Happy New Year . . .

  . . . About a week late, but Happy fresh start to 2012 all the same!!!  We had a fun, low key NYE "party" at my parents house from 5pm-ish to 7pm-ish.  The kids really wanted to have a party with food and games and festivities.  We were just going to have it be our own, little family, but then my parents got involved and Andrew's family came over too.  (Which was really fun, and made it more festive for the kids.)  My mom and I got all the food together, and it turned out to be a super yummy variety of snacky foods.  My mom is the reason most of it's displayed on pretty plates.  It's her thing. :)   

 We played a couple party games with the kiddos, and they had tons of fun.  Then we sent them upstairs to play and the grown-ups played a fun, new game Andrew and Sabrina brought over - Battle of the Sexes.  The boys won, but juuuuust barely.  Oh, and little Hudson was obsessed with the football above, it was pretty cute. 

New Years Day pictures.  All dressed up for church in their new clothes from GraMelissa and Grampa Chuck.  So cute!  I love the matching sweaters for the twinners, Ethan and Ben-Ben.  (Caleb got one too, in blue I believe, but he was sick yet again on Sunday so he stayed in jammies.)  And Anna just looks so adorable in this outfit Auntie KC helped pick out . . . and grown up too!  I can't believe how much she's changing and growing lately.  The last picture Benjamin is crying, as you can see.  His feelings were very hurt because I wanted a picture of just Anna.  Ben likes be part of everything that his sister is doing, so of course it really hurt his feelings that I didn't want him in the picture too.  Yeah, he's a sensitive one, that boy.  :)

And finally, little Caber Z.  Getting over another sickness, snuggled up in his swing with his blankie and nuki.  (Yes, he is over the weight limit on the swing, but if it breaks . . . he's close to the floor anyway.) 

So, I'm not doing resolutions this year . . . although I always have things I'm working on.  Mostly, I just need to get settled in my house and get back into our normal routines, and lifestyle, and space, etc. We pushed our moving day back to this coming Saturday, the 14th.  Everything just took way longer than we thought it would, but all the major stuff is done now.  So we're gradually moving in this week, and then renting a moving truck on Saturday for all the storage unit stuff.  Ah, I'm so excited!!!!!!!

I'm so focused on the moving stuff, getting the final touches on the house, etc. that my birthday week snuck up on me.  And with everything going on, I think we'll only have time to celebrate on Friday, my actual birthday.  How sad, huh?  hehe.  I guess that's okay for this year.  Especially since moving in to our new house is like the best birthday present ever!!!  (Also, some of our stuff has been stored for 31/2 years so it'll be like Christmas opening up some of these boxes.  Yay!)

So, as I was filling out my new calendar for 2012, I also took the time to look back over 2011's calendar.  We had lots of good stuff happening - play dates, baby blessing, birthdays, etc.  Also, there were ALOT of doctor appointments.  hehe.  I thought I'd do a short recap on all of us from 2011, based on what showed up on the calendar.  Here it goes . . .

ETHAN - Ethan did a lot of traveling for internships.  A lot!  Even though Eth was gone tons, he still managed to be an awesome daddy and husband to his little family.  Thanks for everything, babes!  He also had some biggies this year, like - graduating from his Doctor of Physical Therapy program, turning 30, passing his licensure exam, and getting his first "real" job with an awesome company.  Hooray for Ethan!  :)

ANGELA - I turned 30!  And I took care of kiddies alot . . . including our new, sicky one. hehe. (Not that I wrote that on the calendar . . . 'cause it's an every day kind of thing . . . but I tried to keep things going as best I could while Ethan was gone.)  I feel like I spent the first part of the year trying to keep my head above water with all the appointments for Caleb (and me too with working through the thyroid/blood pressure stuff after the pregnancy), all the medications he needed, getting Anna and Ben-Ben out and about, and to different activities.  Things eventually managed to calm down . . . somewhat.  I got a new calling this year in the Primary Presidency, and was pleasantly surprised with the excitement I felt, since I thought I'd been doing the primary thing for long enough.  Love the people I serve with, and love those kids!

ANNA - Had her first ever ballet recital.  She turned 6, and started kindergarten at Sandy Knoll.  Anna had a kidney infection for the first time, actually two back to back.  It was quite the traumatic experience for both of us, and included many different tests, IVs, ER visits, overnight hospital stay, and lots of antibiotics.  Also, Anna had lots of play dates with friends, and continues to be a social little butterfly.  And such a sweetie!  :)

BENJAMIN - Ben-Ben turned 3.  He went to lots of MOMs Club activities with me.  He started pre-school, and also ended his pre-school career.  (It's a long story . . . well, mostly I just felt like it wasn't the right thing for Ben. . . which is sad 'cause I really liked having a break for a couple hours M-Th. :)   Benjamin also finished his time in nursery at church, and transitioned to Sunbeams in the month of December.  Oh my.  All my kids are growing up too fast!  Ben's best friend - Logan - moved, and he still talks about him all the time.  (And apparently Logan does too.  :(  We're still working on finding him another bud to hang out with, but for right now he thinks that all of Anna's best friends are his best friends too.  Poor Ben.  hehe.

CALEB - Caleb had about 40 health related appointments in 2011.  Ridiculous!  A totally healthy baby would have had 3-4 appointments in that same amount of time.  (I'm counting all kinds of things - lab work, synegis shots, MRI on his big head, two trips downstate to specialists, regular checkups, dr. appointments for sickness, developmental appoints with early on, PT pediatrics appointments, etc.)  Wow!  That's alot.  Besides all the appointments on the calendar for his health, he was also blessed in February, and turned one in November.  What a first year!  (He's actually been sicker this season so far, I swear he's catching everything.  Plus, he only caught one cold last season.  We just know him better now, and what's normal for him, so it requires less appointments.)  

So, here's to a HEALTHIER 2012 for all of us - hopefully Caleb will continue to grow out of these lung issues (I'm hoping his appointments will at least be halved!), and Anna won't get any more kidney infections (or any new kind of infections!), and Ben-Ben will stay healthy (although he's been getting rashes lately. . . I think he has some mild allergies, geesh we can't catch a break! :), and Ethan and I will just get healthier in general . . . (once we're in our own space, and actually have a place at home to work out again, and are eating better again . . . and . . . . :).