A Day Off

I missed our annual Free Day at the Zoo this year - and boy did I hear about it. I told the boys I would take them to the new Aquarium instead and they were happy with that. I excused them from school, picked Dave up and we headed up North. On the way I asked the boys if they really wanted to go to the Aquarium or would they reather go somewhere else since it was "their" day - they all chose Jungle Jims. When we got there a lady handed the boys a coupon for buy one get one free that she wasn't going to use - score!! Half price is much better than full price.

Preston LOVES driving!!

No twirling for these guys!!

Bump!

Preston wasn't so sure about the bumper cars.

Watch Out!!

Here I come!!

These two weren't feeling so good after a while.

Bump!

Bump!

The Bros.

We must really like Arcades...

Cause here we are at another one. We got bored a couple of days ago and talked Dave into taking us to NickelCade.

Here Comes Trouble!!

This boy is trouble I tell ya.

Eating someone's sucker they left laying around.

That face says it all.

He was fussing and this is how I found him - he had his head stuck in the arm sleeve of a shirt.


Playing in the Pots and Pans under the stove.

Re-arranging the pantry - again.


We sure love Trouble.

Gavin Earns His Bear

This month was the Blue and Gold Banquet for scouts and Gavin was given his Bear Award that he had earned. Here he is pinning my Mother's Pin on me - sorry the picture is so bad, but it's all I've got.

Date Night with Gavin

Gavin loved Pirate Island so much last time that he took us there again for his date this month.

I love the look on his face in this picture!!

Family Date Night - With the Verwers

This month was Family Date Night - so we doubled with the Verwer Family and went to Pirate Island. We hadn't been before so we were way excited. The decorations and atmosphere was great - but the arcade was small and there were TONS of people. We still had a great time together and I'm sure we'll go again!!

Gross - just gross!!!

Spencer has been in the business of loosing teeth lately - something that I believe to be so GROSS!!! This last tooth was just hanging by a thread and he would come up to me and twist it all the way sideways - YUCK!!! He has really enjoyed torturing me the last couple of days - to the point of me wanting to vomit. He finally wrapped some floss around it and was playing with it and tugging at it every once in a while, so Dave decided he would help, promised he wouldn't tug on it, and then YANKED on it and out it came. We did have to search for it a little - it had flown out into the hallway from our bedroom.

Before - you can see the tooth is just hanging there.

After

Baby Lindsay

Not only was January 20th Dave and I's 15th Anniversary, but it was also the birthday of our newest neice - Lindsay Marie Deschamps who was 7lbs 10 oz and 19.5 inches long. She is such a sweet baby and is so adorable. She is welcomed into her family by her mom Lara, her dad Justin and her BIG sister Ella.

Welcome to our family Lindsay!!!

Spencer could hold her all day.

Big sister Ella admiring her new little sister.

Preston wanted to hold her too!!

Little Miss Lindsay

Preston's New Year's Resolution

He's going to help mommy with the Laundry!!!

Happy 15th Anniversary Baby - well maybe not so happy.

On December 31st Dave got a vasectomy - he has reached his deductible for the year and we thought it would basically be free - boy were we wrong. On the way home, he starting feeling some intense pain, so we filled his pain prescription and headed home to ice him down, which is what the Dr said he would prescribe for everything so I didn't worry about it. A day or two went by and Dave was still in sever pain, which from everyone else's experiences seemed unusual, so we went back to the Dr who thought Dave had an infection, prescribed an antibiotic and sent him home - the Dr. said he hadn't seen anything like this before after a vasectomy. The next day, nothing had changed so I talked him into a second opinion. This Dr told us that he thought Dave had a hematoma, to go home and it would eventually go away in a couple of weeks. I had been doing a bit of research on the internet and had found that according to most cases, the hematoma doesn't go away on its own - so we went to the ER later that night for yet another opinion. We met with a Uroligist who ordered an ultrasound - and sure enough there was a large hematoma, cutting off the blood supply to one of Dave's testicles -the Uroligist said he had 50/50 chance of loosing it. He also said he could do surgery but couldn't promise that it would help, but that we could go home and put Dave on bed rest and see if it would help. About a week later Dave went into surgery to remove the hematoma - the Dr said as soon as he opened it up, it squirt blood across the room becuase it was under so much pressure. They put a drain in as well to make sure it didn't pool again. While Dave was recovering he was in so much pain - they couldn't keep it under control. I knew he was absolutely dying - he has such a high pain tolerance and this was way too much for him. They finally felt like his pain was under control and sent us home. We were there for the night and then the next morning I took him back to the hospital because I could not control his pain. They put him on a morphine drip for 24 hours, but it did nothing. Finally, they decided to pull the drain out which relieved his pain and once again we were on our way home.

We made big plans for our Anniversary this year - we were going to go to San Diego and soak in the sun, but never followed through with it. Instead, Pete and Kenna watched the boys for us while we went to a burger joint (quickly) just to say we went out for our Anniversary.

I love you baby - maybe next year will be better.

Cooper goes Ice Skating

I had to take Dave to the Dr., so Cooper had the opportunity to go to his cousins Jaden and Brighton's house for the day. They had ice skating lessons and Cooper decided he would like to go and watch. (I took the kids ice skating over the Christmas break and he decided he didn't like it.) Once he saw the boys doing it, he decided he would give it another try and ended up really enjoying it - he even invited himself to go with them again!!!

Thanks boys (and Aunt Jesse) for showing him such a great time!!!

This aide really helped I think.

Cooper and Brighton.

Cooper and Jaden.

Just can't get enough.....sledding AGAIN!!

While Dave was out of commission at home, our good friends the Bezzants called and asked if we wanted to go sledding - I was SO very tired, but took them anyway - it turned out to be a great afternoon with great friends. Thanks you guys!!!

The Martin's dropped by and went sledding with us too.

Happy Birthday Preston and Crystina!!

For Preston's 1st Birthday we had a big family party and invited his Cousin Crystina who turned Sixteen today.

Thanks to everyone who came and made their Birthdays special!!

Mmmmm - Birthday cake!!

The bowl isn't bad either.

Blowing out his candle with Auntie Esther.

Crystina getting a little help blowing out her candles - she doens't like having her picture taken so her Uncle Aaron was holding her down at one point.

Elephant bank from the Hall's.

Opening Presents.