Grateful for Dr. Daddy...

This week we were so grateful for Jim's skills as they saved us many hours of waiting for appointments. It started off with Jonas getting conjunctivitis (pink eye) in both eyes and he was able to get a Rx called in for us. The poor little guy hated getting his eyes cleaned out multiple times during the day. Then I needed an eye exam and he was able to pull strings so I could get it done on base for free. Lastly, Friday evening shortly after he walked in the door from work Whitney slipped while going to set the table and went head first into the inside corner of the cabinet hinge leaving a gaping cut on her head. So back they went to work where he quickly sewed it up and they were home in 20 minutes ready for dinner. Those many years of school are paying off!

Christmas 2009...

Once we finally made it to Oregon we had a blast hanging out with my family. We had 25 people all staying at my parents house so Santa had a busy stop. Everyone was able to make it home for Christmas except for one brother who is deployed to Iraq but he was able to join us Christmas day via Skype and we got to talk to him a few other times. The kids had a blast with plenty of cousins to play with and lots of fun toys at Papasan and Nanasan's house.



We were sad to miss out on the skiing, pedicures and most especially watching BYU crush Oregon State with my grandparents who are both OSU alum due to our flight issues. However we still enjoyed making "gingerbread" houses and a trip to the coast and Oregon Aquarium. Here is Whitney with her dog house and Maren and Jim with their McMansion.



Whitney decided if she couldn't have a white Christmas that she would make sand angels instead. Of course there was also swimming everyday whether it was a trip to the nearby indoor water park or getting in the hot tub with Papasan.

Who says there's a maximum capacity?

Reading stories with Bops (great grandpa).

We rarely heard much from Whitney during much of the week as she was off playing with Kayla (see below). These two had so much fun. In fact one day they decided they were going to put on a talent show for everyone and get all the little cousins involved. They made flyers, invitations, and tickets for everyone and passed them out so we wouldn't miss their show. My favorite comment was when I asked Whitney what Maren and another cousin were during for the show she replied, "they are going to make it snow by throwing pencils in the air!" Luckily no injuries occurred from the flying colored flurries.

Maren also got to have a combined birthday party with her cousin Jed who is just a week and a half younger than her.

Great Wolf Lodge...

Since our flight home for Christmas was cancelled and we had 3 days free until the next available flight, we decided to go and spend a night at Great Wolf Lodge. It's a themed hotel with a indoor water park that only guests can use. We checked in early the first day and enjoyed a few hours at the water park until the kids were ready for dinner. After a yummy BBQ dinner we checked out the activities they had that evening including story time with Rowdy the Reindeer, a play put on by animated animals which ended with snow falling in the hotel lobby, and a visit with Santa Claus. The kids also had different assignments to complete as part of their Elf training.

The next day after breakfast we headed back to the water park until the kids were worn out. Whitney went on all the slides she was tall enough for including riding the tube ones by herself and the wave simulator. Maren loved the kids pool with the water pipes and the kiddie slides and Jonas just loved splashing in the water. We all had a blast and are glad we took the chance to check it out.

Little Crossfitter...

Jonas wanted in on the Crossfit action after we had finished our workout that included heavy deadlifts the other day. He climbed up on my bar while I was stretching to show us how it is done.

Thwarted by the storm...

We ended up only getting about an inch of snow yesterday from the storm but thought our travel plans would still be a go today as we were scheduled to fly out in the afternoon. I had even purposely avoided booking our flight through Philadelphia and instead chose the Charlotte routing. Unfortunately we were thwarted by the fact that Philly is also a US Airways hub and that happened to be where our plane was coming from. And since the planes were grounded in Philly today due to the almost two feet of snow they received in the last two days our plane never made it to take us on the first leg of our journey. It is very unfortunate as the other flights went as scheduled. So instead we have to wait 3 more days before we can get seats on a flight to the west coast:( At least we aren't stranded someplace for those 3 days and can hang out at home. We're going to try and make the best of the extra days at home and have a fun plan for the next two days.

On the move...

Jonas has been crawling for over a month now and is starting to pull himself up and cruise along the furniture. It's fun to see him on the move and he entertains himself so well but it also means a having him hanging on my legs when trying to cook, books pulled off shelves, and constantly sweeping his mouth to clean it of the paper, toys, and other items his sisters leave on the floor for him to eat.

Taking after his daddy!

Happy Birthday Maren!

Maren had a great day celebrating her third birthday. It started out with going to preschool with her friends which is her favorite thing to do each week and then to a playdate and lunch at Chic-Fil-A. That evening we had a few friends over for cupcakes and ice cream. It was a Pinkalicious party with pink cupcakes, pink frosting, and pink ice cream. It was funny because when she would open a present she would want to stop and play with it or read the book and the other kids were all antsy for her to keep opening the gifts. We just hope all those lovely terrible two incidents are out of her system now!