Christmas 2009

After getting home from the hospital a little before 1, Kaitlin kindly helped me stuff stockings and put the gifts around the tree while Kevin went to the pharmacy. I'm quite certain I have never moved so fast so early in the morning!

Discovering the mysteries that hide inside the stockings...

This boy loves dental hygiene! I think he would have been totally content with just his new automatic toothbrush!

At Grandma & Grandpa's the unwrapping continued...

Lincoln was so tired! While the adults were eating dinner, I peaked around the corner and found him with his blankie, curled up on the chair sucking his thumb! So darn cute!!

Well, the morning was a little quieter than most, as Kacia was a little more calm than her normal self. But I think she still enjoyed the day from the comfort of the couch and Rylin & Lincoln had a blast! Kacia was quite worried that she wouldn't be able to open up her gifts, but she seemed to do just fine with the assistance of mom or Rylin. After a morning at home, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's, and the fun continued. Oh how I LOVE Christmas!

Christmas Eve in the ER

Well, after a really fun day of opening gifts from friends and extended family, hanging out with Kaitlin & Ian and the Goldens, going out for Christmas Eve dinner, then church service, I thought we our night was going to look relatively boring. All of the wrapping was mostly done, stockings needed to be stuffed, but that wasn't going to happen until the girls would finally calm done and drift off to sleep. Kaitlin and I were picking out what movie to watch, when all of a sudden there was hysterical screaming, the kind of screaming that makes your stomach drop and it's so loud you kinda just freeze cuz you're not sure what to do. I rushed into the girls' room and Kacia was on the ground- not crying, but just screaming that she hurt her arm really bad, that she broke her arm. I quickly picked her up and rushed her to the family room to inspect the injury. I'm quite used to my girls making big deals out of little injuries, but one quick feel of the arm and I told Kevin we had to go to the hospital. He ran and found the keys, and we rushed off to the hospital, pajamas and all! And rush is an understatement! I'm quite certain that my husband ran about 8 red lights as I sat in the back and tried to talk to Kacia about silly things, anything to try to distract her from the fact that her arm looked seriously distorted! I'm quite certain I will never forget the shocking way her arm felt in my hands as I so briefly examined it through her thick fleece pj's!

Well, our night in the ER, was a first for our family, we got there a little after 8, and I remember Kevin telling me Merry Christmas as we both watched the clock strike midnight. They had to sedate her to reset the arm, and they splinted it until the swelling goes down and she can get a more permanent cast this coming week. (She was pretty funny as she woke up, "you look like you have 4 eyes" then she'd drift back to sleep, wake up and say the same things over and over again!) The staff was so kind and they took great care of our little girl. I'm quite certain she was mostly in shock, because I've never seen her be so brave! From what we can gather from the story, she was leaning over her footboard trying to look down the hall to get a sneak peak at presents when she somehow fell and obviously landed really, really wrong.

We are trying to look at the good points of the story- it's her left arm, so she can still eat, draw and play wii, it's not a leg- so she can still walk, Kaitlin and Ian were here so Kevin and I were both able to rush off to the hospital without having to think about the other kiddos, it's Christmas break so these first few days of intense pain and needing assistance can be spent at home without missing out, it's winter so she doesn't have to miss out on water activities, etc. God is good, bones will heal and our little girl will most likely never try to sneak a peak at Christmas presents again!

(Kevin has pictures on his phone, I will try to post them when I get them)

Laundry Basket Fun

This is the girls last March. They love to make "beds" for themselves, complete with a pillow on the bottom, pillow for the back rest, and the favorite blankets. There is always a pattern to the way the beds are assembled and which items are used, and whose basket is which one and so on. But honestly it's been awhile since I've seen them to it. (Maybe the baskets are always too full of clothes!)

Apparently my sweet, thumb-sucking, very busy, almost 18 month old little guy is continuing with the family tradition!

Clapping for himself. He has two blankets and a couple of books in there as well.

Once he saw the stool next to him, he decided to try it out as well.

So this is the kind of stuff Lincoln does. He makes big piles of blankets and pillows in his closet and just sits in there waiting for someone to come and play peek-a-boo. And if no one comes, he picks up the blankets one by one and moves them from one location to another, over and over again. He loves to play in our pop-up fort and under the slide. He is excellent at entertaining himself- which I find an incredibly wonderful attribute! He also loves to put things into other things, including himself. Yesterday the item of the day was his diaper box. He toted that around, putting things into it, books, blankets and then kept attempting to climb into the already full box.

I am absolutely loving this stage. He is so much fun and the differences he brings to our family continue to shine forth!

Fun with My Big Girl

This is her laughing at the pictures of herself slurping her cone, and the pic of the two of us and my wrinkled cheek.

Slurp. Slurp.

It's so great to be able to reward good behavior instead of always feeling like I'm just harping on the bad.

So back when Rylin had cut her hair, Kacia found it "unfair" that Rylin was able to get her hair cut. It was easy for me to see Kacia thinking that the punishment Rylin received might be worth enduring if it meant getting her own way, and wanting to avoid a personal haircut that could turn out horribly wrong, and desiring to reward patience and obedience- I made her a deal. If she would allow Kevin time to get used to Rylin's haircut, we would cut her's too, and we would make it a fun experience. We would go just the two of us to a salon, instead of a kitchen chair, and then we would go to lunch or something special after. So the time finally came during Thanksgiving break, and one evening we ditched everyone else and had a girls night. We went and got her haircut, and right next door happened to be ColdStone. It was really fun to have one on one time with her and to just be silly!

Thanksgiving Pictures

The twins looking far too old!

Me & my boy!

Alex entertaining the girls

Kevin makes really good gravy- not a gift of mine!

Breanna always does a great job with the turkey. I've discovered that I actually do like it when it's cooked right! Don't know how I've escaped having to make one, but I hope my luck doesn't run out because I'd be clueless!

We had a wonderful thanksgiving this year. We were missing some of our normal company- the Bonnins and Washington siblings, so it seemed a little more empty without them, and we hope that next year, they can all join us again. But at the same time, it was one of the most relaxed, stress-free thanksgivings I can remember (not that any of the above mentioned people are stressful!). And as we sat around the table- the ten of us- laughing and being silly, I was reminded of how truly thankful I am that God brought my sister and her entire family down to Redding so many years ago. They are such an important part of our daily lives and it is such a true blessing to be able to experience life with them. The twins- now in 8th grade, started kindergarten in Redding, and I think of how much we would have missed out on if God had not moved them here. So as we laughed about Rylin being thankful for jello, and Alex for world peace (he was spinning off of Kacia's very beauty-pageant answer of "friends and family") inside I said a silent prayer, thanking my Father for His incredible sovereignty in leading our families to grow up together! We love you Pete, Breanna, Michael, Allie and Alex!