New Years Eve

Happy New Year. The kids have their earlier celebration. It was so nice having fireworks, some of the kids had never played with them.

Troy was the designated lighter.

The sparklers were a hit!

Christopher would get one and start running at one of the cousins, I don't think he quited understood he could light someone on fire, but he loved them!

The twins weren't the biggest fan of the loud ones.

Sydney was a little piro. If she was put down, she'd run right to the fire!

GG made sure Kate was nice and warm inside.

Christmas

We headed to Mom & Dads for breakfast. Christopher was there and ready to play when we got there!

When at Moms I rarely have the baby between her and Grandma, but Sandra moves faster than them and can sometimes manage an interception.Speaking of Sandra, she is soo good at thinking of what the kids would enjoy. She got Sydney a box of Kleenex. It was the best gift ever!! She first sat and pulled them all out, and then she sat and shredded them into little peaces. Sydney LOVED it, we had to keep Carter away, he kept wanting to play with it (I know what he is getting next year)!

Yes, Grandma is holding Kate and a GUN! These son in laws bring a different dynamic to our family! I think they were encouraging her to spin it around on her finger.

We knew Sydney's fall earlier that morning was bothering her, but when she kept asking for her apples I figured she was feeling better. So when Troy noticed her face full of blood I was shocked to see her tooth gone. A couple days later it was found, the root was at least 1 1/2 the size of the tooth. Tough girl!

Good thing she is a cute girl because with her sucking on that lower lip all the time she resembles a little Nanny McPhee occasionally!
Carter loved his Lego's and tramp, but the hat Sandra made him I think is top of his list.

HO HO HO

Neil has been saving up for his guitar which he named "Lydia". Yes, he named his guitar the name I wanted to name the baby. I think that is so for future kids I wouldn't be able to use it. He is loving playing it!

Sydney took a little slip on her pants and bumped her mouth so she wasn't too perky, but a little later she came around!

Carter is so good, when Sydney got her little box of dress-ups he was a big help in getting her excited by showing her how everything worked.

Carter had made each of the girls a bracelet and was very excited to open them and let them try them on!
The Tramp was a success!! They love it, Carter jumps and Sydney sits and laughs! She'll occasionally get up and bounce, but for now is loving watching Carter!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve wouldn't be right without the family nativity! Mom made these great costumes many years ago, but they were made for kids, somehow I guess it is a compliment that we can fit into them one way or another!

Carter was Joseph and Sydney was Mary.

I would never call my dad an ass, but that was his part that night. Carter was good at keeping Sydney on as she kept trying to see Grandpas face.

Neil was one of the wise men. Sydney couldn't resist, she thought it was time for family prayer so she joined them on her knees.
My boys in their new Christmas PJ's. This year we got the kids a trampoline. It is the first year we've had to put anything together. We started about 9:30pm, and finally headed inside around 12:30am. It was a good sign that Neil and I never got too fisty at each other during those 3 hours. We would have been done much sooner, but putting up the outer side was a bit tricky and so we ended up redoing all the springs 3 times. We had mastered the way to count, hook, and hold the springs by the final time! It fit in the backyard, but just barely!

Cooking, Caroling & Lights

Heading out for our full & crazy day!
Whits HERE!! We did a girls cooking day. We had 4 or 5 recipes and it was so fun to sit and bake all day with the girls. During naps the boys worked on making their sisters a bracelet for Christmas. They had such a good time doing this, and they turned out really fun! OOps! There was an occasional spill, or burning of marshmallows, but for the most part things turned out yummy!

With the exception of this, it was just not right!

The kids were really good while we were baking, there were only a couple times we would catch a little person sneaking a treat!Kate is pretty perfect so far, with this one exception. This is what she does when eating and as you can tell she is napping. She sits and just smiles at you and if you are trying to ignore her, she starts cooing.

Paul Family Christmas Party

Christmas caroling and delivering treats.
The kids loved going door to door!

Temple Lights

A couple nights later we all went to the Temple Lights

I can only title this "Trouble"

Piggy

Anyone that has stayed at our house knows piggy. Carter has had him since he was one. He twirls his tail to go to bed. I came in to get Kate and found he had shared.

Kids

This was my attempt to get a shot of the kids.

This explains exactly how she felt when we were finally done!

Light Parade

We have loved going to the light boat parade almost every year down at Tempe Town Lake. We had a couple families join us there and it was a blast!

Cutest Cart Seat!

Sandra is amazing and cut up the old one and made this cute one for Kate!

Dr. Sydney

Some play with dolls, but Sydney loves her stethoscope. I found her listening to Kate, she listened to her heart, head, and leg.

Grateful for eyes!

We had a scare with Sydney this last week. She has a seizure and when waking from the medication she woke screaming in pain. She soon had a fever and spent the next day and a half in my bed with no lights. She would wake, hold her head cry and that would hurt and cause her to scream and eventually fall asleep, occasionally waking and vomiting. It is common for fevers to cause seizures, but this happened in April and she has had fevers many times and never triggered a seizure. After a doctor visit we were given nausea medicine and figured we'd watch it. Later the second day I noticed she was calling for me and I came in and she was still calling towards the door for me and I had just walked in front of her and was standing beside her. That was the red flag and after doing little tests here and there I realized she couldn't see. We went straight to the hospital. It was so scary! My heart hurts for her when she gets tests, but to watch her have to have blood, and urine tests done and she couldn't see things to know what was coming, she hurt too much to focus on what I was saying and when they took 5 times to get a spinal tap I for the first time was tipping on my braking point, I got nauseous and had to step back, but realized my voice was the only familiar thing going on. She was so brave, but I can't imagine how you'd feel having people holding you, not even knowing where you are and then feeling the pain. She was amazing!!! All the tests and scan came back OK, we were watched for a couple days. After a day and a half in the hospital her vision started coming back. I don't think I have been scared like that before, how was I going to describe things to her, what Christmas gifts do we have that she would be able to play with, would she remember what Carter looked like, would she remember her sister, did she know her colors well enough? So many concerns. This is another one of those things that there was not a single thing I could do. I'd just lay with her and we'd sing and sing. How grateful and completely humbled I am from this experience.In primary we learn about hands and eyes and how important this body of ours is, that will never be a simple meaningless lesson. I am so grateful for this little eyes and the ability to use them. After last year loosing hand and feet ability and then this year the vision we love every little part of her working body! The Dr.s concluded that some of her seizures trigger a migraine, and very rarely migraines can cause a fever, vomiting, & vision loss. It just shouldn't be gone that long, so in the future we'll watch and look for it sooner.