Grayson's First Haircut

We had to get Grayson spiffed up before Christmas so we took him for his first haircut. He did great! He was really still and didn't get upset until she turned the hairdryer on at the very end.

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009 was eventful..To say the least! On Christmas Eve, it started snowing pretty hard while we were having our Christmas at Michael's parents. We then traveled to his Aunt Robyn's to celebrate with his Mom's side of the family. Travel was starting to get treacherous on the way to her house, but we really didn't think much of it. After staying at her house for a couple of hours, we realized it was starting to get pretty bad outside so we decided to make our 3.5 mile journey home. IT WAS NOT EASY! We literally had to be pushed 1/2 mile up a hill to get out of the neighborhood. The blizzard (it was officially a blizzard) was so bad that it took us 45 minutes to get home. By the time we got home, there were 8 inches of snow covering the roads. The kids woke up Christmas morning and were delighted to see their Santa presents.

After opening presents, we headed to Broken Arrow for the Bippus Family Christmas. The roads were in such bad shape that it took us 2 hours to get there and there were cars running of the road left and right. I do not do well emotionally in bad driving conditions, so I was a nervous wreck the whole way and emotionally exhausted by the time we arrived. We opened presents and then say down for our always wonderful steak and shrimp dinner. As we were eating Grayson started acting pretty lethargic and started feeling warm. Within 1-2 hours, he was burning up and not even able to hold his head up. We tried to take his temperature but the thermomoter just kept saying "high" and we new it was at least 104.5. We knew no urgent care or doctor office would be open, so we decided to head back to Owasso to the ER, thinking we would get in to see a doctor fast there. It took us an hour to get back to Owasso and once we arrived, we waited and waited and waited some more. After 4 hours of waiting, poking and proding on my baby, the finally diagnosed him with Pnuemonia. We then waited another 2 hours for them to give him antibiotics through an IV. The poor baby was so sick! He ended up bouncing back a couple of days later, thank Goodness. Between the blizzard and ER visit, this was certainly a Christmas we won't forget!

Making a gingerbread house, this is a tradition I've started.

Happy Birthday Jesus! Also a tradition for us!


In the ER, he was so sad:(

Santa Came!

Playing in the snow!

Chirstmas Morning

Look at that hair!

He loves his firetruck!

Thanksgiving in Seattle

Yes, I'm playing blog catch-up today. I've missed blogging the last couple of months but since I intend to get this blog printed into a scrapbook one day, I'm going to write about all of our recent happenings.

Starting with our first trip to Seattle. We went to Seattle (actually Tacoma) to visit Aunt Sissy and Uncle Jesse. Dado and Susie were able to meet us there as well. We had a wonderful week of family time, sight seeing and a lots of good food.

It was the first time for us to fly with Grayson and Olivia both and they did pretty good. Olivia loved the take off and landing of the airplane. She watched movies on the laptop while we were in the air. Grayson slept most of our first flight and then stay awake the entire second flight. By the end (6 hours of traveling) they were both ready to be off the plane and running around. Olivia started to get a little defiant towards the end and she started acting out using "preschool profanity." She started shouting things like "poopie doodie" and "booty dooty" much to our embarrasment. We were trying to be stern with her but it was really hard for us not to laugh under our breath, because everyone that could hear her was also cracking up at her outburts.

Once there, we got to see Aunt Sissy's pregnant belly for the first time. She was so adorable and I am as excited about her baby's arrival as I have been for my own children. We got to see their new house. We went to IKEA (one of my favorite stores that we do not have here), we visited Pike Place Market a couple of times and stopped at the very first Starbucks for coffee. We made a mixture of southern and northwestern Thanksgiving dinner and Jesse's family joined us for a great meal. In our down time, we pretty much just shopped and looked for Mt Renier from their upstairs window. It was certainly a visit we won't forget and we can't wait to go back when the weather is warmer. And just like Seattle does, it rained every day we were there. On the last night of our visit we had authentic Dungess crab bought straight from Pike Place market. It was AMAZING!

Ear Surgery

After having 8 ear infections this year, the doctors opted to get Olivia another set of ear tubes and remove her adenoids as well. Michael and I were pretty apprehensive about the procedure. Even though it is a minor surgery, the last time she had it done she was miserable. She cried (screamed) for at least an hour when she woke up from the anesthesia and then she was horribly fussy for 2 days straight. Plus, it is never fun to see your baby get put to sleep.

So we were prepared for the worst. But, we got the best! She did so much better and the hospital staff did a great job of taking care of her. They let her pick out a toy if she took her "happy" medicine and they joked and played with her. The surgery went great. The doctor said her adenoids were blocking 80% of her nasal passage and that her ears were so covered in fluid that she was hearing worse than if she were under water.

We already knew that she wasn't hearing well. For the last few weeks she has been yelling everything she said. We'd ask her a question and she say "what! "what did you say?" or "say it louder mommy." It was really sad but we had to laugh about it. We kept telling her she was a 90 year old woman.

But now she is talking at a normal tone and feeling great. Just a few hours after the surgery she was playing as if nothing ever happened. She never seemed to be in any pain and thankfully we didn't have to give her the Loritab they prescribed. Loritab?!! For a 3 year old? I couldn't believe it but thankfully we were able to avoid that.

Man, these kids are funny!

Eating his first oreo. Notice it is in his ear!

This was so sweet. Michael does not approve of this picture!

They are building a house next door and they have a prime view from the playroom window. Fascinating!


Olivia has to get a better look.

I never knew I could love something so much.

Halloween Fun

We had a great Halloween this year. Olivia was a cowgirl and Grayson was a cowboy. On Saturday we went to a fall festival in town and Olivia got to ride a pony for the first time. We came home and got them dressed and made our rounds to the grandparents then headed back to our neighborhood to go trick or treating. But oops, we wore the poor little one during the day that he fell asleep on the way home!! We put him in the stroller and took Olivia to a few houses then came home and everyone crashed. I didn't get very cute pictures because Grayson is so busy right now that we can't get him to sit still long enough to take a picture.

Last week was daylight savings. Grayson normally gets up at 6:30 but now his body clock is telling him to get up at 5:30. Let's just say this last week has been tiring! I will say getting up an hour earlier has made me have incredibly productive mornings.

On Sunday we put the Halloween decorations up and got the Christmas decor down out of the attic. We will be in Seattle for Thanksgiving so I wanted to start early so it was all decorated when we got home. One of my dreams has always been to have a Christmas tree in everyone room of the house and I'm getting close to it. Michael has offically transformed into Clark Griswald again and the house is lit up! I found a Christmas radio station that is blaring throughout the house most of day. I love this time of year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fall Festivities and Life Lessons

Last weekend we carved pumpkins and made halloween cookies. We let Olivia pick what she wanted her pumpkin to look like and she wanted an "O" so we decided to give Grayson a "G" on his. As we were making cookies, I gave her the sprinkles and let her have at it. I was distracted pulling another batch of cookies out of the oven and as you can see, she made sure every square inch of the cookie was covered.

Olivia got to learn a little bit of money management skills yesterday. Dado sent her a gift card to Target so I took her to let her spend on it on whatever she wanted. On they way there, I explained to her that she only had $10 to spend and she could buy whatever she wanted. She says "I want to eat at Target first." So we get there and get her a hotdog and icee combo. "now you only have $8 left on your card, so lets go look around" I told her. We found a few items at the dollar stop then looked at the movies. She found a movie she wanted and I told her she would have to put her other things back if she wanted the movie. "I don't want that movie anymore!" she said. Then we went to the toy section and it was very interesting to see her learn a lesson as we shopped and I explained to her that she could only have a toy that she could get with the money she had left. Finally, we settled on a Littliest Pet Shop puppy. She has been asking for a real puppy lately so I'm hoping this will satisfy her for now. It was a great experience to see her get a little taste of money management and realizing that you can't always have everything you want.

Grayson is just getting more comical everyday. He's saying a new word almost everyday. His latest game is to put a blanket on his head and walk around the house. He thinks it is so funny but he runs into everything! I got a quick video of it yesterday: