We had such an amazing visit with family over Thanksgiving this year. I didn't seem to catch any pi,ctures at Dad's house over Thanksgiving this year, I did snap a few of the kids with my phone while we were at a restaurant. For now, I do want to be sure to capture these memories before they escape me...
Liam is officially voicing his own opinion these days. For the most part, he's been entirely sweet. There is the occasional time when he won't take "no" for an answer, won't want to take his coat or shoes off, etc. He is really starting to talk well. We hold long conversations with him now. :-) For those that he just meets, they think that he doesn't talk. THEN they get to know him. :-) He is quite the little entertainer. Especially when he is tired and slap-happy. Who knew? He sings "Jesus Loves Me" in quite a loud, gruff voice. It's hard not to laugh!
Liam also had his first stitches (and hopefully ONLY!) three Sundays ago. He was in class at church, kneeling on the ground while playing with a toy, when he fell over. When he fell, his head landed on a toy. It wasn't a big cut, but was to the outer portion of his left eyebrow. A little bead of blood kept coming back when we would dab it, so we decided it would be best to have it looked at by a doctor. I was helping with a baby shower later that day, so Doug took him to a kids' clinic near our house (the place is a God-send!). They gave him some baby Valium and some topical numbing cream and stitched him up with two stitches. Doug said it was pretty hilarious to see Liam stoned out of his mind and not able to walk straight. :( While they were stitching him up, he wiggled his arms out of the papoose board. The doctor mentioned how strong Liam was, and that he had not had one "that strong in quite a while...." Oy. Doug said they gave Liam a popsicle afterward, which made him happy. After he finished the popsicle, he got really angry (thanks to the Valium). When the doc came in to check on Liam, he asked why he was upset, that the worst was over. Doug mentioned that he was crying because he was finished with his popsicle. The doc said "So, let's get him another one!" I guess that was enough to make Liam happy. The stitches were supposed to stay in for 5-7 days. We were in Michigan when they were supposed to come out, so we asked Doug's sister and brother-in-law (both a nurse and a Cardiologist respectively) if they wouldn't mind taking them out. They happily obliged. I held Liam's head while Uncle Tim took out the stitches. Liam didn't blink, fortunately. Ah, the adventures of a two year-old...
The end-of-year crunch is officially underway. Gifts to be bought, projects to wrap-up, goals to accomplish. So, life has been busy! We've been working on finishing the garage / sprucing it up. It always bugged me to see the back side of the insulation in the gargage, oil stains on the floor, etc. Doug added drywall to all the walls and then mudded / sanded them. I primed them and helped paint, as well. He then etched the floor and added a layer of epoxy paint with some flecks in it. It looks so nice! I think it will be so much easier to keep clean, which will hopefully keep our house clean (as our garage is a drive-under garage, directly under our master bedroom). We will also hopefully be able to use our old kitchen door in the basement, to seal off the area between our storage and the garage itself. In that way, it will help keep the items in our storage (i.e. Kitchenaid mixer) with less dust on them. Our furnace is directly on the other side of the wall which separates the garage from the storage area. So, with a sealed off door, the dirt from our vehicles will hopefully stay contained in the garage, and not make it's way to the air filter in the furnace. I promise I'm not a germaphobe, but do like to minimize dust, if at all possible.
With trim:
And finally this is the reason why I wanted to post... Last night, when Doug was putting Ava and Liam to bed, Ava gave Doug her ring and said "Here Daddy, this is something for you to remember me by." Doug, confused, said "Why do I need this to remember you? I will always remember you, even without a ring, but why are you giving it to me?" She explained to Doug that she knows that when she grows up, she won't live in the same house with us. That made Doug pretty sad. I cried when I heard that, of course. :( She is one smart cookie. I will give her that!
The trip up for Thanksgiving was a great one. The kids did amazingly well. We made it home in 10 hours and 45 minutes, as compared with a 15 hour ride last year. We stopped ONCE for gas / lunch / bathroom break, but made it the rest of the way. While in Michigan, we had a DVD player installed in the ceiling of our car (thanks for arranging that, Dad!) so that helped pacify the kids during the car ride.
It was nice to talk to Doug about what we would like to happen in the next year. I am vowing to be more purposeful about things, and try to think more long-term. Doug will be finishing up his chronological year-long Bible reading at the end of this year, so I hope to read through the same Bible next year. In the purposeful category, I know I need to be more consistent with praying, watching where money is spent, teaching our kids what I feel is important, taking the time to exercise, increasing my knowledge of technology while at work. This is the draft list for the coming New Year's resolutions.
We got approval from the state to proceed with our landscaping on the creek-side of our house, so finally the stacked timbers in our back yard will get used. We have some ideas for our house (replace front door, wire above the mantle for a flat screen, etc, still dreaming of the tiered garden I envision on the non-creek side of our house). By the end of this year, we should have our mortgage down to just under $90k. (We were hoping this would happen this year, and it did!) We're upping how much we'll be paying on our mortgage by a smidge each month, so we're going to shoot to have our 15-year mortgage paid-off in the next 6 years (or sooner), hopefully saving us a bundle (over $20k!) in interest. I can only imagine how freeing that would be. Hoping that this will come to fruition. We'll see, and plug along at it, in the meantime.
We had our first fire IN YEARS in the fireplace last night. I broke down and bought a cord of firewood and a Duraflame log. It's that time of year, and we've had a few rainy, chilly days. I was a little weary of how the kids would do around the fire, but they actually did well. Liam kept telling me that it was hot. :-) While Liam and Doug went to Home Depot, Ava and I even had a dance party in the dark. Our dance party was set to Christmas swing tunes, lit only by the fire and our neon glow sticks. :-) Memories made.
While in Michigan, we went ate dinner at a place called Italia Gardens with Dad and Dolly, the night before Thanksgiving. At this restaurant, they let kids make their own pizzas. Here are some camera phone pictures of Ava making her pizza (and Liam's). She thought Liam would like ham. She does not like ham. :-) At this restaurant, Liam ate his first salad! He started picking at Doug's croutons, asked for some lettuce from my place and ate it (it had Italian dressing tossed in with it). He kept eating more, so I put some salad on his own plate. He ate at least 10 bites with a fork. I didn't want to force it on him, but was very surprised that he would eat this. Especially considering that he and Ava don't like lettuce on soft tacos, when we get them from Taco Bell. Maybe he is my son, after all? ;-)
Ava really stretched out (taller) lately. She is growing up so fast, and is such a sweetie. She has also been selected to become part of an "advanced" class at school, where they will focus more on reading, and receive more one-on-one attention in doing so. She smiled VERY big this morning when I told her how proud I was of her, and how fun it was going to be. She is anxious to read more.
Peace, love and fireside dance parties,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam
