Merry Christmas to all!

Merry Christmas everyone! I sure hope that you all had as wonderful of a Christmas as we did and enjoyed your families and loved ones. Ours was a little different from past years, but still wonderful and family filled!

We hosted Dane's family at our house on Friday morning/afternoon. Dane had to work that night, so we had a Christmas Eve Day celebration. There was tons of food and sweets to eat and lots of presents to spoil us all. This year was SO MUCH FUN with Anna. It's the first year that she has really gotten into it and understood what was going on. She loved all the Santa talk and her eyes just grew bigger and bigger as well explained the whole process. :)

Here is Nana and Papa opening up their personalized calendar from the four grandkids with lots of pictures for them to enjoy each month. We had it made on Shutterfly and it turned our super cute! Great idea, Holly!
Anna, opening her "Flip Over" game from her cousins...she loves this game, and actually we do it! It's at the perfect level for her age!

Her awesome new digital camera from Mommy and Daddy!

Here's Bubba with his new football from Papa, and his new personalized train!

Anna and Cole playing with the Play-Doh ice cream maker that Anna got for her birthday. It started out with different colors like brown (for chocolate), pink (for strawberry) and a cool white speckled one that you made sprinkles with. Well, only a week after her birthday, it has all turned into kind of a purply swirl color. Maybe cotton candy flavor? :)

Later that night, after Dane's family left and he headed off to work, my mom showed up to spend Christmas Eve and day with us. Sadly, my Dad was not able to join us this year because he was home recouperating from surgery that he had just had on Thursday. It was nothing too serious, but the recovery turned out to be a little more intense than expected. He had two spots (one on his shoulder and one on the top of his head) where some cancerous cells were detected. It was given the name Basal Cell Carcinoma, which is the most common kind of skin cancer, and is slow growing. Since my Dad has a pretty active job and lifestyle, the doctor told him he had to take it VERY easy and take 11 days off from work to recover. We thought he'd go in, they'd scrape a little off each spot, and he'd be on his way and go on wiht his day. Well, he was pretty laid up and very sore with a terrible headache for the first couple of days. According to him, they had to dig pretty deep on the head one. He decided he'd be more comfortable at home, so he sent my mom on her way. While I feel bad that he was by himself, it sounds like it was best that he wasn't around everyone (my mom said he was a bit cranky and was kind of glad to be leaving the house). Dad, we missed you very much, and it just wasn't the same without you, but we're glad you are on the road to recovery!

Here's a picture of my mom and Anna eating their pretzels that grandma brought!

Grandma took Anna out for a walk in our neighborhood to look at Christmas lights...one of the houses down our road is so festive, she LOVES the roller coaster figurines and mentions then EVERY time we drive past the house. :) Of course we had now snow for Christmas...just rain and wind. Typical.

Drew, enjoying his Christmas squash...mmmm, delicious! Look at those teeth! So cute. :)

This might be one of my favorite pictures. Anna set out cookies and milk for Santa and was SO excited to see them gone in the morning, only to be replaced by mounds of presents.

I felt a little weepy in this picture. I just feel like she's getting so big and time is passing so fast!

Christmas morning, and Anna is trying one of her three new pairs of high heels! :) Between her birthday and Christmas she got tons of dress up clothes and spends all day putting them on and taking them off!

Mommy and Drew, displaying the new blanket that Grandma sewed for his big boy bed, when that day comes. Thank you, Grandma...we just love it! That's somethign so special you've given the kids!

How adorable is our Bubba?! By the way, that basketball toy behind him...he actually plays it and makes baskets! My mom got it on video where he was laying on his belly and he reached up and made 4 out of 5 shots...left handed, non the less! Daddy is very proud. :)

Then there's princess Anna...you should see her walk around our kitchen and living room (wood floors) clicking around in her heels like she's 20 years old, with her purse and bracelets, like she's got somewhere to go. It makes me laugh every time!

Merry Christmas everyone! I just feel so blessed this year.

Oh, and don't forget to scroll down further...I posted a birthday post as well! :)

Anna turns 3!!

I know I'm a little behind on posting this, but December is a CRAZY busy month in this household! Our little princess turned 3 years old on December 17th, and we had a great time celebrating!

We had about 30 people rsvp that they were coming (parents and kids)! Most were our good friends here in town and their kids (around Anna's age), and then Dane's parents and my parents were there along with Dane's brother and his family from Seattle. Anna is a lucky little girl to have so many people that love her and want to celebrate her special day! We started off the party in the morning at Jumping Jacks, which is a great bouncy house place, and the kids had a ball.

Isn't this the face of a girl that's having a blast?!
Here she is in the bouncy house obsticle course!

After all the jumping fun, everyone headed back to our house for pizza, cake and ice cream. My sister-in-law Holly made Anna an AWESOME Dora cake. Anna was absolutely beside herself...she would just sit up at the table and stare at it and smile. She LOVED it. Not only was it adorable and perfect, but it was absolutely delicious too! Chocolate on chocolate inside...yum! Thanks again, Holly...that was so special for her.

It might not seem it by her expression, but Anna was giddy over her cake. She is going through the unfortunate "bad smile" phase when you ask her to say "cheese"...it's much better to get a genuine laugh out of her! :)

Here's Drew and his girlfriend Lola playing together at the party.

And here's Anna starting to open all of her loot...she was very spoiled!

Happy 3rd Birthday sweet girl! We are so proud of you and the smart, caring and loving little girl you have become! You are the best big sister ever and we just love you to pieces!

A recharge

It's amazing how quiet the house is without a 3 year old in it at night. It's been a not-so-good day, so we shipped Anna off to Nana and Papa's house to spend the night. I got a text from Dane this morning at 9:30 saying that he has already lost every ounce of patience for Anna and that it was going to be a LONG day. Anyone that knows Dane, knows that he is the most patient man ever. However, we all have our breaking points and Dane hit his today. Anna has been pushing our buttons a little more than usual lately, and has been getting under our skin. Apparently, while Dane was out of the room with Drew this morning, Anna got her hands on the Pledge (my fault for leaving it out) and managed to spray over half the contents all over herself and the couch. Um, yeah...what a mess! Needless to say, our couch is dust free and has a very pleasant lemony scent to it (as does Anna!). It sounds like it was just mess after mess after mess today with a few tantrums and back talking thrown in there too.

I came home at lunch and stayed home for the afternoon (more on my illness later) and after we ate, I put both the kids to bed for a nap and laid down myself to try and get a little rest. I told Dane to leave the house and go do something by himself for a while. Before he left, he came up to our room and said "why don't we just see if Nana and Papa will keep Anna overnight tonight?" Wow...it must have been a REALLY rough morning.

You might find this hard to believe, but Anna has only ever spent the night somewhere else once, and that was when we were in the hospital having Drew. It was with Dane's parents and went pretty good, but we just have never done it again. I know...it's time to cut the cord! I think we're both realizing that it's nice (and necessary) to have that break every once in a while, and for Anna, I want her to look forward to spending the night with her grandparents, not to have anxiety about it. Maybe we'll make this a once a month occasion. I just came up with that idea right now, so I might want to mention it to Dane's folks before signing them up for it. :)

Tonight has actually been very nice and peaceful. Dane, Drew and I went out to dinner after delivering Anna, then I dropped off Dane at our friends house so he could be a man and watch Monday Night Football. Drew and I stopped at the store and then came home where we played for a while before putting him down for bed. Drew's asleep, Dane is gone and Anna is gone. Bliss! I can't tell you how wonderful it was not to have to do the same ol' bedtime routine with Anna and go through the same battles with her that I do every night. Instead, I cleaned the kitchen and picked up the house and now I'm listening to a little Amos Lee (very relaxing). I'm about to sit down on the couch and open up my new People magazine I bought for myself while at the store, and enjoy the Reece's Christmas Tree that I snagged out of my daughter's Christmas stocking candy (don't worry, I'll replenish). Now if I only had a Cherry Pepsi and Tostitos Cheese Dip out of the jar, life would be perfect.

Life would also be perfect if I could get over my illnesses. I tell you what, I am so tired of being sick! A week ago today, I woke up with the flu...it lasted 24 hours and I was done with it. Not fun, but at least it was quick lived. Last Tuesday I started feeling like a cold was coming on. Sore throat, cough...the usual. Wednesday rolls around and my voice is quickly diminishing and my cough seems to be getting worse and now my glands are huge and sore. Great. Thursday (even less of a voice) I head to the doctor because if there's something she can give me for this, then great, bring it on! Strep test was negative, and she tells me it's probably just viral and that I'm going to have to wait it out. Whatever, what does she know? She did write a Rx for me for an antibiotic and told me that if I'm not feeling better by Monday (today) then I can start taking it. By Friday I had NO voice at all...not even kidding. A whisper is all I can manage still and this stupid cough has me up until 2:30 a.m. (no exaggeration) every night with coughing fits. I didn't listen to my doctor, and went ahead and filled the Rx and started taking it. Unfortunately, I don't think it's doing much. Ok, so maybe she does know something. I've diagnosed myself with laryngitis and from what I can tell, it can last up to two weeks! Eeek! It's really inconvenient to not be able to talk! I'm just ready to start feeling better so I can get a good nights sleep and STOP COUGHING.

I think I'll go eat my candy now...I've heard that has a soothing effect on a sore throat and cough. Kind of like honey or lemon.

One more thing...HAPPY 35TH ANNIVERSARY TO MY DAD AND MOM!!!!! I love you both so very much and only hope that Dane and I are as happy as you two are after 35 years. Thank you for being amazing parents and wonderful grandparents to our children. You both are kind, generous, and loving to your core...I couldn't be more proud to call you Mom and Dad! Hugs and kisses!

What's been happening

Let's just start this post off with a couple of pictures of my adorable children. :)

There...now that we got that out of the way, this is what we've been up to lately:

1. Last month we took a trip to visit my brother and his family. It was awesome and much overdue! It was so great to catch up with them and the girls, and we were even lucky enough to be there on Homecoming night and we got to see Shyanne all dolled up for the dance. She looked gorgeous and we met her date and definitely approve. They are pretty much best friends and it's nothing romantic, but we're hoping there's a wedding in the future (far future!). He's a good one. :) Anna and Bella had so much fun all weekend playing with each other and it was so much fun watching their imaginations take charge. They were very sad at the end of the weekend to say goodbye to each other. So sweet. :)

2. Two weekends ago my parent's came into town and we remodeled our downstairs 1/2 bath. It's the one that our guests use the most since it's our only bathroom downstairs, but I hadn't done a darn thing with it except for towels and a sad attempt at a couple counter decorations. We painted the walls a really pretty light blue and then all the accents were chocolate brown. I love it and it is such an improvement! New towels, new shelf, new wall pictures, new mirror and lighting fixture (thanks to my parent's as my birthday present), new rug, and new accessories. It's gorgeous, and my parents deserve all the credit. They were great and did pretty much all the work while I chased after the kiddos. In addition to the bathroom, they watched our kids for us and put them to bed, while Dane and I went out and enjoyed an adults only dinner out with friends to celebrate a bunch of November birthdays. We got dressed up (well, dressed up for us!) and went to a nice restaurant, had a lovely dinner, drinks and great friends to enjoy it with. Thank you mom and dad...you guys rock! Oh, did I mention that my mom brought a HUGE pot of homemade stew and left it for us to eat on all week long? Lovely.

3. I had my 31st birthday. Yes, I know, I'm old.

4. Anna is thriving as a nearly 3 year old. She turns 3 on Dec. 17th, but you would think that she's going on 13. I love this girl to pieces. Here are a few conversations we've had lately:

- While I'm getting dressed and putting on a pair of black boots, Anna walks in and says "Mama, those your boots?" "Yup". "Oh wow. Cool boots, Mom." Thanks Anna.

-As we're eating dinner, she requests her favorite song be played on our ipod. "Anna, you need to eat more of your dinner first" "Oh, Mama! I have an idea. You put Down, Down on and then I eat my dinner." Um, let me think. No.

-After picking up the kids at our friend Jodi's house after work, I tell Anna I have a special surprise for her (I was given a dum dum sucker at work). "Ooh mama, what you have in the car?" "Well, it's a special treat since you were such a good girl today." "Oh wow, I'm really excited mama!" After handing Anna the sucker she says "Oh my goodness mommy....I'm so lucky!!!!!" "Wow mommy, this is so exciting!" It's the little things in life. ;)

5. Drew is now 7 months old! He is weighing in these days at 20 lbs 13 oz and is 28 inches. BIG boy! He's our little chunky monkey and we love him oh so much. He's sitting up good on his own and is LOVING solid food. He gets so excited when he's put in the highchair, he can barely contain himself until we start feeding him. The kid is a moose, and loves to eat! He's absolutely happy and smiling all day long...I'm not even kidding or exaggerating. Maybe the happiest baby ever. He's going through a rough patch though. He just cut his first tooth which obviously causes pain, and he's fighting an ear infection as well. Not a good combo. Is it necessary for me to even say that we are not sleeping these days? His sleeping lately has been atrocious. He goes to bed pretty easily, but wakes up more times than I can count. I know at some point we need to let him just cry it out, but I can't do that knowing he's in pain. My motherly instincts just won't let it happen. So until we know he's over his ear infection at least, the soothing method will continue, which means no sleep for mama. It's okay, I'm kind of getting use to going through my days in a foggy haze.

6. Dane and I have been in a weight loss challenge with each other. We started at the beginning of October and we're doing it until December 31st. The person with the highest percentage of weight loss gets a Saturday "off" with $100 to spend however he/she wishes. Sounds good to me! We've really changed the way we eat and it's felt great so far. We weren't eating terrible, but we're just cutting out a lot of our cheese and fat, switching to whole grains, more fiber and protein...those types of changes. We have one day a week where we can have cravings and we just feel like that is necessary if this is going to be a life style change. Gotta have treats every once in a while. :) Dane's done great so far and has lost about 12 pounds and I have lost about 7 pounds. I've been pretty steady with about a pound a week and am okay with that. I'll keep you all posted as the end of the year approaches.

We are looking forward to the holidays coming up. We are spending Thanksgiving in town with Dane's family and then my parents will be staying with us for Christmas. I'll be honest...I cannot wait until the Thanksgiving meal!

Our family had some very sad news this last Sunday. My cousin Michelle lost her husband Lance to his battle with diabetes, among other illnesses. He has been very sick the last couple of years and was having kidney failure and was actually on the "Hold" list to receive a donor kidney and pancreas. His body just couldn't fight anymore and he passed away on Sunday afternoon. My heart absolutely breaks for Michelle and their two children Makenna and Ryan. It has been a very emotional couple of days, but the outreach from their friends and family has been tremendous. Lance was a one-of-a-kind man; always smiling and laughing with such a loving heart. He was so much fun to be around and liked by everyone who's life he touched. Lance will be greatly missed. Here is a link to his obituary for anyone who would like to read it...what a wonderful tribute it is! http://www.yakima-herald.com/obits/2010/11/17/g-lance-braden.

Happy Halloween!

We had such a terrific Halloween! We went to a community church that was holding a big festival with lots of games, candy, food, and fun. It was packed! We went with our friends and they're little girl, Leah. The girls had tons of fun with all the games, and Anna consumed way too much candy for one day. She very rarely gets candy, so she was kind of going nuts with it! I figure it's Halloween, and we might as well let her experience it for all it is! Hopefully she doesn't have too big of a gut ache in bed tonight. :)

After leaving the "Halloween party" (which is what the girls were calling it) our friends came back to our house for dinner and Alex and Lexa took the girls around our neighborhood to a few houses for trick-or-treating. I'm bummed I didn't get to go with Anna, but Drew was SO tired and I needed to get him ready for bed and put him down, and Dane was cooking us dinner, so Anna just went with the Donnellys. They said that Anna went up the houses and instead of saying "Trick-or-Treat!" she would say "I want candy!". :) That's my girl.

Because Blogger is so not user-friendly when downloading pictures, mine are all out of order. This first picture is actually one from work on Friday...several of my coworkers in my department dressed up as garden gnomes! It was so much fun! We even won "best group costume"! I'm the grandpa gnome in the middle, in cast you couldn't tell. :)

Here's Anna about 5 candy bars into the night at the church festival. I think at this point, she was just spinning around in circles. :) And yes, I think that's a melted Snickers in her hand.

Here's Anna the pretty princess and Leah, the adorable giraffe. Anna was awfully amused by her costume!

Awwee...so sweet!

ROAR! Here's Drew as a ferocious lion. The costume is adorable, but we had to take the jacket off of him as soon as we got in the church because he was sweating to death! He still looked adorable!

My Man

This post is going to be all about my man and how wonderful he is, so if you ladies don't feel like getting too jealous, I suggest you stop reading right now. :)

We celebrated our 6 year anniversary on Saturday, Oct. 2nd. While we didn't do anything too spectacular last weekend, we have plans to go to my parent's house this weekend and we were going to have a night out in the big city of Portland, while my parent's had the kids. Well, my honey surprised me with a doozy!

On Wednesday, I walk out to my car from work and there are 2 dozen red roses on my seat with a note that says "Meet me at Ricardo's after work". Ricardo's is a wonderful Italian restaurant here in town...one of our favorites. So I get to the restaurant and we order margaritas and some wonderful food to enjoy. I couldn't help but wonder why he wasn't at work on a Wednesday. So I ask him "honey, how come we're doing this on a Wednesday instead of a day you have off?" He said this day just worked out the best. Hmm. Okay. Then he proceeds to tell me that our night did not end here, and that there was more in store for us. He told me that he had bought tickets for a comedy show in Seattle that night at the Paramount theater! Wow! After the shock wore off, to be honest, my first thought was "a comedy show? He knows I don't like comedians very much". (not that I don't like to laugh, but I usually don't find them very funny...most of them just find it necessary to cuss the whole time). So anyways, I oohed and ahhed a bunch and we finished up our dinner and got on the road. It's the thought that counts, right?

Our dinner and drive to Seattle together was so nice. It's been way too long since we've had a date night where it's just the two of us enjoying our company. We talked about work stories, ambitions for our future, reminisced about old times, laughed, held hands and kissed. We barely talked about kids, and it was wonderful to finished a sentence without being interrupted. The focus remained on just the two of us the whole time and it was just what we needed!

So we get into Seattle and drive up to the theatre and sure enough, up on the reader board thingy, was the comedian's name, along with some other acts. We park the car and as we're walking up to the door, I look up on the other side of the board and it says "O.A.R." which is one of our favorite bands. I said "Honey, look!!! O.A.R.!! We should come back and see them!" Dane just looks at me with a smile, and I said "Oh my gosh, did you already buy tickets for that too?!" That's when I noticed the date for O.A.R. said Oct. 6th by it. That's when I freaked out because I realized that we were there to see O.A.R. in concert!!! It was the best surprise and it was such a great concert. That was my fourth time seeing them in concert, and it just gets better each time! We enjoyed the concert, dancing and holding hands and just being in love. It was the perfect night.

Well, I take that back. It was perfect until we got home and our kids paid us back all night for leaving them, by waking up multiple times each, to only allow us to get approx. 4 hours of sleep that night! I didn't even get to bed until 1:30 and then Anna woke up crying my name twice and Drew acted as if he was going to die if he didn't get boob twice. All this between 1:30 and 6:30, which is when I had to get up for work. Needless to say, I got a much needed coffee on the way to work, and was pretty much a zombie the whole day. But it was totally worth it and I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

Dane has always been a thoughtful and loving man. I thank God for him every night. I couldn't ask for a better dad for our kids and I truly and honestly mean that. There's not one thing I would change about the way he raises our children. He is the first to get down on their level to play and wrestle and laugh. He has the kids all day until about 3:00 or 4:00, then takes them to our friend's house so he can then go work a full night (as if he hasn't been working all day!). He never complains about his day, or how hard it is, or how overwhelming it is sometimes. He has the most patience of anyone I've ever met, and he loves our kids with his whole heart and then some. I come home for lunch every day to spend an hour with them, and he has lunch waiting for me every day (I'm not even kidding), and by the time I get home after work with the kids, he had picked up the house and cleaned up the kitchen, before he went to work. I'm not sure how I got so lucky.

I love you so much, Dane!

I know, I know...

It was mentioned from my mother the other day that I hadn't posted a new blog in 41 days. I know...it was on my mind every day making me feel guilty that I haven't posted in so long, but then I thought that it was silly of me to feel pressured to blog....so I rebelled and decided to take a break from it for a while. I am on the computer all day at work, and the last thing I want to do at the end of my day is get on the computer some more (well, I like getting on the computer, but for unproductive things like Facebook). :)

But now I'm back! Now I feel overwhelmed with the amount of stuff to report, so instead I'll just post a bunch of pictures, and hope that makes up for the lack of stories. :)

**Please note: You will see Drew's hair DRASTICALLY shorter than it use to be. This would be courtesy of his Daddy. Daddy is not allowed to cut his hair ever again.

Here's Anna at Tolmie State Park on one of our HOT days several weeks back.

Anna with her boyfriends, Brody and Jaxson, digging in the sand and rocks and water. Heaven!

Anna helping Daddy give Bubba his bottle one morning while Mama was at work. She is a very good helper!

Anna going for a spin on her sweet Harley.

Drew being so sweet and adorable.

Here was Bubba's first taste of rice cereal. Anna was eager to help and Drew was eager to eat. He did so good with it!


The following pictures are from the most recent trip to my parent's house for a visit:

Out for a walk. :)

Grandpa making Drew laugh with his silly faces.

Grandpa and Anna reading books before bedtime. Anna sure loves her grandparents!

For some reason when I look at this picture, I think "Bubba Gump".

Anna, lovin' her some corn

Drew just chillin' with his buddy Elmo.


The following pictures are from our rockin' Labor Day weekend at Lake Mayfield with friends, including the ever fabulous Jones, that made the trek all the way from Spokane! Sara has a camera that I was drooling over all weekend and she let me practice with it...I'm in love! Even thought I have no photography experience, I felt like a pro after some of the pictures I took! :)

Admiring sweet baby Johanna.

My Dane and Sara's Dane.

Adorable.

So excited he could just drool! Oh wait, he is drooling.

Beautiful baby and beautiful mama.

I got to witness Johanna's first laugh over the weekend! She is such a joy and absolutely adorable.

Drew and Johanna, falling in love. :)

Our Anna girl, with food on her face. Weird.

Anna's first big haircut!!

We took Anna on Saturday to get her first big girl haircut! It has been trimmed once before, but only had them take about an inch off. Her hair has gotten SO long and this summer it has been a hot and sticky mess. She refuses to let me put a ponytail or pigtails in it for more than two minutes, so it ends up getting all sorts of food in it, and ends up all sweaty and stuck to her neck and cheeks. So we decided to take the plunge and get it cut up to her shoulders. They took about 3 inches off! I could feel tears welling up in my eyes, but I held it together! :) Anna was a CHAMP and there were no tears at all! It probably helped that she knew a sucker was coming at the end if she was a good girl, plus the fact that they had Diego playing on the TVs in there. :) Here are some pictures I got to document this momentus occasion.

All Done!!

She even let the gal put two cute ribbons in her hair!

I think her hair looks adorable and it is SOO much more manageable!

Here's a picture from our friends house today. This is Anna and her two buddies Leah and Brody, eating some pizza and fruit for dinner! They all get along so well together, it's always so much fun getting together. :)

Another big step this weekend was putting Drew in his big boy crib in his own room last night! He has been in a bassinet in our room, but he's been such a great sleeping, only waking up once a night, I figured it's about time! He had a great night's sleep in his crib and we are so thankful he has been so easy. We put him to bed in there again tonight, and so far, so good! Here's to another good night's sleep!