2011 Christmas Yearly Update

Merry Christmas 2011 from the Brisken Family!

Dear family and friends,

It’s hard to believe that last year at this time we were anxiously awaiting the birth of our little girl.  We welcomed Alaina Grace Brisken on January 31^st, and she weighed 6 lbs 9 oz and was 19 ¼ inches long.  It’s amazing how a little girl can just wrap you around her little finger from the start!  Right now, she just turned 10 months old and is into everything!  She is a very fast crawler, pulling up on things but not yet taking any steps, but that doesn’t stop her curiosity.  She is much more “into things” than the boys ever were at this age.  All of her activities of opening drawers, pulling picture frames off the shelves, and climbing the stairs keep us constantly on our toes!  But she is just as sweet as she is curious.  Her big bright smile that she freely gives most anyone she meets just melts our hearts and confirms to us how God had a plan all along for her to complete our family.  Her big brothers adore her and are such great helpers.  It has been so sweet to see their relationship with her grow throughout this year.

Ethan turned 7 years old in February and is a second grader this year.  He continues to have an excitement for life and activities that keep him busier and busier!  He played Upward Soccer for the 4^th year in a row, continues to sing in the kid’s choir and attend Mission Friends at church every Wednesday night, and is a part of the Math Magicians Club at school this year, which he enjoys very much.  Another highlight of his year was being baptized on September 11^th at church.  We are also so proud of Ethan for receiving straight A’s at school all throughout 1^st grade and for the beginning of 2^nd grade too!  Even more exciting to us is that he received the Character Award 2 times in 1^st grade last school year, and also for the first 9 weeks of 2^nd grade this school year.  We are happy that he shows his caring characteristics and spirit at school, just as he does at home.  He is such a great big brother to Caleb and Alaina.

Caleb turned 5 years old in August and is in kindergarten this year.  It is his first time attending all day school every day.  It has been a bit of an adjustment for him at first to get used to the new schedule and demands of school, but he has been adjusting well the last couple months.  He is quickly picking up learning how to read and sound out words, and is particularly excited that he can read things on signs when we are out and about.  Caleb played Upward Soccer for the first time this Fall and did very well also!  He also decided to participate in Wednesday night church activities this year, singing in the 5 year old choir and attending Mission Friends, which Daddy and Mommy are the teachers for this year.  Caleb continues to enjoy working on his art projects cutting, pasting, and coloring.  Caleb has gotten the chance this year to be a big brother for the first time to Alaina, and has done very well in his new role.    

Scott and Jill continued their same work outside the home, Scott in sales at BMC Select in Charlotte and Jill in accounting at Wolverine Coatings in Spartanburg.  They are both extremely thankful to have good jobs that they enjoy.  Our family was fortunate to take several trips this year, to Surfside Beach in June with Scott’s parents, to Ohio for the Watson family reunion in July, to Williamsburg, Virginia to visit with Jill’s family in the summer and at Thanksgiving, and Jill and Alaina to Baltimore, Maryland for Jill’s sister Megan’s baby shower in November.  We are excited to welcome a new nephew sometime in December, Megan and Mike’s first baby.  We are continually appreciative of our families’ involvements in our kids’ lives – Jill’s Mom and Scott’s Mom helping to watch the kids throughout the weekdays while Jill works part time.  The schedule is a bit trickier and seems 10 times busier with 3 children now, especially with 2 in all day school and all the homework and activities that come with that, and a new baby to adjust to.  But we’ve almost made it through our first year as a family of five, and it sure has flown by!

We hope to take time this Christmas to slow down just a bit, and spend time with our family, and remember the One to whom we are the most thankful to . . . Jesus.  It is all about Him and we pray that you will take time with each of your families to reflect on the birth of our Lord and Savior this season.

With Love,

Scott, Jill, Ethan, Caleb, & Alaina Brisken

Just TOO Cute!

I

I know I'm biased . . . but aren't they all JUST TOO CUTE?!  :-)

Merry Christmas E-Card from our family to yours!

This ecard generated with Smilebox

Revised Immunization Schedule 2011

I had to take Alaina today for an immunization appointment, and the nurse asked if it was okay if she shared my revised immunization schedule with other parents who were interested.  I told her that was fine because I know a lot of parents out there want a slower schedule, so that not so much is going into their bodies at once.  It is hard to find any alternate schedules now that take into account all of the newer vaccines and combination shots.  Even from the time I had my son in 2006 to the time I had my daughter in 2011 things had changed a lot.  So, I studied the current 2011 immunization schedule from the CDC and revised things after my daughter had her 2 month shots so that she wouldn't be getting so much in her body all at once.  I went over it with my family doctor, and he agreed that the schedule would be fine to follow.  If I would've been more on top of things before her 2 month old check up, I probably would've spread out those ones a little bit too, but I didn't make the revised schedule until after that appointment.  I thought I would put the schedule up on my blog in case any other parents out there were looking for an alternative slower schedule to use with their children too.  Note that my child doesn't have to have all of the immunizations completed until she enters school at age 5 because she doesn't attend daycare, but if any of your children do attend daycare, you can always get a religious exemption for your state or get a doctor's note from your doctor if they agree, letting the daycare know when the next scheduled immunization is, or what your child's "catch up" schedule is.  I have so much more peace of mind knowing that I'm putting as little of the vaccinations into my child's body at one time as I can, but yet still aiming to have her fully vaccinated by the start of kindergarten.  On my schedule, she doesn't get the first Varicella (chicken pox) vaccine until age 2 and the first MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) shot until age 3.   I highlighted the shots that have the different vaccinations combined in the one shot.  My doctor uses GSK products, so the shot names are in parentheses for those products.  Hope this helps some parents out there looking for an alternate vaccination schedule!
 

Birth

2 mos

4 mos

6 mos (finish ones due at 4 mos)

8 mos (start ones due at 6 mos)

10 mos (finish ones due at 6 mos)

Hepatitis B

Hepatitis B

Hepatitis B

Hepatitis B

Diphtheria

Diphtheria

Diphtheria

Tetanus

Tetanus

Tetanus

Pertussis

Pertussis

Pertussis

Inactivated Poliovirus

Inactivated Poliovirus

Inactivated Poliovirus

(Pediarix)

(Pediarix)

(Pediarix)

Rotavirus

Rotavirus

(Rotarix)

(Rotarix)

Haemophilus influenzae type b

Haemophilus influenzae type b

Haemophilus influenzae type b

(Hib)

(Hib)

(Hib)

Pneumococcal

Pneumococcal

Pneumococcal

(PCV)

(PCV)

(PCV)

12 mos

15 mos

18 mos

2 yrs (24 mos)

3 yrs

4 yrs

Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib)

Pneumococcal (PCV)

Dipththeria

Varicella

Measles, Mumps, Rubella

Varicella

Hepatitis A (Havrix)

Tetanus

Hepatitis A (Havrix)

(MMR)

Diphtheria

Pertussis

Tetanus

(Infanrix)

Pertussis

Inactivated

Poliovirus

5 yrs Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR)

(Kinrix)

Our Christmas Elf on the Shelf

So we are a little behind on getting started with the whole "Elf on the Shelf" thing . . . I think the fad started around here last year or the year before, but we didn't really plan to do it just because we had enough family traditions we liked to do and to keep up with.  But then this past weekend, there was the Elf on the Shelf movie on t.v., and we decided to record it for our kids and if we liked it, thought we would show it to them.  Well, it was a really cute movie, and I thought it focused on a happy meaning of Christmas . . . Christmas is for forgiving, for believing.  Our boys really enjoyed the show and mentioned that they wondered if they were going to get an elf.  So, my husband who really gets into Christmas and Christmas traditions, more than myself, decided that it would be fun if we could find one to add to our traditions.  Well, with it being the 12th of the month already, many stores were sold out of them.  But we finally found one at Hallmark and got it last night.

We were still kind of struggling with how to present it to the kids.  Even though they had seen the movie, we have always been careful about presenting the other things of Christmas, such as Santa, elves, rudolph, etc. as fun things, but not the most important things.  As Christians, we believe the REAL reason for Christmas is to celebrate Jesus' birth.  We are not against our kids enjoying believing in Santa though, and allow them to have fun with it.  But with presenting our new elf, we wanted to make sure the focus was not on whether or not they were doing good or bad for the elf to report back to Santa in fear of not getting as many presents if they were bad, but we wanted to send a different message.  So, we decided to replace the book that comes with the elf with our own letter.

We planned it perfectly, and it could not have gone any better . . . the boys were back in the bedroom getting their pajamas on with Scott, I quietly went outside and got the elf and put it on our front porch, then rang the doorbell and ran back inside and made it back into the chair I was finishing Christmas cards in, just as the boys had seen me before they left the room to put on their pajamas.  So, when they came out of the room, we all followed them to the door.  When they opened the door, they were so surprised to see the Elf on the Shelf sitting there.  Just earlier, they had been outside and came in saying that they had seen a red light blinking in the sky.  They wondered if it was Rudolph or maybe some of the other little elves flying around.  It really was so cute when they started guessing that maybe Rudolph or the other elves brought it and rang the doorbell.  We brought it inside, and when they opened it, this is the letter they found from their elf:

 

Hi Kids!

Thanks for welcoming me into your home.  I’m excited to be here.  I think you’ve heard of me and my friends, and how we like to come live with you before Christmas to watch over you and see what kinds of great things you are doing.  I do fly up to the North Pole to talk to Santa each night too, but don’t be afraid; I’m not trying to catch you doing anything wrong.  Just the opposite . . . I’m trying to catch you doing all the right things!  It’s always encouraging when we make the right choices, isn’t it?  We feel better about ourselves, we know that we’ve pleased our Mommies and Daddies, and most importantly we know that we’ve pleased Jesus.  

Did you know that Santa is a servant of Jesus just like you are?  Santa wants to please Jesus just like you do, and one of the ways he does that is by bringing gifts to all the boys and girls at Christmas time.  You may think that Santa only brings gifts to the good little boys and girls, but that’s not always true.  Sometimes he brings gifts just to let a child know that he or she is loved and treasured just for being who they are.  That’s the way that Jesus looks at each of you too, did you know that?  

Jesus was born on Christmas as part of God’s plan.  The Bible teaches us that later Jesus died on the cross for our sins, so that we may receive the free gift of salvation through Him.  We don’t have to do something right all the time to receive Jesus’ free gift. We just have to believe in Him and accept Him into our hearts and lives and trust Him to be our Savior.  When we do decide to trust in Jesus as our Savior and accept Him as our free gift, we automatically want to do good things to please Jesus because we love Him so much.  But we can’t do everything right 100% of the time, can we?  Jesus understands that we all make mistakes, and that is called sin.  But the important thing is that when we do sin, that we realize that we’ve done something wrong and that we ask Jesus to forgive us.  Jesus will forgive you every time, did you know that?  He gives you a clean start to each day, if you just pray to Him and ask Him!  Isn’t that amazing?  

So, I hope that you will think about how much Jesus loves you this Christmas, and that He is the REAL reason that we celebrate Christmas time!  It’s always fun to visit my family that Santa sends me to during Christmas time and I love being able to report back to Santa each night that the kids in the family are doing their best to please Jesus with their actions and words every day.  So, I hope that you’ll have a fun time looking for me each morning when you wake up!  You never know where I might be hiding next!  

Oh yeah, and don’t forget to name me.  I need a special name that only you kids can give to me.  I can’t wait to see what name you come up with for me.

Merry Christmas!
Love,
Your Christmas Elf 

So, it was a fun night at our house . . . the boys named their elf Zippy . . . I wonder where Zippy will be hiding in the morning? :-)

 

November's Already Come and Gone

Time goes faster and faster and faster . . . I can't seem to keep up lately with blogging.  November has already come and gone, and the Christmas season is in full swing already.  It's hard for me to even remember all that we did during the month.  Early in November Alaina and I took a girls trip up to Baltimore, Maryland to attend my sister, Megan's baby shower.  She is expecting her first, a baby boy due December 31st.  It was a lot of fun spending time with my sisters and mom.

 Another exciting thing is that we had Alaina dedicated at church.  It was so nice that both of her grandparents got to be there for her special day.  And it was so fun to dress her up in her pretty purple dress and flower headband.

Then we took a Thanksgiving trip to Williamsburg, Virginia to visit with my family.  We enjoyed four straight days with our family, which was so fun and doesn't happen nearly enough.  We went on walks back behind my parents' house and the golf course in their neighborhood, only to find a huge dirt hill that the boys just loved to climb up.   

Caleb and Ethan also enjoyed finding and collecting golf balls that golfers had hit off the golf course.

Playing football with Daddy and Uncle Mike was also a huge hit during the weekend!

 We finished the weekend off with a trip to see Santa.  We got this picture in before Alaina started crying once she realized she was with someone strange she didn't know.

 Serena and Wendy with Santa.

All the grandkids.  

And now, onto December!  Until I have another moment to blog again  . . .