our weekend

(Dahlia was crying because daddy walked away; she is such a daddy's girl!)

On Saturday we had a break from the cold weather, so we went to the park to enjoy the nice weather.   We are now back to cold, rainy weather!

2 year transplant annivesary

Someone is celebrating her 2 year heart transplant anniversary today!!  I feel like we should be throwing a huge celebration for her and for me and Brian as well.  Man, have we earned it!  This whole transplant thing can really chew you up and spit you out, so each anniversary is a BIG DEAL.  But, since we are broke we will be throwing a simple family party.  Even though it has been two years, the fact that Dahlia has a heart transplant is still surreal at times.  The generosity and kindness of complete strangers, who gave my daughter a second chance at life, still brings tears to my eyes and reminds me there are still really kind, compassionate people in this world.  I am so thankful to have this special, brave girl still with us today.

spelling bee

Aiden won third place at his school's spelling bee!  He was so proud of the trophy he won.

christmas break part 2

One of the days during Christmas break we went to see the Battleship Texas and the San Jacinto Monument.  I hadn't been there in a long time so it was fun to see it again and have the kids see a bit of Texas history.  I had forgotten how tall and steep those ladders on the battleship were!  Luckily, everyone made it off the ship without any accidents.

Christmas break Part 1

We had a great Christmas break.  We spent a week at my parents house.  My parents had just returned home from their church mission and all of their eight kids were there, except for my brother, who is expecting a baby soon.  It was wonderful to spend lots of time with everyone.  My kids had lots of fun getting to know their cousins Saige and Colby, who they hadn't seen in about three years. One of the days we were there we went to the park. 

eleven

Dario turns 11 years old today; I can hardly believe it.  He is growing up way too fast!

christmas tree

Last Saturday we went to a local Christmas tree farm to pick out our tree.  I love this fun tradition, nothing beats a fresh tree and we are lucky that there is a farm close by.  It was freezing, so we didn't bring Dahlia, who already was sick with a cold. The farm gave out delicious, hot spiced apple cider which helped warm everyone up.

thanksgiving

We had lots of fun visiting with family during Thanksgiving break. Dahlia loved being around all her cousins.  Lorelei and Dahlia are the same age and are so cute together.  They were playing and Dahlia scooted up to Lorelei, grabbed her hand and said, "come on, Lorelei!"  Instead of running off to play, they scooted off together.  On Friday, the guys watched the kids, and the girls went out to lunch.  It's always nice to get a little break!  On Saturday we took the kids to a park to play and have a picnic.  While we were there, we took some family pictures.  While we were taking them, we were joking that they would make great redneck Christmas cards, with all of our mismatched t-shirts and kids with food smeared all over their faces!

progress

Dahlia has been making such good progress lately!  She has started pulling herself up while holding on to something, and she can take steps while holding someone's hands.  Dahlia will get so excited and say, "I walking, I walking!"  The biggest progress she has made has been with her eating.  She is now eating table foods!  At first she wasn't interested in any type of finger food or table food at all.  Gradually her interest grew and she would lick the food or mush it up in her mouth and then spit it out or gag on it.  She can now chew and swallow without any problem at all, and has been eating really well.  This process has really made me not take something that seems so simple, like eating by mouth, for granted.  For many babies like Dahlia, with development delay, this is a huge hurdle that doesn't come easy.  I am so proud of the progress she made!

fall festival

This past weekend we went to a fall festival at a local nature center.  The weather was gorgeous and we had fun seeing all the scarecrows that were on display as we walked through the gardens.  The kids decorated pumpkins and the nature center was giving away all of the pumpkins that decorated the gardens, to make way for their Christmas decorations.  I brought home a big fairytale pumpkin.  It was lots of fun and free!

seven

Ava turned seven on Friday.  She is such a big help, especially with Dahlia.  Dahlia gets so excited when Ava comes home from school.  Ava will read her books or bring Dahlia to her room and let Dahlia play with her toys.  Sometimes, if Ava goes into an other room, Dahlia will call out, "Ava come on!".  Whenever Dahlia gets sick or has to go to the hospital, Ava always gets so concerned for her.  I am so lucky to have such a sweet daughter!