All family arrived safely this past week, although most went through hairy moments trying to make it safely. (They all made it home safe too!) On Tuesday we spent the whole day over at Justin's parent's house. His sister and her family as well as one of his brothers and his wife were in town. The boys played basketball, which they all love to do. The whole day was wonderful and we were so happy we could spend that time with them. We also had a few other moments to spend with them while they were here, as well as all the time we spent with my family too (since my sister and her family were also in town and Christmas was "with" my family this year). It seems that from last Monday thru this Sunday we were with one family or the other the whole time. It made for a busy and hectic week!
Hazel has been more colic lately, mostly gassiness and such. She is still our little sweetheart, but unfortunately dealing with some intestinal issues. Before I get tons of mail from all you moms out there about things to try, know I have tried and am trying various things to help her out. Nothing is working yet, but it may just take time for her body to adjust.
Now for Christmas photos. These first ones are from Christmas Eve at my parents house. The kids all put on their pajamas (it has always been a tradition in my family that we all get new pajamas every Christmas Eve, I made our sweat pants this year). We then let them preform the Nativity story. Levi and his cousin Ashlie were Mary and Joseph. Then when we were all singing Levi decided he was the music director and stepped up to direct. It was so adorable!
Levi conducting music
Levi and Ashlie as Mary and Joseph
Our Pajamas this year... the pants were made by me...
Christmas morning was fun and Levi even let us sleep until about 7 AM! He loved all his presents and was even reluctant to go see his cousins and NaNa because it meant leaving his toys. He got a bunch of race cars and even a remote control car in addition to a cool dinosaur and a BBQ that makes sounds and lights up. He loved every one! At one point he had all toys going at once. Some other sweet gifts we recieved were from Justin's parents. We got some recieving blankets that were used for a couple generations; there was some outfits that his youngest sister wore when she was little; a book that was his youngest sister's favorite; and there was Justin's baby blanket. Hazel has used my baby blanket a few times, but it is nice to have both Justin and mine. My sister made a beautiful blanket for Hazel as well, that I am sure will be passed down too.
I was babysitting my nieces and nephew one night and had this exersaucer out for one of them. The next day Levi decides it is his toy and he hops right in. He played in there for about five minutes before deciding he didn't really like it.
My niece Chelsea (I met her for the first time this trip, she is my sister Mirinda's youngest)
This past Sunday Justin was able to bless Hazel at church. It was wonderful that both our families were able to come. My grandma even drove up from Roseburg for the event. Hazel slept through the whole process, which was wonderful! However I missed most of what Justin said because Levi was acting up and I had to hold my hand over his mouth just to keep him relativly quiet. The dress Hazel wore was made especially for her by my sister Mirinda. I told her what I had envisioned and she made it. It looked amazing! Hopefully an heirloom for Hazel to hand down.
Now for the classic Levi stories! Due to the high volume of visitors, lack of quality nap times, and attention being distributed to others, Levi acted out much more than usual. Every day he had several time outs due to hitting, biting, punching, pushing, pinching, or some other violent act upon a cousin. Now the cousins typically were doing the same thing back to him or had instigated his actions with their own, but there were several that were unprovoked. Justin and I were at our wits end by Sunday night. Luckily it all subsided and went back to normal once everyone left and he adjusted back to normal life. However, in typical Levi form, last night while at my parents he got too comfortable with the fireplace and burned his right pointer finger. He has a nasty blister on the pad of it. We tried wrapping it up, but every bandage we put on he pulled off, including just a band-aid. Finally I did some tapping and wrapping that worked for the night and he kept the bandage seen below on. I did have to redo it today though.
Today brought the OSU Sun Bowl game (Oregon played their Bowl game last night and won). So of course the kids had to dress for their support. Hazel doesn't have too much OSU gear, but I managed to make her look adorable! I had her laying on her blanket and Levi came over and tried to play with her, it was so cute! Moments like that make you realize why you wanted to be a parent. Oh, the Beavers won too (most boring game in the history of football!! They won 3-0).
The last bit of news is sort of major. It was a huge decision that actually came very easy to Justin and I. Over this past week we had joked about Justin owning his own fast food place. Then after a comment I made at church, I realized Justin was not pursuing a career he wanted. So we talked a lot about it, and prayed too. Justin said my advice for him to start his own business was very inspired and right on target. It now seems so obvious of a choice I can't believe we didn't come to the conclusion sooner. So Justin has changed his major to business and will graduate from OSU June 2011 with his business degree. He plans to open his own business. We are still talking about what specifically he will do, but we have several good ideas. Justin has so many good contacts already, and he is so good with people that I think this is the best option for him to succeed. As I said this choice feels so right and seems so obvious now, I know we made the best choice. It even made it more clear when we dropped his science classes and registered him for business classes. He was able to get into every class he needed and his schedule still works with his work schedule! Everything is just falling into place. I am excited about this new path, and not just because we'll be done sooner.
That's all from us. Long, I know... sorry! Next week will be shorter I promise! Happy New Year to all!
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