Long week

This past week has been a long week.  On Monday, I took Garrett in for a recheck on his ears and then also his 12 month check up.  I was extremely surprised when the doctor wanted to hospitalize him right away.  I had fear already going into the doctor's appointment because I was worried whether or not his ears would be clear or not.  Then it just elevated when the doctor said the words, "hospitalization for at least 23 hours".  On the other hand as a momma, I was a little bit relieved because he has been sick for so long.  She put him in because he was so dehydrated from not eating or drinking much.  We were in the hospital for a little over two days.  She decided she wanted him in longer for more tests and to get his white blood count closer to normal.  We came home on Wednesday.  He still wasn't really himself but he was a lot better than what he was on Monday.  All the test results came back negative for any bacteria in his blood.  She thinks it is just a very nasty virus he has.  He seems to be doing better but he still has a long recovery road ahead of him.  He has been sick a long time.  On Wednesday, when Gavin and Griffin got home, they couldn't wait to see Garrett.  It was truly a brother reunion and so cute.  They loved on him all day and all night.  I'm thankful for the little things such as the smiles, laughs, and watching him play.  We are taking it one day at a time and praying he makes a full recovery to a healthy little boy again soon. 

Bowling

 This little guy still has not been feeling well.  Kerry took him to the doctor's office early this week and they think that he still has an ear infection.  He has too much ear wax in his ear that they were unable to see the eardrum.  I'm praying hard that he gets to feeling better soon.  I miss him our smily little guy.  I couldn't resist this picture though, he looks so cute in his John Deere outfit. 

 Yesterday we had a bowling birthday party for Mikey.  Everyone was so excited to see each other.  It had been a long time.  I think the last time we saw the Ledford crew was the last night of the races.  Our boys had a blast together. 

 We were lucky enough to have the Curls joined in on the fun as well.  Look at the cute kids. 

 JJ and Hottie posing.  Aw!!  Garrett was enjoying all the love he received.  He was passed around a lot but as long as he was held he was happy. 

 Hottie is determined to get Garrett to walk at some point.  He took a couple of steps with her but then he was done.

We had delicious cupcakes and headed for a night at home.  It was fun getting together with our friends. 

Meet Tristyn Frances

 Meet Tristyn Frances.  She was born on my dad's 60th birthday (Dec. 10th).  She is the 15th great grandchild on the Haas side and only the second girl.  The second girl after 14 boys in a row and two more on the way.  It is crazy how many boys are on one side.

 Gavin loves to hold babies so he sat and rocked her for a long while before heading off to play again. 

Garrett was interested in the baby for a short while then he moved on.  It was cute to see the boys with a GIRL.  It is going to be so much fun shopping for her and with her and her mom. 

Christmas 2012

 On Christmas Eve, we go to church and then go to the Tredennick side.  And this year was no different.  The boys were really good in church especially with all of the excitement.  Below is a picture right before leaving for Christmas Eve service. 

 

 Garrett was done with the picture after one.

 Gavin surprisingly wanted a picture by himself

 which lead to Griffin wanting a picture by himself.  Garrett was already long gone.

 At the Tredennick's, we had some great appetizers, cookies, candy, and anything else you could think of.  The boys waited so patiently to open gifts.  Griffin received a soccer ball from his Godparents.

 Gavin and Griffin got the same thing from Grandpa and Grandma Tredennick which were these little tinker toys.  Kerry had something like them when he was younger and loved them so hopefully the boys will love these.

 Garrett wasn't really into opening his presents but he did like his new bath toys.

 See what we got...

 On Christmas morning, the older boys surprisingly slept in until 9:00 a.m.  They were so excited but I won't let them go downstairs until Garrett got up.  I woke Garrett up and he seemed very warm so I took his temperature only to find out he had a 105.1 temp.  He didn't feel good in the least.   

 Since Garrett wasn't in the mood, I had to resort to taking a picture of just the two older ones.  Garrett got some medicine while the other two started to open presents.

 Kerry handed out the presents.

 Gavin took his time while

 Griffin ripped into his presents and had a hard time waiting to open more but he did really well.

 Exciting cloths...

 

This was Gavin's "are we done with pictures yet" look.

 Garrett's fever did go down so we headed out to Papa 4 wheeler's house for our Christmas there.  Papa Old Tractor joined us there again this year.  The older two got boots and they were thrilled.  They love them and love to wear them.

 This is where Garrett was most comfortable.  He took a long time to fall asleep but once he did, it was good for him.  Papa Old Tractor preferred to hold him rather than anyone else. 

 Then it was onto Mama Dolphin's side for Christmas....  The boys did so well with all the commotion and with some many places to go and be.  There shirts say, "My Lil Bro is my First Round Draft pick".  Gavin and Griffin are always playing football and then they pick who they are so I thought these shirts fit perfectly.  Garrett wore a football shirt too.

 

They love to climb and wrestle with their Uncle Matt Matt and he secretly loves it too.

 The older boys received some really awesome Lego things but needed help putting them together.  It took a couple of hours for the firetruck so Gavin has to wait until there is more time before he can start to work on his. 

We got home and Garrett got worse.  I texted our doctor and since she was out of town she felt better if we went to the ER.  So off to the ER we went on Christmas night.  He had a lot of congestion with a double ear infection and fever.  Poor little guy.  He was so sick.  Overall, we had a great Christmas and are extremely blessed by our family. 

Making Cookies

Pardon the underwear.... Don't say I didn't warn you.  I'll explain...  the boys were getting food on their cloths and they didn't like that so they undressed to make it easier.  I wasn't going to complain being they were enjoying helping me out.  I discovering some battles are not worth the fight.

This past weekend, we spend much of our time in the kitchen and in the dinner room making cookies and a few candies.  I think we all enjoyed it.  Griffin loved this scooper the best.  He did really well with it. 

 Gavin was reading a recipe to Griffin.  He was told to find the number of eggs that were required for the peanut butter blossoms.  He did find it.  They love to make me work for my pictures.  LOL

 Gavin was showing Garrett how to open a Hershey Kiss so that he could help too.

 They are all working hard at rolling the cookies into a ball, rolling it in sugar, and then placing it on the cookie sheet.

 They thought putting in the kiss was neat as well.

We ended up making two dozen peanut butter blossoms, rice krispie treats, chocolate covered pretzels, mint brownies, anise cookies, pink ice, two dozen monster cookies, and several dozen sugar cookies.  We are handing out our goodies to some people this week.  Merry Christmas!! 

Trimming the tree

We usually "trim" the tree right after Thanksgiving and this year was no different.  We got the tree down, tuned on Christmas music, and the excitement began.  Gavin and Griffin were beyond excited to get the ornaments on.  They had to wait a little bit since we didn't realize that our lights were not any good so Kerry had to make a quick run to get some.  Since Gavin can read now, he was all about handing out the ornaments to Griffin if they were his or finding his in our organized (Ha ha) box.  It was fun to hear them make up stories why they received certain ornaments.  Some ornaments they did know the story behind so that was really neat to go down memory lane.  Both Grandma Ruth and Grandma Redenick gave the boys ornaments for the first couple years of their lives so it is always fun to look back.  I have a few ornaments from years past so I get to share as well.  Every year I try to purchase a new ornament to represent our family for the year and have it personalized.  So this year we got three frogs together with all their names on their hats.  I made them put that ornament on first, Garrett got to do the honors so he was a part of trimming the tree.  I think we will keep that tradition for years to come.  Garrett has been really good with the tree so far.  He loves to take one ornament off that is an airplane and play with it but that is it.     

I think we all do a great job with the tree.

The Boys Meet Santa

On Saturday, we took the boys to meet Santa.  I absolutely love this picture.  I think it is just going to be a classic.  It is really good of everyone.  We went to the Bass Pro Shop because the boys love it there and they have really fun activities for the boys to do while we waiting for our turn with Santa.  We took Mama Dolphin since she had never experienced the Bass Pro Shop so it was really fun to see her expressions.  The boys were able to see them feed the fish this time around.  We made a snowman craft and did a few other fun activities before heading home.  The boys wanted to give Santa their list but instead they just told him their list, it did take a while.  Gavin was not shy at all and explained everything he wanted.  Griffin was a little bit shy but he did say his list to Santa.  I don't know how much he heard but I think he got it.  The boys are in full blown Christmas spirit and I'm soaking it all up.  I love it!!