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.