Christmas Morning

Good Morning and Merry Christmas.

We were up at the crack of dawn (6am) Mikaela felt in necessary to be up before the rooster to see what Santa had brought. Wow do I remember doing that to my mom. She even had her sister up with her... the older sister taught the younger one how to properly wake us up, by turning on the lights and saying "come on wake up". This made Ken very excited because in the years past the girls were never early risers (even on Christmas morning) The earliest has ever been maybe 7:30am. So needless to say he was right up with them pulling the covers off of me.

We had presents open and were playing with toys by 6:45am.

Moms biggest bah hum bug for Christmas is opening the stinking toys from their boxes. I think the money you pay for the darn things is in all the plastic and wire they use to hold it together. I managed to lose two nails in this process.

Ken enjoys this part.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day...we miss and love all of you!

Liz's Recovery

After having Liz's tonsils removed and her atnoids she is improving nicely. Days 2 and 3 were the worst. Her tongue is so swollen that talking even hurts. She has confessed that she is tired of eating pudding and ice cream. She has managed to eat some spagetti O's and some mushed up mac and cheese. Yesterday she got up and moved around a lot...that means today she does not want to do anything. Who can blame her I guess. Keep your prayers for her going as it seems to be taking a little longer to recooperate then she had planned.



(just home from surgery)








(Next day friend Kayleen came and spent the day with Liz)

Happy Birthday Debby

Today is a special day for our sister in law Debby. It is her birthday and I think she deserves to be treated with the best care possible. Unfortunatley we are unable to be with her but are thinking of her! Dennis and kids be sure to let Deb sit around and do what SHE wants to today:)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO DEBBY...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU

from
Ken Theresa Liz and Mikaela

colorado blizzard

Here are some pictures from Debby and Dennis window in Colorado. They are currently snowed in and the town has literally shut down.

For those of you that know Kens job, you will know that his semi loads come from the Denver warehouse. If Denver is shut down so is he. They have cancelled all trucks coming and going from the warehouse. Looks like he will be off until next Tuesday.

Happy Birthday Grandma Light

Today is a special day for someone that we love as both mom and grandma. Happy Birthday to Grandma Light. We hope that you enjoy the day and make it about you! We all wish we could be there to celebrate and pamper you! We hope you enjoy your gift from the grand girls.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MOM/GRANDMA...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!!!

love to you
Ken, Theresa, Liz, and Mikaela

Zoo On Light

I am sending the pictures for zoo on lights that are mention in the previous blog:

This is a picture of mom trying to get a picture of the bears with Liz. In order to do this you have to cross the "rope". Liz was refusing to break the "rules" while mom encouraged her it was OK. Sorry it had to be done!!!!












(Theresa and Ken enjoying the night)

Christmas In Denver

We took the weekend to head to Denver. This visit consisted of celebrating the Christmas holiday as well as getting to see Niece Rachel (home from college) and Opa (Ted; home from California). It was so wonderful to visit and spend some quality time with everyone. Melissa was also there who is living with Dennis and Debby. She has become a good part of the family as well. No visit with Uncle Brett...I tried reaching him but never got a return call. Well maybe next visit. Everyone arrived on Friday evening. Saturday we all did last minute shopping or hanging out. On Saturday night we had a wonderful roast dinner made by Debby. This is some good eatin if you ever get a chance to have a Debby meal it is well worth it. "Thanks" Deb!!! The girls insisted on moving into the living room to open gifts. Dennis gave us all the pleasure of reading the story of Jesus' birth so that we remember that Christmas is not just about the gifts we are about to receive. Thank you Dennis for keeping us in perspective during this time of season! The entire family was over joyed with everything they got. Sunday was football day and we were glad to see the Broncos make a come back!!! This always makes the evening with my husband more enjoyable then when the Broncos lose:) It was time to head to Ted's for the famous Red Beans and Rice. Another awesome meal that is well worth the time to ask him to make it. The girls played with their new toys and kept cousin Rachel busy for the afternoon. That evening we went to the Zoo on Lights at the Denver zoo. This is a tradition for the girls. Zoo on Lights is a night event that they put on. They create animals out of Christmas lights and even had some of the live animal exhibits open. There was also ice scrulptures happening and the girls got to visit with Santa. Our visit was short and we will miss both Rachel and Ted when they head back to where they came from:) Ted always makes the house more comfortable when he is there. We returned home on Monday. The drive took a little longer then planned. We got a good snow storm and the highways were ice packed and down to one lane on each side. This was not good if you got behind a slow moving semi.

The girls had Christmas parties on Tuesday and are now off from school until the 3rd of January. Not to much planned during this time but they always keep me busy somehow!

Thanks for reading my blogs they tend to get lengthy but we have many adventures to tell! Feel to read anytime and comment when necessary.

Love to all!

(Uncle Ken and Neal getting for Christmas dinner)












(Rachel and Liz gettng ready for Dinner)









(Liz opening a gift)









(Mikaela opening a gift)










(who knew that Blazing Saddles and Young Frankestein DVD's would be such a big hit for Uncle Dennis)

Surgery for Liz

It's not the end of the year yet and we have another surgery scheduled. OK...OK its not Theresa this time. After seeing the Ear, nose, Throat specialist yesterday for Liz, it was decided to remove her tonsils. She has had numerous problems with them which contributes to many other issues. I wanted to have it done during the Christmas break so she did not miss school. The doctor has assured me that she will be fine for Christmas. Her surgery date is for December 21,2006. Please keep her in your prayers. She is very scared as any 11 year old would be! Feel free to email her with your support (if you need her email address email me and I will get it off to you)


That's all for now.

Holiday Spirit

I can feel the Christmas spirit in the air.... I have fought over parking spots...Ken and I have already duplicated presents for the girls (he goes shopping one way and I go the other - this is how you know you are a good couple - great minds think a like) We headed back and exchanged together to be sure this did not happen again. I have had the rude old lady cut in the very long line because she has no patience (she was really old too). Needless to say I have kept my language at an appropiate level and am still feeling cheerful!

To make it funner I got the girls baking for all the neighbors. This was fun...we made chocolate covered pretzels and peanut butter balls (dad has almost eaten them all already), homemade jam (thanks again to Aunt Debby for teaching us), cookies (all sorts), rice crispy squares and some other little things. I can honestly say the smell of chocolate is not my favorite. My fudge did not turn out this year....????? The girls had chocolate from head to toe including in their mouth of course.

Ken has my camera at this time which has the baking pictures...I might try to send them later.

This is the last full week of school for the girls...we are going to head to Denver for the weekend to celebrate Christmas with family. Rachel (our niece and girls cousin) returns from college and this is so awesome for Liz and Mikaela because they miss her greatly. Cant wait to see you Rachel! We plan to return on Monday the 18th as Theresa still has a final to take and the girls have Christmas parties at school to attend too.

We will be home for the actual celebration of Christmas....normally we spend it in Denver but the girls have asked to stay home. This is fine with mom and dad as we can sleep all day if we wish:)

I wish all of my family could be together at times like this, but know that we are together in spirit and heart!!!

Ken and I have spent the last two weekends doing the work Christmas parties. These are fun to sit back and watch people make complete idiots of themselves. His party was very interesting...he has several new people that a residents now with our company and really added to the fun of the party. Thank you to his sales people for a great meal and social time!

Love to all of you

Gymnastics Competition

This weekend was the first gymnastics competition for Mikaela. She had so much fun! She took second place on the Beam and Bar routine and took 3rd on the floor and vault routine. Her overall score was a 29.6. The sad news is she needed a 30.0 to go to state in two weeks. For mom I was kind of glad because it gives her a chance to take in the events of this weekend. After two hours of warm ups and practice and then another 2 1/2 hours of events and awards it made for a long day for a 6 year old. Her older sister was very good about being there to support her as well. I have attached some pictures for your viewing and hopefully the video clip will come out for you as well.

The rest of the weekend consisted of the normal routine church, football, and trying to finish my sisters (Stacy's) wedding album before they hit their one year anniversary.

Decorating for the Holidays

The Christmas season has arrived and the girls have made their lists...of course it keeps changing on a daily basis:) Last night we took the time as a family to decorate the tree. Ken lit up the outside of the house while the girls and I were at school during the day. I am still trying to figure out how he got the ladder to stand still in our 80 mile an hour winds. If someone could explain to him the danger of this I would greatly appreciate it!!!


Even Ojo the dog got involved in decorating...once everything was up she decided to chance the cat around the tree. Needless to say we recovered most of it and got it put back together without dad noticing.

Hope everyone is enjoying the season!

Parade Day

The annual Casper, Wyoming Christmas parade was a success. We had beautiful weather and a big turn out. Our school float was also a success. The parade ended earlier then we had planned so we headed back to a friends for hot cocoa and RR. Here are some quick photos of the parade:

Surprise visit

Our weekend started out very quiet. Everyone was taking down time and gathering themselves when the doorbell rings. As I sat on the couch like a pototoe I could not for the life of me figure out who would be at my door ringing the bell like a mad man!

Then up the stairs came my life long best friend from high school Becky Jo and her family (2 handsome young boys and her husband). They drove here from Garrison, North Dakota to surprise us. Now to update you a little we have been giving Becky a hard time because I have been to see her 3 times now and she has never made her way to Casper, Wyoming in the 5 1/2 years we have lived here. So needless to say "its about time you got your butt up here!!!!!"

It was a very short visit but very nice. The boys give both mom and dad a run for their money and definitely keep them on their toes but we enjoyed the excitement and enthusiam they brought to us in our home.




No time for site seeing but we managed a couple visits to the park and I think they did a little shopping at Tauberts before leaving.

A short note to Becky Jo:
Your friendship has been a blessing to me for the past 15years and it is something that I treasure now and will treasure for the rest of my life! You always have a surprise for me under your sleeve so it keeps things alive. Your family of sisters and one brother have always treated me with kindness and supported me as if I was one of them. We have been through boyfriends, dances, graduation. marriages, children, loss of lives, and I could go on forever but to know that we have done it together makes it even better. Friendships like this dont bless everyone but it has blessed me. Thank you for always being around.

Thanks to all my friends and family around the world for being the people you are in my life!

Hope everyone else had a great weekend.

GRANDPARENTS DAY

To all the grandparents and Opas out there. The girls want to wish you a very happy grandparents day! Hopefully, you all received your E-Cards from them. You are all very important to us and especially the grandchildren!

If it weren't for you...where would we be?????


Love to all

When to cry

It was a long week for everyone. Back to school means back to a busy schedule for everyone involved. We started with all the back to school events, meeting teachers, new homework assignments and everything. This also means dance and gymnastics classes, church groups, and of course survior nights on Thurs. All went well though...the girls settled in nicely. Mikaela loves first grade but was suprised to realize she would have homework like everyone else. Then you have Liz...as a mother I ask "where is your homework?" She says we dont get it in fifth grade. So I asked when do we do book reports and reading assignments? She said we dont???? I then asked "what do we do in fifth grade?" she said "we do nothing". Good response from a pre-teen. After meeting her teacher I did find that fifth grade is a little less stressful and more relaxed then fourth grade. Reading at home is still encouraged but really there will be no homework. They encourage the children to do and finish all assignments at school. This helps with the parents that want so badly to help with homework instead of allowing the children to do it.

Now for my title "when to cry" I was always told that you cry when you drop your kids off to kindergarten and first grade. Not me...I smiled because I know that my children love the independence of school:) However, I found myself crying this weekend when Liz asked to go "hang" at the mall. This is not something we have tried yet. Some friends called and wanted to go "hang" at the mall. To me this means trouble. Ken and I trust Liz to make good choices so we let her go. When I dropped her and her friend off (all dolled up and ready to "hang" at the mall, and they looked cute) I started to cry realizing that little liz was not so little anymore! Its OK dad she had a cell phone with her for ER situations or if her friends made a bad choice and she needed an out. So when exactly is the right time to cry when you are raising children...this is not one that I expected. Then I asked were we hanging to meet boys???? I hope not we have really encouraged Liz that this is not the way she needs to be right now in her life. Then she came home with Walkie Talkies (instead of makeup or girlie things that you buy when you "hang" at the mall) and I knew she was still my little girl. For now anyway.

Thats all the events for the week....this weekend consisted of working on the closest (still) and more R and R recoup time is needed for the surgical patient. I did take the girls for a walk down by the river for and hour and realized how they hate nature.

Love to all

Canning Jam

This was something new and fun for me that I wanted to share!!!

Debby came for the weekend with the family and took the time to teach me how to make jam with plums that her dad picks and her mom juices. The girls have always loved Aunt Debby's homemade jam and for the first time this weekend they called it "mom's" homemade jam. This brough a tear to my eye.

It was a long process but seemed to go well with Mikaela mixing (Liz was at the lake) Deb boiling and mom pouring and prepping.

Thanks Debby for taking the time to teach me something new:)

Summer Ends

As the summer has come to an end for the girls we have had many eventful weekends. Last weekend cousin Rachel came to visit before heading off to another fun year at college. We went puu-putt golfing and hung out to relax. She took Lizzy to lunch for that one on one girl talk that at age 11 you dont think your mother understands you or what you are going through:) Thanks Rachel for a wonderful visit!

This weekend for the Labor Day weekend Deb, Dennis, and Neal came for a visit. The kids went shooting with Uncle Dennis and their dad, while Deb and I laid around to catch up before the Fall activities over take our lives. Thank you all for taking the time to come up it is always pleasent and relaxing when family comes to slow us down:)

The girls start school tomorrow and are very excited. We got to meet both teachers on Thurs last week and as mom I am very comfortable with both of them. I will update you on their day with pictures later this week.

Liz has many exciting things this year that she will have the opportunity to explore. Volleyball, clogging, new instrument (violen or drums????), history club, and many more that she has shown interest in. I will keep you posted on the outcome of her achievments. She went camping at the lake with some friends on Fri this week and caught a huge fish (no picture yet friends mom has it on her camera) This is always a good time for her and seems to make her feel that her friends from last year still want to be her friends.

Mikaela is going to stay with her gymnastics as for she has just passed into pre-team. Her coach feels she is ready and more than capable of doing what is asked of her at this level. she will compete three times this year (if she chooses). This comsumes two evening out of her week so as parents we gave her a choice to continue or stay where she is and explore another dance class. Well if you know Mikaela she chose gymnastics. I also will keep you posted on how she is doing in this area.

Love to all and hope everyone had a great holiday weekend! This is a time when I say goodbye to sitting around doing nothing.

Medical Update

It is officially 5 weeks from my date of surgery. I would say that week 3 was the utmost worst!!! My hip hurt and I thought I would not ever walk right again (this is where they took the bone graph from for the fusion). It finally worked its way out after many afternoons of tears. I finally started sleeping halfway decent and things were looking up. At week four I was starting to act like myself again. Week 5 I am actually leaning over now without grunting, the evenings get a little rough but after all I do throughout the day that is to be expected. Occassionally I get on the floor and get stuck and cannot get up...Ken tends to find this funny and laughs before helping. What a trooper! I went for a check up with the doctor (first time I have seen him since released from the hospital). He was amazed at how well I was doing. He says I am a week ahead of schedule for recoup time. Ken says I always have been an over achiever. I am at a 10lb weight limit, no running, or weight type excercise. I guess cross country skiing is out this winter and so is the gym. I still get tired about mid day but feel good the rest of the time. This should all to update right now.


Love to all
Theresa