Busy, Busy...

We have been so busy with lots & lots of hockey and getting things all in order for Jakob's Blue and Gold Banquet coming up next weekend...he will cross over from Cub Scouts to become a Boy Scout!! I can not believe Jakob is going to become a Boy Scout...next weekend! We are so proud of him & all his hard work!!

So, here are a few pictures from the last few weeks.
Here is little Samuel in a perfect size chair at my friend Kari's house... Thank you to my friend, Susan for the adorable outfit :-).

Here is Jakob in a game against Palmer...

Rachel, with her FAVORITE, must have, blanket and one of her MANY, MANY Huskies :-).

And with her new friend, a sock puppy that she named, Maggie, after the Elephant that was transfered from the Alaska zoo down to California. Isn't this puppy so cute. My friend, Kellie, is very talented and made this for Rachel. Thank you again Kellie!!!

My Valentine Tulips, my FAVORITE...thank you sweetie!!

The kids had a few friends sleep over last Sunday since they were out of school on Monday for President's Day and the rest of the weekend we had been busy with Jakob's hockey tournament...they made it to the semi-finals, but lost :-(.

This lady makes these hats for the hockey players...aren't they cool??

So, in case you are wondering what the Sam-a-Nader could possibly do when a 10 year old and a 4 year old are left to "watch" him while I cook dinner...

He had this look like, "What did I do?"

Ben asked if Sam was going to be in time out...hee.

Look at that face!!

So, I had fun vacuuming up the popcorn topping...the entire bottle! Did I mention that I had just vacuumed that floor about 30 minutes prior to the Sam-a-Nader attack!? Then when I went to pull the laundry out of the dryer I found GUM ALL over the dryer & the clothes :-(!! The kids are grounded for a week from gum! There is never a dull moment around here!!

Ok, here we go...starting back up again!

Sorry I have taken such a long break from my blog...so it may take awhile to get caught back up. I was a little under the weather to say the least! From the first of November until 23 Jan when I had surgery, I pretty much only got about 2-3 hours of sleep because I was having so much pain. During surgery they removed two masses from the back of my head! I just received the pathology results and they determined the masses to be two BENIGN lymph nodes! Yeah, I can breath a big sigh of relief now!! Thank you God! And, thank you to all who have been praying for me! I am still on the recovery road...I think it will be a long time before the nerves they cut through fully recover! In the meantime, I am just happy I can sleep!! And so are the kids! I am not as crabby! The Moms Club that I am a member of have been AWESOME with providing our family some WONDERFUL meals!! And my dear friend, Kari, and her 4 girls came to spend the night with us the night I returned from the hospital...THANK YOU!! And my friends, Donna & Kellie took care of Ben & Sam the day of surgery. And then over the weekend, the kids went next door to our dear friends, the Torres' house while Sam & I took naps! THANK YOU everyone for helping me out since Paul is not here. You all are wonderful!!!

Ok, so here we go...

Last Friday, Rachel received an award at the assembly...here she is coming in & seeing her younger brothers & me...I love how happy she is to see us!!

Jakob's class came into the assembly just to sing one quick song. I sure wish I knew this was going to happen so that I could have brought the video camera :-(.

My two little monkeys hanging out...

I love how much Rachel is addicted to reading. "I just LOVE reading!" She exclaims almost everyday! And, I love how animated she gets when she reads to Ben & Sam...I have no idea where she gets that...hee. So, as you can see, her teacher enjoys having Rachel read to the class as well! She brought home a little play the other day. I looked it over & asked her if they did this in class already. She said yes & that she read for 3 different characters!! There were only 3 other characters left! And, yes the date on her award is the 16th...school was cancelled for 3 days due to severe ice...I will talk about that later...so they had to reschedule the assembly to last Friday :-).

We sure do miss Daddy around here!!! We are 5 months down & 7 to go!!! We are hoping that Paul is able to make it here for his mid-tour leave sometime in March! We plan on enjoying a ton of family time, going skiing & snow boarding, sledding, and Daddy finally watching the boys play some hockey! I can't wait until Paul is here to help out with the bedtime routine...I love reading to the kids, but, they need to hear Daddy read to & tuck them in too!

I am, I am, Super Ben and I can do ANYTHING!!

See, Daddy, I am working on My book, Are you??

Rachel reads one or two chapter books a day as well as lots of books to Ben & Sam...I am so proud of her!!! She is following in Jakob's footsteps quite nicely!! I pray Ben & Sam will develop the same passion!!

Sweet dreams little Samuel...

"Thank you Daddy for all the cool stuff you sent us from Afghanistan!"

Ok, so for faster service...I usually have the two younger boys or Rachel & Sam in the tub together...and if I am really short on time I throw the 3 of them in...Jakob takes a shower ALONE of course! So, it is rare that Sam gets the tub all to himself. This morning was one of those days. As I was watching him having so much fun splashing I realized it had been forever since I had taken any bath pictures of my little man. So, here you go...

We will have a busy day tomorrow with Religious School & then an out of town hockey game. So, if I am not too tired, I work on some more Jan. pictures! And as always, see rest of the pic.s in the family album!