Surgery Day

These two crazy kids both had to have surgery in the middle of December.  Graham was scheduled to get tubes on December 17th.  Then, a week or two later, Lucy had to have what's called a "muco-seal" removed from under her tongue.  Side note:  I had one on the inside of my lip removed in college.    When they called to schedule the date for her surgery, they offered the same morning that Graham was going in (same doctor was performing the surgery).  Sweet!

They both did great and recovered quickly.  Although, Lucy had a painful sore under her tongue that bothered her for quite a while.

Graham seems to be doing better now.  The doctor was sure that the fluid in his ears had been there for a really, really long time.  Poor guy probably had multiple infections and we didn't know.  The last few months prior to his surgery, he would often do this sniffing thing to "make his ears work better".  The sniffing would get quite intense.  We finally took him to the doctor when we realized he wasn't hearing us very well.  He was going through a VERY irritable phase, too.  He asked one morning if we would take him to the doctor to see why his ears weren't working.  Stellar parents, I know.

Certificates

We are so proud of Graham!  He was chosen as Student of the Month in November.  

He was so excited to tell me.  He got a magnet that says his name.  I told him that it makes me smile every time I see it.  For two weeks after that, every time I went to the fridge he would watch me to see if I was smiling or point to it and say, "Mom?" and then see if I smiled.  He still does it every once in while.  

I had to laugh at the spelling on the certificate.  At least the magnet had it spelled correctly.  You'd be surprised at all the different ways people come up with.  

And just for fun, I thought I'd throw on Benny's nursery graduation certificate.  He misses his fun class, but is starting to enjoy Sunbeams more.  He cried and cried the first couple of weeks.  The following week, his teacher had a little Gorilla toy and let him hold it and he was great the rest of the time.  So, we let him choose one little toy guy to bring with him to class to be his buddy and he's happy to go.  

1/2 Marathon

Back in November I ran in the "SHUN THE SUN" half marathon in Mesa.  The weather was perfect and the course wasn't too bad.  I wasn't quite as fast as I wanted to be, but I loved seeing Jason and the kiddos at the end cheering me on .  

The race ended inside this stadium and there were some booths.  Graham got his face paint action on.  

Baja Fresh had a booth at the race, so we got some great coupons to use at dinner that night.  Not all that impressed with the restaurant, but it was cheap!

Ninja-Man

Sweet Grahambo signed up for karate last semester.  He really enjoyed it!  He learned a lot about how to defend himself from bullies and how to get away from potential kidnappers.  I enjoyed watching him do his moves and practicing with him at home.  

These pictures are from the awards program they had for the "Little Ninjas" in December.  

Graham got his yellow belt!  

My favorite part was hearing all the kids yell "Kee-Yah" as loud as they could when they did a move.  

Here he is with his teacher, Sensei Bernie.  We didn't sign him up again this semester because Jason wants him to give wrestling a try.  Graham was okay with the swap, but did mention he would miss Sensei Bernie and has been concerned about the fact that we're not going to explain why he's not there.  

Young Women's Campout

I am lucky enough to serve in the Young Women's presidency in our ward here in Phoenix.  I love it!  I love getting to know these funny girls and spending time learning and laughing with them.  

We had a "camp out" in November.  We really just put up tents in the backyard of one of the leaders, but it was still so fun!  

Jalen and Jenessy

Cherish, Chloe, Lisa, Carmella

Arianna, Alexis, Lily

Lauren (my MiaMaid president)  

Jenessy, Arianna, Jalen, Cara

The next morning we went on a little hike.  Someday I'll have a great camera that will take great pictures.  Till then, I'll make due with my crummy camera that takes crummy pictures.  

Amanda, Jalen, Tatiana, Jenessy, Chloe, Carmella, Lisa, Arianna, Kia, Brooke, Bailey, Lily, Cara, Kassandra, Alexis, Jenessa, Cherish

P.S.  I'm so excited about the new curriculum for the youth!  It makes me jealous that I didn't get to have it when I was in the program.  

Letters from Lucy

Lucy goes through phases where she writes letters to the family.  She writes them when she's in bed before she goes to sleep.  We find them on our pillow when we go to bed.  Here's a few of my favorites.  Classic.  

Love my sweet girl.  

Thanksgiving in Vegas

For Thanksgiving this year, we loaded up the van and headed to Vegas to spend the weekend with the Thompson's.  We counted down the days until it was time to go see some of our favorite people in the world.  

Ryan's brother has a house in Las Vegas where he said we could stay.  We all got in on Wednesday night.  Thanksgiving dinner was DiGourno pizza because all the restaurants were either closed or booked solid.  We thought we had a chance at Mimi's Cafe, but when we got there, they turned us away.  No worries, though.  We were all just glad to be together!

The weather was fabulous and there was a sweet community pool just down the street.  

The next day we went to a little family friendly street near the Vegas strip.  

The kids had a great time watching this magician.  

Ollie and Graham got to help out a bit.  

We had dinner at Tony Roma's after roaming the street a bit.  

We hadn't seen baby Simon since June, so we had a good time reacquainting ourselves with him.  It appears he enjoyed the reunion, too!  

Here's the heads of the Thompson household.  

We spent the afternoons swimming after playing at a fun park we found on the other side of Henderson.  

Here's some moments caught at the house:

On Saturday night, Abby watched all the kids so we could go out to dinner.  We decided on a buffet at one of the nice casinos (Bellagio, maybe?).  Dinner was super pricey, but super fun!  

Heidi and I posin' it up.  

We can't wait to go back!