Impromptu Nativity

Thursday morning was the Impromptu Nativity at church. Drew was a shepherd this year, his first year to participate. It was unbelievably cute and he did such a good job! It was nice to sit back and enjoy it and not have to participate ourselves, unlike last year!
Here are some photos of the adorable kids...

Before it started...his "I don't want to do this" face!

Drew and his friend Gray ("my best friend Gray")

Amelia and Drew

Amelia - the Wise Princess

Happy (early) Birthday Grandma!

On Friday, Grandma and Grandpa came back through town on their way home to Colorado for the holidays. They had spent a week in Gatlinburg with Janet's sister and her husband, enjoying the lights and winter in the Smokies while trying to recover from all the nasty colds and viruses we passed around during Thanksgiving. We were glad to get to spend a couple of hours with them again and had a lunch at home followed by birthday cupcakes for Grandma. Her birthday is next week, but it's the closest we have been to her anywhere near her birthday so we thought a celebration was in order! Drew was very excited to get to sing to her and eat his own cupcake!
(Mommy failed to take pictures...I think Dave got some so maybe he'll share!)
Have a very Happy Birthday Grandma! We'll see you in Arizona soon!

Allen Update

We finally heard today that Allen's test results were normal. So now we wait and see if he continues the strange eye thing and then proceed from there. If it keeps happening, we'll probably see an ophthalmologist next to determine if it could be related to the eye muscles. Hopefully it was just a passing phase and no other doctor visits will be needed!
We had a great dinner tonight at Nana and Grandaddy's with Uncle Mike, Aunt Celeste, Jay and Amelia. The kids played together so well which is always a happy thing for the adults! Drew loves being with his cousins...I'm not sure he grasps what "moving to Scottsdale" means when it comes to nights like this. I know that few kids live so close to their cousins, but it will definitely be a change for him!

Allen's Test

The EEG went well today. Allen was very cooperative and it made things go quickly and smoothly. Our neuro tech said he was the easiest one-year old he had ever tested! He slept when he was supposed to so the sleep deprivation we did Tuesday night worked. It worked on Mommy and Daddy too...we were so tired! We won't know anything for a day or so and the waiting game is no fun.

Here is our little man all "wrapped up." They wrapped his head with gauze so he wouldn't mess with the leads. It was the only part he didn't like but he calmed down pretty quickly! He does look so sad though!

Sick boy and other news...

Allen has pneumonia. Yep - he's following in his brother's footsteps! At least it's "walking pneumonia" so he's being treated with antibiotics. I'm so looking forward to Arizona and dry weather! Hopefully these boys' lungs will do better there! In other medical news, Allen is having an EEG done on Wednesday morning. He's been doing a weird thing where he rolls his eyes back in his head and they twitch. So we're checking to see if it could be seizure related. Hopefully the EEG will come back clean and we'll be off to the eye doctor to check for eye muscle problems instead!
Today I broke Allen's favorite toy...a small blue Easter egg with pink flowers on it. I'm serious. It's the only toy in the house he went back to repeatedly and would play with for any amount of time. I stepped on it and it broke...right into my foot. I was so happy! Hopefully he won't notice it's missing.
Drew is 75% potty trained these days and doing great at what he has mastered. He tells you when he needs to pee or goes by himself and tells you after. He goes for hours without needing to go (better than Mommy can do!) and seems to be pretty set in that category. The other task has not been mastered AT ALL although I'm hoping the promise of a poopoo party will help!
Daddy travels to Scottsdale next week for his last work trip before we move. Drew is so excited and keeps telling me "next week is Daddy's last trip!" The packers/movers come January 5-7 and will deliver in AZ the 12th. Patrick will drive out with Maddie during that time, fly back to meet me then we will fly out with the boys on the 17th. It seems much more real now that the date is finalized!
Christmas is coming and we're not quite ready. The tree is up but not decorated, the house remains in chaos from Thanksgiving. We added 4 adults and 1 child to our home for the holiday...more on that fun later!
I've decided to post recent info first and work on going back to all the huge stuff I've failed to mention over the past few months. A girl's gotta start somewhere!

My Excuse...

So, I feel like I have an excuse for not updating the blog with ANY of the major events in the past 2 months. I mean, I'm so behind! Allen started WALKING 2 weeks ago and not even a mention on here. Well, here is my excuse...



That's our house in Arizona. I have spent every free moment for weeks doing searches online, working with our realtor in Arizona, conversing with Patrick when he is working there to tell him which houses to go see...it's just been a lot of stress! It is not in my personality to pick a house from 1700 miles away without even going in it. But it's done - we made them an offer yesterday and they accepted today. We are just renting, but when you are signing a 24 month lease it feels like much more! We are scheduled to move in January...at least we can enjoy the weather there for a few months before it gets too hot!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today was Patrick's 33rd birthday. We had a low key family day - Drew visited the dermatologist, Patrick got his hair cut, we ran to a furniture store to buy Drew a new big boy bed (to be delivered Tuesday!), enjoyed lots of play time, dined on homemade lasagna and pound cake...it was a good day! I managed a few cute photos of the boys with their daddy that I'll try and get downloaded...sometime...
Tomorrow the boys are going to Nana and Grandaddy's house while we have 24 hours of "no responsibility". We are going to the new Bond movie and then heading to the Dancing Bear Lodge. It's a place we've both wanted to visit for a while and this is our chance to get away. We figure that once we get to Arizona our alone times will be few and far between!

I've Been Tagged...

I've been tagged by Ashley to do the following:
1. Choose the 4th picture folder on my computer
2. Choose the 4th picture (I had to choose the 4th folder again...)
3. Explain the picture
4. Tag 4 people to do the same.

This is from our trip to Hilton Head this past June. Allen was "reading" in the big chair in our condo and was just too cute not to capture! You can see my mom's reflection in the mirror taking the picture. (Photos of those taking photos make me laugh!)

I tag...

Allie
Janet L.
Janet M.
Brandi

Coming Soon...

Here are all the blog posts I owe you (and me!)...
Family camping trip
Allen's first birthday
Dollywood
Pumpkin patch & carving
Scottsdale trip
Drew's third birthday
General updates on our crazy lives!

I'm really putting this on here more for myself...reminders of what all I haven't recorded over the last few weeks!

Halloween...updated...

This year for Halloween we had a skunk and Tow'Mater in our family. On Saturday, October 25, we went to Boo at the Zoo with Jeremy, Lora and Elizabeth (Cinderella). Drew had a blast trick-or-treating around the zoo and running around with Elizabeth. Allen rode in the wagon and walked some, getting some goodies in his pumpkin along the way but primarily just looking really cute.





On Sunday we went to the harvest festival at church. Allen wore his skunk costume again but Drew decided he could not go down the big slide dressed as 'Mater (very smart deduction, I thought). Drew was very active - he ran the obstacle course more times than I can count, climbed the climbing wall twice (with Daddy's help, but he was really good!), played some games...basically never sat down! Allen watched the puppet show, went down on slide with Daddy, sat and ate lots of food...basically enjoyed himself as best he could!
(Grandaddy has all the photos from this night...I'll try to get some!)

On Halloween we went to Uncle Mike and Aunt Celeste's house for their neighborhood party and trick-or-treating with Jay (Anakin Skywalker) and Amelia (Super Girl). Nana, Grandaddy, Mama G and Pop were there along with Jay's friend Eli and his parents. The kids enjoyed the block party (though the firetruck didn't make it...we heard it pass with the siren on) and were then ready to hit the houses. A few of us went out with the kids to trick-or-treat while the rest of the adults stayed back to enjoy homemade chili and answer the doorbell. Drew loved the idea of Halloween - running from house to house, ringing the doorbell, getting stuff in his pumpkin...but he didn't really care about the candy and hasn't asked about it since! Allen wasn't too excited about the whole adventure and was ready to go back to the house and just have dinner! All in all it was a successful and tiring night!