Creepy Bunny

Poor Marlee wanted nothing to do with the creepy mall bunny, unfortunately, Sage refused to take no for an answer about a visit with him. I think Hayden sorta was siding with Marlee, but couldn't let his little sister make him look like a chicken.
Marlee keeps asking me, "where did the Monny (bunny) go?" When I don't answer fast enough, she tells me he is at the mall. Sometimes she is specific and lets me knows its by Macy's. She loves to look at the picture now. Me too--torturing your kids is hilarious!

Let Them Eat Cake!

OK, so hyperglycemia might be an issue around here this month. We have had a lot of cake. Sage loves to cook and looks for reasons to wear her apron that my grandma made her. So we bake!

Groundhogs: Who doesn't love Groundhogs day? We had made these cupcakes in the past, and they are so darn cute. We had a really fun night even though the nasty little rodent saw his shadow. The kids had a blast and made an enormous mess. Heath even hobbled over to the table to help. Looks just like Phil, huh?




Valentines: because there just isn't enough chocolate at valentines day, we needed cupcakes. Luckily, I sent most of them to Heath's office and some to my girls at work.

Mardi Gras Kings Cake: Growing up, I can remember some friends bringing us back a kings cake from New Orleans after they went down for Mardi Gras. Loved it. Beads too! Sage and I decided to make our own version this year. Very tasty! Marlee got the baby in hers. :)

March is national nutrition month, so we will probably try some healthier options for snacks.

My Student

This is my student intern. She spent the last 10 weeks at the hospital where I work.
On her first day she was chatting with my boss and mentioned that she was from Federal Way. Cool! Me too! So I turn to join the conversation and she looks at me and says, "you used to be my gymnastics teacher." Whoa!!! Sure enough, many years ago I had her in one of my gym classes at good ol Gymnastics Unlimited. Is it a small world or what???
Can I just add that she is an AMAZING intern and is going to make a fantastic dietitian someday. ...all goes back to those formative years at GU.

Heath

A quick update on Heath. His knee is doing really good. His physical therapist has been impressed with his range of motion and is ready to start him on a bike. -Stationary bike, much to Hayden's disappointment who had visions of him and his dad doing physical therapy all over town together-hold tight bud, its coming!
He is brace free, got all the stitches out and really doesn't need the crutches, but the doctor encouraged him to keep them one more week. Sage likes it when he "crutches around" the house. She chases him and says, "don't crutch me Dad!"
Unfortunatley the poor guy got Strep Throat a week out from surgery, followed up with a stomach bug and now seems to have some sorta flu. Can't catch a break! He was tickled to get all the bandages and stuff off so he could shower a week and a half after surgery.
He is pretty amazing. I admire his strength, he has been such a good sport, hardly complaining at all, so tough... and his handicap parking pass is awesome!

Hayden practicing in case he ever "breaks" his ACL

Surgery

Whew, what a week! Tuesday was Sage's check up. Wednesday, Heath spent the evening at the after hours pediatric clinic with Hayden for a raging ear infection. Then to cap off a week of medical fun, Heath had his ACL repair surgery. Needless to say, we have already met the medical deductible for the year.
Heath had his surgery today at noon. I worked the morning and then hung out at the surgery center so I could chat with the doc. He told me that the surgery went great and that I would have my husband back at 100% in about 6 months or so. Then as Heath was coming to, I got to go back and be with him. The nurse unloaded so many instructions on me; not sure what all I have missed, but there is no way that I got all that. No weight bearing this weekend. I have to empty the JP drain, meds every 4 hrs. around the clock. ice, brace. Follow up Monday to get the drain out. "oh, and did you bring crutches with you?" No, why would I? So then off to the home medical store. Believe it or not we made it home, after I tried to pass out when they showed me how much blood had saturated his bandages. Yikes! The kids were very concerned and tried really hard to help out. Marlee just wanted to snuggle with daddy. It was very sweet. Poor guy is totally drugged and can hardly move. He is not in much pain because he got a femoral block. His leg is pretty much dead. However, it should wear off soon, and then the real fun begins.
Two angels, Kara and Joe, brough us dinner. So grateful, there are not words!!!
Should be an interesting weekend....

Tiny Dancer

For Christmas, my mom got Sage ballet lessons. I get to be the one to take her and it has become one of my most favorite parts of the week. It is fun to chat with her on the way there. She has some really great things to say and doesn't always get my undivided attention.
During class she frequently peeks over to see if I am watching (as if I would look away), and when she catches my eye she gets the biggest smile on her face. Total joy!

The dance studio has a dress code: pink tights, pink leotards, pink shoes. Bun in hair. She LOVES it! There are probably about 6 little girls in her class and it is just dang cute!!!

Dear Poor Neglected Blog

I am so sorry I have been neglecting you for the past few months. I know that there really is not a good excuse, but you know, 3 kids keep me busy. Not to mention, my new friend, Facebook. So I resolve to try to be better. Keep you up-to-date, sort of. And, hey, I will even throw in a facelift to show you that I do still love you.

Rockin New Years

We celebrated New Years with a rock star party. Ted and Stacy and clan came over and we rocked out! The kids were excited to dress up in their new rock star shirts. Sage wanted to be Midori, her fav rocker on GH. We just happened to have a bit of pink hair spray left over from Halloween. Marlee got in on that fun as well.
Playing lead guitar, Hayden!


Sage on Bass!

and on the drums, Marlee!


Heath, being a drummer at heart, totally rocked on drums. I can hold my own on easy playing the guitar. Hayden is no slacker either, I think he is working on medium now. Sage just wants to whack the heck out of anything she can with drum sticks, or sing. Her favorite songs: Hit Me With Your Best Shot, No Sleep Till Brooklyn, and "Livinin on a Prayer."
Marlee likes to hold Hayden's little banjo-lookin guitar and be part of the fun.

Ted was impressive on the drums and Emma was a great understudy. James is definitely a rock star. And Stacy, well, lets just say she can sing AND dance!




Hayden likes to sing, "I wanna rock and roll all night, and probably every day!"

You guys Rock!!!

Our Christmas in Idaho

OK, these two pictures weren't in Idaho, but I think they are really cute. My little elves.


We took the whole week of Christmas to be with family in Idaho. It was a cold and snowy week full of Nintendo, hair cuts and Santa.




For Christmas eve, we had a campfire in the snow, roasted marshmallows and did some sledding. It was so much fun. I loved listening to all the laughter as I held Marlee by the fire. Very festive. Gretchen made some fabulous food for dinner: Pork barbacoa. yum!


All the kids knew that they would get to open one gift before bed. It cracked me up to hear Hayden and Grayson saying that they shouldn't care too much because "its probably pajamas." "yeah, its always pajamas on Christmas Eve." Yeah right, those two were so excited to open their gift, which was indeed PJs. Marlee oh'ed and ah'ed like it was diamonds

!

Christmas morning, we got up at 4:00am. Hayden told me that he knew Santa had come because the stockings we had set out the night before were gone. Ol' Santa had taken them down stairs by the tree and jammed as many toys as he could possible fit in them.
Sage and Marlee got a Jammin Jeep Wrangler. Sage asked for it last year, but Santa didn't come through. Its all she has talked about for a solid year now. She can recite the commercial word for word! She was so excited to see that jeep. She kept saying over and over, "its just what I asked for, and Santa brought it!" She still tells anyone who will listen.

Hayden got Guitar Hero. Santa also brought GH world tour for Hayden, Heath and me. We are gonna be rock stars!
Dalton got a PSP.

Grayson got a camera, Gabe got tons of super spy gear.
Lots of other fun stuff too for everyone. We had to leave the day after Christmas so we had to sorta limit what the kids got out so that we could make sure it all got home.
Of course it didn't.

December to Remember

December 1: Heath's Birthday! We celebrated by going to Red Robin for a free Birthday dinner. Heath's pick: Whiskey River BBQ Burger.
December 2: Sage's Fancy Nancy Birthday Party. Tres Posh!

December 5: Construction Council Christmas Party. As usual, we won a bottle of wine.
December 6: Santa was in town! We got there just at his lunch break so Hayden got to take him some cookies. Santa told us a great story: One Christmas Eve he was coming out of a chimney and all the reindeer had gathered around waiting for him. Donner, the big guy, questioned him. "hey old man, what gives? You didn't smell this good when you went down, what have you been eating?" So Santa confessed about all the cookies kids leave him. The reindeer let him know that he needed to share and so he did. They fell in love with oatmeal raisin cookies. He told the kids that they eat healthy stuff too; some people leave apples and carrots. The reindeer really like those. However he did share a little secret; he has never told them about chocolate, so if you leave chocolate chip cookies, Santa keeps those for himself.
My kids were mesmerized with the stories. It was magical. As usual, Hayden and Sage climbed up on his lap with no hesitation and chatted his ear off. Marlee might not be as accepting as the other two. She prefered to ride the rocking horse.


December 13: The Red Cougars last basketball game. Hayden really enjoyed basketball this season. He made several baskets each game. It was very fun to sit on the sidelines and cheer him on.
also, Santa's workshop at Hayden's school. Since I am in the PTA, I had to be there the whole time. It was really cute. The kids did their Christmas shopping and Santa showed up. Hayden was a little unsure about it because he did not look like the same guy from last week. Sage didn't notice or care, she climbed up and told him a few more things she would like.
Then,
Sage and me went to the Nutcracker. It has always been one of my most favorite thing to do at Christmas time. Sage thought it was great. Her favorite part was the party at the beginning when all the little kids fight over their new toys, and the Sugar plum fairy. She thinks she might be Clara next year.
December 15: Happy Birthday Me! and Auntie Shelly too! To celebrate, guess where we went? Yup, Red Robin. My free Birthday burger: Whiskey River BBQ CHICKEN. yum.

December 19: Hayden's last day of School. 5th day in a row of 2hr delays because of snow. Heath's Company Party. Sage's preschool got cancelled for the week so she didn't get to have her Christmas party. I got cheated out of my last minute-child free Christmas shopping.

December 20: Brave the roads and set out for Christmas in Idaho. Left at 10:00am, arrived 10:00pm. It was -5 degrees when we got there. brrr.
December 25: Wake up at 4:00am because "SANTA CAME!!!"

December 26: Load up the truck, head home; roads had not improved.
December 31: Play guitar hero until nearly midnight. Hayden fell asleep at 11:45pm. so close buddy!
And that was that. Now we start all over! Happy New Year!