Ahhh, Life With Boys (2)

What does it mean when ... in between trying to break up the beating your sons are inflicting on each other with rolls of wrapping paper you are purchasing, the gentleman in front of you repeatedly offers, or rather, insists you go ahead of him because "he's in no hurry".

Ahhhh, life with boys!

Whirlwind of Activity

Quite honestly, I've fallen way behind in this blog and don't even know where to begin. Between homeschooling, two boys, house, holidays and surgery, sadly, the blog was last priority. So in an effort to bridge the gap here are a few snapshots. What is the saying? A picture is worth a thousands words? Hope so! Here's a quick run down of the last month (or two).

We've been...

Celebrating, Kyle's birthday. Happy Birthday Kyle!

Losing teeth. Looking good, Collin!

Celebrating 11 years of marriage!

Watching our little muscian's first piano recital.


Reaching out to others during the holidays with our Samaritan's Purse shoebox.



Christmas fun!

Girls weekend full of laughter to San Fran with my good friend Angela. Hello Ghirdelli Square!


Off to get a Christmas tree with a surprise visit with Santa.

Playing in the snow!

I hope your winter season has been full of memories too!

Surgery

This post is entirely too long overdue but not one that I could just pass on because there is so many blessings to tell.

For as long as I can remember, I have had pain in my lower abdomen and back. There were many triggers that brought on the pain; stress, cold, fatty foods, exercise...or simply nothing! While some weeks were a pain that was manageable and could push through, as the month went on, the level of pain was intensified. It was a pain that was comparable to my active back labor during childbirth and would last for about 15 - 20 minutes before it was over. This would happen multiple times through out the day and night. I could count on about 10 days with no pain in the month and my pregnancies were completely pain free as well. The was pain was intimately intertwined in every aspect of my life as well as my families.

I've had many visits to the doctor - followed up with many pills and shots that I have tried over the years. There was no success for my tired body at the end of the day. With the decision that we were done having children, I decided it was time for surgery.

With a recent switch to a new doctor I felt the confidence to do exploratory surgery. We had speculated over the years we were dealing with endometriosis but had nothing definitive. The surgery was over in a short time after finding fibroid all over the inside and outside of my uterus and the decision to have a follow up surgery including a hysterectomy was apparently clear.

My procedure was referred to the chief regional laproscopic surgeon who accepted the challenge and by his side another experienced doctor to assist. God graced me with talented doctors and wise advise along the way - not to mention my hubs that sat through several doctor appts along the way for support.

I cannot even begin to convey my excitement when I say, I do not have my pain. My hysterectomy was done lapriscopic and went off without a hitch. My healing has been quick. God has been so good in paving this road for me and the support that I have received. Where to start...

• an army of people praying for me
• my hubs who managed the home front, meals, children, stocked me up with magazines, coffee and love
• friends and family that made meals - not kidding, i didn't have to cook for 3 weeks with all the food I recieved. Even a full out Thanksgiving dinner that was prepared for us from the Turkey to the pie and everything in between! Thanks Stearns family!
• Grandmas to entertain and playdates with friends
• cards
• help cleaning the house
• lattes delivered
• "Joy" box with encouraging packages for different days through out the recovery

The list goes on! I am so humbled by the love that was shown me. Praise God for the outcome! Thank you everyone!

Christmas Newsletter 2009

For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6

We hope to find you and yours well this holiday season. It is such a treat this time of year to hear from friends and family. To hear where they are at, how their lives have grown and changed and appreciate what they bring to our lives. And so, we bring you a short little snippet of ours. We hope you enjoy!

As a family, we've stayed busy spending time out boating, church, hanging out with friends, Blazer games, Friday night pizza night or a quiet family game night. Kyle and I celebrated 10 years of being married and traveled to Maui for the first time to celebrate.

Kyle is at Gerber driving their tool business as their category manager. He’s managed to wrangled a crew from work and a few friends to create a basketball team and participate in a Portland league this year. He still loves his sports in any shape or form he can get it – even by coaching Collin’s T-ball team. He has made fitness a priority this year and even ran in his first marathon.

I stay busy on the home front. It has been a delight putting my teaching hat on again, as I've begun homeschooling Collin and Brody. It has been a journey of learning for all of us but such a treat. After many years of dealing with pain, I had two surgeries this year to correct the problem and am working on recovery now. I've been blessed by so many helping hands through the recovery. So far, by God's grace and the use of a talented doctor, my old pain hasn't resurfaced. I'm all the more equipt now to keep up with these busy boys of mine!

Collin is growing in all sorts of ways this year. Above all else, he delights in Legos. He’s got an incredibly creative mind and is constantly coming up with a new Lego creation. Math is his favorite subject and quick learner over all. He’s on his second year of piano and participated in his first piano recital this year. Collin has also been busy with swimming, science class, basketball but especially loves just being home and wrestling with his little brother.

Brody is our little athlete. Every morning, he wants his favorite outfit of shorts and his Blazer jersey to get started on shooting hoops. He’s conquering potty training right now (so if our bathroom looks like a circus with prizes hanging from the ceiling, books, candy bribery, fancy potty seats and the sorts – you’ll know why) and working on beating a binki (pacifier) habit. All in a long hard days work!The excitement is building in our house for the big day of presents and food. The boys completely get the holiday now and you can feel the buzz all around you as they eye the gifts (or give them a little shake) all the while planning for the big day. In the midst of it all, we continue to quiet our hearts and enjoy the season for what it's all about - the gift of Jesus Christ. We wish you a time of reflection, family and fun this Christmas.

Much love,

The Fischers

Kyle, Anne, Collin &Brody

FREE

This is almost too good to be true! If you are getting ready to order your photo Christmas cards this is your chance to get 50 free...free shipping too!!

Go check it out here! It works. I just ordered mine.

Happy shopping!

Autumn Is In The Air

We've been busy visiting the pumpkin patch, making apple turnovers and pumpkin pie, creating costumes and carving pumpkins.

Fall is my favorite season!

Life With Boys (1)

Only boys can turn finding three flies roaming the house into a full blown hunting expedition - including multiple nerf guns, rapid fire, sneak attacks and karate moves!
It was a sad scenerio for the poor flies but the boys triumphed!
2 down....1 to go!

Ahh...life with boys!

"Fischer"men

It wouldn't be right to move on from summer without mentioning our Fall Salmon fishing. Kyle took a better part of two weeks to go fishing up with the Thomas clan and friends. This is a time of year that Kyle (all of us) look forward to through out the year. Our extended family, the Thomas clan, not only let our Fischer family bombard Camp Chinook but have welcomed friends, fed us, taught us, shared their secret potion...pretty much completely spoiled us! Now if that isn't family, I don't know what is!

Here are a few snapshots from this years adventures:

The boys were so excited to give the fish a bonk.

Lovin life on the boat.

Our catch!I was taught by the masters how to fillet a fish.

Of course the teacher in me couldn't let the opportunity go without taking the boys out to Bonneville Dam and fish hatchery to follow up the fishing season. It was a fantastic field trip - would recommend it! Don't forget to hit the little icecream stand by cascade locks while you are out there!

Welcome to 1st Grade

We have a bit of an announcement this year. We are (drum roll please)....

Homeschooling!

It has been quite a journey that has led us here. After much consideration and prayer, Kyle and I have decided to give it a try. We've collected some great curriculums and have jumped in with two feet. It is fun to take out my fun teacher materials from boxes and put it to work. It's a bonus to have a licensed teacher in the house!

It's a quick trip down the hall to school.

We are off on this grand adventure! Let the learning begin!

Oye!

There have been so many things that have been going on in the Fischer household. I can't wait to update all soon. But right now, I'm trying to tackle the laundry! Oye!

Stay tuned...good things to come!

Beating the Habit

A neighbor stopped by today and we chatted at the door for ten minutes. Who knew how productive a 3 year old can be in ten minutes when you take:

3 SEALED packages of gum

1 gum chewing obsessed preschooler

and a distracted mom...

Here is the damage

All three packages skillfully opened and dismantled through out my car

5 pieces of partially chewed gum
another piece shoved quickly into his mouth when he saw me!!

These boys will keep me on my toes! Although to his credit, he is trying to break a nasty binki habit and a little gum chewing has proven to fill the void during a sensitive transition time! ;)

So instead of getting pictures that look like this:

We are starting to get more pictures that look like this:

Keep at it little man! We love the smile! Just take it easy on the gum!

Cousins & Cottage Grove

Kyle and I had the opportunity to whisk our little nephew away with us camping this last weekend at Cottage Grove. Collin was ecstatic as his cousin is just a year ahead of him and just the right age to camp with. The boys got their own tent and spent ever ounce of energy during the day trying to out do the other on the water.

A look out at the reservoir at the campground

Picture of the boys. Sadly, it was just before this picture that poor Brody got his fourth - yes, i said fourth, bee sting of the trip.



Hit it!

Surfin' Dudes

Jumping competition ...canon balls, belly flops, biggest splash!

Boys were back on the water the next morning by 10am before we left!

Another great summer adventure!

Beating the Heat

I'll be the first to say, I am a complete wimp when it comes to the heat. I prefer to go from one air conditioned place to the next. The boys, however, don't see the fun in sitting around reading a book while being calm and quiet in an air conditioned house. So, here's how we beat the heat! How about you?

Blowing Off Steam

One thing that I have always done when Kyle is off on a business trip that is a week or longer is take on a project. It makes the time go by all that much quicker and it's fun to surprise the hubby when he gets home. Usually it's a larger project that I work on through out the week. This trip I have a lot of projects that have added up over time that I am trying to knock off one by one.


Tonight...Steam cleaning the carpets!!





I get entirely too giddy about clean carpets. What can I say, I have two boys and cream carpet. I have to enjoy those few minutes that they are clean!!

Beach Bums

The hubby is out of town on business for the week and the boys and I are on our own. So, we hit the beach for the day to escape the heat...boy, did we do that! Notice the coats? It was cold! We had some great fun though and we're blessed with some sunshine towards the end of our day.

We had a great day! But the boys and I would always love to have our favorite man there. Here is to you daddy...

We miss you!