Merry Christmas

For those of you who I neglected to send our Christmas card to, here it is.

Dear Family and Friends,

This year for our family has been rather swell,

And we are hoping this year is finding you well.

It’s been a bumpy ride with lots of ups and downs,

But we’ve had far more smiles than there ever were frowns.

Corey is working on his Nurse Anesthetist Degree,

And when he’s done in a year we will all feel so free.

He’s been rotating in hospitals every few weeks,

Providing patient’s anesthesia from their toes to their cheeks.

From doctors to patients, he’s stretch oh so thin,

And when he gets home all he can do is just grin.

I have been just as busy with chasing my kin,

I always love bed time and tucking them in.

There is always time for a quick hug or kiss,

Even though sometimes I feel my days gone a-miss.

They bring me such joy and I love them so dearly,

I can’t believe they are getting bigger with each passing ‘yearly’.

Kellen started first grade and he loves his new class,

He does well in school and we know he will ‘pass’.

We had some excitement in early November,

When we learned his appendix would have to surrender.

He had it removed and recovered so quickly,

He didn’t spend too much time feeling so sickly.

Garrett is 3 and is a joy in our life,

He brings a smile to anyone’s day filled with strife.

He laughs and he giggles and he smiles so wide,

And he knows that life is truly a great ride.

Jane is 2 and is fiery sweet,

The fire helps her stand on her own two feet.

She is just sweet as sugar and always giving hugs,

She pulls on our heartstrings and gives great big tugs.

She adds so much to our family and we love having a girl,

She loves babies and dancing and to twirl and twirl.

We want to wish you happy holidays at this Christmas Season,

Our joy is so full and each of you is the reason.

Thanks for your friendship, support and your love,

We know we are blessed with power from above.

Merry Christmas. 

Love The Boren Family

What we've been up to...

It seems like life has been going in a crazy whirlwind lately, as it seems to do every year at this time.  We have been busy, here's what we've been up to

Opening packages 

Playing in the snow

Shoveling the snow-I say bring it on Buffalo-I'm lovin' it!  

(Maybe that's because I haven't actually shoveled any snow yet)

Sledding

Attempting to take pics of my kids-it wasn't working, so I figured if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.  This was their crazy face pic.  I especially love G's face.  This is what he does when he gets mad.

The one picture of J that actually partially turned out.  She is the hardest one to take pics of.

We found G sleeping in the most interesting places.

We also visited Chuckee Cheese

J waking up from her nap.  I wonder how can her hair really go like this while she's sleeping, but it does and when we tell her that her hair looks crazy she gets embarrassed.

We saw Santa, well, J actually shivered in my arms when i tried to have her see santa.

G was a different story.  He was wide eyed and ALL smiles the second Santa showed up.

We made gingerbread houses.  It was great.  the kids didn't fight and they all got along.

and lastly, we attended K's program.  It was so cute.  He was a monkey.

It has been a great month.

Two peas in a pod

My two little kiddo's J and G keep me running all day long.  I barely have time to catch my breath (as so many moms can relate). But having said that, they bring so much happiness into our home and I love what they both add to our family.

This was a recent conversation I caught (J was screaming and I ran up the stairs to see what was going on).

G- (said screaming at J)  'WHY DID YOU DO THAT! DO YOU THINK JESUS WANTS YOU TO SMASH MY FINGERS IN THE CD PLAYER?

J-  quickly responds in just as bitter tone 'NO!' (But only because she says no to everything right now)

G- 'DO MY FINGERS LOOK LIKE A CD?'

How can I not laugh at that.  They keep me going.  I just love these two.  They are two peas in a pod.

We were also at a friends house the other night. G came in crying.  I asked him what was wrong.  He said he fell off the toilet.  Yes, off the toilet.  I tried to hide me laughing, I was dying inside.  Poor kiddo.  He'll never want to use the toilet again.

He also managed to slam his wrist in the door yesterday.  He's got quite the mark to remind him.  How does someone slam their wrist in the door (or let alone fall off the toilet).  Leave it up to our little man.  Oohhh, I just love him!

Traditions

You know it' s been too long of a posting spell when I was trying too hard to recollect my password and username...

This year we aren't heading home for Christmas.  Sad news. We decided we spent so much time 'at home' in July and August that we would stay here.  We haven't been 100% stuck with this idea.  We have flipped flopped back and forth.  Weighing pros and cons of going or staying.  I guess we are staying.  Although I am sad we aren't going home and whenever I hear the song 'I'll be home for Christmas' it makes me even question our decision even more- I am really excited to introduce my own kids to some traditions that I grew up with and thought was so much fun.

First:

Christmas Crackers.  No, these aren't the kind you eat, but it's an English tradition.  They are wrapped (as pictured in the lovely picture above) and inside there are little treats/prizes and the best part a small little bang.  You pull two tabs and a little explosion takes place.  My Nana (who is from England) would put these on our plates for Christmas dinner.  We loved them.  There was always a paper mache crown inside-which you were expected to wear during dinner and there were other small things inside too. 

Next, present under the table.

There was a small hand written note with your name on it (that's how we knew where to sit) pinned to a ribbon the ribbon led to underneath your chair and when you were done eating, you would get to open your gift.  We were always so excited to see what our gift was Christmas dinner was gobbled up.

Christmas Eve-

This was the BEST in our house.  It wasn't the traditional sit down at the table with your finest china but rather, grab your hot dog roaster and cook dinner over the fire.  We would have hot dogs and smores on Christmas Eve and we loved it as kids. (On Christmas, my mom would do a nice traditional dinner, but she let Christmas Eve be for the kids and we couldn't have asked for a better night!)

Next, each of us would write notes to everyone in our family and tell them what we loved about them.  We would pull the notes from our stockings, each taking turns, and read them aloud.  When we read the note, the person who wrote it would give them their gift.  We loved doing this because we got a few little things to play with on Christmas Eve and it made the anticipation of Christmas even stronger.

When we were older on Christmas Eve, we would ALL sleep in one room.  Can you image FIVE kids all trying to sleep on Christmas eve? One of us would wake up nearly every 20 minutes asking the next person 'what time is it' and 'when can we get up'.  

I think traditions are what bind families together. 

 Living in Utah, we haven't had the opportunity to start any of our own traditions, because we were usually at our parents house (which we ALSO loved). 

Although this year will be a little different, we will be able to create memories for our kids that hopefully will carry on through the years.

I would love to hear what traditions you have...feel free to share, but no dissin' on the roasting hotdogs over the fire :)

Thanksgiving

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

(how crazy is it that this is the ONLY picture that I have on my computer of my dad)

So every year when Thanksgiving rolls around I always laugh to myself.  The reason being that one year my dad, who is an avid outdoorsman and loves to camp, hike, fish, bike, etc.., he heard from a friend a few months previous to November that he had cooked a turkey in the ground.  That's right folks, it's not a typo, but yes indeedy, in the ground.  He told my dad how to do it and my dad was on board.  He woke up at 4 am in the freezing Utah winter weather, donned his warmest parka and headed out with shovel in hand. He started digging.  When he had dug the pit deep enough, he gathered rocks.  He lined the rocks in the pit and built a fire to heat the rocks.  He tended that fire for an hour to make sure they would be hot enough to cook a turkey.  They got the turkey ready to go, carried outside, and buried it.  We left it took ALL day. My mom prepared the normal Thanksgiving day feast and ALL of us had heard about this delicious turkey-incomparable to all others-we were salivating at just the thought.  We set the table with our nicest dishes, the centerpiece was put out, guests were arriving.  My dad went out and dug up the turkey.  You could smell the delicious aroma as he entered the house.  We could hardly wait.  My mom got our carving knife and started cutting.  She screamed.  It was still bleeding.  The turkey didn't cook thoroughly-or much at all.  

DILEMA. 

 Can you have Thanksgiving without a turkey?  

I'm here to tell you you can.  

We refer to that thanksgiving as the 'year without turkey'.  We had everything but.

We had  the traditional feast.  It was delicious.  My mom put the turkey in the oven to finish cooking and that night about 7 pm, we pulled the turkey out and enjoyed it with a few leftovers.

It WAS delicious.

We have often wondered what went wrong.  my dad came to the conclusion that the ground was just TOO cold that year.

I have my theory.

Maybe  a turkey isn't meant to be cooked in the ground.

Maybe it is though.

Maybe Thanksgiving is just about being grateful for what we have and realizing how truly blessed we are everyday to wake up in a warm house, surrounded my loved ones, to have food to eat, schools to go to, cars to drive, freedom to worship, coats to keep us warm, water to drink and family and friends.

That year hasn't been forgotten, and has created memories that continue to bring a smile to my face as each Thanksgiving rolls around.

Thanks for the memories dad.

Love you.

Happy thanksgiving to all.

Any fun stories?  Feel free to share.

Gains and Loses

We are down two baby teeth (and final ones for K man.  Yup, they are all gone).

  We are also short one appendix. (I'm not talking about mine-I lost mine 10 years ago).  

Kellen's is MIA.  

Last Friday, November 7th.  K made his way into my room at 1 am complaining of stomach problems.  Being the completely sympathetic mom that I am rolled over and sent him back to bed.  He came in crying this time-twenty minutes later.  I said there was nothing we could do and to go back to BED.  C got up and offered some tums-he's a softie.

At 5:45, my door was flung open, not by K-man, but my his little brother G.  He said K needed my help.  I obviously thought he was having a dream, and tucked him back into bed.  As I went to leave K said mom, my stomach is hurting so bad I can't sit up.  I couldn't get out of bed to get you, so I woke up G and had him get help.  I carried him into bed with me where he moaned and groaned for about 45 minutes.  Then the tears came.  I asked him where it hurt, he said his stomach.  I gave him my hand and told him to put my hand exactly where it hurt, he immediately put it on his right side.  A little alarm went off.  I was a little nervous, but trying to stay calm.  I called C-who was already at the hospital.  He told me a couple test to do all of which even pointed more that it was his appendix.  He told me to take him to the ER. It's 7:30 am.  Who do you call at 7:30- my nicest neighbor-Marci.  I dropped off J & G and told her I didn't know how long I'd be (still not convinced it was appendicitis).  We were off.  K started crying on the way over saying he didn't want his stomach cut open (how does a 6 year old know this anyway).  I tried to re-assure him telling him to take it a step at a time, but all the time in my gut wondering if it really was going to happen.

We got to the hospital at 8 and were the only ones there.  We were admitted 45 minutes later and it was all downhill from there.

PS- I must admit up to this point I am feeling like the crappiest mom for sending K back to bed twice without validating him BUT i must say I think I totally redeemed myself when I realized I had my camera in my purse.  Who actually gets pictures of an ER visit from start to finish..other than Rachel who has pictures of EVERYTHING including a piece of green pepper stuck IN her husband's throat that he had choked on :).  So, needless to say, I pulled my camera out and started snapping away.

At first he was acting so silly.  When he had to put on a gown, he just looked at me and I kept telling him 'how much I loved his dress, madame'

He was SO glad when Corey came.  He just kept hugging him and telling him how much he loved him and how glad he was that he was there...what am I, chopped liver.  Please notice that i did have him bring his favorite bear ever- good job for me...trying to redeem myself still.

You may notice the red blotchy face he has (something he inherited from me when he cries).  The reason he was crying? THE IV? No.  The stomach Pain? No.  He had to drink contrast-stuff they use to see your organs and guts inside your body.  he HATED it.  It was a struggle to get him to drink half a glass full.  He said it tasted like poo.  I started to refer to it as poo water (trying to lighten the situation).  We finally got the half a glass down, after about 1/2 hour and I was starting to feel relieved until I looked over and saw ANOTHER cup of the poo water.  Luckily reinforcements came (C) and we found out he could drink it down with something.  Then it become a drink of poo water, apple juice etc..  he repeated it until both glasses were gone. Hooray for apple juice.

Getting his CT scan, pretty painless, but he was ticked because when it started they said he could breathe.

After waiting 2 1/2 hours for results that would be ready in 20 minutes. And listening to a lady (or possibly a man) in the room next to us who had the worst case of throwing up I had EVER heard, we finally got the results.  Acute appendicitis.  He started crying.  I tried not to let him see me crying.  poor kiddo, his worst nightmare was coming true. 

They were going to cut his stomach open.

He was so nervous.  

We got him settled and the surgeon said it would be at least 2 hours (we planned on 4-6). After spending a day at the hospital, we realized their time was different from everyone else in the world.  I ran home to get J and G who had been at Marci's ALL day!  I just got them home, fed, and was just leaving to get dinner for me and C who had eaten ALL day except for some gummi peaches  (you feel bad for eating in front of your 6 year old who CAN'T eat)- C called and said surgery called and they said they were coming to get him-and then his phone went dead.  I went into panic mode.  i drove to my other cute friend Rachel who I had talked to earlier and she said she would call me when she got home so I could bring the kids by.  She hadn't called.  I knew her husband would be home.  I ran up to their door with two kids, their blankets and PJ's  and he answered the door with a confused looked on his face.  I crazily explained what was going on, he was SO nice and said leave 'em. I ran out the door.

I cried most of the way to the hospital as I was stuck in traffic.  I had PROMISED K I would be back before he went to surgery.  What if I didn't make it on time?  What if something went wrong?  I finally made it to the hospital and ran inside.  I found K and G here...

playing video games and having a great time.  

Of course, why hadn't i realized it would be another hour after they called.

This is actually a great idea.  K was so nervous before they got up here.  But he just played video games and wasn't even nervous about the surgery.

After the surgery feeling a little better, but in A LOT of pain.  He would only whisper and point at things.

Cute dog.  He's  a therapy dog and his owner brings him around to the rooms to help calm the patients.  (As most of you know I am not an animal lover, but this dog was so nice and it really did cheer K up!)

So excited to be coming home!

All we're missing is his appendix.

We realized the great friends we have gained since we've been here.

Marci watched our kids for 10 hours

Rachel watched our kids for 4 hours and well into the night

Jan called a couple times to make sure we were ok

Tara called to see if she and her son could come by the hospital

Tara, Eliza and Heather came by our house to visit K

Alexis called to see if she could bring dinner

Katie called to see if we needed dinner

My cute sister called and offered to fly out and sent a get well package

Mary called and wanted to know what she could do and also sent a package

(I'm sure I'm forgetting people..sorry)

So many phone calls and well-wishes. We have been so blessed with great friends. 

Thanks for all your support and love.

He's doing GREAT!

Fun with Grandma and Grandpa

We absolutely adore having family visit us here. C's parents came into town this past weekend and it was SO fun to have them.

We went to Niagara Falls and walked from the American side to Canadian side. It was so peaceful.  The Canadians gave them a bit of a hard time saying that they needed passports next time, so be pre-warned if any of you are planning to visit.

We took a ride on the sky wheel in Canada.  Great views, pretty expensive, but it was the one thing G wanted to do with his grandma and grandpa.

Outside the Hershey Factory

Fun at Fort Niagara

Trying to get a pic before they hopped on the plane.  J was trying, G was trying to avoid the camera.  So sad to have them leave.

Tagged...7 things about me

I've been tagged...

7 Things that attract me to my husband

-His great smile

-His sense of humor and how he makes me laugh

-His testimony

-His work ethic

-He's a triple clicker (you know, when you jump in the air and click your heels together, he can do it 3 times- it would make any girl swoon) AND he knows most of the words to ice ice baby

-How he treats others

-How I feel when I'm with him

7 Things I always say

-I love you

-If you don't stop crying, you're in your room (don't judge :))

-What should I make for dinner.....

-Bad News

-Time to clean up (again)

-Oh man

-Who had fun...

7 Things I love to eat

-Mexican

-Chocolate 

-Cinnamon bears covered in chocolate

-Chips and Salsa

-Hot Chocolate

-Fruit

-Sugar snap peas

7 Things I can do

-Laundry

-Make tasty treats

-Embroidery

-Sing kid songs til I'm blue in the face

-Ride a bike

-Take care of kids

-Indian leg wrestle and win just about anyone :)

7 Things I can't do

-Can't recognize songs when people hum them

-I can't hide my feelings, I wear them on my face

-I can't  triple click

-I can't back up a car 

-Can't keep my house spotlessly clean for one day (dare to dream)

-Text

-Make a pie crust

I tag whoever wants to take the time to do this.

October

yes. i realize this post is a long time coming. things have been a bit hectic the last little while.  it's a lot of pictures.

i don't know if a child has ever given up on trick-or-treating.  but g did. he was done.  he laid down on the grass and said he was 'full' and he didn't need any more candy.  when asked if he wanted more he went into a crazy screaming fit.  he was done.

j looking so happy

cute kiddos

G taking pictures of his finished pumpkin

YUCK

so proud of his finished product

Please notice in the following pictures none of my children would even dare lay a hand on the guts of the pumpkins.  

Feel free to look but don't touch G.

I love this picture.  K has flung the guts through the air (notice in the right hand corner)

By the end of the night G has about 15 pieces of candy and had taken off most of his costume.  K and J had a great time.  It was  a warm Halloween night spent with friends and great food-

and not too scary.

5 K Halloween Run...and boy was it scary

Who's brilliant idea was this anyway?  

I have two words to describe the race.  (see below)

Before the race-looking pretty great ladies

Finally making 3 miles

After the race

3 miles later-cold, wet, and tired

POURING.

GRUELING.

Rochester Museum

This is a crazy room in the museum that it built on a slant.  It really gives you motion sickness.  We had never actually seen this room.  We've gone in it a few times, but never noticed it.  I had to hold onto J's hand because she kept walking into the walls.  It was crazy.

Always a great time at the museum.

Pumpkin Farm

Clarence Pumpkin Farm

The kids love visiting this place.  They have TONS of pumpkins!  G kept saying that he wanted a tiny pumpkin.  He picked a baking pumpkin. We pointed out to him that he wouldn't be able to carve it, so he put it back and picked another one.  What a great place to visit.