What a week!

Just as I thought the boys were starting to feel better, we discovered around 11pm last night that Carson had gotten sick in his bed. After an extensive cleanup effort (TMI?) we put Carson in bed with me so I could keep an eye on him all night. He was running a fever and pretty much cried most of the night even after Tylenol. Needless to say we're sleepiheads this morning...
On a fun note, we had our first real snow last night. (although I think it snowed over Thanksgiving, we just were not here) I had to go out and get more medicine at the store and it was pretty slick out. We're supposed to get up to 10 inches tomorrow, so that will be exciting! When I woke up this morning it was 3 degree's here...a subtle reminder of where we are I suppose!
I plan to get a pot of vegetable soup going today, and we'll settle in for a quiet weekend at home watching the snow fall...and of course the Missouri Tigers vs. Oklahoma on Saturday night...
I've included a pic of our Christmas tree, we put it up before Thanksgiving since we'll be on the road for 3 weeks during Christmas break. We wanted more time to enjoy it! It's very pretty, and lights up the whole room.

Thanksgiving 2007

Our family
Cheering on the Tigers
Cousins
Ready, set, hike!
Daddy and babies

Dad and boys
Mom and Marcus
Cole
Terri and Amanda
Carson
Jim and David

Marcus, Kaitlyn, and Meghan
Deann, Ryan, and Amanda
Daddy and Carson
Cole
Meghan and Carson

Silly boys!
In the car
The babies close to midnight when we arrived in Kirksville
Sleepy heads!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Kirksville. It was great to see family and friends, and nice for Levi to get a break from studying for a few days. We were thankful that we were able to travel on Tuesday, as very cold weather and snow hit our travel areas (including Kirksville) on Wednesday. We celebrated Thanksgiving at David and Deann's house and of course enjoyed a huge dinner, and some of us took short naps afterward! :) Looks like Deann caught Levi and I just resting our eyelids for a few seconds as she took our picture! It was wonderful to sit by the fireplace and watch the snow coming down outside...very cozy!

Friday we enjoyed meeting the Couch family for lunch and visiting. They are our friends from KC who were visiting family in Green City (only 20 min from Kirksville) for the holiday. It was wonderful to see them!

Saturday my parents came up for the day to spend time with us too. We enjoyed the day together and then we all watched the Missouri Tiger's win on Saturday night to take the number 1 ranking in the nation!!! It was pretty exciting to watch the game, especially with Levi around! ;)

The only unfortunate thing about the whole trip was that all three of the boys became sick Friday night, which made for long nights and a mishap in the car on the way back Sunday. Marcus and Carson had sore throats, fevers, and were not sleeping well...while Cole had a stomach issue...did I mention a mishap in the car??? Yucky...well anyway you get the idea. Needless to say we were happy to get home Sunday evening and are still dealing with sickness so pray for us if you think of us. I don't think we've had all three boys sick at the same time so far. Hopefully it will pass quickly and we can get back to normal sleeping patterns and everyone back in their own beds, etc.

THANKSGIVING

We'll be taking a blogging break for a week or so while we celebrate Thanksgiving with our families. We'll be traveling this afternoon and evening to Kirksville and will return home on Sunday afternoon or evening. We love driving, so we're really looking forward to getting on the road. It will be nice to visit, listen to music, and just enjoy each other's company along the way. I'm sure there will much reflection on all that we are thankful for...by God's abundant grace we have so many reasons to give thanks. There is one reason though, that sums all the others up nicely...

Give thanks to the Lord, for HE is good. -Psalm 136:1

Happy Thanksgiving from the Kelly family!

Winter Wonderland

Daddy and his boys
Marcus
Marcus looking at a deer
Mommy and her three babies
Lights

Mr. Camel
Mommy and Marcus
Twins
Falls

Winter Wonderland at Falls Park was not quite ALL that it was cracked up to be... but it was still pretty good. The weather here is unusually warm (40's last night) so we were thinking this whole deal is probably much more impressive with some snow around and the falls being frozen. The boys enjoyed seeing all the lights and the falls change colors. There were reindeer and camels, and horse drawn carriage rides with lines a million people long. All of this was free which was wonderful. We enjoyed just walking around and letting Marcus climb on the rocks. While we were there we saw a couple of guys from Levi's class, so I got to meet their wives. One couple is from El Paso, Texas and the other from somewhere in California. Very nice people, and the guys got to chat about the weeks worth of tests that they just endured.

It was a nice little outing and the boys seemed to enjoy themselves and were definitely ready for bed when we got home.

Average week

Silly Marcus
Marcus and Cole
Playing some ball

Happy Carson!
Small scuffle in the kitchen
Cole
Happy moment
Big Brother

Fighting over a chair
still...
Carson is NOT giving up!
Cole giving him grief!

Carson, with bump on the head...bathtime can be pretty crazy!
Marcus
Cole enjoying bathtime...and getting water all over the bathroom
Our three sweeties
Battle of wills...

This week has been pretty much routine...seems most weeks are, but that's what seems to work best for us. Levi has been very busy studying for 3 big tests and two quizzes all within less than a week. Tuesday before Thanksgiving will be the last one and then we will be on the road to Kirksville. We are all looking forward to the road trip! As much as we love it here, we are ready to get out and get away for a few days.

This week has been a challenge as the babies have decided they are going to fight over literally everything! This is new to me! Marcus never had anyone to fight with, so we haven't had to handle this yet. Toys, chairs, books, you name it...if one has it, the other one wants it. Since they still can't talk, they just scream at each other and start crying...a test of my patience for sure! God always knows where I need to grow.

On a happier note, Marcus and I have had some quality time this week (since fighting usually lands the babies in bed for a little while). He loves to play catch, read books, color, paint, and draw with Mommy. He surprised me yesterday by starting to draw letters. He knows all the letters, I just didn't know he could draw some of them. Then he looked up at me and said, "Mommy, what letter starts with the T-t-t sound?"...then asked about the B-b-b sound? I guess I need to get out some of the preschool learning activity books I bought. I love it that he likes to learn, I just feel bad not having as much time for just he and I as we would like. He's a good kid, and thankfully very patient with frazzled Mommy.

Tonight we are headed to Falls Park for the Winter Wonderland lighting. Should be a good time, I'll probably have some pictures to post tomorrow.... IT's FRIDAY!!!!! :)

Hanging out at home

Marcus loves his bouncy ball!
Brothers

Happy Cole
Carson
Silly Marcus
Marcus
Brothers

New game...
Smiley! Showing his teeth
Smiley #2...also showing his teeth
Playing cars
Daddy's little protege?

This week has flown by! Tuesday I took Marcus to his 3 year wellcheck with Dr Bauer. I had made the mistake of telling him that he wouldn't be getting shots this time...I was wrong. He had to have one immunization I didn't know about. After I briefed him on the situation and told him I was sorry that I had told him otherwise, he said "it's ok Mommy"... I felt HORRIBLE, but he braved it and we went to Barnes and Noble to play with the trains and pick out a book. I did figure out though that most of his anxiety is not about shots at the doctor, but rather about getting his ears looked at. He remembers all the ear trouble he's had and uncomfortable visits to the doctor where his ears were constantly being dug at! Thank the Lord for tubes, and whoever invented them. Anyway, aside from the shot he made it through the whole visit without crying. (which is a BIG thing for him)

Levi has been busy this week studying and taking quizzes. He has a couple of tests next week and a quiz the Tuesday after, THEN we/he get to take a break and head to Kirksville for Thanksgiving. I can't believe it's already time for the holidays! Congrats Levi, you've made it this far!! I know it's been an extraordinary amount of hard work for you, but you've handled it beautifully. We love you and are thankful for your sacrifices!

Here are some pics of the boys playing around the house this week. You'll notice they've found a "game" they like to play with their toys...throwing them all over the baby gate. Fun! ;) Apparently the twins are into throwing things right now...last night Cole threw Marcus' new shoes into the bath tub!