Merilee's Baptism

Merilee was given the choice to have her baptism on/close to her birthday or wait and have it in Oklahoma right after Christmas.  She wanted her family to be there so she chose to wait.  Every Family Home Evening for a couple months was focused on an aspect of baptism.  (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost, Covenants, Taking upon the name of Christ, Enduring to the End, etc.)  She knew what she was doing and had a testimony that it was the right thing to do.

 Before the actual baptism we had a family dinner and birthday "party".  Merilee was given things for her birthday that would help remind her of her baptism day.  She was given a few necklaces that had scriptural reference or actual reference to her baptism, ex. "On my baptism day, I promise...".

 The pink/white dress she is wearing was set aside as her new-for-Sunday dress and she had to wait to wear it until her baptism day.

 Grandma made her a BEAUTIFUL quilt to remind her of the Comforter, a.k.a "Holy Ghost".

 And of course Justin and I made sure she had her own set of scriptures.  We chose the hard cover ones for durability and separated so each book was easier to find.  She will then have a chance to get a much nicer set for Seminary when she can take better care of them.

 The spread of refreshments and her cake.

 Grandma also made the actual baptism dress that each granddaughter will have the pleasure of wearing on their special day.  I got to wear a white dress when I was baptized and am glad that Merilee had one made especially for her and was the first to get to wear it;)

We were a little rushed so I had to hurry and get a picture of Daddy and Merilee together, but I didn't get one with Merilee and Mommy;(  I plan on making an actual scrapbook for Merilee with the rest of her baptism pictures.  We had her stand with every person/group that came and take a picture so she can remember who came.  She also has her testimony written down and other things from the program that can be better preserved in a book rather than on a blog.

It was a very good program and we are so happy for those that were able to come and missed those that didn't.  I hope it is a day that Merilee always remembers.

Christmas and then some....

We had a LONG 2 day drive back to OK and we were able to surprise Justin's family at church on Sunday.  They even had a little luncheon after their Christmas program so it was nice to relax and visit with everyone. 

 

Maren stayed at Grandma's for Christmas Eve and Merilee had the honor of sharing a room with her while Cara got to sleep in Grandma's bed.  Here are the girls waiting to go open presents Christmas morning.  Holland was still asleep, so we let him sleep as long as possible.

 They quickly found envelopes with their names on it hidden in the tree.  A tradition Grandpa has continued with the grand kids.

 They opened stockings and then we waited until Holland woke up and other family arrived before we opened the presents under the tree.  We brought a whole tub full of wrapped gifts with us so the kids actually had more than they ever have for this Christmas.  In previous years, we have had to be a little less generous but I collected gifts throughout the year and it just so happened that I had plenty saved up this time!

 Some of the gifts included, keyboard, magnet princess paper dolls, thomas the train tracks, pajama pants, video camera, dolls, cars, snuggies, beauty products, etc.  I think my favorite part was seeing Merilee and Cara hand out the gifts they bought for their siblings from their school store.  They each had some money and could pick out whatever they wanted for eachother but nothing for themselves.  I thought they would be more selfish but they were so thrilled with what they had purchased for the other one and the gifts were well thought out.  This will definitely be added to our family tradition and I will try to involve them more in the spirit of giving by actually letting them choose what to give.

 They are such awesome kids and don't expect too much.  I have had the feeling of guilt when I see that someone they know got something they really wanted for Christmas and they didn't.  They are not spoiled with "things" but I know they feel loved.  I want them to focus more on the gift the Savior has given us and how we can show our appreciation for that gift by serving others.

 I think this year they were actually overwhelmed with all the "stuff" they got and so I have a plan to scale back and think of quality over quantity from now on and involve the kids more in picking out things for others.

 Grandpa gave the kids a booklet to start a coin collection.  One of his favorite hobbies.  He took the girls aside and taught them how to look at pennies and find the information on them.  They caught on quickly and started filling their books.  Cara popped in and out of this process.  Other than that, we just sat around and enjoyed being together with yummy food.

 The next day we spent with Justin's family and I didn't take any pictures.  They were excited as everyone else was to learn that we are having a baby and would find out the next day what the gender was. 

Our crew plus grandma headed over to a 3D/4D ultrasound place by their house and found out we are having a BOY!  I'll admit that I was a little disappointed because I am ready to frilly up another baby girl, but the idea of a boy has grown on me.  I think Holland needs a little brother around and it will be nice to have 2 girls and 2 boys....at least until the next one (maybe;)  We have chosen a name and will keep it secret until he is born.  My due date has been moved up some from June 8 to June 3.  However the latest ultrasound shows an EDD of May 20, so we are expecting a baby the end of May.

More Christmas Activities

Since Merilee is now 8 she can go to our church's Activity Days.  It is a program for girls from 8-11, before they enter the youth program.  This activity was combined with the older girls in Young Womens and they made "gingerbread" houses out of graham crackers.  Merilee is very artistic an detail oriented and made a fantastic house with an outbuilding and swimming pool.  She also made these little mice.  The YW president was amazed at how well Merilee did and said she did better than several of the older girls.  She really has an artistic talent!

 We were also invited to go to the Fledderjohn home for a cookie decorating night.  Sis. Fledderjohn had made the cookies already so the kids just got to make a mess decorating them.  I am so glad this did not happen in my kitchen! 

 Holland chose his cookies and I spread the icing and then he could put the other stuff on.  He obviously got bored after awhile and started making trouble elsewhere.  His sippy cup in the picture will have to represent his presence there because he didn't hold still to make it into the pictures.

Cara is not as careful as Merilee and slathered on her icing and loaded up the cookies with as much other candy and sprinkles as she could .  However, she had fun doing it and that is all that matters.

 Merilee took FOREVER for each cookie.  She placed the sprinkles on individually and wanted to make the cookies more realistic.  I didn't get pictures of the cookies up close but hers were really well planned out.  By the time she was ready to use some of the extra toppings, Cara had already used most of them, so Merilee figured out she had to pick up her pace if she was going to get finished.

We kind of had to cram in these extra activities before we left for Oklahoma for Christmas.  Between work, school, homework, and everything in between....the holidays were very busy!

Cara's Surgery

During my bouts of sickness the kids went through some ear infections.  I has SO happy to get a new pediatrician and get set up with an ENT very quickly.  Cara's doctor worried us and said that Cara had a severe infection in her ears and it looked like a "substance" was causing lots of puss and needed to be removed.  Cara's face had been hurting and was her cheek was red and felt hot, so the Dr. said the infection was spreading into her face!  She would not even try to deal with it because of Cara's ear tubes and sent in a STAT referral to an ENT in Lancaster.  Their office called and got us an appointment for the next day.

 Needless to say, the ENT assured us that the "substance" was just ear wax that needed to be removed so he could assess the present condition of her tubes and possibly place new ones.  The pain in her face was not the infection spreading but just the spread of pain from her ear infection.  The facial pain only lasted a few days but it was very uncomfortable for Cara and kept her from sleeping well.  So, we went over to the hospital in Palmdale and got set up for surgery the next week.

 

She was a good little patient.  They treated her much more like a "sick" patient then we were used to.  We have been through this 7 times and it was Cara's 3rd, so it was no big deal to us.  She was the only child for surgery that morning so over the nurse intercom things they referred to her as "baby girl".  She was very sedated and slept for a couple hours before waking up in recovery.  I was a little annoyed because I hadn't had much sleep and we had to get up extra early to drive an hour to the hospital and be there by 6, so I was ready for to her to wake up so we could get home and I could get a nap too.

 When she finally did start waking up she started to gag and throw up a little.  So I had to get the nurses attention and clean Cara up after she caught all the "goo" in her hand.  Of course, she fell back asleep after this but finally they wheeled her into a secondary recovery/discharge room where I got her dressed and could finally take her home. 

She ended up having the wax removed as well as her old tubes.  When the Dr. made the incision in her ear drum, there was no fluid inside, so he did not place new tubes.  This bothered me a little because we went through this whole process and Cara didn't even get the new tubes!  I am just worried that without the tubes she will have recurrent ear infections like Merilee did.  The Dr. thinks that she has outgrown the need for them and her Eustachian tubes are able to function as they should.  I hope he is right!  She still has the same healing process as if she had the tubes and has to avoid water in the ears, etc.  She was able to take home her wax encrusted tubes as a souvenir and as of today she has had no further problems.

 As for the Dr. who (overreacted) we were seeing at the beginning of this process, we are no longer seeing her and have changed to our new family doctor who is wonderful.  We have seen the PA once but it is a million times better than the old place.  I would not take my child back to that filthy office ever again!  I have so much to say about the 2 times we were there and nothing is good, so I will leave it at that.



Meeting Santa

It may be February but I didn't want to skip all the wonderful things that happened in December and January.  I have been sick with a cold off and on since October and very busy with life in between so I am going to try to catch up in several posts. 

 This particular night we planned on making an emergency trip to Los Angeles to look at a new car for Justin.  The white cavalier needed a new engine ($5,000) so we were in desperate need of something else.  We searched through several listings on craigslist which turned out to be scams, but there were a couple promising options 2 hours away.  With Justin's limited time off, we made a last minute decision to make the trip to look at the cars but because it was a weekend, we could not get the cast out of the bank to purchase said cars and didn't end up going afterall. 

 This turned out to fine afterall because I had the evening packed with Christmas activities I had been looking forward to.  First we went to the stake center to enjoy the Creche Festival and some lovely live music.  The nativity scenes and hands on children;s room made this activity very pleasant and a good way to spend a Christmasy evening.  Instead of waiting for 45 minutes for a flute choir that I really wanted to hear, we went over and had dinner at KFC and then went back for the music.  When that was done we made a mad dash over to the the Palmdale mall and caught Santa 5 minutes before they closed.  There was no line, so I snapped some not-so-clear pictures and we had our Santa moment.  I thought Holland would be more scared but he actually let Santa hold him on his lap.

We walked the mall a little and then let them run loose in the play area until we had to get home.  It was a packed evening! 

As for the car situation, we ended up making a 2 hour trip to a city outside LA to pick up a used Dodge Durango that Justin and Holland are in love with.  It has 3 rows of seats so it will hold our growing family.  We just have to plan more because it is not the fuel efficiency vehicle like I wanted, however Justin has his "truck" and seems to be very happy with a more manly vehicle.  And we were able to pay cash!