Christmas 2009

Christmas was a blast. This is the first year the kids have really understood what was going on, and they thought carefully about what they would ask for from Santa. Kaitlyn asked for Bumblee (the Transformer), then wondered if she could only ask for one thing or if she could ask for more. I thought that was so sweet, since most kids ask for tons of stuff (I know I did!). I told her she could ask for more, so she asked for boxing gloves and a hunting game for her game cube. So let me recap. My 7 year old girl asked for a Transformer, boxing gloves, and a shooting, killing animals game. So very sweet. We had to explain that Santa may be able to bring a game and may even bring a new game system (Mom asked for a Wii), but that hunting games were only for older kids so he may not bring one to a 7 year old. Fortunately, Santa did bring the Wii and even brought a few games, so she wasn't too disappointed that she didn't get a hunting game.

Pictures:

Ashton's request, on the other hand, wasn't quite as straightforward. He asked Santa for "way way wogs." I said, "Way way wogs?" and he said, "No, way way wogs." I guess you can't argue with a 4 year old. So after trying out several combinations of the L, R, and W sounds I came up with... are you ready for it... RAILWAY LOGS!!! Great. I figured out what he was asking for, but then I had to figure out what it was. But thanks to that magical invention Google, and lots and lots of luck, we figured out it was a Lincoln Logs train set thing. Yippeeee!!!

Back to Google to try to find it. There were several different sets and one was only $25. Yay! Could luck be on my side?

Nope. Turns out that ALL the Lincoln Logs train sets except for one that cost $200 (yes, that's two hundred dollars) had been DISCONTINUED. Really. I looked on eBay and found one that had been discontinued, but the price of the set plus shipping was $90. Santa really can't afford $90 presents (the Wii came from the golf tournament - long story) so we were panicking a little bit. I told my friends to be on the lookout, and believe it or not one of my friends found one at Sam's Club (thanks, Melinda!). So I rushed over there and... du du du duhhhhhhhhhhh... I got it! Whew. Crisis averted.

Pictures:

And with the killer radio controlled Hummer he got from Grandma and Grandpa Roach:

One of the best things about Christmas was that my dad came and stayed with us for a week! The kids had so much fun playing with him and it was nice to have him around.

So that was our Christmas. It was a blast, but I'm oh so glad it's over.

Kaitlyn's surgery

We finally had Kaitlyn's face surgery done. She did great (as always) and is wearing the LeFort device without complaint (usually). The surgery was December 15 and she spent 4 days at the hospital. She got tons of stuffed animals and other assorted goodies, and had lots of visitors. The hospital treated her very well. She is such an amazing little trooper and we're so proud of her! Here are a few pictures:

This is before they hooked up the distractor



This is after they hooked up the distractor



And a side view



As you can see, she's still her happy, smiling self. This kid is stronger than anyone I've ever met.

The procedure is going well. We turn the screws to advance the distractor twice a day, and she's doing even better than the surgeon thought she would. We see him again on Tuesday and he'll decide if we can stop turning the screws at that time. If we can, she'll need to wear the device another two weeks to prevent "rebounding," but she can have it taken off after that. Yippeee!! We were originally told it may take as long as 4 months for the entire procedure, but now it may be done in as little as 6 weeks. What a huge blessing!