Finally, Erin time!!!!!!

Erin came over for the day!!!! It was the first time in 3 years that we did not spend Christmas morning together, we were sad, but are definately making up for it.
When Olivia heard Erin was coming for the day, she got really excited, as did I.


Erin brought the older 2 remote-controlled helicoptor/men. When they master flying them and not crashing them, they can also play laser tag with them.


Maddox asked everyone for Choo-Choos this year. Erin did not let him down! He got two of them. However, as soon as he openned them he had to take his afternoon nap. 10 minutes after I put him to bed (Without the trains) I found him cuddling with trains instead of his stuffed dog.


The BEST gift given this year was to me!!!! Erin had a friend of hers take a photo of Olivia and myself and turn it into a chalk drawing. IT IS AMAZING!!!!!!!

Christmas Part III, and final.

The children were all nestled all snug in their carseats with visions of Webkins, Star Wars, Cars, and Baby Einstein dancing in their heads.


While the kids were dreaming, Erin and I were hanging out. Yep, she was going north while we were heading south... What's the most logical thing to do? Stop in Rantuel, IL for gas, bathroom breaks and hugs!!!!!!!!!!!!


Looks like Santa came, he was rather messy with the gingerbread men cookies, leaving crumbs on the table and in his mug of milk!


All four kids excited about their full stockings.


The biggest kid of all, giddy with excitement. He's holding a Wii controler.

Cooper, very excited that Santa came through! He got not just one Webkins, but two!


Santa heard Nelson's pleas, he has been missing since yesterday moring, but in his place Anakin and Darth Vader have been patrolling the house.


Maddox was thrilled to find his very own crayons in his stocking. It became even more exciting when he realized the crayons had Lightening McQueen and all the Cars on them.

Olivia really enjoyed just watching the boys get excited about all of their gifts, but managed to score some good stuff herself! She's loving the new Baby Einsteins activity center.

Christmas Part II

Nelson and Cooper playing with Ben and Stuart.


Cooper and Nelson playing their new gameboy games that Uncle Andy (or Randy) gave them. Maddox just looking on and wanting so badly to be one of the "big boys".


Olivia talking to her cousin Tyler.




Cooper and Nelson showing off their new hand-held games from Santa.


Maddox quenching his thirst at dinner.


Olivia trying out Layna's doll bed.


All 8 "kids" ready for church.

The kids all ready for the long drive home!

Wii pathetic-ness

Travis and the boys got a chance to sit on Santa's lap and they all asked for their favorite toys. Cooper wanted Transformers and Webkins, Nelson wanted a Batmobile and Star Wars guys, and Maddox wanted a choo-choo. Travis, on the other hand, asked for a Nintendo Wii.

Needless to say, the boys and Travis were exstatic when Travis unwrapped a Wii controller with a note saying that the rest of the gift was downstairs; and I'll have to admit I was able to join in the excitement when I found Wii Fit game with my name on it.

I haven't had a chance to try out the Wii Fit yet, but so far, I've learned a couple of things...

1. I can't play baseball to save my life.
2. I'm glad that in tennis, you can take more than 2, 3, or 4 swings at the ball.
3. If you get 6 strokes over par on a hole in golf, the game will tell you to give up on that hole and try the next one!!!! On the 3 hole game, par 12, I finished with a 22.
4. When doing the Wii fitness (agility, coordination, balance) test, I am as fit as a 54 year old! Watch out mom and dad, I'm only a year younger than you...

But, there is a silver lining- I rock at Wii Bowling! Travis had a personal best game, even getting 2 strikes and a 9 in the 10th frame, achieving an all time high score of 154. Unfortunately for him, this was my score in the 8th frame, and I finished with a measly 196, to cap off a best of 3 win. I was proud of him though, he congratulated me on a good game, before muttering something about going upstairs to salvage what's left of his ego. All I heard was the sound of his feet going up the steps when I asked him for best 3 of 5!

Christmas part I

Maddox talking to the Santa ornament. He was telling it he wanted a choo-choo.


Sophia and Olivia by the Christmas tree.


The cousins posing with their gifts from Greg and Bonnie. Greg and Bonnie always give the coolest books to the kids! This year was no exceptioin.

My boys and their "gourmet" taste

Apparently tuna noodle casserole is a delicacy in the Ferris household... Cooper and Nelson had 2 HUGE helpings (look at Nelson, it's intoxicating!!!).


Maddox had to show some tuna-noodle love. (Notice the chin injury. Maddox wiped out this moring and got a "hardwood floor burn".)

Don't be alarmed!

It's not an alien baby, I promise, it's Olivia. This is what happens when I hand her off to Travis and run a movie back to the redbox. He plays with her hair and gets her to go all "Aunt Sheila" on us (cross-eyed)

SNOW DAY!

Look at *all* the snow we got!!! That amount of snow warrented a snow day for the boys today. Needless to say, they are thrilled. They have enjoyed 1 movie, are getting ready to eat pizza, and then will be baking cookies. WOW, what a rough Monday for them. Travis didn't have to go into work today, he had continued ed. classes. So he'll be home early as well. Looks like the Ferris Family is going to finally have a decorated Christmas tree.

Sunday happenings

Olivia modeling her adorable dress, leggings, and cowgirl boots. She was all dressed and ready for church. I had to get a picture of her in this outfit, it was one of my favorites and she's outgrowing the dress and boots (oh the horror my child, at 4 months old, outgrowing a 3 month dress and newborn size boots).


Travis taking a break from our church Christmas dinner to read books to Maddox and his friend Andrea. I wish I had been in the nursery minutes later when both Maddox and Andrea climbed onto Cooper's lap and he read them 2 books (completely unassisted!!!! Yeah for the wonderful Rockwood tutors!!!!)

Cooper, the amazing big brother.

While trying to make dinner tonight, Maddox was being very demanding of our attention. Cooper, seeing this took him into his lap and started reading to him. It was a glorious 5 minutes for us to finish our dinner preperations.

Olivia says HI

ear infection recovery

Maddox woke up screaming Tuesday morning. He continued to do so for 5hrs, non-stop!! I got him into the doctor that afternoon. Thankfully there was a fast diagnosis and treatment. He has his first ear infection. Today after his nap he was still kind of cranky, so he took a cookie, his dogs, and his Thomas the Train boots and climbed into my bed to watch Little Einsteins.

I'm a scrooge...

I am 100% finished Christmas shopping, and have been for quite a while now. I have all the wrapping paper ready to go, but no desire to wrap presents. I have recipes pulled, ingredients bought, and grand plans for Christmas cookies and yummy bars and breads, but again, no desire to bake. I did finally put the stockings up yesterday. Maybe by this weekend we will have the tree up. I would love to blame the weather, it's in the 50s and rainy today, but it was cold all last week...
This funk needs to leave me, soon! Otherwise Santa is going to be forced to put the kids' presents under my house plant.

On a cute note, Maddox was being really sweet to Olivia this morning and I managed to catch it.

Maddox and Olivia wanted to say good morning!


Olivia smiling for Midwest Ortho.

Recant!!!

No HGTV tonight. I was given the wrong information.
It's NEXT week.
7PM Central time.
Holiday Windows 2008

That is the show that will be giving Olivia and myself our television debut.

Set your DVR

Mom, set your VCR.
Sunday, 7PM Central, HGTV.
Top 10 Christmas Towns

Olivia and I will be making our TV debut.

Bonding with Uncle Tim

We had too much fun this weekend. It wore Olivia and her Uncle Tim out!

Holiday weekend

Olivia showing how excited she was for Thanksgiving!


My kids with my parents! Can never have too many of these pictures.


A generation... Grandma Van Dyk, Mom, Me, and Olivia


Maddox very excited to show off the choo-choo under Grandpa and Grandma's Christmas tree.

Olivia hanging out on the reindeer in Grandpa and Grandma's family room (doesn't evey family room have one this time of year?)

Newest Family Pictures

I never knew how hard it was go get a great picture of all 4 kids! I settled for a good one.

Olivia's Dedication

The whole family. (not at all a good picture, but at least Maddox wasn't crying and the older 2 were looking in the direction of the camera)


Grandma and all her grand-daughters.


Chilling in Aunt Sheila's arms. Aunt Sheila even managed to get her to go to sleep during the service.


During lunch Olivia decied she had enough of the crazy family. Thankfully they all wore her out. She got home and slept for over 3 hrs.

The Awesomeness of Daddyhood

Most days, being a father feels the same as any other. It doesn't matter if you're a new dad of one or a seasoned dad of more than 4, the special moments seem few and far between the endless amounts of teaching, telling, asking, yelling, refereeing, disciplining, bathing, dressing, diapering, pacifier-hunting, toy-fixing, and everything else we do because we love our children.

And when you add to that, the stress of trying to fill Mom's shoes while she's at the dentist, life can be a bit overwhelming. Tonight was that sort of night, when I added cooking and cleaning to the list. (My wife does much more than that, but I've accepted the fact that she's better than me at some things. At first it was difficult to admit, but after realizing I married a SuperMom who manages a house, 6 different schedules, and the stresses that comes with it, while I simply try to survive it, I had to face reality.)

But today, the overwhelming day ended up being special. After making a pot-luck dinner of 1 left-over chicken quesadilla, 3 pieces of left-over, kid-made pizza, 4 corn dog bites, and 15 pizza bites--all items that fit on the stoneware and can reheat at 350 for 15 minutes while I feed Olivia a bottle-- the boys and I enjoyed our bachelor meal.

And after they had put their dishes away and started coloring, I began setting up Cooper's spelling homework when Nelson all of a sudden interrupted me and said, "Dad, I want to ask Jesus into my heart!" At which point, he realized how vulnerable he just made himself and his tenderness showed and he began to cry.

Women probably don't understand this, but guys usually don't cry when they're hurt, mad, sad, or angry. Sometimes they do, but it usually comes from the act of being vulnerable with another person, not from the emotion itself. But it was an awesome thing to share that moment with my son.

So after they got ready for bed, we said our prayers, and then Nelson and I said the same prayer I prayed with his older brother earlier this year, "Dear Jesus, I know that I do bad things sometimes, and make bad decisions that keeps me from spending forever with you. I believe that you died on the cross for me. Please forgive me for the bad things I have done. Please come into my heart and help me make good decisions and live for you. I love you, Jesus. Amen."

Thank you God, for the reminders of just how awesome being a Daddy is!!

God speaks, we hear different things...

I'm convinced God spoke to me this morning, and it was rather clear! While unloading the dishwasher, making coffee, and making breakfast (yep three things at one time) I somehow got a pinched nerve in the base of my neck.
I quickly called for Travis and started down the hall into our bedroom to explain the immense pain in my neck. He told me it was nothing major and should go away in 3-5 days. Nothing major?!?! I want to see him have a pinched nerve and do laundry, clean the family room, and chase the kids all day.
I told him I thought this nerve was God speaking to me. I heard that I should have a cleaning service, personal chef, and live-in nanny. He said from this he heard I should keep things in their place, set the coffee pot at night, before I go to bed, and remind the boys that they are able to do things on their own.
I like my interpretation a lot better!

Winter has arrived.

My parents left yesterday morning for an 8 day vacation in SUNNY, WARM, Jamaica. I talked to them at the 2 airports and then again when they landed. I gave very detailed instructions of what they were supposed to do when they got settled. They were to go to the beach, face Northwest and BLOW!!! I was hoping they would send some of the sun and warmth to us. But, alas, they didn't. They have chosen to be selfish and keep it all to themselves. Maddox, Olivia, and I are forced to come up with our own ways of keeping warm today... I have chosen to clean, call it creative exercise. I figure sweeping, washing floors, and dusting should keep me toasty and burn off some extra weight at the same time.
Maddox gets comfy under his fleece batman blanket and watches Blue's Clues.

Olivia knows how to beat the blahs, she just snoozes with her doll from Auntie Sheila. On a side note, check out her jowls! She's getting big. I never thought she was heavy until I spent Saturday carrying her in my arms for almost 4 hrs.