Christmas Letter 2012

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We hope that this Christmas Season finds you well! Our year has been another adventure for the record books! 

 Elsie also turned 4 in February and celebrated with a Tangled birthday party. She is our theatrical little girl as she loves to float about the house - singing and dancing or pretending to be a puppy or....you name it. She definitely brings a creative flair to our life. When she asks to bless our meal it is often in song, usually doesn't have much to do with the food, but always ends in I love you Jesus - just doesn't get much better than that!

On her birthday, modeling her gift!

Spring was beautiful here in Iowa and the girls spent lots of time enjoying the swingset we installed in 2011. We also broke in our NEW camper by camping at our local campground in March - can you believe that! MARCH! We also spent a weekend together at an indoor waterpark in Okoboji!

Our innagural camping trip

At the waterpark!



April got a little exciting when Maisie fell down and chipped her front tooth, which then cracked top to bottom, which then needed to be pulled. My vanity was a bit saddened by the loss of her tooth so young and her sweet smile being changed. We are quite used to it now, and maybe even fond of it as it seems to just fit her spunky little self.

If you look closely you can see that missing little tooth

May is usually a busy month as the two big girls are finalizing their preparations for the big dance recital. Both girls really love their dance classes and did an excellent job dancing. We choose to put Elsie up a class so that the schedule worked better for our family and we are very proud at how she kept up with girls 3 years older than her. Georgie was very focused and knew her routines inside and out! It always brings tears to my eyes seeing their hardwork on stage!

In their ballet costumes, they also do tap.

June and July were just plain ridiculously hot, especially on this pregnant momma! Luckily, our community has a great pool and you can easily say we were pool rats! I was happy to cool off in the water and the girls were just happy! It was impressive seeing Maisie don her puddlejumper life jacket and swim all around the pool to keep up with her sisters. If you haven't seen a PUDDLE JUMPER it is a MUST have for little swimmers. We did get in a few more camping trips before the most exciting event of our year.....

ITS A BOY!

Yes can you believe it, we welcomed baby boy Henry Joseph on July 30 at 5:30pm. He came out BIG - 9 pounds 9 ounces and 22.25incs LONG! We are thrilled to have the opportunity to learn what it is like to raise a boy. He is about the sweetest, most content baby! (praying this doesn't jinx me as I publicly state this!) He seems to always be eating. He smiles and coos! And now he has started to giggle, especially when his silly sisters come chat with him! He does kind of fit the nick name "Hank the Tank" as he is 17lbs at 4 months old!

One of his cute, cute newborn pictures

He's grown just a bit since the picture above!

We love being a family of 6 - its crazy, its hectic at times, its full of laughter and joy, but it just fits us well!

Maisie turned 2 in September and like I said before she has spunk. The girl gives this family a run for our money. She talks and talks and talks and talks. She nearly had me convinced she was actually turning 3 - I realized my mistake before I bought the number 3 candle! She can scowl like the best of them, a trademark of hers. She asks to rock nearly every night and by golly the girl loves her pacifier. She might actually go to college with it!

Georgie turned 6 this year and headed off to all day, every day kindergarten this fall. She was ready and just thrives! Her teacher is amazing and posts things regularly to her website so I get to keep tabs. She is learning to read and there is just something SO magical about that. She played tball this spring and soccer this fall! She's competitive and a bit of perfectionist. She has such a kind and generous heart!

Elsie also started preschool in the afternoons this fall. She loves it too! I've seen her mature and blossom in her own ways over the past few months! She still likes to wear dresses, especially if the they fluff out when she twirls. Hard to believe next year she will be off to kindergarten and I will back down to just two littles at home all day!

Matt continues to work on water projects in the tristate area, but most in South Dakota. He travels a bit each month, usually just being gone overnight once a month (mom likes that). He seemed to travel alot of the begining of the year, so we are glad its back down to the norm. His office is about 8 blocks from the house so he is usually able to join us for lunch and help get Elsie off to preschool. He also has joined city council! I've enjoyed seeing him trying to make our community even better. I am not sure how he does all that he does, but we are so grateful for how he serves our family. He tends to be the anchor for our family!

As for me, I am still working about one day a week or so at the hospital in the surgery department. I also continue to coordinate our local MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group. Most of my days are filled with cooking, picking up, refereeing, picking up, playing games, refeering, refeering, dishes, puzzles, cooking again, washing clothes, folding clothes, picking up again, MOPS, sight words and letters, AWANA verse memorizing, finding long lost toys, organizing, cooking again, cartoons, picking up again, refeering a few more, dishes, stories, maybe a little TV and relaxing, and finally crashing into bed! And in all those busy moments we are making memories all along the way, trying to focus on "enjoy(ing) the small things for one day you'll look back and realize they were the big things" (R. Brault). I try to soak it all in, take a few mommy moments to stay sane, and rejoice in the most important job God has ever called me to! Its not easy, it doesn't pay much, but I know the retirement plan is quite good!

So, another year has flown by! We've shared with you all the especially memorable moments. I hope that yours was blessed as well through the joys and sorrows, or laughter or tears because through it all God is right there too, even as a tender baby in a lowly manger. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS From The OEDEKOVENS

Georgie

Georgie Girl turned 6 last month, and again I am behind in making a post just for her, but nonetheless I'm able to get it posted.

Our Georgie girl is just one amazing little girl. She's our firstborn so she has suceeded despite lots of our trial and error. She has so many of the typical firstborn qualities, but there is a servant part to her heart that can only come from God. I see her serve others in ways that we have not specifically taught and it makes my heart so full.

This fall when we are eating at Slades Georgie bounced out of her seat and headed for the door.As I turned to remind her she needed to sit down to eat I notice that she is holding the door for an elderly couple who is getting ready to leave. She had noticed the couple when the wife entered using her walker and she noticed they were preparing to leave and without any prompting went an opened the door. That is just one example of the many ways she seeks to serve those around her.

Georgie also likes to succeed and be the best at things, yet she knows that those acheivements often come from hardwork. She is always working hard at whatever new skill she is learning. While I know this is a personality trait often associated with firstborns, we want to always support her in her acheivements. More importantly we want Georgie to know that Mom and Dad are always the safety net for her failures and that it's OK to not be perfect. I hope that she continues to feel safe to always do her best because to quote a friend "We got you Georgie"

Georgie also loves to laugh and be silly and smile! She loves to snuggle and always comes to give me a hug when she wakes up in the morning. She's tough but tender! She's a second mother around this house, even when I try to tell her to just be a kid. She's a tomboy. She's logical. She's so understanding.

Georgie Girl, I know God is going to do great things with you through both your strengh and weakness. May you always let him do great work in your life. I'm excited to see what that is! Love you ten times infinity stick period.

Apple Orchard

We are lucky to have a great little apple orchard and pumpkin patch near our house. Only takes about 40 minutes to get to and they have 13 different varieties of apples. If you live near Sioux Falls and have never been you really need to check them out - here is the link - Country Apple Orchard.

We have started to make it an annual tradition to go with our MOPS group. Each year we have had more and more moms come. This year we decided to make it an official field trip. As a part of the feild trip all the kids got to taste some fresh apple juice.

Then we listened to a story about the life of an apple.

Time to eat some apples!

Then we enjoyed a ride out into the orchard.

And at last we got to pick some apples!!!!

It was a great, great day! Already looking forward to going again next year with our MOPS Group!

Maisie

Seems like birthdays always give us pause to think about how much our kids have grown and changed. I thought it might be fun to write a page about each kid during their birthday month (works well since they all have different months). Didn't think of this idea until after September so Maisie's is a little belated.

Mary Isabelle, or as most of you know her, turned two this year. However, we had a bit of time convincing her of this. She was pretty convinced she was 5 or 3, so much to the point that I nearly bought her a 3 birthday candle.....then I remember she was only turning 2.

Its easy to think of her older because she jumps right in to what her big sisters are doing! This past year she quickly went from walking to running. I'm amazed at all she will try. When we went on a little getaway this spring she wanted to jump the lily pads in the pool just like her sisters, she climbs up our rock wall, and she'll jump off just about anything too. She doesn't miss a thing.

She is also super verbal. I would even say more verbal than Georgie was....Matt disagrees, could be I was in more of a fog with two kids under two at the time. Nonetheless, she has exploded with words over the past year. She is usually easy to understand and tends to have good comedic timing....most of the time!

She also lost a tooth this year. Poor girl fell down (running to keep up with her sisters) and chipped a tooth. The tooth then split from the bottom to top so the dentist recommended it be pulled. My own vanity was a bit sad to see her cute little smile go. Now the smile is a great part her personality!

Her hair is curly, curly and wild. She is our only brown-eyed girl! She has a pure awnry streak that is hard not to laugh at a lot of times, quite maddening other times.

Every night she wants mom to rock her, even though its only for a few rocks before she says "Night mom" through her passy.....but it is a special time for us both!

Maisie girl on her birthday - ecstatic to have another book!

Love you Maise girl!

Puzzles

So this past week at MOPS we had a speaker who is a professional organizer. She does personal consultations and speaks about how to live a more organized life. Not perfect, but more organized. She was great!

I love organizing! I love the saying "A place for everything, and everything in its place". Now keep in mind I am by no means perfect at this, nor OCD about it, but I do like things in my home to look neat and tidy.

This also continues to be a need. We essentially live in a 3 bedroom home. We do have a room we could use down in the basement but we just aren't ready to put one or two of the girls down there. So, There are 6 of us upstairs in 3 bedrooms - the doorways are all within 10 feet of each other. Its cozy and to be honest I kind of like it....except when I walk into a room and trip over toys, books, clothes, shoes, etc. So organization is necessary in our house. I used to keep things organized to fit the maximum amount of stuff in a space. Now, while I struggle with it, I'm trying to limit the amount of "stuff" we have! We have plenty, so now I'm trying to be organized so that things are neat and we can find things when we need them.

So, lately - the bookshelf in Elsie and Henry's room has been bugging me. Probably because I sit and nurse Henry and stare at it. Stuff kind of mismashed everywhere in it. This morning, I couldn't take it anymore and went to it. I re-sorted things. Tossed things. Put things in a pile to sell. I also took to pinterest for ideas.

My girls enjoy doing puzzles and its a great quiet activity to work on while I'm fixing supper or we are getting ready for church, etc. However, the boxes get dilapitated and take up a lot of space. SO, here is my new system for puzzles and I LOVE IT!!! I know, I'm a neard.

So here is the big stack of puzzle boxes. Somehwat unkept.

 

Here is the puzzles in super cheap pencil bags (which I had)

And here there are inside the binder. 6 puzzless and it looks great. Its easy for Elsie to get off the shelf, and now there is room for a few more puzzles or books!

So yes I do realize I'm quite the nerd, but I love it. I love it when I come up with something new. Thank you pinterest for the great ideas! Now, to work on a few others!

Do you have any brilliant ideas - please share!

Grandma

My grandma has been with the Lord now for over 4 years, which just doesn't seem possible. I was very close with her, in fact she moved in my mom's home for her last few years so I was very lucky to get some extra time with her when we were visiting my mom.

Everytime I have a baby, it really makes me think of her often. She loved babies and so loved her grandchildren. Family was so very important to her. When she rocked a baby she always said that they like repitive words so she would often sing speak "oh, baby, oh baby" or repeat the chorus of the song (it could be she said that because she didn't remember all the words..ha!)

Georgie is actually named after her! She went by Lorraine, but her given name is Georgie. My favorite, favorite, favorite memory of my grandma is when at 93, she scooped Georgie up into her lap and rocked with her.



I'm so thankful the camera was so close and we could grab the shots. Her face just lit up as Georgie reached her arms up to her to be picked up! Without any hesitation my grandma scooped her up as if she was 30 years old. Such a moment that is etched into my mind!

 

I'm also thankful that she was able to hold Elsie once also, it was when Elsie was 8 weeks old and Grandma was in the hospital with pneumonia. Two days later she went to be with the Lord.

 

 

 

Its easy to be sad that she hasn't been able to meet or hold Maisie and Henry. I miss hearing her voice and her encouragement. I miss her classic one liners and funny sayings. I miss her food! I miss calling her to say Hey Grandma, how do you make .... I miss her deeply. However, I am so thankful for the confidence that I have that she is with the Lord. I also believe that she can see Maisie and Henry better than she may have ever could in her aging years. I might not be able to call and talk to her, but I know that her legacy is woven deeply into our lives and she is still a huge part of my life.

 

So, now as I rock my sweet Henry boy and sing speak Oh, Henry, Oh Henry...I think of her and know that she is still ever with me. I long to see her again!

PPMN

PIZZA PARTY MOVIE NIGHT

PPMN = Pizza Party Movie Night! I can't quite remember when exactly we started our tradition of Pizza Party Movie Night, but it has probably been close 2 years now....maybe even more. Friday Nights is usually dedicated to pizza and a movie, well often two since Matt and I will watch an adult movie following the kid movie.

Here we are tonight!

I can remember my friend in Denver giving me an article about the importance of quality family time and pizza night was a good way to do that - something along those lines. I think she may have even gave it to me before we had children and even though I don't remember all the details of the article it certainly left an impression. I can actually still picture the article, may even be saved somewhere.

So, when the two big girls were old enough to start watching some movies we decide to combine that with Pizza Night thus Pizza Party Movie Night was born. Almost every Friday night at our house is PPMN! We love it! Most of the time we order Pizza Ranch, sometimes its just Totinos frozen pizza, and a few times we've made our own. We started ordering a small cheese pizza and had leftovers but recently we've had to upsize to a medium cheese pizza for the girls!

Matt has been out of town all this week, so I think a few girl missed their Daddy.

 

 

PPMN is so cherished by our family, that earlier this summer when had missed a few in a row due to camping, travels, etc that Georgie wanted to have PPMN instead of doing something else really fun. Matt and I can't recall what our alternative plan was....it was someting kind of extra special but she was missing Pizza Party Movie Night so much that she wanted to do stay home.

 

 

Some movies are memorable, some....not so great, but ineveitably they all have music which means our girls are going to ....

 

DANCE!

 And it is even better when Daddy joins them!

 



Here We Go

So back in May I created this blog to try to start capturing our memories. As you can see its now September - no post. So here we go again. I love facebook but sometimes don't want to saturate people with our lives so I thought a blog will allow those that want to, come peek. I don't feel like I have anything enlightening to say but at least I can capture my own memories!

Life has been different with a fourth baby and Georgie being in school. I like how school has somewhat forced us into some better routines. Something I've already desired but didn't quite acheive. I do miss Georgie not being home, but I do try to find some special time with her especially on the weekends.

Today was picture today for Georgie so we sent her off and also captured some great pictures of Henry and Maisie together.

 

Georgie off to school for pictures!

 

Our two littles!

 

Sweet love!

 

 

 

Well there it is, my first official un-exciting blog. Enjoy!

In the Beginning

Well, I'm going to try it. Start a blog. Seems almost silly to me - I read others blogs and i am so impressed with how they write or what they write. I'm not sure I have anything even remotely great to say but feel like this might be a good space for me to just journal what's going on in my life. Capture memories, capture my thoughts, capture where we've been and where our family is going. So here it is - the beginning of my blogging journey.