For all our Texas friends

This is what the thermometer in the car said when we got in the car last Friday. And that was the high for the day! We spend the day inside!
And this is what happens when you "non freezing" windshield washer fluid freezes. You get DIRTY windows.

Benjmain's turn in the snow

These were all taken on Christmas Day, I just haven't had a chance to post yet. Benjamin LOVED his sled! He had a buckle and everything, so he had fun going (slowly) down the hill.

Christmas

The kids' stockings, all made by Grandma!
Benjamin, enjoying his first Christmas.
One of my favorite pictures of the morning.
Anxiously awaiting the first present.
Aunt Shannon, very excited about getting Harry Potter!
Micah, very excited about his new basketball goal.
Elizabeth and her new Bella mat and video.
Benjamin and Benjamin, opening Benjamin's stocking.
Mommy and Benjamin.

the children were nestled all snug in their beds...

Merry Christmas Eve!

sledding

If you read this blog by my Dad, you know that he had sleds ready and waiting for the kids. We were all hoping that we would have some snow to go with the sleds. Unfortunatly, we had snow, but Grand-Daddy was sick, and unable to play with the kids as they tried out their new sleds. Thanks for the sleds Grand-Daddy! And hopefully you'll get better and there will be more snow! You may not be able to tell in this picture, but Micah was totally horrified of the sled. Not sure why. But we threw him on it, and shoved him down the hill. Sorry the picture is dark... we were in the shade.
Elizabeth LOVED sledding on her new sled. After only a couple tries, she was a real pro, as you can see.
Opps! So much for being a pro!

Benjamin also has a sled, but with Grand-Daddy out of commission, we'll have to try his sled another day.

traveling

Our traveling began last Friday afternoon. We headed up to Wichita Falls to see the Krajca side of the family. The kids we very excited to get to see Papaw and Memaw!

With some gift cards, we were able to help pay for DVD players for the van. Since we'll be doing a lot of traveling this holiday season, and since we'll be doing a lot of traveling in the coming months with Benjamin's visits to Austin, we thought it was an investment in our sanity! The kids enjoyed watching Polar Express and Jungle Book, two favorites. If they weren't watching the movie, here's what they were doing. Like Micah's car hair?


The kids have been very good travelers this trip! After we left Wichita Falls on Sunday afternoon, we went to Oklahoma City to see my grandparents. After opening some presents and eating some yummy dinner, we headed to my parents house in Kansas. We are staying put till some time early next week.

We hope that your traveling has gone smoothly as well!

December 20th

Eight years ago today, Curtis proposed. Even though we had been dating for just over a year, this what I think of as the beginning of "us". In ten days, we will celebrate our seven year wedding anniversary. The past eight years have been packed with life changing events, some good, some bad. But as Curtis once told me in an e-mail "Sure we have our moments of turmoil, but we have many more moments of grace."

Here's a look back at where we were in our lives on December 20th.

1999 Curtis proposed, using a ring made from his grandma's engagement ring. It was remade for me to match his grandam's wedding band (which I wear) using diamonds from him mom's ring. His Grandma's name was Elizabeth, his Mom's name was Carol. For those of you who don't know, Elizabeth's full name is Elizabeth Carol, named for two very special women.

2000 Only ten days away from getting married!

2001 A very bittersweet time for us. We spend, what we knew would be, our last Christmas with Curtis' mom.

2002 Curtis graduated from A&M on December 20th. When we got engaged, Curtis and I were both still in school. Curtis promised my parents that we would both finish. And we did!

2003 After a very scary first trimester in my pregnancy with Elizabeth, we were beginning the second trimester, and looking forward to becoming parents. We had been told earlier in the pregnancy that we only had a 50% chance of carrying the baby to full term.

2004 Probably our most uneventful time. We celebrated Elizabeth's first Christmas, and that's about it.

2005 I was seven months pregnant with Micah, and Curtis had lost his job earlier that month due to his severe sleep apnea. This was a very scary time for us, as we waited and trusted God to meet all our needs. And of course, He did!

2006 We had just found out we were having another baby boy! I was dealing with post partum depression, and our life just seemed a little crazy.

And now, 2007, we will be getting ready to head to Austin for Benjamin's helmet fitting. It's been quite a year, but as always, God has been so good to us, and we are so thankful that he saw fit to bless us with each other. We are thankful for the good times that he has blessed us with, and the hard times that have strengthen our love for Him and each other.

$$$$

My blog is worth $6,774.48.
How much is your blog worth?

Not a fan!

Thanks in large part to my Mom, Benjamin has been eating more solids as of late. Of course, he is a big fan of apple sauce, bananas and anything else semi sweet. Tonight, he had peas for the first time. Here's what happened.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

NO!

Recently, Elizabeth has an obsession with baby girl clothes. We were at Sam's today, where Elizabeth saw this sweet little pink sleeper. She asked if we could buy it for Benjamin, but I reminded her that boys don't wear pink and flowers. No to be dissuaded, she says, "Well, we can buy it for the baby girl that almost in your tummy/"

And no, this isn't our subtle way at telling everyone some new news. :-) Just the wishful thinking of a three year old.

A couple of Christmas pictures

We took these this morning after church. Thanks Christi for the good one of the kids, and thanks Charles and Laura for getting a great one of all five of us!

Hot, hot, hot!

Our new favorite song. We got it!

Micah

Last night Micah saw a bride on the TV. He very excitedly ran around saying, "Aunt Meggie, Aunt Meggie!" Cute! All this led to a conversation about where people lived. Megan lives in Georgia, Grandma and Grand-Daddy live in Kansas, Aunt Shannon lives in Kansas, Papaw and Memaw live in Texas (which is confusing since we live in Texas, and they live in Texas, but we don't live together).

This morning, the conversation came up again.

Me: Where does Aunt Megan live?

Micah: Georgia (sounds like "Goga").

Me: Very good! Where does Grandma live.

Micah: Grand-Daddy.

Me: Yes, Grandma lives with Grand-Daddy. She lives in Kansas.

Micah: No, Grand-Daddy!

Well, at least I tried!

Elizabeth...

...calls hand sanatizer "hand cleana-tizer"

....came out of her bedroom (in the middle of the night) saying, "Daddy, there's a chicken in my bed. I don't like chickens, they might bite me." She was still talking as Curtis led her back to bed.

...ran into the kitchen and told me, "Mommy, there's a bat in the garage!" "Really?!?" I respond, afraid to believe her and knowing that this is something that would totally happen to me. "Well, maybe it's just a moth," she then decided. Thank goodness, it was just a moth!

A post from Micah

I have the flu.

Sick Boy

Poor Micah is sick! He woke up last night with a low grade temp, but after only two hours he had a temp of 102 something. He and Benjamin both had a rough night, so needless to say, Mommy, Daddy and Grandma are all a little tired too. All Micah has done today has been to lay or sleep on the couch. But only if he has Grandma's pillow. I'll be taking him to the doctor in a little while. One of our main concerns is that he has something that he could give the baby.
My parents' dog Sophie is quite happy to snuggle up next to Micah in an attempt to help him fell better. Or maybe, she's just taking advantage of the calm.
And my parents' other dog, Macie, is out too. This picture is for you Daddy!

Christmas card pictures we WON'T be using

I learned while taking these pictures, that getting three kids to sit still and smile at the same time is near impossible. Thankfully, I had the help of Daddy and Grand-Daddy! We actually did get a good one, and once Curtis does a few editing magic tricks, I'll try to post our real pictures.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

First of all, I apologize for the void that many of you must have been feeling due to the lack of blogging on this blog. Things have been a bit crazy (understatement of the YEAR!) around the Krajca house. Hopefully, things are beginning to calm down.

Before all the craziness of Ben's surgery began, we decided that having a normal weekend would be good for all of us. So we got our Christmas tree! My Dad was there.
Benjamin seemed to enjoy picking out his first Christmas tree.
The Krazy Krajcas!

Da boys
The finished product.
These adorable snowmen, from my Mom, and our stocking hangers are the only other decorations I got out. I hoping maybe to get a few more things put up (like the stockings that go on the hooks?) but that might be it this Christmas. Sure would make clean up easier!

This Christmas season has gotten off to a crazy start. But more than any other Christmas, our family is savoring family and relishing in God's love and grace! And no amount or lack of decorations could make this Christmas any better!

Praise God for His Blessings

Greetings to all our dear friends...this is Kierstyn's dad, Marlon reporting.

The doctors informed us about 12:45pm that the surgery was complete and Benjamin was in recovery. Everything went well and as the doctors had planned. Shortly after 1:0pm, Kierstyn was called back so that she could see and nurse Benjamin...something that I think they both were looking forward to!

While we are thankful for the skills of the doctors, staff and everyone who has tended to Benjamin through this process, we are first thankful to God for his grace and mercies that sustain us daily as well in instances of our specific need. Secondly, for all the saints who interceded on behalf of Benjamin with us and friends and family around the world. This has reminded us afresh of the many blessings of family and the Church.

Thank you for your love and support.

For all of us,
Dad

Last post for the night

For those of you who didn't know this little tidbit about me, I wear contacts. I have TERRIBLE eye sight! For several years now, I've used the same pair of back up glasses. Well, Micah out them to the test, and they failed. Today, I got some new contacts and new glasses. I look smarter, right?

A Micah post

Since Elizabeth just got a big long post all about her, and Benjamin has his very own blog, I thought I'd do a quick post about my favorite oldest son. Grand-Daddy and Micah at the ballet recital. Notice the bruise on his left cheek? It's much better now, but you should have seen it about ten days ago! He was jumping on Elizabeth's bed, fell, and smashed his sweet little face into the foot board.
And this is Micah in the dog kennel. Really, I promise it's for the dogs!