Our Little Dancing Queen

Tonsils, Tubes, and a Tip Over

This winter has been full of colds, ear infections, fevers, pneumonia, etc.  It seems like we've been sick constantly.  The doc recommended we go see an ENT and to get tubes in both kids ears. When we went to the ENT, he said Ethan had HUGE tonsils, and that his tonsils and adnoids also needed to come out. So, surgery was scheduled!  We took both kiddos to the hospital on February 17, 2012.  

The morning of surgery, we had to be at the hospital at 7:10 am.  Thank goodness, since neither of them could eat or drink anything.  They keep them pretty well entertained at Primary Children's while waiting for surgery.  The kids had fun riding in cars, and playing with all sorts of new toys.

 Addy's tubes only took about 15 minutes.  She woke right up, drank a bottle, and was ready to go home.  Grandma T took her back to our house and tended her while we waited for little man.

Ethan had a harder time waking up, and was drowsy for quite a while. but he was such a big, brave boy.  He even ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before going home.

 It has been one LONG week of watching TV.  He hasn't felt good all week long, so he's pretty much sat around.  Keeping up with his meds in order to manage his pain was PAINFUL for us.  He didn't want to take medicine, but if he didn't have it, he was miserable.   It's been a little over a week, and I think he's finally back to his normal self.  Thank goodness.

The good news:  Addy has slept through the night every since they put the tubes in.  Her ears must have bothered her more than we thought!  Ethan seems to also be sleeping better since his surgery, and I'm sure we won't be battling ear infections all the time.

We started the weekend on Friday off having surgery, and then ended the 4 day weekend back at the hospital.  Miss Addy fell down and bonked her head pretty good right on the corner of our entertainment center.  She had a little cut and a HUGE goose egg on her head.  Thank goodness she was just fine, but we had to spend quite a bit of time in the ER, while they "observed" her to make sure all was well.  Luckily, they brought in a few toys for her to play with.

We're grateful for our little munchkins, and are glad they are feeling better.

Ice Fishing

Last Friday, Andy & Gary took little man ice fishing.  He took his new spiderman fishing pole that Santa brought him, and away they went to Rockport to do some fishing.  Ethan caught 3 fish, all by himself.  A rainbow trout, and 2 perch.  All were thrown back, but you can see little man had a fun time with Dad!  

Ethan's 4th Birthday

Hard to believe that our little man is already 4 years old.  Time sure does fly by, and the older you get, the faster it goes! ;)

Ethan had a great 4th birthday.  Grandma and Grandpa T took him out on Thursday night to Chuck E. Cheese, then to Target to pick out his present, and then out for ice cream.  He picked out a star wars gun, and some legos.  

Then on Saturday, Grandma and Grandpa A came over to bring him his presents and wish him a happy birthday.  They brought over a star wars cruiser and some star wars figurines.  Ethan LOVES them.  That night we went out to dinner for his birthday, and then out for ice cream.  

 Sunday was the big birthday party!  Grandma and Grandpa T and Aunt Rachel, Uncle Gary, Kate, & Sara came to enjoy the festivities.  We had pizza, per Ethan's request, and cake and ice cream, and then opened presents.

Ethan was super excited to open his presents. . . .

 He got some really cute super hero vans, and a cute star wars shirt.  He wasn't too thrilled with the clothes and shoes being birthday presents, but oh well.

 He also got a Leapster.  You can tell he's absolutely thrilled with it right?  Well, it gets even better.  We accidentally bought the pink one, so he was all upset that we bought him a girl toy.  Andy is at the store as we speak exchanging it for the green one.  OOPS!!!

 He also got 2 games to go in his leapster.  Cars and Toy Story 3.  One teaches letters and phonemic awareness, and the other teacher numeracy and number awareness.  Hope he likes to play them!

Uncle Gary and Aunt Rachel brought him this super cool spiderman bed tent, and a spiderman helicopter toy!  He LOVED the bed tent!

 His cake leaves a little to be desired, since he kept sneaking pieces of it to eat before the party!  It tasted great though, and he was pretty happy with it!

Happy birthday little man!  We love you so much, and can't imagine life without you.  You are full of life, spunk, and energy, and you certainly keep us on our toes.

Gingerbread Cookies

This year for our Christmas Eve party, my food assignment was cookies.  So, I decided to make gingerbread cookies.  I bought all ingredients, and somehow lost my recipe along the way.  Not to worry, all was well, as I found a recipe on line that was DELICIOUS.  So, I thought I'd share.

1 c margarine
1 c sugar
1 c molasses
2 egg
4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking pwd
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp cloves
2 tsp ginger
1 tsp nutmeg

Cream together butter and sugar.  Stir in molasses and egg.  Mix all other dry ingredients but flour.  Sift flour in, and mix.  Chill for 1 hour.  Roll out and cut.  Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes.

Icing:
1 c pwd sugar
2 tsp milk
2 tsp light corn syrup
1 tsp almond extract
food coloring if desired

Stir together sugar and milk until smooth.  Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until icing is glossy.  If icing is too thick, add a little water to get the right consistency.  Put in an icing bag to decorate cookies.

Arizona Christmas Trip

The day after Christmas we left and headed to see my brother and his family in Arizona.  It was a horribly LONG trip, but we made it, and the kids actually traveled pretty well.  I thought I'd taken a bunch more pictures, but this was all that was on the camera, so I missed a bunch.  Oh well.  Live and learn huh?

Grandma and Grandpa Trane let the kids open a christmas present from them in preparation for our trip to the zoo. 

 They both got cameras.  Ethan LOVES his camera, and filled up the 100 picture memory in less than 12 hours.

 The next day we headed to the World Wildlife Zoo.  It was pretty incredible and so many different types of animals that i'd never seen before.  Here are the twits with their cameras taking pictures of the birds at the zoo entrance.

 Our favorites were the monkeys.  This is a momma and baby monkey.  They were adorable.  There was a super fun capuchin monkey that kept making silly faces at Andy as if trying to communicate with him. Andy also had a Macaw that was laughing at him.  Andy would say ha, ha, ha, and the bird would repeat it back to him, and when we walked off, he did it a few more times as if to say, get back here and talk some more.

 My favorites might have been the flamingos.  I didn't know they were so tall.  they had oodles of them at the zoo!

 Here is Andy and Ethan looking at the flamingos!

 Julia and Ethan had fun petting the sting rays.

 Julia helped to push miss Addy in her ghetto stroller that we rented at the zoo.

 Maybe the coolest part of the zoo was that you could feed the giraffes.

 That night we opened presents from each other.  I have NO pictures of this.  Maybe it's because our little bully (Addy) kept getting on her hands and knees and using her head to bull doze Sawyer and Julia, and anyone else who touched any of her things.

Anyway, I gave mostly handmade gifts this year.  So, I gave Colby and Suzanne roasting sticks, and a roasting stick holder I made for them with a basket full of goodies to make smores.  Julia got a purse, and felt play makeup, as well as a necklace I made for her, and Sawyer got felt tools and tool box, and a shirt I made for him.

Suzanne and Colby gave Andy a Marilyn Monroe poster with an Itunes gift card (his favorite thing to get as a gift), I got a hobby lobby gift card, Addy got a doll and crib and stroller, and Ethan got a rocket ship alarm clock and buzz light year activity kit.  Thanks again guys!

The next day we went to a really neat park.  I wish I would have had pictures of it, it was HUGE!  Addy's favorite part was these rocking toys.  She sat on them the ENTIRE time that we were at the park, and once again, was a bully to anyone who attempted to take her toy!  She rocked like a pro on those things.

Colby and Suzanne made us all lunches, and we played at the park for hours.  Then we went back to the house and played a new fun game that mom brought.  We laughed super hard while playing it and had fun just hanging out together.  We ate "christmas dinner" that night, and then had to say our goodbyes so that we could leave early the next morning.

We really had a good time at uncle Schmozy's house (as ethan likes to call him), and wish that they lived closer so we could play with them more often.  Love you guys.

Christmas Morning

Christmas was SO much fun this year.  The kids had a ball playing with all their toys.  This first picture is super blurry, but it's the only one I got of everything set out from Santa.  

The kids LOVED the kitchen.  Santa left a special note letting them know that it was theirs to share, and then they each got their own shopping cart to go with it.

 Here is Ethan's pile of presents from Santa

 And for miss Addy

 And now to present opening.  Ethan obviously was a little disappointed in his clothes, even though one was a spiderman t-shirt.

 Miss Addy was thrilled about her chair, and didn't bother to really open any presents.  She just like sitting in the chair.

 Now, he was a little happier . . . spiderman walkie talkies.

 Helping Addy open her presents, since she wouldn't really open them.

 Tons of play food for the kitchen

 And he loved his spiderman house.

 Miss Addy was thrilled with the goldfish crackers Santa left in her stocking

 Mom and Ethan reading a new spiderman story book

 Miss addy was just as happy as could be on Christmas morning

 Addy playing with Ethan's prized Christmas present . . .his spiderman webshooter

 Ethan playing with his spiderman house.

The Loot:

Both:

Kitchen

Shopping Carts

Play Food

Ethan:

Clothes

Spiderman Web-Shooter

Spiderman Walkie Talkies

Spiderman House

Camera & Book - Grandma and Grandpa T

Spiderman Lamp, Blanket, and Remote control car - Grandma and Grandpa A

Rocket ship alarm clock and night light/buzz light year activity set - Colby and Suzanne

Addy:

Princess Chair

Clothes

Zhu Zhu Pet Dog

Play pots and pans and tea set - Grandma and Grandpa T

Shape, Color, and Music learning toys and Clothes - Grandpa and Grandma A

Doll with playset - Colby and Suzanne

Andy:

Ice Fishing Pole

I-Tunes gift Card

Hand warmers

Thermal Underwear

$ - Mom and Dad Allen

I-tunes - Colby and Suzanne

Window well covers - Mom and Dad Trane

Les:

New desk for craft room

Hobby Lobby gift card - Colby and Suzanne

$ - Mom and Dad Allen

Window well covers - Mom and Dad Trane

All in all, it was a great Christmas day.  The kids had a ball playing with all their toys, and we spent the majority of the day at our house so that they could.