Merry Christmas!

last night, dan and i had fun being "santa" - this was our first christmas at home, and the first time we got to do all the parent-type stuff! i'm very glad we did not have to assemble anything, because we had to wait until emily was asleep before we could put anything out. it was after ten when we started working on everything, and i was shocked when i went in the den and saw emily asleep on the couch! dan put her in her room and we worked fast, and finished around 11:00. to avoid the outing of santa at an early age (i was disappointed to learn his non-existence at 4), dan went and got her and put her in our room.

sugar plums were dancing in my head until around 3 when i heard ethan screaming. his pink eye was so much better, but he had a raging fever. i calmed him and tried to put him down several times, but no dice. he'd only sleep in my arms so we went in the den and i tried to sleep in the recliner. i can only assume he has an ear infection - i guess we'll be at the doctor the day after christmas instead of the mall. he woke up around 7:15 and christmas officially began!

well, merry christmas to ethan. he got an early christmas present - pink eye. that almost certainly counts ethan and me out of going to our church's candlelight christmas eve service!! i'm so upset - dan is playing his guitar during the readings. oh well, i just hope ethan feels better soon!

i am the new preschool coordinator at our church & also the paid childcare coordinator. i'm in charge of three employees! i am enjoying this new position, lots! we go to a smallish church, so i personally know all the other preschool parents & that is good and bad. good, because i already have relationships with most of them, and of course, bad because i do have relationships with them. my main goal this year is to try to change some of our church's polices - not huge changes, but i've only been on the job a few weeks and i've already had a parent express their dislike. people fear change. i'm sure i won't get to do everything i've envisioned, but hopefully most of my proposed budget request will be approved. i'm just glad to be doing something other than being a mom. not that i don't enjoy it (that was for dan, i know he reads my blog), i just enjoy working on something other than potty training! and of course, i do look forward to the drama i'll be stirring up at church! :)

HAPPY (early) NEW YEAR!

Christmas card 2005 outtakes

this was the first picture of the night, we could tell things were not going to go well....

i took away emily's dora doll, and she was not happy....

would have been a good shot if ethan would have stayed on the stool...

well, so much for the great Christmas card pic. as i predicted, all they wanted to do was take ornaments off the tree. we did not get a great shot - so we're going with a picture i took week before last...and it's blurry! since the pic is blurry and they are sitting on a chair, we decided to mail "happy new year" cards. i don't know what the deal is with our kids, i mean, we've gotten several cards from friends who have kids who are around the same age and those pictures are great!! i wish this picture would have turned out a little better - it would have been great!

sunday afternoon we went to a Christmas event at our church and it was tons of fun. emily and ethan went on their first hay ride, and got up close and personal with some animals at the live nativity. before we left, emily was concerned about which animals would be there. she asked us several times if tigers and polar bears would be there. we explained only the animals that were in the stable when the baby Jesus was born would be there - she was relieved. anyway, ethan nearly jumped out of my arms to get at the animals, so i finally had to put him down next to the fence. if i would have given him enough time he would have found a way to jump over it, i know. i don't know if either one paid any attention to the baby Jesus, but i know one day they will notice him and the animals. it's fun to see them experience things for the first time, especially eternal things. oh, and one more thing. we were quizzing emily on what the wise men brought Jesus. even though we've drilled it over and over again what they actually brought, she would only say one thing; sparkles. these are truly the salad days.

tomorrow is their last day of MDO until janurary. i'll have to make the most of my time since i was in s'port all last week. i don't have much shopping to do, but only having a couple of days left to do everything is freaking me out!

thanks to nick jr., emily is obsessed with the dora talking doll house. she saw a commercial for it about a month ago, and told us then that's what santa was bringing her. thanks nick jr., that silly doll house is fifty bucks, and of course, does not come with any accessories. we found one for her, so all her christmas dreams will come true, and santa, not us, will be the hero. commercials have already gotten to my 3 year-old. i think she needs to watch less nick jr. and more PBS. at least ethan will be easy to buy for - at his age he loves to play with anything.

because we pretty much lost last week, we are very late getting our christmas cards out. we were planning to take last week to take some outdoor pics, but oh well. our big plans are to take some tonight in front of the tree - that'll be fun since neither of them can stand next to the tree without taking off the ornaments and re-hanging them! we'll probably get no usable pics and may just have to send some "happy new year" cards instead...

happy birthday Chris

we miss you

31 would have sucked anyway!

my only brother chris was killed early sunday morning on his way to work. he was late, speeding, and was not wearing his seat belt. i don't want to write the details, but i will say he was ejected and did not live.

chris was 30 years old, just 8 days shy of his 31st birthday. he was a big guy, over six foot. he loved sports, played softball year-round and was a LSU fanatic. i tortured him as a child, so we did not have the greatest relationship. i graduated high school when he was in the 8th grade, and as adults we lived in separate cities and never got the chance to see one another a lot. i think that's the reason we never connected later in life. i also did a lot of growing up after high school - chris only knew the person i was before Jesus saved me - and he did not like that person. i wish we would have built a different relationship as adults, but sadly that did not happen.

the last time i spent any time with him was last christmas, and that was very brief. he worked the night shift at a prison and only had limited time to see us. actually, christmas was the last time i really even talked to him, and i remember we did not even make eye contact. we had an argument and never really settled things. i still kept up with what he was doing, only i asked my mom, i never talked to him.

even though we were not close, i'll miss him just the same. there is a bond between siblings arguments can't break. and i'm terribly saddened knowing my kids will never know their uncle. he loved kids and i know he loved them. ethan looks just like chris, so i guess we'll always see chris' face in his (and his ears - both ethan and chris have huge boudreau ears). we've lost dan's dad, and now my brother. now there are two people in their lives we have to make sure they know. i'm not sure how to do that, but i guess dan and i will figure it out.

in the past i've always just rolled my eyes when people tell you to make sure and let your loved ones know how they are loved and how much they mean to you. i mean, my deal is people should now how you feel. well, i'm not completely sure chris knew. i wish i'd expressed to him in my heart i loved him unconditionally even though my pride kept me from a relationship with him. don't get me wrong, i'm not going to turn into a serial hugger, but i plan to do a better job of letting people know what they mean to me. we are truly not guarenteed another day.

let me also say my brother was a christian. he made a committment to Christ when he was in high school. that comforts me a little, to know he is with the Lord, but of course i'd rather have him here. our lives will never be the same now that he's gone. i can't imagine living the rest of my life as an only child.

i'm a little anxious to know the sex of the baby. i got a new computerized embroidery/sewing machine and i'm ready to start sewing and buying things to personalize. i'm 18 weeks along so i'm close, but because of the holidays we won't be able to get an appointment for the fetal-development sonogram until janurary. i'm horrible at having to wait for anything & i hate to be surprised. i have a friend who is about to deliver any day now, and they chose not to find out the sex. that would drive me crazy!! i mean there's only so much green and yellow things to buy!

both our children have "e" first names and "c" middle names so i assume we'll do that with this one, but if it's a boy choosing a name will be really hard. we did not committ to ethan's name until after he was born because dan was not thrilled with the name ethan. but hey, it went great with charles (charles is dan's middle name and my dad's name). there is not another "e" name for a boy dan will agree to & we've already disagreed on a girl name...so i guess the name game will continue.

snot. i hate it. ethan has missed both days of mother's day out this week because he has a snotty nose. i guess the snot season started early this year - neither one of them really get snotty noses until mid-january or so. but i guess the bright side is i got to spend 8 hours with ethan without emily. he is such a sweet boy, and i do love being with him. some friends told me when i was pregnant with him a mom's relationship with sons were different than ones with daughters. duh, i mean they are two different babies...but now i really know what they meant. boys seem to connect in a different way with their moms. emily was never particularly affectionate as a baby/toddler, and never cared if i was around (she still prefers dan) but ethan on the other hand never wants me to put him down or leave the room without him. it's not just that he is so attached, it's the way he looks at me - like i'm the best thing ever. he makes my heart smile. i worry about him adjusting to the new baby. when dan and i do extended session at church ethan always gets a little miffed when i have to hold/take care of another kid. but he will just have had his 2nd birthday so maybe he'll be a little more independent. yeah right. i was not as worried about emily's adjustment, i mean she was so young when he was born i knew she would just adapt. oh well - the baby is coming in may no matter if ethan will be ready or not!

i always seem to post things that emily says, but i guess it's because ethan has a vocabulary of 10. so here you go ethan, a post all for you!

poor Emily. she wants our house to have Christmas lights so bad!! a couple of weeks ago most of our neighbors started putting theirs up. we normally have ours up a few days after thanksgiving, but due to all the sickness we're late, and she's sad. whenever we are out (even in broad daylight) she points out how "bootiful" the houses are that are decorated & lit up. it's sad to hear her say her dad will make our house "all bright" soon. she will be so happy when dan puts the lights up saturday! i'm excited to put christmas decorations up - albeit late. as i take things down and put decorations up, i'm packing the non-seasonal things for good! we are putting our house up for sale in january & i see no reason to put things back after christmas if i'll have to just take them down again. and plus, i've been watching the sell this house! series on a&e and all the suggestions are to take down the family pictures and get rid of the clutter. i've got a handle on the clutter - i hate nick nacks...

i think emily knows we are planning to do something with the house - she listens to everything dan and i say, so how could she not?? anyway, she told me the other day that we would have to make the house "this much longer" so the baby would fit. imagine her doing the motions to deep and wide and you'll picture what she was doing. i told her we would just find a new house and she totally objected to that. will moving totally mess with her mind?? i hope so, just a little. we are fighting the nighttime war with her, and currently, she's winning. i don't know what the average age is, but she learned how to open doors a few months ago (just before she turned 3). so since she's learned that skill she comes in our room several times a night. we've tried everything to keep her in. so when we move being in new surroundings at night may harm her forever or solve the problem. i'm hoping it solves the problem!!