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The best part of new year’s eve is seeing neighbors we barely see in the cold of winter.  This year the star of the party was the host family’s new spaniel puppy, Ollie.  So cute! The worst part of beginning 2016 was going through yet another miscarriage on January 4th.  Although we are super happy with 4 children and know that is the right number for us, we were surprised by another pregnancy and wondered if maybe our son was going to get the brother he was asking for but the idea of raising 5 children was simply overwhelming for me.  So when I began to bleed I felt relief.  Yet as I lay in bed with heavy cramping and bleeding I suddenly was saddened beyond belief.  I think much of it is the memory of the other miscarriages I had.  The first was a complete surprise — I had so much hope attached to a 10/5/2005 due date — but then I learned what a miscarriage is and how going to the ER does you no good that early on.  Then 3 more miscar...

Neighbors can make days off school so much better.  We finished 2015 needing sleep, playing and having dinner at neighbor's homes, having neighbors come play at our house, loving new gifts, and having too much screen time and junk food. N loves the train table a friend from church gave to us, M loved playing ballerina all day, and D set up some pretty fun army guy scenes to play with. My 3 oldest kids all did a great job getting their teeth cleaned.  M's teeth were so clean her check up was super fast and D giggled almost the entire time.  K was a real trooper!  Not only did she get cleaned and check on, her loose tooth got pulled, a sealant was replaced, and new sealants were put on those 6 year molars that finally decided to come all the way through.  I was so proud of her!  Most of the next day she just chilled out on the sofa and even took a nap! On Wednesday my mom babysat so hubby and I could see The Force Awaken...

It was relaxing, it was fun, it was home sweet home.  I got to watch White Christmas in my basement with my kids the next day after they happily played with new toys all morning.  Can't ask for more.

We managed to have an experience we've never had before while traveling to see husband's family: almost being stranded in the middle of nowhere in WY on the side of the road because we forgot to fill up with gas when we stopped for lunch.  The fuel light came on and said we had 18 miles to empty and 35 miles until Rock Springs.  I pulled behind an RV going 55 miles per hour and we made it to a Conoco in the middle of nowhere with one mile 'til empty. As far as child happiness goes, all but one hour of the trip we were able to keep our littles happy with nutella to go (and other snacks), listening to "Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle" and watching Pixar's Cars & the movie Elf.  Natalie cried for an entire hour and didn't take the entire time.  I couldn't believe a two-year-old could be strapped into a car seat for that long and never fall asleep once. This year we stayed at S & B's house and got to meet their puppy, Porter.  He is such...