Other Christmas Pictures!

Christmas Eve (getting ready to go to church, dinner and look at Christmas lights)
Kids playhouse all decorated up for Christmas

Kids all lined up at family Christmas party...listening and answering questions about Jesus' birthday! Too cute!!

Most of Grandpa & Grandma Hettinger's grandkids (1 couldn't be there and Zach wasn't interested in getting his picture taken). 12 kids total (10 in pic)

Pictures with Santa Claus

The New Dishwasher

Jon and I have been so excited for this day to come...literally we have been excited, and you know why? We are sick and tired of washing dishes by hand, which has been happening for almost 3 weeks now. We have lived without a dishwasher before. Up in Laramie we didn't have one, but there were only two people and we were either in school or at work so there really wasn't alot of dishes. But now with 6 people in our house, a dishwasher breaking down is a major catastrophe! Our hands are dry, and I must say that is takes a lot of time away from the family. But thankfully it got here this morning...and I have a pile of dishes in the sink because I told myself I was not going to do any dishes today. Now I am just waiting on Jon to put the wonderful piece of equipment in and we will be ready to go! YEAH!!!

If you really want details on it, it is white and the buttons are hidden (I finally get a dishwasher with hidden buttons after all my kids are almost to the age to leave it alone, but Nathan is still yet to come). That will be a nice feature because then I won't have a little hand switching the cycle or turning it on or opening it up without me knowing. It has "SmartWash" which says it analyzes the load and determines how much water to use. Plus a small food disposal system...so it says you really don't have to wash your plates before putting them in. We will see how that works!

Thomas School Projects

Thomas recently told us about some school projects he has done on the computer. They are pretty neat to see how 1st graders are doing some new things with the computer. I can't believe our son learned how to power point before us! LOL!! The first link has sound so make sure to turn it up and listen to Thomas talk about Plant Life!

http://staffweb.psdschools.org/aswenson/langel/page18.html


http://staffweb.psdschools.org/aswenson/langelbook1/page18.html

Enjoy!!

November - Month in Pictures

Seems like November went by like speed train. Didn't get a whole lot of time to blog...so we decided to share the months pictures!

Nathan and Zachary - they are becoming two peas in a pod!
Nathan's dedication at Timberline Church

November 18, 2008

Decorating the Christmas tree

Even got Nathan involved watching the Christmas ornaments go up...just think next year it will be a chaotic fun event to watch when all 4 hang ornaments! I can't wait!! :)


Thanksgiving - Thomas & Rebekah dancing on the back patio of The Stirman's

The kids enjoying some play time after Thanksgiving dinner at The Stirman's


Grandpa Blehm (Great-Grandpa for Zach) and Zach enjoying a game around the rocking chair!



Starting to decorate the outside for Christmas! Come check it out and see all the blow-ups!

A picture of my Scentsy display for my Open House! It was a busy November with a craft fair and our open house!

The Loudenburg Men - at Thanksgiving #3 for us!

Grandpa Loudenburg (Great -Grandpa for Nathan) enjoying some time with Ne-Ne

The Loudenburg women!

Interperetations of Zacharys' lingo

I doon: We think this means he wants down or is tired or just wants to cry
chocky: This is means chocolate
Bogo: Our dog Bogart
Beca: Rebekah
De De: We think this means Thomas although he calls him a lot of things
Nea Nea: This means Nathan
Tre Tre: Trains (his favorite)
Ba Ba: Mickey Mouse
Bobul: His sippy cup of milk
blaa: His blanky
Ohh: Anything that excites him

The crazy night

Every now and then, the Blehm house has a crazy night. The other night was no exception. It started with Nathan being extremely restless, not wanting to sleep at all. He doesn't usually get upset, but he was screaming!! We are used to kids screaming, but not Nathan. Mommy to the rescue, Jeni swaddled him tight and out he went for now. Not 5 minutes later after going back to bed, Zachary wakes up and starts screaming. Sometimes he does this so he can come sleep with us but if we give in, 2 other kids probably would join him. :( Finally, we got Zachary to calm down. Not 5 minutes after that, Bogart, our very reserved puppy started wining. I had to go let him out to ease his troubled mind. Back to bed!!! Yeah!!! Finally!!! Nope, Nathan is back awake, but after some milk, he is ok again. A few hours later, its time to go to work :( The good thing is, this seems to only happen once a month!!

Happy Halloween from The Blehm's!!

Thomas as racecar driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Rebekah as Sleeping Beauty

Zachary (not in the spirit) as Thomas the Train

Nathan as a Lil' Hershey Kiss

The Harvest Farm

The Harvest Farm is a place north of us here in Wellington ran by the Denver Rescue Mission. It is a place for men to escape the pressures and temptations of the big city and work on a farm. Every year, they put on a big "to do" with corn mazes, barrel train rides, hay rides, corn cannons, petting zoo and much more. Our favorite thing to do is the maze while snacking on some Kettle corn (yum!!!) This is the 3rd annual Blehm family trip to the Harvest Farm and the easiest so far with Zachary. I only had to carry him half the time this trip. :) Here our some pictures of the fun!

Zachary finally posed for us on this tractor!!! (This is a Zachary success!!! Hopefully one of many as he does not like his picture taken like his mother) :0

The famous game called "Operation"

We found a game that is fairly easy to play with really young children. The game is "Operation" and for those who haven't played it, its really easy. You have to successfully remove various pieces from this guys body without touching the sides (sounds bloody but its not :o ). The game buzzes really loud if you bump the sides of the holes, and this part might be the best. The kids jump at the buzzes and cheer when they successfully remove the pieces. They love paying each other for the successful operations (these surgery prices are cheap compared to nowadays :)) Although, I have not recently heard of anybody in real life needing a "brain freeze" removed from their head (LOL!)

My blanky

Our little Linus loves his blanket. Zachary has attached himself to this random blanket at our home. It can be found with him all day long. If you dare take it away, your asking for big problems as Thomas and Rebekah has found out. If we try to switch it with another one to wash it, Zachary knows the new one is an imposter!!

Little Miss Bossy

Does anybody recall the little books containing shapes known as characters called Mr. Happy or Mr Grumpy? Well we have a little girl we lovingly refer to as Little Miss Bossy. This has quietly started after Rebekah turned four. Usually reserved, Rebekah pipes up every now and then, telling somebody what to do.
This happened the other night when Jeni and I were dancing in the kitchen (yes, we do that) and Rebekah shouted "dip her, dip her". This caught us both off guard. We don't even know where she learned about that part of dancing (no, we do not watch "Dancing With The Stars"):0 This little bossy side of Rebekah came out once again at Church. She told me to drop off Zach in the nursery, then drop Thomas off. Mom was told to take her to Sunday School while holding Nathan. She also gives directions in the car daily now. Rebekah also gives us a full report of what Thomas and Zachary does and how we should "talk to them".


See the resemblance? Its astounding!!!

Steamboat Trip Part II

Here are some more pictures (day 2 in Steamboat) from the Gondola, atop the mountain and Gondola Square!

A mini Vacation Finally!! Part I

Yes we did it, we attempted a small vacation with four little ones. We had a great time! This was a quick trip to Steamboat (still a 3 hour car ride :0) but we had a great time! This trip included a wonderful stay at the Steamboat Grand, Alpine slide and the ever popular with the kids, the Gondola. The Gondola is talked about constantly by Rebekah. Every elevator we get in is a Gondola to her. Here is part of the pictures as our camara battery died and we had to take the rest with a disposable one.

This trip has become annual for us (3 years) and we always find a way to go down by the river and downtown Steamboat.

Must sees at Steamboat:

1. The stinky sulfer original Hot Spring (12 different springs to check out)

2. The downtown plastic horse (located outside F.M. Light and Sons which happens to be rediculously advertised all the way to Steamboat!!!)

3. The Gondola with the inclosed cars to take you up the mountain

4. The Rio Grande Resturant with a second floor outside patio!!

5. The Steamboat Smokehouse Resturant

6. The park the lottery apparently paid for with the cute little buildings for the kids

7. The Alpine slide :) (My favorite as I have to ride it twice with Thomas and then Rebekah. Its a tough job being a dad,)

8. I suppose skiing is fun here too (kids are too small!)

9. The Steamboat Grand Hotel

More to come...

Here's to 8 Wonderful, Eventful Wedded Bliss Years!!

It is hard to believe we have been married for 8 years. So many (4) wonderful blessings have entered our lives in this short but long time. We have been so blessed, and with God in our marriage we would not have made it through both the bad times but the most awesome times! Here is a look back at our wonderful day...8 years ago!

The Many Faces of Nathan

Child Height Predictor

This website is the neatest thing. Looks like all of our kids are going to be taller than their Mommy. Here are Thomas, Rebekah , Zachary and Nathan's stats.

http://children.webmd.com/healthtool-kids-height-predictor

Thomas = 6' 1"

Rebekah = 5' 7"

Zachary = 6' 0"

Nathan = 6' 0"

It will be interesting where they end up!!

Helpful Kids

Friday night we ended up in Windsor for Great-Grandpa Hetty's 80th birthday. It was a fun barbeque spent with seeing other family members and spending time with Grandpa. The big thing seemed to be rolling down the hill for the kids, even Zachary got in on the fun of it. And when it was about time to leave Thomas, Rebekah & Zachary helped their Great-Grandma do the dishes. How come that never seems to happen at home (I am pondering this!)?? But I do remember a picture that my Mom took of me helping my Grandma wash dishes on the same stool that our kids are now using. I will have to see if I can dig that up.

Zachary, Zachary, Zachary (Installment #2)

Zachary (known as Spark Plug due to his nature) is always keeping Jeni and I guessing. We decided he is growing up and doesn't need a 8:30 am nap anymore. This worked well for a week until one morning, Jeni found him putting himself to bed for this nap he evidently still needs. Out like a light, Zach fell asleep. We have never had a boy that young even come close to his bed by himself during the day. Otherwise, Zachary is non-stop, getting into everything including any cubby hole he can fit into. He likes to play with dishes, (mommy's) cars, (Thomas's and his) dolls (Rebekah's) and tractors (daddy's). Zachary will find a way to make a mess out of just about anything, and then attempt to clean it up or put it away in his own way. We wouldn't want him any other way!!!! :)

A bad week for Z

Our son, Zachary, has just had the worst week of his little life!! It started with him finishing off a cold and constantly teething. This was immediately followed by falling down on a parking lot which scraped up his knee. Next was the tumble down the last (yes the last) step of the 14 step staircase to the playhouse. This somehow caused a massive bruise and a slight black eye. :( The next day, Zachary's big brother helped the current traumas by opening up the backyard door to Zachary (he happened to be leaning on it, and Thomas knows better). You can only guess the bruise this created. We assumed the falls were over until Zachary tipped over on a tiny chair at his cousin's birthday party. Located on a soft lawn as this chair was, Zachary's head somehow found the only metal object within 10 feet of him. Yep, another nasty bruise added to his ever growing collection!!! :( Pile about 4 mosquito bites onto this and a fingernail scrape from himself, and Zachary officially looks pretty rough! No, you will not see pictures!!!! This is to protect the assumption that you currently think Jeni and I have our kids perfectly protected at all times. :)
Jeni and I have kicked around the idea of a bicycle helmet permanently mounted to Z's little head. LOL!!!!!

The start of a new school year

Thomas is in first grade. That means staying at school from 7:50 am to 2:30, having lunch at school, and the biggest thing he enjoys....3 recesses! Now Mommy just has to learn how to let him go to class by himself instead of chatting with someother parents, while making sure he gets to where he needs to go when the bell rings. I apparently have embarrased him since he says "Mom, you don't have to walk me to my class anymore!" Oh well. Here are some pics of his first day of school.