Happy New Year!

I can't believe we are in 2020! I keep writing a '19 on my checks or forms I fill out because it's been 10 years of being in the teens and it's hard to get my brain to switch over.  I can not believe all that has transpired in my life over the last decade.  My WHOLE WORLD changed in 2010- I married Shawn and became pregnant with Lucy that year and in the 10 years since everything has been a whirlwind!  I'll break it down for you in case you haven't kept up with us over the years. Here's the cliffnotes:

We were married in Star, ID in May 2010 and moved into an apartment in Boise, ID.  3 months later I found out I was pregnant and we moved into a rental house 5 days after that.  In June 2011 Shawn found a job in the Denver, CO area so we moved down there in July.  In March of 2012 I got pregnant with Piper and gave birth to her in December of that year.  Shawn was laid off in May of 2013 and we  packed up, left Denver and moved back to Boise (and in with my parents) for 4 months.  Shawn finally found a job in Coeur d'Alene, ID (7 hours North of Boise) so we packed up again and moved into a little duplex up there. Well, that job only last 3 months before the boss lost his temper after a deal went South and fired everyone in the building (that was a disaster and a long story for another day).  There we were again, hoping that 2014 would be a better year for us, only to find that we were facing unemployment AGAIN at the first of the year.  Well, Shawn ended up finding another job (thankfully only 2 months later rather than 5 months like before!) in March and started there on April 5th, 2014.  After 4 months of training they told us we had to relocate to New Hampshire. WHAT.  Yeah....that was a tough pill to swallow.  But- off we went, alllllll the way across the country with 2 toddlers in tow!  We moved to Lincoln, New Hampshire.  2015 was blissfully uneventful (for the most part)....except that I got pregnant in May on our 5th anniversary...  Sullivan was born in February 2016 and then 3 months later his company told us we could relocate to Oklahoma!  So we did!  We bought a house (sight unseen for me!) and drove 26 hours with a newly 5 year old, a 3 year old and a 4 month old. Lucy started school in August 2016. Piper started Pre-K in 2017 and Sully turned into a Tasmanian Devil for a year and a half breaking everything in his path, screaming all the time, hyper as could be and frankly, just completely uncontrollable.  Now he will be 4 years old next month and things are just starting to get easier, as of a few months ago.  He will start Pre-K in August of this year and so 5 days a week, for 3 hours, I won't have ANY kids at home with me.  It will be so incredibly strange, I just know it.
The next decade will see Lucy graduate High School!  Piper will start dating and Sully will be going through the awkward years of puberty, haha! It will be another busy, BUSY 10 years, but hopefully with less moving! MUCH less moving. We love it here SO much, but you never know what the future holds!  The last decade has brought me to my knees more times than I can count with depression and guttural, harrowing sadness.  But it has also with filled me with the greatest joy and love I have ever known. We had blow after blow there for a few years, but we have also seen our lives richly blessed as well.  However, I hope 2020-2030 will be kinder to us. 

I have been blogging for almost 10 years and I have all my blog posts printed and bound into books and stacked on my coffee table for the kids to peruse. The ONLY reason I keep blogging is for those books.  My kids LOVE to flip through them and look at the pictures and read the events that they've already forgotten about... I don't know how much longer I will keep blogging, but for now, their excitement over those books is the only reason I keep it up!

Anyway here's our first week of 2020 news!

2020 started off with a bang!  And not a good one.  On January 2nd we went to the dentist where they found out that Piper had SEVEN cavities, needed a mini-root canal AND a silver crown (gross).  Lucy had 4 cavities and one of them was so bad that her tooth had to be extracted.  Sullivan walked away with no cavities but my girls didn't have cavities at 3 years old either so I'm not holding my breath for him.  I know it's genetic and I'm to blame (my teeth are awful!), but I was still shocked and mortified at it all.  They've never had cavities in their whole lives until now and suddenly we were almost $1000 in the whole within 2 hours....yay.  Clearly 2020 isn't going to be a prosperous year for us! :(

Another thing that will put us in the hole financially (our deductible is freakishly high) happened this morning! Today, Sully had his adenoids removed and tubes put in his ears.  Whatever meds they gave him that calmed him down worked fast. He was slurring and loopy within minutes! Where can I get some?? It was SO funny! 🤪🥴😆It 

Anyway, I was out in the waiting room and the TV told me when he was officially in surgery. My heart was back there with him and I couldn't stop praying for him.  He woke up screaming and thrashing and kicking and yelling. It broke my heart because I knew that the screaming was making his throat hurt. Shawn and a nurse had to hold him down for about 15 minutes. I was a mess, even though I know this is common. Once he was coherent and starting to calm down, all he wanted was his Mama and he pushed Shawn away. I secretly loved that because normally the only person he EVER wants is Shawn; he’s his best bud! We got to take him home in his cute little Tiger hospital gown (he wouldn't let us get him dressed) and when we first got home he was sleepy and happy but didn’t want any of the soft food we bought for him for the week! He still had pain meds in his system so the food he was eating wasn’t bothering him yet (it was not anything that could scratch his throat, don’t worry). Hoping he will be ok when the meds completely wear off.  Now that it's been a few hours he is back to his super hyper crazy self.  I worry about him because he wants to play rough and he shouldn't be!  A little bit ago he told me his throat hurt him, so I think the medicine is starting to wear off.  He will be hurting later :( Poor boy.  

*Oh, I should mention this.  It is so sad though. We had been telling him all week before surgery that the doctor was going to fix his ears because they hurt him all the time. And awhile ago they were hurting and he was crying and said “the doctor didn’t fix my ears.”😢 I hate that he can't fully understand! At least he will never remember this and in a week or so he will be all better.

Alright so I guess I need to back-track to last week and share our New Year's Eve pictures! 

Every year we do the exact same thing because these kids are big on traditions. Confetti, board games, party food, a fake countdown (Piper just learned that our 8pm countdown each year is fake and she wasn’t very happy about that😂), etc. This year we added some fireworks and for the first year ever, Lucy stayed up 'til midnight! A Happy New Year was had by all. Welcome to a new decade, Kids!💋💗💙💗 

These two boys were my New Year's Eve kisses! I'm a pretty lucky Mama!

(Earlier that morning I used one of my Christmas gift cards and took the girls to get manicures with me. That was fun for all of us!)

And the day before THAT we used Christmas money to take the kids Ice Skating! It is our favorite!🧊⛸(Except for Sully who ditched the skates after 15 minutes and just ran around the ice in his boots, making snow angels in the dusty ice shavings instead). Also, Shawn and I planned to try to do a twirl and a kiss, but the kiss was a fail and sent Shawn crashing so that "graceful" twirl didn’t happen 😂💋

Living his best life!

Yep. We had a GREAT Christmas Break.  It was heavenly and just what I needed to gear up for this tough year ahead! Here's to hoping for calm and uneventful days in between the chaotic days we know are coming for us! Cheers, everyone!