To my Amazing Grandma....



This is my Grandma.  Marlene Mae Heilman.  This was taken at our wedding, just 36 days before she passed away.



Dearest Grandma Heilman,

Today marks three years since you entered eternal rest and peace with our Lord in Heaven.  Three years?  It seems like so much longer!  It feels like it's been years since I last saw you (well......way more than three years.......).  Unfortunately, after each passing year, it gets harder and harder to remember little details about you.  Things I don't want to forget.  Things you can't get from looking at a picture.  The sound of your voice has not yet faded from me, thankfully.  I would know that voice anywhere.  And sometiemes, at work, when I am on the phone with an older patient, I will come across someone who's voice sounds like yours and my heart skips a beat.  But then I remember that it's not possible that it's you and I am brought back to the real world.  But I do forget the texture of your hands.  I love hands and yours were leathery and textured and very over-worked.  I remember you had long fingers.  That's where I got my long fingers from.  Good for basketball, you'd say. 

Thanksgiving, especially, is a hard holiday without you.  I loved your cooking and gathering at your house to enjoy a wonderful meal, eating way too much and then watching you, my mom and Auntie fight over who's going to do the dishes.  Someone would always try to sneak in to start doing them, then someone else would follow and argue that they were going to do them, and so on.  But don't worry.  The same thing happens still. 

The night before Thanksgiving, I was making a couple of pies.  I remember how you would always have, like, 15 pies (at least!) for Thanksgiving.  You would make every kind for us to eat at dinner, then send everyone home with their very own whole pumpkin pie.  Yummy.  I loved your pies.  Especially your apple pie!  I decided to make apple pies this year and went up to mom's house to borrow a couple of pie pans.  She gave me one that used to be your mom's pie plate.   Instantly, I thought, "Grandma would like that I used her mom's pie plate.  She'd think that's special." Then, I realized, you wouldn't be there to see that I used it.  Oops.  I forgot.  Sometimes I do that.  Like when I was filling out Christmas cards this year, I accidently started Grandma and Grandpa on Grandpa's card.  oops. 

I wish you were here for Thanksgiving so that my daughters, myself, mom and you could have taken a four generation picture.  Oh, how I would have loved that!  I see other moms who get to take a four generation picture with their daughter, mom and grandma, but I know that I will never have that luxury. 

I wish you were able to meet my daughters.  I know you will someday.  Many people tell me that KaeLee looks just like me when I was that age.  I know you thought I was cute, so I am convinced you would love them at first sight!  I think of how much the girls are missing out in life because they don't know you.  Your apple pie, your candy dish and stash of even more candy, "Grandma's Ham" (which was SO missed this year!)  I know how much you loved babies and I am sure you are sad you couldn't be here to meet them.  But I know you will meet them one day. 

I know they will make new memories with the four grandma's they have and the six great grandma's they still have living, but I just wish I could have shared MY amazing Grandma with them.  I am so glad you got to see me get married, but am I selfish to have wanted you around to see my daughter's be born?  Maybe.  But I don't care.  They deserve to know you.  And they will, through pictures and memories shared........ but it's not the same.  But I am thankful this Thankgiving, that you are no longer in pain and can rest so peacefully and enjoy the presence of the Good Lord.  And soon enough, we will meet again. 

Love you Grandma.

Happy Turkey Day!

"Praise the LORD! Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever ..." Psalm 106:1

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!  I hope you all have such a great one!  Drive careful to your destinations and may you be blessed all day long!! 

I really hope you do stop to evaluate all that you are thankful for and thank the Lord for blessing you!

Today I am thankful for family and for our immediate family's health.  My Grandma is not doing so well, as I have mentioned before.  Prayers for the family and that she may finally have some peace and rest in the Lord would be very much appreciated.  We also got a call from Bud last night saying that Shawn's Grandma Joan is in the hospital for a blood transfusion due to her anemia.  So prayers go out to her today as well for a quick recovery. 

"Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms" ... Psalm 95:2

I have two more pies to make this morning.  But perhaps I will wait until this evening to make them.  Shawn is headed to Moxee Market to get the paper for me so I can strategize my shopping for tomorrow.  Yes, I am going shopping.  Pretty much only for one item.  This one is for you, Jen!  You must be pretty special if I am making the trek to Target at 4am for only you!  After I declared the year before last that I would NEVER go out shopping again! 

So a couple of funny things that have happened in the last couple of days (okay, yesterday....) .....

I was preparing KaeLee's breakfast and asked KaeLee to go get her highchair. She likes to "be a helper" and bring her high chair into the kitchen. Well, the tray to the highchair was still on the dining table for dinner the night before, and when I turned around, I saw that KaeLee brought her highchair in like I asked and she was also halfway up the thing to climb in. She succeeded. And not only did she climb up into it herself, but she was already busy buckling herself in. haha. It was quite hilarious! And a bit scary. I didn't try to stop her. I wanted her to be able to do it because I know she's been trying for a long time. I "spotted" her while she climbed up. She was SO proud! She couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear and her whole face was just beaming. She's so cute. She did it again at lunch and was even more excited this time when she heard me ask her to get her highchair.

However, during preparation of her lunch, I heard a squeaking sound.  It sounded like dry skin rubbing against the floor.  I turned around and saw Hannah being dragged by KaeLee by her legs.  Hannah was on her stomach trying to crawl, and KaeLee had a hold of her pajama feet, dragging her backwards into the living room!  I gasped and yelled at KaeLee, "What in the WORLD are you DOING?!?!?!"  Hannah looks up at me and smiles so big and lets out a big o chuckle! Oh my.  Regardless of whether Hannah was having fun or not, KaeLee got time out.  Apparently she just wanted her to come play with her.  She kept patting the floor next to her saying "sit Hannah. play.  Hannah!  Sit, Hannah!  Hannah, play!" haha

Anyway, I need to start rummaging through the paper.  Have a great day everyone!  I pray you are blessed immensely!  You are all such a blessing to me

"Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God." Philippians 1:3

 

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow!

I am always so happy to see snow.  I like it in the early morning, when the plows haven't been down our street yet and it is a fresh white blanket covering everything.  How pretty!  I love it.  When the plow comes through, it makes lots of dirty slush and piles it up on the sidewalk.  The bad part is that no one plows the sidewalks so walking to the mailbox with the girls and pushing the stroller through the piles of snow on the sidewalk become quite a daunting task...... I would still love to be able to take walks every afternoon despite the coldness.  The girls love to look at the snow and I can't wait to get them out in it and see how they react being in the snow! Maybe the snow will stick around until this weekend and then we can frolic and play all day in it!  :)

So, I mentioned that my last day at work is no longer December 17th.  Nope.  It's no MONDAY!!  So the story is that my work has been trying to force everyone to get the flu shot.  Last year, if you didn't get the flu shot, you had to wear a mask at work.  Fine.  Whatever.  I wasn't about to get the flu shot.  Yes I was pregnant and they kept saying that pregnant women needed to "for sure" get it.  Well, I refused to get it.  I can't remember the last time I got a flu shot, so I thought it was silly and stupid and why would I start now?  So, of course, when the flu shot talk came up this year, I said, no, of course I'm not getting it.  Well, my work decided that, this year, anyone who doesn't get it by November 15th, will be taken off the schedule starting December 1st.  I thought "this is ridiculous" and wondered how a cooperation could try to force such a thing.  I cannot believe that it is legal for them to tell us what to do with our bodies.  To tell us that we must inject ourselves with a live virus.  What a violation.  I was not about to give in to this ridiculousness and I went to the employee health and filled out a form saying I refuse to get it.  The choices of boxes I had to choose from were "allergic to the vaccine" or "religious beliefs".  I told the lady what I thought and said, "so which box do I check?" I checked religious beliefs and wrote personal beliefs next to it.  I thought about just checking the box and leaving it, but I decided to be honest. 

Yesterday, my boss called and said my request was denied.  They were not going to approve my reason for not getting the shot.  So she said she has to take me off the schedule.  I was scheduled for 6 days in the month of December before I leave for good.  6 days.  Really?  They couldn't approve my reason for 6 days of work?  She didn't tell me why the denied it.  She didn't know.  I called the lady to argue, but no one answered the phone.  I will call her back today, but I am not expecting any change.  I am just curious what the difference between a religious belief and a personal belief is?  A religious belief IS a personal belief, is it not?  I am so confused.  And annoyed.  I seriously cannot believe that this is legal.  It's absolutely ridiculous!  I am not happy about it. 

But on the bright side of things, I get the first couple of weekends in December off that I was going to have to work the late shift on!  We can now go get our tree when I originally wanted to!  YAY! And no more paying daycare!  I am saddened a bit because I thought I would have more time to say good bye to people at work.  But owell.  I'm just glad that Shawn supports me for not going to get the shot and is just as annoyed by the situation as I am. 

Anyway, here are some pictures of our first snow and other random moments!  Enjoy the rest of your week and your Thanksgiving!  I am sure I will post again before then though....

Hannah just being her adorable little self....

Kali came over to play (my friend Lindsay's daughter) for a bit and KaeLee was chasing after her for a hug...

And chasing her....

And finally got her in a corner and attempted a hug.  Kali's look here says, "Help Me!"  haha

What a little poser!

The girls all playing together. 

Kali loves her Elmo!

Hannah playing in her tent

KaeLee loves to color!

And can get so serious about it!

Daddy's not so serious....

Hannah wishes she was big enough to climb up on the horse!

KaeLee has a new fascination with taking her clothes off.  Of course, she would choose the right season to start this little fad, huh?  Oh, and she has started to really enjoy Sid the Science Kid!  Shawn and I actually like the show too!  Better than Sesame Street, I think!

Our home in the first snow of the year!  If you look closely, you can see that it's snowing.  And the wind is blowing so much that it's pretty much just snowing sideways!

The girls watch the snow falling from the warmness of the inside!

And KaeLee has to show her dollies the snow, too, of course!!  haha

I know you can't see the book, but KaeLee is reading a book to Hannah here.  It was so cute.  I had to sneak super quietly so I wouldn't get caught taking the picture! I love these little moments!

Then Hannah gave her a kiss.  haha

Introducing........ LOLA!

Like I said before, I am WAY late in introducing our newest family member! 

My sister, Nikki, went into labor on Halloween.  She had Lola Kaelynn on November 1, 2010.  She was 7 pounds, 5 ounces and 20 1/2 inches long!  And she's a pretty one!  We have yet to get out there to visit her but want to SO bad!  And now with all this snow, I'm not sure when it'll happen.  I've was trying to let her get settled in and get used to two girls for a little while, then KaeLee has been sick and she is still trying to get over a cough!  So hopefully soon we will be able to meet her!  Pictures will have to be satisfying enough for now, I suppose.  She says she is doing good and that two kids is a lot easier than she was expecting (I tried telling her it wasn't that bad..... but sisters never listen I guess.... haha.  Now if she had two boys......!)

Enjoy the pictures!  I will try to write another blog today or tonight.  Hopefully I will have time.  I have a picture of all this snow we are getting and it's STILL snowing!  There's no stopping this white Thanksgiving from happening!  Also, my last day at work is no longer the 17th.  It is Monday. Yup.  Details to come later.  Let's just say this: "You've got to stand for something, or you'll fall for anything".  I'm a strong, stubborn woman, that's for sure.  Have a great Tuesday!

 Here is Lola's first picture with her mommy and daddy, Nikki and Seth

Here is Miss Lola, showing off how strong she is!  haha

This is proud big sister, Layla, meeting her little sister Lola for the first time.  So cute!

It's gonna be a bright..... a bright sunshiny day!

It's SNOWING!!  YAY!  I have heard other people say it's snowed in Yakima, but this is the first I've seen!  I went to the garage this morning and before I opened the door, I was thinking, "how cool would it be if there was a layer of snow on the ground when I open this garage door!?!?!"  Well, there was no layer of snow, but Shawn's car had some patches of snow on it and it was snowing! Not a lot, but enough to satisfy me!  Have I mentioned that I LOVE snow and that I LOVE this time of year?!?!  Of course, when I got out of East Valley, the snow stopped.  Boo!  I guess on a positive note, I don't have to brush snow off my car when I get off of work.  Seeming how I don't know where my brush is for my car anyway. 

So on the way to work this morning, I drove past the Sundome.  I saw the list of upcoming events on the reader board and read Carrie Underwood December 14.  Then I realized..... I forgot to share my exciting news!  ..... dun dun dun.....  I get to go to Carrie Underwood!  Whoo-Hoo!!  My sister-in-laws, Megan and Jen were going, but Jen has a final early the next morning and would be up all night driving back to Seattle (she's such a good girl..... I would've just went anyway.... haha), so Megan asked me if I wanted to go with her...... uh, YA!  Shawn got me tickets to her for my birthday when she came to town a few years ago and it was so much fun!  I am thrilled at the chance to go again! 

I was going to give an update about my new niece..... I looked back to see what I wrote before, and realized I never introduced her!  She deserves her very own blog entry, so I will have to introduce her tonight, when I have access to pictures, but for now, I wanted to let you know that my sister, Nikki, had her baby!  November 1st, actually!  I know.  It's shameful that I have not mentioned this earlier. 

Something else that happened on Halloween that I didn't mention.... (Nikki went into labor Halloween night).  My grandma Bechard landed in the hospital again.  This time the doctors didn't have good news and said they found cancer in her colon also.  It's too much in too many places and treatment doesn't look promising and would only be painful and devastating with no results.  So grandma is foregoing the treatment and is at home waiting.  Waiting to be with the Lord.  My step mom, Pam, says she is just super tired all the time and has no energy.  She has fought long and hard.  She deserves to have eternal peace with no pain and no worries.  She will be, once again, filled with energy and be able to frolic around with the children in Heaven.  Please keep her in your prayers, along with the rest of the family.  It's been a stressful 6 years for my step mom and her siblings and my grandpa, watching her go through treatment after treatment.  There have been so many times where we have all thought "this is it" "I don't think it'll be much longer".  I remember at Nikki's wedding, summer of 2006, she was there, bald head and mask over her face (because her immune system was so weak).  Many didn't think she would be able to come.  She wasn't able to stay long, but she was able to see her get married.  And then she was able to see me get married a year and a half later.  And she has been blessed with many great-grandchildren since, as well (I believe 10 in all!). 

Well, I just took a bathroom break and came back to finish.  Coming back, I passed the gentleman from the funeral home.  He was headed upstairs with his "bed" and blankets.  We all know what that means when we see it.  And we all avoid getting in the elevator with him if we are also going upstairs.  Like I said yesterday in my blog, there have sure been a lot of deaths going on here.  Walking into my office, I pick the papers up off the printer and, sure enough, there is a discharge paper that simply says "patient is dead".  How blunt do they have to be, really?  It seems there are many of other phrases that could be chosen. 

Anyway, It's 7:30.  Time to start calling my patients.  have a great Sunday everyone!  Enjoy church if you get to go and realize it's a blessing if you're able to go!  No groaning allowed, for I WISH I was able to go this morning!  Oh, and GO SEAHAWKS!

Christmas Carols, Code Blues, and Craziness!

Sad day at the hospital today.  There have been so many "Code Blue's" called today (heart or respiratory stopping). And they just called a second stroke alert for a patient.  It's actually the second one they've called for that patient today.  A mommy lost her baby this morning.  I have had 4 death discharges come down today.  And I called one patient earlier this morning, the son answered and I asked if he would like to go over his father's menus for the next day, and he told me "Sorry Ma'am, he just passed away." Oh my gosh.  You're sorry? I'M sorry!  I absolutely HATE it when that happens!  It makes me SO frustrated at the nurses upstairs who don't bother to change their diet or let us know.  That conversation happens WAY too often! 

There is a little girl up in Peds right now who is SO picky!  I thought I was picky, but oh my!  She is in complete charge of her parents and even her doctor.  She has just been told she has diabetes and she won't eat anything but chicken strips, fries and milkshakes.  She is a stubborn little thing and apparently has gotten quite physical about it, lashing around.  She is three.  I am so thankful for my children.  My sweet, adorable, well-behaved (in public) children. 

Our patient count has been SO high lately!  There are so may people in for pneumonia!  I guess it's that "season" again.  It's amazing the difference in seasons and what it does to the hospital's patient count and reasons for why they are here.  In summer, it's a lot of mommies giving birth and a lot of dehydration and broken bones (in younger people).  In winter, it's pneumonia, broken bones (in older people-from falls), less mommies, and more overall deaths.  And the week of Christmas?  It seems like that's the time when most little kids are in the hospital.  Few others seem to get sick, get hurt or schedule surgery during the holidays. 

Hmmm..... it's interesting when you look at the stats.  Well, speaking of Code Blues, they are calling another one.  Outside of my office door, people are running up the stairs to respond.  I have been so crazy busy all day, but the last hour or so it has quieted down a lot.  Thankfully.  I was finally able to get caught up and get all my patients called.  I am left with only 3.  One is sleeping, another is a new mom who just delivered (I like to give them a couple of hours before I bother them.  Menu choices seem like the last thing a new mom is worried about when she has a beautiful little bundle in her arms to adore), and the other patient's phone has been busy all day.  Thinking it's off the hook.  I should probably run up there and see if it's on purpose or accidental.....

Anyway, sorry for the random blog, I just feel bad for these people today.  And here in the kitchen, we are laughing away, singing Christmas carols and swapping Thanksgiving Day plans and Black Friday shopping routes.  I love the holidays, but hate what winter brings to the hospital. Hope you are all enjoying your weekend and giving thanks to our GOOD God for your health!  And praying for those who are not as fortunate.

I Blame My Mother

The clock reads 1:11am.  I have to squint at the screen because it is so bright.  And my eyes are so tired.  But I can't go back to sleep because I have all these thoughts whirling in my head about a blog I should write.  Called "I Blame My Mother".  It started when I had to change my pad in the middle of the night.  I thought "I Blame My Mother" for this disgustingness. 

Before I explain, I should put a disclaimer out there that this will not be the most conservative blog ever.  I will be sharing some of my most intimate details in life and this blog is not intended for the parents or grandparents.  sorry in advance if you continue reading.  I can hear the phone ringing already.  It's my mom, saying "I never!" or "that's not nice!".  Sorry mom.  I may have never told you, but I blame you for a lot of my problems...... haha.  But also for a lot of my successes. 

I blame my mom for

• Not ever putting in a Tampon.  Nope, not once.  She grew up in the TSS era, where lots of people were hit with Toxic Shock Syndrome and I believe she had a friend either die from it or was near death.  But she made sure to tell me about her.  Every month when my period came along.  So, to this day, I get to embarrassingly buy the ginormous packs of pads from Costco, instead of the tiny, shrunken boxes of tampons.  I get to deal with the mess, the overflowing garbages of stinky, gross pads.  It's especially gross when one in the garbage pops open and is laid out for the world (okay, Shawn) to see. 
• Not ever having a sip of alcohol.  Yes, I am 26, and have never had a drink.  And yes, I realize that it has been legal for over 5 years now.  I guess my mom was such a good, effective mom, that her tactics worked.  Her scaring tactics.  She said I had better not being doing such a thing and I never know what will happen when I am drinking because I can't be in 100% control of my body and function properly.  She told me about the numerous family members that had drinking problems, including that of my dad.  Over and over and over again she would tell me.  I would roll my eyes and say "yes mom".  She told me alcoholism is in my blood and if I have one, I will most likely become an alcoholic and never stop drinking.  So I have never started.  She used this tactic with drugs as well.  Which is all true, I suppose.  It is in my blood and addiction is hereditary.  I decided I wouldn't test the waters with it because I did see what it did to those people in my family and it was a big factor in my parents' divorce.   I know Shawn can get frustrated with this about me because he would like to go wine tasting with me or try different types of beer with me (we do live in wine country after all.....), but I just have no interest in the stuff.
• My vaginismus.  (Parents and Grandparents (and anyone else not wanting to hear what may be too much information....)close your ears and skip this bullet):  This is where the muscles in your "lady parts" tense up and contract without me telling them too.  It prevents anything from being able to penetrate into it.  This creates a problem (a VERY PAINFUL problem) when attempting to have sex.  Yes, I am going there.  I blame my mother for my sex problems.  haha.  My mom had always been "You BEST not be doing anything with no boy!"  Again, she had used the scare tactic with me about sex.  In fact, she scared me so bad that she scarred me.   You see, I waited till I was married before I had sex.  Yes, I know.  I lead quite the boring life.  No alcohol or drugs.  No sex till I was married.... haha.  My mom installed a great fear of something going inside of me.  Tampons.  Sex.  Whatever.  So, whenever anything gets too close, all my muscles automatically tighten and allow nothing to get past.  Those are some strong muscles, let me tell you!  So, on our honeymoon, I was so excited that I was finally "allowed" to have sex, only to discover that it was the most painful, painful thing I have ever experienced.  It wasn't going to happen.  After discussions with my OBGYN, I discovered the world of vaginismus.  And then it just so happened that a few days later, there was a special about it on 20/20.  I wasn't alone.  There were a lot of other people out there suffering from this very thing.  Except their doctors didn't know what it was and were making their patients get surgery, thinking that their lady parts were just not big enough and needed to be cut bigger.  Ouch.  Thank you, Dr. Harrington, for being so wonderful to me!  He told me that in most cases, sexual abuse or a rape case causes this internal fear.  I said, nope.  That would be my mama.  Thanks mom.  hahaha.  It took 3 years, 2 child births and some intense therapy to finally get me to a place of a normal, enjoyable, (sorry) sex life. 

I could go on an on here about things that I blame my mom for...... my eczema, my inability to hold my tears at hallmark commercials and movies, my hard, thick heels, my lack of shoulders, causing my bra straps to never stay up.  (she FINALLY shared her secret of a cross-backed bra strap the other day), my short stature, my round face, my bowed legs (oh wait, that's my dad's side of the fam. sorry mom.), my bad eyesight and trouble hearing....... and the list goes on.  But these three things were what were mainly on my mind (and the fact that I need to go back to bed before the sun begins to rise....). 

But my mom is also to blame for my amazing work ethic, my love of basketball (and all sports), my ability to never give up, my ability to believe the saying, 'anything a guy can do, a girl can do better', having a big heart, wanting to celebrate my daughters' birthdays in a big way like she did with us....... and many, many other positive things.  It's 2am, give me a break if I left something out....! :) It wasn't all bad, mom.  And I know you had the best of intentions.  :)

But now I am confused about how I will address these issues with my daughters.  I don't want to scar them for life, but I also don't want them to partake in unhealthy ventures.  Hmmmm..... I suppose I have a few years to figure it out. 

Well goodnight.  Hopefully now I will be able to fall right asleep.  And hopefully the girls will be gracious and kind enough to sleep in till 8:30 like they did yesterday morning. 

Christmas Traditions...

I can't believe next week is Thanksgiving!  I feel like I say this every month, but man!  November is FLYING by!!  I have started Christmas shopping!  YAY!  My goal is to be done by December 1st.  Everything wrapped, tagged, and ready to go.  Christmas cards done by then too.  That way, I can spend less time stressing this year and more time baking, singing Christmas carols, and practicing new traditions with our girls. 

It's funny.  Last Christmas, we were so excited to start some new traditions with KaeLee and the three of us, and this year we are sitting back, scratching our heads, and wondering what those "fabulous" ideas were...... haha.  So this year, we have decided to make a list and keep it logged.  A few that we remember are:

• getting the girls a Christmas ornament every year.  Shawn's mom did this for him and it is so fun to look at all the old ornaments.  I still like looking at the tree at my mom's house too because it has so many ornaments from my childhood.  Places we visited, our first christmas ornaments, handmade ones, and other "special" ones.
• Getting the girls a pair of Christmas pj's that they can open on Christmas Eve and wear to bed that night.  My family always got to open one gift on Christmas eve before we headed to grandma's house.  It wasn't pj's.  It was the gift from the sibling who drew our name, but I like the pj's idea.  Then they will be in cute Christmas pj's every year on Christmas morning!
• Christmas breakfast.  Well, we aren't sure about a whole breakfast, but maybe cinnamon rolls!  Yummy!  I am trying a "clone of a cinnabon" recipe this year to test out.  That would be a fun tradition and a special treat each year!  Shawn's dad does this one.  He always looked forward to it.  Last year we did the Pillsbury cinnamon rolls and they were not too delicious...... haha
• I would love to have a family game night with pizza on Christmas eve, much like my dad does, but with so much family we have to visit, I don't know how well that one will work out.  We will most likely be somewhere Christmas eve. 

We are trying to incorporate traditions from all four sides of our family, as well as create new ones, but it's tough.  I have the worst memory ever, so trying to even remember what my did as "traditions" is hard enough!  haha.  There are plenty of other ideas we have and want to do throughout the Christmas season.  Such as adopting a Christmas family who can't afford a Christmas for themselves, Operation Christmas boxes through the church, christmas caroling, visiting Santa, driving around, looking at Christmas lights, going to the lighted Christmas parade..... and so forth.  What are traditions that YOUR family has?  I would love to hear them or any new ideas YOU have!  (Not just for Christmas.... ANY holiday!)

Well, here are a few pictures from this last week.  Something funny (well now it's funny...) that happened this week...... KaeLee locked Hannah in the closet.  She was putting all the balls back in the closet (the one underneath the stairs) and I saw that she was done, so I said, "good Job!  Shut the door please." Then she started babbling...... I had no idea what she was saying so I was just like "uh-huh.... That's cool.  Okay.  Shut the door."  She shuts it.  "Thank you!"  I am standing at the sink doing dishes and Hannah is playing in the living room but I can't see her because she is on the other side of the chair.  I get a quick thought in my head of "I don't hear Hannah?  Where is she? Was KaeLee telling me she's in the closet?" I walk around the corner to check on her and she's not there.  I say, "Hannah?  where are you?"  Then I hear a whine and a couple of bangs on the closet door.  I open the door and she is smiling away.  haha.  Good thing it's a big closet and the light was on!  KaeLee was probably thinking, "okay, mom, I'll shut the door, but your other daughter is in there.  Cool.  I get to shut her in there!"  haha. 

Something nice that happened this week:  We got to go to church!  I used the last of my sick days before my days at work are done and I took Sunday off and we went to church.  It was great.  And they had baptisms, which I love!  KaeLee and Hannah had fun at Children's church.......... but mommy forgot to turn the pager in when we picked them up.  I really need to stop by and drop it off.....!  oops. 

Our realtor also had an open house Sunday, so after church we couldn't go home.  We went to my mom's and hung out for the rest of the day.  I snuck KaeLee back to the back bedroom and showed her the closet full of old toys from when we were little.  She found about 20 balls and brought them all out.  It was pretty funny.  When I opened the closet door, her eyes got SO big and just lit up. haha. 

Only a handful of people came to the open house and she said only one or two seemed at all interested.  One of them was from LA and his wife is coming up next week, so maybe they will come back.  Hopefully.  I have a feeling this house won't sell before we need it to.  We will continue to pray that it will. 

We have been keeping busy here, going to story time, going on walks, and lots of playing!  Today, my little brother, Konner, has his first basketball game of the season, so we are headed to that later on! 

Anyway, back to the pictures..... enjoy! And have a great rest of the week!

KaeLee is trying to help Hannah clap.  We were singing the itsy bitsy spider.  KaeLee claps after we sing any song.... and apparently wanted Hannah to clap too!  haha

Hannah found the tunnel!  KaeLee was taking a nap and I was doing dishes and I saw the tunnel moving out of the corner of my eye.  I went over to it and found Hannah crawling through it!  YAY!  I have never tried to get her to come through it yet, so I was surprised when I saw it.  She was so excited and happy she discovered it!

SO cute!  and SO happy!  Notice her big drool dangling..... hahaha!

She didn't want to get all the way out, she just kept going back and forth through it for a while.  silly girl.

Excited to have some one on one time with Mommy during KaeLee's nap.  She NEVER gets to use the car by herself without KaeLee bugging her!  Haha.  She loved it.

This documents the first time KaeLee got her shoes off by herself.  She doesn't look it in this picture, but she was mighty proud of herself!  She's getting to be SO big!

See?  When KaeLee's awake, KaeLee gets to ride it...

And Hannah gets to push.  Haha.  KaeLee loved being pushed by Hannah!  She moved slower than a snake, but was ALL smiles the whole time!

KaeLee telling daddy "No!  No picture!" haha.

KaeLee in her Seahawks cheerleading outfit!  She's so cute.

 This is my favorite picture!!  She is so CUTE!  (of course, I may be a bit biased....) but seriously..... she is!

So KaeLee likes to line things up.  This was a chain longer than any I've seen so far, so Shawn grabbed the camera.  KaeLee is not waving Hi, she is telling him (once again) "No picture!)

And again, she is waving me off too when I try to sneak a picture... oops.  I got caught!

HA!  I got one!  Though I got a dirty look when she saw the flash go off and she caught me. 

Tough Day

Disclaimer:  This blog is filled with complaints.  If you would rather not be bothered by someone else's minuscule problems, read no further.  And if you are pregnant, please do not read, for fear that I may send your stress levels rocket high and send you into early labor.  Not all days are like this.
Today is a tough day. 

I am so sick and tired of puke.  I am in utter amazement as to how Hannah is the chunky girl she is.  Ever since birth, she has thrown up EVERYTHING she eats.  I honestly don't know how she is in the 80th percentile of her weight!  I believe she is bulimic.  And my other daughter is anorexic.  Hannah eats a lot, just pukes it all up and KaeLee doesn't eat anything.  I am SO tired of cleaning up the puke!  I thought surely it will get better when she eats more solids, but the throw up just gets nastier and reeks even more!  It's exhausting and disgusting.  I wish there was a better explanation from the doctor other than "It happens.  And having to clean up after them can be pretty annoying."  Really?  Thanks doc.

I am super annoyed by poopy diapers.  Is 8 months too early to start potty training?  Imagine the worst smell you've ever smelled and multiply that by 100!  That is what Hannah's poop smells like and has smelled like since birth!  Ugh.  And she likes to poop about 4 times a day.  I am so tired of changing poopiness.  And changing KaeLee's diaper is annoying in the fact that she refuses to lay down.  She thinks that changing a diaper while she is sitting up is perfectly doable.  It;s beyond annoying. 

Oh, and KaeLee is still up in her crib.  Has been for nearly two hours now.  Still not asleep.  She's not crying or being noisy or anything, just not sleeping.  That's bad news for me.  And her.  And Shawn when he gets home.  And my parents if they decided to stop by tonight. (they usually do on Wednesday nights). 

And Hannah and KaeLee are not taking naps at the same time today, which makes for an even LONGER day for me!  I don't get that much needed break in there.  It also throws there eating schedules off and means that I have to feed them at separate times today.  This means a total of 6 eating times instead of 3!  Argh.  And that doesn't include Hannah's bottles.  And that's before we have dinner! 

Hannah is shrieking and has chosen to play with the loudest toy we own.  I look at her and tell her she needs to be quiet and she just grins.  I hate it when she does that.  It makes it really hard to be so annoyed with her.  KaeLee is starting to whine.  I'm sure she can hear Hannah playing down here and wants nothing to do with a nap.  I refuse to go get her.  Though she sounds as far away from a nap as the earth is to Jupiter.  This is one of those days though that I am glad she is in a crib and NOT a big girl bed.  Otherwise my day would be even worse trying to keep her in bed!

Well, I hope y'all are having a better day.  It looks quite nice outside today, so maybe I will just bundle up the girls and go for a walk.  They're always well behaved during walks.  We may just keep walking until Shawn gets home from work.  Oh wait, he was going to blow the sprinklers out today.  Of course I would have a bad day on a day that he has something planned.  Argh.  Sometimes I am thankful for work.  Only 16 hours until I work next.  haha.  And only 6 1/2 hours until bed time.  Ah, bedtime. 

Until then, I will attempt to lean on the Lord. 
"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Isaiah 40:31

The ABC's of our VACATION!

So this was our FIRST vacation since our honeymoon!  It was well needed and way overdue!  And boy did it come at the perfect time!  I realize that going to the lake is not ideal in November, but it was great to just get away and relax.  The girls had a blast!  We spent a lot of our time either hanging out playing with the girls or at the park. 

In order to spare you from the 258 pictures we took this week on vacation, I decided to "be creative" and steal a blog idea I have seen done on another blog I read.  So here are the ABC's of our trip and it will hopefully show the highlights! 


A is for Always smiling!

B is for Big girl bed!!  The playpen is way too small for KaeLee nowadays, so we decided to just put the mattress on the floor and let her be a "big girl"!  Oh man, did she EVER love it!  She especially loved that she could just climb out of bed after nap and sneak out to the living room and join us.  She was so PROUD that she could do that!  haha.  (I secretly like it when she plays in her crib with her dollies though and gives me a chance to pick up, baby proof the place again and "prepare" myself for company....haha).  She only fell out of bed a couple of times.... haha.

...and for Bowling!  KaeLee's first time bowling!  She loved it!  She didn't really care about knocking the pins down, but she loved to roll the ball! 7 pins was her best roll!  WOW!

C is for Chilly weather!  Doesn't Hannah just look adorable all bundled up to head to the park?!?!  LOVE her!

...and for Cuddling!  We got lots of good cuddle time in with the girls!

D is for Driving!

...and for Ducks!

E is for Excited girls!

F is for First swim for Hannah!  In fact, this trip included a lot of "firsts" for both of the girls!  Bowling, swinging for Hannah, KaeLee's big girl bed, their first vacation, and watercoloring!

G is for Good Morning!  Hannah is so happy in the mornings!

H is for Happy Hannah!

I is for Indoor Pool  It was pretty cool that they had the regular pool, the hot tub and then they had a 2 foot deep kiddie pool.  It was great because since I didn't have a swimsuit, I could wade in the small pool with one of them while Shawn took the other in the big pool, and then we got to switch.  Worked out perfectly!

J is for Jumping!  Yup, we lugged the jumper with us.  It a actually comes apart and folds pretty easily so it's nice to give her a change of scenery for a bit.  Good thing we weren't on the top floor! haha

K is for (Kind?) KaeLee

L is for Lake Chelan

....and Leaves

...and Linebacker!  Yes, linebacker.  We were at the pool and there was another older gentleman there who was talking to us.  I noticed that when he said something about Hannah, he refered to her as a "he".  I didn't correct him and just let it go.  Then, as I was taking her out of the water to dry her off, he looked at her and said "wow!  There's a linebacker if I've ever seen one!" WHAT?!?!  It took all I had to just smile and nod.  I kept my complaining for when we got in the car.

M is for Messy Eater!

N is for our New home for the week!  I missed my opportunity to take a picture of a "clean" place!  The first thing they like to do is dump the toys out everywhere!  (and notice that neither of them are actually playing with any of them!)

O is for Our Family

P is for Playing

Q is for Quality Time... we got lots of it!  It was so great to have Shawn with us for a week and get to do lots of fun stuff together!

R is for Reading books!

S is for Sisters! Aw, look, they are holding hands!

...and Swinging!

....and Sliding!

T is for Telephone  KaeLee found this pretty quickly!  We had to unplug it since she was constantly over there calling "her friends" haha

...and for Tumbling Tower!  It's such hard work to build this thing while guarding it, then having to do it all over again in 0.2 seconds! haha

U is for Uh-Oh!  So, on Tuesday night, I was taking my contacts out before climbing into bed.  Well, I didn't want to turn the light on, and I have done this a million times before, but I woke up in the morning and went to put my contacts in after my shower the next morning, and this is what I found!  CRAP!  Dried out contact.  With no spare ones with me.  This meant that for the next 3 days of vacation, I had to wear my glasses.  My glasses are a very old prescription.  Well, okay, not old... only a couple years old, but my eyes change SO much every year that it may as well be really old!  Wearing my glasses give me such a headache if I even have them on for too long in ONE day!  So we had to make a run to the grocery stor for some advil and it became my friend for the next few days!  Oh, and wearing sunglasses became quite the hideous fashion statement while out on our walks or in the car.  But if I didn't, my headaches would have turned into migraines from the brightness of the sun!  Oh, how I wish I was a candidate for lazer eye surgery!

V is for our View from our condo.  The window was a bit foggy, but you get the idea.  Shawn said "that's nothing too special" but I said "Whatever!  That's pretty!"

W is for Watercoloring!  The resort offered this activity one of the mornings and we took the girls down there.  I think KaeLee liked it.  She liked dipping the paintbrush into the water the most.  Of course.  She loves to clean, why wouldn't she like a clean brush too?  haha

....and for Wapato Point.  This wass the resort we stayed at during vacation!

X is for Xploring God's creation! These leaves are neat! :) haha

Y is for Yellow leaves

....and for Yummy pizza!  I made all our meals, but we splurged one night and got pizza!  It was pretty good!  But making all those meals sure saved us lots of money!

Z is for Zonked out!  This is what KaeLee looks like when we check on her before going to bed ourselves. (well, this happened to be during her nap) She moves around so much and this is her attempt at covering herself up with the blanket!  haha

Well, I hope you all are having a nice, relaxing weekend and enjoying yourselves!  We are off to dinner at my mom's!  I hear we're having Taco Soup..... Yummy!