Bye-Bye Ear Infections!

Monday January 3, 2011

6:30 am
Caleb had his first surgery--tubes were put in his ears to reduce ear infections.

Caleb was a trooper! I think I was more nervous than he was!

He played with toys while we waited for the doctor to get all ready.

It was a little scary passing my baby off to some stranger who I had only met for a brief second but it was very quick and they didn't end up taking out his adenoids like we thought. Caleb's were small and did not need to be removed! The doctor said his ear drum had burst at some point and we felt very grateful Caleb had this surgery done.

The nurse said he was the best patient they had seen all day--granted it was still early morning! But they hoped all their patients were that good for them for the remainder of the day! The nurse also said they LOVE binki babies because they sooth themselves and don't scream and cry after surgery! Caleb did great! He was a little groggy for a minute and he bounced right back!

Now that he can hear himself better Caleb sure is a noisy little boy! We hope his hearing can help his speech as well. He says quite a few words and sounds, but no sentences yet!

While we are saying 'bye-bye' to things....let us pause for a minute and say goodbye to the 'stinky-binki' as we like to call it!! A week after surgery we said 'bye-bye' to Caleb's binki forever. I think it was harder on us as parents than it was on Caleb! We just felt like now that he was approaching 2 years old it was time to say 'adios' and give it up! He was only having it during nap time, bed time and long car rides--and those are the times it was hardest to give it up for! We had a couple of hard nights, just at first going down, but after that he actually went down better and slept through the night! We couldn't believe it! So Caleb gets a high-five, gold star, and a pat on his back for being a great patient and giving up his binki!!!
My baby really is growing up fast!

It's a New Year!!

Happy 2011!!!

Where did the last year go?! I can hardly believe it's a new year. I haven't really made any new year's resolutions, isn't every year the same thing? Well for me it seems that way: Pray more earnestly, read my scriptures more, lose a few pounds, and be a better person than I was last year!

For New Year's Eve we hung out at Aunt Chelsie's! We had a pizza and painting party! We finished painting her basement and then took it easy watching movies and playing games. We had the worst snow storm that night, a complete blizzard! We were tempted to stay the night on Chelsie's couches because of the road conditions, but we managed to drive safely back to Grandma Lewis's and made it to bed by 12:00!!
Happy New Year!

To celebrate the new year we headed to Nate's grandparents to visit with them and take the kids sledding. We started on the hill right next to their house, but it wasn't fast enough for my kids!
This little boy right here loved being pulled fast by his mama!

So we tried another hill close by! A lot faster--a lot better!

Grandpa giving Caleb a little push! Then Nate would catch him at the bottom!

What a fun way to start of the new year! It was a beautiful day, perfect for playing in the snow.

Ty had a great time, nothing is too fast for this kid!

Mara's reaction was the best: "This is AWESOME!" She would say after every ride down the hill. She could really cruise in Caleb's new sled!

After a fun day on the hill the kids are exhausted and ready to take a nap on their daddy! Nate was thrilled to watch a few football games with his dad and grandpa!

A few minutes later Grandpa Card and Nate were sleeping as well! A fun, relaxing, enjoyable day with family.

Service Projects!

Although we played a lot over the holiday break it wasn't all play and no work! We had our fair share of work during the week! For Nate's mom's Christmas present she wanted to redo her guestroom. Nate and I offered to paint it for her and I sewed curtains for the window. It was nice to be painting someone's house other than our own, we've had quite the practice in our own house!

This is the before picture. It wasn't really that bad to paint, and I think the hardest part of painting is picking the color not the actual painting!

This is the color Nate's mom chose, it's actually the primer, but was tinted so we would only do two coats of paint. (What's up with subliminal messages with paint?!!!)

It's always fun working side by side with my husband! We have a good time listening to music (and sports radio!), talking, laughing! Grandma watched the kids while we painted, not a bad deal right there!!

This isn't quite the after shot, but although this color looks great in this photo the real color and the actual room was very bright and intense! As we painted we kept asking Nate's mom if she liked it her response was always "I LOVE IT!" When we were all done and we saw the paint color it was a little too bold than she wanted to go! So over the next week she found a little softer yellow and now it looks great. I can't wait to see the room all done with new carpet and the bedspread and curtains I made! It will be a beautiful room to stay in!

The next project we took on was in Chelsie's house. We drew names in Nate's family and we chose his sister Chelsie's name. We offered to do service in her basement instead of buying a gift. It was quite the job of spackling the walls, painting the ceiling, and walls. Taking out carpet and that was all we had time for! There was still more to do! We got a good start on it for her and it turned out looking great. Once again I didn't get an after shot, but last week Nate went over and helped work on the flooring and soon it will be completed.

This is what got us through our manual labor jobs! A little ice cold coke to give us some energy!!

It was a good experience for us serving our family members. We are grateful for their love and support and help to us and grateful we could help those who needed us!

Fun with the Family over the holidays

Sunday was a very special day for our family, I was able to meet and hold my new niece Brooklyn for the first time at her baby blessing. How can my little brother be a dad? Seriously!?! And then we spent the afternoon with Lorisa's family.

It's hard for me to believe this sweet little girl used to be just as small as Brooklyn!! Now she is getting so grown up! Mara is waiting in line to hold her new cousin, she just loves babies!

Monday we had our Annual Lowry Family Bowl. Each year when the brothers come into Utah we head down to the Tooele Lanes and have a fun game of bowling.

You probably didn't know this but Mimi is quite the bowler!

Whoever thought up the bowling stand is a genius! It sure helped Mara to be a great bowler!

And Caleb helped babysit Brooklyn when he wasn't bowling!

What a surprised look Miss Brook!!

Two cute friends! Ty helping Mara bowl--that is a good big brother!

I love how all three are so intense on watching Mara's ball make it down the lane!

Uncle Blakey poo holding little Brooky-poo!!

Mara just waiting around for her ball to come out--not sure why she's sticking out her tongue!!

Monday night after the bowling game we had a Jazz party and watched the basketball game.
Scott fixed us chips and nacho cheese and root beer just like we were at the Jazz game. It was fun hanging out together too bad the Jazz lost!

We love sweet Brooklyn and wish she lived closer for her cousins to play with and get to know!

Caleb even enjoyed holding baby Brooklyn--he liked her a lot more when mommy wasn't holding her but he did get better at sharing his mom.

Tuesday we all went and saw Tangled! What a cute, cute show! The kids thought it was a little scary but I thought it was delightful and can't wait to see it again!

After the movie we came home and decorated cookie houses. This is another Lowry Family Holiday Tradition!! This year we did something different though, we covered milk cartons with graham crackers and then decorated the houses. I thought it might make things a little more simple but I don't know if it helped simplify!

Mara is trying to decide if she should eat the graham cracker or put it on her house!!

Caleb thought this as all too fun! He was all about eating the candy, not putting it on a house.

Here is the decorations! My mouth is watering just looking at all that yummy candy!

And here are the finished products! Pretty awesome job guys!

We each made a little house as part of the village.

Papa made the slanted green roof building and Scott & Lorisa built the town hall!

Two beautiful blue eyed girls!

Christmas Catch-Up!

Life is BUSY!

What has kept me so busy that I haven't even had time to blog?
Let's see: besides the daily chores like keeping a clean house, doing laundry and dishes, there is also the home repair we've been doing such as tiling our kitchen and painting it (again!) I've also been working on Primary and Relief Society lessons and a talk for Sacrament meeting. Not to mention homework every night for Ty and play group and activities for Caleb and Mara! I barely find time to sleep, yet alone blog!!!

So let me begin by saying how nice it was to celebrate the birth of Christ and be able to focus our festivities around his life.

My parents and brother Blake came down to Price for a visit on Christmas Eve! It was a lot of fun to have them there to celebrate the holiday with us.

Christmas Eve
I found a fun activity for us all to participate in. It was a Nativity set that came with paint, glitter, glue & gems! Everyone was given one (or a couple) of the pieces of nativity to paint.

Mara painted the angel and Mary! Very nice choice of colors Mara!

I painted the donkey.

Mimi helped Caleb paint the sheep! He really got into the project and tried putting as many colors as he possibly could on the one animal.

As for the older boys (Nate, Blake, & Papa) they were very detail oriented and spent several hours on only one figure!

It was fun to see Blake's creativity! He mixed several colors before finding the perfect color for his camel!

Our wise papa painted a wise man! I can't tell--is that papa or Santa?!

Ty loved this project but his goal was to paint as many figurines as possible! He painted the stable, Joseph, and baby Jesus!

Annual Lewis Family Christmas Eve Pageant

This is our homemade manger. The kids had a fun time hammering it together and painting it. For family home evening we had a special lesson on service. We had a story about a family who did service to members of their family and each time they did a good deed they put hay in the manger for baby Jesus. I encouraged each member of the family to do good deed and help fill the manger for baby Jesus. This was a great experience for our family because as we did service not only did the manger get filled but our home was filled with the Christmas spirit!
The kids and I also worked really hard on making a stable, and the inn!! We enjoyed working together to paint and color the props for the play. I stayed up countless nights sewing costumes for the big production and the kids had a fun time helping me make crowns and cloaks!

Here is Caleb--our little Inn Keeper!

Joseph leading our 'valiant steed' or donkey towards the stable with Mary on it's back.

Nate's will participate if he can be the donkey! I made him some ears and tail this year so he too could have a costume!

What a beautiful angel!

Two little shepherds hearing the message from the Angel.

Caleb, Mara and Ty did a great job acting out the scene! They didn't have to say much, we read the story from Luke 2 and they just acted it out.

The shepherds went with haste to visit the new born Babe!

Here we have the '3 wise men'! They carried a gift to baby Jesus.

What a cute little wise man!

Well, she wasn't exactly a wise man, but she sure is a pretty wise girl!

The wise man just checking out baby Jesus! Give him lots of loves!

And that was about it to our pageant this year!

After the production the kids got to open the presents for baby Jesus! Which actually were new jammies--a favorite Christmas tradition of mine! I had a hard time finding the same jammies in all three sizes so instead they got all different jammies but each had something special on them! Mara's said: Sweetie because she is our little sweetie. Caleb's said Sports star because that's exactly what he is, he loves sports! And Ty's were camouflage because Ty loves camo!

Christmas Morning

What a great morning! We thought the kids would never wake up! Caleb was the first kid up and the others slept in til way past 8! We had a great breakfast and then we opened presents! (Usually we open presents at the crack of dawn and then eat a late breakfast!)

We kept Christmas simple this year! Each kid got a couple things from Santa.

It was nice to focus on the true meaning of Christmas but still have fun with the jolly elf!

Caleb was one happy boy opening presents! He would go around and find unopened gifts and start tearing them open whether they were for him or not!

Santa brought Caleb a new sled! Can't wait to try this bad boy out!

Caleb also was given this Thomas the train lego set! He loves 'choo choos'!

But I think this was Caleb's favorite gift! The laundry basket! Now every time he sees it he wants a ride in it!

Because this kid wants to be a 'king cowboy scientist' Santa brought Ty a cowboy set!

Caleb's favorite word is 'turtle'! He was pretty excited to get a new bib with a turtle on it!

A perfect gift for Mara: new clothes for her doll Megan! She is such a good little mom to her dolly!

Two brothers! Merry Christmas boys!

The famous pistachio tradition! Ever since I was a little girl I gave my dad pistachios on Christmas. Now that tradition has changed to my kids giving their grandpa pistachios on Christmas.

Christmas is so much more fun with kids! They make it magical and special!

Mara was happy with everything she got, and I never heard anything about not getting the pink telescope she wanted! Instead she got binoculars and she was thrilled!

Is that a monkey shirt?! It's true! I made each of the kids a "I love Uncle Monkey Face" shirt! And who is Monkey Face? Well, it depends who you ask! Sometimes it's Uncle Blake and other times it's Uncle Scott! But this time it's Uncle Blake and he too got a Uncle Monkey Face shirt!

Caleb loved wearing papa's Santa hat and saying 'ho ho ho!'

Here they all are: The Uncle Monkey Face and three little monkey kids! It was fun making the shirts, even if I was up most nights before for long hours of the night!! We sure love our Uncle Blake! It was fun to have him come visit us in Price! Wish we lived closer and could see him more often!

Christmas Evening at Grandma Lewis's

After we played with our new Christmas toys and packed up our car we drove up to spend Christmas evening with the Lewis family. The kids were happy to open more presents and see their extended family.

Is that Zorro I see?! Grandma Lewis gave Ty a Zorro costume! Ty loves dress up and now we have a black masked Spaniard to keep us safe!

Well---can you believe this one post is only two days?! Yikes...still so much to catch up on but it's a start!