Merry Christmas and Happy everything!

This Christmas season has been a series of huge events for our family! Our daughters are growing healthy and strong! Eric has finished his hardest semester ever! Yeah!!!!!! We were so excited to finally have a Christmas of our own in our home with our small family. This was the first year we've ever had a Christmas tree. Artificial, but a tree none the less! Kallyn and Bug have been enjoying the time that daddy has been home. Mommy enjoys it immensely as well.
We have had our ups and downs this season with Tracy's boy being in and out of the hospital. Also our joys of expecting our third ended in a miscarriage Christmas Eve. I had my suspicions when the morning sickness seemed to subside a bit and the sonogram at 10 weeks measured the fetus to be 6 weeks. The good news is that the Dr didn't see a reason for us to wait a while to try again. So in the near future I hope that Kallyn will be able to announce the excuse for my fat belly again. (The day of the ultrasound Kallyn announced to all our friends that "My mommy's belly is just fat because there is a baby in it")
Eric has been out skiing again! Although nothing will ever beat the snow we came from, it is still fun to fly down the slopes! Yesterday we went to Nashua, NH with some friends to go sledding. The weather was warm and the snow was perfect! Kallyn couldn't get enough! Bug didn't like it so much. But she compromised and slid down the hill on her rump. Kallyn was going off jumps and daring the hill alone! She was bowled over once. Mommy's fault! I couldn't get her to move fast enough! Eric didn't kill anybody and I had fun watching. We should have taken all three tubes so I didn't get left behind, but I couldn't go down unless someone watched bug. Next time maybe she'll like it! Kallyn is convinced that she is going skiing with daddy the next time he goes! I think that she'll love it! I'll try to post some pics and videos later. I realize that it has been a while since I posted much. Life gets crazy for the holidays!

Updates on Silas

Our Christmas miracle is that our prayers have been heard! Silas was able to get into the cancer hospital in Boston immediately when most patients have a 3 month waiting list to been seen. Silas was seen as soon as they could drive into Boston, have all his tests and lab work done and they devised a treatment program in the first three days they were there. He started his first round of Chemotherapy on Thursday and as far as I have heard he reacted very well. Hopefully he is coming home today for a few days. Then it's back for the second session of chemotherapy. After 4 sessions they'll take a break, then repeat a second round. If all of that goes well, then they'll remove what they can of the tumors. Then hopefully after 2 more rounds of chemo he'll be done. Please continue to pray for him and his family. Violet has been such a trooper but I know it must be difficult for her to go through 3-4 days without seeing her mommy and baby brother.

Please Pray for Silas

Yesteday my friend Tracy took her baby, Silas, to the Dr's for his 6 month checkup and shots. The doctor was concerned about his lopsided belly. An ultrasound found a large tumor in his liver the size of a grapefruit. They took Silas to the hospital in Boston for tests and surgery. I'm watching their 2 yr old so her husband can be there with her. She has asked that I keep Silas in my prayers and I am asking my friends and family to do the same. Thankyou.

Pink Princess Party

My girls loved having a "new sister" to play with for a few days. They discovered that they had matching PJs and insisted on posing together. This is the pic of the little models. We watched Violet while her mom and dad were in the hospital with Silas. Sure makes me rethink the idea of having #3.

Santa came to our house!

It's a 1 1/2 weeks till Christmas! Santa Clause called to see if he could stop by tonight and see the girls! They were so excited! They were running and jumping and even gave him hugs goodnight. Kallyn made sure to ask that he bring a present for Daddy and not a lump of coal! Daddy tricked her into telling him what his presents were. She felt terrible about it and we told her that daddy was very naughty to trick her and he will only get a lump of coal from Santa. I think that devastated her even more! So Santa knows to bring him a present because he is very loved in our family! Thankyou Santa for stopping by!

Little Lamb for the nativity

The ward Christmas party was very special this year. It was a lot of fun and even though I was suckered into wearing the living room drapes and my bath robe, I didn't miss the traditional winter crafts, the caroling games and candy canes, the silly program, and the visit from Santa. This year in our new ward the new hit theme was a night in Bethlehem. I went to a similar Christmas Party in my Parent's ward last year. This was a much better turnout! There was hardly any room to place our blanket. And forget about space for the pregnant Mary and her Husband! They had a hard time making their way to the stable for the program! It was all very effective! The food was WONDERFUL and the whole atmosphere was magical!
Kallyn and Bug were supposed to be in the flock of sheep with their nursery leaders the shepherds. Bug was a little frightened so it ended up just being Kallyn, but she sat up on the stage under the stable the whole program. She was very reverent and she enjoyed all the smiles and waves from the friendly audience! And she even got to sing Away In A Manger. She LOVES that song.
When we got home she had to recreate the manger scene on her Weebles castle. She got a sheet of stickers from one of the merchant booths at the church. This is her little Nativity this year. Mom, we really miss your Fisher Price Nativity!

Heather had her babies!

Heather's babies were born on Tuesday. I am not sure what time, but we are so glad they are finally here and they are all three doing well! Laci Noelle came first, then Cole Garret. Both were 7 lbs. 2 oz. and 19 1/2 inches long! Congratulations Heather and Jason! Our family has doubled in Grandbabies in one week! Sure miss the family and wish we could be there to help out! And we hope to see pictures of the sweet angels soon!

The magic words: "You Want Some?"

This is Bug after she came inside from playing in the snow. I threw her in the shower to warm her up. She was falling asleep in the shower! I threw the towel around her and she was out! I kept trying to keep her awake while I dressed her, but it didn't really work. After she was dressed she crashed on the kitchen floor where she found her blanket. She will always respond to these magic words: Want some? It's sometimes the only way to get her up in the morning! I wish I kept the camera going! She laid right back down and didn't even drink the bottle I gave her. She must have played really hard in the snow!

Daddy's Igloo

It snowed on monday the 3rd. I don't know who was more excited about it. Eric or Kallyn! Kallyn came running into the house "we're going to build a ee-goo!" A what? I had a hard time trying to decifer what she was saying. Finaly it clicked and I realized she and eric were piling the new snow (9" in some places) and carving out an igloo! Eric was out there for 4 hours working on this snow house for Kallyn. Allison didn't last 15 minutes. Kallyn was out there for about 45 minutes. I was in the house curling up under a blanket enjoying a few minutes of rest. These pictures were taken on Friday. The snow has melted a bit over the week and just imagine how big it was! Kallyn could stand up inside and there was plenty of room for all four of us to sit and hang out inside. It was pretty cool!

Best Hairdo ever!!!

Eric bought a shop vac to help clean up the wood stove and keep the ashes at a minimum. Who knew it could be so usefull to tame the wild "mommy hasn't done my hair in three days" hair!

I have the best hubby ever!

Sorry I haven't had any updates lately! With the rush of Thanksgiving I've gotten behind on a lot of things, then last weekend I was terribly sick. I had the worst sore throat ever. And the world was spinning for three days! I was so worried it was strep! I get it every year! But thankfully it was not and by Tuesday I was feeling so much better. For the last week I have been trying to get back into the swing of things. But the whole time I was sick Eric took care of everything! He was so wonderful. He did the laundry, the dishes, he picked up after the girls, he fed them, changed them, and took them out shopping so I could sleep! And the best part-he gave me flowers! I love flowers, but just the thought of spending money on something that disappears so fast is hard to justify! But it made me feel so much better.
I was woken up from a long nap to some crazy laughter noises from the girls so I thougth I would investigate. Eric had the girls so wound up! They were having so much fun! It was truly the best medicine to see the girls having so much fun with their daddy!

Ingrid Had Her Baby!!!

Julia Abigail was born on Monday Dec 3rd at 1:30 PM. She was 8 lbs 11 oz. 20.5 inches long. Ing was induced at 8:30 am and everything went well! Dallin called us to tell us that the girls have a new cousin. They are so excited!!!! Kallyn asked me when we could go to the hospital to see her! Boy it makes me miss them! Hopefully we will get some pictures soon! Grammy tells us she looks just like Dallin did, only more pettite!