Christmas morning

So for all of our family far far away.... Here is a glimpse into the excitement in our house on Christmas morning now that Hannah is 3 and had a blast! It was so much fun to watch both her and our surprise and she opened your gifts! Thank you all so much!

She already knows how to use this better than we do! It's great! Thanks Grandma Pat!

Sadie helped eat some of the oats! Hannah gave her a time out...

This was part of Hannah's goofy Christmas dance.. wish we had it on video!

Hannah bought Sadie a present too... Can you tell Sadie saw it before we wrapped it!

Yep the preparations have begun.... Twins! Thanks Auntie Sue!

Now this was the heaviest present of all...

And that's cause it was a horse! Poor thing... has been sitting under the tree for weeks with no food or water! Not wonder it looks so skinny! :)

John definitely got a workout Christmas morning! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Daurer!

We will eat good again! (Although I've come up with some good combos these days mixing together all of my cravings!.... Well at least I think they're good!)

Indicates a good Christmas morning... Messy house, sleeping dog, and playtime for hours and hours!

P.S. My cousin Jack got me some really neat stuff including a book that we've read too many times already! (Well that's what Mom and Dad think!) Thank you!

Watch for Ice...

Although I think this is the cutest picture ever!... People falling on ice has not been so cute here in Idaho. Particularly at the hospital I work at. A young E.R. physician fell and broke his hip, a Pediatrician fell and broke his wrist and all fingers involved, one of the OB's fell and broke his arm, and the list goes on... along with all of the people who fell and only have bruises to show for it! All bad falls so far hitting our physicians though. Reason I'm writing this? The worst fall of all came to the OB that I am seeing for the twins pregnancy... Dr. Gregerson.

He fell the weekend before Christmas, went to the E.R. where everything checked out ok. About 5 days later he woke up and couldn't walk. He was lifeflighted to St.Al's in Boise and underwent emergency neurosurgery. They had said if they found it any later he would have been paralyzed. He is due to go in for another surgery either tomorrow or next Tuesday (yesterday they said next Tuesday) and if all goes well they are hoping he can be back to new after 6 weeks of therapy.

If you haven't heard, we have been completely blessed by this doctor. At my first appointment he agreed to exchange our bill for John's handyman services. The entire thing (we don't have great insurance). Then he went on to explain even if I were to require a c section it would be the same deal with no extra work from John. Just what they had agreed on. Then we found out we were having twins... when you have twins they charge you for 2 of EVERYTHING! Since you're having two babies and so they look at is as 2 pregnancies and charge you for that. Our doctor simply said... same deal.

He lives only 2 miles from our house and is into finish carpentry... John is actually putting the siding on his shop with all of the woodworking toys in it that John has ever dreamed of. As soon as the babies check out ok, John and the doctor move on to talk about wood (how exciting) and have even been planning on building the canoes that they have both been dreaming of building forever! It is amazing how God lines things up and they really do work out better than we could ever see... at this point we are having a hard time seeing again but know that God is in control.

So our simple request is to please pray for Dr.Gregerson... he is an amazing person and has blessed us so much. It's crazy what a simple fall on the ice can do.

Christmas Eve!

Here's Hannah prepping for the Big Man himself! We ran out of milk and had to use eggnog... We think it will be ok! We have cookies to help with the continuous sugar high that Santa needs to stay awake all night and carrots for the reindeer who have to pull that heavy man and sleigh all over the world! Hannah prepared it "All by myself!" She didn't even spill when pouring the eggnog! Impressed we were!

Then she set up the snack table right near the tree at the bottom of the ladder.

You see one of Hannah's biggest concerns this year is that we don't have a chimney... Hmm? So we figured out that Santa can fit through the air return vent conveniently located right above the Christmas tree! Then Hannah said "We have to get a ladder for Santa to come down!"

So ladder it was... she tested it out to make sure Santa would be able to reach, we didn't bother to tell her about the 300lb weight limit on the ladder though! Hope the big man makes it ok! ;)

And here is one excited little girl... I'm not sure she'll ever get to sleep tonight!

Christmas Fun

We were able to attend the NXT Christmas party and the theme was "Candyland Christmas!" It was a fun night filled with all kinds of human Christmas ornaments and as many cookies and candies that you could eat! We even observed "The NXT Deal or no Deal" and the youth had a chance to win some amazing prizes such as a digital camera, electric guitar, expresso machine, and so much more! There was even a 5lb bar of chocolate! We ended up as presents instead of Christmas ornaments, but it was possible that I was going to be stuck at a certification class and not be able to make it... anyways here are the finished products! Oh yes and Hannah was a Snow Princess... Shock, shock... a princess!

Hannah and David were thrilled to run around amongst all of the various Christmas characters and candy... I can only imagine being 3 feet tall and having candy within reach everywhere you turn! I'm sure at some point they thought they must be dreaming! It's amazing to see how much they've grown! I always laugh when observing their conversations that can go on for minutes about things we, as adults, just don't understand!

Hannah even tried her skills at karoke... um we'll just say Alissa did most of the singing and finished the song off with a loud applause from all of the spectators! It will be interesting to see how Hannah reacts when she heads to the stage in front of the entire church next weekend to sing with the rest of the 3-5 year olds! (We've been listening to the same 3 songs continuously for 3 weeks now! I cannot wait until next Sunday!!!!)

Tree Hunt 2008

We had a great Tree Hunt again this year, with this year's tree ending up even better than the last! There wasn't much snow on the ground so we were able to go a little further and get to the good pickings! We stopped for a while to eat and hang out... This is where the girls began to secretly discuss how to ditch the parents and go have fun that only 3 year olds know how to have! (Hannah and Eva are only 9 days apart and the day we cut down our trees was Eva's actual birthday!)

Looks a little overdressed for the lack of snow huh? =)

We tagged along with the Worden and Tristan families again this year! We are lucky enough that they allow us to see the way to all of the best tree hunting spots in Idaho city!

Since we were lacking anything to really call snow Troy took the girls rock sliding! They had a blast and we knew it was a success as knees and butts were covered in mud!

Warming up by the fire...

It's true... I sent John into the deep woods up the hill to cut down our perfect tree! He's the best!

Here the girls were building their own "fire" while everyone else chose, cut down, and loaded up their trees!

Wouldn't be a successful hunt without those riding in the back covered in trees on the way out! I think 4 trees in all this year! We really had a blast! Stay tuned for decorated pics on their way!