HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

We had a busy but fun week leading up to Christmas but one of my favorite things was Zoolights which we attended for the first time.  Here are some pictures from zoolights and a few others...

The zoo train...we had tickets but the line was long (over an hour wait) so we returned them.

Gumpy and the boys in front of the zoo store

The kiddie Christmas tree.

The family at Zoolights (Colton is in the baby backpack you can just make out his forhead between Xander and me).

Christmas Eve

I made Mason and Xander Snuggies...they were very excited.  Carson got a Cars blanket and pillow,

Colton got monkey pj's.  Afterwards they wrote their letters to Santa, Xander's was the best, it read:

"Dear Santa, I know that Christmas is not about presents it is about Jesus birth.)

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Christmastime Is Here

Christmas

So We went last Saturday and got a Christmas tree for the front room...which means we have two now!  I have been having so much fun getting ready for Christmass in our new house!  Even Jonah, who can be a bit of a grinch, has been excited.  I will post pics soon of how the house looks with lights on it and of our trees.
I have been really into red and silver as well as snowflakes this year and I have had a lot of fun getting a few new decorations that fit our new home.  We have also decided that we will have Christmas morning here before heading to Salem to be with family instead of just spending the night in Salem.  We are definately excited and looking forward to starting our own family traditions for Christmas.  I am still hoping to get around to Christmas cards but we will see if it actually happens.


Xander

So Xander and I spent all day yesterday at Doernbecher Children's Hospital getting Xander tested for aspbergers.  We basically came away with a lot of information but not a definite diagnosis.  They have already determined Xander has ADHD and they have also diagnosed him with an anxiety disorder.  The autism tests came back at a level consistent with a diagnosis of autism but they have given us a to be determined diagnosis instead because they want to make sure his anxiety did not interfere with the tests.  In the end they suggested working with a psychologist to control the ADHD and anxiety and then come back for a re-test in a year.  So I guess we will see how things are going a year from now.  The diagnosis really only means something if it allows him access to different modifications in school which may enable him to be more successful but his current school is so good about it that I dont know that it will matter.  Now I get to meet with his teacher and the school counselor plus a few others to determine what to do for him at school so it will be interesting to see what they think.  Just goes to show that life is full of adventures.

Church

So I am excited to say that I got a new calling at church.  Jonah laughs at me because I say it is my first "grown up" calling; meaning that I am the one ultimately accountable rather than working in a group where someone else is in charge.  Anyhow I have been called to be the humanaties specialist.  I don't have a full understanding yet of what all that entails but I am excited to learn and get started!  Well I guess that is it for now....

Amazing...

Just saw this link posted by a friend on facebook, this is so cool!

Here's To You Amanda

Okay so my sister so kindly pointed out to me that I needed to update my blog so here we go...

First off I am not sure what to write about because I don't feel like anything special has been going on.  We had a busy week getting ready for Thanksgiving since we hosted at our house this year.  It was so much fun being able to enjoy the holiday in our new home!  I am amazed at how much more we feel at home here, more so than even the home we had in Rainier.  I love Newberg so much there are so many great families, lots of kids, and great schools I just love it here and I am so glad we have been blessed with this home.  Now if Amanda would move here it would be perfect (altough your probably tires of me saying that) ; ) 

Otherwise...Mason has been doing great in school, and has been enjoying cub scouts.  Xander also has been doing well in school and is being evaluated next week at Dornbecher Children's Hospital to make sure he has no other learning disabilites or anything other than the ADHD that he has been diagnosed with.  Carson has enjoyed having new friends and participated in the co-op preschool we have been participating in with some of the other families from church.  Colton has been growing like crazy and is climbing everything, I feel like I spend half the day pulling him off the kitchen table. 

We have all been enjoying our Christmas preparations this year.  For the first time ever I went black friday shopping aat 3:30 am.  I went with 2 great friends and it was crazy but fun and I was able to get most of the Christmas shopping done.  We have our fake tree up and are hoping to get a real tree this weekend for the front room.  Well thats the short of it....I will try and do better about updating this more often.