Christmas letter 2007

Ok, so I cheated this year when it came to my letter. My cards were a little heavier than I had intended and I just had to have a picture. If I had added just one more thing I do not think my envelope would of closed. So I decided this year I would post my letter here. I try to keep this pretty up-to-date. I love the fact that my family and friends can stop by anytime and see what we have been up to.

Well, Kaleb will be 17 in February. He takes his test for his license next week. I so pray he passes as I could really use a break from being chauffeur! He is in the 11th grade and doing well. He loves sports (alas the sports score widget on the right hand lower side of this blog.) He plays basketball one way or another every day, either on the court or on the X-box. He is so tall I do not like him standing by me because I feel so short...and old. Last I checked he is 6' 1".
*Edited to add that Kaleb is now a licensed driver!

Garrett just turned 12 in September. He is in the 6th grade. He and Kaleb discuss sports all of the time. I just remind them that it is fine as long as they know more about the people in God's Word than the sports guys. Garrett finished his last year of Pee-Wee football in October. His team went undefeated. He played football for 3 years and was undefeated 2 of those years. Not too bad! He will miss it but Home-schoolers cannot play after 6th grade. He is still playing his trombone and has really improved this year! He loves to play specials and practices all the time. He is hoping for a great wrestling season.

Levi also had a birthday in September. It is hard to believe he is 8 already and in the 2nd grade. He still loves math, which makes his mother very happy. His reading is improving and he is starting to enjoy that too. He loves to be dressed in camouflage and usually has some weapon (plastic of course) hidden somewhere on his body. We usually have to pat him down before leaving the house. :)

Seth turned 6 in June. He has had a rough year. We have seen soooooo many doctors this year. It turns out he has stopped growing. He has only grown 1" in 2 years. They have run so many tests on him and found nothing. It is neither genetic, medical or diet. You should see him eat! He will out eat Garrett any day. School is going better than it started out. He has a very short memory. One day we spent 5 hours on one letter and by the end of writing 2 rows he had no idea what it was or what sound it made. So we changed curriculum 2 more times and went a whole other way. He is now starting to pick things up. He can even write his name pretty well now.

Shelby turned 5 in May. She loves kindergarten. She zips right through math and always asks if she can do an extra chapter. She is growing so tall. Where is my baby girl going? She is a great help around the house, as are all of her brothers. She is always asking what she can help with. All my kids love to be in the kitchen cooking and Shelby is right there cooking and cleaning too. She loves carrying a purse and we have a content check quite often. She loves to take every thing with her. She will not leave the house without paper and an pen. If she is sitting she has to be writing or drawing. We say she is five-teen as she loves shoes, purses, and cell phones.

Steve is still at Walkers and running his computer business on the side. It seems the poor man is always on the run. I tease that I get to talk to him more on his cell phone than face to face. He coached Garrett's football team this year too. It is rough running every weekend to another game but at least we got to spend time together.

Debbi, well all is the same here. I obviously am still home-schooling and loving it. This is the first year I've had all of my kids in school. I also, obviously started blogging and am addicted to that too. I am still a demonstrator for Stampin Up! I even started a Stampin blog. I manage our church web-site and my Dad's web-site and enjoy learning while working with that. So I spend a lot of time on the computer. Thankfully my dear husband keeps me up on all of the gadgets to make my life easier.

Well, we pray you are all celebrating the true meaning of Christmas. I am so thankful that Jesus left heaven and came to earth as a little baby. Can you just imagine leaving heaven and coming to earth knowing He was coming to die for us? Coming to take the punishment we so greatly deserve. He took it all on himself. If you do not know Him personally please feel free to contact us. We would more than love to share with you how He has touched our lives.

*Edited to add that Heath and Lois live in Nebraska.
We hear from them often and miss them dearly.

So Grandpa and Grandma K. had a floor level room with a pond in the back yard on Thanksgiving. The kids loved to feed them Cheerios. I was teasing them that we should have Duck instead of Turkey since they were already stuffed. The ducks spent their time running from room to pond to room being fed. They would be swimming and would hear a deck door open and head straight for that room. They were sure there had to be food there for them, and there usually was.

Heath & Lois' Car

Well, Heath called on Thursday night and told me Lois had been in a car accident and he was on his way to get her. She was banged up but was ok. The car on the other hand did not make it.

So here are the pictures of what Casey now looks like. Heath told me that Casey was now dead. For those of you who do not know the real Casey. She is our un-daughter now very close friend. She kind of joined our family when she was about 13 and I was expecting Garrett. How did the car get named after her you ask? Well, when she was in college someone gave her a car. It needed some repair. Steve offered to work on it for her. One night we came home from church and there was a white car in our driveway. We live back in the woods so to have a car here kind of freaked me out. So we rushed in the house, locked the doors, grabbed a gun and called the police. Well, he came and ran the #'s and said the car belongs to a Casey -----. It became a standing joke in our house.

So a short time later, after Steve took Heath's truck into a tree, we had to go car shopping for Heath. We found a nice little white car (pictured above but in much better shape). It had some slight issues. Now Heath was about 10 when Casey came into our lives, so they grew up like brother/sister. Since the white car/police situation and what he called his new car with an attitude he decided to name his car Casey. This car took him back and forth to Camp Chetek, College and many trips to Wyoming to visit his now wife Lois plus their first 1 1/2 years of married life.

So this is the end of Casey, the car. Many memories! Keep Lois in your prayers as she is hurting pretty bad still! We are sooo very thankful she did not get hurt any worse. We love her way too much!!!

Seth's Palms

I just finished making Seth a weighted vest. The pressure of the weight is suppose to calm him when his anxiety rises. I put it on him and he said "Oh, Mom! I like the way this feels!" I am always after him about the way he holds his shoulders. Most people when they are standing put their hands at their sides. His hands are always in his front which makes his shoulder blades pop out like chicken wings. Right after I put the vest on him I noticed he holds his hands at his side! Whoo Hoo!! I am at this time (took the time to post this)working on a weighted blanket for him. It is suppose to comfort him to help him sleep more secure. I read of many Aspies who sleep under their mattresses. He has tried that numerous times, no more!!!!

We had a Doc appointment on Tuesday with the endocrinologist. His GHD levels are low but not low enough to be stopping his growth. His bone age was 5 yrs when he was 6.27, not a concern unless it was under 4.34 yrs. So they are now checking him for Celiac Disease. It would stop his body from absorbing the nutrients he needs from the foods he eats (and he eats plenty!). We should get the results from that sometime this week. He has only gained 5 lbs in 4 years.

Another thing the doc was shocked at was the lines in his hands. The right hand had both lines across where the left hand just has one straight line across. The doctor did not know what it meant, if anything, just found it interesting. He said he has never seen it before.

Yard day

So today was yard day. With football every Saturday for the last 2 months not much has gotten done around here. So I made sure no one made any plans except mine! They worked hard!!! Kaleb put up the gazebo by the pond while everyone picked up sticks and mowed. Right before we stopped for lunch I mentioned that sometime in the future I would love the shed moved. I went in and made lunch and then sat down to read some e-mails. By the time I got back outside, they had the shed emptied and ready to move. Steve fell asleep and by the time he got outside it was moved and we had started putting the cans etc. back in. Then it was repair the wood holder. I'm so very pleased with what was accomplished. But it is not finished yet.....

Band Concert

Beautiful Sky

We had been praying for a nice day for Levi's party. It had been cold and rainy all week. Well, God gave us so much more than we expected. It was a beautiful day and actually got quite warm. At the end of the day Garrett came and asked me where my camera was. He just had to get a picture of the sky. It was as wonderful as he said. Even nature shows glory to it's Creator!

Levi's Birthday Party

Yes, I know his birthday is September 20th and not October 20th!!!! This is the first day we have had open enough to have a party for him. Levi decided he wanted a costume party. After I made his invitations he decided he wanted it to be a pirate party and he wanted all his guests to dress as pirates. The boys played with Lincoln logs until Steven came home with the pizza. Levi wanted pizza and root beer floats. Instead of a cake he wanted a pistachio pudding pie and a chocolate pudding pie. He made them himself! So instead of a scavenger hunt we had a treasure hunt. They had to find all of their party prizes which Garrett and I hid all over the yard. The boys then played in the yard for awhile and decided they wanted to play pin the patch on the pirate. Garrett loved to spin them far away from the pirate and see where they ended up. He always gave them another chance to get closer to the real picture. A while later they decided they wanted to break the pinata. Candy,candy, candy....after putting the bags safely in the vehicles that would take them home, they ran off to play pirate FBI until it was time to go home.

Shelby Leopard

Shelby got a new outfit yesterday. Even her tights are leopard skin print.

Necedah vs. Pittsville

Well, today was the last game of the season. Garrett made some great plays, which of course I did not get pictures of. How come he cannot tell me when he is going to play great so I can be ready to take a picture? The one in the distant, I missed the catch (which the crowd went wild to). I got the camera up and on fast enough to get him running. I did not get it zoomed in fast enough to get a good picture though. So the Wolves went undefeated once again (36-0). From what I was told. In the history of Pee-Wee football in Necedah (12 + yrs) only 3 teams have ever gone a whole season undefeated. Garrett was on one of those teams in 4th grade and this one in 6th grade. Not only did he play all morning he went over to his friend's house when we got home and played all afternoon. So we finally get our weekends and a few week nights free for a few months, until wrestling starts in December.

Necedah vs. WI Rapids

Seth got this little game from the dentist yesterday. He has become quite obsessed with it. It has numbers and you are suppose to twist them around and try to get them in numerical order. If I could find one with the alphabet I think he would love it. No pieces come out and it fits perfect in his hands, as you can see.

Firehouse Fieldtrip

Friday we took a field trip with our Homeschool group to the fire/ambulance station in Elroy. The kids had a great time and I took a lot of pictures. To see more pictures check out the Home-school photo gallery on the church website. I should have them up in the next few days.

Garrett and his little buddy Jason. Garrett loves to help Mrs. Ingraham with Jason since she has to bring her small daycare in order to attend day outings. Garrett & Jason get along great!!

Levi and his buddies Ryan, Austin and Avery. Levi just bought new sunglasses with some of his birthday money. He was asking for them before his birthday but I made him wait and buy them himelf. I'm such a tough mom...

Seth loves this big, huge, gigantic truck.

I was trying to get a nice picture of Shelby and Niah (Jason's sister) when Jason decided to "pose". Now I understand why he and Garrett get along so well...

Necedah vs. Stratford

Yesterday was another great game!! The refs were horrible. I guess even the other teams coaches said they were being unfair to our team. The kids pulled together and played hard any way. Garrett was ran into one of the poles used to mark the downs. They are suppose to move them if a player is near and they did not budge. He was out for one play to catch his breathe and get a drink. Then right back on the field ready to win that game. (2 more left)

Ok, I think I am now caught up on what has been going on the last 2 weeks! I hope you enjoyed

Necedah vs. Marshfield

Just a few of numerous pictures I took! Another win!!

Levi's Birthday

Levi loves costumes and if you ever drop by our house you will more than likely find him dressed up as something other than a little boy. For his birthday I found this great Buzz Lightyear costume. He loved it. Unfortunately we had to leave on his birthday. We found a new truck to replace mine which died and no cause could be found. So we were off as soon as the truck was packed. Levi wore his costume in the truck while we traveled for a bit, but since it is thick plastic it got a little warm. even the wings have flashers. He supplies great sound effects. I am still trying to find an open date for him to have a party too.

Garrett's party

Garrett finally talked me into having a birthday party. It was real fun trying to find a date with every Saturday filled with football games. So we decided that one Wednesday after band he would bring his friends home until church that evening. He was limited as my truck was still in the shop so his friend had to fit into Steve's truck. We had to make 2 trips to church that night. Garrett decided there was 2 things he wanted for sure. He wanted to target shoot with his paint-ball gun and he wanted a pinata. So we went shopping for a pinata and the only ones we could find were either not allowed in my house cartoon characters or Dora. So he deiced to get a Dora one to please his Dora crazy sister. The only thing he did not tell her was he planned on making it the target for has paint-ball shooting. Thankfully the candy was wrapped, it made it easier for washing the paint off. It is a tradition in our house that the birthday person make his own cake. Garrett decided on a Chocolate Black Forest cake. It was delicious!!! He did a great job!!! They enjoyed cake and Pizza Hut pizza with root beer floats.

Necedah vs. WI Rapids

Another Saturday another game. This week we traveled to Wisconsin Rapids, next weekend is a home game. I put a red arrow on Garrett's head to make it easier to find him :). They played good and hard. The last two games have started late because the team playing before them had an injury and we had to wait for the ambulance to leave. After seeing yet another kid get hurt I instructed Garrett that he should have no physical contact in the game so he does not get hurt. Of course he did not listen....they played great and won 28-6. Garrett even almost made a touch down, thankfully I had the camera on sports mode and just kept snapping pictures. Coach says Sethy is the team good luck charm and insists he is at all the games so they will go undefeated. Seth says he can't wait until he is big enough to play football....

Pre-game Park time

Necedah vs. Medford (Home game)

Garrett is #84. He is wearing dark blue socks. He also has arm guards and black gloves.

Doctors

Well today we spent 5 hours at various doctors. Shelby needed her Kindergarten Check-up an easy one! She passed with flying colors!

Sethy had an appointment with his neurologist today. He has Aspergers Syndrome in case you did not know. We have been major concerned about his lack of growth. He has only grown an inch in 2.5 years. So he is a 6 yr. Old boy in a size 3 yr. Old body. She has referred us to meet with an endocrinologist in October. They will check to see if he has a growth hormone disorder. They will do a bone age test to see if his bones are age six like his chronological age or age 3 like his size. They are also going to do a MRI of his brain to see if that can give any answers. This will also be able to tell if the stopping of growth may of been caused by the car accident. I've read (and believe me I've read a lot in the last year! :) ) that if it is the growth hormone imbalance, that could be what triggers his destructive behavior, which the growth meds will help. This is a step ahead and we are excited to find out some answers. I am very thankful for a great Pediatric Neurologist who understands we do not want to drug him to get him under control. She listens to our concerns and meets are needs! Praise God!!!

Garrett had an MRI on his knee. which you can read about in the following post. The tech said the Doc should get the results by Thursday. Prayerfully we will get answers by then too.
Edited to add: Garrett's MRI results came back and all is well. He has a knee cap that is a little high and loose. He has to do some resistance exercises to strengthen but he is cleared to play sports.

Thanks for your prayers!!

First Scrimmage

As you can see Garrett did not get to play today. The Dr. would not give him clearance to play. He went in for a normal physical and came out heart broken. Last week he was spearheaded right in the chest at practice with a helmet right below the pads. He has been in quite a bit if pain all week. He has been wearing a rib brace. The doc suspects cracked rib cartilage and badly bruised chest muscles.

Garrett also was shoved by another kid (temper issues) in April. His foot touched his hip. Another doc put him on crutches for 2 weeks after X-rays showed no break. He wears a brace to do sports because it just does not give him support any more. Well, our new doc said it is far too loose to be safe, so they are doing an MRI on Tuesday to rule out torn ligaments or cartilage damage.

Since he is Home schooled; 6th grade is the last year they will allow him to play football. He is more than bummed and cried all the way home. Not usual for him!! He loves his sports. If it is surgery, he will be done for the season...

Steve and Kaleb are assistant coaches and Garrett wanted to go support his team. They played very well and the coach said they will do wonderfully once " Lil' Rip" can play again.

School Pictures

Kaleb-16 yrs, 11th grade
Garrett-11 yrs, 6th grade
Levi- 7 yrs, 2nd grade
Seth- 6yrs, Kindergarten
Shelby- 5 yrs, Kindergarten

Storm~ Rochester

Coming home Sunday afternoon was very interesting. We had seen all of the flooding on the news before leaving Dad & Mom's house. Rochester was the first we had seen a glimpse. I remember as a child Rochester being flooded so this brought back memories. Hwy 14 was under water. The skies looked horrible and just as we got on I-90 the rain hit and hit so hard we had problems seeing the front of the truck. I am so thankful for cell phones. Steve's folks were calling from IA and my folks from MN keeping us up to date on what we were going to be driving into. I had my laptop on with Streets and Trips in case we had to take any detours. Right outside of LaCrosse a Sheriff's car went whizzing past. We found out later that the there where a lot of land slides on the bluffs along the interstate and the trees were sliding unto the road. If the police car had not been sitting right in front of the trees they would of been hit. We arrived safely home!! Our gauge said 3 3/4" of rain.

Lego Land~ Mall of America

I remember taking Heath here and how much he loved Legos. His brothers and sister were just as amazed. Thankfully we had a few cameras going. They wanted a picture of everything. We have quite a few legos but not enough to create these monster creations.

Underwater Adventure~ Mall of America

We took a last fling trip before school starts in a couple of weeks. We hit the Mall of America and then stayed at my parent's house to help do some repairs and such.

What a day!!

So yesterday the Chegwiddens hosted the annual church picnic. The Home Educators group met early for a scavenger hunt. We all brought a meat to grill and a dish to pass. Miss Shelby decided to try an apple. Unknown to us she had a loose tooth which "popped" when she bit the apple. It came out within the hour. The one next to it might come out yet this week. She is trying to let her bangs grow out, so we are in a shaggy look mode. We all enjoyed a great fireworks show at dark.

Here are the plates the kids did last November. They drew pictures on special paper. We then sent them in, as a group, to have the plates made.

We got home shortly after 10 and tucked all the kids in. About 30 minutes after I fell asleep I heard a very loud clang. I jumped up and looked outside. The wind was blowing very hard and it was lightning and thundering. The electricity had already gone down. I thought the wind had blown off one of my lanterns (like in the front of the picture). It turned out it had picked up our shed (which Steve keeps his cans in). It hit the tree behind it, buckled and landed on top of the cans that had slipped out. The door ended up on the far left side. We were without electricity for a little over 12 hours. Lots of branches and twigs all over the yard. So how was your weekend?

Levi's New Hat

Levi found this old hat at a vintage shop yesterday in Rochester. He just had to have it. I do not know if it fit his personality or if his personality takes a turn when he puts it on. Either way he is one sharp dressed little man!

New Camera Pictures

So today Steven bought me a new camera with his bonus check. I just had to share some pictures I took today.

We had lunch at a Chinese Restaurant in Rochester. Both Steve's and my parent's met us. It is about half way for all of us. Here is Garrett, Rita & Gene. This is with the 12x optical zoom. They were on the other end of the table set for 11. Garrett and I were on opposite corners.

Seth sure loves Chinese food and getting his picture taken.

Shelby and Levi at home.

The camera has a fun feature where I can choose one color and choose everything else to be black and white. TOOO FUN!!! Garrett liked the picture, but he had just got off his bike and had helmet hair, so he was not pleased with that...oh, the life of a pre-teen!