Blog Binge

Here it is…a mega post to catch up the last month of my life. My relaxing holiday season was anything but. With several store visits, 3 parties at my house, print jobs galore and my own handmade gifts to do for the family, things were kind of crazy! But it was really one of the nicest Christmases I can remember. Ben has been working from home during the break so we’re all back to our bad habits of staying up until after midnight and sleeping in. Life is going to get tough next week.

The last month…where do I even begin….

First of all, I was out of a camera for about a week and a half. I was really stupid and hastily shoved the camera card into the camera breaking one of the pins on the inside of the camera…all b/c Ben was letting me take a pic of his thinning hair and I was so excited that he might be considering doing something about it. So, $250 later… Moral of the story: don’t be so vain! He has been taking a multivitamin and kelp and it already seems to be improving!

So, one of the most fun things I did with the kids I didn’t have my good camera for. Nolen is in choir and the 5th & 6th grade MST choir got to go to Stonebriar Mall to sing. The girls and I went out to watch. Then we all had lunch together in the food court, then headed over to the ice rink! None of us had ever ice skated so you can imagine what a sight it was to see me holding the girls hands…all three of us trying not to fall. I guess I have skated before, but I think I was like 10. I was sore for days afterward. But seriously, it was so much fun. I think the coolest thing was to see how much fun the big kids were having. They were kind of on their own at the mall and it was so neat! Nolen is so big now. He’s not my baby anymore. He is still talking about the Cajun Chicken he got in the food court. They enticed him with a free sample.

These were the best shots we got with our point and shoot…kind of pathetic.

Here’s some really exciting news! Nolen won the GRAND PRIZE in his school’s science fair which means he moves on to Regionals next month! Isn’t that the coolest!? Yet again, the project caused a little family strife. Mostly because Nolen came up with the experiment himself and it wasn’t our first choice for projects. But he obviously knows best! Having access to the Noritsu printer probably helped his odds. Didn’t the board turn out nice? I’m sure proud of my boy!

Ella turned 4 on the 18th of December. I managed to surprise her at Mother’s Day Out with a giant Happy Birthday balloon and a cookie cake for her class to enjoy. Unfortunately I forgot the poor girl’s lunch! Mother of the year I am not! The sweet thing was very understanding and was content with peanut butter pretzels that her teacher had in the cabinet…that she just sucked the peanut butter out of. After school I took Ella out for a special time together for her birthday. We went to Build a Bear, our first time there! She loved every single second of it. She picked a purple hippo and named her Rubbie. And decked her out in quite an outfit. We also went over to Old Navy where she loaded up on tights, her new favorite thing.

We had her party the weekend after with whatever sweet friends we could muster up who would be willing come to a birthday party just a few days before Christmas. It was a great gathering and she loved being in the limelight.

Our highlight of the holiday season was learning about the Ear Popper! Ella has constantly had fluid on her ears for the past year. We started noticing that her hearing was getting progressively worse. I took her to an ENT who looked in her ears for all of 2 seconds and decided she needed tubes and her adenoids out. We have an HSA and a high deductible insurance policy for our family which means we try to do our research before going forward with a high cost procedure like tubes. And the thought of even a common procedure like tubes made me scared…especially since she doesn’t suffer from any ear infection symptoms, just fluid in her middle ear. So Ben’s dad, who is super holistic suggested we do craniosacral therapy. Since he was paying, we went for it. Unfortunately, after the first session, she appeared to be more deaf than ever! I was so frustrated. I was Googling our dilemma…again…looking for a solution and came across information about this little device called the Ear Popper. I had to get a prescription and that took some phone calls and begging…but I figured it was worth a shot. $127 later I had it in my hands and after the very first use, my little Ella could hear! It’s amazing. You can read all about the device here. It’s so exciting because she’s really become a different girl. She is so much more friendly. She makes friends now wherever she goes. I prayed that we would find a solution other than tubes and I’m so happy that it appears we did!

On the 21st, I took the girls down to the station so they could see where Ben works. It was their last show for the year so there was food and lots of activity. Poor Gracie had been sick for a good week before and had really gotten skinny. This was one of her first well days and she woofed down about 3 big sandwich halves. It was good to see her eating again! We went to the Kidd Kraddick Christmas party on the night of the 21st. It was so nice to get away for a night together. Kidd gave HD Digital Camcorders to the cast and production staff. We didn’t have one so we were really thrilled to get it! Maybe I can do a video blog…but I don’t know if I’ll have enough guts to do that. Here we were before leaving for the party.

Christmas day was really, really nice. We normally totally overdo the Christmas gift giving to the point where I’m nauseated before we even start opening presents. But this year we were fairly frugal with the kids. It was so much better than going totally crazy! Nolen got Heely’s which made him very happy, especially since he didn’t even ask for them. Ben and I don’t normally exchange gifts but we did this year…early…only because I didn’t know he was in the house when I was on the phone with a friend telling her that I had just returned from Target with Ben’s ipod nano. I was devastated when I heard “I’m here!” from the other room. Ben quickly came up with the solution of exchanging our gifts right then. He gave me a big Bamboo Fun Wacom tablet. I haven’t had a chance to become one with my tablet yet, but I hope to soon. It’s so pretty! Here are some pics from the morning including our annual PJ pic – this is our 11th consecutive PJ pic! Yay us for sticking with something!

My mom had her house decorated so pretty for Christmas morning. These pictures just make me happy!

It was a Christmas miracle! A pic of me and my siblings…which means we were civil with each other!

New Year’s Eve we had some friends over…the only friends we have who are as irresponsible with their children’s bedtimes as we are. And all of the kids stayed up easily past 1 am! Gracie slept until 3:30 in the afternoon on New Year’s Day. I think she’s now a foot taller! Ella and I did our 2nd annual trip to Collin Creek Mall on New Year’s Day. I just loved it! I’m hoping Gracie will join us for our girl’s day next year. We returned a few outfits and got a few new ones. Ella bought a $3.00 ring from Claire’s…or rather…I bought her one. We ate in the food court and she played in the play area where she promptly picked up a 6 year old boy named Preston and showed him all of her new things. “Look at this cute shirt”…and then off they went climbing on something. She is the most girly tomboy I’ve ever known. New Year’s evening was dedicated to girly movies. I introduced Ella & Gracie to Girls Just Want to have Fun and That Thing You Do. We danced the night away in the living room.

I have some New Year’s Resolutions I’m working on. They’re swirling around in my head right now. I really need to get them on paper. I just love this time of year – I love the idea of starting over! I do hate that school is starting back for Nolen and reality is about to set in again. But then again, it will be nice to get back into a routine. Whew! This was exhausting! Resolution #1 – Don’t wait so long to blog!