Nathan turns the big 1

The baby of the family had his first birthday on Saturday January 26th. And I have to say that I feel a little bad for the poor kid. Man things change once you get to the fourth kid. While we made our best attempt to not have his big day go unnoticed....it was a little subdued. Thank goodness for our amazing new friends Mitch and Wendy and their two little boys who helped us celebrate the day. Otherwise, it would have only been our little family of 6 singing happy birthday. We did manage to make a pretty cool little horse cake. The cake is representative of a little joke we have in our family. When we found out we were moving to Montana we made up a little song about all the fun things we were going to do in Montana. And of course "Nathan rides a horsie in Montana." So the only appropriate theme for his birthday was "the horse". I realize that my one year old probably did not notice that there was not the usual abundance of presents and family for his birthday. It was probably more sad for us....knowing the extreme parties that have been thrown for the other kids. However, Nathan is such a cool laid back kid. It kinda fits his personality. Besides, the big gifts are coming. We finally bought him a dresser and a bed that should be arriving in the mail sometime soon. Everyone adores little Nathan. He is such a blessing to our family. Happy Birthday my sweet little one year old.

Another Ski Day

So, we had some major highlights this week. Once again we got to venture to the mountains and remind us why we are loving being placed in Great Falls, MT. David had a ski day for the Air Force on Friday at Showdown which is about an hour and 20 minutes from our house. http://showdownmontana.com/index.php?s=default (the link is David's idea). Anyways, Gracie had school so she couldn't go with. Instead she went home with her little friend from school, which is always fun for her. We took the boys and put Nathan and Micah in the daycare. Elijah, however, got to have his very first lesson on the bunny hill (which is not even really much of a hill at all). But there is a little conveyor they ride up and then he learned how to do pizza and french fries. After his lesson we took him up the lift to go down an easy green. He did amazing....he wasn't even scared of the lift at all. Then we went and had lunch and he played in the daycare while David and I got to hit the slopes by ourselves again. It was so much fun...and I have to say we have both improved exponentially. David and I have gone 1 other time at showdown and were very tentative last time, especially down some of the more difficult blues. This time the blues were no problem for us....even though I thought they would be. We can't wait to go again and again. We especially are super pumped to get Gracie going too.

My little baby

So my poor little baby is not feeling so good. Yesterday I woke up at 6:00 am to Gracie announcing that she was going to throw up. That was not acceptable in her book....because she just couldn't miss school. And I quote "I can't throw up because then I won't be able to go to school and learn" she said in a very dramatic voice. Well, I guess you can say it's mind over matter.....she braved it out and didn't end up, well you know. So, I reluctantly let her go to school with a bit of a fever and some cold symptoms. Even her teacher noticed she was not feeling good.....and asked if she wanted to go home. But no way, she is a trooper. So, today when she woke up with a fever I finally convinced her it was okay for her to stay home and recooperate. It's not so bad for me....seeing as I miss her when she goes to school...and so do her brothers. I now get to take care of my little sicky. Let's hope she is feeling better later....because Daddy gets home tonight after being gone for a week. We are very excited about the fact that he has a long weekend and are anxious to spend some good quality time together.

A busy season

So it's taken awhile, but I finally have a chance to actually sit down and fill everyone in on the past month for the Oettel's. It has obviously been an extremely busy holiday season. December was filled with holiday parties for David's work....and our church. We particularly enjoyed the medical clinic's party at the country club. You can never beat a night out with giveaways and prime rib....not to mention silly games. I got ringed into playing sleigh bells (or the holiday version of chubby bunny). I did fairly well....but after about 9 marsh mellows I was finished. David's boss, who is quite a big guy won the game with about 13 marsh mellows. I said from the beginning he had an unfair advantage.

We also enjoyed our small group ugly sweater Christmas party where we came home with a new gold fish we call Jonah as our white elephant gift. December 16 we began traveling home for the big event. My older brother's wedding on the 22nd. We stopped halfway in Dickinson North Dakota for a fun night at the pool with a horrifyingly fast slide. David and Grace were the evil kinevals of the fam. We made it to St. Cloud and spent the first couple of days....then headed to the cities to run around doing errands for the wedding. Thursday night David went to the wild game and out with my brother and 13 other guys in a limo while me, michele ( my new sister-in-law), my mom and a couple of my brother's girl friends enjoyed a quiet dinner. Friday the kids went sledding with a bunch my sister-in-laws family, my brother, and then we had the rehearsal and dinner. Saturday was the highlight of the whole trip. My dad of course cried....which always gets me crying. It was such a blessed day. I am so thankful for my new sister-in-law and so proud of the man God is molding my brother to be. We had been hoping for this day for my brother for so long....and it was everything I had been praying for! Sunday we opened gifts and hung out with the family. Gracie of course opened a million gifts for Christmas and her Birthday. It's so hard to believe that my little baby is 6 years old. Christmas Eve (Gracie's birthday) we headed to St. Cloud for the annual appetizer extravaganza with David's family. We found out that David's brother and sister-in-law are having a little baby girl! Now we can finally get rid of all of Gracie's clothes we have been hanging on to for 6 years! Then on Christmas day we opened gifts with David's family. And let's just say that the kids are not lacking for presents.

I am shocked that we actually fit everything in the van. Literally the kids were surrounded with stuff in the van....and only had room to sit in their car seats. Thank the Lord we made it home safely. We saw 32 deer on the side of the road in Montana. We were on pins and needles praying the whole way! When we got back David had to work 2 days and then had a 4 day weekend...that was really nice. We got some projects done....including going through the kids toys and getting rid of a ton of them! New Years Eve we had a great king crab dinner and then put the kids to bed and had our neighbors over and spent the rest of the night playing games and stuffing our faces some more. So that about brings us into the new year. Nathan will be 1 on January 26th. His latest thing is teething. He is just now getting teeth....and unfortunately for him all four are coming at once. I think this should be a pretty sufficient update. I will try to do a better job in the new year of keeping our blog current. Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Years. Oh and if I have learned anything it is that we have forbid Grace to have a Christmas wedding! It's just so busy.

There is no Santa

So there comes a time in a family where the serious discussion of Old St. Nick seems to be the hottest topic of conversation. Sunday night after a busy weekend we sat down as a family, popped some popcorn and watched "Elf" the movie. The kids loved it....and daddy probably laughed the loudest. After a discussion about what the kids thought about Santa we realized Grace was fully convinced that Santa is real....and that Christmas would not be the same without him. While we have never emphasized Santa...we didn't exactly discourage him either. We pretty much would just fill their stockings with toothbrushes, socks and other things that Santa loves to bring....of course! Why Grace thought Santa would actually bring these types of things I have no idea, but we decided we needed to remind our children why we celebrate season....which is the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Plus, knowing Grace's personality we believe reinforcing the idea of Santa could confuse her faith. We don't want her believing so strongly and then be upset with us that we lied to her. We also didn't want our kids to think of the very real Jesus like they think of Santa. So, we very gently told the kids that we like to pretend about Santa....and that their was a man that lived who made toys for kids....but it's just pretend. Where as Jesus is really God who came as a little baby...etc. etc. Grace was just beside herself, while Elijah completely got the fact that we just pretend that Santa comes and was just fine. We specifically told Grace that lots of her friends still believe in Santa and she didn't need to share her new epiphany. Well, let's just say Grace is not very good at keeping secrets. She came home from school the next day only to hear she has spilled the beans to her whole class....and several of her classmates were crying and very upset. Of course, it has to be my kid who has to speak the truth. We were more upset with the fact that she disobeyed us. I called her teacher....who was so gracious with the whole thing. She said it was actually really funny....and it's bound to happen every year sooner or later. I guess we have to stand by our decision to speak truth to our kids. Besides, I firmly believe you don't have to have Santa to enjoy Christmas. I will be truly happy if our Children show just as much excitement about celebrating our Saviour.

Our first Thanksgiving (just us)

So, we just celebrated the first family Thanksgiving all by ourselves. As much as we missed being with our extended family it was a great weekend. I was excited to cook our very own turkey and make all the trimmings. Everything turned out pretty amazing.....well except the turkey! I guess it wasn't that bad....but I am really really picky when it comes to my cooking. I wanted it to be the most amazing thing I had every eaten on Thanksgiving, but I think we cooked it to long. I did inject it with plenty of garlic butter and seasonings, but I am convinced my thermometer was broken. The good news is my gravy saved the day....I have to say it was almost the star of the show. Although David and the kids seemed to enjoy the homemade french silk pie I made the most! On Friday we got up at 6:30am and ventured out to the chaos at the only mall in Great Falls. And suprisingly it was pretty busy. We mostly wanted to get a new blender, because ours is not working we managed to snag one. It was a $100 dollar cuisianart for $30 dollars. Pretty good deal I thought. We found a few more gifts for the extended family (not telling)! Then we came home and watched "Home Alone" and ate popcorn. Micah is the biggest popcorn fiend in the family. Probably because we have denied him from eating it for so long due to the choking hazard. But now he is old enough to know to eat one piece at a time. Elijah was pretty hilarious during the movie. He kept saying that Kevin was such a smart boy for knowing how to get rid of the robbers! Elijah is a smart boy himself. On Saturday we went to watch the new "Enchanted" movie. Mostly for Gracie's sake....but all of the kids enjoyed it. Sunday we finished the fantastic weekend with a great church service followed by putting up our Christmas tree and decorations. I have to say it was a wonderful weekend filled with lots of great quality family time.

It's a winterwonderland

Today is a great day! To our amazement it was the first official snow in Great Falls, Montana. The kids were beside themselves. They could hardly finish eating breakfast...but after telling them they had to in order to go outside, they gobbled up the rest of their waffles. We grabbed all the newly purchased snowpants, hats gloves, snow boots and headed outside. Well, at least everyone but mommy. I was still in my pajamas. Daddy was home for the morning because he has a night helicopter flight tonight. So, he dropped Gracie off at school (with all her winter gear) and began shoveling our sidewalks and carport. The boys had a blast throwing snow on each other and actually just spending most of their time rolling around in it. Oh how blessed we are with a wonderful fenced backyard. I actually managed to get a few pictures of the fun. We are so excited for the winter season here in Montana. We are particularly excited to try out the new ski's daddy bought for Mommy, Daddy, and yes Grace and Elijah too (Sorry Micah and Nathan...you have to wait a year or so). Don't worry Boppa he bought helmets for the kids! David and I have always talked about wanting to teach the kids to ski, (as well as ourselves). We figure now is the best time seeing as we only 45 minutes from pretty good skiing....and 3 hours from Big Sky. We are going to take advantage of everything their is to do in lovely Great Falls, Montana.