Hello 2012

I'm back. Never really left...but I've been on "vacation" in nearly every sense of the word...except for sleeping somewhere different. And boy, has it been great!!

Christmas was magical for our family. The kids were beyond excited for Christmas morning. Both Claire and Benson woke up between 10-11 pm Christmas eve...completely convinced that it was already Christmas morning! These kiddos certainly found it hard to sleep that night!! Benson was up by 5:30 Christmas morning and tiptoed up and down the stairs till he heard us up. It really was one of the best Christmases we've had yet because of seeing our kids and the excitement in their eyes! Mabel even got into opening presents! She caught onto the idea real fast and was right there with the rest of them! I loved giving my family photo books from 2005,06,and07. I was hoping to get ALL of them done in time for Christmas, but it ended up taking more time than early mornings I had to commit! The rest will definitely get done this year. I LOVE having them and the kids love seeing themselves as little kids!!

Christmas night was almost just as exciting with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Aleena waiting for us at the airport! It was all uphill from there!

We went............ shopping (lots of times :); to the Mississippi River and Lark Toys where the kiddos loved the wooden carousel and we loved the beautiful drive and scenery; to the Mall of America on all the amusement park rides; to IKEA (a personal favorite); to Chuck E. Cheeses, and to a movie (Twilight). We had a New Years Eve (tea) party hosted by Claire, decorated by Benson, and complete with games by the Wii and the classic "keep the balloon off the ground!" We played duck duck goose, London bridges, colored, organized, played play dough, cleaned, slept in EVERY day, played with Christmas toys, and rearranged Benson and Claire's room! We ate lots of yummy food and treats, read books, watched New in Town, went to Church on Sunday, played cards after the kiddos were in bed, and put away the Christmas decorations. I hardly touched the computer, Grandma did the laundry and cooking....and if you can't tell by all of that....It was a WONDERFUL week!!

It's going to be a rough reality check come tomorrow morning now that our company is gone and the holidays are officially over! But that's okay. The memories will last AND we've been re-energized to get back into normal life!

So to start that normal life back up again, Claire has another UTI (urinary tract infection). Friday night she was complaining of a hurt peepee but then never had any more pain after that. What really made us want to get her checked was the smell of her urine. It smelt just like it did with her last UTI....so I called the doctor Sunday morning and told them I thought we should do a culture because I was worried she might have another infection. SO we did. And so she does. Her regular doctor will be back tomorrow, but in the mean time, we've started some oral antibiotics and will get more information tomorrow. It's the same "bug" that she had earlier in the December...so hopefully we can figure out why it keeps coming back and how to get rid of it!

Claire will also have her procedure to dilate the bile duct on Thursday. Praying for a smooth procedure, short hospital day, and a big stretch!

Benson will start school again tomorrow after a much needed break for both teacher and student!

So glad for a New year--new goals, new memories, new adventures, inevitably new challenges, and new triumphs!

Happy 2012!!