Merry Christmas!

December 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

This year has gone by so quickly. This year we had our 2nd annual trip to Disneyland in October. We were there during Amy’s 5th birthday. We had a great trip and enjoyed our time together with David’s family. We are planning another trip for next year. It is a great to spend time with aunts, uncles and cousins.

Amy just turned 5 years old and attends preschool 3 half days a week. She is learning how to read and really enjoys it. She is also in a ballet/tap class. Her favorite is ballet. Her dance studio is putting on the Nutcracker and she will be a doll dancer with Clara. She is really enjoying it. She is becoming so grown up and thinks she is the boss of her brother. She is really getting into her friends and having play dates.

Parker is 2.5 years old and is a very good little boy, but can keep his mom and dad busy. He was in speech therapy this fall, but we decided to take a little break to see how he will do with just help from us. He just started putting two words together, but he is still really hard to understand. It probably doesn’t help that his mom is an audiologist and has high expectations. J He is a sweet boy and loves to cuddle with his mom. Mom doesn’t mind. I know it won’t last forever.

David is still working in data security and keeps busy with projects around the house. He is perpetually working on getting the garage cleaned out. It is a never-ending project. I think he just really likes the garage.

Shannon is still working two 8 hour days on Tuesday and Thursday at the same clinic. It is nice to have a long weekend every week. Shannon has started a new hobby, blogging. It is a great way to keep connected with family and friends and keep a journal of our life.

We hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Love,
Shannon, David, Amy and Parker

Decorating the Christmas tree

We finally got our tree on Saturday, December 12th. We had it up for a couple of days before we started to decorate it because the first day the branches had to relax and we really didn't have time. Amy and Parker loved to decorate it. I didn't get any pictures of Parker decorating the tree, because when I finally got out my camera he was more interested in the ladder. I realized that I forgot put a picture of the tree. I will have to add that later.

Broken house

The beginning of this week we noticed that our house was not very warm. We thought that it was just our house because it has been getting very cold this month. Down into the single digits and below zero. On Wednesday I had Activity Days at my house and it was only 60 degrees and the girls complained that it was cold. I agreed with them. The next morning when we woke up the temperature was down to 55 degrees. The heater was running non-stop. Our thought was great our furnace is going out. This summer we had our air conditioning services and they told us that we may have to replace our air conditioner/furnace because it wasn't keeping the house cool and it could be any number of problems and they couldn't promise that replacing the parts would fix the problem.

Well, when we got home from work on Thursday our house was still cold about 53 degrees now. David was totally stressed. Then the refrigerator started making a loud noise. Great, our furnace and now the refrigerator! That won't be cheap. Well David was able to fix the fridge. It turned out that the letter magnets had gone under the fridge and was causing the problems. Once he took them out every thing was fine. To say the least we are getting rid of the magnets.
That fix that problem thank goodness, but our house was still cold. We brought in the space heater to warm up the bonus room. We dressed the kids nice and warm and put them to bed. David decided to check to see if there was a problem with the ducts under the house. When he opened the crawl space a blast of warm air came out. David tried to crawl under the house, but he couldn't fit through the frames. I was recruited to go and investigate and fix the problem.

So let me just point out two little things. I am a little claustrophobic and I hate spiders. I was not sure I would be able to do this, but I was tired of my house being cold and it was suppose to get cold again that night. So at 9:30 at night I put on a jump suit, gloves and with duct tape and a flash light I went under the house. The main duct coming from the furnace had completely come apart. It was way bigger than I expected. It was probably about 20 inches in diameter. It would have been nice to have another set of hands, because I had to hold the flash light in my mouth, try to hold the duct tape and all the parts together (there were three parts, the actual duct, insulation and then a plastic cover) and put the tape around it. I kept getting dirt on the tape or the tape would stick to my glove. I managed to get the thing together, but it didn't look pretty. We will have to hire some to fix it the right way. But the great news was that the house warmed right up after I fixed it.

So we don't think there was any problem with our air conditioner we think there may have just been a hole in the duct. Our utility bill has been high for the last year. Hopefully we have found the problem and won't have to replace the furnace or AC any time soon. I was just thankful that my husband thought to check under the house.

I should have had David take before and after pictures of me going into the crawl space. It was dirty and there were lots of spider webs. Yuck! Here are some cute pictures of Parker helping Dad with the fridge. He loves to help and play with tools. He is definitely a boy.

You gotta love the binky.

Amy's Christmas Program

Amy had her Christmas program at school. She did a great job. Her teachers told themif they sang really well then they would have a special vister. I think that definitely think that helped Amy to sing well. She listens when she thinks Santa is involved. It worked for the winter program, but I don't know what they will use in the spring. Most of the pictures didn't turn out very good. Amy looks just like her dad when he was little in this picture.

Gingerbread House

It has become a tradition at our house to decorate a gingerbread house every year. Amy really enjoys it and this year she was able to do a lot more by herself. Parker even got in on the fun. They both enjoyed eating the frosting and candy as they decorated. I put the house together an helped when Amy asked, but Amy did most of it and Parker helped add candy. I helped when asked, but they did most of it all by themselves. Amy thought it was fun to use the glue but usually she had me do the big things like the roof and the tree.

The finished house. Parker didn't stick around for the final pictures. Not a big surprise since he is two and doesn't sit still for long.

Looks great!

Snow Angel

This was the first day it snowed this year. The kids were so excited to go outside and play in it. It has been really cold here for quite some time. I am glad that it finally snowed. If is going to be cold we might as well have snow.

Amy's first snow angel.

Parker did like getting the snow on his skin at all. He was happy just walking around in it. No laying down in the snow like his sister to make snow angels.

Lip Stick face

Parker got into to my makeup and put lip stick all over his face. He thought it looked pretty cute. I love how he did his cheeks, chin and around the outside of his lips, but none on his lips. He wasn't too happy when I had to take it off with makeup remover. He hates having his face washed.