Christmas is almost here....

Christmas is almost here... it's hard to believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and even harder to imagine that Jack is 2 and Maggie is almost 6 months old.
I, fully intended for this post to have all of my favorite moments of 2009, but there are just WAY TOO MANY to chose from - however, over dinner tonight, Brian and I were talking and one really funny one came to mind.

Jackson, my complete fruit lover (if you've ever met the kid, you'd know this) was at the park with some friends, and me of course having a playdate this summer. One of the little girls spit out a piece of cantaloupe onto the ground, then a random dog (no owner near) came by and licked it, and then my darling child picked it up - AND BEFORE I COULD PRY IT FROM HIS HANDS - put it in his mouth and ate it. Happy as a clam.
I don't do things like that, and I wind up with Swine Flu. I guess my kiddos are blessed with great immune systems, which is good thing, especially if Maggie is anything like her older brother.

We will be hosting Christmas Eve and Christmas this year. I'm excited, and honestly, a bit stressed. I know my lovely Mother in Law will help a ton, it's just a lot to do... and I've been putting off way tooo much (thank you Eggnog Latte this afternoon for a pick me up).

But, I am so excited to finally use the China that was my Grandmother's and that she gave to Brian and me for our wedding gift - along with a beautiful antique hutch and antique dining room table and chairs.
Lastly, we are all blessed in one way or another. I'm sad that I won't be with my side of the family this Christmas, but they are on my heart and mind this year.
I love you all, and wish you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Love,
Brooke
xoxoxoxo

Incredibly Thankful...

As the holidays approach, I think we all begin to feel the rush of shopping, decorating, baking, visiting loved ones, etc., and at times lose the real meaning of Christmas.

As most of you know - this story is going somewhere FYI:) - I am an active member of a fabulous Mom's group here in Gig Harbor. One of the Mom's got a call from the secretary of her church, telling her of a single mother with 2 children. A 3 year old boy, and a 4 year old girl. The mother is disabled and unable to work or drive due to her disability. She is homeless, and someone has paid for her to stay in a hotel for the month of December, but she is unsure of what she will be doing afterwards. As a group, we are all putting our resources together to make sure they have a great Christmas. We are chipping in on gifts for all of them, as well as meals, etc. But, really in the "BIG picture" this could be any of us. In this economy EVERYONE is struggling. It could take one lost paycheck to be on the streets. I admire this woman for asking for help for her children and for herself. This must be a very difficult thing to do.

Ok, so to the point, Brian and I have decided to really scale down this year for Christmas. We are just doing stocking stuffers for eachother, and very small, but fun gifts for the kiddos... and on my side of the family we are not doing gifts, and on Brian's side we draw names for the adults and just buy for the kids. I think at times we need to remember that a $100 pair of jeans could buy a homeless family food for 2 weeks. It's all about putting things into perspective. Are our children going to remember the gifts they got, or the memories of waking up with Mom, Dad, Grandpa and Grandma there? I think the latter, especially when they are so young. I think it is also extremely important to begin teaching our children to help others. Although we are blessed to have a warm home, warm beds to sleep in and food on the table, not every family does.

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, and remember that there are families out there that need our help. Even if it's a card, a bag of groceries, a gift card, or a hug....

Christmas is on it's way...

I'm a happy Santa baby!

I've been extra good this year, Santa!

Our sweetie, yes, in a stocking, she'll thank us when she's 16 for this photo! :)

Our sweet girl is growing!

Always a happy guy!

Big girl, who might really get to eat in her high chair ... soon!

Our gorgeous matching stockings bought for us by Brian's mom.... I LOVE them!!!!

And, the stockings were hung.....

Some photos to enjoy of the kiddos and our tree... we are really looking forward to a lovely Christmas this year. We will be spending it with Brian's parents... and hopefully his brother Jeff and family... let's hope the weather cooperates! Enjoy!

Tooth saga continues....

You'd really think I was an 80 year old woman at this point.... with all of my ongoing health issues... well, add to the bag my teeth. As most of you know, I had two root canals done back to back the week prior to Thanksgiving. The first one healed nicely, and is still patiently awaiting it's crown. :P

The second one however, bothered over Thanksgiving weekend and continued into the following week. I finally went back to the Endodontist, after taking 2 rounds of Penicillin and pain medication. He looked at it and discovered a crack in it. So, he took the composite out of it, to check the inside, and indeed there was a crack on the inside as well. How the crack came about, and if it was there to begin with is still to be determined (or never in my mind). So, I'm thinking that he'll just "fix" it... well, fixing it is.... EXTRACTING AKA pulling the tooth. I was very upset when he told me that, but tried to stay strong and realize it's just a tooth, my very last back tooth for that matter.
So I quickly went over to the regular dentist, got all numbed up, and out came the tooth, all in one piece, it was surprisingly quick and easy! I chose not to keep the tooth, much to Brian's dismay :).

But, it is healing now, and I'm hoping after my first good root canal gets it's crown put on, we'll be good to go in the dental dept. for a while.
(ps. the tooth fairy did come even though I didn't have a tooth, with a Starbucks gift card!!!- I'm a lucky lady!).

On another note, the same day, I saw my neurologist.... again, am I 80? We are now trying a new medication for me that has virtually NO side effects (WAHOOO!), but the stinger (literally) - it's an injection that I have to give myself as soon as I feel a headache coming on. The plus being no sleepy side effects, etc. It's an anti inflammatory, so no pain meds to cause rebound headaches. So that was a GREAT appointment. I've had the injections before at Urgent Care and the ER, so hopefully this will save us many visits to those not so fun places.

In other news, Jack and Maggie are doing great. Jack is growing so fast, and learning new things every day! He can say 3, 2, 1 ... GO! Of course with something being projected or pushed (ie.... ball, train, car). Maggie is also growing like a champ. She gets sweeters, smarter and cuter each and every day. I bought some rice cereal, so we may give it a try this weekend... we'll see... she seems so little, but she'll be 6 months, January 2nd, when you can officially begin giving them rice cereal. However, with Jack I think we started a little earlier... he was a hungry boy! :)

Again, we hope you all are enjoying this wonderful Holiday Season. Remember to tell the ones you love that you love them, Remember not to sweat the small stuff, because it's all small stuff, and remember that the Weeks love all of you!
xo,
Brooke

Thanksgiving...

Well, I have not posted in a while, and it is all due to the ongoing Tooth saga... dun....dun...dun!!!! It has been pretty bad. I had one root canal done on one tooth, and then a few days later, I had to have yet another root canal done on the tooth next door to the first root canal tooth. It all = no fun.
But, we did have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
We made it down to Portland - we weren't sure if we would make it or not, due to the root canal I had done the day before. But, we made it, and we were all so glad we did!
We stayed with Grandma Bette, and got to spend a lot of time with her, which we all enjoyed so much.
Jack and Maggie also got to see their Grandma Amy and Aunt Jayda. It was Aunt Jayda's first time meeting Maggie, so it was all pretty exciting.
It took a while for Jack to warm up to the big crowded house, but once he was warmed up, he had a blast with EVERYONE! Especially all of his younger second cousins.
Maggie did great throughout the trip, as well.
We only had to stop once each way!
I gotta say, (knock on wood) our munchkins are good little travelers!
Thank you to Grandma Bette for letting us destroy her home, and Aunt Kathy for having a wonderful Thanksgiving, and Grandma Amy and Aunt Jayda for making the trip.
We love you all, and it was wonderful to see all of our extended family as well!