Bumps AND Bruises

I've said it before, but I'll say it again....Spencer is one tough cookie! A couple weeks a ago when the entire family was sick, Spence developed an ear infection. This was his first time ever on antibiotics! After the ten day course of drugs he developed an allergic reaction...a rash over his entire body. Oh Boy! Well, after one more trip to the pediatrician and a little bit of benadryl he was fine. Well, until later that week when he was trying to climb up to see what I was working on in the kitchen. He climbed on top of his little ride on toy and it flew out from under him. He pretty much did a face plant on the tile floor. All of this happened behind me so it took a second for me to realize that he was bleeding all over the place. He did a number on the inside of his upper lip!! Ouch. Since then the little monkey has reopened the same sore two more times! I guess this is a hard lesson to learn at the age of 16 months. I'm pretty sure he is the one that will earn me a Dr. Mom Degree!

the rash (makes me itch just thinkin' about it)

Pool Party...

Many of you know that when Derek and I were house hunting, a pool was near or maybe even at the very top of my wish list. I think Derek wanted a pool too, but mostly because it would make me happy. Bless his heart, we got the pool and now the fun begins. Since this was a foreclosure home and it has been vacant, the pool was drained. So here we go, jumping in with both feet, trying to get this thing working....

First we had to get out as much of the dirt and grime as we could.

(Brrr, that water is cold)

Next we put in the hoses to fill-er-up!
Mother Nature helped out with a little rain...
(this could take a while)

Still filling....all night long.

Finally! About 20 hours later the pool is full!

This was only the beginning. Since then, Derek has had a crash course in pool maintenance and care. Now, maybe, we almost might have it all together working. Time will tell. I will save that last picture for when the water is pretty and blue! I'm sure the suspense is killing you. ;)

Bye Bye Horse!

I do love a trip to the shopping mall! It has become somewhat of a tradition to go to the mall with the whole family. It's our way of feeling like we got a date on those nights when we can't find a sitter. Andrew absolutely loves to ride on the "horsey." Last week we said good bye for now to the carousel at our favorite mall. They are removing this carousel and will be putting in a double-decker carousel opening this summer. It sounds like the new one will be spectacular, but I'm guessing it'll cost more than a dollar to ride. ;)

Safety First!

Last week we had our new pool fence installed! Now we have the self closing door that leads out to the backyard. (It is hard for me to open so there is no chance Andrew will anytime soon) And we have the new pool fence so I can rest easy about our children's safety! Next step: Cleaning out, and filling up the POOL!!

My Puppy

Spencer got a new puppy bath towel for Cristmas from his cousin! Look at what a cute puppy he is! Thanks Brooklyn (and Lindsay). He loves it!

highlights of Christmas

Okay, now that we are down to just a few piles of boxes left to be unpacked I can sit for a moment and blog. We are settling into the new house marvelously and liking it more each day!

I have some great pictures of the trip to beautiful WY from our Christmas journey. We decided to drive this time to save some $$$ and so our schedule would be flexible, which was nice, but driving also brings some other challenges. Of course there will be "winter roads!" For the most part the roads were good, but there is a place in the-middle-of-nowhere, WY called South Pass that is always scary in the winter.

Thank goodness Derek was driving (the entire trip) because I tend to freak out a little bit (shocking, I know). I'm sure he was sick of my "backseat" driving by the time we got to Lovell. It's kinda hard to see in the picture, but the dark spots in the middle of the lane is where the pavement is starting to peek through. Everything else is snow packed and icy in spots!

The next big thing about driving is the ongoing debate...to stop or not to stop!? If Derek could choose, he would drive straight on through, hardly stopping for potty breaks (Especially if the kids are sleeping! Ahhh, peace in the car) I usually don't mind driving straight through either (unless I'm pregnant)! But, this trip we decided to stop for the night in Southern Wyoming because of road conditions. The next morning in our haste to get back on the road, we left a little bag at the hotel. urgh!

The other exciting thing about our journey is that we manged to make it all the way to my parents' house without busting out the portable DVD player. Andrew was entertaining himself well, and we had many a sing-a-long throughout the drive! We didn't even use it on the trip home until we got to Salt Lake.

Sadly, we didn't take ANY pictures of our kids at Christmas! Derek did video the event (against my will) but that doesn't help we with a scrapbook or a blog!

My mom bought some beautiful dresses for her two granddaughters, Hannah and Madison. Maybe someday I will have a girl so I can dress her up like this. ;) Ohhhh, cute!

We had a wonderful time being with family. We love them all and miss them very much. I loved sneaking next door to Aunt Barbara's house to play with the ladies and even doing craft projects!! We also loved Mom and Dad's new basement were we could send the kids to play!!! And of course it's always fun to work on our canasta skills. (sorry about that new deck of cards, mom! Better luck next time.)

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too!!

Packing Packing Packing

I have so much to blog!! We had tons of fun in WY for the Holidays, and I will blog about that soon. We also closed on the house and are busy busy!!! So, I will have to post a few when we get things set up at the NEW HOUSE!! Yeah!!!