Our Temple Pics

So life apparently keeps on going, whether or not you have time to post about the important events in your life.

We went to the temple to seal Dillon to our family last month. It was so wonderful to have most of our family and close friends with us. There are lots of pictures from the weekend's festivities, but here are the important ones.

Halle had a goofy face in just about every picture. And if she was smiling, Dillon was either looking into space or had an odd expression. Here's our family with Neal's parents.

I like this candid shot with my parents. Even though no one is looking at the camera, it shows how happy we all were on that day.

Sledding!

We took the kids sledding for the first time this winter, and Dillon was convinced that he didn't want to come. This was his first time and I think he just didn't realize how much fun it actually is. As you can see by the pictures, he immediately changed his mind about it after the first time down.
We got this fun big sledding tube this year and it's great because parents can ride and you never roll over . . . . . . except if you aren't on it all the way before it starts going down. Ouch!

This time worked better.

Halle wanted desperately to try the jump like the big kids, but we should have given her the tube when she went down. The air she caught terrified her and it hurt a little when she landed. I wasn't sure we would get her back on the hill after that.
We learned and gave Dillon the tube for the jump and he did it over and over again.
Then a familiar face showed up to play - Halle's friend Ellie. They had fun trading each other's sleds and going down together.
Neal tied all four kids (Ellie brought a friend) together for the last couple of times down. They thought that was a blast.
We will definitely have to do that again this winter. We had a lot of fun and the weather was perfect - not bitterly cold and windy.

Christmas - finally

Back to last month again- Christmas Eve is the day we open presents from Grandma's. So we started the evening at my parents house with dinner and reading and singing about the nativity. Then we opened presents.

Dillon got some legos which he totally loves.

Halle got Polly Pockets which was apparently all she ever wanted. They both also got puzzles.

Then they got to decorate cookies to give to Santa. It's so tough to make sure the frosting makes it all the way to the cookie before your mouth gets involved though, so they were pretty hyper on sugar by the time we were done.

Halle was very thorough with her cookies. I am sure Santa got a mouthful of everything on hers.

Then we went home to open the other Grandma's presents. They are in Vermont right now so we got theirs in the mail. She always gives the grandkids jammies every year which we always appreciate.

Here they are in the jammies - and one last present before bed. In my previous post, I mentioned that I made super soft blankets for them. I was actually finishing them earlier that day at my mom's house while they played upstairs. That was cutting it close.
Dillon is testing to see how soft it really is.

If he's not careful, Daddy might steal it. It does have a D on it after all.

Christmas Morning:

Santa found us, and GUESS WHAT HE BROUGHT! "Spinny" toothbrushes! They were so excited about the toothbrushes that we almost forgot about the other presents under the tree or even whatever else was in their stockings. I can't believe Santa was so generous.

They also got a Hex Bug track which occupies the whole family in mind-numbing entertainment.
Lastly, they got tons and tons of Legos which also occupies the whole family but mostly it can keep Dillon busy for literally hours. It's amazing to watch him because after he's built something the first time and the pieces get mixed back in to the bucket, he can pull a piece out later and tell you what set it goes to.
They actually talked to Santa a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving while we were in Utah, but it fits with the rest of my post. I stood in line with the kids and Halle insisted that she didn't want anything to do with it. I didn't need her to melt down again in front of Santa Claus so I said we were just there so Dillon could visit with him. She was fine with that.

However, when it was their turn to go up to him, Santa grabbed Halle as we were walking up and put her on his knee before she had any chance to object. I held my breath but she didn't freak out and she actually humored him for a little bit. He was great with the kids and she must have felt that.

A Trip to the Hospital

I am going to have to take a brief pause from my Christmas catch-up (which I am so close to finishing) to post about Dillon's trip to the hospital this last week.

Last Sunday, he started complaining of a really bad headache so we gave him some Tylenol and he fell asleep. By the next day, he wasn't able to move his right arm, his speech was badly slurred, and he was running into things. After CT scans, an MRI, lab work, and EEG's, the hospital discovered he had experienced a seizure which had crippled the right side of his body.

Unless a nurse or a doctor or a tech came in to wake him up, he slept most of last week while his body recovered. The nurses were all really great with him.

Lots of friends and family came to see him, but he was usually sleeping when they got there. Samantha decided it was just as fun to sit in his wheelchair. She even figured out how to roll it around by herself.

Halle had all kinds of questions when a nurse came in to take his stats. She was really great to let Halle listen to her own heart and take her blood pressure.

Neal stayed two nights with Dillon after I had stayed the first night, so when Halle and I got home there was a lot of snow to shovel.
Fortunately I had a helper. She worked really hard to help me clear it that night. Our friend, Karen, also came by which was a huge help as well.
Dillon likes to sleep on his tummy, so if he ever dozed off while he was doing something and the bed was up, he would try so hard to get to his tummy.

I made soft fuzzy blankets for both Halle and Dillon for Christmas and I am so glad I did. When the hospital told us he would be admitted after about 5 hours in the ER, I ran out to the car and got his blanket. As soon as I covered him with it, his body relaxed and he finally stopped tossing around and slept. He insisted on having it with him the whole time.

It's Friday and he's finally awake. Anneka brought a hex bug for him to play with the night before which turned out to be the perfect toy. He showed anyone who came in the door and it challenged him to start using his right hand again.

As of today, he is doing better but still has some recovering to do. We played legos practically all day on Saturday which turned out to be a really good activity for him. He also got some modeling clay that was a really good activity. We weren't going to take him to church today, but he came out dressed in his church clothes before we could mention it so we took him.

We are so happy to have our happy little boy back. It was really quiet here at home without him.

Is That a Happy Kid or What?

So if you haven't heard the news yet, we finalized Dillon's adoption on Dec. 20th. He went to his last day of school before Christmas break and then we went straight to the courthouse.

Afterwards, we had dinner with my parents and then stopped by the donut shop where Neal works and got a tour.

For the evening activity, we decorated gingerbread houses. Dillon got very into his and surprisingly, I only had to tell him once not to eat the candy. He made bridges and roads and peanut butter cup snowmen. It was great to see his creativity.

I told them they only had to let me help them with the roof. The rest was theirs, although Halle did let me put stuff on hers as long as it was her idea of where it was supposed to go. Next time I think I need to make three because it was a lot of fun.

Welcome to the family, Dillon.

Halle's Christmas Program

Halle's preschool did a Christmas concert for us a couple of weeks before Christmas which was definitely entertaining. The videos below are mostly for the doting Grandma's to enjoy.

Nick and Dillon are playing rock-paper-scissors before it starts.

Grandma brought roses which Halle loved.

And here's our little performer. She knew all the words to all the songs and was usually the loudest one there.

(below) Preslee needs to stand her ground a little better. She didn't realize she was singing with a show stealer.

Santa also made his big appearance at the end. Dillon is probably telling him that he got three time outs today or something like that.

And here's the real shocker. Halle actually sat on his lap and talked to him. She told me earlier in the week that if Santa came to her day care, she would just run the other way. She's been petrified of the guy every year until now.

Halle's birthday

Ok, here goes. I obviously didn't even get close to my goal of catching up before the end of last weekend, but if I take it one event at a time I should make it eventually.

Halle's birth came as a surprise to us because we were expecting her to show up in the middle of January and she was born a week after Thanksgiving. So every year is a rush to get ready for her birthday as soon as Thanksgiving is over. Maybe one year I will eventually learn and prepare for it in October.

Grandma, who is currently in Vermont, called and sang Happy Birthday to her just as we were finishing dinner. She thought that was awesome.


Among her gifts this year was a pettiskirt I made for her. She doesn't look too surprised because she saw me making part of it and I had to have her try it on.

She also got a Mobigo - a little handheld video game thing for younger kids. She loves it.

Here's the best shot of her skirt while she's wearing it - she wouldn't turn away from her Mobigo.

There are a few birthdays that are big deals at our house, and number 5 is one of them so she got to have a big party with friends this year. We had a princess party since who knows if this is the only one I will ever get to do.

Mary was a good sport and came and did the girls hair.

Angie was wonderful and helped paint their nails fancy and helped them with their necklaces.
Here's my beautiful mom helping with "crowd control" as they color their princess booklets.

Anneka was also there helping which was wonderful.

And of course once we were all ready, we had to have some place to go. Halle is the shorty in the middle, but to give her credit, she is younger than all but one of them. Cousins Abbie and Samantha are missing from the picture but they were there as well.So I pulled some strings and the people at the hospital cafeteria made little sandwiches and cupcakes for me. And I showed up before the party and got the table ready for them.

Halle was completely surprised. In her profound excitement, she couldn't believe that the hospital set that table up "just for us!"

She has eaten there for many meals with me, so she was familiar with the place. However, many of the girls were worried they would have to witness a surgery or a baby being born since they were eating at a hospital. My mom got an earful of medical discussions on the way over because she was transporting most of them in her car. It was truly hilarious.

Thanks, Angie, for the pictures. And thanks, Halle, for letting me play princess with you. I had a lot of fun and I hope you did too.