It's a Boy!!

Bennett Otis Mishler joined our family December 14th at 4:41pm. He weighed 8 lbs. 3.6 oz and was 21 inches long. He had a full head of dark hair and perfect little features! We are so excited to have him join our family!! The delivery went very smooth, thank goodness for epidurals!
I was so grateful to have my sister Heidi here!

Mom, Dad and baby Bennett.

He came out and hardly cried at all! This kid already has such a sweet disposition.

Here's our family of 5! The kids love him. Kenadee wants to hold him all the time. Benson often looks over at him, smiles and says "That's my brother!"

The Story:

Tuesday morning I woke up wondering if my water had broke durning the night. There wasn't any gush, just a slow and steady leak. I was unsure so I took Ben to work and told him to keep his phone on him. I went home, showered and got my hospital bag together, then I called my sister-in-law Cindy who said she thought I should go to the hospital. I wasn't sure because I wasn't having consistant contractions. It was so much more obvious with my other two pregnancies that it was time to go to the hospital. I also called the doctors office and they said to go to the hospital. The worst that would happen is that they send me home. I went and picked up Ben and we went to the hospital. It was about 9:30am. When we got there they said they had to check to see if there was amniotic fluid present. If so they would admit me and then start patosin to get labor going. Well it was my water breaking! I was admitted. I asked if I could have an epidural before they started the patossin. (My experience with Benson taught me this!) Once everything was started it was just a waiting game. I was exhausted and completely relaxed from the drugs, so I slept off and on until about 4pm. At that time Ben wanted to run home and grab Heidi, so he asked if the nurse could come check my progress. I was dialated to an 8 1/2 and 100% effaced. The nurse Lauren called the doctor who came in to check on me. He said ok when you feel pressure give me a call again. Well as he was walking out the door I felt something. I asked Lauren to check and sure enough the head was in place ready to come out. The doctor came right back in. The first push brought out the head and the second the body! At this point they asked Ben to announce the baby's gender. It was a boy!! We were thrilled. He was healthy and perfect! They put him on my chest right away and the sweet boy let out just one little cry then just hung out while he was wiped down and cleaned up. As for me there were no tears at all! This by far was my easiest delivery!!

Kenadee's Princess Party

The Saturday after Kenadee's birthday we had a party with Heidi, the Mishlers and the Chappells. I had made the girls these tutus for the party. Kenadee helped plan her party. She wanted to make bracelets, paint nails, dance and watch a princess show. Grandma Sue sent up the crown, earrings and banner.

She got some great gifts! The Chappells gave her the Cinderella and Aladdin movies. The Mishlers gave her a reading light and Cindy's favorite childhood Christmas book. We got her this kids camera. This girl loves to take pictures!

Here are Kenzie, Kena, Jordyn and Benson enjoying their princess cake.

Cute Benson wanted a picture too.

The girls in their tutus. (Jordyn, Kena, Kenzie and Lilly)

Kenadee with her princess cake.

Kenadee turns 4

My sweet little Kenadee turned 4! She is such a sweet and spicy little girl. She loves to sing and dance. She is extremely inquisitive! She loves to use her imagination and make up silly stories. She is an absolute blessing in our lives!
Uncle David brought Kenadee a ham for her birthday. Don't ask, just know it was Uncle Dave!

Kenzie came by to say hi and brought Kenadee a treat and a rose.

Kenadee opened presents from Grandma Sue, Papa and Nana and Aunt Heidi. She got several great books, a game and some money.

For her birthday breakfast we made pancakes, eggs and sausage. Her favorites! That night we had dounghnuts and sung her happy birthday.

Christmas Crafts

Grandma Sue sent up these cute gingerbread people to decorate for our tree.
Aunt Heidi came to visit and help out with things when the baby comes. We love our aunt Heidi!!

Cutting down the Tree

The day after Thanksgiving we bundled up and headed north with David, Cindy, Lilly and Garrett to cut down our own Christmas trees. It was a bit of an effort for me being 37 weeks pregnant! It was a lot of fun though, and we are excited to make this a yearly tradition for our family.
I always thought it was silly how we make snowflakes with paper. I mean seriously do snowflakes really look like that? Well the answer is yes!! Can you believe the detail on this thing? This is how snow falls here in Alaska!

This is the tree we picked! It looked like the perfect size out there in the woods, but when we got it home we had to cut off another 3 feet!

Kena and me enjoying laying in the snow.

Here is Lilly performing her back bend exercises.

Kenadee just plopped down and started doing snow angels. (Thank goodness for snowsuits!)

Here are the troopers! Kena and Benson did amazing.

Here we are just getting started. This is when we were still warm!! :)

Cindy and Lilly getting bundled up for the journey.

Thanksgiving 2010

We spent Thanksgiving with the Chappells. Stephanie made a killer meal, with a very juicy turkey. I added my part by making a pie. Serious points go to Steph for all of her efforts!!
We enjoyed everything traditional about a good meal. Potatoes, stuffing, green beans, rolls, deviled eggs, fruit, the yummiest candied sweet potato pie, and of course turkey.

The kids loved their little table.

It snowed that whole day, so the girls bundled up and headed outside with the dads.

Kenadee and daddy with his true Alaskan hat from the lovely ladies at work back in AZ.

The first snowfall

It snowed the day after Halloween. The kids were excited to go out and "crunch" the snow

Halloween 2010

This year for Halloween we put the kids in skeleton pjs for their costumes. We went to the ward trunk or treat and froze! The kids both had tights under their pjs, snow boots and hats and coats, but our thin Arizona blood kept us chilly. The kids were happy though that they were getting tons of candy!

These are Stephanie and my pumpkin creations. I made a spooky house and Steph did an owl in the tree.

Our 1st week in Alaska

Or first week in Alaska was very eventful! We are blessed to have family and friends up here! We stayed with Stephanie and Garrett Chappell for almost 6 weeks, until we got into our own place. Thank you so much you two! You were incredible hosts!!

Here the kids are at the library. There was some ice on the walk and my kids were so intrigued by how slippery it was.
Anchorage zoo. It was an awesome zoo! There are seals, tigers, 3 kinds of bears, muscots and much much more.

We went to the park one day. It was absolutely freezing!!!

Here are the kids decorating pumpkins with stickers.

Saying Goodbye

We went over to Dad and Christina's for our final goodbyes before flying to Alaska. I don't like goodbyes. It was so fun to have a couple of years to live so close to family! I have loved watching my kids interact with their grandparents and aunts and uncles. Kena and Benson are quite spoiled being the only grandkids on my side. They get a whole lot of attention and love every second of it! We are looking forward to having our family up to the last frontier for visits! We love you all tons!!!
Me and my sisters, Maddie and Paige

Papa with Benson

Papa with Kena

Mishler Girls weekend

Aimee invited all the Mishler girls down to Arizona for Time Out for Women. Alice, Jessica and Melissa were able to come (we missed you Cindy!!). For the conference my cute mom joined us. It was a great weekend, filled with spiritual insight. Ladies you all amaze me. Thanks for a fabulous time!!