It's been a good year

It's hard to believe that this year has already (just about) come to an end. We have had an eventful year. Some highlights from our year, in no particular order are:

• Finally finding and buying our home after waiting to move. Yeah!
• Finding several new friends for all of us. It's been a great neighborhood. Some of these friends will most likely move this next year which is so sad but we are happy that we got to know them this year.
• Jacob finishing 1st grade and going onto 2nd. He seems so old to me this year. He has changed so much. I am missing my sweet little happy go lucky guy and enjoying watching him learn. It's always bittersweet.
• Mia starting Preschool and loving it. She's always singing songs from class but she won't tell us one thing that they do in school. When I pick Mia and Lauren up and ask her about it, she always says that she doesn't want to talk about it. It's kind of sad, but I usually can get something out of her. If she just won't talk, I ask Lauren who is more than happy to tell me about the day.
• Sam's first year. His first head lift, first rolling, first tooth, first crawling, first birthday. You get the idea. So many changes during his first year.
• Ryan changing stores, again, but this time, the move was actually in our favor.
• Finishing working at the Gap after 7 years. It still feels strange to me to not have a Gap to go to, even just to shop. It's been six months and I still have withdrawals when I need to get something for the kids to wear. And I haven't bought much for myself either. I really miss that discount. I got it at Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic. It was fabulous!

I am sure that there are many more things, I just can't think of them now. It's been a year full of blessings that out weighed any trials we have had. Tonight, we get to go to my sisters house for a New Years party. I am very excited because we haven't been able to go for a few years now. The party actually got cancelled because the Rigdon family decided to have their own party. Fortunately for us, Teryn decided to stay home and invite us over. Yeah! I was bummed that we had nothing to do and it's always fun at Teryn's house!

Hope that you all have had a good year and are having a good night! See you in 2008.

Allergic

The past few days have been hard here. When I got home from work on Friday night, Sam's back and tummy were covered in a rash. I called the doctor and concluded that Sam was most likely having an allergic reaction to Amoxicillian that he had been taking for the past nine days. Apparently, an allergic reaction can happen anytime during the duration of the medication. We gave him a dose of Benadryl and when he woke the next morning, he was covered head to toe and miserable. Another dose and he had a nice long nap but when he woke up, he was so grumpy and miserable and wouldn't let anybody out of his sight and it hasn't stopped. I don't have any digital pictures of Sammy and his spots. Just try to imagine this little unhappy guy spotty or polka-dotted as Mia has been calling him.

Saturday night, he got his dose of Benadryl and put to bed finally around 11pm. He immediately woke and started crying. Around midnight, I got up and tried to comfort him. I thought I got him to go back to sleep, but he didn't. Ryan got up at 1am and played with him until 2am. Finally asleep, so we thought. 3am he is screaming. We snuggled and loved and tried to get him to sleep, but it was worthless. At 4:30am, I took him downstairs and just let him be on the floor. He would cry and play on and off until 7am when he finally went to sleep. Today has pretty much been the same. Grumpy, miserable, not letting anyone put him down, unconsolable when you are holding him. I know he is miserable, but the rest of us need sleep.

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas is so fun for our kids. They were so excited to open their Christmas pj's and to get to bed. Jake was awake for quite a while but he was not going to get out of bed. We thought for sure this year Jake would wake up early, but he didn't. Again, it was about 8am when we all finally got up for the day.

Santa did well this year. Mia got the Baby Alive that she has been dreaming about. She's actually a lot cuter than I thought she would be. Mia is loving feeding her, changing her diaper, playing and putting her to bed. Baby Alive says little things like "I love you Mommy!" and "Mommy, I'm thristy." to which Mia was very attentive too. It's darling to watch her snuggle and talk to her.

Jake got a fun Star Wars battle of Hoth playset that he played with all day. He is such a Star Wars boy thourgh and through. I wonder if he will ever grow out of it.

Sammy got a playtable just like the one Jake had when he was his age. Sam likes it very much and it's very good for him to have toys that are 1-2 feet off the floor. It encourages him to crawl and to get up on his knees or stand up.

After our little Christmas, we went to our in-laws for our 2nd Christmas. The kids had tons of presents to open and were very excited to come home with Star Wars lego sets, princess dress-ups and Fisher Price plane just to name a few. We enjoyed breakfast and watching the kids play. Sammy was so cute playing in all the wrapping paper and ribbons and pushed around a big present of sister-in-law Megan's like it was a push toy.

This evening, Mia and I went to my parents house and visited with them and my sister Teryn's family. We enjoyed ham and potatoes and then went to sister VaLynn's house for a quick visit. We even got to play with the new Wii that Chris got. It's quite fun!

I wanted to share this video with you. It cracks me up! I think that you will enjoy. Chris, I am sure that you will enjoy it! Be sure to watch the whole thing.



Hope you all had a good Christmas!

Christmas Eve....

The snow is falling, the turkey is roasting, the tree is twinkling and the presents are wrapped. It's been a nice Christmas Eve day so far and hoping for a pleasant evening. I am looking forward to having Grandparents over for a good dinner, reading about the birth of Christ, and finishing up two little projects. I am sure the kids will be overly excited tonight, but it is all good fun. Can't believe that Christmas is almost here.
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!

He's gonna be good some day.

What does Ryan do with Sam while I am gone at work? He teaches him how to blow a duck call, that's what. Then he videos it on his phone, like the proud papa he is, and sends it out for all to enjoy.

Preschool Program

We had the preschool program today. It's funny to watch those little kids singing and doing their parts. Mia said her part pretty well. Too bad that I recorded it and somehow promptly lost it. When they sang Rudolph, they all put on their antlers, red noses, and tails. They thought that they was fun because they were all giggling

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School is now officially out for the holidays. I am so looking forward to not having to get Jake dressed and out the door. It will be nice to have the break and nice to go back.

Don't ya just hate that when that happens?

Mia, Sam and I are standing at the pharmacy desk getting Sam's prescription filled. Mia is fidgeting around and talking to me while the pharmacist is talking. Nothing really unusual for her so I am pretty good at tuning her out. Suddenly she grabs my attention not because she just sat down on the dirty supermarket floor, but because she had just said "Uh-oh....my panties fell off." I don't know what to say or do other than watch her as she pulls a pair of princess panties out from the front of her pants causally flinging them across the floor. No big deal to her. Like everyone flings princess panties out of their pants in public places. Laughing, I scooped the panties and quickly checked to see if she was indeed going commando. Everything checked out fine. She just had an extra pair stuck in her pants after they came out of the dryer. Don't ya just hate that when it happens??