Monday, April 27, 2009

Tom's birthday and Benjamin's bike troubles...

Some of you may have already heard about Tom's birthday. We didn't see much of each other between the work thing and then our trip to the ER with Benjamin...

(Tom was literally home all of 5, maybe 6 minutes when Benjamin came in crying and gushing blood...)

We actually celebrated Tom's birthday the day before. The dirt and worms "cake" (remember, our oven is currently missing a part, yet to be ordered...)
Share, Tom.
Mmmmm, worms.Christopher got one of the cookies that weren't smooshed.
Then Benjamin didn't even do a jump and still managed to have a bike accident... turning. At least he was wearing his helmet. Here he is, post ER trip, 5 xrays and lots of time. Nothing broken! And Mom could not go with him to get xrays... but he did great.

Sans bandages. He is down to just a bandaid now, a week later. We need to get him a new helmet. He did not have to have stitches, but only because there was not enough skin to stitch together...

Birthday season is over, at least this one... (We have a Spring birthday rush... 4 birthdays in about 3 weeks- Nathanael, Christopher, Emilie and Tom... and then Fall, not so rushed... Benjamin in early October, Timothy and Michael in November but 2 weeks apart... though this new baby is due right before Timothy's 3rd birthday.)

We have Mom in December and Samuel in January and Joseph in July... we're the odd ones out?

Anyway... birthdays are done til July and October :)

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Christopher walking... April 17, 2009



Christopher started walking :) He looks a bit like a little zombie, or Frankenstein, with his tiny little steps and he even made noises like a zombie... but not for the video, he cracks up when I have the camera.




On this one you can see his half scoot, half crawl... after he falls.





Another funny one...







Probably the best one of him walking a long ways... he does this all over the house now. He really started yesterday morning, though he'd been taking steps on his own all week. It's Baby Einstein First Sounds on the TV, if you want to know.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Batman, 1966 style...

The kids love Batman. We have Batman Lego for Playstation 2, and this is fun.

We have a few Batman Lego sets. The kids look forward to the day when we will let them watch the Batman movies (at least 13... they are jealous of Michael turning 13 this year haha). They enjoy the animated Batman shows.

Michael has created Lego Batman figures on his own, since they are not available to buy anywhere or even exist outside the video game.

Anyway, Tom decided to expose our children to the original Batman show. You know, "POW" and "Holy Cannoli, Batman!"

Here are pictures of the kids watching them on Youtube with Tom. Yes, all of them except Christopher. Not all of the episodes are available, and Tom was also cruel in starting a two part episode where the 2nd part was not available... the kids won't let him forget that.


Yes, Timothy is even choosing this over Winnie the Pooh which was playing on the TV...

Emilie's birthday :)

Our one and only daughter turned 9 on April 11th. We had quite the day. It was rainy and cold, plus it was the day before Easter. Then our oven died. We were wondering why her first cake was gooey, and we baked the second one til it was dry... it is still a miracle it was edible :) And I'm glad her oven fried chicken was also edible!

We did have a good day. First there was a church pancake breakfast and Primary activity. Pancakes and sausage, yum. And then a spiritual thought.

We came home and played, had lunch, and then left for the movies. We went and saw "Monsters Vs. Aliens". Very very funny. Christopher did NOT enjoy it however and we had to kind of juggle him to keep him happy. Luckily, there weren't many people there on a rainy Saturday before Easter. Everyone else enjoyed it.

Came home in the rain, had Emilie's birthday dinner, birthday cake, got ready for Sunday, decided we would skip coloring eggs until Sunday with how little time we had left... with lessons and such to prepare and a baby who had just had shots. Presents, cake and ice cream also.

All in all it was a good day.

Emilie is a sweet girl who loves everyone and almost everything (not tomatoes, mushrooms, or many vegetables). She loves doing her hair, nails, dressing nice, princesses, ballet, dancing, singing, her family, her friends, talking on the phone, writing letters...

She is very anxious to have a sister so she is not so outnumbered. Tom and I figure the stars are aligned for this to happen and it may be her only chance... with our history... My sister and I are about 9 years apart and so are Tom's two sisters... so here's to possible pink this year! I reminded her that it is very likely this baby is a boy and she said she would be sad if that happened. We'll find out in June, most likely. Tom isn't sure he wants to know. I think I'd like to find out this time.

She loves going to Church as well as Activity Days and enjoys learning new things. She reads well and is doing well in her schoolwork when she remembers to work on it. She likes Littlest Pet Shop as well as My Little Pony. She is great about playing with her younger brothers. She also loves to read and is starting over with the Harry Potter series to try and finish this time.

We are glad she is here with us. She definitely is a special part of our family.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Nope, didn't forget Christopher

Just had other things to post about.

Do we combine the big blizzard of 2009 with Christopher's birthday? Sure, why not. What fun.

Christopher turned one on March 27th, 2009, the same day our town and I-40 shut down due to white out conditions, a foot of snow, and up to 6 feet or more in snow drifts. Tom went to work for part of the day and then returned to work from home the rest of the day due to dangerous conditions.

Enjoy the pictures!
A picture from early in the day when it was mostly just windy... we could hardly see across the street (or the alley from the back)

Everyone except me...Some of the drifts in the back yard.
Ooh... cupcake...
The other half of the backyard. That's a full size garbage can buried there.
Happy one year old!
Why is everyone singing?
We love books!

OOOh, a noisy car! Perfect!

Our front porch at one point...

Coming soon... pictures of playing in the snow the next day! :)

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Announcement

Some of you may already know this...

but Valencic baby 9 is on the way!

Our family adventure continues :) Christopher and this baby will be 19 months apart. Timothy will turn 3 right after this baby is born... and Michael will be 13 later that month.

We did find out we were NOT as far along as we thought. This is unfortunate, but good information to have. While we thought we were due mid October, this has been changed to early November. November 5th, to be exact. Another November baby... we've done this before. Or as Aunt Sherri predicts, a Halloween baby.

And here's the first photo op of our little beanie baby. He/she is already nicknamed "Rufus" after the hairless mole rat of Kim Possible fame, by Auntie Amanda.


Many many friends and family are "thinking pink" because Emilie will be 9 in 7 short days and family history is rooting for a girl. Aunt Sherri was 9 (or close enough) when she got her sister (me). The other 7 siblings are all brothers. Aunt Amanda was 9 when she got her baby sister (Ariana). The other 6 siblings are brothers. These kids have a LOT of uncles. This baby already has 7 brothers... and since Emilie has heard this story over and over again... she is hoping even more for a girl.

However, if this is a boy, she says she will be sad but love him anyway.

Either way, too early to tell. Wait until June and we'll probably find out.