December and Christmas

December started out with that horrible windstorm and then life just kind of continued to feel like a windstorm throughout the rest of the month (isn't that how December always feels?). I have to admit that I was pretty happy when Christmas day came, just so I could sit around the house and not have to do anything for a while.

One of the first things we did in December was make a Graham Cracker house.

 I was surprised how well the kids did at not eating all of the candy for decorating the house. They had so much fun and loved helping me decorate it. I think we will try it again next year, but maybe we will try using real gingerbread instead. I bet it would hold together better than graham crackers.

Next I got to go on Beckett's first field trip with his Kindergarten class. We went to the Treehouse museum. I drove Beckett and two boys from his class in our car. Beckett was so excited and proud to have them ride with us. We watched a play that the kids participated in. Only one of the children was not afraid to say their lines in front of everybody. It was super cute. The kids also got to do a Chinese Dragon Dance. It was so cool. Each child got to hold one of the poles that held up the dragon and dance throughout the museum, while the adults made lots of noise with drums and cymbals. I think that might have been the favorite thing that we did that day. We also got to do a craft and then run free in the museum. It was a lot of fun.

After months and months of threatening to cut Anabelle's hair if she kept on sucking on it, I finally followed through.

On December 10th, I cut Belle's hair for the very first time, ever. It was difficult to do it, and not just for me, as you can see by the pictures, she wasn't too thrilled about it either. When it was all over though, I think she felt better about it, like she had passed a milestone and was a little more grown up.

I am a little sad that her long hair is gone. She had the cutest curls in the back of her head, just like me when I was her age. And just like me, once the hair was cut, the curls were gone too. But now her hair doesn't look all clumpy and gross. My mom didn't go for a styled cut, we just pulled her hair towards her mouth, and snipped it where it was just out of reach for her to get it in her mouth. Unfortunately, now it has grown just long enough that she can get it in her mouth again and she is starting to take full advantage of it. Urgh!! Why can't I get this child to understand how disgusting that is?! We have even told her that Paul (Matt's friend that Anabelle has quite the crush on, and yes, I am worried about that) doesn't like girls that suck on their hair, but apparently that hasn't fazed her. I guess she is just going to have to have short hair the rest of her life.

Also in December, I went on a date with my mom and aunt to see "A Christmas Carol." Two of my nieces and a nephew were in it and they did a fantastic job. "A Christmas Carol" is such a wonderful way to get you into the Christmas spirit. No wonder President Monson reads that every year.

I also got to go on a date with Matt to his company Christmas party, sans children. It was nice dress too. It has been a long time since Matt and I got dressed up to go out for a nice dinner alone (yeah. there were 400 other people there, but no children). We even got a nice picture taken, but I think Matt might have lost the link to our picture, so that was a bust. The food was really good and we sat with some fun people too. Despite the big let down of no gifts from the company, we had a really good time and were grateful to have had some time to ourselves.

That same weekend we also got to have a family sleepover with Matt's sister, Ana, and her wonderful family. We had a lot of fun having them stay with us. The kids had all kinds of fun together and Belle got to go shopping with Ana's family, so she had the time of her life. We adults made and ate way too much junk food and loved every minute of it. Isn't that what the holidays are all about anyways? I mean, really? One more bonus to having them stay with us, they put Netflix on our Wii, and have left it on there for us to use. It has been awesome! Ana and Scott, you are the best!!

The week of Christmas, both Anabelle and Beckett had parties at their schools. Beckett's was your standard school party. He came home with all kinds of gifts from his teacher and special ED teachers. Lucky duck. I don't remember getting presents from my teachers, let alone 3 teachers.

Anabelle's was a pajama party. She had a blast. Mrs. Claus came and so did the missing Gingerbread boy and girl (They went missing earlier in the month and sent them postcards from their travels all month long). Anabelle still talks about finding the Gingerbread girl. That must have been much more exciting than the big guy's wife.

Christmas Eve was spent at Ana's house, having dinner, painting ornaments, and busting open a pinata. This is two years in a row we have done this, so I think we might start calling it a tradition. The kids did much better at painting their ornaments this year.

 You could actually see the different colors that they used, instead of mixing them all together until the ornament was unrecognizable, like last year. The pinata was also a big success. This year, they actually understood what they were doing, so it was a little more exciting. Ana found some super cute felt bags for them to put their booty into.

 We parents also got to play games, while the kids ate some candy and watched a movie. A great Christmas Eve, if I do say so myself.

My sister Christa, stayed with us over the Christmas weekend. It was fun to have someone else there to celebrate with us. She is always so good at helping the kids get excited about stuff and have lots of fun. Isn't that what Aunts are for? It was really nice for me because I had someone to talk to at night when Matt was playing with his Christmas gift, the Xbox.

Christmas was super exciting this year. Beckett remembered a lot from last year and so he was really into it. He wrote letters to Santa this year. The first one said,

Pretty direct and to the point. No messing around with that note. I think he started learning about sentences soon after he wrote that first note, because the next one said, "Beckett is the train." And then the final draft that he actually put in an envelope said, "Beckett, I want the train." Santa had no way of messing up that order. Anabelle also wrote her own letter:

I asked her what it said, and she said it told Santa she wanted a princess doll. I'm glad Santa could decipher that letter, because I never would have figured that one out.

The kids really wanted to leave out cookies for Santa, but we forgot to bake some. I don't think Santa minded because he wrote a very sweet note to the kids anyways, which they thought was pretty cool. Santa obviously got the message because Beckett got two trains and more tracks to go with them. Anabelle did get her princess doll (actually, she orginally wanted a set of all of the Disney Princesses, 7 in total, but Santa decided that was a little much), a Cinderella Barbie doll that she loves and Strawberry Shortcake with a bakery as a bonus. They got lots of other toys and wonderful presents that were loved just as much, but I don't want to bore you all with telling you about each individual gift, so I just went with the highlights.Thank you so much to those that gave us gifts this last Christmas. We loved and appreciated them all.

After Sacrament meeting that morning, Christmas day was spent at my brother Ben's house, eating more good food and playing more fun games. This is becoming a tradition as well. I guess we started all kinds of traditions this last year. We had such a good time, except that I started to get sick. The day after Christmas was spent mostly in bed, resting. I was able to actually take a sick day thanks to Christa. She took my kids home with her and brought them back the next day. That never happens for a mom. I appreciated it so much.

New Years Eve was a lot of fun. We spent it at our friends, James and Shana's place. We ate yummy pizza and snacks, and finally watched Captain America. We must be getting old though, because it felt like it took forever to get to midnight. We all kept saying to each other, "It's only 9?!", "It's only 10:30?!" Beckett and Anabelle, on the other hand, had no problem staying up that late. They could have watched stuff on Netfix all night long. They were mad when it was time to go.

Beckett enjoyed having a break from school, a little too much. I tried very hard to get him to understand that he was going to have to go back to school eventually, but I guess it didn't sink in because he put up a big fight when it was time to go back to school. It was worse than when he started school in some ways. I almost don't want to have Spring break if it is going to be like it was in January. Do you think they would give me a key to the school?

More catching up to do

Beckett is a budding photographer

I mostly caught you all up last time on what happened in July. Now for August. Not a whole lot happened during that month except that Beckett had 6 root canals and 2 cavities filled; we put our house up for sale; Matt almost was out of work, but then wasn't; I started counseling; and my sister's dog was diagnosed with cancer and had to have her tail cut off. Wow, I guess that was a pretty packed month.

Yes, Beckett had 6 root canals done plus 2 cavities filled. Zero fun (except for my wonderful Aunt Karen coming to help me out with the whole ordeal. She is always a barrel of fun). At the end of June, Beckett started to complain about one of his molars hurting him. I thought it was just one tooth that need a little bit of drilling and filling. I was so wrong. We went to the dentist in July (yes, it took an entire month to get him into the dentists, this is my only complaint with the office though). First off, Beckett wouldn't sit in the chair. Then the dentist had him sit on my lap, facing me with his legs wrapped around me. Then we leaned him back and had his head resting on the dentist's lap while the dentist tried to look in his mouth as best he could. The report was bad. He told me Beckett would have to have 1 tooth removed and 1 root canal and a couple of cavities filled, but they weren't sure how bad it was until they had him under anesthesia and could get a really good look and some X-rays. Can I just say I felt like the worst mom ever just then. Felt like the biggest failure of a mother.

Anyways, we came back the first week of August for the work to be done. He wasn't allowed to eat for 6 hours prior to the procedure. Lucky for me, it was a Tuesday which meant we would go to the library in the middle of those six hours and that would eat up 2 hours of that time (pun intended) and Beckett wouldn't even think of eating during that time. Then I knew we had a half hour drive to my brother's house to drop off Belle, and then another 45 min. drive to the dentists. It was not easy towards the end. He really wanted something to eat and drink, but thank goodness it wasn't too difficult to distract him.

As stated before, my wonderful Aunt came down from Idaho Falls to help me with Beckett's procedure. She is an Oral Surgeon Assistant and knows how handle stuff like that. I also wanted her there to help me handle seeing Beckett unconscious. I was very worried about that. Especially because Matt wouldn't be able to get off work to be with me. I kept imagining him with a mask over his little mouth and nose, seeing the panic on his face, screaming and fighting to get it off until he would finally relax and just go to sleep (it also didn't help that I knew of someone that died while under anesthesia). Luckily for me, that isn't how it went down at all. The anesthesiologist came out and told me they were going to have him sit on my lap while they distracted him, so he could give him a shot, and then they could take him back to work on his mouth. It really wasn't too bad. They did exactly that and I was very impressed. They brought out a treasure box and had Beckett look through it for a prize and while he was looking, the anesthesiologist pinched his arm and very cleverly concealed the shot in his other hand so Beckett couldn't see it. Then he just stuck him and Beckett gave a little cry, but then he quickly started to slow down. I held him and rocked and told him to relax and in like 3 minutes, he was out, totally catatonic with his eyes wide open. I'm not going to lie, it was very creepy. Then they came and took him away.

We were in there for about an hour when they came out and told me how bad his mouth was and what all they needed to do (6 root canals and 2 cavities in case you forgot). Man, did I feel even worse than before. Not that the dentists ever said anything to make me feel that way, I just did it to myself. They were awesome dentists. I highly recommend them. Then I had to sit for another 1/2 hour, guilt-tripping myself, while they finished up. When it was over, they had my aunt and I go into the back where they had a room just for patients to sleep off the anesthesia. Beckett was out cold on a giant love sac with a nice warm blanket on him and his finger hooked up to a monitor. They had a nice couch for us to sit on and Nemo was playing on the TV in the room as well. My first thought was, "Why couldn't we have sat in here the whole time? This would have made the waiting so much easier then on those hard, crappy chairs in the waiting room." Then I thought how sad my little guy looked.

While we were waiting for him to wake up, my aunt noticed his oxygen levels going down, so she started to rub his leg to rouse him enough to take a good, deep breath. Unfortunately it roused him too much and he woke up, totally disoriented and completely confused as to why his mouth felt so funny. He was crying and I couldn't console him. He just wasn't with it enough to understand where he was and that I was holding him and he was okay. We tried to give him an otter pop to make sure his stomach was good, but he refused to eat it. The dentists told us we were good to go after about 10 min. of his screaming. I'm sure it was for the benefit of his other patients that they wanted us to leave. I was hoping he would fall back asleep in the car, but he didn't. He just cried the whole way to my brother's house to pick up Anabelle. On our way home, we stopped at a Smith's and got him some jello squares that he promptly devoured. After that he was good. He was a little cranky, but nothing too out of the ordinary given the situation.

Yes, our house is up for sale officially. We had it listed "For Sale by Owner" for a few months, but the only people that called us were real estate people wanting us to use them as our agent, so we decided it was about time we actually take one of them up on their offer since no one else wanted to look at our home. We have shown the house two times and one of them sounds really interested. Matt is really excited to sell the house and hopefully rent until we can get rid of some of our debt. I want that too, but I really don't want to leave our house. I love our house. I might not love our neighborhood, but I love our house. I know I am going to cry when we sell it and move out. But, this is part of life isn't it?

The whole thing with Matt's job is really complicated. I have already made this post long enough, so I will try to sum it up best I can. When Matt went out to Omaha at the beginning of July for a job interview, he pretty much told his bosses that he was leaving as soon as he found a job out in Nebraska. They had a replacement found for him in two weeks. Matt trained him for about a month and then he would be done by the end of August. I was a little worried, but then two employees, including Matt's replacement quit, so they almost begged Matt to stay through September. So it all worked out, and I was able to breath a sigh of relief. It has continued to work out good in that they gave Matt a raise in September and he is planning to stay until the end of the year, possibly longer, depending on employment situations out in Omaha. So the next year is a little blurry, but that is okay. We have a general idea of what we want to have happen, but it is constantly changing. Don't be surprised if we get on here and tell you something completely different.

I am still working on getting my depression under control. I started counseling in August and I love my counselor. She is awesome. I have learned a lot and am forced to take time for myself each week. It is hard for me to ask someone to watch my kids while I go and just do something fun, but I am trying to do it. It does make a big difference when I do manage to steal away. I highly recommend it to any mom that isn't already doing it. I don't recommend going to a store. I spent way too much at Shopko last week. Retail therapy is not the way to go.





 

Finally we come to my sister's dog. My sister's dog's name is Satin. She is a black lab that was born about two months before Matt and I got married, so she is 6 years old. She is such a good dog. She just loves kids (especially mine ;-)) and is so good with them. She lets Anabelle just lay on her all the time. We have always had to tell Belle to be soft with the dog, not the other way around. Anyways, half way through August, my sister discovered a lump on Satin's tail. She took her into the vet and found out she had cancer and that they would have to remove her tail, and there was a good chance she might die. We all love Satin and so it was hard on everybody. She is like one of the family. Luckily it hadn't spread, and they were able to remove all the cancer with her tail. She looked pretty sad with a little nub  coming off her shaved rear-end, but now that her hair has grown in, it looks like those dogs that have their tails cut off on purpose, only a little bit shorter. Beckett and Anabelle were kind of affected by seeing Satin with no tail and stitches. Beckett started pretending he was a dog before it happened, and after he saw her tail, when he was pretending to be a dog, he would turn around and say, "Look. My tail is gone. It got cut off." It was cute and sad at the same time. There is still a chance that more cancer will show up later, but we are hoping that it isn't until she is much older.

That is August and I will work on September soon and get you all caught up to speed.

Sisters

Today, I am grateful for my sisters. I am very close to my sisters. They are my best friends. I do a lot with them. I always have a blast with them. We can be so silly sometimes and just laugh our guts out. We love to watch the Cosby Show together and Pirates of Penzance. I totally trust them with watching my kids. In fact, when they can't, I always have trouble thinking of who I can call next. Not that there isn't anybody I could call, I just can't think of any because I am so used to calling my sisters. I feel like I understand them and they get me so well. I didn't always have a good relationship with my older sister and that was hard on me, but now we are so close that I it makes up for all of those years we didn't get along. It is probably one of my dreams that have actually come true. My little sister and I have just always gotten along and that has been great too. I was her 2nd mother for a long time, which I think is one reason why we get along so well. Also, where I am not like one sister, I am like the other. It is so nice to be so close to both of my sisters. Earlier today, I went to a sealing of a cousin and got talking to my other cousin, the sister of the one getting married. She was saying that she was crying in her sleep because she was going to miss her sister so much. It reminded me of the night before I got married. All three of us slept in my older sister's bed. It is one of my favorite memories I have of us together (not to mention the fact that I had to sleep on the end of the bed with my face half off because our reception was the night before and I couldn't mess up my hair). I am grateful for my sisters.