Christmas Slowdown

Well....Christmas is all and said and done. It's hard to believe all of the shopping, all of the eating, all of the hype is already over for the year. It seems like we hopped off the plane from Cali, hit the ground running, and the next thing I knew it was Christmas. During the month of December we tried to fit in as many Christmas activities as our schedule permitted. We baked a little, watched quite a few Christmas flicks while sipping our new fam favorite hot cocoa w/ vanilla ice cream, decorated our house and tree, looked at lights, hung out w/ friends and fam, shopped a little, celebrated a few b-days, decorated a gingerbread house w/ friends, attempted to read the Christmas story every night before bed, and attended Christmas parties. Amongst the craziness we all got sick, Chris had oral surgery, Doug took his final and wrote a paper for his Masters program, and everyone but myself practiced and performed in, "Simply Christmas" at church. Trev also had his first orchestra concert, which surprisingly was very kind to the ears. I am so proud of my little man! We were also able to spend a little time w/ my Dad who was in the hospital in Boise for a shoulder replacement. The kids had so much fun playing with his hospital bed. We all absolutely adore that man, and hope he doesn't have any more surgeries for a LONG time.
We are currently spending time w/ Doug's family for the holidays. We are enjoying relaxing and spending time just the 5 of us. I already took a peak at the January calendar and am trying to savor every moment w/ the fab 5. I love these peeps so much! It is nice to just slow down and be able to cuddle with them and actually carry on a conversation w/ them with out having to say, "Hurry Up!" Amongst the hustle and bustle of life I find myself saying it quite a bit. We are making the most of the Christmas slowdown. The slowness has given me a chance to reflect upon just how incredible this past year has been. God has truly poured out his blessings upon our family in so many ways. I am humbled to sit, think, and thank Him for the love, grace, faithfulness, and mercy He has bestowed upon us during these past 12 months. I am looking forward to many great Fab 5 adventure to come in the next year. For now I am going to go snuggle with the kids.

We were so blessed to spend Thanksgiving in California with my family. There were 12 of us in all that made the trip including my parents, brother Will, brother Drew and his wife Christa, sister kati and her adorable almost 6 month old Rhyse, and of course the Fab 5.

We stayed right on the beach in a great house. The kids had so much fun playing in the sand, boogy boarding, playing volleyball, looking at dolphins, seals, crabs, starfish, and finding shells. They also spent a lot of time in the pool and hot tub.

We spent two days at Disney and had an absolute BLAST! We would send G-ma Kiki and Baby Rhyse to get us fast passes for the rides that we wanted to go on. We hardly waited in line at all. We found out that Cassi and Trev are roller coaster maniacs along with their Dad. Chris and I, well lets just say we did a few, but we don't like as Chris says, "That throw up feeling." We were able to see some great parades and lots of characters.

We also spent one day at Sea World. It was a fun day and so much more relaxing than Disney. The kids loved seeing the sharks, and Chris is still doing the Shamu wave. The guys and kids all sat at the bottom of the splash zone on purpose and stayed dry. They were a little disappointed.

The other days of our trip were spent on the beach, exploring Huntington Beach Pier area, shopping, and going to Bolt.

It was a great vacation and we were SO blessed by my parents to take us all. We made so many fun memories together! I am not sure if the sour dough turkey is going to be a yearly tradition for us, but we did not miss real turkey this year. We were having way too much fun to worry about a traditional meal. In fact, we spent Thanksgiving in Disney and stopped at one of the few open restaurants on our way home, Del Taco. Yes, we had Del Taco and various other snacks at about 10 p.m. for our Thanksgiving dinner.

Thank you so much Mom and Dad for a wonderful trip! We so appreciate your generosity! Thank you so much for making this a very special time for our family. We love every minute that we get to spend with you. You are the BEST!

Teeth

My little man was so brave today! He had to go to the oral surgeon this morning and have a tooth pulled that was fused to his bone. He did not even flinch when they stuck in the I.V.(maybe the nitrous oxide helped out a little)! They ended up having to cut the tooth into 4 pieces, and that included the double root that the tooth had. It was HUGE! They said it was a bigger extraction than most adults.

I kept him nice and doped up most of the day so he did not feel any pain. I am a little concerned with how tomorrow will go! There is a huge hole in his mouth that is VERY deep! We are just praying for no pain!

You may notice from the above picture the huge gap in the front....yeah Chris is missing his 3 front teeth. Too bad there is not a song about that! Poor guy he is in for it when it comes to TEETH! Only seven years old and we are already starting with the orthodontist. The list of to be pulled is long....one down many to go!

Fab 5 for 4 years

it still overwhelmes me to think that God poured out his blessing upon doug and i to become parents to our 3 beautiful children. it was a long and hard process, but in the end so worth it! (refer to last years post for all the details)
it's hard to believe that it has been that long, but at the same time it seems like we have been together forever. i have completely forgotten what life was like with out them a part of it. was there ever life without mcdonald's, a trampoline, a dirty house, unfinished homework, or sleepless nights?becoming a mommy is the one thing that has totally rocked my whole world. you see this is the one title that i have not been able to fulfill with out God's strength in my life on a daily basis. i must admit (unfortunately) i have done a lot of things in my flesh and some how God let me slide, but not this job. this job doesn't work out so well when heather connelly tries it on her own! in my own strength i am totally unworthy of these three amazing kids.
i can remember praying so hard even before i met them that they would bond with doug and i quickly. oh man, did He answer my prayer. i can remember hugging and kissing them for the first time and it just feeling so right. i don't know how to describe it any other way than, "we became family!" my baby girl was a little shy around others the first several months (hard to believe now), and i was just so happy to hold her in my arms for hours. i absolutely loved to just hold all of them, and still do. i absolutely LOVE the fact that they still hug and kiss me good bye every day at school in front of their friends, and even when we meet in the hall. i am so glad that God is still answering my prayers and has allowed us all to be at the same school again. because i missed out on the first few years of their lives i now want to make up for every minute. i rarely leave them with a sitter because i know in a couple of blinks they're going to be off to college.
honestly, from the minute i met my kids something inside of me changed forever. oh yeah, i still have a pretty big selfish streak, but this momma's babies come first! shortly after bringing our kids home our friends all came to meet them. a few of my friends commented that i looked different. i would just answer with, "of course i look different now i am a MOM!"
sometimes i look at other moms with kids at similar ages as mine and i think, "man that woman has it together! what the heck is wrong with me?" that's when i like to fall back on the, "i've only been a mom for 4 years now excuse, and i got three at once." oh yeah, this mom thing is better than i could of ever imagined, but boy is it hard work. i just wish i could put life on slow motion and savor every minute just a little bit more. last night i was doing homework with the twins and was saddened with how well they are reading. it's just not right they are growing up so fast!i never could of imagined that what i thought to be my biggest curse (infertility) could turn out to be my biggest blessing. God truly knew what he was doing when he put the five of us together! so, today I am celebrating the Fab5 for 4 years, and looking forward to the Fab5 for 5! God is so GOOD!

round dos

yes, we have started off november just like october SICK! sore throats, runny noses, fifth's disease, a trip to the e.r., vomiting, and the other stuff i won't mention. thankfully i think everyone is pretty much back to normal!

so, besides our illnesses october turned out to be a great month. despite our crazy schedule we made some great memories as a family. we started out the month w/ a trip to baker. we had a great time hanging out on the ranch, and of course a fun 4-wheeler ride up in the mountains.

the following weekend we were able to go to the pumpkin patch w/ some great friends. the kids had a great time at the petting zoo and pony rides (they were at the pumpkin patch). we brought home some pretty cute pumpkins too! the next day we went to the zoo w/ our home team to see the new africa exhibit. the kids LOVED it!

the next weekend doug was off again so he got up and made everybody breakfast, and then we spent the afternoon hiking at camel's back. of course after all of that exercise we had to make a stop at goody's.

of course october ended w/ halloween week. actually, this was probably the most memorable week of all. the kids had to dress up for AWANA in what they wanted to be when they grow up. it was a given that trev was a cowboy, and chris announced that he was going to be doug. so, that left cassi to be heather. of course trev was the cutest cowboy EVER! and the twins, well that was just priceless! chris wore khakis and a shirt w/ one of doug's ties. (doug wears a tie about 2 times a year, but whatever!) he did his hair just like his dad's, sprayed some of his dad's cologne on, and even carried his messenger bag. he had to finish the doug look off w/ a cup of dutch bros. coffee, because that is what dad always drinks. cassi had to dress like me w/ matching jeans, sweater, boots, and of course makeup, a cell phone, and one of my purses. they were very cute! when we got home from church that night chris said, "hey heather, i'll give you a smooch if you let me stay up later." let me tell you that had me rolling.

halloween was a fun day filled w/ school parties and of course lots of candy. doug and i were both able to attend the kiddos parties. then of course there is the good old trunk or treat. peter pan, wonder woman, and flash collected an obscene amount of candy. it has only been a week and we have already polished off a good portion of it.....hmmm do you think that is why we have been sick? (pictures coming soon-blogger would not let me upload them!)

germs

it is only the middle of october and everyone in our house is on steroids and antibiotics! yes, you are reading this correctly- all five of us have been to the E.N.T. in the past week! he is GREAT, so if you need a good doc. i would be happy to share his name.
this is not a good way to start off the cold/flu season. i am praying that we are getting all of our sickness out of the way! i absolutely hate it when my kids are under the weather! i don't like to see them so miserable. everybody did look better this a.m. and fortunately made it to school!
Happy Healthy Wednesday!

a slice of our life

Trevar has been in violin lessons for 3 weeks now, and already has learned 7 songs. He has also learned those same songs on the piano all by himself. He is working so hard in school!

The other night we were all curled up together reading a stack of new fun books. In the middle of the story Trev reaches over and gives me a huge kiss on the cheek. He then said, "Mom, thanks for reading me books still. I know that I am 10 and can read them on my own, but I am glad you still read to me."

Conversation the other a.m.

Chris: Mom I am so glad you could not have a baby. Sometimes I still can't believe that you picked me! How did you know that you wanted me?

Me: I saw a picture of you and your sister and brother in a rocking chair and I just fell in love with you. From the minute I saw that picture I did everything I could to make sure that you were my baby. God really answered my prayers. (I couldn't really say much as I was so choked up.)

Chris: I think I might adopt or have a baby someday.

A few weeks ago at school everyone was given a T-shirt for Spirit Friday. The teacher did not have enough, and the last little girl that did not get one started throwing a fit. Chris just nonchalantly got up and gave her his T-shirt. He told his teacher he could just get one a different day. My boy has such a tender heart!

Do you de-gree?

Last night we were driving home from Home Team and were cutting it close for bedtime so we said our "Goodnights" in the car. As Chris was praying Cassi kept on saying Amen, Amen, Amen. When he finished praying he asked her why she was saying Amen? She said she was de-greeing with him. I thought Doug and I were going to die laughing! So, our family has yet another new word. I am thinking the Connelly definition would be to agree with just a little disagreement in there as well. Maybe like you agree about 95%.

A few days ago Cassi was singing, "Mary had a Little Lamb" constantly. My mom and her friend stopped by and she literally sang it 15 times. I was telling Doug about it later that night, and he started laughing. Cassi was singing that a.m. and Doug had told her that she had a beautiful voice and sang that song wonderfully. She totally lit up when he told her that. I guess positive reinforcement really does work!
I LOVE these people! They are the reason my life is so rich!