Toledo Volunteer Fire and EMS

Sometimes people you don't even know can bless your life. This Saturday two lovely young ladies showed up to our house to deliver this basket to our family. They were volunteers from the Toledo Fire and EMS. One of the girls was on the scene when Brian was hurt this year. They said that we have been on their mind these last nine months. It was one of the nicest things that anyone has ever done for us.

The basket was filled with cookies, candy, hot chocolate, marshmallows, popcorn, nuts, fruit, five movies, a game and a gift card to Walmart. We are so very thankful that they would go to great lengths to make our Christmas a little brighter. Thank you to all the volunteers at the Toledo volunteer Fire and EMS.

Merry Christmas!

This has been a wonderful Christmas at the Conrad house. Grandma Gay was able to come up from California. This was the first time we have ever spent Christmas with her. We love having her here.
Since Grandma and Grandpa live so close they came over for Christmas eve. We had appetizers and played board games. We had alot of fun.

We had a pretty low key Christmas day . We told the kids that I would have Brian up by 7. That was a hard thing to do since we were up past midnight. We have many things to be thankful for this year. Especially our children. Here are just a few of the things we love about them.

Brianna-She is the most helpful teenager I have ever met. Sure, she wont clean her room if her life depended on it, but she will do anything I need even if she complains all the way.

Katrina-She is such an obediant child. She always tries to do what is right and set a good example, even if its not popular.Andrew-He is the sweetest most loving boy you will ever meet. He is not embarresssed to give me a huge hug and kiss in front of everyone of his friends. He always does what is right(except when it comes to teasing his sisters)
Jenna-She loves to give hugs and kisses and she loves her brothers and sisters. she wished they would play with her all the time.
Quinton- The child that never lets you get bored. He is so loveable and is a joy to have in our family

We love stockings at our house. It keeps the kids busy until we wake up in the morning.

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We hope you had a merry Christmas. Love The Conrads

Pre-Christmas Happenings

This is our pathetic little elf tree. We went small this year because Brian needs room to get around the house in his wheelchair. Next year we are putting up a full size tree, even if it means Brian has less room. Sorry honey, it's just not the same.

Every year the kids get all their presents out, put them in a pile and count them. They know who has more and who has the biggest. Then they try to guess what they have. Jenna has the biggest present and she guessed it is a life size barbie. Yeah right!

Quinton just likes taking everyones presents and licking them. There must be some magical power in licking them.
I am not beyond bribery. I like when the kids rooms are clean at Christmas time so when they haul their load of toys to their room they don't trip and die. They were lucky enough to get bribed instead of threatened to clean their room. They clean so much faster that way too.

Gingerbread house!

The kids have been begging to decorate their gingerbread house. They have been waiting impatiently for a few days until everyone was finally healthy enough to participate or watch.One of the sides fell in shortly after they started. Jenna was ready to eat it as soon as the last candy was on. Yum.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

It has snowed all week here in our little town. I don't ever remember snow lasting this long in the 10 years I have lived in WA. Everytime I shovel the walkway and wheelchair ramp it gets covered with more snow. I was trying to keep it clear in case of an emergency so Brians wheelchair could actually get to the van. Too bad for him. He did atempt to make it outside yesterday to see how Kyle was doing on the pantry shelves but he didnt make it very far. I had to push him through 12 inches of snow.

Quinton THE Gamer!

Quinton loves to be a big boy. So if the kids or Brian do something he loves to play along. He is notorious for taking the kids DS and running off to play.

I talked them into giving him the Gameboy to play with as a distraction.

Now everytime Brian plays the Wii, He has to grab a remote and play along.

SNOW

I LIKE SNOW

First snow of the season

We had the first snow of the season on Friday night. The kids were excited to head outside and play in the snow.

After about twenty minutes Andrew and Jenna came in crying about how cold they were. Apparently they weren't aware of how cold it can get when you roll around in snow and splash in puddles.

Christmas concert

Wednesday was the schools annual Christmas concert at Napavine for grades K-3. Jenna had a special part as a crayon. WOW. Grandma and Grandpa were able to come too!

After sitting through 4 grades of kids singing songs they brought all the kids out and had them sing a few more. Then the night really livened up when a special guest came to steal the show. No it was not Santa Clause, it was Elvis. Mr. Bluhm a fourth grade teacher was all dressed up and singing the part.
I was so thanksful that this was our last Christmas program until Quinton goes to school.

My Hott Date!

This week for our date I finally got to go to SUSHI. I have been impatiently waiting for about a month and a half. Everyone knows I LOVE SUSHI! After a bad experience at our local sushi restaurant when I went with Heidi, I swore I would never go to that place again. The closest place is in Olympia, so we don't get that far from home to often. Our meal looked like a work of art.

Brian thinks he is pretty funny sometimes.

Free wheelchair rides

Brian always tries to make the best out of any situation. Being in a wheelchair hasn't been any different. I have went to find him in the gym after church to see him giving the kids wheelchair rides around the gym with 10 kids chasing after him.(I saw an accident waiting to happen) Friday at the ward dinner was no suprise. Once the gym was cleared out he was giving Doug a ride around the gym.

Quinton the helper!

Quinton loves to help around the house. If he sees you doing laundry he loves to help put the clothes in the dryer. On Sunday he decided to get a head start on laundry by getting the detergent prepped and ready to go.


He is always so good at cleaning up his mess. Of course he cleans as well as a one year old can.

He wasn't too sure about having soap on his feet.