Family Fun

Jon did have Christmas day off but he still had to work the rest of the week.  So the week felt pretty ordinary.  We tried to spruce things up with some fun activities but it was mostly just regular life at the house.  The Friday after Christmas, we decided to head down to Silver Dollar City.  My issues with this place are vast, but we wanted a fun activity and we do have season passes after all.  Might as well get one more use out of them.  We took Benson's print out of his well-child check showing he is 36" tall.  And left it in the car.  Awesome.  But, the measurement station was closed anyway, since it was evening.  So we would have had to discuss his height with every ride operator and it would have been a case by case basis.  Oh well, the season is over and I don't have to feel guilty for not taking the kids every month.  We at least got full use out of the passes by going enough that they paid for themselves.  My issues aside, it was still fun.  It was downright crazy getting around.  We didn't think it would be so packed but we were dead wrong.  They have all kinds of Christmas shows and a light parade.  So that's what draws the crowds.  Every person that walked by in the light parade tried to shake Benson's hand and he wasn't having it.  He wouldn't even look at them.  He tends be a bit shy sometimes.  Benson did awesome in his chair.  It was so crowded and I think he only ran into one person.  He took both me and Jon out pretty good but we're used to it ;)  Towards the end of the evening the poor kid was exhausted and we had to have Vanessa drive it out of the park.  He literally couldn't even keep his head up.  He was driving blind.

 

A few shots of the random chaos that goes down around here.  We have been watching an embarrassingly large amount of movies.  But this weather is killing me.  My patient and creativity only go so far.  We play lots of tag and hide and seek.  Rocky loves to get in on the action, but the kids aren't such a fan of him playing.  He tends to knock them over.  Except Benson.  Benson dominates everyone with his chair ;)

 

On New Year's Eve we were so excited to go meet my parents at the airport!  We were absolutely thrilled to have them come visit.  We kept all the Christmas décor up and made the kids wait to open their gifts from Grandma and Grandpa. It made Christmas last that much longer, which is always a good thing.

Christmas

It was a fabulous Christmas. It's our second Christmas away from siblings, parents, grandparents and cousins but we feel blessed to have been able to be with them for Thanksgiving. We had lots of fun doing all kinds of Christmas activities. On Monday, we had a party with friends. We decorated cookies and acted out the nativity. It wasn't the most successful but it was cute. Benson was Joseph and Brigham and Vanessa were shepards. All the girls wanted to be angels. I told Vanessa I thought she would be a perfect Shepard because she was so good with animals and she was sold. She's too sweet. Brig totally didn't get it and was his crazy self . He really took to Phat and Dahlia tho.

On Tuesday, we had a curry dish for dinner then used the gospel art kit to tell the Nativity story. We also watched it in bible videos. Those are so amazing! Love how beautiful and full of light and hope the church has made them. We were able to convince the kids to go to bed a tiny but early but we were both so tired we just did the Santa thing then headed to bed ourselves.

On Christmas morning we opened presents at 6. Vanessa woke us all up. We went out to the family room and Vanessa immediately saw the big tool bench. She gazed over it then moved on to the wrapped gifts. 

Benson kept saying, "Santa DID bring us presents." "Wow! He did!" I guess he was incredulous all along.

Brigham first walked to the tree and looked at all the gifts. Then he saw the tool bench. It was love at first sight. We opened all Vanessa's and half of Benson's gifts before he wandered back over to see what we were doing. But he brought his drill. And tried to open every gift with it.

Benson did amazingly well opening his own gifts. I was surprised how much he could do himself. Is this strength from his gtube and subsequent added nutrition? I'm inclined to say yes. So what a blessing! Such a hard decision that I can finally say was worth it (despite the granulation tissue and hefty bill).

 

Rocky had to be in his room for all the festivities. He was getting a little crazy. But he got a new rope toy, two balls , and dog treats. Brig picked those. He is ALWAYS feeding that dog. Rocky also lost two teeth chewing his rope. Bringing his total to 3.

For breakfast we had a breakfast casserole, cronuts, pudding , and pineapple whip. What's a cronut? It's a croissant donut because neither one is singularly fattening enough on its own. They're were pretty fab though :) and did I mention I made the pineapple whip in my new Blendtec?! We set a money limit for each other every year. Jon always breaks it. I know he will. And I kinda thought he would get the Blendtec. He knew I wanted one but I just kept saying they're too expensive. I decided we would have to take it back. I felt kinda guilty for mentioning it. When I saw the Blendtec, I contemplated saying we should send it back... For about 5 seconds. I'm just too excited about it. I'll have to make it up to Jon on his bday.

After breakfast we played with toys, watched our new movie (Sofia the First), and set up a race track. 

Jon said I should go for a run because he got me new jogging clothes.  Why not, right?! I took Rocky and he did way better than he has been doing on walks lately. I think the faster pace helped him not be so distracted. We had our share of power struggles but I'm basically mean and still stronger so I always win. I hope he shapes up on the leash before he's stronger though. :/ I decided three miles was a good distance for my completely out of shape self. I was ok during, but thought I would die when I stopped. It was that nausea, shaky feeling. Ugh.

Anyway, after that we played some, FaceTime with the fam, and had dinner. I made fried rice and pot stickers. We got the kids to try them by telling them they were pizza gioza (a food on Ninja Turtles). It worked perfect. And no, that dinner was not very traditional. 

Favorite quotes of the day:

Benson: "Mom. I need a flashlight. Your room is dark. But I need it dark because I need a flashlight."

Brigham: showing grampa and grandma his tools held up the pliers and said, "bla bla blush blah (baby babble) nose gah pha goo nose." We still weren't getting it so he showed us you grab your nose with them.

Vanessa: "Mom. When we die, our bodies turn into bones. I told Benson that just so he knows."

Vanessa: "Mom. Have you seen Jesus?"

Me:"Nope."

Vanessa: "How do you know he's real?"

Me: "it's something we believe and feel with our heart. It's called faith. Kind of like believing in Santa but not seeing him."

Vanessa: "I believe in Jesus, and Santa, our elf, and reindeer."

Merry Christmas!!!

Since We've Been Home

The night we got home, we put up the Christmas Décor.  Since we have just started collecting, that took all of an hour :)  It's ok that there really isn't more because we hardly have the room for it right now.  We need a major bail out in our attic. 

We got things arranged to get Benson's feeding pump and I am starting to feel like it was an ok decision.  I won't say I love it yet, but it isn't that WHAT DID WE DO?! feeling anymore.  

Vanessa had another gymnastics meet and did absolutely fabulous.  I am so proud of her for remembering her routines after not practicing for a whole month!  I was seriously so shocked she remembered them.  She did great.  And we had sitters for the boys this time so it was enjoyable to watch.  She took third overall for her age and level. On the way home, she told Jon she wanted first place next time because they get a bigger trophy ;)

 

We have been trying to do fun Christmas activities. A few have included making a gingerbread house, Christmas movies and hot cocoa, seeing Santa, Christmas books, our Elf named Fred, and Christmas shopping. We went to the mall once to get Jon's present and the kids kept pointing out in utter amazement all the Christmas decor. Haha. Guess ours pales in comparison.

We have had some intense snow this year. We are told its way out of the norm. Last year was too though so I'm thinking there really is no norm.

I have been doing a lot more photography for people and I'm loving it. It can be stressful too though because of all the pressure to please people. I need to learn to say no when I know something will end up not working out. Just keep working on it I guess.

To end, here's a random cutie from Benson: Benson woke this morning and told me all about flying in his power chair at Grandpa Brady's.

This is part of Santa's Wonderland at Bass Pro. I took one pic then my phone died. Darn.

The Drive Home

Thankful

The week of Thanksgiving was lots of fun.  My sister Carrie came in town and we got to see them for the first time in over a year.  On Sunday night we had dinner with all the Bradys.  Matt and Shauna gave all the kids their Christmas jammies and dresses.  We also had the cousins exchange gifts.  We gave Tommy and Nicole their gifts.  And Jenny and Steven gave us their gift.  On Monday night, the Purdy clan had an adult only dinner at the Fancy Schmancy Roof Restaurant.  It was delish.  And afterwards all the guys went to the Jazz Game.  On Tuesday we had pizza and game night at the Bradys, also adult only.  It's basically the only way to play games anymore.  On Wednesday Shauna hosted the Brady Lady Brunch.  It was for all her daughters-in-law and their mothers and their daughters.  It was lots of fun and delicious as well.  Thursday was the real deal day and we spent it with Bradys this year.  Tommy and Nicole were there for dinner and it was delicious.  Shauna made stuffing with croutons from Kneaders with a killer recipe.  I don't always love stuffing but this was awesome.  I made the mashed potatoes and an apple pie.  On Friday we had Thanksgiving with Purdys.  My mom had spent most of the day Thursday cooking and preparing so most everything was ready to go.  Around 1 we did family pix.  Jon and I set everything up on the tripod and Ryan's brother used the remote to shoot for us.  It worked out great.  The pix turned out pretty good.  I was slightly disappointed with my posing skills.  I still don't have it all down for groups that are so large.  It's hard to get that many people in place!  I have a hard time not looking at the picture and seeing what I should have done.  Will I ALWAYS feel this way?!  I hope not.  Dinner was good and afterwards we had a cookie and ice cream tasting competition.  Carrie's cookies won.  But the competition was a lot of fun, even if I didn't win :)

On Saturday we had to make the long drive home.  I hate that drive.  At least it's worth it.  I wish we could just pick Springfield up and move it about 12 hours closer.  An eight hour drive would be ideal, really.  Or, at least do-able.
The first day back from vacay Jon had a 12 hour shift.  Bummer.  Welcome back to reality, huh?!
At the end of a rough year, I feel like I need to reflect on everything that I am grateful for more than most years.  I can't help but see the tender mercies of the Lord in my life ALL the time.  And yet, I struggle to not feel overwhelmed with all that is going on right now.  It can sometimes leave me feeling a little grumpy.  We truly are blessed to have awesome health insurance, with an awesome job, awesome kids, and awesome family (even if they are far away).  We are blessed.