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Monday, January 28, 2013

My little girl got her car!!

Getting the permit was a big step.  She did great on the test and at her first behind the wheel.  Problem is there isn't a good car in our household for her to practice in.  I drive a Suburban and while she has driven it, it's not the best to park.  Hubby drives a huge Jeep.  It's lifted and big and (in my opinion) doesn't handle very well.  Son drives a Toyota truck, that is hard to see over the front of the car.  I know it would make her a better driver to learn on something more difficult, but we're going to have to get her something eventually anyway.  So....

We got her this cute Ford Focus today!!  For the time being, hubby is going to drive it to and from work because the Jeep's gas mileage isn't so great.  She will get to learn to do some freeway driving in it, practice parking in tighter quarters and get a feel for how it  handles.  It really is a cute little car.  Lots of bells and whistles, which is what makes it appealing to her.  They had to locate it at another dealer because she was set on the Platinum White.  It's a beautiful color and I can't wait to see it!  We should get to pick it up tomorrow. (I decided to edit and add a picture of the real deal)

I can't believe we'll have two teenaged drivers in the house!!

Monday, January 14, 2013

Long Early Morning

Let me start this post with this photo:


That's my 17 year old, highly independent son that is never sick.  In fact in four years of high school he has maybe missed 3 days total for not feeling well.  So when he woke me up at 2:00 this morning saying his stomach was killing him and falling to the ground writhing in pain, I took him seriously.  I asked if he was nauseous but he said no it just really hurt like he was being stabbed.  I briefly looked online to see if there were any nearby Urgent Care centers that were open 24hrs, but there weren't.  So off we headed to the Emergency Room.  They were under construction so they had valet parking, which in the freezing weather I was happy to oblige.  

They got him checked in quickly as we were the only ones there.  Once he was admitted the doctor came in to check him out.  She asked a few questions, pushed all around on his abdomen and then said he'd most likely be losing his appendix.  That was my fear, and the only reason I'd brought him in.  Flu's I can get through, organ failures not so much.  So they hooked him up to an IV, got him doped up on morphine and took him for a CT.  

After the CT scan, we had to wait a bit for the results.  When they came back, it was good news.  His appendix looked healthy, but the lymph nodes surrounding it were inflamed.  She said it could be several things; the flu coming on, a viral infection or early appendicitis.  She gave us the option to stay put and have him observed for 8 hours or send him home and have me observe him.  I opted to head home.  

By then his pain was coming back so before disconnecting him, they shot him up with another dose of morphine and waited for the pain to recede.  We got home just as the girls were ready to go to school.  I  got in another hour or two of sleep and Stephen slept for several hours.  

I woke him up and fed him his bland diet foods that he was told he could only eat for today.  He said he felt a lot better at that point.  It still hurt, but nothing like before.  So fortunately the only bad thing to come of this was another missed day of school.  He'd missed Friday because he was up at Santa Clara University on a recruiting trip.  So he's a bit stressed about what he's missed in school, but we're all very relieved not to have to go through a surgery.  

It's such an awful thing to watch your kids in pain.  Especially when they are never in pain and there isn't anything you can do to make that pain go away.  

Thursday, January 10, 2013

New Driver

Yep today was the day, Nikki's half birthday.  You know what that means?  She is 15.5 and eligible for her driver's permit.  With her, we decided to let her take the online course rather than going to take the course somewhere.  She watched lots of video, read lots and took lots of quizzes.  She thought she was ready, but then the day before panicked and started studying all of her brothers past quizzes as well.  She wasn't doing so well on his past tests and basically talked herself into thinking she was going to fail.  Her appointment was at 8:00 this morning, so it didn't give her any time to back out or stress out.  We dropped her sister off at school and headed straight to the DMV.

We were served promptly, turned in our paperwork, paid our fees and she was ready.  She gave her fingerprint, signed her name and was ready for the vision test.  Then she remembered that she'd forgotten her glasses at home.  Thankfully her vision isn't that bad, and she was able to pass.  Whew! Next it was on to the test.

It took forever!  I was in the waiting area on pins and needles.  Finally I saw her in the corrections line. When I headed over there, the security guard promptly told me I had to stay in the waiting area.  When it was done, she said she'd only missed 4!  You are allowed to miss 8 and still pass so I'd say she passed with flying colors!

Now who's going to be the one to drive with her?! Okay I will.  I've been letting her do laps around our house and I think she's going to be a great driver!  I can't believe we have two teenaged drivers in our house.  So exciting!!

Budding Photographer

Nikki joined the yearbook staff at school this year.  I was so excited that she was going to start taking photos and was hoping she would enjoy it as much as I do.  Turns out she's having a great time.  So the other day her friend asked her to do a "photo shoot" of her.  They walked over to the wash and had some fun all on their own.  I was so impressed with their work that I had to share a few of their shots.



This is my daughter's friend, Syd.

 This is my baby, getting in on the action.





I love that they went out there and had a good time.  As of now the photos are still on the camera card, but I know they have big plans to download them and do something special with some of their favorites.  It will be interesting to see which ones are their favorites, compared to mine.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Christmas 2012

This was our year to host the family for Christmas day.  We had Bill's family spread over the early weeks before Christmas day.  We had one day with his mom and Brian where I made the organic chicken I'd gotten from our monthly delivery.  It was delicious!  The bummer part is that it was such a nice, relaxing evening I never even took out my camera.

Then we had Bill's dad and Lois, Shelley and Chuck and Barbara over for our prime rib dinner.  It was a little more well done than I would've liked, but pretty darned good.  Definitely will have to make it again before next Christmas.

 Lois & Willis
 Chuck & Barbara
Nikki, Ali, Stephen & Shelley

I got a break on Christmas Eve, when we were able to go to my parents house for a yummy pot roast dinner.  She even let me skip out on bringing food since I was doing breakfast and dinner the next day.

 Dad, Mom, Chad & Dawn
 Noah, Stephen & Parker
 Mylie & Nikki
 Bill & Me! (I finally made a photo)
Bill & Ali

Yep, breakfast was at 10:00.  We had my parents and Bill's mom and Brian.  The kids have come to expect their traditional foods that I've made every year since they were born.  We have an eggs souffle, fruit, monkey bread (now we're up to needing two of these!) and canadian bacon.  We had a few gifts to open and then everyone went home by noonish.



By 4:00 everyone was arriving for dinner.  I was cooking like crazy to get it all done and on the table by 6:00.  In the end, it all was served at 6:15, not bad if I don't say so.  I had a nice Shelton's turkey and two hams.  We had tons of appetizers, which is why I wanted to wait a bit before serving dinner.  There were lots of side dishes and desserts.  It was a busy night and I was exhausted when it was all over, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.  There is nothing I love more than having family over to entertain.
All of the "littles"
Bill and Me
Mom & Dad

Nevaeh & Joanne    
Grandma & Mom

 Shannon & Dad

 

 Shanon, Stan & Chuck

That was our Christmas recap.  It is my absolute favorite time of the year.  Bill again went all out on the decorations.  He had several kids hired as helpers in putting everything up.  For take down, Bill did a lot of the work the day after Christmas.  Then Nikki had a soccer tournament so we were gone all day for several days.  He asked Stephen to take the rest of the lights and decorations down out front.  Stephen worked the ENTIRE day and got the job done, by  himself.  He has really stepped it up this year and made us proud.  Ali helped hold the ladder while Stephen was up the palm trees unwrapping the lights.  I was a little worried about him being up there, so I forced Ali to go help a bit.  It was good for them to work together for a common goal.  I love the holidays!!