Christmas Celebrations

One of our Christmas Eve traditions that started when mom was growing up, is to have Waffles, with strawberries and whip cream, sausage, eggs, bacon, eggnog, and orange juice, for dinner.

It usually takes about an hour to make enough waffles for everyone because we only have one waffle iron, so this year mom, and Stephen went and bought 3 more, and with all 4 going we had 17 hot waffles in about 15 minutes.
Dad called during dinner, and we discussed girl names for the baby, we couldn't agree on any so we had to stop, but a few we came up with were: Clarissa, Elisabeth, Eliza, Ruby, Alexis, and Catherine.
After dinner everyone opened a present and we all played with the games we had gotten.





On Christmas morning, we had our traditional: Cinnamon rolls, eggs, and cocoa with whip cream, then after an hour of everyone getting dressed and ready, we opened our presents.

















About a month before Christmas everyone draws a name of who to buy presents for, and this year I had Kenneth- Lee.
He loves to draw, paint, and color, so I got him: Markers, 72 different colored pencils, paint brushes, two books full of graphing paper, and a metal chest to put it all in.





When all the presents had been opened, we played games, and tried out our new gifts for a few hours, before our friends the Bryans came over.




Everyone had a great time of playing: Catch Phrase, Dominoes, and Cosmic Catch, before dinner was finally ready.
For dinner, we had: Ham with brown sugar glaze, Sweet potato's, Mashed potato's and gravy, Rolls, Green beans, Cranberry sauce, and Sparkling grapejuice.(thats what the bottles on the table are)



















After dinner Leanne and I played Chutes and Ladders with the children, while the boys washed dishes, and the parents talked.















A little while later we played 3 full rounds of Dutch Blitz(a card game) a full round is when someone reaches 100 points, we played with two people on each team and my team won every time.




After games, we had pumpkin pie which the twins had made, and at around 10:30 it was time for the Bryans to leave.






Dad called again and talked for a little while, and after putting the children to bed, we olders played an inside game of catch that Daniel had gotten for me.
We all had a wonderful day, but are looking forward to an even better Christmas next year, with Dad and the new baby!

IT"S A GIRL!!!!! :)

Despite my predictions(which have always been proven wrong) mother just finished with her ultrasound, and we were informed that it is indeed a girl.
We were all sure this was going to be a boy, so when mom called and told me, we were all pretty shocked, except for Daniel who said he thought it would be a girl just because everyone else thought other-wise.
Isaac was a little dissapointed to find out that he's getting a little sister to take care of instead of a little brother to play with, but is nevertheless excited.
Josephine's first comment was "but we gave away all the baby girl clothes" to which she also commented "well I guess we'll just buy new ones" yes she's very logical.
Stephen, said "mom will just have to have twin boys after this so that the boys can catch up".
The twins and Kenneth decided that the best thing to do would be paint pictures of their new sister, so that they'll have an idea of what they're excited about.
As for me, well you can never have too many girls in the house, the more the merrier!

Nutrition Class

This past Weekend, Rachel, and Jaime Rowland, Katy Sterland, and I attended our second class for becoming Certified Nutritionists.
Among some of the homework in our Anatomy Book, I really enjoyed learning about Chemistry: the atomic number of different atoms, the formulas for each molecule, and the structure of protons, neutrons, and electrons, among many other things.
We have class every other month from 8:30-6:30.


On Saturday, we learned about Digestion: proper function, and dysfunction, what causes acid reflux, bloating, irritable bowel syndrome, colitis, and illiocecal valve problems, then we learned the different functional evaluation points to use when testing our clients for these problems, as well as the supplements that will help to heal and clear them up.
After they taught us each one we had to practice on each other, Jaime practiced her palpating(gentle pressure) on me and Katy, and after poking and tickling me I told her she needed to work on her "gentle touch."

After a few more lessons we had an hour and a half for lunch break before returning to learn about Blood Sugar Handling, glycogen, glucose, glucogenesis, type 1 Diabetes, and type 2 Diabetes, as well as all the testing points and supplements to go along with it.
Katy thought we should all eat ice-cream so that we could be good class examples of bad blood sugar handling, well her plan worked because when they palpated my pancreas it was a little painful, but nothing extreme.

Sunday, we learned about Adrenals, the tests for Adrenal function/dysfunction, how to take blood pressure, how to do the raglans test, and the chapman reflex for adrenal function.
After practicing those tests the teacher asked who all had Adrenal failure, it turned out to be everyone except for me.
After all our practicing we had an hour more of lectures, then they told us our homework assignments for the January class, and we were able to go home.
Now all we have to do between Christmas and next class is homework, reading, and practice.