A Wii Little Christmas Post

The kids were thrilled with our Wii Little Christmas this year. The first present the all opened was the Wii Wheel. Nate said "what's this?" And Kaylee said "What does it look like?" Nate said "It looks like a wheel for the Wii." And then got a strange look on his face. I handed them another round of presents and they all opened different colored skins for the wii remotes. Nate started jumping up and down and said "I think we're getting a Wii! I think we're getting a Wii!" That got Max all excited even though he really didn't understand. But he was happy when he opened a Wii Cars game. He's slowly catching on to the Wii games, but is just as happy playing with the cars that were in his stocking. Nate & Kaylee are both really enjoying the Wii fit games. Derek & I really enjoyed watching their reactions. It was a fun Christmas. (Oh and Nate hasn't made any mention of the Air Hogs SwitchBlade that he announced he wanted 2 days before Christmas but I am watching it at Target to see if its clearanced out really cheap so I can pick one up for his birthday next November.)


Nate opening Nerf Game for Wii from Kaylee & Max


Max opening Cars Game for Wii


Kaylee opening Disney Pop Star Sing it for Wii

Happy Birthday Derek

This post is to wish a happy birthday to the man of the house. As most of you know, we don't have "traditional gender roles" in our home. I am the "breadwinner" while Derek is the "home maker." Well let me tell you, in my opinion, it takes a real man to be a home maker. He homeschools the kids (and if you've met my boys you know that's no easy task), does virtually all of the cooking & cleaning, takes care of the finances, repairs the cars, cuts the grass, serves on the board of directors of the swim team, is an elder in the church and does it all with a great attitude. I couldn't hope to accomplish half of what he does most days. He's a great example to our children that real men follow God's calling for their lives even if it isn't typical and isn't glamorous.

Happy Birthday, Babe! I hope you have a great day. You deserve it.

Nate's Christmas List

Nate has been pretty silent about what he wants for Christmas this year. And I haven't asked because, well, I already bought all his presents. Tonight on the way home from shopping for his brother and sister he sprung it on me. Mom, you know what I really, really want? An Air Hogs SwitchBlade. Its so cool. And he launched into the product description:

Air Hogs RC Switchblade Transforming Stunt Flier Switchblade performs a magical in-air transformation using the latest in flight technology. Hover like a UFO, Fly like a Plane! The incredible flier takes off like a UFO and transforms in-air to a high powered aircraft. It's like having 2 amazing flyers in 1. The Switchblade comes with an RF controller, plug-in charger, extra propellers and a built in Lipo battery for extreme power and performance. Nothing like Switchblade in the Market! Hover like a UFO, Fly like a Plane Features: Vertical takeoff Transforms in mid-air Flies like a jet.



If you get it for me, you'd be the best Mom ever and I'll get you a really cool present too.

Well, I hope he's not going to be too disappointed, but telling me about his heart's desire 3 days before Christmas is not going to cut it. I know he's going to be really excited about what we got. (He'd better be because I waited all night at Meijer on Black Friday to get it!) Hopefully we don't have any sadness about not getting the Air Hogs Switchblade to deal with on Christmas day.

We always read the Christmas story first thing on Christmas morning. And that helps put us in the right frame of mind before present. This year I might need that divine intervention.

Max's Christmas Shopping

This morning we were discussing the last minute Christmas shopping we need to do. Mostly its food items but we have a couple more gifts to get for extended family. I told Nate he could come along to help pick out presents for his cousins. Max immediately piped in and said:

"I want to come present shopping too. I will buy myself a Buzz Lightyear present."
I responded by saying: "You don't get to buy presents for yourself!"

Then he said: "Then you go without me, and get me a Buzz Lightyear!"

Not exactly the Christmas spirit we are looking for, but from a a 3 year old I guess it makes sense.

Ballerina Update

The Ballerina noticed that I post a lot more about her brothers than I do about her. The lawyer in me wants to point out that that's not necessarily a bad thing when you think about some of the things I post about her brothers. But any way, this post is just to show her that her activities are just as important to me as theirs.

Last night when I picked her up from dance, Kaylee was very excited to show me this picture that one of her friends had taken during their pointe & partnering class:


I can understand why she's excited, its an awesome picture! I love watching her dance. Sometimes I can barely remember the three year old that started dance lessons when I watch her leaping and turning on pointe. Just as a reminder, here is a picture of the three year old ballerina:

12/5/2009 Swim Meet Results

Another great swim meet for Nate today. This meet was a "Double Dual Meet" which means that just 3 teams participated and the coaches picked the events. (In an invitational we get to pick our own events).

Nate & Ian were both chosen to be in the two relays. In the Medley Relay, Ian swam Butterfly & Nate swam Freestyle. Their relay team came in 3rd with a time of 1:52:80 which was an improvement over last seasons best time. In the 100 Freestyle Relay, they came in 2nd with a time of 1:35.91- slightly slower than last season's best but the two other boys are first time swimmers so it was still a great time.

Nate's also swam the 25 Free where he came in 2nd with a PERSONAL BEST time of 20.83. I think he's on track to break that 20 second barrier. Nate also had a 29.75 in the 25 Backstroke, for 4th Place.

Ian looked great with a 2nd place PERSONAL BEST in the 100IM (25 of each stroke) and a 1st place finish in the 25 Butterfly.

Way to go MARLINS!!!

Spanish 101 for Girls

Kaylee was excited to tell me about the two things she learned in her spanish lesson today.

Necesito chocolate.

Necesito dinero.

Like she said, its everything a teenage girl needs to know how to say.*


(translation: I need chocolate. I need money.)

My Thankful List

Here's a partial list of what I'm thankful for:

A God who loves me enough to give me free will and still love me when I make wrong choices.

A Savior who paid the price for the sin in my life.

My husband, my best friend and soul-mate who 7 1/2 years ago decided to give up his career because he knew that he could serve our family better by staying home with our kids. I'm also very thankful that he's become an awesome cook.

My children, each a unique individual, they all add something special to our family. Kaylee is caring and helpful. Nate is pure energy with a lot of love thrown in. He's the most likely to share or remember to get a second of something for his sibilings. Max is a snuggler and easy-going (mostly).

My extended family and friends, they are supportive and loving. I rely on them for so much and I'm grateful for the roles they play in my life.

My job, 13 years ago God placed me in a work place with people that I have come to truly care for. My job both provides for my family's needs and provides me with a great deal of professional satisfaction.

This list could and should go on and on. But I'll end it here.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Max's home school art project

Max is showing more interest in art. Tonight he created this masterpiece in the kitchen using his bare hands and a tube of anti-itch ointment. He's a prodigy. It only took him 2 minutes to do it!










Boys! You gotta love 'em. Right? You gotta love 'em.

Disney Recap

Since we are back home life is back up to full speed again. Can I just say what a nice break we had? Make no mistake about it, a Disney Vacation is exhausting. But in a good way. We did have some lazy sleep-in mornings. We had some down time at the beach and we had lots of excitement for our high energy boys. But the best part about it was that we did it as a family. Even when Derek & I split up to do different things with the kids (one of the down sides of the huge age gaps between them) it was still amazing. We both got some one-on-one time with each of the kids and we all needed it. It was great to have the busy-ness be fun time instead of feeling pulled in different directions by outside forces.

Here are some photo highlights. If you enjoy them and want to see more you can check out my facebook album. It has about 80 pictures. If you really, really love Disney, photography or my family and want a link to our shutterfly album, send me an email and I'll give you the link- it has 975 pictures in it. (Yes, I took almost 1000 pictures on this vacation!)

Max driving at Tomorrowland Speedway. He techincally wasn't tall enough to drive but the cast members let him do it every time. Each time he also spend the whole time in line reminding us that he wanted a blue car.


Max dressed up like Buzz Lightyear while riding the ride. The cast members loved him. They saluted him and congratulated him on a mission well done. Max ate up the extra attention.


Nate riding Kali River Rapids on his own.


Kaylee & Nate riding Expedition Everest. (Kaylee is the purple blur near the front).


Max's birthday- All week he said I'm going to get Cars for my birtday.



Time with Grandparents:



Beach Time:


A sunset Dumbo Ride

Max's carry-on

Nate & Max woke up at 6:30am this morning. They normally sleep until 8:00 or later so I know they must be excited about our trip today.

After saying Good Morning, I said:

"We've got a while before we leave for the airport, should we take a shower?"

Max walked over to the tub, grabbed it, made grunting sounds, then said:

"It's too big for the airplane."

Busy Week

I haven't posted in quite awhile. Things have been super busy around here. Here's a recap of the last week:

Saturday Oct. 24- Nate did awesome in his 2nd swim meet of the year including getting 1st place in his heat of the 50 Back Stroke. Heat winners were given blue beads. He thought they were pretty neat. He finished 7th overall in the race, so he also earned a ribbon. He did well in his other races as well.

Sunday OCt. 25- We celebrated Max's birthday a bit early with some of the little boys at church and their families. Prior to his birthday Max said he wanted cars for his birthday everyday for about 3 weeks. He was a very blessed little boy and was given lots of cars from his friends.

Monday Oct. 26- Kelli missed a meeting because Derek had a meeting, Nate had swim practice & Kaylee had dance. One of those nights where we look at the calendar and just shake our heads- something has to give.

Tuesday- Oct. 27- Kaylee had dance practice at church and dance classes at the studio at the same time.

Wednesday- Oct. 28- Kaylee had dance, Nate had swim practice.

Thursday- Oct. 29- Kaylee had dance class 5:30-9:30 and dance practice at church starting at 8:45. Nate had swim practice at the Y from 6:45-7:45pm. Kelli had an appreciation dinner from 6:15-8:45 We still haven't figured out how to be 2 places at once.

Friday- Oct. 30- Nate's swim practice got cancelled. We rejoice! Kaylee was supposed to go to Danielle's birthday party but it was cancelled due to a sick sibling. We were sad, but happy to take Kaylee to meet Danielle at the movies instead. After the movies Kaylee & Max spend the night with Mandy because Nate has an early morning swim meet on Saturday.

Saturday- Oct. 31- We get up at 5:30am to take Nate up to Flint for a swim meet. Upon arriving at the pool we learn that the power is out. We wait for about an hour before they cancelled the swim meet, then we drive home. We are sad about the swim meet but happy to have 3 hours to do other things. So what do I do with this spare time? I make iron-on shirts for our upcoming vacation!
Sunday Nov- 1- Kaylee had to be at the church at 8am for dress rehearsal so we got up early. Boy were we glad we got to set our clocks back an hour last night. After church Nate had his Marlin Marathon fundraiser and Kelli attended the officials clinic from 11am-2pm. At 3pm Kaylee had student leadership, then at 5pm Youth Group.

After I got home I started packing for the vacation. Boy do we need one! But first, I have a 2 day business trip. LOL! So We'll see you again in a couple weeks. But then we'll have lots of Disney pictures.

Happy Halloween

I usually try to coordinate the kids costume for at least one event every year. This year Derek & I decided to get into the act as well. Max decided to be Scooby-Doo and Nate thought it would be fun if we all went as the Mystery Inc. Gang. Here we are at Ahlgren's Halloween Trick-or-Treat party.

The Mystery Inc. Gang

Scooby

Shaggy

Velma

Daphne

Fred

Marlin Meet 2009

Around the Dexter house, Fall means leaves, apples and swim practice! That's right swim season has begun. Practice started in Mid-September and today was the annual Marlin Meet.

The Marlin Meet is our inter-squad introductory meet. Its the first meet of the YMCA season (High School girls & USA swimmers have already had meets). The meet is just our team. Its a chance for the new kids (& parents) to learn the ins & outs of a swim meet.

Since this is our second season we are pros. Here's what you need to know:

Swim meets are long.
(Over 3 hours per session)

Natatoriums (rooms with pools) are HOT!!
(This may cause younger brothers to suddenly strip off all clothing)

Hallways are cold!
(Frustrating the mothers chasing the younger brothers through the hallways)

Races are fast.
(So you wait a long time in a very hot room but if you leave for a nanosecond you might miss what you came to see.)

Little Brothers don't belong at swim meet until they can swim too.

We didn't actually miss any of Nate's races but we came close once due to a diaper change. (You can't go very long in a really hot room with a stinky diaper!)

And here are Nate's results:

100 Individual Medley - DQ'd- This is where the swimmer does 1 length of each stroke. During the Breast stroke you have to touch the wall with 2 hands. Nate's strokes looked great but he got caught on the technicality.

25 Fly- 2nd place- 27.94- O.k it was only Nate & Ian in this race but Nate improved his time by almost 2 seconds, which is great.

25 Back- 1st place- 26.99- Nate was thrilled to get his first individual 1st place ribbon. There were 5 other swimmers in this event so that made it even better. He also improved his time.

25 Breast- 3rd place- 31.95- Nate remembered to touch with 2 hands and came in 3rd out of 5 swimmers. He also improved his time by over 6 seconds.

It was a great first meet. And we have 2 more later this month that Nate is really looking forward to. I'm planning on getting a babysitter for Max for those!

I can't reach

Tonight Kaylee, Nate, Max & I were piled on my bed watching a movie on the portable DVD player. The battery light started blinking so I asked Nate if he knew where the power cord was. He deflected the issue to Kaylee, asking her to go get it. Kaylee asked "why do I have to get it?" and Max promptly said "Because I can't reach it!" and stretched out his hand and said "ugggg, uggggg". We all started laughing and of course, I got up and went downstairs and got the power cord.

Out of Gas

Tonight I did something I've never done before.

I ran out of gas!

When I was almost to work this morning, my car gave me a little friendly bing, to remind me that it needs fuel. Then on the way home it gave several more bings. Now, I am sure that any automotive engineer will say that all the bings are the same, but I really do think that the last four or five bings that occurred while I was stuck in a traffic jam, were more urgent than the earlier ones.

I got on the phone with Derek and inquired just how far past empty my fuel gauge would go and Derek's advice was to get gas as soon as possible. (Gee, really, why didn't I think of that?)

Well, unfortunately, I pushed the limits of the fuel tank a bit too far. I managed to get off the express way and onto the service drive but that was it. I ended up walking about 3/4 of a mile to a gas station to buy a gas can and 2 gallons of gas. Then a good samaritain drove me back to my car.

The whole adventure only took about 45 minutes, which really in my busy life isn't that long. But walking to the gas station and feeling a bit foolish I had time to remind myself, that its a good idea to listen to the bing.

So as we all start our crazy-back-to-school schedules can I give you a word of advice? If you are running like crazy, make sure you take time to check your fuel gauge. And if God gives you a couple of friendly bings, take some time to refuel, or better yet keep the gas tank full!

Here is one way to keep the fuel tank from hitting empty:
One Minute Daily Devotions

Four Wheelin' Fun

For the second year in a row we spent most of the holiday weekend at Camp Living Waters. Derek & I really enjoy spending time at the place where we met and the kids love all the activities. Their favorite is getting to ride our friends' Quads. Both danger boys would like Quads of their own but since we're "city folk" they'll just have to make do with one weekend a year.












It takes a REALLY tired 2 year old to fall asleep on a Quad! Thanks Mayes & Walter Familiies for sharing the fun with us!

An Ice Pack & Tylenol

Three of my all time favorite worship songs are Desert Song, Blessed be the Name of the Lord and Praise you in this Storm. (You can click on the song title to hear them)

They all speak of praising God during the down times, the tough seasons of life, the tragedies.

Truth is though, I've not really experienced much of those. I can point to a few places in my life that were "down" or "tough". But really if I examine my life from an outside perspective, I've had it pretty easy.

We experienced one of our "tough times" on Saturday evening. Max had a freak accident and ended up with a fractured skull. Sounds terrible, right? One of those "tragedies", but really, it wasn't so bad.

Saturday around 5:45pm Derek & the boys were at the bike store. In the parking lot, Derek picked Max up and somehow Max flipped out of his arms and fell about 3 ft head first on to the concrete.



They got home within just a couple minutes. Max was crying a little but not freaking out, and it didn't look that bad so I snapped a quick photo. He said his head hurt so I sat down on the couch with him while Derek started getting an ice pack. But then Max's eyes rolled back in his head and he started acting really sleepy so we decided it was definitely an ER trip.

On the way to the ER, Max started vomiting. That's when Mommy started to shake. I've had just enough first aid training to know that a head trauma with vomiting and sleepiness isn't a good thing.

We went to the nearest ER, a small hospital right by our house, where they examined Max right away. The Doctor said it was fine to let him sleep as long as we could wake him every 10 minutes. He also said there would be a good chance that they'd want to transfer Max to the "big hospital" (St. John Detroit) for observation. But that they could do the CAT Scan at the small hospital and it would be much faster.

The CAT Scan showed 2 skull fractures but no brain injury. (Praise God!) They decided to transfer Max for observation. Max was actually kind of excited about the Ambulance ride.

We spent several hours in the Pediatric Emergency Room at St. John Detroit. Then Max was transferred to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Up until that point, the whole experience hadn't really been that bad for Max. But in the PICU he had to get an IV and blood draw. They blew a vein in one hand but finally got the IV into the other. I could hear him crying from out in the hallway. Definitely a down Mommy moment.



But later, around 4am, as I sat holding him, listening to all the monitors, I realized that I had a thankful heart. God has blessed us beyond measure. We were sitting in the PICU for observation and all signs pointed toward no issues at all. I could hear the nurses discussing some of the other patients, at least one was in the PICU for Chemo. And we were just here for observation.

That's when I realized that everything I've been through in life, really, hasn't been that big of a deal. If I felt like it was a big deal, its just because I made it that way in my head. My God is bigger than any of my issues. He truly is worth praising in the storms of life. I know there are people reading my blog who have had issues that really are the big storms of life. Many of them continue to Praise God through those storms and they are a blessing and inspiration to me. And to those that don't have a relationship with God, can I just tell you, I don't really know what you are going through, but God does and he wants to help you through it.

If you have a relationship with God, in the end, everything will be o.k., if its not o.k. its not the end. If you have a relationship with Jesus, at the end you'll be with him and you'll be way better than o.k.



As for Max, he had several consultations with surgeons, they all said the fractures would heal on their own. Although they do want follow up visits. The opthomologist said it didn't appear that there was any injury to his eye, and they'll do a follow up in a few weeks too.

It turns out the treatment for skull fractures is an ice pack & tylenol.

So at the end of our "tough time", Max just has a really bad black eye. But he has a great attitude.

Cruise Commerical

Tonight as we were watching the food network a commerical for carnival cruises aired. In the commerical, there is a giant waterslide and the pitchman talks about how great it is. I know he's seen the commerical before, but tonight Max got really excited. He grinned and pointed at the TV and said.

"We should buy a waterslide!!"

I said: "Really? Maybe we'd have to buy the whole cruise ship."

Max said: "O.k. but we'd need really cool swim suits."

Later Grandma called and Max answered the phone and quickly told her:

"We're buying a waterslide!!!"

The empty bowl

Last night Max & Nate wanted Lucky Charms for a snack. I pour the cereal into their bowls and immediately they both asked for more. I told them if they ate all the cereal in their bowl I would give them more and I reminded them that they couldn't just eat the marshmellows and leave the cereal. About 10 minutes later, when I checked on them. Nate was finished and didn't want any more. A few minutes after that Max found me and said "I want more Lucky Charms." I asked him if he ate all his cereal. He looked me right in the eye and said "There's no more in my bowl." I followed him downstairs and sure enough. There was none left in his bowl.



Because he had ate all the marshmellows and poured the rest into his brother's bowl.

I tri-ed it and I liked it!

Last year, a few people from our church did a Sprint Triathlon together. They had such a good time they convinced a few more people to join them this year. Of course, Derek was interested right away. People kept asking me if I was going to do it too and I usually responded with some sort of smart alec comment about not running unless I was being chased. But in the back of my mind, I started thinking that maybe, just maybe, I could do it too. I found out that my best friend, Denise, was thinking the same thing. I decided that if at least two of us "non-athletic people" were willing to train then it could be fun. So for the past approximately 6 months I have been training.

In the beginning, I could only run about 2 house lengths before I had to walk a ways. But by the end of the training, I was able to run 3 miles non-stop. (Not fast by any means) For the last couple months the group has been doing "brick training" on Saturday mornings. That's where you add all the elements together and work on transitions. After swimming & biking, I can't run 3 miles non-stop but I was able to at least walk the full amount. Two Saturdays before the event, I was feeling pretty good about how training was going. But then several things happened-

First, we went and drove the course. It turned out to be a much tougher course than I'd ever trained on. I began to doubt myself. Could I really ride and run all those hills?

Second, I had a work conference and had to miss the last training day where we were going to learn all the rules and how to best do transitions. It made me sort of nervous about what it would be like.

Third, I got sick. I got a raging ear infection the week of the event. The doctor precribed 2 antibodics and told me I could still swim on Saturday if I wore ear plugs. It made training the last week very difficult but Derek said we shouldn't train much anyway.

So, I was pretty nervous the day of the event. But then I remembered something. God made this body. He knows that I haven't taken the best care of it, but he put a desire to accomplish this within me. He also gave me some common sense, and my common sense said that I had done enough training that even though I wouldn't be able to finish fast, I would be able to finish if I perservered. So I reminded myself that I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength and I "Tri-ed" it. Here are some pictures:


MCC Group


300 yard swim


I did finish the swim 2 seconds before Derek but see how perky he is running out of the water, while I look like a slug? One of my goals for next year is to move faster during the transitions. And to look less like a slug overall!


Derek finishing the 13.4 mile bike ride


Here I am finishing the bike portion. The bike was my weakest area going in. I was very blessed to get to ride the entire bike ride close to Barby Knepper. I was afraid I was holding her back at first but she insisted that I was helping motivate her too. She definitely motivated me and I finished the bike faster than I ever had in training.


Here is Derek finishing the race. He was disappointed in his 5th place finish. But he was the first finisher that used a mountain bike (which is slower than a road bike). He says that next year he'll use a road bike and be more competitive.


Nate had a great time giving high fives at the end. The kids occassionally complained about the time I spent training during the 6 months but at the event they were very encouraging. They are one of the reasons I started this. I want them to see me (not just Daddy) being active and healthy.


Here I am crossing the finish line. I finished in 1 hour 53 minutes. I was thrilled to finish in under 2 hours which had been a goal before I started doubting. I did walk about 1/2 of the 3.4 miles but it was as good as I had ever done in training. One of my goals for next year is to be able to run the whole 3.4 miles.


Here I am, happy its over. Yes, I will do it again next year. In fact, I'm looking for another event (probably a 5k) to do this fall.

I just need to remember: I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Phil. 4:13

I also used the Triathlon as a opportunity to do fundraising for Great Lakes Christian College. You can check out my fundraising page here:
First Giving

Prayers for Stellan

Please pray for this family. Stellan is having major issues right now. You can click the picture to read his story.

Summer Dance Intensive

Kaylee attended a summer dance intensive at her dance studio July 6-10. Each day they started at 9am and finished at 5:15 pm! Kaylee loved all the classes and had a great time. At the end of the week they passed out awards. Kaylee got this:



Yes, its just a paper plate, but I think its the best award she's ever received. Derek & I are so proud. I told Kaylee you can't control the amount of talent you have and you can't really control the opportunites you are given but you are always in control of what you do with both!

Way to go Kaylee!