Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! We had a wonderful Christmas, despite the snow and the delay in Christmas packages. The kids created gingerbread houses for the first year. They eat more than they decorate but it was fun and kept them busy for a day.

Issie is a nut. She is obsessed with accessories, she loves to have hats on and uses her links as bracelets and finds all kinds of things for purses and necklaces. She spent all kinds of time around the Christmas tree with new little outfit creations.

Sweet Kadie, happy with her my little pony and her new webkins.

The big gift....the Wii. As you can see, once it was set up they were consumed by it all. We have had lots of fun learning all the things it will do. Jack loves it and smokes us all but we are really enjoying playing as a family. Unfortunately many of our extra things like extra controllers and games did not make thru the snow yet. It will be fun when we can play against each other.

Brad with Lucy, talking to his sister.

Yes, I let them eat (or try to eat) their houses. We are lucky they didn't break a tooth.

Isabella's gift was a new slide. She is a total daredevil and stands and dances on the top, goes down backward and head first and is just plain crazy. We are bound to have some crashes but so far she has loved it.

My favorite gift was finally getting my Nativity Set. It is beautiful and I am so grateful.

Always looking beautiful on Christmas morning. My favorite thing is my hubby. Merry Christmas everyone, we hope you were blessed this year.

Snowy Days!

Well I am finally getting around to posting some pictures of all the snow we have been getting. These pictures do not even show how amazing it has been. Yesterday it was up to my hips when I was walking! We have definitely had record snowfall! We are super grateful for our truck and the chains and have not felt too stranded. The pipes have stayed unfrozen and the power has remained on most of the time so it has been nice and cozy inside. The kids loved it at first and now it is just too cold most of the time. We have done a bunch of sledding which has been fun. Today we woke up to rain and lots of melting snow! I kept thinking we would bundle Issie up and take her out to show how deep the snow was compared to her but we never did and now it is melting and wet. I am sure this is not the last of it though. It has been so beautiful and very Christmasy (not sure if that is a word).

the house

the picnic table

the gang

the 3 foot icicle from our roof

me and the kiddo's

Look closely and you can see a deer in the trees.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Ok this is how our yard looked 2 days ago, the snow has since blown off the trees and the ice has formed on the roads. It was a welcome thing, at the time. I do love the snow, I don't mind being stranded at times, I love the kids playing outside and the toasty fire, it really feels like Christmas time. However, my patience has been pushed to the edge. With the super cold temps our pipes froze on Sunday night and we went without water for 48 hours. It is amazing how many dishes can pile up in that amount of time. If I had known about this situation in advance I would not have let my kids skip baths for the 3 nights prior so they were at 5 days without being clean, yuck! To add to the situation my mother in law and her husband are due to arrive tomorrow, although she would not care, our house is disgusting. After hours of wrapping heating coils and insulation and using the hair drying by extension cord on the pipes and the well pump, I finally packed the kids up to take showers at a friends. Right at this point we lost power! Really starting to stress now. I just want to take a shower, clean my house and mail my Christmas packages and card! None of this is happening and none of this really seems important any more. Thank God, Brad was working from home and could help manage the situations. I left the house, stressed and not gracefully loving my kids, to try to get clean and get some food and some disposable dishes. Praise God before I got home we had power, heat and water! And now I realize it will be even colder for the next 3 days or more. Pray for us.

It's a Miracle!!!

So, after soliciting input from anyone who would listen about my screaming, screeching, totally out of character Issie, my wonderful friend Michelle (aka miracle worker) helped me solve my problem. Apparently her little girl did the same thing around the same age and it turned out to be an intolerance to dairy. The behaviors were almost exactly the same and I was giving her more and more milk to calm her and basically shut her up and it was just getting worse, duh. We decided to do a 3 day trial with no dairy. Instantly, I am not kidding here, she was different. She woke up from her nap yesterday afternoon and I gave her rice milk instead of milk and the screaming has stopped. She babbled and squealed some but it was her normal range, she slept without waking up screaming, just a little fussing. And best of all today, she just toddled around the house, playing quietly with books and her little people and giggling about her hat and pouncing on her new leather chair. It was precious, it was Issie, she is back!

I know people deal with much bigger life issues than a screaming baby and I know I am blessed with pretty easy kiddo's and very grateful but this was so sudden, so different, so difficult that I could not imagine it being a long term situation. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Michelle. We have our Issie back! Praise God for girlfriends.

Last Jewelry Show before Christmas!

If any of you live in the Vancouver/Portland area, I have my last Christmas sale for kd designs this Wed night, Dec 10th from 4p-9p in SW Portland.

This is a super fun event with several vendors including a CAbi Trunk Sale! I am doing all kinds of Christmas Sale Pricing and gift wrapping. Check out my jewelry web site for more details.

www.jewelrybykddesigns.com

I would love to see you there!

What has happened to my sweet little Issie?

I can not figure out how this happened. It seems like overnight my sweet little content and quiet baby has turned into a schreeching, yelling, throwing herself on the floor in frustration little crazy girl. At first I thought she was just exploring her vocal range, but now it seems like almost a constant scream and squeal and screech that is seriously like nails on the chalkboard to me. She started hitting her sister and throwing toys when they don't do what she wants them to do. I thought this happened closer to 18 months or 2 but not at 14 months! I have been trying the sign language as I think the frustration is partly lack of communication skills but she refuses to do any signs but the sign for milk. It has been this way for a few days now and it is not good. Any suggestions to save my sanity?

Isabella's New Chair.

Grandma Tutu (Brad's mom) sent us this chair at Thanksgiving after they redecorated. Well, Isabella thinks this is the greatest thing ever! It is just low enough for her to get on to it all by herself and it is a little squishy and a little slippery and she just loves it. I have about 20 pictures of her flopping and laughing and dancing all over this chair. It has been so funny to watch. Simple things of life can bring such joy. Here are a few of my favorite shots.

Crazy girl.

Kadie Update

Praise God, she is doing so much better! Thank you for your prayers. Instead of a few months of this (with the antibiotics) or a few weeks without, it looks like she could be thru it in less than 2 weeks! I really cannot believe the improvement in her since we asked for prayer. God is good. We are waiting for test results to see if the Salmonella is out of her system, we hope to hear on Saturday, and although there is a good chance there is still some in there, we are praying for a clean report so we can get back to life. We love and appreciate you all. Thank you for having Kadie girl in your prayers.

Prayer for Kadie

Ugh!!! We have been fighting a bug that has been horrible for Kadie and just found out today it is Salmonella!!! She has been sick for 4 and a half days and although I am grateful for the diagnosis it does not help much. She finally broke her fever yesterday and actually slept some last night. Apparently, the new antibiotics for the disease only make it take longer for her to fully recover, like 2-3 months! Her body seems to be fighting it so hopefully she will be through this in a week or two with out the drugs (at least that is the hope from the pediatrician). Our family is in a time warp and now I realize I need to shut down most of our family plans for the next 2 weeks. Our biggest prayer request is for her to stay hydrated and stay out of the hospital. Our second is for no one else to get infected, it would be especially rough on Issie. Our third would be that she would test clear of the disease on the earlier side of normal, hopefully the end of this week. She has been a trouper but it has been rough to say the least. Please pray for Kadie and our family as we battle this ugly bug.