Fridge is on the fritz.........................

Our fridge is on the fritz. Nicole was home today and noticed that everything in the freezer was thawing and then later realized the fridge was holding temperature either. I cleaned the coils, which were dusty thinking that it was not getting enough air. This did not help. The fridge is still not working. After taking the back off and pretending to know what I was doing, I called the repairman. He said, "I can be there tomorrow." Not exactly the statement that I had hoped for. Luckily we were able to borrow two mini fridges and put a lot of the food in those. We did have some losses, but nothing major. I am hoping that is an easy repair and does not require a trip that involves buying a new fridge. Not how I want to start the new year, but I keep telling myself, "TOO BLESSED TO BE STRESSED." It seems to be working.

Evan turning lights on and off......................

Evan figured out how to turn the lights on and off with grandma Gatchell's tree.

Olivia riding her Quad.....................

X5 survived the holiday......................

We had a double Christmas on Christmas Eve. We hosted the Camper family Christmas here at noon. And at 6 we went to Dunkirk for the Gatchell family Christmas. We had a good time and received a lot of nice presents. That night we stayed with Great-grandma Gatchell. She really enjoyed the company. On Christmas day we came home to open the presents we had here at the house for the X3. They opened them and then we played the rest of the day. Had a really good time.

On Sunday, we woke up too late for Church so we stayed home and cleaned the house and put stuff away. The Christmas ornaments got put away and clothes that no longer fit finally were put up into the attic. Closets were cleaned and rearranged to make room for all of our new stuff. We have outgrown this house. I am running out of places to put stuff. It seems like I am constantly moving and rearranging stuff. It might be time to look for a new place. But who wants to move in the middle of winter. Possibly this spring. Good time to sell.

Playing with paper..................

Ball pit anyone......................

Waiting on the balls for our new ball pit.

Olivia again is nervous about the ball pit. The boys have taken to it. We have found Ethan in the pit just playing by himself on several occasions.

New playhut tunnels..............................

Ethan and Evan like playing in the new playhut tunnels they got from Aunt Tiff, but Olivia was really nervous about going through the tunnels. We would put her in and she would come right back out. The boys just went right through it like nothing.

X3 with their new Quads........................

Our new Quads from Uncle John, Aunt Christina, and cousins Aidan and Alex.

Christmas morning................

Christmas morning at Great-grandma Gatchell's

Evan climbing the ladder......................

I was putting stuff in the attic today and Evan has decided that he would like to help also. He had began climbing up the ladder while I was still in the attic. Nicole had to come get him off the ladder so I could get out. We couldn't resist letting him do it again and letting everyone see!

Daredevil Ethan..................

The X3 received power wheels for Christmas from their uncle, aunt, and cousins. Ethan decided he would be a daredevil and stood up on the seat and let go of the handlebars. You can see the response of Uncle John and Aunt Christina.

Paper and slide.....................

Dance Star Mickey.....................

Waiting for Mickey to get out of the box..........

Unveiling Dance Star Mickey.................

Scarf fun...............................

Playing with Bumbo seats...............

Fun time..........................

I can still fit......................

Hat time.....................

New bed time agenda...................

We have implemented a new bed time plan at the X5 household. Now we are eating our final bottles (Olivia only, boys are sip cups only) in the high chairs while we hear a nice bed time story. Once stories are finished, it is off to bed. This is the third night of doing it and it seems to be working well. A little crying but from now on when its time for bed its time. We also have cut the boys from bottles. We were doing cups and bottles (mom and dad addicted to the ease of bottles) but have decided to cut ourselves and them off cold turkey.

For all the people we have read about and talked to that have said the first year was the hardest and it got easier from there, they have lost some of their marbles from those sleepless nights. I feel that it has gotten much more difficult due to the fact that they are all mobile and now have realized they can talk. The why stage will probably make us want to lock ourselves outside. Why X3.................very scary. But this is our life and we would not change it for a million dollars.

Where did the X3 go to..................

Everyone is probably wondering, where did the X3 go and what are they doing? Well we have been busy that last couple of weeks. This week we battled sinus infections and ear infections. They are all on antibiotics and coping. If we could only get Ethan to sleep thru the night since he has been ill, it would be a blessing. He gets stuffed up during the night and wakes up crying.

Two Saturday's ago we visited Santa at The Right Thing breakfast for Santa. It was nice that we didn't have to battle the crowds at the mall or a store for a picture with Santa. All three were fairly unmoved by the entire event. Neither scared or joyed. More of a, who is this fat man and weird woman in these red suits? Why does he have such a long white beard? Running up and down the hall in the building was more fun.

This past Friday dad and mom went out to the annual holiday party for The Right Thing. Not Vegas or Chicago like in previous years, but a nice event at the Northridge Club in Findlay. We were able to have a nice evening out and catch up with friends. We won a basket full of coffee, tea, snacks and cups from the several prizes that were given away. Starbucks coffee too. I didn't realize that if you take the empty Starbucks bag back to the store they will give you a free 12 oz cup of coffee. A nice gesture with the amount of money the coffee costs you.

Ethan seen his surgeon two weeks ago and was told he is doing fine. No more follow up visits required. Olivia has had her glasses for two weeks now and is doing really well with them. She leaves them alone most of the time. On occasion she will pull them down. They have a strap on the back to keep them on her head. The boys don't bother them either. We were worried that they would go after them and try to take them, but they leave them alone. I received a bill from the eye Dr and have to call them. We paid in full but the statement had charges for things we did not get and charged more than we were quoted. I always am amazed with the mistakes they make with billing. Just this month I finally got nearly $4000 dollars of charges from when they were born taken care of with BCMH. Since they were 2 months premature they qualified for the program and I was having trouble getting them to pay the claims. It was a nice Christmas present knowing that we were not going to have to pay that bill. Now I get to go to battle with the eye Dr.

The boys are continuing to develop their walking skills and getting faster and faster every day. Olivia is beginning her expedition with walking. She will walk if you are holding her hands or she is holding on to a walking toy, but will not really take steps without any of that. She has not built up her confidence yet. They are all getting into everything. We have two cupboards that don't have locks yet, because I have to get more screws. But I always forget when I am at the store. Anyhow, they like to take the lids out and play with them. One day Ethan took a Pyrex storage dish and tossed it across the kitchen like a Frisbee. You tell them NO, but they think it is a game. You take them away and right back to it. Surprisingly they don't bother the tree much. They will take the beads off every now and then, but for the most part leave it alone.

We didn't put much out for Christmas this year. Only the tree and it is lacking ornaments. We only put half the bulbs we normally put on it. There are gifts under the tree and they will pick them up and carry them around. Then they usually start chewing on the paper. As Dr. Freshwater said, Fiber in the diet.

It's getting late and I know there is a snow storm outside, but unfortunately work doesn't get cancelled like school does. Will have more updates to come. Sorry for being so long.

Helping decorate the tree.........................

Evan's unknown origin boo boo....................

Olivia with her glasses................

1st time with Santa and Mrs. Claus..................

Our first picture with Santa and Mrs. Claus. Ethan and Olivia are sizing up the big guy in the red suit.

Their individual cakes........................

Helping with Christmas.....................

Our new climbing toy.....................

Hey, I think this is for us........................

As promised...............

As promised, here is the start of the Birthday photos. I will continue to put some up every day until I run out. Hopefully for Jamie (VanWert) I will get the video of the cake eating up for you. Amanda, quit bugging me :)

Ethan is now walking too. Olivia will walk with her walking toy, but walks with very stiff legs. It is like she won't bend her knees.

We had eye exams and 1 year check ups at the end of last week. As mentioned previously, Olivia is getting glasses :( The boys eyes were good. 1 year check up went well. More shots. Come back in 3 months.

1st Birthday Photos........................

The TrioThe Grand Entrance..............Choo ChooThe Cake!

We just had our yearly eye exams and Olivia is really near sighted and will need glasses right away.

Balloon time........................

Growing bigger all the time...................

The boys are now on whole milk exclusively. No more formula for them. With Olivia being on the thin side, we are continuing her on formula for the time being. We are trying new table foods everyday. There are some things that they like a lot and others they are not totally sure of.

Ethan is doing fantastic after his surgery. He has acted like he didn't even have anything at all done. We go for our yearly check ups with the family doc this Friday and our yearly eye exams this Wednesday.

Almost smiling....................

Posing for the camera................

I wasn't on the phone Daddy..................

Go Bucks.....................

Olivia is laying it out.
The Buckeye kids with Great-grandma.

The triplets and their cousins.