Late Christmas, Knees and Baby

It has been a full week, filled with a late Christmas, knee surgery and baby stuff...and it's only Thursday.

Monday, my big brother Mike and his wife Cara came down with their little ones, Charlie (5) and Alice(22 months). As they were making their way down from MN Scott and I went to a Dr. appointment for Scott's knee. We found out Monday that Scott was going to have surgery on his knee, and they would do the surgery Tuesday morning. Thankful for the fast surgery so we can get Scott back on his feet and healthy before baby.

Monday night we had fun celebrating a belated Christmas with the kiddos and cousins. They all had fun opening gifts and playing together. We haven't seen them since August, due to their being sick with H1N1, then we were all sick...it was a long time for little kids. Much longer than we usually go between visits. A long time not to see Alice who has changed so much in those 5 months. It was cute. She is talking now and just cracked us up. She is not a quiet girl and is very determined, darling. She was named after our Grandma Alice Terwilliger (aka G'ma Twig or G'ma T.) and for those of you who knew Grandma T....little Alice has the same fire and independence Grandma had. She was running the show..."Tommy Baesha" translate-Tommy take me to the basement, "Drewie Kitcha"-translate Drew take me to the green room play kitchen- She soon discovered where our pantry was and that there were "cracka" in there. So fun...

Jack helping Alice open her doll from us

She has a wide range of interests...loved the Lego Garbage truck too

Charlie LOVES hockey...so loved his new shirt

Tuesday we had Scott's surgery. It went well the Dr. was able to repair his torn meniscus and clean out some dime sized pieces of arthritis and clean it all up. We will do some injections in a couple of months to boost up the cartilage and pray that all heals well. Scott was out of it most of the afternoon...Alice kept saying "Cott, boo boo, ice, COLD...Cott nigh nigh" She was concerned all day long. Tuesday night, Scott seemed more like himself and was around more.

Playing catch with Uncle "Cott" in the morning

Yesterday was Cara's birthday...HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARA. We had breakfast together, the kids played for awhile and it was time for them to go. The cousins get along so well, it's always fun to see them together.

Our boys were beat after they left, we had a quiet afternoon. Tommy and Drew both fell asleep for 3 hours. Jack read books for an hour in his bed, but never slept. Scott napped..I ran to an OB appt. Hard to believe there are only 2 more OB appointments and we are done. Baby comes in less than 3 weeks now. Baby was doing fine at the appt and all is well. Baby is BIG, and of course, so am I. ;)

We are looking forward to the New Year. Many blessings ahead in 2010.

Happy New Year!

Boy or Girl

Okay it is time for the voting.... SO send us your guess for if you think the baby is a boy or girl. I will, with Makila's blog help I hope, put the list up for you to see everyone's guess.

Then after January 20th...we will know the winners. No prizes just fun!

So is this baby a

BOY or a GIRL?

Please post a comment, I know a lot of you who read this don't usually comment. Please comment on this one. I will post our family's guesses later too.

Ringing the Bell

The boys took a 2 hour shift this morning ringing the bell for the Salvation Army. It was 18 degrees this morning. Brr... I brought Jack about halfway through and also brought some hot chocolates to the chilly bell ringers. We tried to remind the boys, as cold as they were, that there are people who LIVE out in this weather all the time.

Some snapshots out my car window....

Christmas Day at the Shislers

We woke up to a very WHITE Christmas. Even reindeer hoof marks left on the sidewalk

What a wonderful Christmas we had...we started out the morning very early. All boys were up and down from 4 am on, couldn't sleep, in and out of our room, wanting to go and see if Santa came...tired Momma and tired Dad. Finally we decided we might as well start the day...we have a tradition of starting Christmas morning with reading the Christmas Story in our bed. This year, Jack wanted to be the reader, he has never read before on Christmas morning. So he grabbed his bible and read it to us in bed..precious and priceless. Starting our day off with his little voice reading about the baby Jesus beautifully and so articulate in his reading. It really doesn't get sweeter than that...I could've ended the day right there.

Then we were ready to head down and see if Santa left us anything...well he certainly did. Boys were thrilled. Santa just leaves it in piles near our stockings, he doesn't seem to have the time to wrap it and most of the stuff won't fit in the stocking anyway. He even remembered the baby.

Ready to head down in the morning...

Checking out the loot

Santa remembered baby....

Legos for the Lego KING

A much needed new winter coat!

We spent the morning enjoying our Santa treats, eating a big breakfast and pretty much lounging. Enjoying the beautiful snow falling outside. Scott even went and snow blowed us out, just in case I guess.

We had our Christmas ham dinner around 1:00 and then followed it by opening our gifts to each other. I always love watching the boys open their gifts, we so carefully had chose for them. They each spent their own money this year on each other and I think they took more ownership over what they chose for their brothers. That was sweet too.

Here are some highlights of their gift opening.

Christmas Tree before we opened gifts

Jack's Number one Christmas Wish....AT-TE Walker

The basketball shoes he SO wanted, and SO didn't think he was getting

Drew and his new hamster, everyone was excited about that gift

Drew gave Jack some Star wars Build a bear outfits

Digital Scrapbook I made for Drew

Some darling tee shirts baby opened...can't wait to find out which one we need to keep

Christmas Eve at the Shislers

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

The annual tradition....Thank you Letters to Santa...

Tommy always likes to get Santa's vote on the bowl games...

Drew has asked for nothing this year...

Jack wants to be sure Santa knows he "a precheates" all he does....

And since we gave away all of the Christmas cookies we had, or ate them we had to whip up a quick batch of chocolate chip cookies from the Nestle refrigerated dough in the fridge. Santa needs his cookies...

And now we hope these boys will fall fast asleep...

Tomorrow we will wake up for Jesus' birthday, read the Christmas story in bed before we come down. Jack is going to read it this year, his first year. He has his bible all ready and cannot wait! Happy Birthday Jesus!

Merry Christmas

Making a List and Checking it Twice

My Proverbs 31 Devotion for today....enjoy. It touched my heart. 23 Dec 2009 Amy Carroll "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Philippians 4:6 (NIV) My kids are planners. They are on the ball. They look ahead and dream...at least when it comes to Christmas time! The rough drafts of their Christmas wish lists began somewhere around last March, but the final copies are now complete. Their father and I find great delight in hearing about their lists throughout the year and anticipating how we'll make their wishes come true. Did you know that our heavenly Father delights to hear our desires, too? Somewhere along the line, I began to believe that it was "unspiritual" to pray for myself. My prayers for others were fervent, but I thought that God would be especially pleased with my unselfishness if I left myself off the list. Philippians 4:6 contradicts this notion, however. God encourages His children to ask. He delights to give to us just like we delight to give to our children and others. In fact, Matthew 7:11 says, "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" (NIV). God's been teaching me that I should present my list to Him, but I'm also learning to ask carefully. We've all seen how ugly it can get at Christmas with greedy, self-indulgent children. They want it ALL, and they want it NOW. Loving parents choose gifts carefully, though. They would never give a gift to their child that was unsafe or could cause harm. Our Father is the same way. He is the most extravagant gift-giver ever, but He gives with wisdom. His desire is to give gifts that help us, His children, to learn and grow. What are some of His great gifts? Salvation from sin, protection from evil, the indwelling Holy Spirit, wisdom, purity, holiness, true freedom...these are some of the gifts that He loves to hear requested by His sons and daughters. There is one prayer that is always answered. It is the prayer for God's will to be done. So, this Christmas let's make our lists long with our eyes fastened on praying for God's will. Here's a little peek at my "grown up Christmas list:" protection for my children, a greater love and desire to know Jesus, chances (and the courage) to share the glorious gospel of Jesus with others, blessings for the staff at my church, peace and love for my friends and their families, and wisdom to handle everyday life. I rejoice to know that I can lay that list at my Father's feet with confidence that He is the giver of every good and perfect gift. Dear Lord, I've left out my own personal requests for so long. I know that often it's because of pride or self-sufficiency. Sometimes it's just because I haven't trusted You enough. Please help me to come to You with everything—joys, hurts, anxiety and needs. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

More Elf fun (this is a different video despite the same cover)

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

This one is Elf singing

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Baby...30 days to go

Checked in on baby today...darling little thing with huge cheeks. Baby weighed in at 6 .6 lbs. The ultrasound lady just laughed and said there can be no concerns with this umbilical cord the rate this baby is growing. 4 weeks ago baby was 4.5 lbs. So growing just fine...boys were all along and LOVE watching the baby when she put it on 4D. So fun to see it making faces, and opening its eyes, and sucking its hands. Could watch it all day long...

sucking its hands, moving so a bit blurry

trying to open its eyes and look at us

relaxing in its cramped little quarters smashed against the wall

We are grateful that this cord placement has not affected baby's growth at all. 30 more days and we will meet him or her. Can't wait. Can't wait. Can't wait! Praying for a healthy baby and a healthy 30 more days of growth.

Scott's reaction to seeing it and how big it is, and how smashed in there he/she is...."honey I think you had better just stay home and sit the next 4 weeks"....good point. Probably why I have been uncomfortable huh? This little one is crammed in there. And growing like a weed. Both ultrasound tech and Dr agree this baby will be 9 or 10 lbs just like its brothers. I am going to go and sit now. :)