Let's Finish off 2008... Part 2

Alrighty... Finishing off 2008...Part 2 will be for December 2008. If you haven't read part 1- you can find it below this post or Here!

December was a BUSY month! In fact, normally I relish Christmas time and try really hard to enjoy my tree and decorations, but this month- I just don't know where it went! I feel like I literally just put my tree up last weekend, when in fact I put it up at the very beginning of December- I think it was the first weekend in December actually... Now, my tree and all christmas decorations are down! Normally I don't take them down until after the new year, but I got some terrible news on monday- one of my former FAVORITE students was killed in Iraq- and I just didn't feel like being Christmasy anymore (more to come on my favorite student- I just need time to gather my thoughts and pics though...)

Okay, on to a lighter subject... our first big event during December was the Turlock Christmas Light parade! It was fun- we got to hang out with the Faddis family and Jon and Belinda's family on the street- however, it was FREEZING cold! I don't know how my child managed to keep from being fussy that night- I'm tellin' you- it was COLD! And the parade was SOOOOOO slow- an hour and a half long- bRrrrrRRR... Anyhow, booger really liked the lights and bands- Turlock High's Band rocked! They have a new band director (this is his 2nd year teaching) and he is Great with the students- so there's my very shameless plug for you all to go check them out some day! ;-)

See the mittens??? COLD!!!!!

See the man with the big blanket behind us??? SOOOO COLD!!!!

This is C and Sophie- aren't they the cutest together? Sophie is only 20 days older than C!

This is the Beautiful Faddis Family: Jimmy, Sophie, Kristy and Winnie Mae.

This is Jon with his adorable daughter Jayden:

SO that was our first fun Christmasy event as a family of 3!

Let's see the next thing that we did was exchange gifts with Andrew and Sandy Cantrell- they were out of town for the holidays and we got to exchange gifts and spend an evening with them before they left... it is always so good to spend time with them- we truly consider them part of our family! Sandy spoiled C and got him the *cutest* Roo stuffed animal and tigger hat from DisneyWorld- it will always remind me of what C was for his First Halloween home with us! That night we also got to congratulate Andrew on his biggest move of his life... he got engaged to the love of his life Gabby! Yeah Andrew!!! We wish you nothing but the best!

A got done with school on Thursday December 18 and my last day was Friday December 19. The 19th we headed to Disneyland... but the only peek you get at that right now is the picture of the 3 of us at the top of the blog... I told you- I will post about that next week! ;-)

Once we got home from Disneyland, I realized that we didn't have a picture of C with Santa yet! So, on December 23 we headed to the mall in the early am to get that done. I seriously thought we must be crazy- the mall 2 days before Christmas- YIKES! However, we got there at 8:45 am and Santa arrived at 9 am- we were the 1st in line! C was totally in awe as Santa came over to him and touched his finger to his- then when I handed C off to Santa this is what we got:

Poor Santa, it was his first picture of the day! Good thing he was such a great sport about it! I put this picture in a picture ornament and whenever we asked C where santa was he would run over to the ornament and touch it and smile! TOOOO FUNNY!

Christmas Eve was our next big day... I cooked most of the day- an 18.64 pound turkey- for 5 people and a 14 month old to eat! HAHA! Can you believe that? However, you can't beat a free turkey right? Who cares if we ate left overs for days!?! ;-) My parents and sister came over in the evening for dinner and dessert- Yum! Mrs. Prindable's Apples- they are GOOD! I bought them on QVC and I will probably start making that a tradition- thanks for that idea Aunt Jackie! After dessert we opened just one gift each- with the exception of C who got to open a gift from us and Nana/Papa. He had fun with the train that we got him from Disneyland! Then we watched our short videos from our Disneyland trip in which C had a blast seeing himself on the TV- too funny! (Don't you just love how I'm teasing you all with the Disneyland references???) Right after that we tried to take a family picture with the 6 of us and a camera with a timer- it was hilarious! Trying to get everyone to smile plus getting C to look at the camera had us all rolling on the floor!

This was the best picture of all of us- with the exception of me- just ignore me!This was my 2nd favorite shot- if A wasn't covering Jenn's face this would be my Fav picture! Silly, tall Allen!My parents weren't over for longer than 2 hours and then it was just us reading our Christmas Shoey & Dot book and the Christmas story from the book of Luke. Then it was bedtime for C and Santa time for us! We had a blast setting things up!

Our Mantel with our overly stuffed stockings! Thanks Santa!

Our tree and all Santa's gifts to Booger!

We didn't take pictures of C opening his gifts but did take lots of video- we just haven't uploaded it to our computer yet- sorry!

Christmas morning was fun, but took forever! At first C had fun opening a few gifts and then he got overwhelmed and had had enough! It took us 1.5 hours to open like 15-20 gifts between the 3 of us! Yikes! We then drove out to my parents house for a delicious christmas breakfast and more gifts. Again C did great for the first one or two and then he was done! We stayed at my parents for about and hour and a 1/2 then drove home for nap time for me and C! We were pooped! Around 12:45 we drove to Turlock to A's parents home to have a late Christmas lunch and to open more gifts. C did great! Allen and I could tell he was very overwhelmed but he showed every one a happy face! We were there for almost 4 hours and then it was time to end our day! We drove home and watched a movie and just tried to decompress from our very busy 2 days...

Poor C was so wound up and overwhelmed that it was much worse than A and I thought- he fought us (physically) while we tried to put him to sleep- there was lots of screaming and arching of the back- poor guy his body was just so wound up. He hasn't had a good nights sleep since Christmas day (I am talking NOT good; 5 hours sleep maybe?)- we are just so hoping that we can get him back on a good schedule- we have tried super hard to keep his world much smaller the past few days!!!

The day after Christmas we hopped back in the car and drove back to Grandma Alvernaz's house so that C could meet A's Godmother, Janet. We stayed for 45 minutes or so and C showed off his skills of being cute and climbing the stairs! Oh what fun he had as we don't have any stairs at our house- thank GOD! After that we went to our oldest and dearest friend Eric's mother's house so that C could FINALLY meet his Godparents: Eric and Dolores! Eric and Dolores totally spoiled C and showered him (& us) with gifts- C also played for a while with Eric's nephew and did great while there. He totally loved Eric and Dolores and I am so happy that now he can call them Aunt Dolores and Uncle Eric! Who by the way get married in less than 6 months! YEAH!!!!

Aren't they the cutest couple???

The last thing that we did this crazy busy month was have Aunt Jackie, Uncle Kevin (our best friends) and their children Josh and Joey over for a delicious dinner of hot dogs and chips! haha! We exchanged gifts and Aunt Jackie got C the cutest fire truck with MegaBlocks in it- he has had a blast playing with this toy!

While I am so very happy to see the year 2008 leave (so many sad things have happened to us, our family and friends) I have to be thankful for this year as well- it brought C home to us! We are INCREDIBLY blessed to have him as our son and we are also so blessed to have our family and friends in our lives- our lives wouldn't be the same without all of you!

So, Good Bye 2008- I won't miss you! And Hello 2009! Here's to hoping that everyone we know and love has a very Happy and Blessed New Year!

Love,
M

Let's finish off 2008...Part 1

Okay, I am going to try to quickly finish off everything from 2008 that I have missed getting you updated on... everything EXCEPT Disneyland- that deserves it's own post- maybe next week:-)

NOVEMBER 2008:

C had his baby dedication on November 16 at our church New Life Christian Center! Our church believes that the dedication is to show that we as parents are promising to bring up our children in a church where there is faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and our church does the dedication service probably 3-4 times a year. There were lots of families in our service who dedicated their children- 2 or 3 families we knew from the past or church softball. The dedication only takes about 10-20 minutes but we were so overjoyed that we finally got to have a child up there that WE get to raise in the Christian Faith! So, when the ceremony started all the families that are dedicating children go up to the front and have scripture and a small message read to them. Then we each get to "present" our child to the church body- basically we raise them up above our heads so every one can see! Well, to say the least C was a little overwhelmed that there were so many people starring at him and he was a bit clingy with me and A; however, his name was called first and when A raised him up this is what he did:

Yes, our child POINTED out for himself and got the loudest cheers and hoots from the church crowd... He cracked every one up! (and yes, for those of you who know Stacey and Steve Parker they are the couple next to us with their adorable baby girl) :-). After church we didn't do anything too special- just went to eat some bagels at Panera with my parents, sister & Dennis, one of my best friend's, Jackie (Aunt Jackie) and her two kids Josh and Joey, and A's parents. We just hung out and talked for a 1/2 hour or so and then we went home to enjoy the day...

Next thing that happened in November would be... uh, let me see... OH YEA! Thanksgiving! How could I forget?!? Just kidding- there is no forgetting the biggest cooking day of my year! Our Thanksgiving Tradition that we started 4 years ago is to go to our Timeshare in Angels Camp, Ca. It's just a nice, beautiful area where we can go to relax and NOT be at home! All our timeshares (yes we have access to MANY, in MANY different spots at ANY time of the year- I'll explain more if any one wants more detail just let me know) have a full kitchen which is great because my mom and I prepare a ton of food for my family and A's family. Let's just say that we never just have Turkey- there are a ton of things for everyone's different tastes... It's so much work but I have lots of pride when it is all finished! Anyhow, my mom came up to Angels Camp with us the Tuesday before Thanksgiving- it was great because she helped prepare all the appetizers while A and I got to play with C and/or relax! Thanks MOM! On Thanksgiving Day, my dad, sister and Dennis, Allen's parents, grandmother and brother came up about 12:15- we ate around 2 and just enjoyed each other's company until about 6 pm. Poor C was a little overwhelmed with all the people that had "invaded" his space but he warmed up to everyone fairly quickly and then had fun running from person to person the rest of the afternoon. Other than going to Angels Camp, we have a pretty normal all-american Thanksgiving day!

This is C with Grammy (a's Grandmother- she is the SWEETEST lady ever!):

Isn't the foilage just gorgeous in the background of the pictures?

This is C with his "dada" and A's brother, Jason/Uncle Jason:

This is C with Grandma and Grandpa Alvernaz (Allen's parents)- again the greenery in the background is just one reason I LOVE going to Angels Camp!

Yea, no pics of my family from Thanksgiving weekend- when I was taking pictures my parents *refused* to take pics and my sister and uncle denny were sleeping- too much good eating I guess! But don't worry, I have a fun family pic with them from Christmas eve...

My parents spent Thanksgiving night with us at the timeshare because the day after my Godparents and their children came down to Angels Camp to hang out with us for the afternoon. My Godparents had met C a few weeks earlier but their children wanted to meet him also and they just happened to be home from college that weekend... It was so fun to catch up with everyone! I had not had the chance to see Cydney or Lucas for a very long time and it was so funny to see how grown up they were- totally adults in all ways! C was very comfortable around them and he showed off the entire afternoon!

Here is the entire family with C: Aunt Diana, Uncle Ed, Cydney and Lucas:

This is one of my all time FAVORITE pictures from this year- it was just such a happy day! Thanks for taking such a great picture Lucas and Cydney!
Okay that finishes off November... December will be my next post in an hour or so!

M

So Ready for...

CHRISTMAS!!! and winter break... and extra sleep... and time to do what I want instead of staring down STACKS, and I literally mean STACKS, of work to grade for my students... any one else feel this way??? Come on winter break, I NEED YOU!

The next post that I will do is going to be on C's Dedication at church... I'd do it right now, but don't have the pics with me. I officially have what I like to call "mom syndrome"- it's where i have all these things that I need to do/remember and I don't because those are NEVER the top things on my brain... see, "mom syndrome." Plain and simple.

Okay, enough rambling for now!

By the way, I figured that most of you have your christmas cards by now, so adding the card for everyone to see on the blog shouldn't ruin the surprise!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Happy Halloween (only a month & 1/2 late)!!!

We did lots of things on Oct. 31, 2008!

Obviously it was Halloween, but unfortunately it was a friday and A and I had work to attend to before we got to "party" with our little one! So, C went to daycare like normal in the morning and got to spend time with his friends there. Then, in the afternoon C had his 1 year appointment at the Pediatricians office. Poor little guy remembered the last time he was there and that he got shots the last time he was there, so as soon as he saw Dr. Chan's nurse he clung to me and wouldn't let go. He did great for Dr. Chan, but then when the nurse came back he realized what was going to happen and he got 4, count them 1-2-3-4!, shots in his thighs. :-( Poor baby- he cried so hard- I have NEVER heard him cry like that! It seriously broke my heart! He did great though and calmed down after the nurse left the room enough to really cuddle with me and let me wipe his tears away... *sigh* those mommy moments are so sweet sometimes!

Once we got home, we had just enough time to quickly carve a small pumpkin (of course I did that!). I tired to get C to touch the pumpkin seeds and the inside of the pumpkin but he wanted nothing to do with the yuckyiness of it all! He actually made the funniest icky face that I WISH I could have captured in a picture- but Daddy wasn't home yet and I couldn't take a picture and hold out the pumpkin guts at the same time!!!

Once A got home we quickly drove to Turlock to see Grandma and Grandpa Alvernaz for a few minutes. Then we left and ran by our church's Harvest Festival where we got to meet up with our friends Jo and Maria. We took a few pictures of C and Corbin together- C was Roo from Winnie the Pooh and Corbin was a Kangaroo- so it was definitly not a picture opportunity to miss since they were both kangaroo's of some sort! They cracked us up because they just checked each other out with these faces that said something like "Man, your mom made you dress like this too!?! Shheesh!" Too Funny! They were so cute together though and now we will always have that picture to embarass them with!

After our time with our friends from church, we ran home to hand out Playdoh to trick- or -treaters (I am SOO not a big believer in gobs of candy- most kids love that we give out playdoh too!) and we had a pizza dinner with Nana, Papa, Aunt Jenner and Uncle Denny. C was super hot by this time of the night so we took off his costume for an hour or so before we left to go visit some more friends. We tried to take pictures with C smiling but got very few as I do believe he was too hot in his costume and he was tired and cranky from his shots that day. We did get a few cute ones with him and Aunt Jenner/Uncle Denny though- the two of them got all dressed up for a Halloween party and we took pics of C with them- what do you think? The most beautiful Cave People around, right? Jenn made the costumes and I think they turned out just perfect!

After pictures, we went to Dave and Celina's house with Nana and Papa to visit some old friends. This is where many of my childhood halloween's ended and so it is tradition to go visit there on holidays still for A and I... It was fun to catch up with everyone and C had fun showing off how cute he was. Our last stop for the night was the Cantrell house to see Andrew (& Gabby 2) and Sandy. We only stopped in for 10 minutes or so- just to say hi and show C off to Sandy. Sandy was a HUGE support to me while waiting for C to be placed in our arms and she has the strongest faith in God- I only wish that I had her faith! The Cantrell's are dear friends and it was the perfect ending to our near perfect 1st Halloween with C!