Update

Ok, so I know it's been awhile since I last posted anything so here's an update on the family. Scott is now working full time as a cook at Buffalo Wild Wings in Ankeny. He opened the new store here and the is almost always a 2 hour wait to get in. Needless to say business is booming and Scott is loving it!! I continue to be home with the 3 little ones which, at times, makes me feel like I could use one more set of arms and legs!! I am enjoying my time at home and have been able to get into the girls school and volunteer from time to time.

Haley and Shelby continue to enjoy school and dance and are very excited to be off for Christmas break. They are looking forward to going back to Dubuque in a few days to see family and friends there. They were thrilled to find that for Christmas we had gotten all 3 girls (and us) and Nintendo Wii. We were excited to find that Ella could really bowl better the us adults most of the time. Haley and Shelby also got them and American Idol game for Wii. Now we hear all kinds of music coming from them. The adults who had tried out the Wii decided we were all in really bad shape because the next morning after bowling, tennis, boxing, and testing our Wii fitness age (which did not come out as nicely for some of us as we would have hoped!!) we could hardly move. It really is a great work out!!

Ella has been dealing with some ear issues. We found a lump in her right ear the week before Thanksgiving. She saw a doctor who recomended us to see a Ears, Nose and Throat doctor with she did the second week in December. We also then had her hearing tested and found the her right ear is not working properly. The ENT is not sure why, but did find she had a horrible ear infection in her ear and put her on antibiotcs and wants to see her Jan. 6th. Yesterday we found another lump, this time in her left ear. We called the ENT and he thinks that she is getting ear infections that are causing her ear to swell. So, yet another round of antibiotics and see him on Jan. 6th where we will discuss tubes. He really thinks this is the route we will have to take in order for the swelling to stop. We will see what happens next week.

Brennan is growing so fast!!! His language is amazing all of us. Every day he comes up with a new word that we had no idea he could say. His new favorite obsession is the movie Cars and Lightning McQueen and the Disney show Handy Manny. Santa, mom and dad, grandma and grandpa, and the rest of the family remembered all of that and brought him Handy Manny toys and filled his stocking with Cars!! He had the greatest Christmas!!

Chase is getting so big!!! The week of Christmas we found Chase has his very first tooth!! Now we have to watch when he wants to chew on our fingers. Also at the end of November we took Chase to Iowa City to see the orthopedic surgeon. We got a lot of the same news. They want to make his thumb smaller to make it more useable. They also will have to cut some of the skin between his two fingers so that he will have more of pinchers for fingers. The biggest difference was time table. We were originally told they would wait until he is closer to school age. The doctor in Iowa city will see him again on May 1st and will probably do surgery soon after that. We have to watch in the meantime that the pinky finger does not continue to grow curved like it is right now and to make sure it doesn't seem to be causing any pain. If that starts to happen they will see him sooner. He is trying to reach out with the left hand and tries to play with things. For Christmas we tried to find toys that he could hook around his left hand to play with.

Here are some pictures from Christmas!!

My Kids Are Wierd!!!

The two big girls decided they wanted to go play in the snow today. Mind you, the snow were flurries that weren't even sticking to the ground!! They came up dressed in snow pants, boots, winter coats, hats, mittens, and scarves!!!! Thought you would all get a kick out of them!!

Random Pictures

These are just random pictures that we have taken recently of the kids!!

Halloween Pictures

Here are pictures from Halloween!!

Camping

Here are our pictures from our one and only camping trip this year. Pat, Scott, the kids, and I all went to Cherry Glen Campground for the weekend. Walt joined us for meals, but decided to sleep at home. It was a beautiful weekend for Chase's first camping trip.

Memorial Bench

At the beginning of October we went to Pilgrim Heights Camp to decicate a bench that was made in memory of Pat's parents Amy and Frank Kroll. It was a beautiful day! We enjoyed lunch, then a short dedication service and then Scott, Haley and I went for a canoe ride. Brennan was quite excited about the toad he found. He played with it for about 20 min. When Scott suggested that he kiss the toad he didn't even question it!!!

A little update!! A few weeks ago Steff, Milana, and Kiki came to visit to celebrate Kiki, Shelby, and my birthday. Shelby had decided that what she really wanted to do for her birthday was to go to Club Libby Lu's!!! Which sounded good to me, since none of my kids are hurting for toys!! Kiki and Ella had spent the summer telling everyone that they were going to get their ears pierced together. So, we thought we would kill two birds with one stone!! The girls had a blast!!!! They got to dress up, put makeup on, and then entertain the mall passer by's with dance!!

Fire House

Tonight was the open house at the new Firehouse in Ankeny. We all went. Brennan was so excited to see the big fire trucks!! While we were there they had a call come in and one ambulance and a fire truck had to leave. Scared Brennan and Chase to death. Here are the pics!!!!

Funny Kids

Here are some new random pictures of the kids. Screwing around in the kitchen one night, playing outside, and some new pictures of Chase!!

Picnic at Big Creek State Park

We decided to take the afternoon and go on a picnic. We drove to several places and ended up at Big Creek State Park because they had the coolest wooden playground. Here are our pictures from today!!

Monkey Suit Finally Fits!!!

This one is for you Aunt Libby!!!

Ella teaching Daddy and Brennan to model!!

Ella spent some time yesterday trying to teach Daddy and Brennan exactly how to pose for pictures. She told each of them how to stand and what to do with their hands. Daddy was a much better student than Brennan. Brennan just wanted to make faces at the camera

Ella working her run way magic!!!

Here are pictures of the 3 little ones!!!

Sorry so late!!

I know I promised to keep this up to date and eventually I will. Things have been slightly crazy in our life. Trying to get settled into a new home and the addition to our family keeps us quite busy. We are now getting into the groove of life and I should have more time to keep this updated. News from our house........

I havent written here since Chase entered our family. He was born on July 31st at 2:20pm. Labor was long, but when he finally decided it was time to come out it took 10min!!!! He weighed 5lbs 12oz and was 20in long. Since then he has been growing like crazy!! As of Tuesday Sept. 22 he weighed 9lbs 8oz. We have had a little bit of a bump in the road with him. About a week ago Chase ended up in the hospital. Eventually they decided he had gotten a stomach virus which had shocked his bowels into not working. They also think he has acid reflux and so he wasn't keeping things down. They have put him on previcid which is helping on the relux and we are still working to get the bowels moving on their own. He is improving everyday!!

Ella and Brennan keep getting bigger and bigger every day!! Brennan has more words each day. He loves chasing after Ella and is getting very good at telling on her!!! We had Ella evaulated for her speach since no one outside of our family can understand her. She has a few things that we are working on here at home and they will reevaulate her in December. Ella and I have also started preschool here at home. She is learning quickly, although it has taken a little bit of a back to Chase's problems.

Shelby and Haley are continuing to love their new school. Each day they come home excited about something else new. They each have made new friends and are looking forward to having them over.

Scott is continuing his job hunt and will hopefully find something soon. Keep your fingers crossed!!

That's about all new here. I will try and get some new pictures up.......if I can remember how to do that!!!!

Keeping in Touch

I thought this might be a good way to keep in touch with our family that lives in Dubuque and Nashville. I will try and update this at least once a week. At first, I may post a little more. I will try and get up pictures of things here for you all to see. Hopefully, that will allow us to stay more connected with all of you!!!

Ankeny Summerfest Parade

These are from the parade in Ankeny that Steff took.

I did it!

I set up a non-blog (because Scott hates the word blog!). Thank you Aunt Steffany!