The Josephs Family: 2017

Sunday, February 12, 2017

Annual Cookie Day 2016

Annual Cookie Day with the Soden Family was on December 10th. We started our preparations the night before! The kids helped Daddy roll out the sugar cookie dough and choose the shapes we would be using for our cutouts!

Mads was on a roll placing the cookie cutters:

Nate got in on the action with some advice from Mads:

Don't forget to flour the board....

and have our annual flour fight! :)

Nate wasn't happy with his first sprinkling of flour on his face (per usual)

Then we convinced Nate that it was no biggie, and everything was OK after he was able to flour me!!

Somehow Dashie even got floured!

Saturday, December 10th was the big day! We headed over to Aunt Kimmy's house to make the rest of the cookies. Up first were peppermint thumbprints. Nate helped to smash the peppermint:

Then Mads took a turn showing Michael how to do it:

We also had Grandma Honey's Melting Moments to make. Mads and Nate are expert cookie rollers now!

Time to frost the cutouts! We remembered to cut the batch in half this year... we still had lots to do. Luckily Grandma J and Victor came by and stayed to help.

Nate went a bit heavy on the sprinkles! ;)

Mads decorated her tree:

Michael was even a master froster this year!

We ended up with lots of Cutouts, Peppermint Thumbprints, Melting Moments and Ninjabread Men!

It was such a fun day with the Sodens!

Friday, February 10, 2017

Christmas Traditions

Saturday, November 26th was our day to head out tree hunting. We went to Williams Tree Farm with the Soden crew. We got to the tree farm bright and early. We started with a horse drawn wagon ride out to the trees. We took our time and found a winner. Then we walked through the play area where Mads and Nate had some fun playing with their cuzzies!

Then it was time to fin:d the Big Guy!! Mads and Nate were able to wait in line to talk with Santa, while Michael and Brantley weren't quite diggin' it. (That's why the boys seem to be missing from the pictures - don't worry, they went back the following weekend and got their turn with Santa!)

Mads and Nate with Mr. Claus

Asking for their favorites!

That same afternoon we did our decorating. We started with Miss Amelia! Her stocking was hung, little tree decorated, and her beautiful kissing ball fro Grandma Mamie was placed as well!

Great job kiddos!

Back at home we decorated our big tree. Nate helped put the angel on top:

and Mads got to plug the angel in!

After all the decorations were placed... what a good looking tree!

Great work, kiddos!

Amelia's special ornament is always so beautiful being lit by Christmas lights:

The finished product!

There are so many wonderful meanings behind our beautiful decor. The stockings for our entire family were made by Grandma Mamie and Aunt Jeanne.. The nativity set was a gift from Gramma J. And of course, the beautiful clock used to belong to Grandma Honey and Grandpa Eddie. We also have hand made wood crafts by Grandpa Pete in each bedroom and the ornaments that Grandma Selma and Grandpa Pete gave to me each year growing up on the tree. Christmas is such a wonderful time of great memories!

Thursday, February 9, 2017

Mads gets a temporary noodle!

In our quest to meet deductibles, co-insurances, and out of pocket maximums in 2016 - Mads decided it was her turn to keep the OR busy.

One night at Nate's football practice Andrew and I both noticed a lump on Mads' neck. I took her in the next day to see the Pediatrician who thought it was most likely a thyroglossal duct cyst. We did an ultrasound to verify and also saw the ENT doctor. He confirmed that a cyst was the most likely diagnosis. We treated with antibiotics for a couple weeks, hoping that the cyst would decrease in size or go away completely. When it didn't go away we returned to the ENT doctor and he suggested that we could go on without any further course of action and keep an eye on the size, or to surgically remove the cyst. He said that even if we didn't remove the cyst now, we probably would end up doing so down the line in the future. We decided to go ahead with the removal.

The big day was Tuesday, November 15th. I was a night shift the night before surgery - so Mads and I had a little extra snuggle time to calm her nerves before I left for work.

Here's a look at the offending cyst!

The next morning I met Mads, Nate and Daddy downstairs in the surgery center. Daddy had put the lidocaine gel on the back of her hands, just like Nate had done. Here's her fighting stance!

Minnie Mouse gown - check!

Super cool hair bonnet and cuddle friends - check!

Surgery site marked - check!!

And away she went! Mads' surgery was longer than Nate's - I think she was in OR for about an hour and a half.

When she came back she was looking pretty rough. Her neck was bandaged up, but we had her new unicorn friend from Gramma J and her blanket ready to cuddle.

IV in the left hand and a bandaged up neck:

There was a little drain that was left in after surgery. We lovingly called it the "noodle."

When we got home around noon Mads snuggled in bed with me while I napped... all her friends came too.

She was feeling better that same evening and we put together some Legos!

The next morning we headed back to the ENT and he removed the noodle. From then on all we had to do was place a bandaid over the incision. Mads' friend even sent a care package with fancy bandaids! :)

After staying out of the pool for a week, and once she was water-tight again, she was back to Gators. Nothing slows this girl down! :)

Mads remaining scar, two weeks later:

It's looking even better now! So proud of how tough our little Pickle is!

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Family Adventure Day

Have you ever looked at the calendar and realized that the sun, stars, moon, and planets have aligned just right for you and your family... and you ALL have a COMPLETE SATURDAY OFF with NO PLANS AT ALL?! It doesn't happen very frequently, but that's exactly what our calendar showed us on Saturday, November 5th. An entire day without plans! No work, no swim meets, absolutely NOTHING!

After we got over the shock of what was happening - we hit the road and made the day into an adventure day!

We decided to head west for the day. Our first stop was in Cuba City - AKA the City of Presidents! The Main Street lamp posts are decorated with each president of the United States. There's a little park with some fun train activities. The kids drove this train... right off the track! :)

Hanging with the conductor!

Ah! The Presidental Caboose - signed by First President Bush in 2004. Ooooh!

Then it was on to Potosi! The kids found a nifty little doorway into the hillside. Leftover from the miners, perhaps?

Mads requested a photo in front of the big beer bottle. I'm not sure what to think now that she's been photographed here and with the Worlds Largest 6-pack...

The whole family was definitely along on this adventure trip! <3 p="">

We rounded out the afternoon with a stop at the M in Platteville!!

The kids and I made it to the top! We didn't have to count the steps - there was a plaque that counted each one for us! 266 steps!

Our view from the top!

That's alot of white rocks!

PS. I honestly think it was harder getting back DOWN the 266 steps! There was nothing to hold on to, the handrail was on the other side to help people up the steps... and with jelly legs from climbing up, I was a little nervous I was going to biff it! :)

Just as we were arriving back into Monroe at the end of our day of adventure - Miss Amelia painted the sky for us.

What a perfectly unplanned day!

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Angelic Wizards

Halloween was a fun and busy day! The festivities started with the Halloween parade at school, Nate was in the far corner of the gym, cleverly disguised as Harry Potter!