Celebrating

Here are some things we have been doing to celebrate the Christmas season at the Vogt house -

baking Christmas cookies . . .

and eating them

Braden aka "Cookie Monster" Vogt

Cheering on the Sooners in the final Big 12 Championship Game!! Boomer Sooner!!!!

Poor Braden was sick the day of the game and Addyson was eating up all the one-on-one time she got with mommy, daddy, and the toys.

Cutting down a cedar tree for our front porch. I thought Braden would love this, but he did NOT like the tall grass and was not impressed at all, except when we got home and he could play outside in the yard.

Eating candy canes

Playing with jingle bells.

We are having a great time celebrating this year with Addyson & Braden. It is so much fun to watch them enjoy all the little things that we forget about and take for granted. What a great reminder they are to take time to stop and enjoy all God has given to us, especially Jesus. We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

First Christmas Program

Addyson and Braden sang participated in their first Christmas program today at church. They sang "Away in a Manger" and rocked their baby dolls. Well, sort of. As good as a group of 18 month - 3 year olds can!

Here they are before we left for church.

   

At the end of the song, they were all supposed to put their babies in the manger. Braden didn't want to put his baby in the manger at first and took some coaxing. And then he wanted to stay really near the manger. Oh, that he would always want to stay that close to Jesus! Braden has really been showing his soft, loving heart lately. I hope he never loses it.

Addyson was pretty content until she spotted daddy. She was pointing and saying daddy, daddy. But she soon found her thumb and life was good again with a little love from her sunday school helper.

Addyson is so observant and learning lots. I pray that she always has a heart open to learn to love and whatever else God wants to teach her.

It was so precious to watch all of the kids praising Jesus. It's so easy to lose sight of what we're really celebrating at Christmas. What a wonderful gift Jesus is. I'm thankful that he cares so much for each one of us that he was willing to come to be born in a yucky stable and be one of us struggling humans to show his love to us. I hope you're all having a merry Christmas season and remembering all that Christ did for us.

Happy Thanksgiving!

(I thought I had this post scheduled to post early yesterday morning, but something didn't go right and it didn't post so I'm a day late. Oh well, I knew you would want to see it even if it is after Thanksgiving!!)

Before the kids were sick and the weather turned cold and yucky we took some fall pictures. This is my favorite!!! How thankful we are for these two kiddos. And they are definitely thankful for each other. I am so glad they have a hand just their size to hold as they walk through life together. Looking back over the last year there are so many things to be thankful for. I am so thankful the Lord has blessed us with many good memories and has held our hands through some not so fun ones. Thanksgiving gets so overlooked in our culture; we seem to go right from Halloween to Christmas which really irritates me. As much as I love Christmas with all the fun music and lights I think we need to remember to take the time to stop and offer our thanks to the Lord for all his blessings that we take for granted. So this is my praise this Thanksgiving.

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Psalm 100

And since I know you would all really rather look at more cute pictures of Addyson and Braden than listen to me ramble, here you go!!! Happy, happy thanksgiving to you all!!!



Extra Hour

How did you spend your extra hour on Saturday night while the clocks turned back? We spent ours in the hospital. I hope you had something more fun like an extra hour of sleep in your comfy bed! But let me back up and give you a little more info about our fun times.

Last week Tuesday Braden had a stomach bug but by evening was feeling much better. Wednesday night soon after we put the kids to bed Addyson woke up puking. A couple hours later Braden did too. About 1:30 a.m I joined in the fun and Ryan couldn't be left out so he took his place at the toilet around 3 a.m. And things started coming out both ends for all of us. Yuck, yuck, yuck. Puke, wipe, flush, wash laundry, wipe, change diapers, sheets, I'm sure you've all had your turn at this and get the idea. I have to say that Braden did pretty good at sticking his head in the bucket and over the toilet - impressive! Addyson pushed away with all her might. And the fun continued all night. By the time the sun came up I was starting to feel better; just completely exhausted. We managed to get the kids in to see the pediatrician - we all looked completely horrible. Braden got IV's in the office and we went home. Nasty virus that's going around. Addyson seemed to be perking up and was drinking some. We pushed pedialyte as much as possible at home and Ryan continued to feel gross. Somehow we survived the day and all went to bed. We were so, so tired. When we woke up in the morning Addyson looked horrible, was shaking and obviously dehydrated and Braden was pretty lethargic too. So back to the pediatrician. Decided to admit Addyson to the hospital for IV's and we asked what it would take to put Braden there too. Not much they replied. So IV's in and off to the hospital. We spent from Friday morning to Sunday about suppertime at Newton Med Center. The puking stopped but still having yucky poops even now. So we got lots of together time!! 20 months olds on IV's and stuck in a tiny hospital room unable to eat, hating to drink, terrified of anyone who walked through the door, unable to get down on the floor and play, scared to sleep. We survived - definitely not on our own strength.

Checkup yesterday at the pediatrician went well and got their IV sites out. We are all much more perky today. Kids seem to be drinking well and diapers are looking better little by little. Being sick is no fun at all, especially all 4 of us at the same time. Boy are we glad to be feeling better.

Busy

So, I haven't posted in quite a while I realized. We have been busy. Here are a few of the things we've been busy doing:

Went to the Kansas State Fair. Addyson and Braden loved the animals. They had their first pronto pup. Yum!!! And a few other fried, greasy, totally healthy for you foods.
We went to a ranch rodeo. This is one of the only pictures we got. Turns out 19 month olds don't like to sit still, even to watch cowboys, horses, and moos. They do however, love playing under bleachers and telling you they are bored of the stroller.


Playing duets on the piano

Picnicing outside. We had some perfect weather!!! Maddie and Chloe are in the background just wishing for a snack!

and how snack time usually ends up - Addyson dumping out her food and Braden helping clean it up, right into his mouth!

Their personalities are starting to shine more and more. They are talking SO much. Picking up new words all the time. Braden likes things to be put away and orderly. He really likes playing with his tractors, trucks, or anything with wheels. He lines his toys up neatly. See?

Addyson plays more like you saw with the snacks - dumping and throwing things everywhere. She is so messy!!! Cleaning up is not one of her favorite things to do. But boy can she be hilarious. She knows so many words and is always talking.

We've been playing at their table. They like to use crayons, read books, play playdough, and eat snacks at the table.

Plenty of playing outside.

Learning to eat with spoons. Braden is getting really good at it and Addyson is improving all the time. It is much more fun to eat anything with a spoon! If only it made veggies taste like dessert!

We had our first sickness of the winter season. Can this really be starting already? Both had fevers and felt crummy. Then we moved right on to cutting more teeth. The pointy canines and whatever you call those on the bottom. They have been feeling rotten!!! And HATE to share mommy when they both don't feel good. But we are surviving. Lots of tylenol and ibuprofen!!! Braden does not deal well with pain. It reminds us of the early days in NICU when he was on the vent and he just sort of layed there and didn't want to be bothered. The temper the nurses talked to us about has definitely been appearing when his mouth really hurts. But lots of snuggling too. So mommy has been very busy!!!

Ryan is busy with fall harvest so we have spent time in the tractor and combine and whatever else we can find to tag along for!! Braden gets SO excited whenever I tell him we're going to see daddy. And Addyson does too.

But along the way there are a few smiles, giggles, and plenty of hugs and words I can't understand (I'm sure they're saying how much they love me and how appreciative they are for all the yummy food and time that I spend holding them when they are sick and how all that tooth pain is worth it because they are so thankful for their new teeth so they can eat more broccoli- don't ya think???)!!! I am reminded so often of how much they are growing, changing, and learning. They won't be little for long. What an opportunity I have to love them and play with them and teach them about God and life. Because teething won't be the only pain and frustation they face; oh if it were only that simple!!!