Rory gave me quite a scare yesterday. She was crying while I got breakfast ready, nothing too unusual, but when I sat down next to her I was taken aback.

Do you notice her face? Not the goofy face, but the red on her face? She had blood stains for tear stains on her face! At least, I'm pretty positive that it was a blood stain since I couldn't find any mysterious red powder, cuts, or anything else that could have produced those stains. After a chat with our pediatrician it was decided that unless she started showing other symptoms or cried again with more blood, we would just watch and hope it was a one time occurrence. (I should mention Rory is very healthy right now, not even a runny nose to complain of, so it was completely out of the blue.)

All day I suppressed my urge to pinch her and make her cry. Now, before you think I'm a terrible mom for wanting her to cry, keep in mind that for 9 hours, 9 HOURS, I was on pins and needles watching her like a hawk while trying not to freak her out, hoping it was a fluke and not something I'd need to worry about. If she would cry clear tears, then I'd know I was in the clear. I suppressed that urge and eventually that evening she cried one tiny, clear tear.

In the meantime, while I waited and watched, we had some fun being goofy together.

And today she is still acting just fine, and has even cried another time producing clear tears, so I'm not worrying about it. (At breakfast actually, it's part of the routine to cry with hunger apparently.) Also? I've had enough blood scares for the year, thank you very much!

My kids are slowly driving me insane. Well, at least today they are.

Max has decided that getting up at 5am is totally and completely acceptable. Moments after he's awake? He's waking Rory up. As you can imagine, I've got some tired, crabby children over here. I also know, I've reached my breaking point. When I'm pulling down my Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child book to double check Max's sleep hours even though it's blatantly obvious he's not getting enough, I know I'm going crazy.

So, who has advice on how to get my child to sleep longer? I have to warn you, I'm not into the idea of getting one of those night lights that show day and night hours, simply because he's already shown that when he's left to his own devices he'll wake up his perfectly happy and tired little sister, and they do share a room. Right now? He gets sent to the playroom where he must remain by his self until it's an appropriate time to be awake. It seemed to be working, with only a few bad days; that is, until we went to the lake and screwed it all up.

Also? I hate daylight savings time and tonsillectomies. Thanks to those two things my son has been completely off his perfectly reasonable 5:30/6am wake ups.Yes, I wish it were later but he's always been an early riser, there isn't much I can do about that.

Rory has been extra fun with her tiredness. Everything is all about Rory and if you don't do it the way she wants to than you will suffer Rory's wrath! She's had more attitude than I've ever seen, is easily upset, and is very uncooperative on even the simplest of tasks.

I know you want my life.

So send some advice, some well wishes, and maybe some sleeping powder? I'll leave you with this in exchange.

That would be Max giving Rory a "huggy and kissy" goodbye before getting on his bus to leave for school. Yes, they can be adorable when they want to.

We've been keeping ourselves busy over the long holiday break with Grandma and Bopa. Grandma taught the kids how to play Dominoes.

Bopa helped us get some sledding in when there wasn't a lot of snow, they needed a little push to get unstuck, numerous times.

We also processed the venison making summer sausage, bratwursts, and jerky.

And eventually it snowed enough for us to really have some fun, including a sledding hog pile on Mom. 

Yes, it was as awesome as it looks!

Of course, now we're home, unpacked and getting settled in for the evening. It was a fun holiday at the lake and we're looking forward to doing it again soon!

The Thanksgiving holiday has been a lot of fun for us this year. I would have shared that sooner but my parent's internet hasn't been cooperative. Keep your fingers crossed that I've finally got it fixed!

We spent the evening before Thanksgiving gathering leaves and other outdoor items and working on a centerpiece. It was supposed to be fun for the kids, but it ended up being mostly my mom and me putting it together, it was cute though with Mom's ivy and we had fun!

Our Thanksgiving gathering this year:

This year my loving husband decided that I should get one of the two turkey legs. Naturally we were all giggling, so I had to dig right in and claim it as my own before someone else tried to steal it!

Dusty and my dad spent this last week hunting around my Grandpa's farm and imagine my surprise to find Dusty had acquired the three wheeler that used to be at my Grandpa's. The kids were thrilled! Me? Well, I'll adjust.

After Thanksgiving it started to snow and Auntie took the kids out for a quick snowfall dance. They didn't enjoy that at all!

I've got more to share, but since the internet has been down for a while I think I better let someone else use the computer. Hopefully everything will still be running tomorrow and I can post more!

There is a carousel at the mall we visited to see Santa and after lunch we took all 5 kids for a ride on it. We let Katie sit out the ride, her motion sickness would not have boded well, but Andrew, Reb and I were busy keeping an eye on the kids. So my photos, not the greatest, but you can still tell they were all having fun!

I do love carousels! There isn't much thrill to them but it's one of the first rides I could take my kids on so it's sentimental now.

Today was a very exciting day as we went to visit SANTA! We spent the morning working on our lists and pictures to give to Santa. Look, Max wrote Santa's name all by his self!

Santa was yet again awesome with the kids, I really do love this Santa. He looked at their pictures and talked with them about them, it was adorable!

Reb and Jane rode with us and we had Jane go first in hopes she wouldn't get too anxious waiting, it worked well. She didn't smile but she also sat nicely!

Lyla and Nora were also with us and Lyla was so adorable trying to hold in her excitement at getting to take her photo and talk with Santa. Look at her!

Max and Rory went next, here's there official photo for this year. Yes, I know, it's a goofy one but it was either that or the cheesiest smiles ever. I chose real and goofy!

Lyla finally got her chance to talk with Santa and she was adorable with him.

Nora, well she wasn't into him. This photo makes me laugh so hard though!

Mommy did attempt to sit with her to see if that would help.

The photo was cute but they decided to purchase a hilarious one of Nora trying to throw herself out of Santa's arms while Lyla smiled oh so sweetly. I love this time of year!

Today I fell in love with my camera again. Trust me, it is so possible. I've been having a hard time taking photos with it, mainly because of the shorter daylight hours and cold weather, making it increasingly difficult to take photos that I love, instead of photos I just like. One week ago, I took this photo of us walking home from Max's school bus pickup.

I love it, I wish I would have had my big camera, instead of my phone, to take it, but it was cold and I wasn't about to try to rush the kids back outside to recreate it with my camera. Until today, when the weather was warm and everyone was in good moods. It isn't recreated, but it's still cute!

After that we had some fun on the swings where Mommy took some more photos.

It was impossible for me to put my camera down, and my card was full which meant I had to constantly go back and delete images, but I didn't care, I was having FUN!

Max wanted to take some more photos, you know, the boy that's been struggling being in front of the camera? So I posed for him!

Rory of course needed a turn and Max and I were all about helping her get the shot.

We had fun trying out all sorts of goofy photos, but jumping was, by far, their favorite photos to check out and see how high they got. (As in Max, Rory never really got very far off the ground.)

It was such a fun half hour I was bummed to bring it to an end; hands were getting cold, tummies were getting hungry and we were loosing sunlight fast. I can't wait to do that again!

My mothering is not up to par today. As soon as Max got on the bus I let out a huge sigh of relief. While both of them are handfuls, once Max is gone, Rory is usually quite calm and happy with her alone time. Today we're keeping busy with crafts and baking. Here's a sneak peak of what is to come from our kitchen today.

Rory's thanksgiving craft, not dry for cutting and assembling. (Yes, they are all on my camera phone resulting in crummy images, sorry.)

Our first attempt at Buffalo Ranch Pretzels, cooling for sampling. (Recipe here, with an additional Tbsp. of Buffalo as suggested.) **We have since sampled them, they're good although the spice doesn't register until you've had a few.**

Rory playing her favorite game; pretend nap time with her baby, princesses (only the prettiest), and puppy.

And of course, some french bread dough to bake for dinner tonight. Another recipe favorite from a book I got at the library.

Randy and Ashley will be watching the kids for us while Dusty and I attend Max's school conference during dinner tonight. No frozen pizzas over here, spaghetti bake, fresh bread and salad sounds so much better, doesn't it?! I'm sure Dusty and I will be rushing home to eat it too.

This morning we woke up to a flurry outside and some snow on the ground. And by some snow, I mean barely any. Apparently though, shoveling was in order.

Yes, Rory did have to use this non-snow-removing shovel. We don't have kids' shovels. Someone want to add that idea to their Christmas list? It worked just fine since they weren't pushing any snow around anyway!

Max was hard at work getting the small accumulated pile out of the crease between the front step and the house. Once that was done? Well, he had a hard time finding work.

Hopefully more snow will come soon so we can actually play in it. Of course, I'd also like the temperatures to stay in the 30's all winter. We'll see if I get my wishes!

Rory and I went for a hike today to the waterfalls and she had us walking all over that park, it was pretty awesome! We hiked up the stairs to get the overlook, Rory wanted me to take a picture of her and the waterfalls. This is the best I could do safely.

Rory also found a deer. I think it looks like a reindeer. Do you see it? (Hint: You have to use your imagination.)

All along our walk Rory continued to pick up sticks and carry on stories with them. She called them various names, nonsense names like Boppy, Aida, Bobo, and some known names like Juney and Ashlyn. She's hilarious with her story telling, even making the sticks kiss. When she'd get too many, or too large of ones, she'd start getting desperate. Here she is carrying one between her legs and the other with her teeth.

After our hike we came home and warmed up with some hot chocolate. Rory, of course, drank her hot chocolate like she'd never drank from a coffee mug before and covered her clothes in chocolate.

Some day this girl will care that she's covered in food, right? RIGHT?