christmas.... the short version!

is it for real? is christmas over already???
call me a grinch, but hallelujah! as kim just said to me today.... christmas takes a whole long month of planning, work and running around to be ready for and is over in one quick day!
however, seeing my little boys face on christmas morning this year beat any christmas i have ever had before! for a month now levi has been talking about santa and his "monster cowboy truck" (a big wheel). how it ever got the name of monster cowboy truck is beyond me but that is what he has called it from the first moment he laid those big blue eyes of his on it. he was so incredibly cute on christmas eve night over at brian's parents house. during dinner prayer after grandpa said "amen" levi kept his eyes closed and kept the prayer going...."and jesus, please tell santa to bring me my monster cowboy truck". come on now... who wouldn't just melt at that?!
christmas eve gave me a good idea at just how exciting the morning was going to be. levi and livi were elated all night. going from present to present in awe these were now their toys!
after a couple years of debate brian and i came to the conclusion this year that we were infact going to do the whole santa thing. however, we added our own twist. last year i had planned on just getting the kids three gifts a piece but who was i kidding?
i am still the same shannon i have always been, and three little gifts would just never cut it for me. so, we came up with the idea that SANTA would bring the kids three gifts each. that way mommy and daddy could get some credit too with gifts from us.... the three gifts will represent the three gifts the wise men brought the baby jesus. remarkably, the idea worked really good. all month long levi kept telling me about the wise men and jesus and how santa would bring him three gifts too. i guess that means we have made and will continue that tradition.
the big wheel was so big that i had to move furniture around to make everything else fit. one of the couches i had to move is the one right in front of levi's door. i was afraid that if he woke up in the middle of the night and came into our room like he sometimes does, he would see his new truck and i would miss his face. he did in fact come crawling into our bed at 4:30am but the good news is he was so out of it he didn't see that "santa" had already come.

i have never seen him so excited! the smile on his face was so big! and truthfully, we should have just stopped shopping after that one gift cause it was hard to distract him from it to open his other presents.
miss alivia had been asking santa for a baby. which was one of the gifts he brought her. but she was so excited about her new dolly house that when asked the rest of the day if santa brought her the baby she would said "noooo...anta bought me ouse".
nataley, just took it all in smiling and laughing all day long. i think by the end of the day she was pretty tired but i have learned that she has a hard time sleeping if she's isn't in her crib. she kept a good mood till about 7pm, then got a little on the cranky side.
every year there is a "pinecraft parade" all the local businesses in the area decorate platforms and go riding around the streets of pinecraft throwing candy. it has always been somewhat bothersome to me. not because it's not fun, but rather it interferes with going to my mom and dads house. but, brian is also somewhat expected to do it because as most people know.... he is the king of pinecraft. i guess it just wouldn't be the same for people without that small town celebrity husband of mine. i will say this, after doing it this year i won't complain to brian again that i really don't want to be doing it. the kids had so much fun! alivia was so cute. before we left she had found a sucker that she reallly wanted. i told her she couldn't have it yet but later so she held onto it in one had the entire ride, while she filled her other hand and dropped the hand full of candy off the side of the float. and levi made me laugh when he told me it was just like feeding fish.
my parents got the kids a boston terrier puppy for christmas. the only thing is she is still to young to leave her mother. so my parents got the kids a cage and a bed and stuff for her in hope of building their anticipation of the new pup. neither one of them really understand it yet..... that they are getting a dog. so, i guess that will be the next great exciting thing to happen in the emrich future.

my mother has always made a cake for jesus birthday. and yes, we put candles on it, sing and everything!

nataley's first baby doll!



we don't read the night before christmas, we read it's jesus birthday!

panties for alivia....

that's right! this girl is well on her way to no more diapersville. she has actually been ready for awhile now. but, mommy has been a bit lazy, busy, and tired! we started a few months back and after the first accident i decided that i was the one who was not ready, and pushed it off until now. the kids are on school break till january 8th, so what better way to start off the new year but to have two down and one more to go!
yesterday was the first official day. just like with levi, when she woke up i took her diaper off walked her over to the kids bathroom. i sat her down on the potty and explained that she is now a big girl, and big girls go potty on the potty. i placed those cute little 2t panties on her and told her she had to try and keep them dry. the next part will show just how ready and how lazy i have been. my little girl did not have one accident all day! not only that, but when she would have to go while we were at home she would run over to her potty.... pull down those tiny panties, go, empty her little potty into the big potty, and flush! towards the end of the night things got a little more risky when i decided to take the kids over to yoder's to have dinner. half way through the meal when daddy was walking past she got up, i thought she was following him. he turned left, and she turned right. i ran over to go grab her hand and she said "no mommy, i need to potty". i called brian over and he sat with levi and nataley while i took my big girl over to the restroom. dinner went so well, that i decided to stop at SAMS to pick up my pictures on the way home. she made it dry the whole time, and when we opened the house door she ran to the bathroom and went all by herself.
i'm not saying she is in fact official yet, but i do believe we will be there within a week or two!
when i potty trained levi, it was just as smooth. which actually makes me wonder....... how will nataley be?

moments like this

my heart has been rejoicing all day. levi and alivia had their christmas program at school today, and it was just so stinking cute!
watching little alivia, who naturally is the shortest one in her class (which actually would make her the shortest child in the school) do all the little hand motions of "away in a manger" and smiling so big when she first saw a glimps of brian and i in the crowed. and then jingling her little bells away during jingle bells. it seriously was just about the sweetest thing i ever did see.... i know, i am partial. but really, i'm sure you would have agreed! ;)
levi was nothing short of typical levi. as they were arranging the kids up on stage he glanced over and saw me first. he quickly looked around for his teacher and then pointed while shouting on the top of his lungs for everyone to hear "it's my mommy, she over there....SEE!!!". and then towards the end of the program, apparently he got bored and just sat down right in the middle of the group never to be seen again till the end. but the songs he did make it through "happy birthday jesus" and "joy to the world" he did amazingly.
It feel like it was just yesterday that i was having my own christmas programs, and here i am going to my childrens. life sure does move along fast. i honestly can't believe that levi is three. wasn't i just rocking him to sleep in the blue rocker yesterday? and now he is holding full out conversations with me! it's crazy!
i can whole heartedly say that i live for moments like this!

a boy after my heart!

today was such a busy day. i was pretty much was non stop doing something from 7am until just this very second, not that i'm lazy doing nothing other days.... it was just a non stop day. after i picked the kids up from school i had to run down to the mall to get the last of the "mall shopping" done. and it would just so happen on a day where i had to go hopping from store to store my kids would decide to be the most horrible little things ever. i seriously left thinking in my head "what the heck have i done to myself?" truthfully, i find myself saying that more and more times now that i have three children to deal with day in and day out. please don't get me wrong. i love them to death, and wouldn't ever change the way things have happened in my life for anything, but nowadays i am exhausted more moments then not. im sure their behavior today has something to do with the fact christmas is right around the corner and life has kinda been turned upside down because of it. but still.
right when we finally got home, and i started to give them some down time when it dawned on me that i had forgotten to pick up a book for levis gift book exchange tomorrow, so back into the car i loaded them and off to target we went. i have learned that levi sets the mood of everyone else. it always seems like if he is behaving, alivia behaves... and if they are both behaving, then dealing with anything that comes up with nataley can easily be extinguished and we can move on. thank heavens after the talk of getting no cookie at the "cookie mall" because of bad listening skills they were both on their best behavior, so i decided to go ahead and finish all the "target" shopping i had to do.
by the time we got home tonight and i fed them dinner and gave baths i was far too tired to straighten up levis room. if you know me well, you know that this rarely happens. i have a sick desiese that won't allow me to walk away with a room messy. i just still have so much to do tonight, and really didn't feel like doing it. i figured i would be able to quickly clean it up tomorrow when the kids were at school. i went over to alivias room (which never seems to get too bad, for some reason toys always end up in levis room) to quickly do prayers and tuck her in. when i walked back over to levis room there he was sitting on his floor putting all his toys away. he looked up at me and said "mommy, my floor is a mess!" he handed me one of his cars and asked me to put it in the car box, just like i always do to him every night. we quickly cleaned up the mess toghther and when i layed him down he said "ahhh, doesn't that feel better?" which too, is something i always say to him.
which really is reminder to me that yes, they do all have their own personalities....BUT we still help mold these little people into the grown ups they will one day become.

weekend wonderment

let me just say i am physically and mentally drained from this fun filled weekend! i had been hoping to get the kids pumped up for christmas and over the last three nights i'm sure i managed to do just that. friday night we went to todd and mary lous church. they were doing a walk through bethlehem and the neatest thing about it was it was actually meant for kids. i invited alyson and we took the kids on down to it. they really had a blast! i was thoroughly impressed at what they had to offer. it was a whole long strip filled with about 10 craft booths. all the members were dressed like bible times and every craft they had to do was focused on stuff from the bible. all along the walk down little bible characters would randomly talk out to you saying stuff about the birth of the lord. the first booth we stopped at they got to make necklaces. first they got little round metal medallions that the kids had to hammer out on a stone and then bedded them onto a necklace. the next one was a music booth, they got to color these wooden pieces which where then turned into tiny musical harps with rubber bands. and the last one we did they got to mortar actual frankincense and myrrh, and then put it in little cloth sacks. it really was a clever and cute event. my favorite moment was at the end of the walk path. there was a live nativity. i left with a smile because levi was so inquisitive about the baby jesus. he grabbed lexis hand and said "come on lexi, lets go meet jesus". it's so silly to me when such simple words or things my kids do bring tears to my eyes, but it sorta did. i must just say, i'm not only excited about christmas for all the material christmas things that go with it, but i'm excited to see both my older kids getting to an age where i can start to incorporate jesus into their life and what he did for us. levis understanding has amazed me this year. and it really is a great feeling to see him so interested in all that god has to offer and do for his life.

on saturday night brian was once again working so alyson (aka my other husband....hehe) and i took the kids over to jungle gardens night of lights. it is our local zoo (even though it's not a zoo at all, just birds!) they had it all lit up with lights and did a great job at finding things for kids of all ages to get involved in, although i found it to be a little chaotic with it being so dark and a hundred kids running around. the middle area was set up with games like throwing balls into christmas tree holes and real live snowballs at a wall of snowmen. the santa there was terrific! very friendly and giving of time. and unlike the mall i was able to take my own pictures, which was a huge plus and reason to go back again next year. it wouldn't be winter if they didn't have a fire pit to roast marshmallows, so we had to do that while we were there as well. i'm cracking myself up here now cause it just hit me that our kids are truly a "florida breed" cause all four kids favorite thing that night was feeding the flamingos! another late night, but we all had fun, so i guess it was worth it.

onto tonight! sarasota has a trolley that ride and goes to all the good houses with christmas lights in the area. this was by far levi's favorite activity. he got so excited when he saw the trolley pull up and he realized that he was going to get to ride on it, and even more excited when he saw pretty much my whole family pull up and get on it too. my dad was kind enough to get us all tickets so that we could have a "halverson christmas outing" together. we were definitely the loudest bunch on the trolley singing and laughing. but we truly had a great time. levi wants to go on it again, and isn't to happy that i told him he would have to wait till next christmas.
i say it over and over, but every time i mean it from the bottom of my heart. i am so filled with thankfulness. god gives me and my family so much, and just when you think he can't possibly give you any more his blessings just keep coming. i so love this spot he has me in, i wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!
now this super exsausted girl is going to go crawl into my favorite bed next to my favorite man in the whole wide world. :)

one year ago today...

one year ago today, i was with brian and his family at disney world. one year ago today, his sister chelsea was grabbed by disney employees and won the "year of a million dreams" for the day. one year ago today, our family got the joyous experience of staying in cinderella's castle for the night. one year ago today, i was given an even better gift then that. because one year ago today, god spared the life of my daddy so that i could show him the daughter i always wanted to be. he and my mom had gone out to dinner, when in the middle of it he started to not feel so well. dad, being the person that he is didn't want to ruin everyone else meal so he continued to sit there and shuffle his food around till everyone else was done. it was only on the ride home he decided to let my mother in on what was going on. mom and my sister decided they better take him to the ER, just to make sure everything was OK because he really didn't look so good. my dad had had a heart attack. they took him in and gave him an immediate surgery , and that same night he had another even bigger one that would have killed him if he hadn't been in that hospital bed. i was newly pregnant with nataley, and being that we were in disney my mom didn't call me till the next day to let me know what had happened. brian and i rushed home and so that i could be with my daddy....
today has been a whole year of thankfulness. thankfulness to god for spearing my dads life, thankfulness of having more time to show him how much he means to me, and what a big part he has been in my life. thankfulness for my eyes being opened learning just how short life is and to never take things for granted. it's been a whole year of being closer to my parents, to my siblings, to my husband, and to my children.
god gave me a precious gift one year ago today.... and although my dad isn't the same dad as i once knew him. it is still an honor and a blessing to be my daddys baby girl.

1000 cookies

one of the many joys of my husband is that he has no concept of certain things. on friday night i had called him and asked for him to bring home baking ingredients from the restaurant, and bring them home he certainly did! no joke, i got 10lbs of flour, 10 lbs of every type of sugar you could think of (each), 40 cups of butter, and 48 eggs! what he thought i would be baking is beyond me, but i can definitely tell you i won't short out of flour for a very long time!
i called alyson early on saturday morning and cut her a deal.... if she came and helped me bake, she could have half of everything we made and get lunch and dinner on me out of the deal, which she graciously took! so, there we were at 10AM searching every web page looking for tasty holiday treats.
now we both have about 1000 cookies to munch on from now till christmas. and i will be sweeping sprinkles off my kitchen floor for months to come no doubt! what is it with kids and sprinkles? the thing that cracks me up the most about it is that even they won't eat a cookie with a small mountain of sprinkles yet they insist on piling it high on each and every one you let them do. it ended up being a very fun, yet very long day! levi was amused by all of it, and pretty much remained in the kitchen most of the day watching and helping in any way i would allow. maybe i have a future chef on my hands? it is in his blood you know!



sunday night is usually our family movie night, but brians parents got the kids a huge swing set for their house as one of the christmas gifts and they wanted them to come check it out tonight. it's such a cool thing to watch all four of the older kids play together. they have finally gotten to the age where they get along and play games together.... not just the side by side play. my neice maddy had brought several of her barbies. she is the same age as alivia, but she has an older sister so of course she usually plays with older girl things. it was funny to see alivia role playing along with the two girls. they would walk these barbie dolls around the coffee table as they played "school" with them. moriah would say "my name is moriah, what is yours?" to which alivia answered "i'm eeeahhh, one, two three, four... everyone count!". it kinda broke my heart to see my baby as a big girl! sniff, sniff.... but like brian said, i have nataley to baby now, still where did my baby girl go?
mary lou made a gingerbread village that the kids kept eyeing all night long. it was very cute, and i am somewhat surprised to see my mother-in-laws crafty side. she had a huge church and four small houses (moriah, levi, maddy, and alivia were written in frosting on each one), two tiny houses (garrett, and nataleys) and one bigger houses that said "mimi".... with a snowman grandpa! when i was talking to her she told me that she had spent over 40 hours this week making it, although it was frustrating, she had fun and wants to do one very year for the grandkids, until they are old enough to help make it too. it really was cute, and made the house look very festive.

spending is on hold!!!

should i take this as a sign from god that i don't need to be out blowing so much money right now? or is this some sort of other lesson like always put stuff in the same spot every time so i don't lose them?
either way i have still lost my debit card. not my usual "i lost my debit card" where it simply is in an awkward place but still in one of the three places i usually find it. it is GONE!! i have looked everywhere, and i am in a very bad mood because of it. so much so that i have managed to yell, and the bank lady on the phone, my husband on the phone, and my mother on the phone! did that bring my precious card back to me? NO! it is still out there somewhere... lost, lonely and cold from not being used!
how am i supposed to catch up on christmas shopping when i can't find the key to buying!?!?!
i'm in a very bad mood and i'm going to go sleep it off!!!!!!

family pictures...

it's in organizing something like this that i am always left with the thought..."how the heck did my mother do this with seven of us?". seven kids, day in and day out! i usually loose my mind most days with three, and nataley isn't even big enough to really cause problems! i guess mom is my little ray of inspiration, just when i feel i want to run away and never come back i think about all the years of understanding and kind words that managed to still come out of my mothers mouth while dealing with the super selfish halverson clan, and every time i think it i'm left with the thought.... i shall indeed trudge on!
but seriously, our picture day was so horrible words can not possibly describe! nataley, had gone to the drs earlier and had a double ear infection, but like i once said, days when brian is available are few and far between. so when he's home we must use time wisely. krystal, our photographer is amazing! and i thought to myself if anyone can get a good photo it would be her. little did i know that levi and alivia would both be in bad, horrible non listening, non cooperative moods as well. i felt horrible, and embarrassed about the whole situation, but like always krystal was very nice and understanding (at least on the outside). brian wasn't in the greatest of moods either. i really can't say that i blame him though. he was upset at me for making us do family photos when nataley was still so sick. anyway, i once again was amazed at krystals work! she managed to get some of the best photos of levi and alivia that she has ever gotten. our family pictures however, didn't work so well. thankfully, she is able to get us in again on thursday night. and after a monday night football exchanged deal with brian, he said he will willingly, and happily try again for me..... i guess he really dose love me! :)

i can't believe there are only twenty days before christmas, and i have not even begun my christmas shopping, nor do i have my christmas cards complete! i myself have always been somewhat of a procrastinator, but i am seriously starting to feel a little pressed for time! every year i tell myself i will be an early starter, but never get around to it till it's far to late! when will i learn?

brian and i (and for the past few years my friend alyson) have always found a family to help out at christmas. i'm kinda excited about the one we chose this year because they have a little boy levi's age and a girl slightly younger then alivia. which got me thinking.... i believe that this is a great year to start and include levi and livi in on the shopping. my plan is to take them both out and let them pick a few toys that they themselves would want, which might begin to teach them the value of how blessed they are. not every parent has the means to get their children some of the many desires of their heart, and i'm afraid that my children will be just like i was as a child and take that fact for granted. i'm hoping in them picking toys out that they would want, and them not getting them i can explain (at least to levi) that he will be helping a little boy just like him and how happy he can make him. anyway, it's the plan.... but if it goes like everything else has gone this week i may be dragging a kicking, screaming child out of toy r us! i guess we'll see!

christmas begun...

this weekend certainly did not go as i had hoped, thats for sure!
our semi original plan was taking an emrich family road trip (in laws and all) .... just up to orlando to see the ice slides and igloos. but it was a well needed, well deserved, much looking forward to road trip for all of us none the less. on friday i had noticed nataley getting a little sicker and by friday evening i knew that our fun sunday plan was not going to be happening for us. much to my sadness i had to call up my sister-in-law kim and tell her that we wouldn't be joining everyone. in a weird sorta good way, she told me that my niece maddy was sick as well, and we decided to can the whole thing for this weekend and shoot for next. so at least it's still going to happen (fingers crossed).
anyway, friday night was definitely a rough one. i had nataley, who was having a hard time breathing, and then alivia started to complain that here ear hurt. in my head i though thank god our drs office is open on saturday mornings, and decided that i would take all three of my kiddos in just to make sure everyone one was on the path leading towards recovery. well, (and now comes the part that angers me greatly) when i called first thing on saturday morning i was directed right to voice mail to make an appointment, which should have been my first warning sign cause that never happens. i left my information at 8am and waited.... and waited.....called again......and waited some more until finally at 10:55 i got a call back. i told the receptionists i needed to get all three of my kids in for a sick visit when i was rudely cut off (maybe it wasn't so rude but it felt it!) "we don't have any openings left today". i was shocked!!!! what the heck was i supposed to to? i told her that my daughter definitely needed to be seen today that she had an ear infection.... and she told me to take her into a walk in clinic!!! it seriously sounded as though i couldn't be squeezed in for a hair appointment or something, my kids were sick and they wouldn't see them!!!! i don't know about everyone else but i feel if you call during hours of operation you should be seen... heck! bill my insurance an after hour fee or something... or even if it's out of my pocket, i don't care! as i'm sure your gathering, i am still pretty upset about this whole situation. it just doesn't seem right to me.
well, i took alivia into the walk in clinic and sure enough she did have an ear infection. she's doing a lot better now, but nataley on the other hand only got worse. i finally decided to nebulizer her last night (levi had to have it once and i still had some left). last night was horrible. the only thing that really calmed her was putting her in the vibrating chair in the bathroom and letting the shower run... i bet our water bill is going to be huge next month :)
so, i spent last night sleeping next to my youngest baby on the bathroom floor, i was afraid she might stop breathing on me. i did get her in this morning and she does have a double ear infection, and did in fact need the nebulizer (which makes me all the more mad that they didn't see her on saturday). but, we are finally and once again on the road to recovery. so, once again i cross my fingers and pray that this is the end road of sicknesses in the emrich home, for at least a few months anyway.



unfortunately, brian rarely isn't working so we do have to use the time he is home during the holidays wisely. which kinda forced us out of the house on sunday to visit santa and get our tree. neither were very exciting experiences because nataley wasn't feeling well. i'm sad cause she really wasn't doing good towards the evening when we were getting the tree so i don't have very many pictures. we pretty much went right in and found the first one the size we were looking for and called it our own, at least i have a few pictures, right?
and both the kids walked right up to santa and told them exactly what they want for christmas....
levi "a BIGGG monster cowboy truck" and alivia "a bebe". hmmm, i guess we will have to see if they are good boys and girls. :)
i decorated the tree last night after the kids were in bed, and today when i got home from taking nat to the drs levi ran up to me and told me that santa had come to our house last night and put stuff on our tree. it made me smile. i can always count on those little faces to brighten up my attitude when i'm feeling not so happy. :)