Wrapping up

Today I'm cleaning up all the Christmas decorations and packing them in the garage. It's kind of nice to get the house back in order, but I'm gonna miss the Christmas lights on the mantel and the tree. Every morning we would turn them on and it would give a magical glow to the room.

In addition to packing up all the decorations I thought I would post some last Christmas pictures.

Christmas 2012

Bria's Tinkerbell scooter

Christmas Day after we opened our presents and had a relaxing morning, we headed to Brian's Dad's house and enjoyed Christmas with them.

Bria, Rebecca, and Reese watching The Lorax

Snuggling with Dad

Reese got a baby and carried it around almost the whole time

Giving Grandpa fives

Brian went back to work yesterday so we had to get back in the swing of normal life really quickly...I'm someone who needs time to adjust after such a fun filled weekend so it's been a little rough. Yesterday we (the girls and I) spent a lot of the time in our pj's just playing with all their new toys.
Fortunately we have a family vacation to look forward to very soon! Can't wait to be in Sunriver, Oregon with my whole family...sledding, playing in the snow, ice skating, and hot tubing, wahoo!!

Family picture :)

Daddy and his girls

A good shot of all 6 grandkids on my side

Alright, I better get back to packing up all the stuff. So much fun ;)

Happy birthday Jesus

It's Christmas morning and both girls are playing with their new toys, Brian is reading the paper, and I'm blogging while drinking my coffee. So basically we are all doing our favorite things :)

We had our traditional cinnamon roll breakfast after opening presents, a tradition I think our girls love. 

I am enjoying this wonderful Christmas morning, but also sad that it's almost over :(

Let's not focus on that though, let's look at a few pictures from the last couple days:

Reese got a toilet! And Bria found a different way to use it (she tried to pull her pants down and use it but we stopped her, lol)

"So my poop goes in there?"

My baby on a ladybug :)

With their Aunt Heather

With Grammy...Reese has her new cheese face

Bria covered MJ up to keep her warm

Yesterday we went down to my Mom's and would you believe I didn't take a single picture?! Not okay. Fortunately Jaime did so I will get those from her later, Brian took some with his phone but they didn't turn out too well.

All 6 grandkids!

We headed home about 6:30 pm and Reese crashed out of course. We tucked them in and then Brian and I read and waited for Santa to come and deliver the presents.
Bria got a TinkerBell scooter and Reese got a doll :)

Christmas morning, by the fireplace with their presents, nothing better!

I'm gonna go snuggle my girls now, Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours...

Merry Christmas!
We have had a wonderful year and feel incredibly blessed. Here are a few highlights:
Brian:

• Continues to take on more at work in an effort to take over the business world learn everything he possibly can...he is an amazing employee and works so hard
• Spends most of his free time being super Dad and giving his daughters all the love and attention they deserve, favorite games include wrestling and chasing and tickling...pretty much anything that makes them laugh
• Devotes time to ensuring his wife feels loved and continues to learn and succeed at making her super happy
• Hiked around Mt. Hood for the second time and enjoys spending time researching more hikes to do

Lindsey

• Got more comfortable juggling life with two kids, this possibly means her house is not as clean as it use to be and a hot meal ready when her husband gets home is less frequent
• Found a good group of friends up here in Hillsboro and set up many playdates to keep herself and the girls social
• The crafty bug bit her (aka Pinterest) and she spent a lot of time organizing and making different crafts to entertain and teach her daughters
• Was reminded that vacations are very important for sanity and will take one earlier in the year from here on out

Bria

• Started preschool in the fall and loves her teacher and most of her classmates, she has proven that her passion is in imaginary play as she plays with the same dinosaur figurines each day during free time
• Became obsessed with Rapunzel and has declared she wants to be her when she grows up, most Disney princess movies are a hit with her, including: Brave, Cinderella, Aladdin, and of course, Tangled. She was thrilled to pieces when we took her to Disney on Ice: The Princesses and now wants to be an ice skater as well
• Loves to have play dates and asks everyday where we are going, although she likes to be busy we have learned that she needs her alone time each day or she gets a bit cranky
• Has settled in to the job of big sister very nicely, she loves to boss help Reese and show her the way of the world, plus she enjoys helping her Mom with house duties 

Reese

• Is proving herself to be the best hugger and cuddler the world has ever seen, her loves could cure a broken heart in seconds
• Has a spunky and fiesty attitudes that demands attention and laughs, she enjoys waving to strangers and then pretending to be shy to reel people in, she is a smart little thing
• Eats like a teenage boy and is fortunately not half as picky as her older sister, her favorites include sweet potatoes, grapes, and bananas
• Adores her big sister and copies everything she does...including tantrums and talking very loudly, little girls sure know how to fill a room with their voices!

We are looking forward to a Merry Christmas with our family and to a wonderful family vacation in Sunriver at the first of the New Year. Family is the best.

A little singing never hurt right?

So yesterday Bria showed a few signs that she was starting to feel better, so I dragged her to preschool for their Christmas program. I wanted to hear her sing so bad!  

Her and Ella holding hands and singing, so precious!

She did good for the first 5 minutes and then turned pale, looked at me with tears in her eyes and quietly said, "I'm tired." Then she sat down while the rest of the kids sang.

I felt horrible. She looked miserable and you could tell she did not feel well. I ended up taking her to the doctor where I once again got told it was a virus and the rash she developed (did I mention she got a rash yesterday that spread like wildfire, fortunately it did not itch) was also viral. I guess the theme of her sickness is VIRUS and I'm beyond tired of hearing that word! She laid on the couch most the night and then we jumped in the car and drove around looking at Christmas lights which perked her up a bit.

This morning she has been...dare I say...a lot better. Knocking on wood that continues and praying the virus is completely out of her body! If she continues to do well I think I am going to take the girls and do a little last minute Christmas shopping...I know, I'm crazy to go out in this madness with two little girls, but we are STIR CRAZY!!! So just a lot of crazy going on here :)

I am beside myself with excitement for Christmas, 4 days away baby!!!

Still mending

This virus is kicking Bria's ass...pardon my French. But seriously, she was still throwing up on day 4 of it and not eating. Fortunately she is pretty good at drinking water so she is staying hydrated, but man I feel bad for the girl. She is just not herself :( 

So we have been spending all our time at home, mostly in our pajama's hanging out. Reese has been a trooper, I know it's not fun to be cooped up for her, especially since she loves being out and about so much. 

I was able to entertain her with the camera for awhile, she liked making silly faces and then looking at them after I took 'em, such a character!

I present, the many faces of Reese:

And poor sister, Bria, napping on the couch :(

I'm praying for our health because none of us want to get what she has, especially so close to Christmas. I will pray for your health if you pray for mine!

Just playing with the camera

"Mom, can we please go outside?"

"Well I don't care what you do but I'M going outside, bye."

I cannot believe Christmas is only 6 days away, I am beyond excited! All the presents are ready, wrapped, and under the tree :) Can't wait to spend time with our families and watch the girls light up, love this time of year.

It was good, then there was barf

Friday afternoon Heather drove both girls down to Corvallis to stay the night at Grammy's. We were going to head down Saturday so that meant we had a whole night and morning to ourselves!! We went to dinner, shopped, watched a movie and then went to bed. It was fabulous.

We didn't get out of bed until 10 am!!! That has not happened in almost 4 years. We were in shock and felt quite rested. Getting ready for the day was surreal, we didn't have little ones to entertain or keep out of trouble, we just got to talk and get ready.

We went to breakfast and then headed down to Keizer. Our friends way back from our college days were hosting a cookie making/decorating party. It was so good to see them and reminisce about the good old days :) 

This is Brittany (she was my roommate in college and fellow cheerleader) with her daughter McKinley

 In Keizer, the fire department takes Santa along through neighborhoods giving out candy canes, it was pretty cute.

The hosts, Caitlyn, Jeff and baby Colton

The girls

My awesome cookie decorating skills ;)

Brittany and Chris (Chris was also Brian's roommate in college :)

The Nate Bauer...minus his wifey (Amy was working)

Me and my mountain man, I actually like the beard and shaggy hair look on him :)

The hosts

 We had so much fun with our friends and got to socialize since we weren't running around chasing our kids. Although I did wish they were there to see Santa :(
We got to Grammy's at 5 pm and were cuddling with our girls. At 5:02 Bria said her tummy hurt and at 5:03 pm, right as I was about to take her from Brian to cuddle with her, she barfed. A lot. All over. It was quite a way to be reintroduced back into parenthood.
She continued to throw up throughout the night, as well as moan and groan in pain. I think she had body aches and was nauseous. Her barfing turned into violent dry heaves and I felt horrible. She would turn red and her body would convulse and she would shake. It was awful.
Grammy and Heather were amazing, they entertained Reese so we could focus on Bria, they helped us with 23 loads of laundry (maybe a slight exaggeration), ran to get medicine at 11 pm, name it and they did it. We are incredibly grateful for their help. Brian got thrown up on twice and ended up running to Fred Meyer's in his dress pants to buy some jeans because he didn't have anything left that was clean...including underwear.

Our poor sweet girl

I will say that Brian and I make a pretty darn good team. We took shifts at night so we could each get a little uninterrupted sleep. This morning was the nativity program where Bria was going to be a sheep, and that did not happen. We were pretty bummed but obviously our sick little girl was in no shape to go to church. We waited until we thought she was feeling a little better and headed home. She has thrown up once since we got home and is still on the couch looking pathetic :(
I guess it's the flu but I'm not sure. I feel awful, she is just getting over a double ear infection and then BAM, she is sick again.
I am praying we do not get this and praying Bria feels better soon. Until then we are going to be taking it easy.

It's Dancey Dance time!

Actually we don't watch Yo Gabba Gabba, but that doesn't mean my girls don't know how to boogie. Reese is my dancer. When she hears a song she starts bobbing her head, clapping, and stomping her feet. Her absolute favorite song is Firework by Katy Perry. That may seem random but it's because her favorite movie is Madagascar 3.

At age 1 Bria did not have a favorite movie...because she didn't watch tv. But Reese has an older sister and I'm tired so she watches tv :)

Reese will go find the DVD case to Madagascar 3 and bring it to me while signing Please. And the second Firework comes on she starts dancing and even sings along to the "ah ah ah" part. I sure love it.  I tried to capture it on camera but she kind of zones out while watching the video to it...by the way, the music video to that song makes me love it even more than I already did.

And I had to throw in a cute video of Reese and Lucy dancing with the Christmas decorations, these two are adorable together! 

I laugh at how Lucy's ponytail puts Reese's to shame :)

It's all good

 Date nights are fun. Some people think work parties are boring, but we think they are super awesome because you get a night out and a free dinner, score!

I'm especially fond of the toys in the background

I have no idea, we are just weird, and possibly Brian is trying to strangle me ;)

 So yeah, Brian and I had fun at his work party. It was just dinner but we sat next to some nice people and chatted it up with them. Afterwards Brian and I went to the Starbucks inside Fred Meyer, got a drink and walked around. Yep, we are CRAZY ;)
It was nice and mellow and just what we needed.
Saturday started out pretty awesome, Grammy let us sleep in and got up with both girls. It continued on pretty normal until about 11 or so when Bria was screaming and crying in pain. She had been complaining of a sore throat since Wednesday and I kept her home from preschool on Thursday because she felt pretty sick. She had a fever during the night but it went away. I figured it was a cold that just had to run it's course but on Saturday when she was in consolable I took her to Immediate Care. On the way there she fell asleep, unheard of. In the room waiting for the doctor to come in she fell asleep on me, COMPLETELY unheard of. On the way home, she fell asleep again, WHAT?! This girl was in bad shape. The doctor checked her ears and she had a double ear infection plus double pink eye. So she's on antibiotics which is great. She stopped complaining of her ears that same night after only two doses of antibiotics. She still sounds sick but is doing much better.
Saturday evening we thought it would help Bria to see some Christmas lights so we hopped in the car and drove around looking at Christmas lights. I made her some hot chocolate which helped her sore throat and both girls "oooohed" and "ahhhhed" over all the lights. We stumbled upon a house that put on a show every half hour, they have you tune into a certain radio channel and then bam, you are blown away with a 10 minute light show that is pretty stinkin' cool! The girls were in awe, although it's possible that I enjoyed it most :)

Getting my butt in gear

We received our first Christmas card in the mail last week (yay!) and our second one yesterday. I decided it was time I actually ordered ours.
Usually I am way more on top of things but November flew by in the blink of an eye that I barely had time to be productive, or at least that's my excuse. I have gotten some Christmas shopping done which is nice. And yesterday I sat down, did our Christmas cards and ordered them, now I just have to go pick them up and address them all...which takes a long time, blerg. I guess me and a glass of wine will be hanging out tonight as I address the cards, so if you get one and it's crooked then you know yours was addressed towards the end ;)
This Friday is Brian's work party and I'm looking forward to going, especially because Grammy and Aunt Heather are watching the girls. Yay for adult conversations!
And here are 2 pictures from Weston's birthday party this last weekend, obviously I was busy chasing 2 kiddos instead of snapping photos!

Carnival themed!

Reese and a sweet baby friend :)

Alright...off to those Christmas cards!

Weekend fun!

The Woods' came up this weekend and we always LOVE having them. Our weekend is filled with laughter, fun, and always goes by way too fast. We planned a few Christmassy things because, well, obviously it's fun!

Making sugar cookies!

Gorgeous cookies

 Bria had a hard time decorating because she preferred to eat them. She would put some frosting, pour a ton of sprinkles and then eat. She has a VERY sweet tooth.

Cute cookie makers

The cookies turned out to be a lot of fun and the kids felt like they were super big helping roll out the dough, using the cookie cutters and then decorating them all. And it was obvious they were made with love because they were delicious :)
Bria and Gabe had so much fun together and it's fun to see them play so well. We have known them since Gabe was 2 weeks old and I just love watching them grow up together.

 And now our little girls are growing up together! These two are soooo stinkin' cute! Lucy is 2 1/2 months younger but she has 4 times as much hair...actually probably like 10 times. She is so adorable and I love how close they are in age.

 You can tell they are the second children because both are pretty tough and let their siblings run over them :)
After the kids went to bed on Saturday we stayed up late talking and playing Apples to Apples. It was a blast and so glad we got to spend time with them...of course the morning came way too fast, why don't kids sleep in?
Oh well, I'd rather lose a little sleep and spend time with friends!

Just ADORABLE!

 On Sunday we tried to find some quiet games to keep the two older entertained while we chugged coffee :)

Lucy Lu!

Dancing babies!

Eventually they had to go home :( That always comes too soon, we are already planning when we are gonna head down and stay with them.
Love our friends!