Oh Christmas Tree!

This year I decided that I wanted a real live tree! As long as I can remember I have never had anything, but a fake tree! My family and I have had severe allergies to mold and mildew that can accumulate on a Christmas tree over time! However, this year I wanted to take that chance and see how our family would fair with a live tree! I must say, that I had no idea the work that goes into picking out a tree, getting it home and then getting it up in your house!

I must tell you that I am a bargain tree hunter because I refused to pay $130-160 dollars for something I would throw at the end of my driveway in a month!!! We have ten foot ceilings and I wanted to find something big and full to put in the house! Brian was out of town so I enlisted my dad to help Christian and I pick out a tree! I must tell you what a patient and wonderful father I have because I did not inherit those qualities. I drug him all over town trying to find a tree that was perfect and not too expensive! We looked and looked and then we found it! A big beautiful Frasier Fir from the Home Depot! The freaking Home Depot had the best trees and they were CHEAP! I bought a tree that was a little over nine feet for under $55 dollars! :) Yeah...now how were we going to get this thing home and into our house with little ole me and a three year old? Now, do not get me wrong my dad is in great condition and in fact training for a marathon as we speak! However, would I be able to help in this task? I had no idea what to do! Thank the Lord my dad seems to know it all! We got that tree home, in my house and standing straight in no time at all! HA HA...I think it took a good two hours to get that heavy monster in our house! We strung the lights on the tree or should I say, my perfectionist father did that honor? I cooked dinner for him and my mom as a thank you and I do appreciate the help! I had a great day with my dad picking out a tree it was a lot of fun and a wonderful memory for Christian! Christian actually put the star on the top of the tree with some assistance...of course!

On a final note, it is now the 19th of December and knock on wood there are no allergy problems happening in this household! The tree is beautiful and smells sooo wonderful every time I walk in the room! This is another tradition we hope to keep for a long time! Wow, to think what I was missing out on...I do not even mind cleaning up the needles daily! Somehow I did not get a picture of the final product? It was beautiful and took some time to decorate with two little ones! You can see a picture in the Christmas day photos!

Polar Express here we come!

So this post is going to be short and sweet! This year we again attempted the Polar Express train ride! Last year we went on the Santa Special during the day because Christian was not a fan of Santa! However, this year he is all about Santa and already sat on his lap in Peoria after Thanksgiving! We were excited because we have been waiting for this year to arrive in our household! Santa is a good guy and not someone to be afraid of after all!

Well, this year I had the date on my calendar for

months when the Polar Express tickets went on sale! We did not want to miss the chance of not getting to ride the Train this year! We had planned to go with our friends the Copelands because all our boys are like siblings! I think they actually believe there is some blood relation between them! The other day they asked if Christian could come live with them! How sweet is that! I do not think Susan wants a 4th boy running around her house! :) Now, of course the day came and almost

went before I remembered the sale of the Polar Express tickets! Seriously? I think some days

my head would fall off if it were not attached! We got are tickets ordered and all was good with the world! Now we just had to wait for a month and a half to go on our adventure ride to the North Pole! It is so cute for those that do not know. The Polar Express is a train ride that takes you to the North Pole to visit Santa (like the book). All the kids dress in their PJ's and get cookies and milk. They read the Polar Express story on the way up North and sing Christmas Carols too. The excitement in the air is so much fun! The anticipation of getting a glimpse

of Santa is almost to much to bear for theses little ones! They are bouncing off the walls! Santa and Mrs. Claus board the train and take pictures and the elves give out gifts. This year it was an ornament with the Polar Express on it, which is now hanging on the Christmas tree! They are also given jingle bells like in the book! It is a fun thing to do with the kids! Christian has loved the train ride each year! Notice I said, "Train Ride"! Oh well, there is always next year! The story goes like this...

December 6th came really quick and Christian, Elijah and Preston were very excited about the train ride and seeing Santa Claus. I do not think Porter (11 weeks older than Henley) and Henley cared about it, but they loved the train ride and cookies! We got to the station a little early because we wanted to make sure we got the seats facing each other! We thought the boys would enjoy this better and would not be hopping back and forth all over the train. It was a cold night in Birmingham so we all got some hot chocolate to help keep us warm. We were the first on our train and got great seats on the left side of the car. This is the side that you see the North Pole! We had been talking about this all week and Christian was so excited to see Santa! What happened next shocked us! We pulled up to the North Pole and there is Santa and Mrs.Claus waving to all the excited children! Christian is waving and so happy....then he turned and looked at me with this panic stricken face! What is wrong? He said, "mommy I am scared.......

I do not want to see Santa!" What? I thought he was kidding! Brian and I were so confused at his reaction to Santa Claus and did not know what scared him. However, like good parents we told him that it was alright. He did not have to see or talk to Santa when he came through the car. That was just not enough for our little boy...Christian went and HID under all of our jackets! :) Hilarious! We still to this day do not know what scared him that night, but we have pictures of it!

Henley is petrified of Santa this year, which is not unexpected. She was very intrigued by Santa in Peoria, but if you try and put her on his lap that is another story! We are not surprised by this considering there is a handful of people who are able to hold her! This girl has the worst post leaving mommy anxiety I have ever seen!!! You would think someone cut her arms off if I leave her for a second! I guess I should feel loved, but

instead I feel like running from her sometimes! :) Not really...well maybe a little! Regardless of the scariness Henley and I got our picture with Santa and Mrs. Claus! I have started a tradition of framing Santa Claus pictures and I put them all over our house at Christmas time. It is priceless to see all the faces and cries for help over the past 4 years! This year I got to at least put a

smiling Santa picture out! Christian in Peoria sitting on Santa's lap...happy as can be!

It was a real fun night and a tradition we will continue as long as we can! I love the magic of Christmas and I hope my children always will too!!!

Thanksgiving in Peoria!

This year we decided to go up to Brian's home town of Peoria Illinois for the holiday. We

always have a good time, but it is the flight that just gets me all wound up! Once we get there and I have everything I left home with, including our children I can start to relax a bit. It had been a crazy couple of days because Henley had just gotten tubes in her ears two days before we left. Packing and trying to get ready to go out of town was the least of my worries. However, we all got to Illinois in one piece and it was a very uneventful trip. We drove to Atlanta and spent the night there on Tuesday and flew out Wednesday morning. The kids were perfect on the plane!

We had a great time once we got to Nene and Poppy's house. Poppy had bought a

new riding car for the kids to play with and Christian loved it! It was very cold outside, but he did not seem to mind and would of stayed outside all day if daddy and Poppy would of too! Julie and Steve and the family decided last minute to make the trip up too. We all

had a great time and the kids always enjoy playing/fighting with each other. Preston and Henley just kind of watch the older kids, but mostly play to themselves. However, Christian and Bennett have a ball playing together. It is so nice that their ages are soo close and we all hope they will grow up and be very close!

Thanksgiving morning we all got up and started with mimosa's as you should always do on any special occasion or any other day too for that matter spent all day with family! :) Just Kidding guys!!! Lynn and Debbie got the stuffing and Mr. Turkey cooking and Julie and I started working on appetizers. Julie made this great guacamole recipe of her grandmother's that was very yummy. I started cooking the green beans and potatoes for dinner.

We had a great afternoon just watching football, watching the kids and enjoying each other's company. We love to watch the grandparents and the kids play it is so sweet!

When dinner was ready we all got around the table and Lynn did the blessing. We all have so much to be thankful for in our lives. Everyone is healthy, happy and together for this great day! The meal was wonderful and everybody worked hard to prepare...thanks Debbie and Lynn for having us there!

The next day, there was a parade in downtown Peoria! According to Debbie it is the oldest running parade? Never the less it was definitely the longest running parade and it was COLD outside! The kids had so much fun because the people on the floats and in costumes were throwing candy! I do not know how much went in their bags because they were to busy popping it in their mouth! I think Henley was even making moves to grab some too! If she did not have gloves on she would have been more successful too! She loved all the music andwould just stand there and dance as the

bands passed by. I think we might have a dancer on our hands! Christian was getting impatient waiting for Santa, but he stuck out the cold for him! Julie, Steve, Debbie, me and all the other kids took refuge inside until Santa came around the corner. When the parade was over we took the kids back to the house so Henley could take a nap. Christian played with Nene and Poppy while all the adults wentto the bar to watch the disappointing Auburn/Alabama game! Auburn played an amazing game and I hated to see them loose, but oh well what can you do! Julie and Steve were happy with outcome and might be going to Pasadena to watch them in the Nationals?

The rest of the time was low key and we all just relaxed. We took the kids to see Santa and Christian was so excited! He hopped right on his lap and told him exactly what he wanted for Christmas! Henley on the other hand was fascinated from afar, but not so much when we put her on his lap! Fun pictures and great way to torture your kids on a Saturaday afternoon! When we were done with Santa Christan and Lynn decided to go on a train ride for kids! Lynn had to squeeze into the car, but he could not turn down Christian's request for Poppy to ride with him!

On Saturday night we met some of Brian's old friends out for drinks and had a good time. We do not get to see them that often unless we go up to Peoria so it was a nice night. It is nice to get out with out the children too! The next day we were headed home. I was really hating the fact that we would have a two hour drive once we got off the airplane in Atlanta! I do not think we will do that again, it is just too much with the kids! We made it all home safe and sound! Back to normal everyday routine...so I thought! We came home to Christian being sick with an ear infection and Henley getting Pinkeye! ARGH...they were both out of school all week and I did not get anything done! Can I go on vacation again...Alone?

Henley's Tubes

So I think I had posted a little earlier about how Henley was going to get tubes in her ears. Well on November 23rd that is exactly what happened. We were so worried because she had an infection and had been running a 101 fever the night before her surgery. On all the pre-surgery information it talked about notifying the anesthesiologist of any fever etc... because they might delay the surgery! No freaking way was I letting that happen! Henley has been so miserable lately with all her ear infections and I was not about to take her out of town on an airplane no less with an ear infection! I do not think there is anything worse than a sick child, but a sick child out of their own element!

Anyway, I gave her some Motrin and put her to bed that night! I prayed and prayed that God would please keep her healthy enough for her surgery in the morning. All night long I heard her moaning and groaning and I knew my sweet baby was just hurting and I prayed again that she would be alright in the morning! Well we had to be at the hospital at 6:15am and 5:15 came very quick especially when you have been up since 2:00am worrying about whether your baby will be able to feel better soon! I was a mess! We decided to wait right until the last minute to get her out of bed to take her to the hospital...I was so scared she was going to be burning up and sure enough!!! It took about a second for me to realize she had a fever of 100 0r higher when I touched her! Seriously? I just started to panic and was so worried this was going to be delayed until after the holiday and I just did not want that to happen!!! So the drastic things we parents do to help our children! It was cold outside and I thought that maybe if I took her pj's off that would bring her temp down...I know I know that is dumb and probably a little irresponsible as a parent! Well, I figured it was a mute point because she was not going to get tubes today! We got to the hospital and I was just ridiculous! I did not even have time to be nervous because I was so worried about her fever. The nurse called us back and took all her vitals and of course she had a 100.9 fever! We told her she had an ear infection right now and was on medication. The nurse believed the fever was due to her ears being so bad and told us it really was not a big deal because the do not intubate them during the procedure. A small fever is alright with a procedure like tubes. WOW...the relief that came over me was huge! Now, the nervousness was setting in! Anytime you put a child under anesthesia it is scary and especially this young!

We were taken back to our room and told by the nurse and anesthesiologist exactly what would happen and how long it would take. They told us how she would react to the anesthesia and that she probably would be very upset when they brought her back to us. They told us how she would scream when we gave her over to the nurse for the procedure and not to worry. They told us to give her quick kisses and pass her off at the door! The anesthesiologist told us the more they scream the quicker they go out because they take in more of the gas used to sedate them! He told us it was like hitting a pause button! They go out and it literally takes about 3 minutes to do the procedure and they they wake them up and it is immediate screaming! He told us it took Henley about 10 seconds and she was out!!! We heard her screaming when they took her to recovery! Wow, my daughter has a set of lungs!!! They brought her to us and it took a few moments to calm her down, but not long! She just went back in forth snuggling mommy and daddy! Holding on for dear life! What the heck just happened? The doctor came in and talked to us about her ears and post-op stuff. He told us that her ears were so clogged that it was like "GLUE"! He told us she should be able to hear much, much better and feel better too! We have seen a huge difference in our baby girl! She is so much more happy than before! We are so glad that we did this and so glad we did not have to wait any longer! Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes you all gave us!

Thanksgiving Program!

A little late posting, but better late than never. We of course were out of town for the Holiday and then sick kids everytime I turn around! Christian has an ear infection and is doing better and Henley has had Pinkeye...and now another ear infection. I am so glad she has tubes because now I know she has an infection! Henley has had green yucky stuff draining out of her ears for the past two days, but at least now I know how to help her quicker than I did before! So hence the reason for lacking on the blogs. The following blogs are coming: Thanksgiving and the Polar Express!

Here are some pictures from Christian's Thanksgiving Program. I forgot the video camera, but I am supposed to get a copy from another mom! They sang a ton of songs that were so cute! I had gone up to the school and helped make their t-shirts for the program. They all did such a good job. If I get the video than I will put on the blog.

Gene Pool

Well it is unfortunate that our poor daughter has more of my genes than her daddy! When I was a child I had so many ear infections and problems that I almost lost my hearing! Scary! My family probably thinks sometimes I do not hear them when in fact I am choosing to ignore them!:) Ha Ha

Anyhow, Henley has had over 6 ear infections in the past six months and our pediatrician kept telling me that I did not need to be referred to an ENT!? Well, this week I took matters in to my own hands and took Henley to a Pediatric ENT! I just wanted to be proactive and see a specialist especially with my history! Henley has continued to have ear infections that repeatedly come back with multiple antibiotics and our pediatrician kept telling me that only counted as one infection! I asked the ENT about it and he said, " if you go back in and see the doctor and get put on another antibiotic for an infection that has returned than that is another infection"! If that is the case than our poor baby has been in misery! Henley has just recently gotten over an ear infection and than after 10 days of antibiotics a week later she has another one! Ten more days of antibiotics and the ENT told me her ears looked bad still!!! Seriously?


They did a temponogram (checks for fluid behind the ears) and a hearing test yesterday. The test showed fluid behind both eardrums and her hearing was borderline normal. Normal range of hearing is 0-20 and Henley's was 20! The doctor said, that the fluid could be affecting her hearing so they recommended tubes!

I knew that she was headed down this road, but I did not expect them to tell me she needed them now! So to make a long story short this Monday she is going in to have tubes put in her ears! I know that it is a common and very easy procedure, but anytime a child is put under anesthesia it is scary! Please keep us all in your prayers and I will keep everyone posted after the surgery! I have been told that I will have a much happier child on my hands after she has the procedure and I can not wait! Maybe Miss Serious will no longer be Miss Serious??

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Henley's 1 year photo session! 

Finally...Walking

13 months later we have a walker! We have been working with Henley for awhile, but she has had no interest in walking! Why would you be when you can get there quicker crawling or better yet carried by someone?



This past Friday we had a photo session with our photographer for her one year pictures! Then out of nowhere she just started walking! I mean she has taken three and four steps, but this was like ten or twelve. I do not think she knew what she was doing because she just kept going and going! Heather our photographer snapped some pictures, but I do not know what she got. We were all just laughing and could not believe what she had just done! It was like a light bilb went off in her head and she realized...oh this is what they have been trying to get me to do?



Now she is trying to walk everywhere and wants to be down on the ground all the time. We can tell she is getting frutrated because I do not think she wants to walk, but run after her brother! I think that is one of the problems, she tries to go too fast! Anyway, here is some video of her walking!

Peek-A-Boo

I absolutely love to watch the kids play with eachother after bath time. Tonight I went and got the video recorder and tried to get some footage of them! They had been in hysterics, but I missed it so here is what I did get! Henley loves to play this game and has gotten pretty good at it! Enjoy!

Happy Halloween!!!

O.K. this post is going to be as short as possible. Friday night my family came over to eat dinner and carve pumpkins with the children! My parents took the kids to this Pumpkin Patch in Harpersville called Baker's Farm. They came back with MORE pumpkins and we seriously had 5 pumpkins! We needed a lot of hands to carve that many pumpkins! That was a fun night and after emptying all those pumpkins....we carved ONE!:) Oh well! A for effort! Children do not work very well on a schedule as you all probably know!

Halloween night is crazy! I know I say it every year, but the holidays around Liberty Park are absolutely crazy exciting! There are so many kids out here, it is like a freaking circus! I love it! Kids, Adults, yummy beverages, golf carts and wagons everywhere! We always start out at our friends house the Copeland's for chili and drinks. Around 6pm we head out to start trick or treating! The kids run all over the place as we the parents try not to loose track of them in the chaos! Christian was into the trick or treating last year, but wow this year he is obsessed with the candy! Candy, Candy and more candy! Can I have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner? Ah..how many times can you tell a little person no before it sinks into their tiny brain?

I pushed Henley in her car around the neighborhood because she is still not a fan of walking! Why would she be when someone can carry her around and give her what she wants all the time? Who needs to walk??? She took turns with me or being with Brian on the golf cart. We took her up to a few doors, but wow that gets old quick! Mostly she just people watched and ate candy! I think she thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it!

After everybody was tired of the trick or treating we all went back to a friend's house to a party. Their was a incredible spread of food and the beverages were flowing! All the children were in the basement playing and so high on sugar that I think they could of stayed up until midnight! If you can believe that Henley was even having a great time without mommy right on top of her! I finally told Brian that around 10:00 it was time to take the kids home! We had to practically carry our son out of the house and he had more candy in tow! Where was it all coming from?

We got home and gave them baths because they were horribly STICKY! Off too bed and to night night land! Henley went straight to sleep, but the other one took a little longer! I was kind of glad that they were up so late because of Day Lights Savings time! I thought that would help them sleep late in the morning, but no such luck! Oh Well! Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!








Here are some pics from Christian dresing up at school for trick-or-treating too that Friday.

Happy Belated Birthday!

My sister has been in town this past week for a work conference from Indianapolis. Unfortunately, she had missed Henley's 1st birthday and wanted to celebrate with her while she was in town. Heather came over and spent the night last Thursday with us and we had a fun time celebration! I knew it would be crazy because chocolate + children = up late (at least with Christian)!!! The children had pizza for dinner and then helped Heather make the cupcakes! Henley had to have a cupcake and a candle to go with her party! I think they ate more chocolate batter before the cupcakes than after them!:) I of course did not let them eat the batter with raw eggs in it!!! I know what you other mommies are probably thinking.

Henley had her cupcake and her brother helped her blow out the candles! She loves her sweets! I think her Aunt Heather discovered the right way to little Henley's heart! Before bath time we opened her gift and she did it all by herself for once! We played awhile and then it was off to bed! I was glad that they got to spend some time together! Henley is definitely warming up to Heather and even let her hold her ( a big thing for those that know Henley)! We had a great time and enjoy the pictures! Thanks Aunt Heather for celebrating with me it was so special!

Henley Trick or Treats?

Henley goes to mothers day out on Wednesday's and Friday's during the week. The babies were so supposed to dress up on Wednesday and trick or treat throughout the school at the older kids rooms. There are only four babies in her class and only two of them dressed up! I almost did not dress her in her costume because she gets really fussy around school time because it is nap time! However, I did not want her to miss this fun opportunity to dress up and trick or treat for the first time. Henley woke up in a good mood and later than usual so I knew I could get away with putting on her costume. It was hard picking out her costume this year because you just never know if it will be freezing cold or ridiculously hot in October down here! I was thinking warmer so she is a flower!

I can never stick around to long after I drop her off in the morning because she will get upset. I quickly took some pictures of her and Porter ( my friend Susan's little boy) because they were the only two that dressed up for Halloween. Here are some snapshots of Mrs. Serious and her future husband...

Today Christian wears his costume and they all go trick or treating at this retirement center across the street from their school! He can not wait! Christian LOVES candy and I think this is quickly becoming his favorite holiday! I just hope he has not eaten all the candy before I can pick him up and take it away! I will post some pictures of that later today or tomorrow.

Boo at the Zoo!

This past Friday the Banta family and our friends the Copelands packed up all our kids (5) and headed for the zoo! Every year the Birmingham Zoo puts on a Halloween Extravaganza with spooky train rides, hay rides, trick or treating and fun for the whole family! It has become a tradition in our household since Christian could say, "Trick or Treat"!

I was hesitant that we would be going because after we got over all the colds and sniffles, Christian came down with a stomach bug...which he gave to me! He woke up Tuesday morning projectile vomiting and has had diarrhea for days! It was supposed to be a 36 hour thing, but then he went and started throwing up again on Friday morning! Seriously? However, I think that was the last of the last of his stomach bug! I promised him that if he kept his lunch in his tummy that we would go to the zoo! No fever and with our friends not concerned about this virus catching on to their kids we headed out to the zoo! I know, I know all you parents are reading this thinking what in the world were we thinking? Well, when you have a three year old who is really looking forward to something and you are too, then you just go! According to the doctors he was not contagious anymore anyway, so what the hell?

The zoo opened at 5:00pm and that is when we arrived there to start our night! Everything was going so smoothly and the boys were all having a blast! It was a little chilly, but we were prepared and had the kids bundled up! Christian was supposed to be the transformer Optimus Prime, but at the last minute I got an e-mail that they had sold out of his costume! Furious! Brian took Christian Friday afternoon looking for a costume that was acceptable and he would wear for the zoo! He ended up being a power ranger...he does not even know who the power rangers are!!!:) The kids were all dressed in their costumes and looking very cute when we entered the zoo.

We walked around and they trick or treated from the zoo employees, who were also dressed up! We then headed for the Carousel to take the first ride of the night! On the way to the carousel we had to stop many times to play games and trick or treat more! Christian already has enough candy to last him for a long time! The carousel ride was fun for everybody and they make it go backwards during Halloween! Preston, Elijah, Porter, Henley and Christian all loved it, but it made be a little dizzy! When that was over it was off to the petting zoo too see which animals would be out and about to be tortured by little kids! There were not to many, but there was a rat that a zoo keeper was holding! Elijah and Christian kept calling him Ratatouille! :)

After the petting zoo we wandered through a pumpkin patch and did more trick or treating! I have to say, that these kids have gotten very good at asking for candy! The last thing we did was ride the spooky, haunted train through the zoo! This is actually very fun and all the kids enjoy the lights and sounds you encounter on the ride! We all had a great time!

If that was not enough stimulation for our children, we all decided to go out and eat dinner! I have no idea what we were thinking, but it just went down hill from there! The older kids were wired and not to bad to deal with, but the babies were up way past bedtime! It was a stupid decision on our parts and we definitely learned our lesson! We do not think that we will ever try to drag Henley out to eat when it is time for her to go to bed! Wow! She was grumpy and I had a hard time getting her to fall asleep on my shoulder, but she did! After dinner we went home and went to bed! I think we were all worn out!