Christmas

Christmas morning

Sunday night dinner and presents with Bill's fam

Grandkids

New bike--now to learn to ride it!

Graduation

Bill's official degree is: Master of Divinity with an emphasis in Spiritual Formation. So proud of him!

Baccalaureate Dinner and Ceremony at Knotts Berry Farm Resort

Bill was hooded by Dr. Coe (Director of the Spiritual Formation program)

Dr. Coe and Bill

Bill and I with Gene and Judy. She is one of his professors and they also own and run Hilltop Renewal Center, which we've enjoyed and served at in some capacity in the last 3 years.

Sarah and me. Her husband also graduated!

Graduation Ceremony on Friday the 21st.

Tifiny, Vida, Bill, Belle, and Bill

Bill and his parents

Yessssssss! We made it!

Gabe's Surgery

Monday, Christmas Eve, was a big day for Gabe. This fall, we discovered he had a hernia, and needed surgery to repair it. We drove to Glendale as a family, and made a morning of it. He had to be there by 8am, and his surgery was at 9. (We were back home by 11:45am)

On the way!

Putting on the special hospital "jammies."

Getting wired up and ready to take vitals.

The peace didn't last long. He did a really good job for being a 2 year old boy, but did not like being all tied up in wires and monitors.

After vitals were taken, the nurse handed me a sedative to give to Gabe. He drank it right up, and in about 15 minutes, he was as happy as a clam :) I politely asked where I could get some more for the hard days at home and the nurse just looked at me and seriously said, "Um, we don't give this out." 

The sedative at work.

A nurse came to carry him to the OR. He was giggling and loopy--it helped me a lot to see him like that as he was carried away.

Olivia and I trekked to the cafeteria to bring back a hot breakfast while Bill was in the waiting room. We only had time to eat about half of it, when the Dr. came out to tell us it went great and Gabe was fine. He said it was a pretty large hernia, so we're glad to have had the surgery. Soon after the Dr. came out, a nurse came and said, "We need mom or dad now! He's awake and boy he is strong!" I walked in to our private room and there was Gabe, with nothing on and monitors hooked all over his body. The nurse told me to get on the bed and she handed him right to me and covered us in warm blankets. It took about 5 minutes of screaming and bucking until we figured out that he couldn't calm himself down because he couldn't put his finger in his mouth to comfort himself. He had a blood pressure cuff on one arm, and an IV with a board to keep his arm straight on the other side. When they took off his cuff, he was calm and snuggled right into me. Olivia and Bill came in at that point and then we just waited about 30 more minutes until he was released. 

Then, as we were gathering all of our stuff and getting Bill and Gabe into a wheelchair, we heard a small, soft whimper coming from Bill's side. Olivia started to cry louder and louder until we got out of her that she would like a wheelchair too. So, because we were the only ones there the entire morning, and the nurses are great, they wheeled her out too, and one even got her a warm blanket to wear. 

Overall, it went as well as it could have. Gabe has a small incision on his abdomen, and that just had glue over it. He only needed 3 doses of Tylonol in the next 2 days, and has not complained about it. In fact, we were hoping he'd feel a little less like running around, but it was really hard to keep him down and resting.

Our roommate Tony and his girlfriend, Jen

Gabe

Family day at Disney

In the swinging car on the farris wheel

We just happened to run into Mater!! The line to meet him was even short.

Cousins

Sammy at 10 months!

I didn't get very many pics...here are the boys "playing" together.

Gabe, Belle, Olivia. Notice their fingers.

Gabe's First Hair Cut

So, he was sporting a fluffy mullet, and Bill gladly trimmed it up when I gave the green light. I forgot to take an official "before" pic, so see post below for the last pictures I have of Gabe before the hair cut.

In our eyes, he grew up a little after this hair cut.

Great Park in Irvine

Last week, the kids and I did an outing to Great Park in Irvine. There is a free balloon ride (tethered, and 400 feet up, and carousel, and lots of space to run around.

This is the best pic I could get of the two of them together in the balloon. 

A picture by Olivia (facing West)

Looking at the view

Looking North East

Hang on for dear life.

Can we please go again??

Rides

I had to take 2 pictures of Gabe on this. There were tons of animals, but he had a fit until he could ride on this weird "mer-horse"

A climbing rock for kids, with the balloon in the background.

Some love and reading in the morning.