2007 Recap for the Us!

Some people that we sent cards to got this, but not everyone, so here's the review for our family last year:

January - We had the house recarpeted. SO nice to have soft new carpet that isn't stained with lipstick and juice!
February - We bought a trampoline and have loved it. It was definitely a worthy purchase.
March - Dad tore down our fence and built a new one for Mom's birthday (It's an 8-footer and it's fabulous)
April - Mom got her 1,000th feedback on ebay (it's a big deal in this house!)
May - Munchkin and Mom took their first ever plane trip, and to HAWAII of all places! (Mom tried not to close her eyes while Munchkin squealed with joy as we took off)
May - While the girls were in Hawaii, Dad and Buddy Boy finished finishing the basement! Now THAT was awesome.
June - Munchkin started taking theater classes, and did wonderfully in the production, The Sword in the Stone.
July - Mom was called into the Primary presidency in the ward. (she hasn't slept since lol, just kidding)
August - We took the plunge and painted our living room (you know, with COLORS and everything!), painted Buddy Boy's room blue, and painted Munchkin a chalkboard on her wall.
September - Munchkin started preschool. She LOVES school, and cannot wait to go to kindergarten. In fact, she was quite suprised and a little upset that she didn't go to kindergarten the very day she turned 5.
October - Dad and Munchkin went to Disneyland and spent 3 days there. They went on all the "big kid" roller coasters, dined with the princesses, and had a blast.
October - While they were in Disneyland (talk about a nice daddy/daughter date), Buddy Boy had his first (and hopefully LAST EVER) MRI at Primary Children's hospital.
November - Buddy Boy mocked all the doctors and their tests by showing them that he CAN sit, he CAN crawl, he CAN stand, and he's not stopping there...he's just gonna do it wen he feels like it.
December - Dad was awarded a prize at work for being the Employee of the Year.
December - Two fun birthdays were also celebrated. Munchkin is now a big 5 years old, and Buddy Boy is no longer an infant. He's offically a 1-year old TODDLER!

There's the look back....now....TO THE FUTURE!

Christmas Fun

We had a great Christmas that extended for almost 2 weeks. It all started 12 days before Christmas. Someone was dropping off pieces of a nativity set one day at a time with the messages about the 1st, 2nd, etc days of Christmas, our Savior gave to us... It ended the day before Christmas Eve when the family revealed themselves and gave us the rest of the set. What a way to get us in the holiday spirit! It was so exciting to rush to the door to see if we could catch them. We never did!

Also on the Sunday before Christmas, our Bishop told us he needed to come over to our house. All day I was trying to think what we did that was so bad that he had to pay us a visit in our home! Turned out that a very kind person or people wanted to help us have a good Christmas. The kids each received an outfit (see the pictures of them dressed up) and a toy. Mom and Dad got a beautiful plaque which is displayed proudly in our living room. We don't know who it was from, so THANK YOU, secret Santas!! (In case you see this)

Then came Christmas day. Presents galore! Munchkin got a singing Care Bear, an "Alphabus", a Baby Alive (she eats and poops and everything!), a nightgown (you can see her jumping for joy in it lol), a flower shaped nightlight, and other things. Buddy Boy was overjoyed to play with the wrapping paper, but he also got some toys: his first ever remote control car, a ball blowing thingy (like Asher's), an Elmo giggle and go driver, a "stretch me" Elmo doll, and more.

THEN, on the Saturday after Christmas, Dad suprised everyone with a PUPPY! Mom was in shock. The kids were thrilled. He's a cute little guy. Munchkin decided he's a girl, not a boy, and "her" name is Nisha.

Anywho, that was our holiday in a nutshell. We are so blessed to have wonderful family and friends who spread joy into our lives. We look forward to the chance to pay it forward when the opportunity arises as well!

Next, the our family year in review....

Clash of the Choirs

I don't know if anyone watched this 4 day series, but I did....(that would be Mom, not Dad:-)) I love watching musical performances, and this didn't disappoint. The finale was last night, and I was in tears for half the thing. It was hard to choose just one song to showcase here, but I decided on this one cause this song is in my wedding video. If you get a chance, go to Youtube and check out Nick Lachey's team on Day 3 singing the Flight of the Bumblebee. It's amazing. Kelly Rowland's choir singing "Survivor" during the finale was awesome too, I was jumping and singing along lol

Birthday Boy

1 year ago our little cutie pants was born. It was a FREEZING cold day, and a snowstorm was on the way. It's hard to believe that it was a WHOLE year ago! Munchkin and Dad were with me when I got my IV put in, and Munchkin held my hand to "help me be brave". 7 and a half hours later, I was holding a perfect little boy (although a little bald!) in my arms. He looked up at me and stared. This kid was SO perfect, you have no idea. He didn't cry ONCE at the hospital. We all thought it seemed strange, what baby doesn't cry AT ALL for the first 2 days of his life? It wasn't until the night after he came home that he decided to try to let some noise out, and what a glorious sound it was. (until 3 that morning, then I decided his quiet hadn't been bad)


Anyway, some random thoughts about his birth, sorry. He's come a long, long way, and is still an absolute delight. Happy birthday buddy!!

Birthday Party

We had a birthday party for Munchkin at Chuck E Cheese, just the four of us. It's amazing really, when you don't buy a party package or take a million kids along, it can be quite affordable. We all got filled up on pizza, played games for hours, and redeemed our tickets for great prizes (according to Munchkin), all for under $20. In case anyone was curious:-)

5 Years Ago

5 years ago today my life changed forever....

-5 years ago today I realized that I don't need to care what the world thinks of me, because there are so many more important things.
-I learned that life is so much bigger than me.
-I saw first hand the miracles that God gives us.
-I figured out WHY eternal families are SO important.
-I had my first memorable glimpse of Heaven.

5 years ago today my sweet girl was born.

Buddy Boy

Buddy has been crawling for about 3 weeks now. Everyday he gets faster, and can crawl further. He can now crawl from one side of the house to the other. We are so excited about his progress. He loves playing with toys and exploring his way around. We are so blessed to have him in our lives.

Helping Out

Yesterday was parent teacher conference for Munchkin (Yes preschool). The teacher mentioned how Munchkinwas excellent at helping others out. This of course, we already knew, but it was nice that the teacher observed it. Today as the snow fell we were shoveling the snow, and as typical fashion she grabbed a shoved and helped.

Lights

Mom and Munchkin love Christmas lights. We usually put out some Christmas lights of our own, but not a lot. This year I was a lot more excited to put up some of our newly invested LED lights. One strand is only 3.2 watts!! Hopefully every year our collection gets larger. Right now the lights are pretty expensive compared to the regular lights, but should be well worth the investment on our electric bill. We found some on sale at Kmart for only $5.00 a strand. Our family is all about energy efficiency.

Our trip

Ok, I know this is a month late, but better late than never. The drive is horrendous, but we made it in good time. We wasted no time and went straight to Disneyland. After 6 hours Munchkin couldn't walk because she was so tired. I carried her back to the hotel and the next day we did it again, this time from opening to closing. We decided the third day we would go to the park and then go straight home. About 3 hours in the park on our third day Munchkin started crying, because she thought she was going to throw up. So we were done. (we were missing Mom and Buddy Boy) So we went home. Then of course we hit the deer, and still trying to recover from it. If you ask Munchkin about the trip, she wont tell you much about Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, feeding the ducks, or meeting the princesses, but she will tell you all about hitting the deer.

Trick Or Treat...

Ah, Halloween. I'm personally not a huge fan. Well, I don't DISLIKE Halloween, but I don't get real into it or anything. It was killing Akaila to not have decorations covering our house like "all the neighbors".

Akaila was (who would have thought?) a princess. Cinderella, to be exact. And Parker was Winnie the Pooh. You can see from the pictures how thrilled he was with the costume.

Strides...

So, we've had a few people ask us why Buddy Boy had an MRI...it's because he's not developing in ways that the doctor thinks he should be. HOWEVER, the neurologist at Primary's said that she doesn't think he's THAT far behind, and that she personally would never had ordered an MRI. In a way, it's frustrating that we weren't told that before, but it's also a HUGE relief! We were also told that his MRI came back 100% clean, so hooray for that!

So anywho, Buddy Boy isn't sitting or crawling or anything of the sort, although his cognitive and fine motor skills are fine. Enter, today!!!!

Okay, so he didn't sit up, and he didn't crawl. What he DID do, however, was wonderful. He pushed himself up into a crawling position, and that's closer than he's ever come! We of course, clapped and cheered like he's done a somersault or something, and so what did he do? Repeat the same action for us again! We're so proud of him.

It's been hard in a lot of ways to worry about him and his developing. To wonder if he'll be behind his whole life, to wonder if something's wrong, etc. It's NOT been hard, however, to baby this boy, to hold him and cuddle with him cause he can't quite do some things yet. Being unable to have more children really makes me appreciate the things he IS doing, and helps me to enjoy the extended period of innocence I've been blessed to have with him. I'm SO lucky to have him in my life, and he's absolutely perfect, no matter what any doctor says. He's my little angel, the child I didn't know if I'd be able to have, and there is nothing better.

So...thank you so much to all who kept us in their prayers! Buddy Boy is doing well, and is really starting to make some strides. As for Dad and Munchkin, all is well on that front too. Thanks so much for all of the concern!

All I Want For Christmas...

Well, I took this cute picture of Buddy Boy and planned on posting a cute little blurb with a silly little list of things I want for Christmas this year (like a blender that I can't break...seriously, I've gone through like 5 of them...I just can't seem to use them right).


















This week, however, made me rethink my "list". Dad and Munchkin went to Disneyland and from the looks and sounds of it, had a great time!

 


















In the meantime, Buddy Boy was missing his dad and sister something fierce, as was I. We were lonely and bored, and I was pretty pathetic, honestly. On Wednesday, Buddy Boy had an appointment at Primary Children's hospital for an MRI. It was much more traumatic than it should have been. Buddy had to be sedated, so they were going to give him an IV. The nurses had to stick him FIVE (yes, 5) times to get a vein, and I had to be the one forcing him to lay still. I felt so bad. Afterwards in the recovery room, he was completely zonked, and I just held him, stroked his hands, hairs, and face and sang Primary and other church songs to him. It was one of those precious moments that I will never forget. He laid in my arms so peaceful and still for about 2 hours. I didn't take any pictures; I was a tad bit distracted:-)

That evening, Dad decided to leave California a day early and to start home right away. They planned on being home around 5:30 in the morning. At 3:00 in the morning in Fillmore, a deer decided to jump onto the freeway in front of the car and see what would happen. Dad and Munchkin were not hurt at all, thank goodness, but the car wasn't so lucky. I drove down to pick them up and they slept peacefully for some of the day. Home safe at last.

So...with all that's happened this week, I have to say that my perspective has changed a bit. I decided I only want 3 things for Christmas this year:



-Dad,


-Munchkin, and


-Buddy Boy

We, Wii

We decided to waste some valuable time and money by buying a Wii. Our arms are sore from playing it, and we have had a blast participating in it. Munchkin caught on to the concept very fast. She gets her whole body into the swing on all the sports games. For the most part I can hold Parker and play at the same time. We actually haven't been playing it that much, until we all got a cold and didn't feel like doing anything.
We didn't want Buddy Boy to feel left out on all the recent fun lately and so we painted his room as well. So much for our white house. The color is blue it is hard to tell from the picture.

Tag

All righty, I've been tagged....and I can't break the chain, now can I?

Tag....

1. Who is your man? Dad
2. How long have you been together? We've been married 7 years last June.
3. How long dated? hmm...all these things I've forgotten! We dated about 4 months before we got engaged.
4. How old is your man? 32
5. Who eats more? I'd like to think it's him, but I really don't know....sad huh? At a mealtime, he eats way more, but I eat more meals throughout the day!
6. Who said "I love you" first? Uh, him. I akwardly said, "thank you." Ouch!!!
7. Who is taller? Dad
8. Who sings better? Dad would say I do, but I'm not that extraordinarily talented in that area either...
9. Who is smarter? Hands down, ME... lol, just kidding Dad. We're smart in different ways. Like he knows how to figure out handyman stuff, but I'm good at figuring out other stuff (I don't know what other stuff)
10. Who's temper is worse? No question, that's mine.
11. Who does the laundry? Dad mostly.
12.Who takes out the garbage? Both of us
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? It depends on how the bed is arranged in the room. I sleep on the edge not near a wall, cause I'm afraid of spiders climbing up and getting me in my sleep.
14. Who pays the bills? we both do. (Kam, I'll show you how to feed the family on $100 a month! Only for one month though, cause the next month your pantry will be dry!)
15. Who is better with the computer? It depends on the computer issue.
16. Who mows the lawn? Mostly me, cause I need the exercise (yes, I count it as my aerobic)
17. Who cooks dinner? Usually that's me
18. Who drives when you are together? Ooh, Dad. I get too stressed and highly dislike driving.
19. Who pays when you go out? Mostly Dad
20. Who is most stubborn? Another easy question...me
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? neither
22. Whose parents do you see the most? My mom
23. Who kissed who first? He kissed me, but it was only after I told him I was giving him "The Look"
24. Who asked who out? He asked me
25. Who proposed? Well, Nate asked us if we were thinking about marriage, and we pretended it hadn't happened. Then a few days later I asked Dad what he'd thought of Nate's "comments" He pretended to not know what I meant!! Eventually, he was the one who popped the official question.
26. Who is more sensitive? I've been known to be quite sensitive, so I'd have to say me. Dad is much more sensitive than he lets on, though.
27. Who has more friends? Him, for sure. I hide in my house.
28. Who has more siblings? He does
29. Who wears the pants in the family? We both do. It works out pretty well, I think!

I "tag" Tracy, Reggie and Zildy...

Remodeling?

Well, we finally got brave and repainted our living room. Now, those who know us and our decorating style well, know how scary this must have been for us....it was scary, but it was fun, and we both love it! Our living room doesn't look like our living room! We did a hot chocolate color all around and then one dark red/maroon accent wall. First, before:






Here's the place now:






Munchkin decided if we were going to redo the living room, she'd better rearrange her bedroom. She carried one of our coolers into her bedroom, hung random things around, etc, but the most disturbing idea she had was to hang her doll from the ceiling....in her innocent mind, it was just cute, so I suppose that's what counts!

Bouncin Baby

Grandma's bouncer being put to good use...thanks Grandma!

Rainbow

We saw the most beautiful rainbow today. Of course these pictures don't come close to showing how beautiful it really was.

The Safer Alternative

Here's the safer way to play...(this isn't me playing now, this is before the accident)

ouch

So this is a little game I play with Akaila and Parker almost on a daily basis, until last Friday. On Friday I decided to lift Akaila up higher than usual and really work my core muscles...it would have worked fabulously had I not lost my balance and had my legs fall over my head, spraining my neck! I was SO freaked out, thought I'd broken my neck, as I was unable to move any body parts for 20 minutes or so. Luckily, it's just a sprain, and I'm wearing a neck brace that I can take off at times.

It was a really good core workout though...:-)

School

Akaila is getting so excited for school. Everyday she asks us some sort of school related question, for example: When I go to school will I take the school bus? Or Do you play at school? Eve took her shopping for some new school clothes and signed her up for preschool. Akaila is caught up on her shots, but she needs 6 more before she turns 5 years old, and she has to get them before she goes to preschool. She is not looking forward to that. Here she is modeling some clothes.
Parker here is sleeping with his toy dog. He has to have his toy dog in order to take a good nap. There is nothing more peaceful than a baby sleeping.