A Year In Review

Wow I can't believe how fast the end of 2012 has come!!  It has been a crazy and exciting year with lots of changes.  The biggest change of all was moving in to our new house.  We are still getting settled (and yes that means I still have some boxes needing to be unpacked, but don't know when I will get around to unpacking them).  We have been welcomed in to our new neighborhood and ward and have met lots of friendly people.  It appears as if we aren't going to be sending out Christmas Cards this year so you will have to settle for a blog post of our year in review instead.

I will start with Noah. He turned two this year and keeps me busy.  He has gotten in to the mischivous stage and is always getting into something.  His favorites are playing with the toilet and getting into food inside the pantry.  He is in nursery and after a few months he has actually started enjoying it--which means he doesn't scream when you drop him off.  He was in early intervention for a bit since he was slightly delayed, but he has graduated out of that and is doing well.  He follows Sarah around and whatever Sarah does, Noah is quick to follow.  He continues to be cuddly (which I LOVE) and is a sweet boy.

Sarah turned four this year and started preschool.  She loves going to school just like her older brothers.  She is learning a lot.  She still continues to be in dance and loves to dress up in her costumes and dance around the house.  She still can be one stubborn girl (which is why it took forever to finally get her potty trained), but she is just as sweet when she wants to be.  She loves being my kitchen helper, especially when I make bread.  I love being her Sunbeam teacher.

 

Daniel turned 7 and started first grade this year.  It was weird to send him to school all day, but he LOVES it.  He continues to be quite allergic to dairy, tree nuts and eggs, but he brings home lunch to school every day so we don't have to worry about it (most times anyway).  He is in basketball and enjoys it.  He is learning how to read and loves to read anything and everything.  He lost his four top front teeth this year and has been called "Fang" for most of the year.  He still is cuddly and makes sure he has his brown blankee with him when he needs to cuddle.  He is also our comic relief at our house which is great when things can get crazy which happens more than I care to admit.

 

Josh turned 9 this year and started fourth grade.  He LOVES school especially reading.  Reading has gotten easier for him since he got his glasses in April.  We don't recognize him now without them.  He will read anything and everything.  His favorite thing to read is the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series.  He is very thoughtful and a huge help for us at home.  He continues with piano and is getting better day by day (when I can get him to willingly practice).  He loves to stump me with different facts.  There is not a day that doesn't go by when I don't hear, "Hey Mom did you know -------?"  He loves to help me cook and bake.  This summer, Josh ran his second 5k, this time running the entire time.  Not bad for a kid who can't sweat (due to the anti-seizure meds he's on).  He enjoys scouts and learning new things there.  We are also happy to report that he has been seizure free for almost a year.  YAY!!  He is growing quite tall.  He is trying to surpass Matthew and makes me measure him against Matthew at least once a month to see if he has finally gotten taller than Matthew.  It hasn't happened, yet, but probably will sooner than later with the fast way he is growing.

Matthew turned 11 this year and started 6th grade.  He has switched to a new school, his fifth school and sixth school change in seven years, but that can be common in special ed.  He has a new teacher that is great and he enjoys school a lot.  He LOVES trains.  In fact, it is a rare feat to find him without anything train related on his person, whether it's a train ball cap, train winter hat, or his favorite train calendar.  He is a very happy kid and loves to give the neighborhood kids "train rides" by tying the wagon to his bike and towing them around.  He is a VERY happy kid, which means that Mom and Dad spend a lot of time trying to contain that happiness.  Hey, it's better than him being angry all the time.  He loves playing with Sarah and Noah as well as the Wii.

Rebecca turned 29 this year, again.  She stays busy taking Sarah to preschool and keeping Noah out of trouble.  She started baking bread quite a bit this year, and the kids keep her busy doing it by eating up to 12 loaves a week!  She is a Sunbeam teacher, which has been great since she gets to teach Sarah every Sunday as well as many of the little girls in our neighborhood.  She took up the hobby of running this summer and managed to run a half marathon in September after only training for about 10 weeks.  Rebecca is an accomplished painter, repainting 1/2 the bedrooms and the dining area while Aaron was out of town this spring.  She also managed to bottle enough food to keep the Mancil boys fed for a couple of months (this may not sound like a lot, but trust me, it is!!)

 

Aaron turned 45 this year, at least that's how he felt.  He has stayed busy at work up at Hill AFB working on F-16 software engineering stands.  He got to take a trip to Ft Worth this year for work where he got to see the brand new F-35 jets being built.  He stays busy in the Elder's Quorum presidency at Church, where he got put in as second counselor in March.  As far as the yard went for the new house, Aaron surveyed what needed to be done, helped lay out a plan, and then promptly hired a company to put the yard in.  He did, however, set up the garden with the assistance of Rebecca.  However, the garden was put in too early and promptly froze, forcing garden 2.0 to be implemented.  This didn't do well, either.  Oh, well, it's a learning experience.  Aaron joined Rebecca in training for the half marathon, but lost in the race to Rebecca by only a few minutes due to an emergency pit stop.  We will see who wins next year.

As the year ends, we feel truly blessed.  Looking back on the events of the last year, which has brought a lot of change in our lives, we see the hand of the Lord.  He has helped us make decisions and brought opportunities for us that have blessed us.  We truly feel that we are where He wants us to be and are grateful for His help.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our friends and family!

Bar Stools, Trains, Home Teachers, HELP!!

Noah has discovered the bar stool and how it can help him get into things out of his reach--DOH!!  The other day I bought some grapes.  I washed them off in the colander and put them on the counter to dry.  Every time my back was turned I found Noah was on top of the counter eating the grapes by fistfuls.  He LOVES grapes, but I HATE all the diapers I have to change the next day!  Needless to say the grapes lasted all of a few hours before they were gone.  The diapers didn't last long the next day either.

 When he is not getting into the grapes with the bar stool he is getting into the pantry.  I keep all the snack/treat stuff on the top shelf to keep it away from the little kids, however, I may need to rethink my strategy.  Don't let his innocent face fool you!  He is truly a stinker!  He's learned from the best, his older brothers and Sarah have taught him well.

A few weeks ago our home teachers came by for an unexpected visit.  Usually our one home teacher just brings his wife to visit.  This time he brought his actual companion.  Of course since he is new he had to get the scrutiny of five kids' eyes.  He is a nice guy, but his hair is gray and is about chin length.  When they walked in Matthew asked our usual home teacher if this other guy was his dad.  Now seeing as they are both about the same age that made things a little awkward.  When they sat down and started visiting with us, we started talking about something that Josh thought was boring.  He sighed quite audibly and then said, "Can we change the subject NOW?"  That was a little embarrassing, too.  Interestingly enough we found out that this new home teaching companion is actually a trades teacher at the local Jr. High.  We also found out that he works with some of the special education students, too.  That means that Matthew might be having him for one of his teachers next year when he starts Jr. High.  Hopefully the poor guy didn't get too offended by being at our house and being asked if he his companion's dad.  Good thing I love my kids because they can sure say some crazy things sometimes.

At Josh and Daniel's school they have an angel tree by the office.  The tree's ornaments have different items you can purchase to help needy families for their Christmas.  Josh and Daniel decided to pick up an ornament one day.  Josh's ornament came home, but Daniel's ornament got lost somewhere in the half block between the school and home.  When they got home Josh's ornament said Legos.  I asked Daniel what his said and he thought it said men's body wash.  The next day when we went to pick up the stuff, I asked Daniel again about what his ornament said just to make sure I got it right.  Our conversation went like this:

ME "So Daniel your ornament said men's body wash?"
Daniel: "I don't know mom.  You know I can't read!"

Well that's just awesome.  Some poor family will be waiting to get who knows what because Daniel can't remember what his ornament said.  We ended up stopping by the school office to see what we were actually supposed to get.  That's when we found out that it probably was body wash since they are just gathering items for the local family shelter.  Maybe next year if the kids want to pick up an ornament I might go with them to make sure I know for sure what I am supposed to get.

Last week Matthew had a check up from his psychiatrist.  We have been struggling a little the last few weeks with Matthew's behaviors, but we wanted to wait until our new insurance kicked in at the new year before we saw her.  However, she doesn't like to go more than six months without seeing him so her office called us and we weren't able to wait to the new year.  We had an appointment last week to see her.  She changed up Matthew's medicine, but until our new insurance kicks in the medication is outrageously expensive.  We told her that so she said it was ok to wait to fill the new prescription until our new insurance kicks in the beginning in January. With our new insurance they will cover more of our medication expenses which will be nice, but until we can start his new medication we are about to pull our hair out...

Two Sundays ago we had the Priesthood Preview meeting with Matthew.  It is so crazy to me that he will be turning 12 next year and will be going into young men and will be able to pass the sacrament.  The priesthood preview was nice.  I don't know how much Matthew got from it, but hopefully he can make a smooth transition in August.  The young mens program won't know what hit them in August that's for sure!!

A few weeks ago Josh and Daniel's school had a Mornings with Mom.  It's where you can go to school early with your kids.  You bring a book to read with them and they provide donuts.  Since I didn't have anyone to watch the two younger kids it was a family affair.  We left for school right after Matthew left on the bus.  Our neighbor girl didn't have anyone to go with so we invited to come along with us.  Once we got there it was mass pandemonium.  Josh took off straight away for the donut line.  The rest of us looked for a spot to read a book.  Once we sat down and got settled I tried to start reading the book.  The kids were squirming in my lap and Josh and Daniel were busy looking at other things.  Jenna, the neighbor girl that came with us, decided she'd had enough and got up to go to class with her friend.  Josh went back for seconds, thirds and fourths with the donuts which I tried to stop him, but of course, he was pretending he couldn't hear me.  By the time we had gotten a few pages into the book the bell rang and everyone scattered everywhere.  I walked Daniel and Josh to class then waited 20 minutes for Sarah's preschool class to start.  Then Noah and I came home to relish a quiet house for two hours before we had to pick up Sarah again.    It was a fun morning, but I am glad it only comes once a year.  I was worn out by the time Noah and I got back home.

 Last Saturday we went to the Union Station Museums for fun.  They had a pretty Christmas Tree up with three different trains assembled under it.  You could push the buttons to see them start up.  Matthew was in heaven--trains and buttons to push.  It was all we could do to get him away from it to see the museums!

 Here they are checking out the rail car set up.  Noah saw his brothers climb up the ladder and decided to climb up to.  Hey he's had lots of experience with stuff like this at home--how much different could it be than climbing a bar stool, right?!  He thinks he is a big boy like all his siblings.

 Here they are checking out an interesting train car of some sort.

 Noah, in true boy fashion, found rocks and had to throw them.  It seems to be an inborn boy thing--must throw rocks....whenever they see them even if there are lots of people around that he might hit.

 Josh and Daniel found these hard hats.  I think Josh is trying his best Napoleon Dynamite impression.

 Daniel was sweet enough to lift Noah up so he could see the model train go by.

While we were there we had a surprise visit from Santa.  Everyone got a chance to sit down and chit chat with him.  They also keep giving Santa new things they want, too.  I am sure Santa is really confused now about what to bring these kids!

 Sarah's turn:

 Josh's turn:

 Noah's turn--he had to do it because everyone else did it even if he doesn't really like Santa all that much.

 Matthew's turn.  He is wearing his train winter hat to (in Matthew's words), "Let everyone know that I cheer for trains!"  He didn't take it off all day!

 This week I have been doing lots of baking.  I have also had lots of 'help'.  Every time I would pull out a pot or the mixer I instantly had two helpers willing to 'help' if that's what you want to call it.  I made bread and while my back was turned Sarah and Noah got into the flour.  What a mess.  The picture doesn't even do it justice!  There was flour in their hair, faces, clothes, hands, etc.  Luckily for me this help comes free and, yes, you do get what you pay for ;).

When they weren't having a flour throwing party they were playing the drums with my bread ingredients.  Maybe they can tour with their sweet drum skills ;).

Two days ago we discovered a horribly clogged toilet.  Now this isn't the boy's toilet this time--it is Sarah's.  Aaron tried plunging it three different times, but nothing seemed to work.  I think something other than 'normal stuff' got flushed down it especially since there was quite a pile of Legos and an empty roll of toilet paper right next to the toilet.  We think Sarah and Noah had a Lego and toilet paper flushing party, but, of course, they maintain their innocence when asked about it.  Aaron, with Sarah's supervision, ended up needing to snake the drain.  Luckily that cleared up the blockage.  Jeez, what is our family's deal with clogged toilets?!

When I went to check on Sarah last night before I went to bed I found my sweet little girl fast asleep.  When I see this I wonder how she can be so mischievous during the day?!

Our mornings around here can be pretty chaotic since the three oldest have to leave for school almost at the same time.  I usually wake up, break up a few fights, make lunch, break up a few fights, medicate the kids, break up a few fights, make sure breakfast has been eaten and cleaned up for the kids, break up a few fights, find coats, backpacks and homework, make sure teeth have been brushed, break up some more fights and say prayers.  Yes things are chaotic!!  So yesterday while I was making the boys' lunches Noah came waddling over to me.  When I saw him I burst out laughing and that made him start crying.  He had gotten himself dressed, but had put both legs in the same leg of his shorts so he could barely walk.  He didn't like that I was laughing because of this so he started crying.  And, yes, in the background you can tell I am needing to go break up some fights, too.  Mornings are hard around here!!  Poor Noah, I helped him fix his dilemma and after he ran away happy to join in the melee of the morning.



 

Matthew and Josh had their piano recitals last week.  They did a great job!
Here's Matthew:

Here's Josh:

IEP Meeting, Jaws, Special Needs Christmas Party and Broken Glasses

Sometimes being the youngest child in a family comes with its challenges such as no one taking you seriously.  However, he has learned how to non verbally defend his territory and let his wishes be known and that is by biting.  Unfortunately, when it comes to his siblings he has put aside his happy-go-lucky laid back attitude aside and goes for blood if they do anything he does not approve of.  We have nick named him 'Jaws' since he now bites to defend his stuff or lets everyone know he does not like what you are doing.  Here is an example of is defense on Sarah's back: 

This picture was taken a few days after he bit Sarah's back, but you can definitely see the bruised bite marks in her back.  She must have been really ticking Noah off because he usually doesn't bite hard enough to leave a bruise, but this time he did.   Maybe she learned her lesson.  We tried to teach Noah to stop, but as soon as he is out of Time Out everyone becomes fair game again.  I am hoping he outgrows this phase soon!!  Thankfully he doesn't bite in nursery, just his siblings--which a lot of times I have to admit, they deserve it.  Does that make me a horrible Mom for saying that?!

 

This past week Josh came home from school with a baggy which he excitedly showed me.  Now I HATE teeth--anything to do with losing a tooth just grosses me out.  However, I had to get really excited because Josh pulled his own tooth out during school.  He bit into an apple and his tooth felt weird.  He then messed with it and got it to come out.  When Aaron came home he tried the same tooth on the other side and found it was quite loose, too.  It didn't take much pulling to get the other one out, either.  Josh put them out for the Tooth Fairy, but she must have been on vacation because she didn't come--oops.  He left them out for another night and luckily she came that night.  Phew.  Josh got a double whammy payment.  I think the Tooth Fairy is glad that most times kids only lose teeth one at a time. 

We had Josh's IEP (Individual Education Plan) meeting a few weeks ago.  I am excited to say that Josh might be graduating out of Speech Therapy services if he masters his 'g' and 'k' sounds by the end of the school year.  YAY!!!  I am excited for Josh.  He has been working hard so this is great news!  He will still be receiving Occupational Therapy Services to help with his fine motor skills (such as writing, tying shoes, typing, etc.), but that's ok.  He is doing great.  Last month we did have parent teacher conferences and we found out that Josh, Daniel and Matthew are doing pretty well.  You just never know what you will hear at those meetings, but I was pleasantly surprised and proud of my kids.

Speaking of last month (I really have been bad at keeping on top of things lately) Aaron came into some Jazz basketball tickets.  However there were only two tickets so instead of trying to choose who went he talked to Josh and Daniel and they decided to flip a coin to decide who was going to go.  Daniel won the coin toss and had a fun evening with Dad at the basketball game.  Josh who was upset he had to stay home we had a mother son night.  We put the other kids to bed early and spent the rest of the evening baking things.  Josh loves to cook.  It was fun spending some one on one time with him--with five crazy and noisy kids I don't get that much one on one time with my kids so it was nice.  I think Josh had fun, too.

Not too long ago I got a call from the school.  I HATE getting calls from the school--you never know if it is a recorded message, a sick kid or some other problem.  Anyway, it was Daniel's teacher.  She had called to let me know that Daniel had left his packed lunch at home and that he was quite upset about it.  I looked around and of course saw his lunchbox sitting on the counter.  I sighed and told his teacher I would bring it right away.  Now this is a little frustrating because every morning I sound like a broken record by saying, "Put your lunch in your backpack!" numerous times.  I guess the kids have learned to tune me out so Daniel forgot to bring his lunch to school.  I couldn't get mad at him because when I walked into the school I found him sitting by the office with red rimmed eyes from crying because he was upset about it.  He was glad to see me and I am glad to say that since then he hasn't forgotten his lunch again--poor kid.

Speaking of getting calls from school I got one this last Monday, however, I wasn't home so I got two messages to listen to when I got home from running errands.  I pushed play on the answering machine to hear a pitiful Josh saying that he broke his glasses.  Then the next message he told me again that he broke his glasses, but that he was SORRY.  When Josh got home he showed me what used to be his glasses.  All I can say is RIP glasses--he couldn't even find the other half of his glasses either:

He told me that after lunch he slipped and fell and his glasses broke.  He burst into tears--I guess I am scary to tell these things to.  Anyway he didn't get hurt so that's good.  Thankfully we had the foresight to purchase insurance for the glasses so it was only $25 to replace them.  The only bad thing is that they will take a week to get them in.  In the meantime he will be squinting away to try to see what he needs to see at school.  Are you starting to see why I HATE getting calls from school?!

 

In moving in to this neighborhood we live by some good people.  Matthew, aka Mr. Friendly, got to know everyone during the summer.  Anytime anyone was outside he went over to talk to them.  That's how he got to find out that our across the street neighbor was a train engineer.  Matthew is OBSESSED with trains to put it lightly.  Ever since our neighbor found out about Matthew's intense fascination with trains he has given him a few things.  He gave him a Union Pacific train 2013 train calendar.  Wow I don't think I had ever seen Matthew so excited!  He had to take the calendar to school to show his bus drivers, teachers, other students and even the janitor (who Matthew knows by name).  He shows anyone that comes to our house, too.  The poor calendar is for 2013, but it already looks worn out by how many times Matthew has flipped through the pages.  The other day our neighbor gave Matthew a train ball cap and a train winter hat.  Matthew has been excited.  He has to wear at least one hat any time we go anywhere to, "Just let people know that I cheer for Union Pacific Trains" to quote Matthew.  He is a funny kid, but we are thankful for our neighbor's awesomeness!

 

We tried to have a fun weekend this last one.  There was a special needs kids Christmas party up on base.  They had all kinds of fun stuff to do and we were more relaxed, too, since every family there had a child with some sort of disability.  That meant that if Matthew had a complete meltdown while we were there I don't think anyone would think anything about it.  When we first got there they had some therapy dogs you could pet.  I had to include this picture since it shows Daniel actually touching the dog.  He is so afraid of dogs that he won't get near them let alone pet one.  We actually talked him in to petting it even if he got as far away from its teeth as possible.

 



They had the Special Olympics people set up activities for the kids to do.  There was a basketball area that everyone got to try.

 There were quite a few people there so Sarah and Noah stayed by our sides for the first while because they were too overwhelmed to try anything.

We finally talked Sarah into trying some things along with Daniel and Matthew.  It was baseball and, boy, you had to watch out because Sarah didn't.  She would swing as soon as she had the ball in front of her whether someone was right next to her or not.  I just about got hit by her bat more than a few times!

 

The helper lady almost got hit a few times, too.

 They then had an ornament making activity center.  It was pretty crazy trying to help all five kids at once, but we got through it.  What's a few more gray hairs when Aaron and I have so many already?!

 Of course we had to stop and see Santa.  Santa was trying to talk to Sarah, but she only had eyes for the candy canes and as soon as he let to pick one she jumped off his lap.

 Everyone waited patiently for a turn.  Josh wouldn't stop saying things that he wanted.  Wow some of the things we hadn't heard about before either.  It will be interesting to see what Santa will actually bring!  When it was Matthew's turn he asked Santa point blank why he didn't bring him a train set last year.  Santa didn't quite know what to say.

 After the party we took the kids swimming.  We had three free passes and another coupon that expired at the end of the year that we had to use or lose.  We finally decided to use it.  However, when we went to the pool the water was freezing.  The kids had fun, but after about 2 hours everyone was too cold to swim anymore.  During the time we were there, Matthew, Josh and Daniel attempted jumping off the diving board and swimming to the side of the pool.  They did great.  However, when it was time to walk from the pool to the parking lot we about froze our booties off.  It was cold and snowing and we were wet with flip flops on.  Brrrrrrr!!  When we got home and started getting kids ready for bed Aaron was changing and noticed he had hives all over where his swimming suit touched his skin.  They were HUGE quarter size hives, too.  Poor guy.  He hurried and jumped into the shower, but he continued to be itchy for the next couple of days even after taking Benadryl and Loratidine.  It was really weird and we still haven't figured out what caused the hives.

  For scouts last week they worked on a requirement for the boys to make and present an Family Home Evening lesson.  Josh taught our FHE on Monday.  He taught us about the nativity and then had us act it out.  He did awesome. Baby Jesus (Noah) was a little uncooperative, but that's to be expected.  Do you like the shepherds with their hoods on.  Sarah was the angel and wore a feather boa wrapped down around her arms for her wings.

 Baby Jesus loved being put in the mock manger, though.  It is just an empty diaper box, but he LOVED it.

 He loved being in it so much that he screamed when we attempted to take him out.  Good thing he didn't bite anyone.

 Noah is a funny boy.  Every night when I check on him before I go to bed he has lined up his toys on the edge of his bed before he goes to sleep.  How anyone can sleep like that I don't know.  I end up taking them all off his bed because the last thing I need is to be suddenly awakened by a crashing toy off his bed in the middle of the night.

 We had chili last night for dinner.  In Noah's case it was finger dippin' good instead of finger lickin' good.  He made a huge mess, but he seemed to enjoy it.  He had a shower after he smeared it all over his clothes and body.  Who needs a spoon to eat anyway?

As for my stitches I ended up taking my own out which proved to be harder than I thought it would since I am SO RIGHT handed.  I am going to have one awesome scar is all I can say.