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It’s Christmas Time again! Let’s see what 2004 was like for the House family!
The hardest part is getting it onto paper in the right order! Good thing for cut and paste!
In March, we went to the St. Louis Zoo. The kids loved it! (except for riding around in the stroller). They seen all sorts of animals (obviously) and we took tons of pictures. We even saw a version of Zaboomafoo! It wasn’t him, but it was the same animal as him.
This was the year for getting new things. With our tax check, we bought a new computer desk. My old one was beginning to worry us. It had been put up and taken down at least 3 times. We had to take the back off because it was just cardboard… This one is solid wood and is really nice! I couldn’t be in the same room with it for a few weeks though…the new smell was so strong it made me sick! In April, we got a new dining table and chairs and a new hutch. Couldn’t pass it up…it was a going out of business sale and we got a whale of a deal! We got a camper in September and in October, I got a laptop from Sony only because I got it with a payroll deduction loan.
For Easter, the kids had an Easter Egg hunt at Mamaw and Papaw’s with their cousin Delaney. They even gave out little prizes! Looking through our pictures I realized how mild it was this year. I have pictures of the kids out playing in April with short sleeves and no coats! Grace got her first haircut in April…just enough to get it out of her eyes. I haven’t had it cut since and won’t if I can get away with it! By July, it was long enough to get into pigtails.
William is really into dinosaurs this year. In April, we took the kids to Chicago’s Field Museum. What an awesome place! With the exception of William getting sick right before we got there (in my mom’s van!), we had a great time! We only stayed until right after lunch. By that time, William was saying he wanted to lie down and for those of you who know William...that is NOT normal! So we headed home. We took a ton of pictures though...We went to see Sue...the T-Rex. I know she is on our website somwhere
Grace turned 2 in May. That was pretty much the highlight of May. My Aunt Anna from Colorado came up for a family visit. She and Uncle Norm stayed with my Uncle Warren. They just live a hop, skip, and a jump away so we made sure to go visit when we could.
The kids started at a new daycare in May. They are now at a daycare that is just across the field from our house. Very handy! And she only charges for the days that the kids are actually there! :-) The kids really like it there…almost too much! There are days when they want to go to Jo’s instead of staying home!!
June was a month of basically staying at home and playing in the pool. July was pretty much the same…playing in the pool. William turned 5 in July. We had to have is party 2-3 weeks early because I had to work on his birthday. Vince’s cousins came home from…I can’t remember! Anyway, they were missionaries. They had a Welcome Home party for them; they had been gone for 2 years. William wound up getting stung in the eye at the party! Thank goodness for God! It didn’t get him right in the eye, but on the eyelid right on his tear duct. The swelling was going down by the time the doctor at the ER got in to see him.
William started preschool this fall. He missed the cut off day for going to Kindergarten by 29 days. That really stunk. He was ready to go intellectually wise maybe not maturity wise. He really loves preschool. He goes on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9 until 11:30. They are able to work one-on-one with him which is good since he’s been doing preschool activities since he was around 2. The kids range in age from 3-5. He obviously knows his ABCs and he can count to 100 by himself. He’s learning to tell time (at least he knows what the clock has to say in order for him to be able to get up from his nap (when we make him take one). He knows more shapes than I do!
Grace is also saying her ABCs. Between listening to William and preschool activities for her at daycare, we don’t even have to prompt her for each letter. She might miss one or two every once in a while, but basically can say them all in order although some are a little muffled. She consistently counts to 3. I’ve heard her count to 10 once, but that might have been a fluke. But that isn’t bad to a 2 ½ year old!
In September, we bought ourselves a camper. The kids absolutely LOVE it! We haven’t been to a lot of different places. We’ve been to West Boggs in Logoottee twice and Fowler Park twice. We’ve only been once by ourselves…the rest of the time we’ve gone with friends from our church.
William lost his first tooth in September! We were so surprised!! One morning it was loose, by that evening, it was gone! The mole-enator (watch Santa Clause II to know what I’m referring to!) brought him $1. He lost his second tooth on November 29th! The mole-nator gave him a quarter for that one. The ones he lost were his bottom front teeth.
Another awesome thing that happened in September, William asked Jesus into his heart! Woo HOO! He loves singing I’m in the Lord’s Army, Father Abraham, He’s Able, Jesus Loves Me and I’m currently working with him to learn a song that names the Books of the New Testament. He almost has them all down! Grace can also sing Jesus Loves Me and He’s Able. They both love to sing along with Vince and I as we learn new songs to sing at church. Grace’s favorite song is Live Out Loud by Stephen Curtis Chapman. William’s is We Are The Body by Casting Crowns.
Grace is finally able to ride the hop ball we got her last year for Christmas. She loves it. It has a cover that looks like a cow and when you push a button on the handle, it moos.
Little update on Vince. What a year he has had…he has only worked maybe 6 weeks with the Iron Workers in the past year. The first 6 months, he wasn’t able to do Iron Work because of a reaction he had to the antibiotic Avalox. DON’T TAKE THAT JUNK! It just about killed him. He worked 5 weeks in May and then was laid off again. He did start doing some contract work for Friendly Grove Feeders just up the road from us. In September, he was working on “Big Mo” in the rain. Big Mo is a huge bulldozer. His boots were muddy and it was pouring down rain…he fell of the dozer and just about broke his leg. He was off work for at least 2 weeks from that…the first day he was back to work, he cracked at least a couple of ribs. We didn’t take him to the ER that time because we knew there was nothing they could do.
I had my 15-year reunion this year. Hard to believe I’ve been out of high school 15 years. Where has the time gone??? Vince’s 10-year was this year.
We went to the pumpkin patch in Paris, Illinois this year. It was pretty cool. Can’t complain since all the things we did were free. We didn’t do the mazes that we had to pay for. Their website is http://www.pumpkinpatch.com/.
This was probably my favorite thing there:
Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, National Guard
Grace and William both had some pretty bad colds last month (November). BOTH of them took breathing treatments for a week. Grace hated it. William was use to it although he hadn’t had a breathing treatment for a year. He got his flu shot in October and was sick within 2 weeks and is still coughing and has a runny nose. We’ve dropped him down to getting a treatment on the days that he is coughing. I just got medicine for a sinus infection.
I met a celebrity in November. Jared Fogle of the Subway Commercials was at my work. He was our ‘motivational’ speaker to kick off our “Why Weight” program. From December 1 through June 1, we as a company are going to lose a ton of weight. I have 30 pounds to lose and I hope I can do it!
I started a new side ‘job’ in July. I’m an area representative for MVP Fundraising. They are AWESOME! If your group or organization needs to do a fundraiser, you need to go to their website at http://www.mvpfundraising.com/. I most likely will not be the rep for your county unless you live in: Greene, Knox, Davies, Martin, Lawrence, Jackson, Orange, Scott or Bartholomew counties in Indiana.
Your organization keeps 55% of the sales up front, no shipping, no tax, no charge for the selling materials. And what I have found people really like…it comes boxed per participant! So no sorting for the group so next to no hassle for the organizer. What I like...no lead in the wicks!
Well, that’s been our year!
If you have access to the internet, our family website is http://housefamily.topcities.com/. I try to update it at least every 3 months. Sometimes I do get a chance to update it more often.
Our email has changed since last year. It is now thehouses99@sbcglobal.net. It’s much cheaper to have it bundled with our phone service.
We would love to hear from you!
Vince, Patty, William & Grace
I got the background from:
http://www.patswebgraphics.com/
bravenet.com