Christmas 2010

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Where did the time go?!

New arrival of Baby M

Baby Madisyn is here!!!

We did it!!!

Weighing in at 7lbs. 4 oz.

19 1/4 in. long

She is very loved by all and we couldn't be happier.

Mom and M are both doing great.

Sisters and Dad are huge helps! Especially the 2 year old!

Girls, Girls, and more Girls!

Raising 1 girl......lots of money
Raising 2 girls.......lots and lots of money
Raising 3 girls.....lots and lots and lots of money
Raising 4 girls..... priceless!

We are proud to announce that a 4th girl is on her way to our home in November!
I never would have thought that we would have that many girls in our family without adding any boys. It looks like Ryan and our pig Howie are the only men around here (and Howie won't be here too long)! I was sure it was a boy but the ultra sound proved otherwise. We are really so excited though and glad to be able to add to our family.

Needed a change

Well I needed a change to my blog even though I don't update very much :) Life is good for the Kidmans though. Hey, we might get to the lower 50's for the high today and we will LOVE that. Most of the snow is gone and I even saw some tulips ever so slightly coming next to the house! The big excitement at our house the past few weeks are our new baby kittens. Our mama cat, Muffin, had 3 babies the middle of February and they are now walking around the garage (not house cats) and getting so fun. Their names: Brooke's is Banana, Sydney's is Cinnamon, and Sarah's is No-no (Her favorite word at the time they were born).

Tuesday and Wednesday are our busy dance days. Brooke is taking baton and doing very well and Syd is doing a ballet/tap class that she just loves and does so great. Recital is the first of May and a break from dance will be good. We just finished up Jazz ball with both girls playing and Ryan as their coach. It was a fun season and we have some basketball stars on our hands! Little Sarah is a hoot and a tease (just ask her Grandpa Kidman). She has the cutest smile and dimple, but also a pretty good back hand as we are trying to break a hitting habit. HELP!
The fish on the Snake River better watch out because Ryan has been out on the river any chance he gets. Being able to be outside has enlightened my spirit and the warmer weather is beautiful!

Creekside Dental

We are still here with lots to write but I'm feeling lazy and can't get my pics pulled up how I want so we will write a little today and hopefully get more later.

Well we did it!! Ryan and I are the proud owners of our very own dental practice. We were able to buy a practice from a dentist that was having to retire for medical reasons. We have moved back to SE Idaho and for us that means HOME! It all happened very quickly with a call in May and starting on July 6th in Idaho Falls. Things just fell into place and we feel like this was what we were supposed to do. It was very hard to leave Meridian and the family and friends that we love there. We went between Meridian and IF for a few weeks and now we are feeling more settled. We are renting a house in Shelley and absolutely loving being so very close to our family here!

The name of the practice is Creekside Dental and for those of you who know IF, it is on First street just east of Woodruff. What a whirlwind it has been but a great blessing and time in our lives.

The girls still say they miss Meridian and name someone quite often that they miss:( I'm with them on that too.

We are in the swing of school and dance classes and birthdays and the chill in the air of fall in SE Idaho. Spud harvest is just around the corner and we have already been gleening the fields of the early starters and getting some great potatoes. The harvest has been plenty and we have canned tons of green beans, peaches, and corn.

Ryan is doing so well and he has been busy. Running your own business is crazy and we are learning as we go.

Our house is rented out in Meridian and hopefully we will be able to sell it when the market rebounds some more.

Brooke is 7, Sydney is almost 5, and our little Sarah is 16 months, where has time gone!

No internet at my house but stay tuned for some pics when I can get them and head over to Mom's computer!

BLK

Where has time gone?! Serioulsy, since February? Oh well, forward we will go.

I haven't posted much about Brooke lately so here goes.

She is almost done with first grade! She is my little athlete. She did a great job in basketball this year and is awesome in her machine fast pitch softball. She rides her bike and the wiggle car and is always shootin' hoopes in the driveway. She plays kickball at recess and is always asking Ryan or I to play catch. Doesn't want a thing to do with dolls or anything like that, but does like Hannah Montana and High School Musical. She is going to be 7 years old in 3 days and wants a real puppy to play with (sorry sweetie, not yet). I heard a song in the car today that a couple years ago came out and she loved to hear and would sing. These are the right words' "The first breath she breathed". And here is what Brooke would always sing, "The first friend she beed". It brought a huge smile to mine and Ryan's faces everytime we heard it, even now when it comes on the radio!!

And of course I love her to pieces but now I need to release some frustration that I have. Sometimes she isn't so nice anymore, and I mean she can be downright mean. She has some attitude that I'm not too sure where it came from. Yelling and throwing things and back talking and hurting her sister. I take things away from her and she just says, "That is okay I don't like that any way". AHHHHH (That is what I say in my head)! I start to get mad and can tell that doesn't help the situation. Is this a phase? I sure hope so. What do I do? Oh the woes of being a parent!! There I feel a little better now:)'

So here is to my oldest: You are an amazing, smart, and talented girl. Keep up the great work. Be better so we can play the Wii please!

Love, Mom

Mamma Mia!!!

I heard it on Friday!! An actual mama from my Sarah that was directed and meant for ME!!!! It's crazy how that makes you feel when they know who you are and can say it. Now we need to work on the Dada department. Of course the uh-oh that she says is pretty darn cute too! Where is my tiny baby? Loving just as much the little sassy cruiser.

She headed out the open door today and stopped right before the step down to outside. I thought she would turn around and come back (I know, what was I thinking) but no, one arm went down along with the rest of her and smashed her face into our welcome mat. All I can say is OUCH. We had lots of snuggles to calm the crying and say sorry.

Syd was off to ballet today and loved every minute of it. Quite the dancer I tell ya! Wore her ballet outfit for most of the day. What a great girl.

Brooke came home from school with no homework packet, saying that she didn't get one today so there mustn't be any?! I'll have to check tomorrow. We'll have to catch up I'm sure. Last basketball practice tomorrow:( She did make a great basket at her game on Saturday. Pictures will be coming soon of that.

Lovin' my girls!

Of course lovin' the Dad too!!

Cuddle time

Guess who I got to cuddle!? Yes, she even fell asleep on my shoulder which is rare. LOVIN' IT!! I AM finding joy in the journey! These pics are from a couple of months ago. I really need to download from my camera!

So here are some of Sarah's latest and greatest feats:

Kicking and splashing in the tub like crazy.

Moving all over the family room without actually crawling, although she is very close. She gets on her knees and then back to her bottom and goes in circles.

She can get from her back and belly to a sitting position.

She doesn't have any teeth yet!

She pulls her bows out of her hair.

She has enough hair for a little pony tail on top of her head.

She rarely eats pureed baby food, she wants the good stuff. I have been feeding her off the table food for a month and a half, although she loves sweet potatoes.

She got some slurpee today and LOVED IT.

After she wakes up from her nap I find her sitting in her crib or pulling herself to her knees waiting for me.

She says moo when we read Mr. Brown can moo can you?

Throws her toys in church a couple rows ahead of us.

Loves her big sisters.

Sarah is a little sassy and wants it all her way. What would we do without her?!

Same place wrong time

Playing with Syd is so much fun. Her little laugh is contagious and her smile melts my heart. A couple of days ago was no exception for me, her story might be different.

I had just gotten ready for the day and was making my bed when she said, "Mom chase me to my room".

Okay I thought, and I inched very quietly toward her. As I got closer I turned and pretended like I was going to get her. She took off running! The only problem is that she and the doorframe were in the same place at the wrong time. It happened so fast all I could do was watch and then scoop up my crying sweetheart. Poor Syd has a big goose egg on her forehead that is black and blue (althought the butter I smeared on it kept it from getting huge, weird I know but it works!).

Today she is no worse for wear and all smiles again. Of course I didn't think to get a picture of the head injury but found a cute one of my girl anyway.

Christmas

Life is crazy today. I can't find enough time in the day to do all that I need to do and when the evening rolls around I'm too tired to do anything. I've been stressing all day about my Christmas cards and getting them in the mail. When I would sit down to work on them Sydney wanted to help too much and I wanted to tell her NO, I'M DOING IT but she only wanted to help a little bit right and what's the harm in that. She also wanted to help shovel the driveway that I have been going to clean off for a while now. I wanted to do it quickly but she kept wanting a turn with the shovel. Again I want to say NO but I stop and smile that she even wants to be with me and help. As I started to make progress again on the cards (they are already addressed) Sarah would wake up and need Mom's attention.

While I silently scream and want to cry from my self-inflicted stress, a calm comes over me and a gentle reminder comes of why we celebrate this season.

So slow down and cherish the celebration of the birth of our Savior.

A little craziness

We made the mistake of letting the girls have some Mt. Dew and Pepsi the other afternoon. We had just gotten to a little meeting about some medical insurance that wasn't supposed to be very long. The agent offered something to drink: water or pop. We asked if they had any rootbeer and she said she would see. She comes back with the other two mentioned earlier. I thought water would be fine for Brooke and Syd but due to circumstances earlier that involved crying and throwing fits and being way too tired, Ryan wasn't up for this battle and we gave in. They have had the occasional drinks of Grandpas' pepsi so it really didn't sink in that it would cause any difference in their behavior. Well I was wrong!!

We left for dinner at Wingers (our Friday night date) and then a trip to Costco. The girls were WIRED!! Now while most of this next wild business is normal it was increased a hundred fold. Running up and down isles, chasing each other around the shopping cart, laughing very loudly and then doing it all again. I found a time that they were looking at some things with Ryan and so I snuck away and looked at my own attention getters. Ryan almost went crazy trying to keep them sort of behaved. I thought I better save him as they were running to play the display pianos they have at Costco. It didn't end there though. They just couldn't sit still. The ride home was CRAZY. It took awhile for them to settle down and get to bed. Glad the next day was Saturday. No more of their own Mt. Dew or Pepsi.

Back in time

I found some pictures from the girls' first day of school. Never too late for pics right??!!

Here Brooke is getting ready to go into her class. My good friend's litttle guy is in her class as well, that is him waiting for her.

Wow, Sydney is a hoot to be with. She loves preschool and has become quite the character lately. In a prayer last night we were being thankful for our primary teachers. One of the names is Ballantyne and after Syd said that, she waited for half a second and added "cards". We giggled for awhile.

And where has the time gone for this little one. She loves being up and is getting so mobile. I spend a lot of my days ooing and gooing with her and the big sisters. She is quite the jumper and is getting the walker figured out, almost! If you can't tell Sarah looks just like her big sisters when they were her age. Truthfully, sometimes I have trouble deciding who is who in baby pictures and I didn't think I would ever do that!

Eight awesome years with this guy

Looking back 8 years ago today, I made the best decision to be with this guy forever! It was a beautiful October morning with just a slight chill to the air and the sun shining bright. A few things I received were; a bouquet of a dozen lavender roses early that morning (my favorite), a very nervous, quiet at times, and full of excitement and anticipation ride to the temple with the handsome groom, and an eternal companion! Eight years later: 4 beautiful girls (one waiting for all of us to come home), a crazy elk hunting adventure, 6 years of undergrad and dental school, many visits to grandma's and grandpa's, lots of hugs and kisses and loves from our girls, lots of learning and patience gained, more fillings than you can count, new friendships, a house, wrinkles, gray hair, and a love stronger than ever!

Thanks for the journey! I love you Ry with all my heart.

FAMILY PHOTOS

I have so much to catch up on but wanted to start somewhere. As you can see my girls are getting bigger and bigger. My husband is getting cuter and cuter. And I am loving being a Mom more and more.

More pics of the girls to come and how our summer was. Sarah is 4 months now and I don't know where the time is going.

We had such a great time getting pics with this wonderful photographer. She is so amazing and does a fantastic job. It feels good to have an updated family photo (at least until Sarah gets older). Can you believe she is a first grader?! Where did my little girl go?
This little preschooler had a great time with the photographer. This is my littlest! Smiles, smiles, smiles and cheeks, cheeks, cheeks.
I love my family!

Introducing..........

We are so very excited to introduce our newest, sweetest, cutest little Kidman.

Sarah Erin Kidman

Born: Friday May 9th

8:58 a.m.

7 lbs. 8 oz.

20 in. long
She was 10 days early and everything is great!

She is named after her great-great grandmother.

Sydney and Brooke are the best helpers and love their new sister so much.

We are thrilled that she is here with our family and feel so blessed to be new parents again. Wow, we forgot what a newborn is like but wouldn't change anything for the world. What did we do without her here!

She is already changing so much.

This one is today. Man, we love her.

Girls, Girls, Girls

Who wouldn't want another one of these two! When asked what our family dynamics are like, Brooke is quick to respond that Dad is the only boy and we have 4 girls (counting our little Rachel) and me of course.

Well if you asked her right now she would tell you that Dad is still the only boy but now we will have 5 girls in our family.....

So yes it has been a long time coming to the blog but we are very excited to announce that this time around we are now 27 1/2 weeks with our newest little girl (due in mid May). I have some selfish reasons of why I haven't put it on the blog yet, mostly I wanted to be more certain that things were all right. And everything is good, healthy and she is moving like crazy! We can't wait for her arrival.

What a memory

Sydney has such a great memory. A couple of days ago we had out the children's songbook and she was singing me a song that she learned in sunbeams.I have always wanted a piano and so mentioned that I needed to save my money and buy us a piano some day. Well today after we got Brooke off to kindergarten I was doing the dishes and Syd came up to me with a quarter she had found. "Mom this is for your piano". At first I questioned what piano and then remembered what I had said. She is so awesome. She is my little buddy.
Here are some pics from her birthday in Oct. with her purple bday cake. I thought I would throw in a Halloween picture of my "kids".

Catch up

Wow, where has time gone? There has been so much going on the past little while. I am not good at downloading my pictures from the camera so this time I won't have pictures but will get some soon.

I will start with September (was that really 3 months ago)! We didn't forget and we celebrated well, Ryan's 29 birthday on the 7th. What a young one!! So I was a garage sale goer this summer and I found a really great (never used) table saw for Ryan. I know, I know, a dentist and table saw aren't the best of friends, but he loves wood work and he promises to be very careful, so there you go! Brooke and Syd helped me make a great card and were so excited to give it to him. We also made it over to family to visit and had a birthday party with all our families for the firt time in 5 years. It was a blast, Costco cake and all.

The end of September Ryan also got to do something he truely loves, salmon fishing in Washington State. He made the trip to his cousin's house along with his Dad and brother Mike. I can't say it was the greatest ever, rain, rain, rain, made the fishing not too great and they came home with bruised egos. Les did catch one, a sucker!! Oh well maybe next year.

On to October... On the 6th Ryan and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. It was General Conference weekend and we made our way to southeast Idaho for a baptism. I had in my mind something planned for the next weekend when we would be home and be able to do something. Well my great man had some plans of his own and surprised me with an overnight trip while my parents watched the girls. I had no idea. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have Ryan as my husband and best friend. I can't wait for the next 7 years!

On October 11th my little Sydney, my baby, turned 3 years old. What a big girl. She is always so happy and is the best player. While Brooke likes to be by my side, Syd is up playing with her dolls. She is so loyal and loves us to death and of course we love her the same in return. She had been wanting a barbie doll with a horse that really bends his legs and whinnies while he jumps. It was so fun to see her happy little face when she opened up that present. It was priceless. We had a pizza party and bubble gum icecream and of course we can't forget the purple cake. She didn't care what it was as long as it was purple. We often hear her saying, "I like that because purple is my favorite".
I love my girls so much, I don't know what I did before they came!


Throughout October, Ryan went hunting for deer and elk. Luckily (for myself) he didn't get a deer, disappointing for him though. I am not a big venison fan ever since he made me deer steak when I was in my first trimester with Brooke, not a fond memory! But he did get an elk, a great story I will let him tell, wolf, coyote, bear or at least one of those and all.


On October 30th I turned the big 3 0. It was a great day. Ryan made me a cake and I enjoyed my golden birthday(turning 30 on the 30th). I'm not too sad to leave my 20's they were fun but I can tell my 30's are going to be much more. First I have a better sense of who I am and what I want out of life and second I'm not going to worry about getting older, life is just going to get better!


Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays I think mostly because of the great memories I have of being little, the leaves falling and being excited for my birthday and then going trick or treating and getting lots of candy. Well it was no different this year, although I didn't dress up, I got to live through Brooke and Sydney for this part. Brooke was a doctor and Syd was Sleeping Beauty. They had so much fun and lookes so cute. For work Ryan was Mr. Incredilbe. He wanted to be Spider Man because the people at work call him spidy. They think he looks like Toby McGuire. No luck finding a spider man costume though and he had a Mr. Incredible t-shirt from my brother who worked for direct TV so that is how Ryan Parr (aka Mr Incredible came to the Kidman house).


Enough for now, I will do November and December soon.

A Day Full Of Emotions

My day has been full of mixed emotions. Today would have been the due date of our sweet little Rachel. While the day was hard and I was weepy and emotional at different times throughout it I also had such a great peace and comfort knowing that this was the plan our Heavenly Father, Rachel and Ryan & I along with Brooke and Sydney agreed to. Would it be easy? No, the path has been hard but we have never been left alone. The Savior and our Heavenly Father knew we would need Them along with family and friends to help us get throught this. I truly have been blessed with a comfort that comes out of nowhere sometimes it feel like. What a perfect plan we had set before us, nothing was left out.

I think of her often and wonder what her life would have been like here with us. I have read some good books that have strenthened my testimony and shed a little light on why this had to happen and what will happen in the life to come. Ryan and I have stayed close and I am so grateful to him for his love and understanding, I'm not too easy to live with somedays :)

This is Rachel Lynn

She was perfect, just needed a little more time to grow.

These are all some different memories that we were given to always keep her close in our hearts. The top left is a Willow Tree statue called "The Angel of Remembrance" given by my brother Drew and his wife and one of my best friends Kellie, thank you again. The flowers are some from the many we received, and the other Willow Tree box is Mother and child from my Aunt Carrie. The hospital had a company come and they were able to get an impression of Rachel's hand and foot. This was a surprise to me, a great one. And the beautiful frame for the picture was from Ryan's Mom and Dad.

IT'S OFFICIAL.....

It's official I have a kindergartener.....she started on Monday.

Brooke has been so excited to start kindergarten and that has been the subject of conversation for the last little while. We have been talking it up so that she would be exctied and not be scared to get on the bus and be gone all afternoon. Well I really think all that talk was for me instead. Brooke has done really great and I am the one that was afraid if she would be fine on the bus and get to her classroom okay. My confession: I followed the bus to school and without her seeing me I made sure she made it to her classroom. Of course she made it just fine and was all smiles. I forget how much she can do and that she is growing up! As the bus pulled away from our house the tears came (what a baby, I know!). I am glad she is growing and learning and that she can be independant, as long as she comes home and gives me a hug. I LOVE BEING A MOM. Even through the hard times I would never give it up!

So thank you Brooke and Sydney for being my daughters and loving me.