Here it comes... ready or not!

2012

It'll be 2012 in just a few minutes.

Is it me or do the years go quicker and quicker??

2011 was a "different" year for us...

*We moved to a farm in a GREAT town and met some good friends.

*The girls changed schools and fit right in- and now have some close friends.

*Jenni gave soccer another try and is great at it!

*I gave birth, knowing our lives would be changed for ever, but going into the OR, literally, not knowing how.

*We found out how loved we are by so many family members helping out.

*We fell in love with Jackson and watched him overcome multiple infections, grow, crawl, stand, laugh and love.

*My son almost died.

*We were introduced to the world of Hospital Pediatric Floors.

*Maria and clan came for the best visit ever.

*Jennibelle overcame her fear of the ocean, learned to ride a bike and lost her first tooth.

*Jaylee went away to camp, got braces joined choir and ran for Student Counsel.

*Friends had heart attacks, Aunts had strokes, Cousins had cancer and so on and so forth.

*Meg got engaged

*I learned that to be a better Wife and Mother I needed to stop trying to please everyone else and focus more on "us"

So, what will 2012 bring???

*We know that it will bring me and the girls new fancy dresses for a wedding.

*Jackson will have reconstruction surgery.

*Jason and I will be married for 10 years.

*We will have a double-digit daughter.

*I WILL get back into shape.

*Jaylee wants to be Baptized.

And it will bring SO MUCH MORE!!!

I KNOW there will be heartache... Jackson has surgery, Mommom and Poppop are over 90, Mandy's life is still in limbo, the world will end on Dec 21st...

I also KNOW that there will be excitement and fun - and I am excited!!!!

Christmas Day

Christmas Eve started at 6 am on the 24th when I got home from work and the kids were up, begging to open their Christmas Eve (Stringham family) gifts. So... we let them open Gma and Gpa's!!

Jackson seemed to "get" unwrapping!!

Then we went to dinner at Nan and Poppop's at 2.

Jackson love to watch football with Jason!!

And he's starting to love to climb too.

The girls were so excited that they were sitting with their first gifts before we even finished dinner.  They were ecstatic when we finally told them they could start unwrapping...

The Liounis grandkids...

Jaylee 9, Jennibelle 6, Morgan 2, Cole 16m, Jackson 9m

Jackson and Cole love to play together and give each other kisses!!  ;)

After we heard Santa's sleigh bells, we headed out to do our Traditional Christmas Eve sneaking around!!!  Then we got home and  baked Santa some cookies, left out carrots for the reindeer, wrote Santa Thank you notes, opened Uncle Brian's gifts, read Twas the Night Before Christmas and the story of Jesus' birth, sang some Christmas carols and got the kids into bed by 9pm.  Then Jason and I put together Jackson's gift (see below), brought down all the gifts from the attic, cleaned up (b/c I like the house to be clean in pictures and Jason is nice enough to humor me) and got to bed by 11pm.  Successful Christmas Eve, in my book!!!

Here's what Santa left us:

And here is what we left at the end of the fun...

And here's some in-between pics...

Everyone seemed to love Jackson's BIG gift!!!

and Jackson seemed to love his keys:

Jaylee gave Jenni a Queen sized bed:

Jenni got Jason Linoln Logs b/c she knew that he loved them growing up!!

Jason also got a "Dad's Against Daughters Dating Democrats" Tshirt, Hot Sauce, a Gun Cleaning Kit, a Wooly Hat, a Mousepad, a Coffee Mug, Slippers and a Blue Tooth Ear piece. 

Jackson's truck is almost as big as him!

Jenni' Barbie Furniture box was bigger than she was!

Jenni got me neclaces, Jaylee got me a few cake mixes and accessories since we have our island to bake on now and Jackson got me a zoomier lens for my cool-girl camera.  Jason also got me karaoke stuff.  I made out:)

Jaylee's gifts included:

Monster High dolls x2, Crib Life doll, American Girl doll and clothing, Alligator head, Bike, Book, Tackle box w/ supplies, Hello Kitty shirt, Walkable LPS, Chuckee Cheese and Target gift card and a Crayola Art Board.

Jenni must have been on the "Nice" list as well...

Moxie girl and boy doll, Walkable LPS, a Gameboy, Barbie Furniture, a Robe and Slippers, a Queen sized bed, a Doll from Nan, a colorable Bear, Chuckee Cheese and Target gift cards, and a Book!

And then there is Jackson...

Big Jungle Gym, Truck, Clothes, Ball, Bubble blower, Electronic House and Turtle Book, Keys, Shaving kit,  Elephant game, Shape sorter and Follow that Bird movie.

Plus... he literally woke up with HIS TWO FRONT TEETH barely poking through the gums!!!!

After a breakfast from Jason and a long parent's nap, we took our Nativity pictures...

Jaylee- Wise man, Jenni - Shepard, Jackson - Joseph

Dolls - Mary and Baby Jesus

Nan and Poppop stopped by to see all of the kids' goodies...

Home made Christmas meal...

Ham, Mashed potatoes, home made stuffing (YUM!!), gravy and corn...

Started out great, until Jackson really choked on mashed potatoes and then proceeded to VOMIT all over the highchair!!!!!!!

Does he not know that for the past 15 months, I wake every morning praying that he will make it through another day and then he goes and chokes whenever he gosh darn feels like it?!?

Tonight I got to "play" with my new lens....

Jenni painted this Santa... I LOVE IT!!!

Jaylee and her American girl doll from Nan and Poppop...

looks just like her!!

Jaylee made a lot of her family Jaylee-made ornaments this year...

mine is the "M" one...

MERRY CHRISTMAS Y'ALL!!!!!

Meg's Engaged

I got the text 6 minutes ago...

My sister Meg is engaged.

Then I chuckled...

She decides to commit her life to George...

and all I got was a lousy text!

Sometimes I love technology, sometimes I don't.

I am soooooooooooo happy for them right now though.

They had a romantic evening in a limo driving through Hershey Park's Christmas lights with snow lightly fallling to the ground.

It's like a movie.

Planning a wedding is fun (I think... I never had to plan one, Thanks Mom!!)

I just hope she can plan the day that THEY want, and not what everyone else wants!!

This is the picture from FB that she posted BEFORE their date...

George and Meg Heller to-be.

I just found out that I will be the Maitron of Honor this Spring!!!!!!

YAY!!!!

A Day at Geisinger

Oh, how I did not miss spending whole days at the hospital!

And we've been lucky, that it's been about 4 weeks since we've had to!!!

So Jackson had a BMP and UA done-

TOTALLY NORMAL!!!

(creatnine 0.4)

Then he had a Renal US-

Dr Sumfest was more than happy with the amount of "schrinkage" to the overall size of the kidneys and ureters.  Each kidney was appx 5 cm but the hydronephrosis had decreased also.  The ureters remain real big, but are smaller.  He is not worried if Jackson has reflux, because there is nothing to be done at this time anyway (Surgery is the answer, and Jackson will have to be a few years old).  So, he will check for scar tissue from the last surgery and then reconstruct his hypospadia in early Feb sometime.  YAY!!!!!

Dr Muchant was please with the US also, except she again mentioned that the tissue of the kidneys does not look promising for a long term prognosis.  She says the kidneys are the same color as the kliver, and they should NOT be.  However, as shown by his creatnine, they are working perfectl right now.  So, I will try not to dwell on this for the next year or so.

Jackson is remaining to be in the 25% for height and weight.  You can tell by looking at him, that his belly is not as unproportionably big as it had been!!!! 

His BP was a little high (like usual) 116/74 and 106/76 (should be less than 100/) but it is not alraming... we'll just check it more often.

And now I must spend all day tomorrow trying to figure out insurances again b/c now Geisinger will no longer take Jackson's secondary insurance...  aaarrrrggggg!!!!

Great Song

This song has been around for a few years now BUT I still love it!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LMgO4JyBp4&feature=related

Need You Now by Lady Antebellum

Santa Pictures

We had a great time at Merry Lititz Christmas and got to see Santa and Mrs Clause on the Caboose!!!

The kids took their lists with them.

Christmas 2011

Jaylee 8, Jennibelle 6, Jackson 9mos

Jaylee's list...

Jennibelle's list... 

Jaylee wrote Jackson's list for him...

Fall fun 2011

 We have had some FUN...

like usual...

Jaylee was the Narrator in her class' Thanksgiving play...

This inspired her to write her own play that we all acted out on Thanksgiving for the Liounises...

You'd think by now I'd know how to write "Liounises", but I'm not sure if this is the right way! 

 Jennibelle had fun (the same day) at the first grade's Thanksgiving Feast...

(Pink, B&W outfit)

Jackson LOVES going to school to see the girls and also LOVEs seeing Cole...

Here is he is giving Cole kisses!!! 

He is technically a crawler, which is weird

b/c both of the girls were too fat to crawl and just learned how to walk!!

But NOT Jackson...

thin, lean and a fighting machine... 

We attempted some home-made family Christmas pix.

This is what we got...

I LOVE the first pic but I am not in it so I felt bad mailing it out... if only!!!

It is one of my favorite pix EVER....

SO, this is the one that got mailed out...

The girls and I decorated a door for their school's Christmas season...

I had a fancy 3D snowman idea but we found these cute stickers and took the easy way out.

It turned out pretty cool though...

We LOVE these Rudolph noses...

well, everyone EXCEPT Jackson loves them!!

And JB decided AGAIN that she wishes she needed glasses.
These are Jason's...

Jackson LOVES to play!

Every time I look at him, lately, I get sooo mad at the Drs that suggested we to abort him...

JERKS!!!! (and that' the nice word I want to say)

He is one really good looking kid....

I am a sucker for blue eyes though:)

Jason, AGAIN, saved our Jeep and saved us from spending thousands at the shop.

Not sure he enjoys working on cars anymore though!!!

The girls were so excited to decorate outside for Christmas that they undid all of my decorations and redid them themselves... They are super proud and happy of them though so it is OK.  It was 70' while they were decorating!!!

What would Fall on a farm with 2 huge 200+ year old trees be without a BIG pile?!?!?

We don't ever want to find out...

Happy End of Fall Y'all!!!