December '12 in Review

Happy first day of December! Let the Christmas traditions begin! The books are wrapped and the kids are excited to start unwrapping one each day. I've added in a few new ones this year.

 We finished reading the Book of Mormon as a family! Only took us just under two years. As a reward for finishing one of the books (Old Testament  New Testament, Book of Mormon, or Doctrine and Covenants) everyone gets their own pie.

One of the big things The Daughter looked forward to about being a 3rd grader was learning cursive. She's often found doodling and writing on any notepad left laying around these days.

The stomach bug knocked us all down one-by-one over the course of a week. It was miserable. 

The Little Man's obsession with The Polar Express is very much still present. He has to watch it at least once a day and has set-up his trains in front of the TV so he can act it out while watching. To save the sanity of the rest of us, it is packed up with the Christmas decorations the day after Christmas.

And this little one has come down with the stomach bug too. The rest of us were down with it for a day or two while she just kept getting sicker by the day. Sick babies are so sad.

A little person found this frosting sitting on the counter and decided to eat it all with a spoon. The ENTIRE container. The Little Man says he didn't do it but his chocolate mustache and belly ache say differently.

We went to Randy's company holiday party. It was a hoot...well, not really, but we had a nice meal and good company.

 
The Little Man has a hard time watching movies he has never seen before all at one time. He normally runs to his room for a bit but will return after a few minutes. When he ran off shortly after we started Arthur Christmas, we didn't think anything of it until after several minutes passed and he had not returned and wasn't responding to his name. We checked in his room and he wasn't there. We checked in the basement, the closet, the bathrooms...After searching for what felt like at least a half hour (in reality it was more like 10 mins max) we found him in our bed under all the covers sound asleep still plugging his ears. Poor guy.

The tradition of Toys for Tots shopping continued.  Each of the kiddos picked out something they would enjoy having and then they donated them to Toys for Tots.

  The Little Man has been busy making gifts and thinks that they should all be hung on the tree for all to see.

 
 We both got much needed new glasses. Merry Christmas to us.

 Randy & I took the Little Man out on a date to McDonald's and to a Polar Express event at Barnes and Noble. It was fun focusing totally on him for the evening.

Randy really enjoyed reading the book the kids unwrapped each day. It's such a fun tradition and the fact that everyone enjoys it makes the work of wrapping all the books up completely worth it.

Baby Girl & I hung out in the ER getting re-hydrated and having some more tests done. She has been throwing up for 2 weeks now, has lost over a pound (weight upon being admitted was 11 lbs 15oz) and has started throwing up blood. No one can figure out what is going on. She's on Zofran to hopefully get some calories in her while they work on figuring things out in the next couple weeks. 

The Polar Express (a.k.a. the van) headed to the Senske Light display. It was the perfect Christmas Eve Eve  activity. All aboard!

The Christmas Eve tradition of receiving new pajamas continues. Some liked them more than others.

We had a wonderful Christmas spent with my Grandparents and family. Yummy treats were eaten, presents exchanged and great conversations had. It was the perfect relaxing day.

 
We had a white Christmas! The kids loved it. The Little Man hated the pink snow pants but it was all we had because he had outgrown his own. The curse of having a older sister, I guess. Randy couldn't believe I sent him out like that or that I took a picture of them and mumbled something about having to wear a purple coat from his sisters when he was little. But he was warm....

We hung out with our FamLee a lot. Dinners, games and sleepovers oh my!

Baby girl got her first tooth. She refused to let me photograph the moment.

Richie & Linda came for the baptism of our cousin Rhonda's kiddos (so proud of their decision!) While they were in town these little girls got to hang out for the first time. Yay, for cousins so close in age!

Strengthening our FamLee one scripture at a time. Something I look forward to all day. What you don't see in this picture is the 15 minutess it takes to round up everyone or that it only lasts 5 minutess at the most before we've lost their attention.

And at the end of the month Baby Girl celebrated 6 months. She's sitting on her own, babbling and melts our hearts constantly. <3 p="">

And that's it. 2012 is over. It was a good year but yet at the same time a very trying year. So grateful for Photo of The Day Challenge. It's really help see the blessings in the trying times. 

November in Review

 We started off the month with Randy & I visiting the dentist for our annual exams (which were long, long over due). Yes, the morning after Halloween. Did it stop the candy consumption?  Not in the least. Baby Girl was great company at my appointment although the ladies couldn't seem to focus with her there. My appointment took forever because all they wanted to do was play with her.

Randy woke up not feeling well and went from not feeling well to in the hospital in a matter of hours. They diagnosed him with a bacterial infection that had gone septic. He was in and out of consciousness and very sick. Scary. Our plans to leaves that evening to go to the Boise Temple open house & visit friends were canceled and all my efforts went into taking care of my sick hubby and holding down the fort & kiddos.

The Little Man mastered pouring his own beverages (with out spilling most of the time) and is drinking lemonade by the gallon. We may need to buy some stock in Crystal Light.

Randy got worse not better in the days after being sent home and wound up back in the hospital. We had a lot of really long nights and very little sleep.

Winter arrived overnight. Burr! Time to start scrapping the windows in the mornings.

Look who's sitting up and doing a little better! Ready to try eating something for the first time in a week. They talked about sending him home in the next day or so if he kept making great improvements. He was so ready to be better and I was very much ready to have him home and better too.

The Daughter started learning to play the cello. So far it's going well & she is really enjoying it.

Baby Girl visited her Daddy at the hospital and was so happy to snuggle with him before heading off to her next playdate. We were so blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family taking care of our kiddos and bring in meals during all this crazy so I could be by my hubby's side.  I will forever be grateful for the love that was shown to us. 

And as you can see he didn't lose his humor through all of this...

Finally home, his first order of business, cuddle with The Little Man and enjoy a little Star Wars. He didn't even made it through the first 5 minutes before he was sound asleep. Coming home is exhausting. He slept a lot the first few days home, tired easily and had lots of doctors appointments. 

The Daughter celebrated her 9th Birthday by having a rolling time at the Bowling Alley with her good friends.  

I can't believe she's 9 years old already!?! What a beautiful, kind girl she is. We are so blessed to have her in our famLee. 

There's always work to be done around the house. Luckily I have a cute helper to add some fun to the chores. The kiddos were very sad when I bagged up all the leaves. They had a blast playing in the leaf pile for days especially with Uncle Robbie.

This man rocks my world. He really does and I'm so glad he is feeling better.

I may have underestimated the amount of groceries I needed for thanksgiving. Baby Girl was not thrilled with my poor planning. Sorry about that...

Thanksgiving was wonderful. We hosted my family this year and had a great time hanging out and enjoying delicious food. Thanksgiving is my all time favorite holiday.

The tree went up the day after Thanksgiving. It wasn't even up a day before The Little Man had his trains set up under it. He was so thrilled with himself.

Randy & I celebrated our 10 year temple Anniversary by doing a session and going out to dinner while our kiddos had a blast with Aunt Laurel and cousin Alana. Actually, I think blast is an understatement. They still talk about all the fun they had. It's hard to believe it's been 10 years since we were sealed together for time and all eternity. What a blessing it as been!

Two cute sisters hanging out after church.

Gas prices are finally dropping! I was able to fill up the van for less than $60!!!!

Baby Girl turned 5 months old and can sit up on her own (with the assistance of some strong arms) for a short period of time.

Shirley, the elf, returned for the Christmas season at our house. We're looking forward to our many Christmas traditions.

What a month! I started to type " I hated this month" but as I've looked back on it I see lots of good little moments in between the hard times. It was one filled with so much stress yet so many blessings.  I am so very grateful for the wonderful friends and family that we have and especially for our loving Heavenly Father that helped us find the strength to endure the challenges we faced and provided direction to us. What a blessing the knowledge of the gospel is.

October in Review

This is the look Baby Girl almost always gives us when putting her in her seat. It's very much a "Really?!? We're doing this again...?"

The Little Man enjoyed some after school playtime with just Mom.

Our Saturdays where spent at the fields watching some awesome soccer games. This particular day she had cousins join us in cheering her on.

We enjoyed General Conference with a house full of very fun visitors. Thanks Mel & Fam for a great weekend.

Quiet afternoons lead to naps together while watching a show.

We are still hiding out under a blanket with The Little Man when things are too stressful for him. It's happening less and less often these days.

A normal evening spend keeping her Mama company while she cooks dinner for the fam.

We spent a weekend hanging out with Auntie Cheryl who came to visit from Olympia. Fun to spend time with her. When I was growing up our families spent many weekends and vacations together. So many great memories. :)

Three cute kiddos ready for church on time. It's a miracle!

Love how he has to play right next to Baby Girl and how she watches him so intently. They love each other so much. Melts my heart. <3 p="p">

Waiting for their boy to get home from school. They're his best friends.

The Daughter used her Scholastic dollars to buy her brother a book at book fair. Best big sister EVER!

Slugs & snails have been out in full force on our sidewalks the last several mornings thanks to the constant showers the last several days. The Little Man enjoyed studying them while waiting for the bus. It was a great motivator to get ready quickly so we could head outside.

We had a blast at the annual pumpkin carving party at the Pierce's. So thankful for such fun friends and that our kiddos have become such good friends too.

Practice, practice, practice. It's what The Daughter did several times a week. And she loved every minute of it.

We said good-bye to the baby mullet and hope that it will grow in more evenly this time around. This Mama buzzed her baby girls head....

The Daughter is required to do at least an hour of math practice each week. Her favorite thing to do is play math games online.

And we had a really nice Halloween spent Trick-or-treating with friends.

Don't we have the cutest trick-or-treaters ever?!?

October was a month of regrouping and feeling like we were finally getting our feet back under us. I learned that I can't do it all and started cutting things out of my schedule to reduce my stress level and be able to be home with my kiddos more.