Back in October the kids and I volunteered at our local park for "Make a Difference Day." A new playground was built and they needed help cleaning up some of the hiking trails around the park. The kids were so excited to do this and it was fun doing some volunteer work as a family! I know we probably didn't contribute much with our little rakes, but I love the idea of getting them excited about helping others while they're young. 
Halloween was super fun and as always the kids wanted nothing to do with dressing up in coordinating costumes. I thought it would have been so cute to do the toy story characters or something else that goes together, but Gav and Teag had already decided what they wanted to be. We ended up with a Tiger, Strawberry Shortcake and Batman! 
Batman was Bode's backup costume after this awesome Lion outfit didn't work out. This is the only picture I have of him that he's not crying in. He hated that thing- especially the heavy head part! 
The kids and I spent Thanksgiving down in Las Vegas with my Dad, Stepmom and family. I can only find a few pictures from our trip but it was so great! We played outside in the warm weather, rode horses, ate way too much food and spent some fun time with family. 
On one of our last nights, we all went out to a really fun restaurant where they cook your food right in front of you. The kids were mesmerized! Here they are with my stepbrother, their 'uncle' Austin- so sweet! 
Homeschooling is going really well now that we have a semester under our belt. It is definitely more of a challenge than I thought, but also more rewarding than expected! We're still up in the air as to what we'll do next year (home school vs. public) but right now I'm enjoying our time together. 
These two are pretty good buddies most of the time, and Teag is going to miss him if he goes to public school next year! Their bedrooms are close to each other and I often find Teag snuggled up in Gav's bed listening to stories with him on his cd player at night. 
This little guy is quickly becoming a part of every activity too and never wants to be left out! He loves playing in Teag's room, and follows her everywhere during the day. He even calls for her at night if I don't get in there quick enough! 
Christmas flew by this year and again I don't have too many pictures, but lots of memories were made for sure. Teagan had her first preschool program a few weeks before and was so excited to show us her songs and bible verses. The kids had been passing around a yucky cough/cold thing the week before and Bode ended up in the ER with me the day of her performance with croup. He's the first of the kids to get it, and it was terrible (and so sad!). So I stayed home with him that night and Trent took Teag promising to video it and take pictures. Here they are before they left, I was so sad to miss it!
As soon as they were back we watched the video and Teag re-enacted the whole thing for me- it was adorable! Teag is definitely not shy and it was so fun seeing her get to have her own special night!
We spent Christmas weekend with Trent's family in Twisp sledding, eating and having fun with family we hadn't seen in awhile!
On Christmas Eve we went to church and then got together with friends of the family for the 'Happy Birthday Jesus' party. Every year the kids act out the Christmas story and then we have cake! This was the second year that Gav was Joseph and Teag was an angel. Bode was a wise man but wasn't ready to sit and listen- I think he was crawling under the chairs in the back! 
We opened presents Christmas morning and then headed back home later in the day so Trent could get ready for work Monday morning. My mom flew in Christmas night and spent the week with us at the house!
We spent alot of time playing with new Christmas toys, baking and eating yummy stuff, and just being silly. I got a new vacuum for Christmas (so, so exciting!) and I think I used it every day- it was theraputic! There's nothing better than a good vaccuum! 
Trent has been a skier since he could walk and decided that this was the year to bring Gav with him and teach him too. The guys went last week for what was supposed to be a half day on the bunny hill. They ended up skiing all day and even went up the big chair lift to the top! I'm glad Trent told me this after they had already done it (and survived). I love to snowboard and can't wait until we can all go as a family- but the chair lifts still freak me out! Gav loved it and is already planning their next trip!
That just about catches us up once again after not blogging for months...again... I was talking about this with Katie (Maddie's mom) the other day and realized that I have intentionally avoided blogging this last year or so partly because we're busy but mainly to sort of 'disconnect' from the heart world. Teagan's whole first two years were filled with Dr.'s appts., surgeries, feeding tubes, worry, anxiety, etc... and once every thing sort of settled down- it was nice not to have to think about it every second. Of course I still think about her heart, health and future every day and worry about whats ahead- but not every minute any more. I get on the blog and read up on how all our heart friends are doing almost daily, but for some reason just felt like posting here made it too real again. But as winter turns into spring, things are about to get real again as we are most likely facing Teag's 5th heart catheterization and 3rd open heart surgery. (the fontan completion) We have an appointment in March at Seattle Children's and should get a pretty good idea of whats ahead for this summer. Teag seems to do pretty well day to day, but its the little things that we're so used to that I'm starting to notice more and more. The constant blue lips, out of breath as she climbs our 1 flight of stairs, wanting to be carried from the parking lot to the store because she's tired, and the slight clubbing of her fingers and toes. Its so hard to admit that she's actually still pretty sick and that this huge surgery stands in between now and her feeling better. I'm trying not to dwell on it too much until March comes and we know more. For now, I'm trying to cherish all the small moments and fun things we're able to do while she's doing so well. We really have been so blessed these last 2 years with her needing such little intervention, and are looking forward to having this third surgery behind us!
Halloween was super fun and as always the kids wanted nothing to do with dressing up in coordinating costumes. I thought it would have been so cute to do the toy story characters or something else that goes together, but Gav and Teag had already decided what they wanted to be. We ended up with a Tiger, Strawberry Shortcake and Batman! Batman was Bode's backup costume after this awesome Lion outfit didn't work out. This is the only picture I have of him that he's not crying in. He hated that thing- especially the heavy head part! The kids and I spent Thanksgiving down in Las Vegas with my Dad, Stepmom and family. I can only find a few pictures from our trip but it was so great! We played outside in the warm weather, rode horses, ate way too much food and spent some fun time with family. On one of our last nights, we all went out to a really fun restaurant where they cook your food right in front of you. The kids were mesmerized! Here they are with my stepbrother, their 'uncle' Austin- so sweet! Homeschooling is going really well now that we have a semester under our belt. It is definitely more of a challenge than I thought, but also more rewarding than expected! We're still up in the air as to what we'll do next year (home school vs. public) but right now I'm enjoying our time together. These two are pretty good buddies most of the time, and Teag is going to miss him if he goes to public school next year! Their bedrooms are close to each other and I often find Teag snuggled up in Gav's bed listening to stories with him on his cd player at night. This little guy is quickly becoming a part of every activity too and never wants to be left out! He loves playing in Teag's room, and follows her everywhere during the day. He even calls for her at night if I don't get in there quick enough! Christmas flew by this year and again I don't have too many pictures, but lots of memories were made for sure. Teagan had her first preschool program a few weeks before and was so excited to show us her songs and bible verses. The kids had been passing around a yucky cough/cold thing the week before and Bode ended up in the ER with me the day of her performance with croup. He's the first of the kids to get it, and it was terrible (and so sad!). So I stayed home with him that night and Trent took Teag promising to video it and take pictures. Here they are before they left, I was so sad to miss it!
As soon as they were back we watched the video and Teag re-enacted the whole thing for me- it was adorable! Teag is definitely not shy and it was so fun seeing her get to have her own special night!We spent Christmas weekend with Trent's family in Twisp sledding, eating and having fun with family we hadn't seen in awhile!On Christmas Eve we went to church and then got together with friends of the family for the 'Happy Birthday Jesus' party. Every year the kids act out the Christmas story and then we have cake! This was the second year that Gav was Joseph and Teag was an angel. Bode was a wise man but wasn't ready to sit and listen- I think he was crawling under the chairs in the back! We opened presents Christmas morning and then headed back home later in the day so Trent could get ready for work Monday morning. My mom flew in Christmas night and spent the week with us at the house! We spent alot of time playing with new Christmas toys, baking and eating yummy stuff, and just being silly. I got a new vacuum for Christmas (so, so exciting!) and I think I used it every day- it was theraputic! There's nothing better than a good vaccuum! Trent has been a skier since he could walk and decided that this was the year to bring Gav with him and teach him too. The guys went last week for what was supposed to be a half day on the bunny hill. They ended up skiing all day and even went up the big chair lift to the top! I'm glad Trent told me this after they had already done it (and survived). I love to snowboard and can't wait until we can all go as a family- but the chair lifts still freak me out! Gav loved it and is already planning their next trip!
That just about catches us up once again after not blogging for months...again... I was talking about this with Katie (Maddie's mom) the other day and realized that I have intentionally avoided blogging this last year or so partly because we're busy but mainly to sort of 'disconnect' from the heart world. Teagan's whole first two years were filled with Dr.'s appts., surgeries, feeding tubes, worry, anxiety, etc... and once every thing sort of settled down- it was nice not to have to think about it every second. Of course I still think about her heart, health and future every day and worry about whats ahead- but not every minute any more. I get on the blog and read up on how all our heart friends are doing almost daily, but for some reason just felt like posting here made it too real again. But as winter turns into spring, things are about to get real again as we are most likely facing Teag's 5th heart catheterization and 3rd open heart surgery. (the fontan completion) We have an appointment in March at Seattle Children's and should get a pretty good idea of whats ahead for this summer. Teag seems to do pretty well day to day, but its the little things that we're so used to that I'm starting to notice more and more. The constant blue lips, out of breath as she climbs our 1 flight of stairs, wanting to be carried from the parking lot to the store because she's tired, and the slight clubbing of her fingers and toes. Its so hard to admit that she's actually still pretty sick and that this huge surgery stands in between now and her feeling better. I'm trying not to dwell on it too much until March comes and we know more. For now, I'm trying to cherish all the small moments and fun things we're able to do while she's doing so well. We really have been so blessed these last 2 years with her needing such little intervention, and are looking forward to having this third surgery behind us!
This big girl also started school this fall! Teag goes three days a week (mornings) to an amazing montessori school and she loves it! On the first day some of the kids were sad at drop-off and I could barely get a wave good bye from her! (I'm the sad one begging for a hug, ha)
Last week I had a birthday (the big 30!) and Trent took me away for the weekend to Hood River, OR. My mom flew out the same week for a visit and had the kids while we were gone which was so great! We had an amazing time eating fun dinners out, golfing and tasting wine! The kids keep asking if we can 'leave again' so they can have alone time with Grandma or Nana!
Here's a picture of all 5 generations of women on my mom's side- pretty amazing! My great-gran, my grandma, my mom, me and Teagan. My poor great-gran was so tired at this point, but this is the only pic I could find of all of us!
Christmas was great this year with the kids at such fun ages. We did lots of crafts/ornament making/baking and wrapping (and re-wrapping after Bode got his hands on them!) We celebrated as a family a few days early and then headed up to Trent's parents house for the week. 
Christmas Eve we all went to church and then headed over to Nana Barb's house for a "Happy Birthday Jesus" party! The party started with a re-enactment of the Christmas story and Jesus' birth. Gavin played Joseph and was excited to dress the part until he looked in the mirror and decided that his long robe made him look more like Mary, ha. Teagan was an angel and got to carry in the big star and lead everyone in to the 'manger'. She took her part very seriously but got her bible stories a little mixed up when she slammed the star down on the manger and yelled,"Ramses, let my people go!" (we had just watched 'The Prince of Egypt") 
We spent alot of time playing out in the snow and sledding down the big hill at Nana and Pacaw's too!
Bode is growing up so fast and is 10 1/2 months old now. He is crawling everywhere and pulling up and pushing anything he can across the room. He loves to play in Gavin and Teagan's rooms and check out all of their 'big kid' stuff. He pulls up to Gavin's lego table all the time and sweeps his hand around to see if he can grab any little pieces.... I've pulled a few lego heads and other things out of his mouth lately, he's fast! 
She loves all things princess, tinkerbell and dora/diego right now, and also dressing up 'fancy'. 
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