun for the kids and makes the afternoon go much faster for myself. Today, three older boys and one girl girl ended up at our house on their route around the neighborhood. Brayden had so much fun trying to keep up with them on his razor-crazy thing because he kept up all the fun. The girls had fun getting pulled all over the yard in their wagon. Becca gets so shy when she gets extra attention but always has a huge grin on her face. Andrea just sits in the wagon with a serious face...but refuses to get out when the ride is done, so I know she is having a good time.

Dinner tonight was a favorite for everyone, chocolate chip pancakes. I think the kids had more fun making them with daddy then eating. (or they just ate too many chocolate chips and blueberry's) I stayed busy by playing with the camera-thankfully something to pass the time other than house work, Andrea even managed to sit for a minute with is always a sweet moment.

Monster Trucks

Ron decided to take Brayden to the Monster Jam this past Sat evening. Brayden has always loved monster trucks..in fact we/I can list about 6 monster trucks and it is definitely something I am not into....yet these are the things I do know?? Anyway, Brayden had a blast, he literally bounced back in the house at 10pm and just wouldn't stop running around. Ron had most fun taking pictures with the new camera...and he complains that I take too many pictures!

One other quick mention-is that Andrea has added a new word to her vocab. She now calls Becca-Becca. It is so funny to hear and she is so proud of herself when she says it. I am glad she just has another name to yell instead of MOMMY.

DOGS

I have a weakness for dogs, something that Ron doesn't share, so how is it that we are the family finding all the strays??? Last summer I had two big labs decide my house was their home for about 5 days in a row, thankfully I knew were they lived we just couldn't get them to stay at their own house. The harder ones are the strays which don't have collars....I really don't want to deal with them but I can't just leave them running the streets??? (I think Ron would beg to differ)

Well, last night we were just relaxing, watching a movie enjoyed some quiet while kids slept when ephie decided to go crazy at the front window. I thought it was a little late for any dog walkers so I went to check it out and there was a big golden retriever in our front yard. Great! it is about 30 degrees, 10:30 at night and I have a dog with no collar in our yard which was very friendly ( I almost wish they wouldn't be). Poor ephie was shoved outside and the other dog was put in the garage. It does make it easy that we have food and bedding. After a couple phone calls to neighbors with no results we resumed our movie and called it a night-three kids asleep, one dog in its crate and and another cozied up on a dog bed.

This morning I decided that the two dogs needed to meet, I couldn't keep the golden in the garage all day, amazingly enough Ephie didn't bit its head off in our back yard-they actually were quite nice to each other-Ephie must be getting old. After a freezing cold walk to home depot we arrived back at home, I was hoping to see a sign letting me know whose dog it was, of course there was none. I could tell Ron was getting annoyed with the whole situation-although he was the most wonderful husband, made signs letting people know we found a golden and even posting a pic online at the local dog shelter. I think he was just worried I might ask to keep it if we didn't find it's owner.

Anyway, I have a wonderful neighbor who loves dogs 10 times more than myself. She had taken it upon herself to find its owner and I think had called about every house in the neighborhood that she could think of that had a dog. Amazingly enough it paid off and a neighbor of the owners recognized the description. It was a family with kids a house clear opposite of our house who were out with sports activities for the morning. Long story made short they arrived home, their neighbors informed them we had the dog and they came over-the kids were so happy to see their dog, and I think my neighbor and Ron were equally as happy to see the reunion. My theory continues to hold true-that it is still worth it in the end to put in the extra effort-even when you really don't seem to know what you might accomplish, if anything.

Wagon Fun

Ron said this one was just too serious for Andrea-but this is the face she gives me most often.

We have finally had a couple afternoons where we can finally get out of the house. Ron put together the kids wagon they got for christmas and they all have been having lots of fun either riding or pulling. Andrea enjoy's it the most and just loves a ride. She sits in it for a long time after either Brayden or Becca have decided they are sick of pulling her in hopes someone else will come along and pull her. Becca thinks she is pretty big because she is strong enouph to pull Andrea. Brayden like to go as fast as he can-and no, we have not lost anyone yet!

Something New

So...can you notice anything? Maybe I am the only one who does. These pictures were taken with our new camera! A Christmas present which arrived late today. Unfortunately I was stuck in the house on a very cloudy day with crabby kids so no great pics. The kids were not feeling the best-meaning extra clingy and I on the other hand was just wanting to hide in the closet with the camera and manual. Soooo, I decided to teach Brayden how to use the computer today. I realized that it was a good thing because he actually figured out the whole mouse thing and was quite happy playing games with Curious George and was quiet! Bad, because I couldn't get on the computer. Now I realize I have created a whole other problem for us because he spent the better half of the evening whining about wanting to play computer, just another thing to regulate.

ANOTHER DINNER AT THE HAVEMAN HOUSEHOLD

So our dinner experiences continue with the kids. Tonight was no exception. I have not made it to the store since our return from our holiday travels, so food is a little scarce. Still not really feeling up to making the trek with the kids I hit the freezer to see what I could scrounge together. Okay, I am slightly embarrassed to list the great menu for the evening but it goes with the story. I ended up cooking some fish/talapia along with some stirfri vegies and brown rice. Okay, this is by far not my favorite menu. I am not a fish person, although I am doing better-but lets just say this fish needed a little overnight sit in some lemon juice. I was thinking that dinner was going to be disaster not just for the kids but for me as well. Funny thing, as I started making up the kids plates all Becca could say was, GOODIE, GOODIE-OHHHHH, YUMMY. Brayden took one look at the veggies and said-give me a lot mom!??? What was going on?? When I work at meals and casseroles they complain and won't touch the food. Now I was serving a meal even I didn't enjoy and by the end of the meal they had cleared their plates. At one point I looked at Ron and whispered, it's just too fishy, he looked at me and whispered back-you can do it. I do have one daughter after my own taste buds. Andrea took one bit of fish and made the worst face, starting whining and wouldn't touch her plate-I totally understood.
Also, as usual neither kids wouldn't stop talking, moving all around-although Becca did manage to stay on her chair tonight. At one point I yelled-QUIET, there will be no more talking from this point on, if you have something to say raise your hands. I had barely said those last two words when both Brayden and Becca's hands flew in the air-I could have died laughing-but we managed to hold it in.
Hope everyone is having better post holiday dinner's than our household tonight!

HOME

This is what happens when Andrea sees the camera

The unpacking continues but we did take some time to enjoy some unseasonably warm weather yesterday. By the afternoon it was 75 degree's...can you believe it? The Audubon Society had their scopes set up at a near by dam and we headed out to see if you could see any Bald Eagles. Turned out that I spotted a beautiful mature one on our drive out and at the dam there was one lone inmature eagle. So after looking at the poor bird through multiple scopes we ended up doing what usually happens around water, throwing and skipping rocks. The kids had lots of fun playing in the sand and finding tons of rocks.

Today the Christmas tree came down, so now the house seems just a little sad without the christmas decorations. Brayden spent some time this afternoon planting beans. We had green beans for lunch and he was determined that he could plant the seeds and grow some bean plants...we will see.

I am loving my new lens but as usual the kids are not that big on getting their picture taken-I think they are going to be haunted by memories of their mom following them around with a camera for most of their lives.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

JUST SOME LAST FUN MEMORIES FROM OUR TRIP

A beautiful rendition of Away in a Manger

Lots of fun snow...although I think it was at this point Becca decided she had had enough

The kids even had their own snow shovels...only in MI

They all love helping Grandma and Aunt Sharon practice their duet.

The New Year has come and I am yet to have any big new year resolutions. Probably because I know once I voice them out loud they will never happen. We spent New Years Eve with Ron's parents and family, hard to believe we were able to all be together again and at one table, minus a couple of kids. After dinner we decided to play charades with the kids before bed, it was very cute to see how the kids would think of ideas. Andrea was the funniest as she thought she was in every play. She would run up with who ever was acting and copy what ever they were doing. It usually evolved a lot of hand waving, or crawling on the ground-very funny. We did make it to midnight, although everyone was pretty tired. With a big fire and big dinner it was just to relaxing to go too crazy.

We actually drove home the next day. The one morning we decide to get an early start the kids finally sleep through the night. I think it was the first calm night at the beach and without the wind howling the kids sleep like rocks. I guess we were one of the few families up new years day because the roads were empty until late afternoon. Then just about every other vehicle we passed had a DVD player going-families traveling home. Brayden watched movies endlessly-at one point he told us his ears hurt from his headphones. Andrea just wanted to play and would yell -YEAH!!! loudly from the back seat until we would tickle her, she can yell for a long time-pretty convincing. We decided to stop this time at the Arch in St Louis, of all the trips we have made to MI we have never stopped. It was closed but we had fun walking up to it and touching it.

Today we started the huge task of unpacking, it just seems endless and it doesn't help that the house was not clean in the first place. The kids had fun running from one toy to another. We did managed to see the sun today which was a first in about two weeks.

This is Becca enjoying some tea with her new tea set...and just about everything else!

On to 2009, we continue our journey in teaching our children about the love of Christ which is daunting enough at time. I am sure the ups and downs of parenting will continue but I know the smiles and cute little words from their mouths will also continue. On we trek into the tenth year of the Haveman Family.