The Four of Us

I am pretty sure my mom got a better picture on her camera of the four of us, but this will do for now. Mia just has a fake smile and Bryce is clearly looking at something more interesting than the camera!

Christmas

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. We really enjoyed the holidays this year. We celebrated with my family on Christmas Eve and then went to the candlelight service at church and to look at Christmas lights. The kiddos crashed fairly early , but we were up for hours since Santa didn't put together Bryce's basketball arcade game! The kids had a good Christmas, Mia got the "Mia" American Girl. I know she is young, but it was the "doll of the year" so we had to get it this year or it would be gone! She also got the Bitty Baby and doll gear! She looks so sweet rocking her baby in the rocker with a cradle attached. Bryce got the Basketball game, spy gear, a basketball bean bag chair and a Tony Romo official jersey. Won't be wearing that for awhile :) Christmas night we went to Ryan's grandma's for dinner.

Ryan surprised me with diamond earrings which was very nice!

Children's Museum

We went to a children's museum with a friend last week and the kids loved it. They had so much to do: art, music, a play grocery store, pretend Cici's, log cabin, pyramids, airplane, hospital and more. The kids already want to go back! That may be our next place to buy a membership to. I am going to try and plan some of Bryce's lessons to go with some of the exhibits they have and bring him when we are covering those topics.

Free Dog!

Hi, this is my grandma's yorkie and he needs a new home. He is 2 yrs old and gets along great with kids and other dogs. She can no longer keep him and I would love to keep him except we already have 2 other dogs. Let me know if you are interested. He comes with a bed, bowls, collar and leash.

Nativity

A church nearby was doing a live nativity that we went to Sunday evening. It was set up where you walked through and saw the tax collector, the well, a Jewish home, the marketplace, the synagogue, shepherds and the nativity scene. All of the areas had people acting in the roles and it was really neat and informative. It was a really great way for the kids to experience the Christmas story. They especially liked the baby sheep.

And More Christmas Fun

One of the parks out here does a neat light display that the kids can walk through so we did that this weekend with my mom and nephew. The kids liked it and it was warm enough for them to play on the playground for a while. Mia was not cooperating for pictures, she would put her head down at the last minute and wait until the flash went off before looking up. Rotten, but smart!

Breakfast with Santa

Our church had a Breakfast with Santa event Saturday that was fun. They had pancakes, crafts, games and then Santa came. Neither kid was too thrilled to get a pic with Santa. Bryce accepted it as a must for me, but Mia had to be bribed with chocolate and Ryan had to hold her. We got a really cute one of the three of them with Santa! Bryce was nervous, though and forgot to tell Santa what he wanted so we have to mail a letter today. One year we called in and you could talk to Santa so Bryce said we could just call him, again! And of course, when he made his list today the thing at the top was not something he had told me. I just thought I was done shopping.

First Basketball Game

Bryce had his first basketball game Saturday and loved it! He was so excited. His team played really well and they start back in January. We had to take Mia to the dr today and the pediatrician mentioned how tall Bryce is and he said, yeah- I play basketball and my team won our game. He is so tall and while Mia isn't as tall as he was at this age, she is in the same percentile for a girl. The dr, who is female, said today that Mia will have that "look great in a 2 piece swimsuit body" because she is so long bodied. Don't know I want to think about my daughter someday wanting to look good in a 2 piece (other than her cute baby swimsuits), but I guess that is good for her! I have some tall kids- don't where they got that, but I think it is great.

Christmas Crafts

We had our winter party yesterday for our playgroup at our house and the kids had a blast. We had some crafts for them to do, but they were more interested in playing with their friends. They played a game where they used toilet paper to wrap a person up to look like a snowman. They also did a book exchange and the kids both got a neat book.

We stayed home today and did the crafts. We made penguin magnets, painted snowmen and snowflakes and made angel garland. I am trying to keep the holiday season a bit simpler this year to really enjoy the time instead of running around like crazy. It still seems like we are always going, though! We have Breakfast with Santa tomorrow at the church and Bryce's first basketball game.

I would like to take the kids to one of the live nativity scenes this year, also. It seems we are being bombarded with the commercialism this year and I really started to notice now that Bryce is older that we need to do more celebrating the reason for Christmas.

We also plan to go to Holiday in the Park if the weather cooperates. The kids and I are going to go visit my grandma in Arkansas (and hopefully bring her back here for Christmas!) next week and then we will be home enjoying Christmas. I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season.

Pictures

Here are some pics from the last couple weeks. We went to a Christmas Tree farm to pick out our beautiful, yet very crooked, tree. Bryce and Ryan were in the Christmas parade and we went to a city event where Bryce got to slide down an ice hill. And he only had to wait 30 minutes to do it! And to think kids up north take that for granted. We also rode the horse and carriages, which Mia liked. She is suddenly very interested in horses.

Thanksgiving

We had a good Thanksgiving. We usually go out of town to see my grandma, but decided to stay here this year and spend some time with Ryan's family who came in town. Ryan had most of the week off so that was nice. We went to the aquarium and to eat in the West End one day and that was a lot of fun. We spent a couple days hanging out with family and took the kids to Chuck E Cheese. It was a good week. I will post some pics as soon as I get a chance.

Bryce and I went ice skating today and had a great time. It was harder than he thought it would be, but he got better by the second time around (as long as he could grab the side!). He didn't pull me down once and I was surprised because I can barely ice skate myself.

We did a little Christmas shopping this weekend, but didn't fight the crowds too much. I am completely done shopping! Yeah! I try to be done by Thanksgiving, but I was only a few days late.

Tomorrow we have a field trip to the Dallas Museum of Art and to ride the trolley downtown. The kids are excited about that. The rest of the week we are staying home and doing school work and my goal is to start working out at our clubhouse gym. Bryce does have basketball practice and a friend coming over one day after school, but we have a pretty slow week considering how busy we usually are.

Bryce and Ryan are going to be in the Christmas parade Saturday for Adventure Guides and then we are going to a Christmas Tree Farm to cut down a tree. Fun!

I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays!

Basketball & American Girls

Bryce had his second basketball practice today and he LOVES it! I think he is definitely more excited about this than soccer. He liked soccer, but likes this better. It kind of makes me sad since my family is definitely a soccer family and we all played, but whatever makes him happy. He has his first game in a couple weeks. He wants a basketball goal from Santa.



My mom and I took Mia to the American Girl store this week to let her pick out which Bitty Baby she wanted for Christmas. It didn't really matter, she liked them all! My mom got her the doll and I got her the bouncy seat for the baby. It is a little girl's dream store. I think when she is a little older I will take her there for the weekend when Bryce and Ryan are camping. They have hotel packages where your doll gets a bed, robe, etc and you can eat in their restaurant with your doll. That will be fun! Bryce was less than impressed with the store, though. He was the only male child there. There were one or two dads shopping, but that was it! He thought it was a toy store and kept looking for the cool toys. Poor guy, I really shouldn't bring him back there!

Crazy kids!

Just found this pic from a couple months ago. This is the "real" Bryce and Mia! Notice the headband.

Another Day...

We had a good day today staying home and getting some school work done this morning. Bryce is learning about 3-D shapes and geometry in math, working on reading and phonics, learning about ants in science and learning the differences in states, countries and continents.

The kids had their music class this afternoon and they love it! It is a lot of fun because it is something the three of us can do together. So many of the things they do are separate that it is nice for them to have one activity together. I ordered them some of the small instruments they use in class for Christmas so it should be fun (and loud!). I ordered rhythm sticks, tambourines, bells, shakers, etc and we are going to set up Ryan's old drum set and guitars in our extra bedroom to make a music room for now. That is until we need a nursery :)

The weather was so nice today that the kids came home and played outside with the dogs, Petey and Bailey, and all four were nice and tired tonight.

We finally joined the church we have been visiting. It took me two years to do it, but it is official. It seemed like the next logical step after being there two Christmases, volunteering at VBS and teaching Sunday School! I guess we are Methodist now. I am not sure how I feel about that, but I do really like the church and all it offers for kids and families. I am teaching Bryce's Sunday School class and plan to do Mia's next year when she is out of the nursery and in the 2 yr old class. I can't believe how big she is getting.

Bryce has his first basketball practice tomorrow so I will post some pics then!

Crazy Weekends

Ryan works so much during the week that our weekends are crazy and busy. I can't imagine when we have multiple kids in sports and activities. Whew! Friday night we has some friends over for dinner and Bryce's friend spent the night. They "camped out" upstairs in the playroom and had a blast. Mia enjoyed having a friend over to play for a few hours, also. It was a good night for everyone.

Ryan had a coach's meeting at the YMCA for basketball on Saturday and got the team info. Now they just have to pick a name and uniform and start practices next week. Bryce is so excited. He has really been wanting to play basketball for a couple years and is just now old enough. We went and bought him basketball shoes and he thinks they are pretty cool. I volunteered at the church Saturday night doing a Parent's Night Out for kids with special needs. That really makes me realize how lucky I am to have two healthy kiddos. Rotten, but healthy.

We took the kids to eat at Rain Forest Cafe for lunch after Sunday School. Mia loved the fish and wasn't too scared of the gorillas after a few minutes. We did some shopping and headed home.

So, we are supposed to be loading Mia up on iron-rich food to try to build her iron stores up. They gave me a list of food that could easily be titled "foods your kid won't eat". Spinach, liver? Ugh. So if anyone has any good suggestions or recipes, please let me know. She will be rechecked in 3 months and we really need to know we gave her plenty of iron so we know if iron is the issue or if her body just isn't storing it. Email me if you have any advice- please!

Mia's Health Update

Just a quick update about Mia's health. She has only been sick (respiratory infection) once since seeing the hematologist in May and her levels looked good then. So we just had to go back for a recheck at Texas Oncology today. They drew blood from her arm and she did very well. Very calm and brave, she really is such a good baby. Or a good kid she's really not a baby at all anymore :(

All of her white blood cells, red cells, hemoglobin and all were elevated from the last visit which was very good news. He told us he would look at her iron stores, ferritin count, when the test came back, but that he anticipated that it would have gone up, too. He told us we no longer had to come see him, but could just follow up with the pediatrician. Then I got the call about an hour later: the test came back and her iron stores have dropped 3 points in the last 6 months which puts her at the very bottom of normal. Literally, normal is 10-250 and she is at 10. So, it just means she now has iron deficiency anemia, which is strange because her iron levels were fine before and they had taken her off iron because it did not appear her anemia was related to iron. However, it now looks like it is and so we are doing an iron rich diet and will have to go back to the hematologist in February to have all the levels checked, again. Not the best news, but definitely not the worst you can get at a Pediatric Oncology Center. I am so thankful that is all it is.

Mia's Birthday Pics- Take 2

Well, we tried again and Mia cooperated very well. Unfortunately, the camera kept shutting off so we had some trouble with that. Better that the first time, though!

Cousin's Birthday Party

The kids' cousin turned 3 last week and had his party at ASI gymnastics. The kids had a blast there and we have decided to sign Mia up for gymnastics classes. Bryce is about to start basketball at the YMCA and is very excited. The pics show them playing in the "pit".

Disney World!!!!!!!!!!!

We had a great trip and are so glad we took the kids this year. We would like to go back when Mia is about Bryce's age because I think he was the perfect age. He was old enough and tall enough to ride most of the rides, but young enough to enjoy the shows and characters. He loved Space Mountain and Thunder Railroad! Mia was not so sure about the characters, but she eventually would shake their hands! So, I have to start convincing Ryan now to go back in a few years :) Although, I don't think it will be too hard since he had a blast, also.