Amelia had her last few days at home before returning to school. Christmas break went by way too fast and I found myself anxious for spring break the second it was over. I love having Amelia at home. I don't need 'me' time, I prefer family time. She loves school though which is a wonderful thing. She's been obsessed with solving math problems lately. I'm hopeful that she got her dad's math gene. She has been solving math problems in her head for about two years now. She doesn't use her fingers at all, she just figures it out (and quickly I might add) in her head. I was working on a math problem with her little cousin who is 3&1/2 and she was secretly feeding him all of the answers almost as quickly as I was giving the problems. She just loves it. She gets her artsy craftiness from me and her love of math from her daddy. 

My sister Grace ended up in the ER on the 9th. She had this horrible rash and her bp and heart rate was incredibly high. Of course when something happens to one of us we all show up. Thankfully her and baby are totally fine, but they aren't sure what caused the rash in the first place.

 The very next morning my grandma was transported to the hospital again. My mom, who moved in with her back in August after my grandma fell, said something just didn't seem right. My grandma is 91 years old so it's always worrisome when she has an off day. Unfortunately the blood thinners she was taking after her stroke thinned her blood too much. She had a lot of internal bleeding in her right lung which caused it to completely collapse. Her and my mom spent 14 days at the hospital. I can't believe the amount of blood they removed with the chest tube. I'm so glad my mom is there to look after her. She came home last week but is pretty worn out from it all. During her hospital stay she gained quite the fan club. Nurses were calling in before their shifts to request my grandma and fought over who got to care for her. She is a pretty remarkable woman. I'm glad she is home but continue to pray that she regains some strength.

Amelia has been taking painting classes. I plan to do a full post soon on this awesome place that is fairly new to Oregon City. She's really enjoys going and the instructor that she's had is so amazing.

Mark started school this month. I have to be honest, I was dreading him being back in school. When he told me he wanted to take classes a flashback of what it was like last time he was in school hit me! This time though we are living in a house on our own (not his mom's basement apartment) and we don't have a newborn. I'm also not working full time like I was back then. Life is much calmer now and once I realized that it was all good.

I continue to volunteer in Amelia's class and around the school. I try to help out once a week. It is so fun getting to know her classmates and seeing her interact with her friends. It's also great getting to know the other staff members and parents. That school really is a wonderful community of people.

In the upcoming weeks I'm going to be crafting and gathering things together to re-decorate Amelia's room. Well, her room isn't actually decorated so I want to find things to hang on the walls, craft some items, sew her some curtains and rearrange her furniture. I'm hoping to get it all done on her birthday while she is at school. Her room is extremely tiny compared to what she had at our old house so I want to make the most of the space and give her a wonderful area to enjoy (and also a way to keep the crafting supplies off of our living room floor). 

December was ridiculously busy. So busy that I started my Christmas shopping December 23rd. I kid you not! It began with the annual performance of The Nutcracker that Amelia's dance studio puts on. It was a great show, as always. She had a blast and, even though it is time consuming in the weeks leading up to the shows, I'm so glad she is part of such an amazing group. This year Amelia looked incredibly grown up and it made my heart a little sad at how fast the time goes.


The same weekend of her Nutcracker performance we took a ride on the Polar Express. My mom, Erica, Grace, Chris, Mark, Amelia, Amelia's friend Sammy and I all hopped on board. It was so much fun! We all wore our Christmas pajamas and enjoyed hot chocolate and cookies while the elves danced around. Santa made an appearance and spent a lot of time visiting with all of the children. It was a great time.

The week following that busy weekend my grandma was admitted to the hospital. She had a mild stroke and spent several days in the hospital. We visited her as much as possible. She was devastated to be missing my little sister's wedding on the 13th. That week was a crazy one as preparations for the wedding were going on. My Mom, Grace and Chris did everything for the wedding (with help from the Father of the Groom and a couple of groomsmen with setting up). Mark was a best man, I was a maid of honor and Amelia was the flower girl. It was such a beautiful wedding and I am just dying to see the photos that were taken. Grace looked absolutely gorgeous! and Chris cleaned up pretty nicely as well.


The week before Christmas Amelia had a field trip, a Christmas program and the last few days of school before break. I had two photo shoots that week as well. I love the field trips her class takes. They visited a retirement community to sing Christmas carols one week, and the next they visited a tree farm to learn about Christmas trees. They chose a tree to donate to a family in need. I love being able to volunteer and go on field trips. Amelia and I both came down with a nasty cough that laid us up for several days, but my grandma got to go home from the hospital which had us all smiling!

2014 photo with Santa Claus

We spent Christmas morning at my Grandma's and then had a delicious dinner at my Aunt's house. It was a wonderful day. I love that, even though my sisters and I are adults now, we still want to spend every holiday together, along with our mom and grandma. I can't imagine what it would be like to be away from them on special days like that, or to not have sisters to share days like that with. I hope Amelia has a bond that strong with her future siblings. Check out my awesome Christmas gift from Amelia (and my mom). I haven't even put our Christmas photos onto my computer yet. That's how chaotic life has been!

This Kate and I were meant to be!

We got some wonderful news on Christmas! I'm going to be an Aunt! My sister Grace is pregnant and due in July! I will be sharing their announcement photos in another post. I'm so excited for them. Amelia and I are hoping for a girl! Amelia said "a girl cousin would be just so so so great!"

Traditionally we ring in the new year with my grandma and this year was no different. 2014 was both great and not so great for me. I'm excited for a new year and looking forward to all it has in store for us. 2014 had some spectacular moments!

To keep this post from turning into a novel, I will share 'January thus far' another day. 

Yesterday he brought a new friend with him. Have you seen the Elf on the Shelf reindeer? He is cute. I wasn't quite sure what the story was about, but I figured Amelia would love him. We sat down tonight and read the book. It was really cute and reading it to her just made me appreciate the age she is at that much more. The book talks about how the reindeer comes with the elf, but he is different than the elf. She can snuggle him and give him love, unlike the elf who we can't touch. The book explains that on Christmas Eve, once she is asleep, the reindeer will turn into a real reindeer and leave our home to go help Santa. The little sparkle she got in her eyes when we read the story brought a smile to my face. She had to call my mom and sisters immediately to tell them about her new friend. If you are a family that has an elf visitor this time of year, you should check out the little reindeer.

And a photo from Amelia's first Christmas