Last.....but not least

Last, but not least we celebrated christmas at Andrea's house. As you can see Dylan and Parker got new underware and capes. I thought I was going to pee my pants I was laughing so hard at them. It was a sight to see! (I couldn't figure out how to turn this photo - still learning :-)

Wade was not able to make it as he was home sick with the flu so just the girls and I attended. It was great, Dan made his traditional chinese dish and everyone left the table completely "stuffed"

We always attempt to get a photo of all the kids together but it never fails someone in the group is either crying or turning their head so I guess we will just keep working on it. Either way we were all together and fun was had by all.

Our Christmas

We celebrated christmas at our house as a family. Rylie asked Santa for a Princess Bike, with ALL the princesses on it. She was very excited to get her bike but informed me that Santa forgot to put Aerial (little mermaid) on her bike. I told her Santa does his best but can't always fill every order. :-)

Addisyn wanted a princess bike too since that is what Rylie wanted. Santa ended up bringing her a bed for her "babies". She is constantly putting her babies in her bed and covering them up so Santa must have figured the babies needed another place to sleep. Merry Christmas girls!

presents, presents and more presents.......

Christmas Eve was spent with Grandma Mary and Grandpa Bob. Grandma Mary made her traditional Prime Rib supper and as always.....it was spectacular!! After supper we moved onto gifts. We tried our hardest to make the kids open one at a time so we could see what they were getting........and they did pretty good If I do say so myself. Christmas Day was spent at Grandpa Jerry's house. The kids love Grandpa Jerry's house cause he always has candy hidden somewhere and he never says "no" when asked for some. All the kids had a great time playing with one another and I'm so happy that all the cousins can get together and play on a frequent basis. The kids must have been really, really good this year as I don't think any of them went home empty handed.

Kor Christmas 2008

We celebrated the Kor Christmas on Sunday, December 21, 2008. Joel and Karen were the "hosts" this year. Little did they know they would have a 2 1/2 year old puking all over their clean tile floors. Addisyn got the flu so our christmas celebration ended short. We made it though the meal and the gifts before the puking "episode" so I guess I should be grateful for that!

The first picture above is Grandma Kor with all of her great granchildren. The one next to it is Grandma with her 5 children and of course this last picture is grandma Kor with all of her grandkids.......minus two (Miranda & Jesten). What a ton of people, sometimes I wonder how we manage to keep it all straight. As always, we have a ton to be thankful for this year. Happy Holidays everyone and remember to enjoy every minute you get to spend with family and friends.

HO, HO, HO.........Merry Christmas!

We had our first visit with Santa this year. Rylie told santa she wanted a Princess Bike with all the princess's on it. Santa said he would see what he could do and then went on to ask Rylie if she had been a good girl ALL year long.......Of course she said Yes..........ha! As many of you can probably assume, because Rylie wanted a princess bike, so did Addisyn........I guess santa will have to see what he can do about that as well.

As we were putting our coats on in the hallway, Santa and Mrs. Clause just happened to come out in the hallway by us.......Rylie walked right up to Santa, put her hands on her hip and said "Where is Rudolph?" Santa said Rudolph was up on the roof waiting to bring him back to the North Pole. Rylie eyed santa up and down and asked "How do you get up there? Simple, Santa said......We take the stairs! She accepted the answer and we headed towards our car to go home. I have never seen a girl stare SOOOOO hard at the top of a building.

Lensing Thanksgiving/Christmas

We had our Lensing Thanksgiving/Christmas last saturday. We usually celebrate both events in one day because there are so many of us. If I heard correctly the count was 62 people in attendence this year! My Grandpa is 87 and has had some health problems recently so we were very thankful that we got to celebrate the holidays with him. I told Grandpa he looked good and he told me he felt good too and went on to say how lucky he was for his "large" family. At one point he leaned over to grandma and said "Look around, do you see what we started?"

Speaker

I had a work training yesterday and had the opportunity to listen to a great speaker regarding domestic awareness. Tascha Bond refers to herself as a "survivor". She has been speaking on this topic for the past seven years. She was crowned Mrs. Oklahoma in 2005 and has recently been on the Oprah show where the topic was spousal rape. It was one of the best speakers I've ever listened to. I could not even begin to imagine some of the things she went through, again, I consider myself lucky. 1/3 of American women report physical and sexual abuse by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives. If you ever have the chance to listen to her story it is worth it. No women deserves to be treated this way. 1/3 is a high number so please educate your sons and daughters. I pray that my daughters never have to experience this kind of pain.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween 2008

Well as you can see by the photos the entire Serreyn Family was "festive" this year! Rylie and Addisyn got to go trick or treating as Dora and Boots. It was very funny to visit people who have no idea who Dora and boots are........I think Addisyn got called a Rabbit and a Teletubby and people just looked at Rylie and said "And who are you supposed to be cutie?" Rylie, was looking at everyone like "Duh people, I'm Dora"

After trick or treating, Wade and I dressed up as a Gorilla and a Banana and hit the town by going to the Russell Firemans Dance. No, I'm not wearing a "Load" of make-up, I had to wear a mask with my costume so nobody would know who we were but the pictures make me look like my makeup exploded on my face. ha. Our guess was that the last time we dressed up for Halloween was probably 8 years ago so it was fun if I do say so myself. It was fun watching people try and figure out who we were. A good time was had by all!

Tag ~ Your it

Apparently I've been "tagged" on numerous occasions and I'm finally getting around to it!

1. Post the rules on your blog
2. Write 6 random things about yourself
3. Tag 6 people at the end of your post
4. If you are tagged, just do it, and pass the tag along!

1. I'm not good "on the spot" so asking me to write six random things is like pulling teeth. I'm much better when I prepare for something.

2. I often wonder why I am so lucky? I see bad things happen to others around me such as losing a job, not being able to get pregnant or having a miscarriage and others losing loved one's especially a child. It is so terrible, but sometimes I wonder when it will be my turn to face something so life changing. I tell myself to just enjoy what I have and focus on the positive without dwelling on what "might" happen in the future. I guess I have nothing to complain about, I'll just keep on enjoying all that has been given to me.

3. I'm not a very trusting person unless I know you really well. I think part of that comes from my job. I see things that others don't see and it makes you less trusting with others around you. I wish I was more trusting.

4. I WISH I was a morning person. I try to be, but I fail miserably at it every time. I would love to wake up, jump out of bed and start my day...........but instead I hit snooze as many times as I possibly can and when I finally drag my butt out of bed you can beleive there is no "jumping" going on. Maybe in my next life things will be different! ha!

5. I wish I had more "me" time as I'm sure most mothers do. I love spending time with my children and my husband but it would be nice every once in a while to have to ask myself "what do I do now? I'm bored" just writing it makes me laugh...........

6. I dread winter.......Its not that I hate it but it lasts soooo long and its so cold. I long for spring to come every year.

I think every blogger I know has already been tagged........so if anyone feels the need.......take it away!

Bucket List

Not sure how many of you have seen the movie the "Bucket List" but even before I watched the movie I found it neccessary to make my own list of things I want to do someday before I kick the bucket! I've always been envious of people who could run marathons and accomplish such a time consuming task. In the back of my mind I always thought it would be fun to try. A good friend of mine from Mankato recently ran her first full marathon and I felt like I couldn't stop asking her questions about it. After talking she asked me if I wanted to do a run with her this summer and I said yes, what do I do first? So......I started running........My goal this summer was to run a 10k at some point but thought I better start out slow. I ran my first 5k (3.1 miles) in July with a time of 31.33. My next task ended up being an 8k (4.96 miles) that I ran in September with a time of 51.53 and FINALLY this last weekend I ran my first 10k (6.2 miles) with a time of 1 hour 9 minutes. The time was not as good as I had hoped but mainly I wanted to actually run the entire time and complete the run. I ended up coming in 202 out of 242. I'm told I did good for my "first time" so now all I can do is try and improve I guess. I've decided that my body isn't made for full marathons, however I think a 1/2 marathon could be in my future........another task to put on the old bucket list.

Godparents

Rylie must have talking to the kids at day care yesterday about godparents. When we got home last night she was determined to find out who her "Berry Godmother" is? My guess is she meant "Fairy Godmother". I chuckeled.

I then explained to her that she was a very lucky little girl because she had 2 Godmothers. Auntie Tammy and Antie Brooke. You two have your hands full..........:-)

1st day of 4 year old Pre-school

Rylie started school today. She attended the 3 year old program last year every Wednesday and this year she will attend all day on Tuesday's and Thursday's. She was so excited the night before. We had her clothes layed out, her shoes sitting by the door and the back-pack ready to go!!!! Auntie Tammy is her teacher. When you ask her what her teacher's name is she says "Mrs. Brust". But when she talkes to Tammy at school she always calls her by her first name. Some of the kids in her class are Morgan, Lexi, Kate, Hayden and Halle......so there were not to many strangers. As you can see by the last picture, Addisyn was NOT going to be left out. She had to put her back pack on as well and she wanted to ride the School Bus too. Rylie didn't hesitate to tell her that she was to "little" to go to school, it was only for "big" kids!

Family time

We got to babysit baby Carson this past weekend. Brian and Bobbie had a wedding out of town so we go the chance to "love" Carson up all weekend long!!! The girls had a great time with him and he put up with them as much as he could. I actually think my girls wore him out. He is 5 1/2 months old and he slept from 9:30 p.m to 8:15 a.m. What a good little boy. It was really nice to have him around.

Tonight we celebrated my mom's birthday. Rylie kept telling people Grandma was "42" . I think grandma has her brainwashed.........We all know that isn't true!!!! ha.......but maybe I should go along with that......then I would only be 21.........hmmmmmm.

Mom (Mary) had fun sharing her thoughts about each grandchild tonight. These are her thoughts so far:

Mason - Most Stubborn Grandchild

Rylie - Loudest Grandchild

Morgan - Best story teller (little fibber)

Addisyn - Most laugh-able - Something about her just makes you laugh.

Dawson - Most Precious in a Devil-ish kind of way.

Carson - Most adorable - he is just cute mom says.......even with his Lyle Lovett hair!

Miss Independent

Kids......Its funny how they can be so different. Rylie is four and would still let me dress her everyday if I would.....there are some days she begs ME to brush HER teeth......I try and remind her that she is four and can brush her own teeth.......sometimes I give in, cause afterall, she is only four and I want to try and keep her "little" as long as I can.............Then there is Addisyn.......she is two.....but do you think I can do ANYTHING for her????? No......."I do it, mom, I do it" Talk about independent..........She has to put her own coat on, her own shoes on, her own clothes on......and if I even thought about trying to help her brush her teeth.......well, I am certain I would get a stirn look from my Miss Independent. I love them both.....in their own unique way......

Life is to short

I received an e-mail the other day and thought it hit home. Just wanted to share the words, not sure who the author is:

As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and its harder every time. You'll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You'll fight with your best friend. You'll blame a new love for things an old one did. You'll cry because time is passing by too fast, and you'll eventually lose someone you love. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back.

Fireball

Short Story: We enjoyed our labor weekend by going camping in Arco this year. (yes.........all the way to arco). We also got to celebrate Mason's 6th Birthday while we were there. The kids had a great time and got to hit the pinata and the whole nine yards........It was fun to watch........After Rylie got her candy picked up and put in her little baggie she came over to me and wanted to eat a "fireball". I said Rylie you won't like that, its really hot. She said "Ok mom, I'll just wait until later on when it cools down."

So simple. Thanks for the chuckle Ry Ry........

What's in a name?

While growing up in the Lensing Household it was always a big joke because I was always called "TamBeck" and my sister Tammy would always get called "BeckTam". I used to laugh at my mom because she was constantly calling us the wrong name....and then correcting herself. I mean really, we were her kids shouldn't she be able to get our names right??????

More often than not lately, I find myself talking to my own children in the same manor......"Ad-Ry, get your shoes on its time to go!" Or "Ry-Addi, get over her and finish your supper!" I tried to deny it for a while.....but I guess we really do end up eventually sounding like our mother. Sorry, mom......I totally get it now............and Rylie and Addisyn......you will be the same way some day........See what you have to look forward to??? ha!

CORRECTION.......

I have a major correction to make from my last Blog. Rylie did not tell Diane she had cracks ALL OVER HER FACE............It was just cracks under her eyes..........I repeat...........no cracks all over the face, just under the eyes...............Sorry Diane.............

(that was a close one!)

Wrinkles or Cracks........

Rylie and I were talking a couple weeks ago and she looked at me with her little head tilted to the side and asked "Mom, why do you have cracks under your eyes?" After it registered in my brain that she was talking about my WRINKLES I laughed hysterically for a few minutes and tried to explain what exactly was happening on my face. I didn't think much of it until I picked her up at day care yesterday and she had told my day care lady (Diane) that she had "cracks" all over her face as well! I chuckled and told Diane she was not alone.............So....for future reference to you all........stand back when talking to Rylie or she may tell you the stone cold truth about the "cracks" on your face!! :-)

Sea Sick?

Rylie and Mom got to spend the day together at Valleyfair this past Wednesday. As a mom you love all your children equally but its really fun when you get to spend some one on one time with one of your children. Rylie was so excited that she got to go on rides with Mason, Morgan and Allie. The kids were all so well behaved, it was a great day despite the rain. One of the first rides I put Rylie on was the kids roller coaster, called the "mild thing". She looked scared to death while she was on it but when she got off she said "That was a great ride mom, but I think I might be sea sick!" I laughed and laughed while she was begging to ride again. I think I had more fun just watching her enjoy herself......but I guess that's what being a mom is all about. Thanks for the great day Rylie!

Since the Beginning

Ahhhhh......Yes. My Addisyn. Since the beginning she has always felt it necessary to have something out of the ordinary on either her head or her feet. She is a shoe and hat fanatic. She usually gets the most comments with her snow boots on in July. To her it seems normal, just another day in the life of Addisyn. We love her so much.........She is always good for a laugh or two.

Zoo Visit

We have been promising our girls a trip to the zoo since June. Our summer has not slowed down at all but we managed to fit in a day of fun at the zoo this past weekend. Rylie really seemed to enjoy all the animals she didn't want to waste anytime sitting for pictures, food or drinks. She wanted to keep on moving to see more animals. Her favorites were the the camel, monkeys and ducks. Addisyn thought the animals were interesting but she was more concerned with getting in and out of the stroller. I think she was worried that she wouldn't get to "ride" to the next exhibit and she may actually have to take a few steps! ha! All and all we had a pretty perfect day. A good day spent together as a family.

This is going to be loads of fun

Here I am trying to figure out all this blog stuff. I feel my youth slipping away as I try and figure it all out. I totally get why new technology scares people off!! Its not that I can't figure it out, its just that it seems to take me longer than those "young" folks. Anyway, back to the issue at hand. I am starting this blog for my children in hopes they can look back on it someday and enjoy the memories of their childhood. I try to do the scrapbook thing but finding the time seems nearly impossible so this will hopfully be my "alternate" plan.

Introductory Blog

Seems like in order to keep up with the times I need to start a blog to keep folks updated on what is happening in the Serreyn Household. I'm hoping I have some great stories to share with my readers!