Christmas week

We celebrated with my family in Sibley the weekend before Christmas.  Paul returned home on Christmas Eve and the kids and I stayed until the following weekend.  Even though Ruby was still having tummy pain, we squeezed in some good times as well!

Christmas Eve

Candlelight Service at church.  Ruby was so excited for this and belted some of her favorite Christmas songs... Joy to the World and Silent Night :)

Helping make popcorn balls

Making necklaces with grandma

Reading the Christmas story

Playing with new gifts

Playing hide-n-seek... no peeking!

Watching Brandon and Hattie's dog out the window

Jace and Grandpa Bill are the best of buds...attached at the hip ALL week long

Snow angels

We got home and were so excited to see daddy and have our own little Christmas celebration!  We got the kids an activity table for the sunroom.  

And some goodies in their stockings.  We decided that Ruby's favorite gift this year was her first scissors.  She wants to cut paper all the time now!  Jace's favorite gift was a new sippy cup.  It keeps him happy for quite awhile!  Apparently, they aren't too hard to please!  

We hope you and your family had a very Merry Christmas!  We wish you a blessed 2014 as well!  May God be at the center of all you do in the upcoming year!  

First and Second trip to the ER...for Ruby

Two days after Ruby's birthday, she complained of a tummy ache.  I kind of thought she was faking it because she ate a good breakfast, hadn't gotten sick, and was still acting like her normal self.  However, that night, her tummy ache got worse.  I couldn't get her to sleep.  She couldn't get comfortable.  She was miserable and inconsolable...to the point of screaming.  We finally decided to take her to the ER around midnight.  Paul stayed home with Jace and I took her in.  When we tell people this, they ask why Paul didn't take her.  Since only one of us could go, we decided that without Paul there, the doctor could make a decision on their own instead of just asking Paul what he wanted to do.  And because Ruby really only wanted me while she felt so miserable.  The doctor we saw thought it was probably just gastroenteritis.  They also did a strep test because she had some spots on her throat.  It came back negative.  By 2 am...still in the ER... she was exhausted and finally fell asleep.  I got her home and she slept until 6am.  We were supposed to travel to Sibley that day for my family's Christmas.  Because we weren't sure what was going on with Ruby and because the weather wasn't great, we decided to postpone our trip.  Ruby had her tummy ache off and on all day.  She had another screaming episode later in the day and nothing we did for her made any difference.  Paul was pretty sure it wasn't her appendix, but he wanted to rule out intussusecption (telescoping of the intestines).  We decided around 5:30 to take her back to the ER.  They did an ultrasound which didn't show anything.  We were sent home again with no answers.  We decided to travel the following day and by the grace of God, we had a fairly quiet drive.  However, for the entire time we were in Sibley, Ruby's tummy pain continued.  She also ended up with a rash, two different times, which made it clear that she most definitely wasn't faking this!  The entire week was a roller coaster.  She felt fine one minute and the next she was doubled over in pain.  Paul felt helpless as this mystery illness was out of his realm of knowledge.  Unfortunately and fortunately, we never did find the cause of her tummy pain and it went away after 8 miserable days.  Hopefully, it was just some odd virus that has finally made its way out of her body!

First ER trip  

Second ER trip

And throughout the week

Ruby's 3rd Birthday

We had a little celebration for Ruby the weekend before her birthday with Paul's family.  She was so excited for her party!

On her actual birthday, we took her swimming...one of her favorite things to do!  Apparently we had so much fun that we didn't even get a picture of the birthday girl.  But her brother had fun too!

Ruby also got a donut on her birthday...another favorite.  

The rest of the day was spent as a family, enjoying games and some new birthday gifts.  We had Ruby's birthday buddy, Scott Kallemeyn, and the rest of the Kallemeyn family over for supper and cupcakes that evening.

We had one more birthday celebration for Ruby when we arrived in Sibley the following weekend.  And she was spoiled some more.

The day after her birthday, she had her 3 year old checkup and passed her first eye exam!

Ruby, we love the little girl you are becoming!  You keep us on our toes, never forgetting anything we do or say!  You are usually a huge sweetheart and we are thankful for your good manners and kind heart.  You LOVE to sing!  And you love to make up your own songs too!  You love to make things in the kitchen and you love to create pieces of artwork!  You are still shy sometimes but at home you are such a crazy goose!  You love your brother and for that we are beyond grateful!  Have a great year being 3 years old!!!  We love you so much!

Jace - Ten Months

Jace turned ten months old on December 9th.  He is growing up so fast!  Jace now has 7 teeth; four on top and three on bottom.  He is pulling himself up on everything!  And he has become quite the fast crawler!  He definitely can get to where he wants to go...and quickly!  He loves to imitate us by "coughing" when someone clears their throat as well as making other funny noises.  Jace loves to play and seems to be fascinated by how things work.  He will play by himself for quite some time, just fascinated by his toys and other household items.  A favorite of his has become his sippy cup.  He loves to sip water from the straw!