Snow, and Dress Up

Christmas evening and night we got a lot of snow. It wasn't very nice to drive home in that night, but we made it and then we got to spend the next day shoveling before we could go anywhere. The kids got to play in the snow while Ben and I shoveled.

Then the next day, the kids were playing really well together while we were getting ready for the day. Then Gabe came in to say hi and show off his outfit. We found out that Carissa used her new dress up set that she got for Christmas to dress up Gabe as a singer. It was so funny and cute I just had to take a couple of pictures. I'm sure he will love it when he grows up.

Christmas morning

Christmas morning the kids got their gifts from Santa, the charity, and Ben and I. They got a new table and chairs and the table doubles as a dry erase board, so they also got markers and an eraser for the table and then some new painting stuff from Santa. And it looks like this year I did a good job picking presents for the kids, because Carissa really liked her cruise ship and Gabe really liked his pirate ship, and I got really great deals on both of them when I bought them. They got too many presents for me to even remember them all right now, but Gabe got another train set which will connect to the one he got from my grandparents and a few cars from the movie Cars. Carissa got an Ariel doll and mermaid bath toys to go with it. They also got a big set of play food and animals along with some new clothes and snow boots.

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve at my parent's house with my parents, siblings, Uncle Gary, and my Grandma and Grandpa Bloom. We opened all of the presents from my family and my family opened the ones from us that night after Ben got off of work. We also had a nice big dinner that my mom made and we played Scene It in teams. I got to be a team with my youngest brother and my sister and we did pretty well. I tried to get a nice picture of the kids before we left to go to my parent's house and then I have some more pictures from that night. Carissa got a new real feeling baby from my grandparents that she had to sleep with on Christmas Eve. Gabe was really excited to get a, "new brown towel." It was really a lion towel from Brandon and Angela. Gabe also really like the Thomas train set from my grandparents. Oh, Carissa and Gabriel used their own money to go Christmas shopping for our family this year and they got to pick out what they wanted to buy. They really enjoyed picking out gifts for everyone.

Thank You

Although, I'm pretty sure that the people I want to thank will probably never read this I still wanted to say a thank you and what I am thankful for. Also I did find out that the kids and I can write a thank you card that will get to the right place, so we will be doing that as well. Early in Nov. I was asked if I was willing to have the kids and I sponsored for Christmas this year. The Housing Authority was matching people up and it was a charity that wanted to households with preschool age children, and both Carissa and Gabe fit in that category. I was hesitant to do it, but decided to do it. They have asked us in the past about being sponsored and I did say no then; I just never want to take the place of a family or kids that need something more than we do.

So, I was supposed to come up with 2 needs, and 1 want for each of the 3 of us. But, I didn't know what to put for myself and was told that I could ask for something like a Wal-mart gift card, so that is all that I put down for myself. I borrowed money so that I could still get a few presents myself for Carissa and Gabe, and expected to get at most maybe 6 presents from whoever sponsored us. I got a call the weekend before Christmas from a lady who along with a friend of hers had bought presents for the kids and I and we arranged a time for them to drop off the presents to us. So, on Dec. 23rd the two ladies and their children dropped off two boxes full of presents. Carissa and Gabe were very excited to see them and put them under the tree. It was very, very nice of them to do all of that for us and I was very surprised to see so many presents. Then a little after 9 pm that same day, there was a knock on my door and I when I answered it there was no one there anywhere outside that I could see, but there was a Santa bag full of presents and a few more on the ground by the bag. There was a note attached to the bag from Santa and all of the tags on the gifts said from Santa, Mrs. Claus, or the elves. I am assuming that it is from the same charity, since I have no idea where else it could have come from. So, for Christmas I was feeling very blessed and very thankful for the kindness of people that I don't even know. Carissa and Gabe ended up having more presents than ever this year and I took a picture of the presents under the tree before putting the ones from Ben and I under the tree. So, all of the presents are the ones that got dropped off on the 23rd. The presents wouldn't all fit under the tree, so some are in front of it.

Gingerbread House

So, I went ahead and bought a gingerbread house kit for the kids and I to do this year. It is something that we have never done before, but I think that we will probably do it again. Carissa and Gabe really enjoyed decorating the house and they didn't even eat the candy as they decorated, but they did lick the frosting off of their fingers. Also I let Carissa and Gabe pick what they put where on the gingerbread house and it turned out more organized than I thought it would. But, I guess both on them do like to sort and organize things.

Carissa's Holiday Program

Carissa's holiday program was on Dec. 17th, and I dressed her up and curled her hair. She loved getting dressed up and getting her hair done. I thought that she looked so big, and very pretty. I can't believe she'll be 5 in a month. All day, on the day before the program Carissa said that she didn't want to do it. I think that she was just getting nervous, so I kept telling her how much we wanted to watch her and that all of her friends would be there with her. So, when it came time to go up on stage I wasn't sure what would happen, but she did great. She sang along with most of the songs and did most of the motions too. She should have went to bed earlier, because she went to bed late and then kept yawning on stage. Ben, my mom, Gabe, and I all got to go to the program and watch. My sister wanted to go, but the program was at 10:15 am and my sister had to be at school.

Surgeon Appointment

Today, Gabe had his post surgery appointment. The surgeon said that the results were back and that it was benign. Also he told me some more tips on how to help the scar fade.

Healing

I think it was a little less than a week ago that the last of Gabe's stitches and glue came off, and it looks like it is healing pretty well. I have been putting vitamin E on the scar like the surgeon said to do, and tomorrow we will have our after surgery check up with the surgeon.

Present from Carissa

When I picked Carissa up from school yesterday she had a present in her bag. When I asked her who it was for she said that it was for me and then she told me it was a present and that it was a Christmas tree. I haven't opened it yet, but I'm pretty sure that it will be a Christmas tree. I put it under the tree and will wait until Christmas even though Carissa told me to open it already. I thought that might reinforce the idea of waiting until Christmas to open presents. But, I love the fact that Carissa wrote on a paper attached to the present all by herself. She wrote, "Merry Christmas Love, Carissa." And she ran out of room on the last line so the "ssa" at the end of her name are still on the paper just in different places. I really do love seeing how her writing ability grows and changes.

Playing in the Snow

We haven't had much snow so far, and the couple of occasions that we have had snow Carissa and Gabe haven't been able to play in it before it melts. So, when we came home on Sunday from spending two nights in Park City the kids asked to play in the snow and this time I was able to tell them yes. They weren't outside very long, but it satisfied their desire to play in the snow. So, I got a really good deal for us to spend 2 nights at a Park City Resort and we stayed their the 12th and 13th. We got to go swimming twice, which Carissa and Gabe loved doing. And, we spent hours playing games in our room together. We bought a couple more kids games before the trip, and it was a lot of fun spending time together playing. We are going to do it again sometime. The only part that I thought was sad was when Gabe realized it was snowing on Saturday and begged to go skiing. He actually requested that we drive back home and get all of his snow stuff so that he could go skiing. I am still so impressed with Gabe's love for skiing, and that someone so small could do so well. Once his mind was off skiing he was having a great time again. But, I want to plan a skiing trip for him soon.

Santa

On Dec. 7th, Ben, Carissa, Gabe, and I all went to Toys R Us to look at toys. Carissa and Gabe wanted to make a Christmas List for Santa, so rather than have them say they want everything on commercials we let them look at toys. And, of course they were actually interested in toys that weren't in commercials. After that we did a little shopping at the mall, and then went to see Santa. Carissa and Gabe both told Santa one thing that they wanted and I took a picture. I was having camera issues though and didn't want to hold up the line. After seeing Santa, we went to a late lunch and ended up having a great day together.

50th

Yesterday was my dad's 50th birthday, so my mom invited us over for dinner. Only problem was that is was a surprise for my dad, and he has been working a lot of long hours lately, so he was late to his own party. He wasn't too late though. After my dad finished his dinner we had a pumpkin pie with candles on it for him. My sister, Alyssa, wanted to put 50 candles on the pie but my parents only had a total of 27 candles at there house. So, she went to the dollar store with our Uncle Gary and she bought a package of candles. Evidently they come in packages of 80 at the local dollar store. So, Josh and Alyssa decided to put 80 candles on the pie. Funny part was that our dad didn't count them and thought that there might be less than 50 candles on the pie. Brandon, Josh, and Alyssa managed to light most of the candles and our dad blew them all out. Now, when my dad turns 80 he can just blow out 50 candles and call it even. Carissa and Gabriel were very impressed with all the candles and they even got to help take them out of the pie when everything was done.

Decorating is Done

Ben had Monday off, so after dinner we put the tree up and started decorating. We listened to Christmas music and the kids did pretty much all of the tree decorating. Ben just lifted them up when they wanted to put the decorations up high on the tree. Also Ben decorated the front window of the house.

We're rich

Evidently, Carissa thinks we're rich. Over the summer, we all went to the drive-in movie theater for the first time and saw WALL-E. Now that it is out on video, the kids have noticed and are talking about it more. Well, one of the last times we saw one of those commercials Carissa was telling me about how we saw it already at the outside theater. And, I agreed with her. Then, she told me that because we got to go to the outside theater that means that we're rich. And she was very excited when she said that. Today, we made peanut butter cookies with kisses on top from scratch, because that is the only way to make them without eggs, which is the only way that Carissa can eat them. While making the cookie dough, Carissa told me that we're rich, because we can make cookies. I think that it is great that she thinks that we're rich, because I know that we aren't. But, as long as she is happy that makes it better.

Surgery

Gabriel did great today at the hospital before surgery and he really enjoyed playing with the toys there. He had to wait in two different waiting rooms and in a small hospital room in between the two waiting rooms (that is where he changed clothes). He got to ride in a wagon into the operating room after we gave him kisses and hugs and he didn't cry or get upset. He went back just before 9:30 this morning and I got to go back to see him about 10:30, so we didn't have to wait very long. The surgeon said that the tumor was bigger than it looked, about the size of a marble. Now Gabe has stitches with glue on top, and we just need to keep him from bothering them now while he heals.

When I got up to go back and see Gabe after he woke up the nurse warned me that he was very unhappy and that the nurses were having some problems with him and asked if I would rather have Ben go, because he might be stronger to hold Gabe still. I said that I thought I would be okay; Carissa was really upset when she woke up after getting tubes in her ears so I figured that Gabe might do the same thing. When I got back to Gabe and he saw me he went straight for me, and I just stood there and held him. He relaxed and actually went back to sleep on my shoulder. Before I got back there it was taking 3 nurses to prevent him from hurting himself after waking up, and the first thing he said to me before falling asleep was that he wanted to leave.

We went through a few spells of Gabe being combative with us and the nurses, but they were all pretty short. He was just so tired and wanted all the monitors and the IV gone, so that he could just go home. He drank some apple juice and kept it down, so we got to leave at about 11:30. Gabe just kept going right back to sleep every time we woke him up until about 1 pm, and then he was up until bed time. He has told us a few times today that his owie hurts, but it can't be too bad since he doesn't get upset or mention it much. He has had some medicine today for pain, and he is started to look a little bruised now. The surgeon said that he would probably end up looking like he had a black eye by tomorrow, but that was normal. The glue is supposed to come off in about 10 days and we are supposed to bring Gabe back in for a check up with the surgeon in 3 weeks.

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Surgery is tomorrow

Gabriel's surgery ended up getting re- scheduled for tomorrow morning. So, he gets no food after midnight tonight, and we have to check in by 7:45 am. I have never tried to take pictures of the bump on Gabe's face before, but I also thought that you wouldn't be able to see it in a picture. Then last night I took a few pictures and it worked better than I thought it would. So, here are a few before pictures of the bump on his face. The bump is on the right side of his eye just past where his eyebrow ends.

Nap Time

The other day Carissa and Gabe had a hard time going down for a nap. They ended up in my bed together. And, when I went to check on them I found them curled up together. After they woke up Carissa said that they slept together, because she was sad that I wouldn't sleep with them. I really would have liked to take a nap that day too, but I had homework to do. I just think that is so cute when they do things like this.

Halloween

So, the last few weeks have been very busy. I've had midterms and a big paper along with making a vest for Gabe for Halloween and just getting ready for Halloween in general. Both, Carissa and Gabe went to the pumpkin patch by their preschool with their classes to get pumpkins the week before Halloween. Gabe's class went first and he came back with a really little pumpkin, so we were thinking maybe all the kids just got little pumpkins. Then Carissa came home with a much bigger pumpkin than Gabe did, so who knows. Carissa and Gabe both painted their pumpkins at home so that they could set them outside for Halloween. And, unfortunately we never did get to pumpkin carving this year. I do like the painted pumpkins though, because the kids can do it all on their own anyway they want to.

Then on Halloween morning while Carissa was at school, Gabe was in their room alone for a few minutes and then he came to see me and told me that his nose was bleeding. Ben asked him if he was picking his nose and Gabe told us no, immediately followed with him telling us that he put a rock in his nose. Carissa had brought a few pebbles home with her a few days earlier, and we figured out that is where he got the rocks from. We got the flashlight and sure enough there was a rock in there, meanwhile Gabe told us that not only did he put one rock up his nose he put two in the same nostril. So, we called the doctor and they got us in pretty quickly. The doctor got one of the rock's out, but the other was too far back and it wasn't bothering his breathing or making him uncomfortable so the doctor said that we could wait a few days and see if it came out on its own or not. He also told us to make a follow up appointment in order to check if the rock was gone or not. Then a few days later Gabe was at my mom's house when he sneezed the rock out, and then yesterday he had his follow up appointment and the doctor couldn't see the rock anywhere. The whole experience turned out to be a good learning experience for Gabe; he now thinks that putting things up your nose is a very bad idea. The rocks made him very uncomfortable, and the whole process of us holding him down while the doctor pulled one of the rocks out also made him very upset. So, hopefully we won't have something like that happen again.

Here is our kitty and pirate

Here is Gabe's pumpkin

Here is one side of Carissa's pumkin

And the other side