Katherine is FIVE

I am in disbelief that my first tiny little baby is now five years old! We decided to do a family party this year. Keep things more simple and just spend time together. Jason took the day off work and we all went to the Aquarium. Everyone had a great time. Luckily we went on a weekday and early in the day so it wasn't crowded at all. I think the highlight for Kate was the Dolphin show. She was mesmerized and could have watched the dolphins do tricks all day. Abby liked it until the "scary pirate ship" part with the rain and thunder. She was sitting on my lap and started rubbing my arm like she does her pillow :) Liam had a blast. He thought everyone was clapping for him so he would laugh and clap along!

I really am blessed to have Katherine and love the little girl she is becoming. She is kind, considerate, smart, artistic, creative, thoughtful, sweet, helpful, pretty, and always fun to be around. I love the "grown up" time we can spend together. She is definitely still a Daddy's girl too :) And she is an amazing big sister to Abby and Liam. I'm excited to see how she grows in the next 5 years!

New York

Jason and I had a great opportunity to meet with a specialist in New York regarding my case. He is a world renowned doctor and was so nice and took a lot of time meeting with us. He had actually been following my case all along. My parent's have old friends who live in New Jersey and the husband picked us up at the airport, drove in traffic to the hospital, waited while we talked with the doctor, then drove us to our hotel. My parent's have not seen them in years and they did all this for us. Again, there are so many kind and good people. We decided to make a little trip out of it and stayed for two whole days. It was so nice! We walked around Times Square then went to eat at a really good and quaint restaurant. The next day we went to the Museum of Natural History and spent about 6 hours there and still didn't see everything. We're dorks like that :) It was so nice spending that time with just Jason and me. We had the best time and wished our trip had actually been longer! Our hotel arranged for a car to take us to the airport and apparently they were out of town cars because a limo showed up for us. We left in style with a fun little surprise :)

 Riding in the limo!

Jennifer's TN Shower

Jennifer had her first wedding shower while we were in TN for Christmas. Unfortunately, the morning of the shower a snow storm and iced roads prevented a few people from coming, but many were still able to be there and we all had fun! We were able to spend time with family and the shower made me even more excited for her wedding. It's getting closer!

Emily, Jennifer, Evan

Nancye and Julie

Jennifer, Evan, Marti

Dad, Nancye, Liz, Julie

Jan, Liz, Mom, Kaleigh, Dad

Kaleigh, Marti, Jeanie 

Kaleigh and Marti

Emily, Jennifer, Evan

Christmas at the Grandparents and TN

On actual Christmas Eve we spent the night at my parents then did a Christmas morning with the whole gang. How fun for the kids to be able to spend Christmas with all sets of family throughout the holiday!

Since I was feeling up for it we made the 5 hour trek to Tennessee. This year it was necessary to take 2 cars since we now have 3 kids and Even is a part of our family. Luckily, everyone was exhausted so the kids slept a good while on the drive up then did great the rest of the way. We only stopped once, for a potty break and to change Liam's diaper and give him a break from the carseat.

It was a good day :)

Liam experienced his first snow at 9 months old! When we were almost to TN, Kate mentioned we couldn't be there yet since it wasn't snowing. I don't even know how she remembers when it snowed there but she did and we sadly informed her that it doesn't always snow and wouldn't be this trip. Looks like we were wrong. Kate and Abby woke up the first morning to snow that was actually sticking. Even though it was freezing they had a blast playing outside. I had to take Liam out so he could experience the fun too. He loved it, even though it was freezing!

Christmas at Home

Santa came early to our house this year. The night before we decorated cookies for Santa and left out reindeer food and carrots. We spent some more time emphasizing the real meaning of Christmas and read the scriptures where it tells the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. The kids opened their Christmas Eve gift then we read another Christmas book and sent the kids to bed. It's nice having kids who stay in their bed so they fell asleep before too late and since most of the presents had previously been wrapped set up wasn't too much work.

Christmas morning was so exciting. It was Liam's first Christmas!!! We love him so much! The girl's each got what they asked Santa for: a princess castle for Kate and a baby for Abby. Santa even brought a surprise gift of scooters for the girls. Those have been a huge hit. They ride their scooters all the time, mainly all around our downstairs. This officially convinced Jason that when Liam has learned to walk, on soft carpet, we need to put all hardwoods downstairs. The kids played all day with their new toys and each other. It was truly a wonderful Christmas!

Happy 1st Christmas Liam!