NYE

We hosted a little gathering to ring in the New Year. 

There was definitely a celebratory mood ;)

Last year we did a little tebowing to remember 2011.  

2012 - it's gangnam style  (and because we are getting old"er", there is an iphone in the upper left corner that we are watching)

Pups!

We watched Sierra and Cooper this holiday season (here they are last year).  I'm pretty confident Jerry is in heaven having his buddies over.

Family Movie

Well this was fun and a first time!

We went to see Wreck-It Ralph as a family.  Mason has only been once before (check it out) and was itty bitty, so it didn't really count.  Olivia has gone only one other time and it was a date with Daddy.

Needless to say, I see a lot more animated movies in our future.

Happy Birthday TO ME!

Hi :)

I'm 33! 

I was kind-of excited about turning 32 last year.  I remember my lovely Grandma always told me she was 32, so I knew it was going to be a great year.  But somehow, last year I kept telling people I was 33!??!?!  At the gym, when you have to input your age in the machine...I would put 33??  At the drs, I would fill out a paper with my birthday and age and write 33, only to have the nurse correct me?!?!

The best news about this year?  I get to be 33 FOR REAL :)  

It's like I gained a year and I'm definitely happy with that.

thank you to my favorites for making my day extra special

Big Boy Bed

Oh second child.  I didn't even warn you this was happening.  

SURPRISE, in ten minutes, this contraption that is being assembled in your room is your new bed!!!  Fun :)  Please sleep for 12 hours in it and there is no jumping on the bed.

The great news?!?!  Mason has done amazing.  He sleeps just fine and we've (so far) had no issues.  Cute bedding and decorations will probably get purchased and set up by the time he is 18.  Hopefully updated pictures to come.

Breathing Issues

health post for Mommy notes   

Man, day after Christmas and we are at the drs!  So I knew it was coming :(  Christmas evening she starts her "cough".  It's a different cough and it's constant.  Every five minutes, sometimes more often.  Started her inhaled steroid  Qvar (anyone else use this?).  We put her to bed but she's tossing and turning and coughing.  So I brought her to bed with me and noticed she was breathing fast.  

Yup - checked it, it's between 60 and 70 bpm!  Normal is 25ish.  We did a xopenex (anyone use this?) and continued every three hours throughout the night.  Of course we barely slept...she just can't get comfortable and it makes sense because she can't breathe.  

Called dr and got an 8:15 appointment (thankfully the dr office can get us in immediately when we are having these issues) and dr confirmed very high respiratory rate but not really wheezing bad (anyone else have this?).  Dr kept saying asthmatic issues and we were to continue all breathing meds and she added oral steroids and an antibiotic.

Basically not fun.  

**two days later, breathing is better but still has her "cough"**

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!!

Before

During

After

And the group photos 

Yes, it was a perfect Christmas morning.  It was filled with screams and gasps and surprises.  Mason got a train in his stocking and played with it for the next four hours.  He opened the other gifts, but kept going back to the train.  After naps there was lots of playing and then a delicious meal that included creme brulee!  

Yes, it was officially the best holiday....

...yet ;)

A Beautiful Christmas Eve

Oh how I wish I had my nice camera on this GORGEOUS Christmas Eve.  We took the kids to a park and ended up taking off our shoes and sunning ourselves in the nearby field.  Absolutely loving this weather.

After basking in the sun the kiddos took naps and then made a gingerbread house.  This year was a huge improvement over last year...

The evening ended with the kiddos opening one gift each...new pjs.  We wrote a letter to Santa (Olivia ate two of Rudolph's carrots?!?!) and read the traditional "Night Before Christmas."

Tomorrow is going to be awesome!!!

Ho Ho Ho

And the fun continues today.  

First we had to write our letters to give to Santa.

So we got ready to personally deliver the letters.

Tim's mom and I decided to get dressed.  

EXACTLY THE SAME!!???!!  

It's Santa

And because it's the holiday season and the goal is to have more food than you can actually eat....we (the kids and grandparents) made more cookies.

Mason is definitely NOT bored cooking.  He might not be 100% into the cooking, but he is sure having fun!

Then came decorating the cookies.  

At first it was going well....

 Until I realized that Mason's sprinkles don't have a shaker....ooops!

Yum

Of course, you have to sample the product :)

 Loving all these sweet moments.

Let the Celebrating Begin!

Our guests arrived last night and today we've gone full swing into holiday celebrating :)  Grana and Grampa are here, along with Tim's Aunt Sue.

We (the kids and grandparents) made cookies

 ha - notice how mason helped?  his car drove the crisco around :)

Next was a little train time and coloring Christmas pictures

Then Olivia participated in our "first annual" holiday casting on our driveway.

 This was our holiday drink.  And yes, it's as delightful as it looks!!

CHEERS!

Big Girl BOOSTER

Yup, that's right!  She's 40lb and 4 years old...so, she's in a booster :)  This transition was made so that we could put her in the third row of our 4runner...allowing for adults to have the most spacious and comfy second row.

On her first ride things that she noticed:  she could lean forward and turn around to see behind her!  She was giggling with excitement.

FLOORS are IN!

The floors are in.  

The baseboards are installed and painted.

Everything has been cleaned and put back into place.

Happy Happy Happy!!!!

  

more pictures here

O Christmas Tree (take 2)

So what's better than setting up the tree one time a year???  Setting it up TWO TIMES!

I was actually more prepared and ready for our evening of decorating.  The kids are sporting new jammers, we kept the train hidden until the tree was set up, and the adults had drinks.

BEFORE 

Mason found the train ornament again.

And he would put it on the tree, step back look at it, then take it off...repeating those steps for the next hour.

Olivia loved being able to redecorate the tree.  She is very serious about this process and this time spread the ornaments out.  I love these pictures of her.

Soooo....if I have to say what's also better about this time decorating the tree (rather than the first) it's our FLOORS!!  The tree definitely looks better with these floors and baseboards compared to before

Woah - getting to be picture overload.  Of course, Mason was thrilled about the train coming back out  :)