Because I have today award

A while ago I did a post about a family that lives in my sister-in-laws ward and asked you to read their story and nominate them for this award.

The family was given the award as a December winner. Here is the link if you want to read about it.

http://hilaryweeks.com/more-message.php?messageID=62

Here is the link to Trent's blog if you didn't get a chance to read about this amazing family.

http://trentduval.blogspot.com/

Merry Christmas and have a happy New Year!

Christmas Eve 2008

Christmas Eve was very low key, mom came over and we made a turkey dinner. The kids opened 1 present each from grandma and grandma opened her present.

After grandma left for the night the kids decorated the gingerbread house then it was off to bed to wait for Santa (I hope he got done working at the mall in time, lol)

A great Christmas Eve!

Santa was at Provo Mall!!!!

We went to the mall today to finish up some Christmas shopping... CRAZYNESS... Anyway we took the kids to go see Santa, this was Casey's first time going to see the big man.

Everybody waiting to see Santa

The big guy himself!

Casey NOT having it and me trying to get away and out of the picture. Cameron wasn't very excited to see Santa but he was a good sport.

Verlynne's kids JC, Ryan and Shayla. They looked about as amused as Cameron. I think that Ryan actually spoke to him. Not sure tho.

It was fun to take the kids to see Santa, maybe not on December 23rd tho. The mall was a mad house. Something about the holidays just seems to make people loose their minds.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Revels

We went to Cameron's Christmas play. It was a folk type Christmas program. It was a nice change from the typical Christmas programs with all the traditional music. There was a lot of flute and piano playing.
I really enjoyed it!

This was Cameron's opening act.
The danced around the whole gym.
They stopped in the back of the room so I took advantage of Cameron standing there for a minute and walked up to him so he knew we were there.
Casey gave Cameron a big hug and proceeded to
yell his name for the ENTIRE rest of the play.

Cameron is easy to spot in this one... he has his head down.
I wonder if he was doing what he was suppose to or if the other kids weren't doing what they were suppose to?!?!

It was cute to go see his play, they worked so hard on it and
Cameron thought I wouldn't make it because I worked the night before.

This was the closing songs. Both Casey and I had a lot of fun watching Cameron.

Oh Christmas Tree

I am a Christmas tree slacker! I was pouting because we didn't have it in our budget (can you call it a budget if you have no money?) Anyhoo.... I was pouting because last year we had a real tree for the first time since my childhood and I really wanted another one.






But I have kids so I did the right thing and I got out our old APARTMENT sized artificial tree and I put it up before work.

All the lights are red because after some investigating by Chad ALL of our clear white lights were burned out. Weird, must have been a surge or something.



And the smell? Well I had a solution. It's not as good as the real thing but you do what you have to. It's "Christmas Tree" scent. LOL.

SNOW!!!

Cameron was looking out the window at the snow after my nap today.. well Casey spotted the snow and was sooooo excited to get outside in the snow!

This is her snow get-up!

Cameron shoveling the drive-way for me. He looks too serious!

She was trying to tell me something...

Casey kicking snow into the path Cameron just shoveled. What a terd.

This is me attempting to get a pic of Casey's face. She was too busy looking at the snow to look at me!

Making footprints in the snow

Throwing the snow.

Okay... so I totally have a video clip that I took on my phone and I can't get it to flip...ugh.. ><... I also had some clips from the concert that I couldn't get to flip... double ugh! ><

Photo shoot?!?

This is how the time gets passed while I am at work... (I have no idea what is on her face).

CHEEEEESE!

What? I am preparing for my close-up.

Okay, I'm ready for my close-up! What a ham!

And this is what happens while I am napping... note: I thought I had put the camera away BEFORE my nap.

Ta Dah!

More pics of puppies

Day 2:
Abby is being a VERY good mommy!
So far she is very tolerant of us and lets us help (like when you can hear puppy squealing and go counting heads and find a puppy under her!).
When she goes outside she is "knocking" to come right back in and then down the stairs and back in the pool with her puppies.
She won't let Tegan close to the puppies.
Sometimes he sticks his head back there... I think he is just curious...
she growls... he leaves...
he knows his place.

During a head count we had to count tails (above there is a puppy under Abby's leg).
We found a puppy under Abby's back leg, but when we lifted her leg he was just eating away... happy as a clam!

Casey petting Abby... "good girl Abby".

Sneak a little pet of the puppies... "soft". I have to agree with her... they are soft.

The look on her face is priceless... I think I had that same look on my second day of breastfeeding... thank goodness I only had 1! Props to you Abby for feeding 7! Of course I only have 2 boobs and she has like 8 or 10 but I think a couple of them are MILK DUDS!

DOGPILE!

Day 3:
Dogpile in the box (I was cleaning out their bed and changing sheets while Abby was outside, don't tell her. He he).
They are starting to look like dogs. They are getting some different colors on them. Some of the boys have silver patches on their toes!
Black and silver GSD's look really good when they grow up!
I hope we get some of those!


Too cute for words!
This is our first born girl and the first born.
She was the only one that came out breech... and now she is sticking her tongue out...
do you think she is trying to tell us something?

The Official Count is....

SEVEN!!!! 2 Girls and 5 Boys!

Abby did so good! Yesterday she didn't really eat very much which is unusual for her... she can usually clean out 2 or 3 bowl fulls.

I had to work and while I was at work Chad started to notice that she was hiding behind the couch.

He went and got the pool cleaned out and put her bed in it... there she stayed for most of the night.

When I got home from work I was a little surprised she was still pregnant, but I was relieved since I wanted to sleep a little.

Meanwhile Cameron woke up late and missed the bus. I made him wait till Casey woke up to go to school... because if I would have woke up Casey that would have been the end to any of my sleep... and because I am a shoe-in for mother of the year... LOL.

Abby stayed behind the couch most of the day. She started to make me really nervous around 2 when SHE STARTED PUSHING!!! I think it was around 4:30 when the first pup was born then another one every 20 min-1hour!

This is our very first puppy... a girl. She is VERY dark black, and cute of course.

As soon as I saw puppy I had Cameron call Chad and tell him to get his A&& home.

Chad just had to finish what he was doing and he was on his way.

Abby had 3 puppies before he even got here!

Casey thought they were Kitty Cats... LOL! She is a funny kid!

Casey handled the whole thing very well. She just hung out and watched cartoons and checked on the Kitty's every once in a while. It took some time to convince her that they are puppies, not kitties. Whatever. They are adorable.

Cameron was so excited. He wanted to put on some gloves... you know... in case I needed some help. LOL. I know he would have dove right in if I would have asked. He did most of the photos.

We did have one scary moment... LIKE THE WHOLE THING! Kidding. One of the puppies came out without any of the after birth and Abby chewed
the cord and it wouldn't stop bleeding... I was worried about the stuff left behind so I called the vet. He said it would come out with the next puppy... it did... that puppy scared us. He was okay, he just had 2 sacks around him!

I am so tired. Chad is tired. Casey is tired, tho right now she is fighting to sleep so Chad is laying on her floor. I decided to get these pics posted and then I get to study for my Micro Lab final on Wed. My mom is going to come sit with the babies... ALL of them.

Abby is doing really good. She has been outside but she goes right back to the puppies. I just had to go downstairs because I could hear a puppy really crying... it was stuck between Abby's bed and the side of the swimming pool. Maybe she hasn't figured out how to move them where she wants them.

It's going to be a learning curve for all of us. I am glad at least Abby knew what to do. BTW... the whole mommy dog eating the after birth and CHEWING off the umbilical cord is quite gross and I wasn't prepared for it!

This one we call Scarface. Abby was trying to get a hold of the sack when he was being born and got his nose. He was the one with the bleeding umbilical cord too! Luckily we had some silver nitrate sticks for cutting dog nails and just used that (after a phone consult with a friend that is a vet tech).

This was Casey's post most of the time.

"Hi kitty cats"

Good little mama!