Christmas 2010

We had a very Merry Christmas and hope all you all did too!  We even had a bit of a white one this year!!  We started Christmas Eve with our annual dinner.  We had 15 people this year, which is actually less than normal but we still had a great time!!  We exchanged gifts, ate, ate some more, and then I held our Survivor style auction where I auction off all the goodies I pick up for free all year at CVS off to the highest bidder.  I can’t even tell you who came out with the most this year, but I can tell you my ever so quiet mother-in-law Barbara was quite voracious in finding the extra hidden auction money around the house giving her quite the edge on the bidding!!  It’s a lot of fun to sit back and watch family try to outbid each other over toothpaste and body wash!!

Daniel had a great Christmas!!  This year was full of Thomas trains (no surprise there), a new bike, and Imaginext (my new favorite toys!).  He also got a way cool art caddy bag filled with crafting supplies and most importantly a painter’s pallette (“Just Like Grandpa’s” he exclaimed when he saw it).  We carefully filled it and he painted a beautiful rainbow for me.  I did the first two colors and he finished the rest.  Finally he got a Thomas Uno game and we had a good time teaching him.  He won his very first hand (no cheating allowed) and Troy and I are calling it beginner’s luck!

Enjoy some photos from our holiday!

  That’s my silly sister in the background!  (NOT ME!!!)

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Today was a BIG day for Daniel!!  We went to our local library for (a free!!) lunch with Santa and Mrs. Claus!  They limited the number of children and it really turned out wonderful.  They fed the kids pizza, applesauce and juice boxes and Santa walked around and said “hello”.  Then they called the children up by table and they got to sit in Santa’s lap and allow the parents plenty of photo opportunities! 

This year, Daniel pushed my hand away and went right up to Santa by himself.  This is a huge change from the last couple of years where we had to be right next to him and he would repeatedly tell Santa that I was his mom or Troy was his dad.  The first thing out of his mouth this year was “Where are your reindeer?”  Santa replied “On the roof!”  Then Daniel asked for Molly and Mavis (Thomas trains) and we got a couple of good pictures!!

This evening we finally got our tree out and decorated it.  Daniel was very content on the floor hanging ornaments.  He knew the ones he wanted to hang and had us hang the rest!  He’s pretty excited about Christmas this year and we’re excited that he’s so excited!! 

We’re looking forward to hosting our annual Christmas Eve dinner and I can’t wait to auction off all my leftover CVS goodies from the year (more than 30 items) to my family with the fake money we hand out just for showing up!!  We did it last year and it was so much fun.  The surprise was my quiet father-in-law who outbid everybody on tons of stuff and racked up the items!!

This year has really found me in the Christmas spirit, more so than any other year!  I think Daniel’s excitement is really contagious!!

        

 

Need a Haircut?

Daniel is majorly into scissors.  Safety scissors of course, but if they cut, he wants them.  So imagine his awe when Troy brought out the buzzers to shave his own head.  Daniel wasn’t having any of it and Troy decided to be a good sport and let Daniel take charge.  I’m thinking future barber….

I tried to talk Troy into leaving his hair as it was.  You know, to help boost Daniel’s self confidence in himself as a future barber, but Troy wasn’t game for that!  Guess I can’t blame him!!

 

In other news, we introduced Daniel to his very own lamp by the bed that he can turn on and off by himself.  Every night after we read him books, he will generally “read” to himself for a while before falling asleep.  We’ve always been in control of the cutoff time, otherwise he would read all night.  This lamp was a big step for Daniel and we’re pleased to tell you that he always turns his lamp off after about 10 minutes or so without being asked and falls asleep.  Of course, these two pictures below are the exception.  I walked in around 11 one night to check on him and at some point after I initially checked on him, he had turned his light back on and started reading again.  He was sound asleep, light blasting.  Just look at the pile of books he was sleeping on – and you can’t even see them all!!  I had to roll him and pull books out from under him and the covers!

     

Lastly, Daniel has finally gotten into crafting more than he used to!!  I love this, especially with winter here now, so we’ve been getting the crafts out and creating some fun things.  The below reindeer Troy actually did with Daniel.  Daniel said I was the one with the red pretty antlers, he (Daniel was Rudolph with the red nose) and Troy was the middle small one!  Troy wasn’t too happy about that, but he went with it!! 

These fun glasses Daniel and I made from an egg carton.  I saw this in a parenting magazine recently and since it’s all stuff we had around the house, I thought why not?!  We just cut the egg carton, cut eye holes, decorated with markers and punched holes in the side for the pipe cleaners and Ta Da!  Silly glasses!

     

We’re getting very excited about Christmas and Daniel already knows what he wants from Santa.  We’ll be putting up our tree next weekend and today Daniel and I put garland and lights up outside.  This year I’m feeling more Christmas spirit than ever!  Happy Holidays!

A Not-So-Silent Ninja!

We had a great Halloween weekend! We started off at the pumpkin patch Saturday afternoon and had our pick of the leftover pumpkins! Troy is great friends with a guy whose family owns the patch so after the big festivities, they let us come over and wander through and grab up what we like! We got about 15 beautiful pumpkins of all sizes and had a blast making it through the vines!

This year we carved a cool spider pumpkin! Daniel picked out the pattern!

For Halloween Daniel was a Ninja with 4 swords on his back! He made sure to tell everyone he had 4 swords, two short and two long! We trick or treated until Daniel finally told Troy he couldn't walk anymore and then he handed me his pumpkin.

Enjoy the pics!

The Wedding – October 16, 2010

I can hardly believe that my little sister who is 13 years younger than me got married his past weekend!!  She was always the baby (which she’s always hated, but has always managed to use to her advantage) and it seems hard to believe how grown up she is now.

I thought today I would just share some photos from the wedding.

(On a side note – today Troy and I celebrated 14 years of marriage – WOW!)

     Just Pronounced Man and Wife!

Troy gave her away.  They’ve been like brother and sister for 14 years, and fought like it too, but you know Troy would do anything for her!!  (And he did give Brett “the speech”.  The same one my father delivered to him, the day he married me!

Cassandra is holding a photo of my dad!  He was there is spirit!

   Daniel was sure to dance with the Bride!           

We were doing the Mocarena and Daniel charged up and down the line checking us all out.  He had everyone in stitches!

For fun – here is one of me on my wedding day, October 19, 1996, with my little sister as the flower girl – my how things have changed!

Medical Update

Yesterday we had some follow ups for Daniel's ongoing medical condition. The news is pretty much status quo. Perfect right kidney, swollen left kidney, and over-sized bladder. I'm coming to the realization that that is what they expect to see and that is about as good as it will get. Since his left kidney can never actually take a few days, weeks or months off to heal, like a sick person could, it won't actually have the chance to heal completely.

Personally I thought it looked a tad better than before and the doctor agreed that it might be a smidge better. As for Daniel's bladder, basically we're in the "he just needs to grow" stage. Daniel needs to grow bigger and older and have an understanding of a bladder and the fact that he just can't speed pee to get back to his toys.

I can hear the choruses of "Good luck with that one" now!! Believe me, I know!!

They have one more large sedated test to do, which they have mentioned several times. The doctor finally agreed that we should schedule it in the New Year or early spring "for completeness" in his words. If they don't find anything unusual, which they don't expect to, then we might actually be DONE, as in released from the urologist!!

Are we done with the issue entirely? No way.

We will have to be diligent in continuing to potty train and getting Daniel to understand his issues. He still leaks in between potty breaks (unless highly motivated) and we are trying to curtail that without so much bribery now. We will have to watch him for urinary tract infections and teach him to recognize the signs as he begins to want privacy from us (which we see starting already). Daniel will have to have regular blood pressure check ups and we'll have to monitor his kidney on some level, maybe once a year.

Thanks for all the prayers and support!! I'll update about the next test when we get dates.

Busy Two Weeks

I would like to ask for prayers for our family as we embark on a very, very busy two weeks. First of all, next week is Daniel's medical appointment. While it is just a follow up and what I call an "easy appointment" being an ultrasound and visit with the doctor, it is still stressful as it changes my work schedule, Daniel's school schedule and I still worry every time we go.

This weekend is very busy because my best friend and her husband are coming for the weekend for her high school reunion and at the same time I have a thousand things to do Friday for my little sister's wedding next week. Saturday she'll be with me most of the day as we do a mini bachelorette party at my house (just hanging out).

Then the following weekend is the BIG DAY! On the 16th, my little sister will marry the man of her dreams and Brett will become part of our family. We're ALL in the wedding. I'm a bridesmaid, Daniel the ring bearer, and Troy gets to give her away! My dad will be sorely missed on this occasion. This has been a tough month for all of us as we just passed his birthday about a week ago, and this month he will have been gone 3 years.

However, Troy is prepared to give Brett the same speech my father gave him. It goes something like this:

"All sales are final. No returns or exchanges allowed."

That was so my dad!!

That weekend proves to be crazy busy. I have several out of town guests at the house. Friday is rehearsal, decorating the church, etc. and Saturday the big day. I'm leaving Daniel entrusted to the care of my best friend and his grandparents to get him ready and to the church on time so I can spend some time with my little and big sisters before the wedding.

Thank you for your prayers.