Good-bye 2008

Wow! I can not believe it is New Year's Eve. I really wanted to post sooner but somehow the last week completely got away from me. We have been going non-stop (as I am sure many of you have too.)

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas. We sure did. We spent the morning opening gifts from Santa and the afternoon with Danny's entire family eating, visiting and playing games. I have been going to these family gatherings for nearly ten years now and I am still amazed at the turnout. I am pretty sure it is because I come from a small family who are literally spread around the globe so everyone being in one place at the same time is unheard of. At times the large crowd is still somewhat overwhelming for me, but I am glad my children are involved in these wonderful gatherings that include grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and even second cousins. They have a blast and there are never any arguments when bedtime rolls around!

2008 has been a very eventful year as we have watched our children grow and reach new milestones. There were a lot of "firsts", new adventures, experiences and challenges. We have been enjoying every minute (well to be honest....maybe not every moment.), we are still proud to be their parents.

Brynn turned three last April. For a three year old she definitely knows what she likes and does not like (and apparently our tastes are very different). I figured I would have a few more years to pick out clothing before the pickiness would settle in, but I was dead wrong. She likes to pick out her own clothes and would wear a princess dress everyday if you let her. She loves being a "mommy" to her babies, having tea parties and going to the park. She started ballet and tap last June and is enjoying being a "ballerina." She had her first recital a few weeks ago which was hilarious watch. She really enjoys performing and has absolutely no stage fright; she sang and danced her heart out (it was too cute). This past September she started a Mother's Day Out program twice a week. She loves going and the transition was so smooth it was scary. She enjoys learning and loves playing with the other children. She is very affectionate and a great big sister to her brother and we feel so blessed to have her in our lives. She is a beautiful little girl!

Braden turned the big one this past April and started walking one week later....and from there it has been non-stop. This little boy has so much energy it is crazy! He warms our heart and has the biggest smile I have ever seen. He loves anything with wheels, cars, blocks, playing outside and water. I do "stress" water and if I believed in prior lifetimes...I would say he was a fish. Whether it is the bathtub, swimming pool, hose pipe, puddle or the water dispenser in the refrigerator this little boy will find it. He is crazy-in-love for playing in/with water (which means lots of locked doors around our house). He has really started talking up a storm these last few months adding new words daily. It is so much fun watching him learn and discover his world around him. He loves his big sister and her toys! He is a happy little boy and has brought so much joy into our lives.

This past year was challenging for me as I struggled with the idea of going back to work. I began to feel like I needed "more" (I think any mom out there understands what I am talking about) and being home all the time was starting to drive me crazy (hope that does not sound too bad).
I love my family and am grateful I get to be with my children everyday don't get me wrong, but I have literally worked since I was 16 years old (and if you count baby sitting since I was 12) and I was missing work. So in February I started working part-time at a Scrapbook store. I must say it is not like any other job I have had, but I am really enjoying it. I have met some great people and love being around others who enjoy the hobby as much as I have grown too. So it a nutshell....it was just what I needed.

Last, but not least....Danny completed his first team triathlon this past July. He biked 14 miles and ran 5 miles while his best friend swam 1000 meters. They placed 53rd out of 200. We are proud of him for accomplishing his goal! This past summer he began a new position within Applied. This was a blessing for us, not only is he now working a normal day shift, but his commute went from an hour (or more) each way to 15 minutes each way. Talk about helping the gas budget! He really enjoys working with this group, but with the uncertainty of the economy his company recently announced a layoff. It has been a rough year for Applied and the employees there. Unfortunately, Danny was notified before Christmas he will no longer have a job as of July 24th, 2009 and his work center will be moving to Singapore. If he stays with the company until the 24th of July he will receive a severance package. It was not the best news right before Christmas, but it definitely could have been worse. We are going to take things day by day.

I do not want to close with depressing news....so now some good news for our family. As I type my mom and stepfather are driving (but promised to stop before midnight) a moving truck from Lansing, Michigan to Hobbs, New Mexico with several stops along the way. My stepfather was offered a job he could not pass up (even in the middle of nowhere) this past summer. After spending six months apart (my mom was trying to sell their house) they have decided to rent it and she is joining him in New Mexico. We are SO excited to have them only six hours away. Please be thinking of them as they make their journey across the United States safely!

With all the uncertainty that lies ahead we are thankful for our family and friends. We have healthy children; a roof over our head, each other and that is what matters. We hope and pray everyone has a happy and safe new year!

Brynn's Christmas Program

Yesterday Brynn had her Christmas Program at school which involved several classes of two, three and four years of age all singing "together". It was really cute and Brynn really gets into character during the song 'Santa Claus in coming to town'. (Santa does show up in this video and we are so proud of Brynn for maintaining her cool. You will see her look back several times just to make sure he does not come any closer.)

A few warnings before you click play....

1. In the person filming this videos defense she was also trying to entertain a little boy who desperately wanted out of his stroller......so be prepared for a little camera shake. (If you get motion sickness you may not want to watch.)
2. The little kid crying on the stage does eventually escape.
3. You will here Braden (and me talking to him) several times throughout the video

ENJOY!

To heck with the perfect photo....

Today I took the kids to have their Christmas pictures taken and my sweet husband took an hour out of his day to meet us and witness the chaos first hand. Our appointment was at 9:20 am. I was confident with this going well because it was first thing in the morning, both kids were in great moods and their Christmas outfits were stain-free. We were off to a great start. All I needed was one photo....just ONE for our Christmas cards (which I have tried to get several times and have been defeated by Braden, now it is someone else’s turn).

I am pretty sure our photographer earned her days pay in the hour she spent with us AND was glad to see us go. (I was also secretly glad to see it was not just me, Braden will not sit still for anyone.) Brynn was very patient and did exactly as she was told while Braden was a ball-of-energy with no cooperation what-so-ever. We would sit him down and he would get up and run off. We did this over and over. Our photographer tried everything to get his attention; stuffed animals, a feather tickler, a ball, jumping up and down, clapping loudly - nothing worked. She gave him an ornament (in the shape of a ball) from the prop tree and he threw it! We went through "presents", a book and sitting on a stool which was three feet off the ground! I thought the stool was the ticket since he could not jump down, but it still took an entire hour to get 20 shots (and that included the bad ones).

When were we leaving I saw an ad in the window stating, "choose from 50-75 pictures in an hours session" and thought, not today. We did get out with our ONE photo and I must admit it was the cheapest I have ever paid for pictures. It is the only photo where they are both in the photo and looking at the camera. And for me…well every time I look the photo I will know right after the photographer snapped the photo Braden was literally up and running. So when you receive your Christmas cards…..look for the little boy who could not sit still…you can almost see him in motion.

O' Christmas Tree

In all my adult life I have always put up a Christmas tree and decorated it in no more than an hours time (the beauty of pre-lit fake trees and being a minimalist). Even with Brynn it still only took an hour with her “helping”. I always considered myself really lucky. I have heard several horror stories from friends about how their children would constantly mess with tree; take off ornaments, tear open wrapped gifts, knock over the tree (yes this happened), etc. Brynn never bothered the tree much less the decorations on the tree. She would always admire it from a distance and I was quiet happy with that.

On another note.....I have this little boy. This little boy is the train-wreck toddler people speak of. Our one-hour-ritual Christmas tree tradition is over as of last night. Yes....the tree is up (barely) and was needless to say it was exhausting. I love Braden's ultra-crazy curiosity, but last night he could have dropped it down a notch or two. From the moment the tree was up we were in trouble. He immediately targeted it as if it were a demolition project he had been waiting for his whole existence of 20 months.

There was climbing (that didn’t go over well), branch pulling and a fight between him and Brynn involving the beads. Danny literally had to hold him back so Brynn could help me string the beads and the minute he was released the little monster headed straight for the tree. He tried to undo everything we did which put Brynn in a frenzy. I could tell this was going to be a long night. I had this bright idea of plugging in the tree hoping to distract him with the lights for awhile. The distraction lasted about a minute or so before he figured out how to pull one of the bulbs from the strand. I am not even sure how he got it out (they never come out that easy for us). Now the bottom half of the tree is out and it takes us a good ten minutes to figure out where the missing bulb goes. In the meantime his sensitive sister is so upset because the tree is now “broken”. It was chaos.

We are now into this process an hour when we begin to hang ornaments which Braden decides to remove as we put them on. What was I thinking? I had pictured this all playing out so differently (I even thought I would take some pictures for our Christmas cards….and yes I am that far behind). In the end we decided it would be best if Danny kept Braden occupied in the other room while Brynn and I finished decorating the tree. It worked out much better this way.

As for this morning when Braden woke up he did not forget about the tree. I am about ready to use his superyard play gate to put around the tree although I am pretty sure he would just lift it up and climb under it. It is going to be a LONG day I can already tell....and an even LONGER month!

A long overdue update

Okay so I know this is my blog and I can post whenever I want, but I feel I have let the few of you who do read my blog down by not posting anything for an entire month. So I do feel an apology is in order [SORRY]. With that said, I am warning you I can not guarantee it will not happen again. :o)

Seriously, I am not sure what happened to me in the month of November....maybe it was the sick children with the weekly trips to the doctors and month long antibiotics. I think Brynn has been on every antibiotic available in the last three months since she has started school, but this last month was the worst with a double sinus infection which involved x-rays, three weeks of antibiotic, a decongestant, nose spray, allergy medication and a scheduled appointment to an allergist (to be continued....). We had three brief days of no antibiotic and we were back in the doctors office, this time with an UTI....ouch. Out of everything the UTI was by far the worst. I will not go into details, but let's just say I had a few crying spells myself. (Did I mention I do not fair well with sick children...). The good thing is the UTI is gone and she is just battling allergies for now. Braden on the other hand has come down with another cold which means more than likely we will he end up with another ear infection and we will make another trip to the doctor.

Besides all the trips to the doctor.....we have been doing pretty good. I am still working part-time and enjoying it. Danny is still employed, but continuing to have weekly shutdowns here and there. He was off the week of Thanksgiving and will be off for three weeks over the holidays. It is not always the best scenario (especially when he's out of vacation time), but we are thankful he still has a job. His company has announced layoffs (1800 people worldwide) scheduled in December and January so we are praying he makes it through. We are taking it day by day. Keep your fingers crossed for us :o)

We had a really nice Thanksgiving at Danny's brothers house. We had a great turnout, everyone from Danny's immediate family was there and when I say everyone I mean EVERYONE (30+ family members). The kids had a blast playing with all their cousins. The family has grown a lot over the last few years with the arrival of five new babies in 2007. Jerry (my step-dad) was also in town visiting from New Mexico. It was nice he could join us since my mom was not able to make it in from Michigan and he was not able to make it up there. It will not be much longer until they are both in one place...looks like my mom will be moving to New Mexico in January. I know we are excited to have them just six hours away!

Anyhow, I am going to wrap this up and get back to my daily duties :o) I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and is doing well.