The Yoders

The Wax Museum

2011-02-12T20:13:00.000-08:00

Christian was Vincent Van Gogh at his Wax Museum Presentation that the 5th graders at his school put together. They all had to pick a famous character and dress up like them. Then they stood behind their desk and pretended to be wax statues of the famous person. They even did a little research, had some props on their desk. The cute thing was that they each had a paper button that if you pressed it then they would talk and say something about their character. It was funny to see how many of the visitors pressed the buttons over and over again. I passed through with Arianna and had her press the buttons over and over again and as we came around to Christian's desk he was whispering, "don't press it, don't press it". Of course, I had Arianna press his several times but I think it was broken because he did say anything. They even had to stand very still during the visitation times and really act like they were just statues. The kids really did a great job!!

Oprah Winfrey was on the left side of Christian and Helen Keller was on his right. Next to Oprah was Claude Monet. In the other picture was Picasso and Ghandi, and I don't remember the rest. Some of the others not pictured was Will Smith, Rachel Ray (that was portrayed by Christian's "girlfriend", Kylie), William Shakespeare, and I can't remember the others.

Christmas 2011

2011-01-11T21:23:00.001-08:00

Wow! Where does the time go? I can't believe the the last time I posted something was back in August. I have tons of pictures to post but don't have the time so I guess I will start with the most recent, Christmas! We had a nice Christmas holiday this year. We were invited to a holiday party on Christmas Eve which we attended. There were lots of great food and children running around like crazy. We came home early, put Arianna to bed, then Steve, Christian, and I stayed up and read from the Christmas story from Luke and then read from my grandmother's journal about her Christmas memories. Her memories reminds us of why we have some of the traditions we have and brings back the simplicity that Christmas used to be for them. They were so happy to wake up in the morning with peppermint sticks and oranges in their stocking and almost always had no toys or if they got anything it was homemade and simple. Some of our Christmas traditions that we have came from my grandmother. When she was growing up she remembered having cheese and crackers and peppermint sticks. These were something special to have on Christmas day. So, every Christmas we make up a platter with cheese slices, crackers, and candy canes. Also, I always stuff the stockings with apples, oranges and bananas because these were things that were hard to get back in the day and were very precious to my grandmother and her siblings. It was a rare treat to have a nice juicy orange or to bite into a crisp sweet apple or to chomp down on a nice yellow banana. I think Christian's favorite tradition is to be able to open up one gift on Christmas Eve. Santa was very good to the kids this year and I believe the kids had a great Christmas. It was a very relaxed day for all of us. We didn't go anywhere and didn't do any work around the house. We just had fun with the kids and spent some good quality time with the family. It was great!

Arianna's First Birthday

2010-08-30T09:42:00.000-07:00

I can't believe we are celebrating Arianna's first birthday! Time has sure flown by this year. She is such a joy in our lives and I can't imagine life without her. She makes us smile all the time. She loves people and always has a smile on her face for everyone to see. She is into everything now. She is walking very well. She loves to give me hugs and kisses (well, open-mouth and slobbery raspberries is more like it). She has a total of 16 teeth, very unusual for this age I suppose. She still sleeps very well at night for us, which is a good thing because I am a monster when I am sleep-deprived. She loves her big brother, Christian, and loves it when he plays with her. She also loves to go into his room. We keep her out most of the time by shutting the door but if she disappears and we don't hear a peep out of her, more than likely she got into his room and into one of toys.
Since we just moved to Syracuse and don't know many people, we decided to travel to Jason and Sunshine's home in PA to celebrate her birthday together. My friend Denise and her daughter, Julie drove up from Harrisburg to join us. I decided to make it easier on myself and order a subway platter for lunch. It was a very nice day and things went rather well considering the temperament of a one year old. Her birthday theme was Baby Einstein and since we couldn't buy a baby einstein cake, Sunshine and I decided to make one out of cupcakes. I think it turned out pretty good for a homemade cake. We attempted to make the worm that Arianna loves so much when she watches her video. Whenever she sees the worm, she smiles really big at it. It was no where near the quality of the cakes on Food Network's Ace of Cake or Cake boss, but I think we did okay with it. I don't think Arianna knew the difference, which is what matters!

Pictures

2010-04-24T18:28:00.000-07:00

I love this picture of me and Arianna. We are so happy together.

Christian and his big brain!!!

Camden, my nephew.

First time swimming,

Keeping the kids entertained, Christian with his DS and Arianna with her Baby Einstein

Waiting to board the plane

Getting comfortable for the plane ride

Just starting to crawl

Her first pigtails

Easter 2010

Update in the Days of Our Lives

2010-04-24T17:29:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since I last posted but I have a good excuse. My computer has been on the blinks lately and finally died on me. When I went for a visit to Syracuse I brought back Steve's laptop and have been using it ever since. It took me awhile to finally figure it out the multi card reader that it has. But, Voila!! I did it. I got the pictures loaded onto the computer and able to share it with my family and friends. a

Let's see now, what is going on in our lives. First off, we have our house on the market now since we are moving to Syracuse, New York where Steve has gotten a job as a inhouse patent attorney. Since we were moving up there, I decided it was about time that I see my new home town, So, the kids and I flew there to visit Steve and Syracuse. It was a good trip. We stayed with Steve in his studio apartment. That was something else. Imagine the four of us in a one room apartment. It was quite a squeeze to fit in but we made do and had a good time. We visited downtown Syracuse and toured the MOST (Museum of Science and Technology) Museum and Christian really enjoyed and wants to go back, which is a good sign. During out time there I drove with the kids down to Danville, PA where Jason and Sunshine were visiting and doing a house search since they are moving there. I stayed there overnight and drove back to Syracuse the next evening. While there, my friend Denise and her daughter, Julie, drove up from Harrisburg and we visited. We took the kids bowling, then to Friendly's for lunch and then to the pool for a quick swim. They all had a good time and I got to see one of my best friends. My drive back to Syracuse was a very long and difficult one. For some reason, one hour into my drive it started SNOWING! What the heck. I drove into a blizzard. Pretty soon, everything turned completely white and I was slipping and sliding on the interstate. I was going 15 MPH for about 2 hours until I got out of the Poconos area and got into New York. What a drive. It got so bad and I was hunched over with both wheels tightly gripped to the steering wheel and Christian sensed that something was wrong that he prayed that we would make it safely back to Syracuse.

By the time we got back to Knoxville, it was Easter weekend. This year was a weird Easter for us. It was just Christian, Arianna and me. We couldn't go to Memphis to visit family because we had just gotten back from Syracuse. So, we stayed home and celebrated Easter by ourselves. I had a small egg hunt for Christian and I got Arianna a large stuffed lamb. It was a very boring Easter for us. Our Easter dinner consisted of Ramen Noodles and Chicken Nuggets.

Arianna is now 8 months old and doing so much now. She has been sitting up, rolling around and now she is starting to crawl around. Time is going by so fast I feel like I am falling behind. She has already got 8 teeth and I think she is still teething. She is still drooling like crazy. She really loves to bite into her baby biscuits. They are a bit messy but it makes her happy. She is a very good baby. I love it when she looks at me and gives me her biggest smile and then reaches for me. No matter what I do or how I look or how bad I smell, she loves me unconditionally.

Christian celebrated his 10th birthday this year. For his birthday he chose to take two of his friends and visit the indoor waterpark in Pigeon Forge. So, I got a friend to take Arianna for the weekend and I spent the weekend with 3 boys at the waterpark. It was nice. I think the boys had a great time. When we got there they got to go to the waterpark that was open until 10pm, then we got back to our room and ordered pizza. Needless to say we didn't get much sleep that night. The next morning we got up and spend the whole day at the waterpark. They had a very good time and I think Christian will always remember his 10th birthday.

Christian's Trip to the Bahamas

2010-03-11T07:56:00.000-08:00

I just realized that I never posted anything about Christian's awesome trip to the Bahamas with his aunt and uncle and 5 of his cousins. Steve's brother, John and his wife Sharon decided to take 6 of their nephews to the Bahamas with them. I think John had an Optometry Conference and thought this would be a great opportunity to enjoy some of their nephews. It was actually great timing for us. Since Steve was unemployed last year and I was pregnant with Arianna, we decided not to take a beach vacation. Christian has always looked forward to our week long beach vacation that we tried to take every summer. So, when John and Sharon called us up and asked us if they could take Christian off of our hands and take him somewhere wonderful, we were ecstatic. Not only will this be the first time that Christian has ever spent more than a few days away from us but he was going somewhere exotic. Christian, of course, was a bit nervous because we were not coming with him. We met John, Sharon, and the others in Atlanta, where they would fly out of, on Sunday, July 4th and they did not come back until Friday, July 9th. Christian had a very good time. They got to swim with the dolphins, feed sharks (which Christian did not participate in), play at the beach, and lots more that I can't mention because I wasn't there. But here are some pics of their trip. I think the best part was the dolphins. He even touched their flippers and fed them fish.

Arianna's 6 month

2010-02-23T17:41:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how much time flies. My baby is 6 months old already. I took her to Portrait Innovations to get her pictures made. She was awesome! She was so happy, cute and adorable. I had such a hard time picking the pictures I wanted. There were so many good ones.

Last week she had her 6 mo. check up. She was 18 lbs and 4 ounces and 26 inches tall. She is in the 90% for weight and 70% for height. She is such a happy baby (well, most of the time). Her favorite time of day is the morning. When she wakes up and I come into the room she gets so excited and gives me her biggest smile ever. She is rolling over now and sitting a little bit on her own. She has been teething lately and has already gotten 6 of her teeth in. So, needless to say, she is drooling a lot! She loves to grab at stuff now and she thinks everything she sees is a chew toy. She doesn't like the pacifier but loves to chew on her fingers or suck on her fist. I think I would prefer the pacifier to her hand. She is so interested in the world around her. I can take her to the store and she will just sit in her stroller and stare at everything. Have you ever noticed how bright and colorful Wal-mart or Target can be? She has started eating baby food. She loves sweet potatoes and squash and will tolerate carrots but I don't think she likes it much. She loves applesauce and bananas but not the peaches. Next food to try is sweet peas, YUCK! She does the cutest thing when she is going to sleep. She will "talk" to herself. You can tell when she starts getting tired and ready for a nap because she will start "talking" until she falls asleep. This definitely is a trait she got from her dad! She is such a wonderful baby girl and I am so glad to have her in my life!

Arianna's Surgery

2010-02-18T20:11:00.000-08:00

Well, it has been awhile since I posted last. This has been a very busy time for us. But I wanted to write about one of the things that happened in January. Arianna was born with a skin tag and the doctor was concerned so they did an MRI back in November and found that her spinal cord was attached to a fatty tumor (non-cancerous). So, we scheduled her to go in and have her skin tag removed, untether her spinal cord and take out the fatty tumor. Of course, as the time approached for her to go to the hospital, I got a bit nervous and anxious for my baby girl. She was only 5 months old and was going to have major surgery. What parent wouldn't be nervous? Monday, January 11, Arianna and I arrived at the East Tennessee Children's Hospital at 7:00 am in the morning. First we got registered then they called us back where I had to change her into her little hospital gown and then they lab tech came in to put the IV in and draw some blood. At about 9am we went back to the surgery where I had to say good-bye to my baby and wait for it all to be over with. Steve showed up around 10 and we waited. It seemed like a very long time but it was only 3 1/2 hours when we got the call that the doctor was done and that we would be able to come back and see her soon. The surgery was a success and our neurologist, Dr. Harris, came down to tell us that everything went as planned. It took about another hour before we could go back to see her. She looked so small and pitiful in the big crib they had her in. The first night was very bad for us. We had to keep her laying down and could not pick her up. She was in a lot of pain so they gave her some morphine at the beginning but I could tell that it was not working very well. It would last about 30 minutes and then she would be upset again. Her heart rate kept going up and her O2 Sat dropped so they had to give her oxygen. She couldn't hold her formula down. All I could do for her was to hold her little hand and cry along with her. Finally around midnight she was able to drink a little bit of formula so the nurse gave her some Lortab, a very strong pain medicine. Lortab worked wonders. It was still a pretty rough night but finally her levels were going back to normal and she was able to get a little sleep. By the next morning we were able to pick her up and hold her and she looked 100% better. Steve and I were so afraid of hurting her unintentionally that the first couple days that we held her we had a egg crate mattress under her to keep her as comfortable as possible. We ended up staying in the hospital until Saturday because she wasn't taking her feedings very well and they wanted to make sure her bladder was functioning properly. It was a very long week and by Saturday, I was glad to take her home. After a couple of weeks at home, she seemed to be back to her old self again. It was amazing to see how fast she healed. She was such a good, brave baby girl and I am so glad that it is all over with and everything turned out great!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-16T18:01:00.001-08:00

This was the best holiday ever! I had sooo much to be grateful for. First off, Steve had finally gotten a good job. It was like a huge burden was lifted off my shoulder. He started his new job November 2. He was also able to come home for Christmas. It was so nice to have some money coming in and to be able to buy presents for my family. That is my favorite part of christmas.

Second, I am grateful for my new baby girl, Arianna. This was her first Christmas. What a joy it has been to finally have the daughter that I have wished for for sooo long. She is such a wonderful joy in our lives already.

We were also happy to be able to go back home to Memphis and spend the holidays with our family. It is always nice to spend time with family. We always have a good time joking around, laughing, playing games, etc.

Our traditional cheese, crackers, and candy cane platter.

Arianna enjoying her gift from Santa! She loves the animals and the music that it made.
Christian got a motorized dirt bike from Santa. He couldn't wait to go out and ride it. Even though it was freezing outside, he decided to take it for a spin. We decided to start a new tradition of making marshmellow treats. Steve and Christian decided to get creative and make one batch green and minty (ewww!) and the other patch red.

Christmas in Memphis with the family:

Mom with her new granddaughter.Opening presents!Justin (whom I refer to now as Hagrid) with his new presents, samarai swords!Ashley with her new orange UT purse. She would fit in well in Knoxville, TN.Camden with his new DS game, Super Mario Bros. He loves Mario and Luigi.

Teething Already

2009-12-25T00:57:00.000-08:00

Arianna has been drooling like crazy since she was 3 months old. She has been wanting to chew on everything! Well, last Sunday I had my finger in her mouth letting her suck on it (yes, it was clean) and I felt something sharp. I took a good look in her mouth (which was very hard to do because everytime I opened her mouth she would stick her tongue out and cover up her gums) and saw not one but two teeth on the bottom. What the heck! She is only 4 months old and already has two teeth. And, she is not done! She is still drooling and Steve and I think she has two on the top coming in soon. !
Look at her beautiful smile

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-12-12T02:54:00.000-08:00

For thanksgiving this year, we decided to meet up in Harrisburg, PA and spend the holidays with the Vancena's. Steve was going to join us from Syracuse, NY and I was driving up with the children from Knoxville. It was great to be with Steve again for a few days and we even got Jeanie back with us for a few hours on Thanksgiving day. Thanks to Denise's great cooking, Thanksgiving dinner was AWESOME! There were tons of food and I believe everyone got their fill plus some. It has been a long time since I haven't had to cook Thanksgiving dinner. I loved just spending the day with friends and relaxing with my family.

While the family was back together again I decided that we needed to get a family picture. But when I called Portrait Innovations to schedule an appointment they were all booked up for the week. I was so upset that we would not get a family picture made. But, Juli Newill, who is an excellent school photographer, came by to visit and graciously offered to take our picture for us. They turned out really good! Thanks Juli!

Although we enjoyed ourselves a lot (thanks to Denise!), I decided to never, ever travel with the baby alone in the car again. She hates the car seat! I thought that maybe she would get used to it and not cry so much. When we first started out on the road she cried for almost 2 hours. I got so desperate that I called her doctor to see if there was something I could give her to help her sleep through the trip. The nurse told me that she was too young and that I would have to just let her cry. Well, as you can imagine, my trip to Harrisburg, that is only supposed to take 8 hours, took me 12 hours. By the time we got to Denise's house, all of us was pretty miserable. I had to stop for an hour every 2 hours to give the baby a break, and she still cried! Never Again!

Halloween 2009

2009-11-02T16:01:00.001-08:00

Halloween was a little miserable this with the cold and the rain. It was good weather for the trunk-or-treat at our church but Halloween night was very wet and cold for the kids. Christian picked a really evil costume, Demon of War. It kind of looked like last year's costume except for the horns. I found a cute little bumblebee costume at BabiesRUs for Arianna. She was sooo cute. Her big cheeks matched her poofy bumblebee costume. She was adorable. We didn't do much this year for halloween. I just didn't have time with Steve getting ready to leave and me going back to work to do much. I think Christian was able to carve a pumpkin with his friend Hayden. He is the sleek stack from the movie "Lost". I can't believe it is all over and now it is time to get ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Blessing Day

2009-10-03T15:48:00.000-07:00

Well, I think it is about time that I post a blog about Arianna's blessing day. We decided to have her blessing on the first sunday of September, which was September 6th. A lot of my family came down for the special occasion. My mom and my Aunt Judy (AJ to her great nieces and nephews) had gone shopping and found the most beautiful blessing gown outfit along with a hat and bloomers that had her initial on it. They all showed up on Saturday and was able to stay until monday. Steve worked really hard on his blessing and did an awesome job. Arianna looked so beautiful in her blessing outfit and was the star of the day. We, of course, took lots of pictures. I still can't believe I finally have my little girl to dress up and show off to people.

Science Project

2009-09-21T08:42:00.000-07:00

Christian had a science project to do for school and we really got into it. He was supposed to make an animal or plant cell. He decided that he wanted to make it edible so we chose to make it out of sugar cookie, jello, candy and frosting. He really got into and wanted to do a lot of it on his own. We made the sugar cookie together, cut out the different pieces we needed and then got to work decorating the thing. He was so very proud of the finished product and although we haven't gotten the grade back yet, he thinks he got an "A". Here are some pictures of our finished plant cell project.

Arianna's First Bath

2009-09-14T16:30:00.001-07:00

It was time to give Arianna her first bath. She was getting kind of crusty and smelled like formula and pee. I was kind of afraid to do it though. I haven't bathed an infant since Christian so I was a little apprehensive about it all. But, Denise and Julie were there to help and Christian wanted to help also. So, there was the four of us in the bathroom getting ready for the bath. Of course, she cried almost the whole entire time! And needless to say, the bath took a little longer with the amateur mom trying to be careful and thorough. From the pictures, though, it looks like she calmed down a little bit when Christian was bathing her. I think she already loves her big brother!

Welcome Arianna!

2009-09-02T13:53:00.000-07:00

I guess it is about time for me to post some pictures of my new little girl on my blog. I can't believe how time flies. She is 3 weeks old today but it just seemed like yesterday that we got to hold her for the first time. I still think back to the day and it seems like a dream. Sometimes I feel like I am going to wake up and find out that everything has been all a dream and none of it happened. I will say this, if it is a dream I hope to never wake up!

Well, back to August 12. We got up that morning and got ready to go to the doctor's office. I had an appointment for the amniocentesis at 9:45 am. If the lung came back mature, than I was to go to the hospital right afterwards for my scheduled c-section. Steve's mom had come into town to stay with Christian and help out (although that didn't work out very well considering Christian and her did not get along at all and bickered the whole time!). After the results from the amnio came back and we were good to go, Steve and I was escorted over to the Labor and Delivery. Steve went downstairs to register me in while I got settled into my room and got prepped for surgery. Steve came back to the room and realized that he forgot the camera in the car so he had to go back to the car and almost missed the whole thing. I was already in the OR and had my spinal block and was good to go when he finally walked in. Everything went really well and Arianna was out at 1:21pm. She had a big set of lungs on her because she cried so loud I bet everyone outside the hospital could have heard her. But, for Steve and I it was music to our ears. We loved it that she cried because it let us know that she was well and alive. Steve got to hold her first since I was still kind of out of it and they were still stitching me up. Afterwards, we went back to the room and Christian got to see his baby sister for the first time. He wanted to be the third person to hold her and he was. He was so happy and proud to finally have a baby in our family.

The nursery came and took her around 3:30pm to give her a good check up. That's when we found out that her blood sugar was really low and they had to start feeding her every couple of hours to keep her sugar up. It took almost 2 days to stabilize her enough to stop checking her levels. The poor thing had so many needle pricks in her heel from where they kept having to poke her. She was also a little jaundice so we had to take her on friday to the Children's hospital to get her bilirubin checked, another heel prick. The bilirubin wasn't too high so they didn't have to do anything further.

She has been a total angel of a baby. The first couple of weeks she slept a lot, even sleeping 8 hours between feedings on one night. Now that she is 3 weeks old, she is awake a little bit more and getting a little fussier. I kind of find myself wondering to myself "Now what do I do with her?". But, overall I can't complain. I got what I always wanted, a baby girl and she is extremely easy to take care, so unlike Christian. My dreams did come true! LIFE IS GOOD!!!!!

DOLLYWOOD

2009-07-06T08:02:00.000-07:00

Christian finally got to go to Dollywood this summer. Believe it or not, we have been here over a year and have not gone. Although it is further away from us (about a 45 minute drive) than Hersheypark, we thought this would be a nice replacement for Hersheypark. NOT!! I talked to Christian on the phone while they were there and he matter of factly told me that this was not Hersheypark and that Hersheypark is soooo much better. I was a bit surprised though when Steve told me he could not get Christian to ride the roller coasters. He finally got him on Thunderhead one time and that was it! No more rollercoasters for the rest of the time. Here is the picture of the one roller coaster ride that they rode on. Christian really did look terrified so maybe that was why he would not get on another one!

How Will Arianna Come Out?

2009-06-06T09:55:00.000-07:00

Well, one morning when I got off work I came home and laid down with Christian in his bed. He had to get up for Scout Camp this week and was just waking up. This was a nice time to cuddle with him. Those cuddle times are very few and far between now that he is older. Anyways, we had the following conversation and I thought it was quite funny. It is a bit graphic for those of you who are squeamish about childbirth. Now, I need to mention that over a year ago (we were still living in Harrisburg, PA) Christian asked me how babies came out and I told him that the come out through the stomach or between the legs. He then asked me how he came out and I told him between the legs. He was not too happy about this. Now here is the recent conversation about the baby:

Christian: "Mom, how is the baby going to come out?"
Me: "I think that the baby will come out through the stomach."
Christian: "Ahh, man, she's lucky! I had to come out through the butt."
Me: "Yeah, and that was very difficult for me so that's why I think Arianna will come out through the stomach."
Christian: (pausing for a moment) "Well, I hope you cleaned yourself really good before I came out through your butt!!!"

THE END

Christian Being Tortured by Parents

2009-05-15T00:05:00.000-07:00

Okay, I just had to post this. It was too funny not to tell everyone (well, Steve and I thought it was funny but I think Christian would have a different opinion). For those of you don't know, I am diabetic and have been for a very long time. I have been quite concern about Christian becoming diabetic so I wanted to test his fasting blood sugar. One morning this week, I found the right opportunity to try testing and he went balistic. He absolutely refused and ran up to his room and hid in his closet. Steve and I discussed the matter and decided that it was important to us that we know what his fasting blood sugar level was so up to his room we went. Steve had to hold him down, grab his arm and point it towards me so that I can prick his finger and get a very small blood sample, which was very difficult to do with a wriggly, moving finger. Christian, by this time, was so upset that he was crying and screaming. You would have thought we were torturing the poor boy. And it isn't like he hasn't had needles stuck in his skin before. He just had a doctor's appointment where they got a whole tube of blood from him without a problem and a few years ago the doctor did allergy testing on him and stuck his arm like 50 times. Afterwards, he was so traumatized by what we had done to him that he decided to draw a picture. Later, he showed us the picture and Steve and I had ourselves a good laugh. This is the picture he drew of us and the episode. I have to say, he did make us look very evil!!!

Easter 2009

2009-04-22T15:55:00.001-07:00

Easter was great this year. Aline and Dwight decided to join us for the weekend. They were actually here to pick up Christian's bunk bed and it happened to fall on a holiday weekend. It was so nice to have them here to enjoy Easter with. I don't think Christian would have had half as much fun if he was by himself. How boring it would have been to have just one child coloring easter eggs and doing the egg hunt! Thanks, Aline, for coming and bringing your kids. I enjoyed hanging out with you Prouses!

EGG HUNT

Early Easter morning I woke up early to find that the Easter Bunny had visited and left a bunch of eggs filled with candy in our front hard. The kids were sooo excited to see all the colorful eggs laying everywhere in our yard. They each got a basket and went hunting and came back with their baskets full.

COLORING EASTER EGGS

Saturday night, we decided to do some egg coloring. The kids had tons of fun coloring and decorating their eggs. Bella decided to use a little paint and got a little messy but she had a blast. Aline looked like she was having just as much fun as the kiddies.

Putting the Crib Together

2009-04-21T21:28:00.000-07:00

I wanted to show off my expertise in putting furniture together. My crib came in while Aline was visiting during Easter weekend, so we picked it up and brought it home and decided to tackle the job together without the boys. The pictures make it look like I did most of the work but Aline did pitch in a hand (and arm) when needed. I think we did an awesome job and maybe should look into a day job together. What do you say, Aline? BTW, you do not look good in glasses so I hope you don't ever have to have them.

The finished product. Isn't it just BEAUTIFUL!!

Thanks Aline for lending me your arm!!!

Finding Out the Big News!!!

2009-04-21T05:16:00.000-07:00

I saw this picture in my file and wanted to post it. This is Christian's reaction to finding out that a baby is on the way. He was very surprised and excited. Although, at this time he was hoping for a baby boy. Sorry Christian!

Family Day in Pigeon Forge

2009-03-21T14:09:00.000-07:00

We were going stir crazy staying at home so we decided to get up one day and go to the Smoky Mountains. We got as far as Pigeon Forge. We stopped and ate lunch, then took Christian to do some Gem Mining. He had a good time mining for gems and enjoyed finding "rare" stones in his bucket. While he was gem mining, I decided to pass the time by chasing a local turkey around in the parking lot. It was quite entertaining. Afterwards, we decided to hit a miniature golf place. After doing a round of golf (Christian won), we were tired and decided to go home. We stopped by an A&W drive in and got some root beer floats then headed back home.

PREGNANT

2009-03-13T16:40:00.001-07:00

Well, I am finally making my big announcement today. I am 17 wks pregnant and having a baby girl. My official due date is August 24. This is like a dream come true and I can't be any happier than I was this morning when the genetics counselor called with the great news. I found out that I was pregnant back in December but decided not to tell anyone until I got my amnio results back confirming that everything was okay. For those of you who don't know my story, here it is.

I have had a very difficult time trying to have a family. My husband and I have been married for almost 7 years when we finally got pregnant with our first son, Christian. We had been waiting for a baby via adoption and had finally decided to go and try IVF. I had my first appointment set up when I found out that I was pregnant. I went to my ob/gyn and got an ultrasound done and found out I was already 10wks pregnant with Christian. Christian was only 7 months old when I found out that I was pregnant again. Steve and I were ecstatic to think that we could be having another so soon. But when I was about 14 wks along they found some abnormalities. They had thought that maybe he had a syndrome that had to do with the chromosomes, but when the results of the amnio came back, it was okay. He was diagnosed with renal failure (They had used some other medical term but I can't remember what it was called) and they had no idea how long he would last. The baby made it all the way to about 34 wks and passed away before I could deliver him. We named him Samuel E. Yoder and he was born on June 21, 2001. Fast forward 6 years to January 2007 and there I was pregnant again. Things were going well until about 12 weeks when they saw some excess fluid in his head (called Cystic Hygroma) and they said that it was a sign of Down Syndrome. So, again I had an amniocentesis done and confirmed that we were having a Downs child. It took us a little bit to come to terms with this news. By this time, things were going okay. A heart speciailist from John Hopkins had come down and did a thorough heart exam when I was 24 weeks and everything was looking good. But, when I went in for an ultrasound at 29 weeks, they again saw signs of something wrong and decided that they needed to test his blood. So, I went to the hospital where they did a procedure called "Cordocentesis". It is almost like an amnio, but instead of the fluid they get, they have to poke the umbilical cord and get the blood sample from it. It took the doctor 5 times (Yes, 5 big needle pokes in my stomach) to obtain this blood sample and I had to stay overnight in the hospital. When the results came back, it was not good. The baby's WBC (I think) was eighty something thousands when it should only have been in the five thousand range. This was a sing of a huge infection, like Leukemia. There was nothing that they could do about this. They did tell us that Down's children have a higher risk of leukemia than normal children but my doctors had not experience this in the womb and did not know how to proceed from there. They decided to see me 3 times a week and keep a close eye on him. At 29 weeks, the baby started slowing down and on July 19 I went into the hospital to be induced. I wanted to try to deliver him alive but he did not make it. He passed away that very morning and I delivered him stillborn on July 20 at 2am.

So, as you can read, this raising a family has not been easy for us and we have been through some very tough road bumps. Steve and I are both very happy about this 4th pregnancy and I can't be any happier because it is a girl (Christian, of course, wanted it to be a boy and is not as excited as he anymore). I, on the other hand, can't wait to see her. I just hope that everything will go smoothly and we will be welcoming our healthy baby girl in August. Here are some pictures of my ultrasounds that I have had.

Monster Truck Rally

2009-03-05T10:06:00.000-08:00

Well, you know you are definitely in the south when you have an opportunity to attend the "Monster Truck Rally". Steve saw an advertisement for it coming to Knoxville and decided to take Christian one saturday. Unfortunately, it was my weekend to work so I could not attend with them (Thank God!). But they seem to have had a really good time and took lots of pictures of the trucks but when it came to all the action the battery died in the camera. So, all we have are the pictures of the trucks. Christian's favorite truck was the "Destroyer". They even had a "Lawnmower Race". What fun!!!!

Spacewood Derby

2009-02-13T21:32:00.000-08:00

This year instead of having a Pinewood Derby in Scouts, our ward decided to do a Spacewood Derby. Needless to say, Steve really got into this and made a very competetive racing rocket. You might be asking yourself how this rocket works. Well, it runs on rubber bands and a propeller in the front. What you do is attach 2 or 3 rubberbands to the inside of the propeller then twist the rubber bands around and around really tight (but not too tight). There is an anchor on the top part of the rocket where you attach it to another anchor that is on a fishing line. When you are ready to race you just let go of the propeller and let it fly. Christian is the one that decided that he wanted a bee and he helped with the painting and naming of the rocket. They named it "Stinger". Steve had a really good time with this creation and the rocket turned out really great. Yet, we were all still very surprised when Christian came in first place at the Derby!YEAH!!!

SNOW DAY #2

2009-02-13T20:54:00.000-08:00

So, we were driving back from North Carolina (where we were visiting the Prouses for the Super Bowl weekend) and as we got closer to Knoxville it started snowing. Anyways, as we were driving through downtown knoxville on I-40, Christian looks and says "Wow. There's a blizzard out there. I wish we lived here!". Well, I made his day when I responded with, "Sweetie, this is Knoxville and you do live here!" The snow did not last long but school was out for the day and for the next two days due to the snow and right afterwards we had a bout of extremely cold weather. The wind chill factor got down to the single digits. So, of course Christian had a few days to have fun in the little snow that we got. Steve shoveled some snow into a pile and made a neat little ramp for Christian to slide over. Here are some pictures. Of course, I was MIA due to working 12 hour shifts and needing my beauty sleep.

SNOW DAY!!!

2009-01-22T15:28:00.000-08:00

Yeah! It actually snowed in Knoxville. We only got a dusting but it shut down the city for the day. The funny thing was, the kids actually thought it was enough to do some sledding. Although, in my opinion, we can still see grass through the snow, there really isn't much to sled on. But that did not matter to the kids. Snow is snow and they were ready to sled. Christian was the only with a real snow board. The rest of the boys had beach boogie boards. We have a huge hill in the back yard and several boys from the neighborhood came over and decided to slide down our hill with Christian. The only problem was that our house was at the bottom of the hill. So, the boys would slide down and slam right into the back of our house. I was afraid that they would seriously hurt themselves so I came up with a solution. I blew up an old air mattress that was used for camping and set it up so when they came down the hill they would run into the air mattress instead of our home. It worked out great. Of course, the snow was gone before noon due to the fact that the sun was shiny and we only got a dusting of snow. You wouldn't believe how everyone was reacting around us. The roads were all terrible and people were running off into the ditches due to the icy parts. You would have thought we had had a huge blizzard or something. Gosh, these Southerners!!!!

Christmas 2008

2009-01-21T07:36:00.000-08:00

I am finally off work and have some free time for myself. I decided to spend sometime updating my blog. I hope everyone's Christmas was great. I can't believe it is already over with. I am still trying to put away all my christmas decorations. Anyways, we had a good Christmas. My brother, Jason, and his wife, Sunshine came down with their 3 year old son, Camden and stayed with us throughout the Christmas holiday. It was nice having family around and we had a lot of fun. Camden is so awesome. I forgot how 3 year olds are. It was quite entertaining to watch him. Of course, Christian wasn't enjoying much of his little cousin being underfoot all the time so he spent most of his holiday week playing with the neighbor's kid, Hayden, and stayed over at his house a lot. Oh well, at least I enjoyed having my little brother and his family around and that's what counts in the end.

Jackson taking a peek at one of Christian's present.

Jackson enjoying his favorite new toy, a squeaky, stretchy elephant.

Christian pulling out his slim jim (one of his favorites)

Camden, opening one his gifts. Isn't he cute!!!

Camden, coming down our stairs for the first time Christmas morning to see what Santa brought him.
Christian's creativity coming out. As you can see the above and below pictures, he has made up two different looking roofs.

Camden's favorite part of making gingerbread houses was being able to eat all the candy.

Christian's Santa Letter

2008-12-20T06:47:00.001-08:00

The following is a letter to Santa Claus that Christian wrote in class last week.

Dear Santa

I want a 1. XBOX 360, 2. one thousand dollars, 3. all the games in the world, 4. a cool looking sled, 5. and a big pen. Ps. about number three of all the games in the world I don't want the girly games.

Love Christian Yoder

Well, there it is. I have been bugging Christian for things that he wants for Christmas and I finally have it. Will he get all that he asked for? Definitely not! Maybe I can handle the big pen request.

Happy Birthday Denise!

2008-12-17T11:37:00.000-08:00

Denise's Birthday Cake!! Today is one of my best friend's birthday, Denise Vancena. Several years ago, we started a birthday club. We would take each other out on our birthdays. This is the first year in a long time that I have not gotten together with the girls to go out. Here are some pictures of last year's birthday outing with Denise. First we surprised Denise when we showed up at her house in a rented Hummer. We went to Benihanas for dinner than headed downstairs to the Karoake bar for some singing and dancing. I think we all had a blast and it was fun to just let down our hair and go crazy (in front of total strangers!).

My Christmas Decorations

2008-12-12T17:34:00.000-08:00

I am finally done with my Christmas decorations. The tree is up and decorated, the train is up and running, and my two villages are completed and displayed. The North Pole village was easy to put up with snow blankets and little sprinkles of snow on top but my Dickens village takes a lot more work. I had to find a way to squeeze 16 building plus accessories into one long skinny countertop. I did this by creating a bi level town with styrofoam, moss, paper, hot glue, and lots of VHS tapes (Can anyone guess where the tapes are at?). But I am very happy to be done with it and it turned out wonderful. I love to sit with the village lights all on, my tree lights on and a fire burning in the fireplace. It is such a wonderful time of the year and those are the times when it is so very peaceful (especially when Christian is in bed and Jackson is in his crate for the night). Now the toughest part of the holidays are upon us and that is keeping Jackson from getting in to all the stuff. He has had a field day with a few of my deers already, has had fights with the animated Mrs. Claus and the caroling kittens, and has had a run in with the train. Having a little puppy around at christmas time is hard work!!!!

Halloween 2008

2008-11-06T13:38:00.000-08:00

SPOOKY!!!!!!!!
Do I hear someone calling for help? I must fly to their rescue!

OOOH! The Grim Reaper is here to get me. Watch out!

What did you do to me?

Well, I see that a lot of people have posted their halloween pictures up already. Here is mine. I thought Jackson's costume was adorable. Everyone in our neighborhood loved him. Steve took him out with Christian trick or treating and he was the center of attention. Poor Christian!! Nobody could see his face but he did get lots of comments on how scary he was. Some even gave him extra candy for being soooo scary! I, for the first time in 5 years, was able to stay home and pass out candy. It was great! "One for you, and one for me" was what I found myself saying all night to the kids that came by. I think I ended up eating half of the candy myself!!

Our First Fire

2008-10-18T09:42:00.000-07:00

Well it has finally gotten cool enough, in Steve's opinion anyways, to start our first fire. Steve was so excited to start a fire. While I was out of town last weekend, he went online and researched what type of firewood to buy, bought his rack to hold the wood, and bought a rick of wood from some guy on Craigslist. So, all evening we enjoyed the ambience of a nice wood burning fire. It really did smell nice but it got a little warm in the house.

Wonderworks

2008-10-18T09:17:00.000-07:00

We went together as a family to the Children's Musuem in Pigeon Forge. It is a really neat place called Wonderworks. Christian and I went with Denise, Julie, and Denise's mom when they came up to visit and we had a really fun time. So, when we asked Christian what he wanted to go do that day, he decided that it would be fun to go back. My favorite activity was the rock climbing, the huge simon says game (which I ended up beating the highest score that day), and the roller coaster simulator. Steve's favorite was playing on the astronaut's simulator. Christian's favorite activity was the huge bubble lab area. He spent most of his time in there and we could not get him to go do or see anything else after this (luckily this was one of the last attractions of the day). I admit it was quite fun blowing the big bubbles, but how much can you take. So, here are some pictures of us there. If anyone ever comes up to visit us or are near this area, this place is definitely worth the time.

Sweetwater Dairy Farm

2008-09-19T21:18:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share some pictures of our field trip to Sweetwater Dairy Farm. It started out with a 45 minute bumpy bus ride to the farm (by the end of the trip I was a bit nausiated) then when we got there we went to the gift shop to watch a short video about the dairy farm. Afterwards, we got to sample some different flavored cheeses. They had all kinds from your basic mild cheddar to the extreme fajita, salsa, etc. flavors. Afterwards, the we waited our turn for the actual tour of the dairy farm. On the tour, we saw some cows, and then some more cows, and then some more cows. We also saw the milking process. The cows just stood in line and they would wait their turn to be milked by these machines. It was quite interested to see them come right up and get in position to be milked. I pictured them like us waiting in line at an amusement park ride and waiting our turn to get on. "Ooh, almost there. Pretty soon, I'm going to be milked. I can't wait. I've been waiting in this line forever. What's taking so long? There are just too many cows today. Why did I choose today to come get milked?" Just some of the thoughts running through my mind as I lazily watched the cows get milked. Anyways, something interesting I wanted to mention. While we were there, there was a guy from the Southern Living magazine taking photographs of the place and decided to take pictures of our kids. So, we might be pictured in the magazine that is supposed to come out in the spring. But until then, here are my pictures of the field trip. Of course, notice all the lovely pictures of my son not smiling. What a brat!
This is a picture of a mom cow and her new calf, just born hours before. I wonder if their milking area hang lower after each birth?

The milking area. Farming has gone high tech!

Mother of the Year

2008-09-19T21:11:00.001-07:00

Okay, so nobody laugh, but I am now a PTA mom. Anyways, you would think that I was trying for mother of the year this past week. Well, the PTA was throwing a teacher's luncheon. So, of course I signed up to bring stuff, 4 lbs of sloppy joes, 2 dozen buns, and a dessert. On the very same day, Christian class was going on a field trip and I signed up to go as a chaperone. I also signed up for that evening to go with our church to the Ronald Mcdonald House to do some service work. This is after working a full shift the night before and the night after. Was I crazy or what? Well, I spent a couple of hours before working making homemade sloppy joes and then the next morning after I got off I went to the school, dropped off the food, and then joined the 3rd graders on the bus for a 45 minute drive to Sweetwater Dairy Farm. We were there until about 1 and then headed back to the school. Afterwards, we went home early and then it was time for homework. By this time I was very, very tired and have been up for over 24 hours. So needless to say, I decided not to go to the Ronald Mcdonald House and stay home and sleep. I guess in the end I did not earn my mother of the year award. Oh well, maybe next year.

Yearbook Pictures

2008-09-19T20:53:00.000-07:00

Here are my yearbook pictures through the years. It is quite funny. Don't miss out. It might be your only chance on seeing an asian in an afro hairdo. I am kind of glad to say that after reviewing the different looks, I don't think that I look good as a thin person. They just look kind of funny to me. What do you guys think?

Homemade Cookies

2008-09-12T14:43:00.000-07:00

I was in the mood for chocolate chip cookies today. So, I went to my cupboard, got out the sugar, flour, chocolate chips, etc. and started mixing up the dough. NOT!!!! A few weeks ago I had bought a big tub of cookie dough mix from a fundraiser and it has been sitting in my refrigerator. Today it was calling out to me, "Bake me, eat me, I'm delicious". So, I thought it would be unhealthy for me to eat raw cookie dough (although it is quite delicious) and decided to do some baking. Is it sad to call taking a tub out, putting spoonsful on a cookie sheet and turning on the oven, actually baking? Well, no matter. I think they turn out about the same in the oven (maybe even better!). Anyone for some Peanut Butter chocolate chunk cookies? Let me know!

Don't you just love my new double oven stove? It makes cooking a little nicer.

Christian's New Pet

2008-09-08T12:23:00.000-07:00

Well, we got a second pet on Saturday but it didn't last long. We have had a big problem with our hedges being invested with spiderwebs. So, Steve went on got this solution from Home Depot that you attach to your water hose and spray down the hedges. As he was spraying them down, he noticed a preying mantis and called for Christian. Well, of course, Christian wanted to keep it. So, they brought him inside and Steve actually went out and got a little glass aquarium with rocks and plants in it for him and put the preying mantis in there. Christian even found a few bugs around the house for him to eat. If anyone knows Christian, they would know that this is a major big deal. Christian absolutely hates bugs (but he made Steve carry them to the mantis). Unfortunately (we believe) that Steve accidentally sprayed him with the strong solution he bought (called Seven) and the next morning when Christian went to check on him, he was dead. He wants to look for more preying mantis now to keep them as a pet. Here is a picture.

Christian's Tender Moment

2008-08-30T09:49:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share a moment that Christian had that I thought was very sweet. I think it was Thursday (with me working nights I really screw up my weekdays) that Christian told me that I didn't do that right. I was wondering what he was talking about and then he went over to the mantel and did something. I didn't bother to look until later but he had moved my two willow tree baby figures over to the father and son figure. Now, for those of you who don't know me that well, I have had two almost to term stillborns. Christian has always known about them and will occasionally bring their names up (Noah and Samuel). He really misses them, especially the one we lost just last year. He had always wanted a brother and was sad when it didn't happen. Last year my mom had gotten me a twin set of babies from Willow Tree and they are supposed to represent my two that I have lost. They were sitting over on the other side of the mantel and the father and son figure was on the other side. Well, when Christian went over there he moved the two babies over to the father and son so now this is what it looks like. I guess he thought that the father should be talking to all three of them. I just love it when he shows this softer side of himself. I hardly ever see that anymore.

Christian's Biopoem

2008-08-26T15:01:00.000-07:00

One of Christian's writing assignments was to write a biopoem. Here is what he wrote (a biopoem is a poem about yourself)

Christian Andrew
Funny, playful (was supposed to come up with 4 but he could only come up with 2)
Son of Stephen and Jennifer, cousin of Hunter and Camden, Grandson of Sarah, Andrew, Edwinna and Winton (he was going to write "son of Mom and Dad)
Lover of video games, bakugan (thank you Aline!), Spongebob
Who feels sad (because he has to go to school), happy, proud
Who needs water, mom and dad, house
Who fears the dark, spiders (unlike the Phui boys, who loves them enough to hold them by their little legs), and bees
Who gives Bakugans, love and help (This is one he had a really hard time with. I think he realized that he didn't give a whole lot)
Who would like to see Nick (Centrone), Kevin, and Haleigh (yes, his arch enemy from Harrisburg. He needs her help in Sly.)
Resident of Knoxville, TN
Yoder

As you can imagine, we had a lot of fun doing this! :)

Chinese Food Episode

2008-08-25T13:01:00.000-07:00

So, the other day we were eating Chinese food (and Aline, not because we are Chinese, because we are NOT) and Christian was enjoying his favorite plate of Lo Mein noodles and sesame chicken. Well, I had put the food away before he was finished with his food. When done he asked where all the food went because he was done and wanted some more. I told him that I had given him enough (it was a huge plate) and that he didn't need to eat anymore. Steve said that if he was still hungry he could eat an apple or some vegetables. Well, he was not happy. His next comment was "Do you want me to die in the middle of the night?". We were very shocked by this question and said "Of course not". Well, he responded with "Then I need more chinese food or I can die while I am sleeping because I didn't eat enough noodles". So, your body will just perish later if you don't enough now. Where in the world did he get that from? I have no idea. So in case you guys are wondering, if you don't eat enough chinese food at dinner time, you can die in the middle of the night. This is life's fact according to Christian!!!

The newest addition to our family

2008-08-20T14:07:00.000-07:00

I wanted introduce everyone to our dog, Jackson. He is 5 months old and is a beagle. We had a difficult time naming him. Christian wanted to name him Underdog but Steve and I absolutely refused that name (I would not have minded Shoestring). We finally agreed on Jackson (Christian's suggestion also, much better than Underdog). He is a very high maintenance dog (just like everyone else in the family) and requires a lot of attention. He is very hyper (I wonder where he got that from!) and energetic. We have had a difficult time house training him but I believe we have it down now. He is a great dog and we all love him very much (well, most of the time anyways because sometimes I can just murder him).

Christian's First Day of School

2008-08-19T18:45:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to show some pictures of Christian's first day of Third grade. It was a very hectic morning and even after a week of school he is still trying to adjust to the early schedule. Just yesterday morning, Steve went to his room to get him started and Christian was crying, "but, I didn't get any sleep, it can't be time to get up. I just went to bed". HA! I know how that feels!!On a sad note, this was the first time that Christian has had a first day of school without his best bud, Nicholas. As you can see on the previous pictures, Janet and I had always taken a picture of them together. Christian misses Nicholas very much and wishes to back in Harrisburg. Enjoy the pictures.

Christian's First Day of 3rd Grade

Christian and Nicholas on the First Day of 2nd Grade

Christian and Nicholas first day of 1st Grade

Christian, Matthew and Nicholas Preschool September 2004

Christian, Nicholas, and Matthew first day of 3 year old Preschool (Sept 2003)

Christian and Nicholas in March 2002
Christian and Nicholas in Gymboree together in 2001

P.S. I couldn't find their second year of preschool and I don't think we got them together for their kindergarten picture (Janet and I can't remember why but it was probably because I was late for the bus or something).

2008-08-17T13:35:00.000-07:00

Hi. Just wanted to share a very important event we just had. Christian got baptized last month. It was so nice. Most of the family from Memphis were able to come down and participate in this event. Christian did not want a lot of people at his baptism so we decided to have a "cl0sed" baptism. Nana and Aunt Judy gave the talks on baptism and the Holy Ghost. Jason, Sunshine, Camden, Jeremy, Hunter, and Jacob also came. It was nice to have family around. Christian looked so sweet and innocent all in white. It was great to see him in the waters of baptism. Steve said that when they were walking out of the font (after Christian decided to take one last dive into the water) Christian exclaimed, "That was awesome!". It was great!

2008-08-16T20:22:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone. This is my first post on my blog. I wanted to talk about our vacation that we just took to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. We met the Prouses there and spent the week hanging out at the beach and relaxing. It was great. We rented a beach house that was about a couple of blocks from the beach. Steve and Dwight did a lot of fishing. For Steve, we could call it his "fishing" trip. It was nice because he actually went "catching" instead of "fishing". And they actually prepared and cooked up the stuff that they caught (YUCK!!). Aline and I did some shopping and was able to have a girl's night out but it ended up being a bust. We went to see "The Mummy" and it wasn't all the great and then we tried to find a place to eat but it was almost 10pm and a lot of the restaurants were closing at that time. Then we tried to find a place with internet access and could not find one. So, we spent most of our time driving around the Outer Banks and ended up at Sonic for a bite to eat. Not what you call a great girl's night, but it was spent without kids so it was good. "That will do, pig." Anyways, the time went by so quickly and it was time to go home. We had a great time and hope to go to the beach again next year. Here are some pictures of us at the beach.

Christian Boogie Boarding. He loves to catch waves. The waves got pretty rough at the end
of our vacation that he actually busted his board in half. This is me coming in for a landing!
Christian and me having fun at Miniature Golf.
Wow! What fun he is having!
Steve and Christian (sorry about the dots, it
started raining while we were golfing)
Aline and me at the beach. Aren't we just gorgeous?????
Aline riding some waves in. How brave!!!!!! .

Enjoying our food at Fuji. My bite, of course, was the biggest and I believe between Aline and me, I have the smallest mouth.:) I certainly bit off more than I can chew, literally!!!