So, here is my once a month post...First a few pictures from the Princess Party! Evie jumped into her little cake, well bit into her cake and really went after it. She didn't mind messy hands at all!

Okay--one from before the party in her Christmas dress.

She was showing the crowd what she got:)

We had to work to get this...she HATED the Princess tiara! That hand is on its way up to yank the tiara off again!!!

Enjoying her cake..

Finally here is one of all three kiddos. The boys usually are saying "cheeeeeese" and recently Evie has started going ahhhhhhhhh during pictures because she knows they make a sound she just isn't sure how to make their sound so she makes her own.

I just realized my "blog" is more of a picture site than anything. I just don't seem to have the time right now to get my thoughts typed or written very often. We had a wonderful Christmas day here at home. We had Christmas with Jon's family the same weekend as Evie's party. So, after the kids opened their presents, Jon's parents came by to have birthday cake for Jesus with us and then my parents and grandma came for lunch and spent the rest of the day here so the boys especially could play with their stuff (they got a huge amount of add ons for their Geo Track train set). Once Jon realized it wasn't going to physically fit on the living room floor they moved to the basement and that's where the boys spent the biggest part of the day! (Even the "Big" boys. Papa Herb came to get a yardstick to make his job of track switcher a little easier on his back:)

As I think to the New Year...I've been thinking how blessed we are and so thankful to God for His greatest Gift to us--Jesus. He's what makes this and every day of the year truly special!

What a whirl

The past few weeks have went by in a flash. I can't believe Thanksgiving has come and gone.

I don't have but a few minutes so I'll be quick.

Evie's broncoscopy went as well as could be expected. She is a little "scrub/labcoat" shy at this point, but that is to be expected. The worst part of the whole thing was getting the i.v. going. I had to basically lay on top of her while two nurses worked to get it in. The poor little thing was wringing with sweat by the time it was in and she has said mamamama and no, no, no, no about a hundred times. Anyway--from the procedure they were able to rule out surgery. Her airway is just fine and not obstructed at all. (Praise the Lord!!!!!) They took some samples and grew some cultures from those and have discovered that she has a staff infection (the doctor assured me it wasn't the dangerous kind you are hearing about in the news) and also that her "gamma globulins"--they the numbers they check to see how your immune system is fuctioning--anyway the one number for the lower part of her lungs is low. So basically her immune system is not fighting off things in that area. We are in the process of waiting on some more blood tests to get back to see where to go from here. I believe they are checking to see how her immune system has responded to the regular immunizations she has received and then we will go to an immunizologist (that may not be the right word--anyway an immunization specialist) to see what can be done to boost her immune system in the lower lung area. Whew--for now we are just having to do two breathing treatments a day with a mask. The boys say she look likes a fire breathing dragon because we have these cute little dinosaur masks and the vapor comes out two little holes. I'll have to post a picture. She is tolerating it better, but still looks so pitiful when we sit there holding her hands so she doesn't yank the whole thing off.

On a more happy note--Evie started walking around the 17th of November. Now she is really into everything with the boys!

Here are a few recent pictures and I have to go.

Here is Evie sporting the same hunting outfit her brothers have worn (plus the orange socks...a girl's got to accesorize:)

Look at what we get to enjoy all of the time...here are our "cowboys" taking a rest before hitting the trail. (We think they are so cute!)

Finally, a quick update on the Surprise party...this is the death look I got from my hubby when he realized we weren't going to a movie and that all of what he saw was for him...notice how pleased Jon's brother Josh (behind him) and sister-in-law Jennifer (to the left) are with the situation? I have to say a HUGE thanks to both of them because without their help and everyone else in the Littlejohn family, we wouldn't have pulled off the surprise. He was TOTALLY surprised...can you tell? He did get a litte more happy after a few minutes:)

Update on Evie

Many of you already know that Evie has been having some sort of breathing problem since mid-May. We thought maybe seasonal allergies (but the medical community seems to think babies can't have allergies) Anyway our doctor kept an eye on it all summer and really believed it was RAD (Reactive Airway Disease)--in an adult this would be Asthma, but so many babies grow out of it that they don't want to label them as having "asthma"--long story short (and vaguely I feel like maybe I've posted about this already) anyway--we have tried inhalers, a nebulizer, I've tried not eating dairy products, keeping her from eating any wheat etc., etc.

Since she is still having problems our doctor thought we should see a pediatric pulmonologist. We did last Wednesday and after quite a while of examining her, listening to her, and asking us questions he told us he really doesn't think it is asthma. Instead he thinks she may have an artery that should be laying beside her wind pipe actually laying across it and causing it to flatten instead of stay round and open. He said it has probably been this way since she was born, but she caught her first cold/virus in May and it basically got trapped down below where she can't cough it up. Most of us have a little mucus/secretion in our airway that a good cough clears out. Evie's just sort of stays trapped and moves up and down. (This is how we get the sound Jon likes to call "Darth Vadar") They went ahead and send us somewhere else and did a test Wednesday to check her swallowing and didn't see any obstruction as things went down to her stomach--which is good--if they did that would have meant the artery was actually wrapped around both airway and esophagus--but it's not, so now we have a "procedure" scheduled at Cox South in Sprinfield on the day before Thanksgiving. They will actually put a camera up through her nose and down her throat to check if her airway is open or looks flattened. She will have an I.V. and be sedated so she is more comfortable. It will be done in the NICU because the beds are nice and open all the way around and they have all the monitoring equipment--for keeping a close eye on her during it. We can stay with her right up until they put the camera in and then they will record everything so the doctor can go over the video with us when he is done. If it doesn't' look flattened he will still take some cultures to try and figure out what is going on. If it is flattened like he thinks it is he told us it will just require a "simple sugery" to move the artery over off of her airway. (No surgery near the heart/lung area sounds simple to me...he did say we would need to be at a Children's Hospital to have that done if that is what they find.) So please keep us in your prayers next Wednesday. They said after a breathing treatment or two for inflamation she should be ready to go--sometime between noon and 2:00 p.m.

Jon and I are still not sure if I am going to go this one alone...he will already be missing work on Thursday because of Thanksgiving...so he may have to be here on Wednesday. (Being self-employed has its perks and its "not so perky" parts. :)

Anyway--that updates everyone on what is going on with the breathing stuff. Other wise we are just racing along to the holidays it seems.

(Had to edit here because Jon just happened to check our e-mail and I forgot when anyone leaves a comment it notifies us in our e-mail. I am turning that little feature off--and hopefully he will forget how wierd I acted when he tried to click on the comments e-mails. Oh well--if you're reading this and it makes no sense whatsoever, give me a call and I'll explain.)

Doll Baby

Evie is just about to walk. She can stand for quite a while without holding onto anything, she just doesn't realize she could take off. She prefers to drop to her knees and crawl...it must feel more safe right now. Here are some of the newest pics of her.

This is what she does if you ask her what she is doing...she shows you whatever she has!

She thinks she is big stuff and constantly trying to keep up with her brothers. That is a free standing stair case in the background that goes with our bunk beds (beds that Jon's dad built for him and his brothers when they were little. They are really neat and take a regular full size matress top and bottom.) Anyway this was the evening we put the staircase in the bedroom--Anthony is now big enough to sleep up on top...at least his dad thinks so--I do too, but we have him totally surrounded with those gate things to keep him from falling off. He doesn't fall out of bed, but who wants to take a chance? Anyway the boys were going up and down the staircase and Evie wanted so bad to get a toe hold up on that first step that is level with her chest/waist...

Pumpkin Patch

Here are the kids before we left for the Pumpkin Patch...it's nice to finally be able to get a decent picture of the three of them by myself. (I think this is because Gideon is getting a little more cooperative--although sometimes cheesy as you can see..and Evie can sit up and "hold her own" sort of.) And yes, I did plan their clothes to look like fall because I hoped to get a good picture of them sometime that day:) There they are...can you believe how much they all look alike and yet so unique?

And here we are at the Pumpkin Patch. We went with our homeschool co-op and had a lot of fun. (Listen to this co-op "make-up"...4-five year olds (hence the reason we formed our co-op), 3-three year olds, and 4 babies (all under two years old)! We plan academic stuff for the five year olds...the three year olds pretty much have a playdate...and it's "crowd control" for the babies. Here's the whole group...(plus one "extra Emma" who was along for the fun)

And a final fun one...can you believe how little boys are drawn to tractors, trucks and machines?

Still Don't Know What I'm Doing

Okay, here are the pictures that I tried to put into my last post, but it kept throwing them all the way at the top of the post instead of inserting them where I wanted them!!!!??????????
Can you tell they get tired of pictures sometimes? They will love me someday. In fact, we just moved a bunch of our movies downstairs and we found all of our home videos we have taped to this point (we decided maybe a machine to convert them from VHS to DVD would be an appropriate family Christmas gift this year)--Anyway, Jon put one in the VCR and Gideon is totally taken with watching himself when he was a baby. It's like he really finally gets it that he used to be just like Evie. He has asked to watch "his" video several times since then! It's so fun to watch. No matter how hard I try to remember every thing and every little detail it's hard without something to remind me. (When I was pregnant with Anthony and asking my mom and my mother-in-law questions about kids and being pregnant etc. I remember wondering how in the world they couldn't remember things...five years later I TOTALLY understand! Sorry Mom and Wanda! I really didn't know, now I do:)

Our Everyday Life...

Nothing super exciting to report this week. I did not plan this picture or color coordinate it, it just happened. The boys were getting in bed and we were doing our nightly devotions/prayers. We usually spend a little time just having fun too. How can these beautiful blessings from God be so big already? It happens one day at a time right under my nose, and I don't even realize it's going by so incredibly fast! I just got the pictures off of our camera and onto the computer and this is one of the most recent. Aside from Anthony's "cheesy" smile, I thought it was great.

Below are a couple of pictures of the boys during school time. Gideon comes and goes, but this particular day he was enjoying the activity with us. (I'll have to post a picture of Evie in her pack and play:) Sometime I'll have to post a picture that I'm actually in--you know, those that don't happen very often because I'm usually the one taking the picture.

Well-Jon stepped into a hole in the backyard earlier this evening (he isn't sure whether it was little-boy-made or golden-lab-made since they all seem to love digging in the dirt) and he is now nursing a very spranged ankle, so I guess I need to get things finished up and try to see what I can do to help him out. I'm afraid he may "get" to spend the day home with us tomorrow!

Battle of the Bands

Sorry about so many pictures...do you think we have a chance at the contest? The boys had this great idea and were doing their own thing when I added Evie to the picture with her piano...fun times:)

William Tell Overture for Moms

My friend Nicole e-mailed this link to me. I sat here and laughed and laughed...this basically sums up my life:) If you have a minute (actuallly about three) it will probably make you laugh too. There is probably a way to put a video on this blog, but I have no idea how..or time to figure it out.


This is great!!! I had to share it ! Ohhhhhhhhh, sooo much truth, in about 3 minutes!!! ;) Enjoy!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_oc1j5NakY

Can we get a saddle???

New Addition

No, not another baby:) Here is the newest member of our family. His name is Jack and we aren't sure how old he is, but we're pretty sure still somewhat puppy because he likes to chew things! (Our apologies to Jon's dad...he came with the name Jack on his collar.) Our neighbor does some kind of work with rental properties and this dog was abandoned. He is sooo well behaved. He sits when told, comes when you call him, and doesn't jump on the kids. I knew I was eventually going to have to give in to a dog and he seemed like a good choice. This was after several weeks of the neighbor trying to get him reunited with his owners. They just didn't want him and I can't understand that because someone has obviously spent a lot of time with him. We are working on the chewing thing and trying to get him to understand the concept of walking on a leash without tugging on our arms. The boys adore him and he seems to really enjoy them too. He and Evie like to check each other out through the patio doors. We have had him about a month and it seems to be working (once the boys finally figured out that they can't leave toys in the yard.)

Here we go...

Okay Jennifer and Tara--I've created it, now if I can just keep it up to date!

To anyone else reading this...my sister-in-laws finally talked me into blogging. Everyone knows there are days go by that I don't even get my computer turned on, and I'm probably the only one in the family who doesn't check their e-mail at least once a day. Why, you ask? Do I hate computers? The answer is no, I love computers...it's just that as our address says, it's a bit of a circus around here. A "three-ring" circus to be exact...their names are Anthony, Gideon and Evie. I figure a lot of this blog will end up being about them, so I might as well name it appropriately. Jon and I jokingly call it a circus, because life is almost always crazy and someone is usually having a crisis at any given moment, but we love it and wouldn't have it any other way. Anthony is five and has just started Kindergarten (here at home). This is our newest adventure and so far we are loving it too. Gideon is three and thinks he is five. He is right there with Anthony, learning some of the kindergarten stuff. However, he is still three and sometimes prefers Caillou or the backyard to the classroom scene. Evie is almost 9 months old and such a doll. She is really a very good natured baby and makes the homeschooling thing pretty easy. She has her pack and play right under the dry erase board...so who knows she may be the baby genius of the bunch. (Not that the boys weren't super smart:)