A World Upside Down

My M.I.L. called us on Friday night and asked if we would like to go to Amici's for our Anniversary dinner on them. We of course said YES. That is by far our favorite reastruant. So yesterday we got ready and took the baby over to her house and there was a package waiting for us from my S.I.L. Heather.
We went and had dinner, I had the rack of Lamb....yummmmmmyyyyyyy. When we got back to pick up Vincent, Sean put the box in the car and we left. Inside the box was TONS of Dylans baby toys she was giving to Vince, it was great. Towards the bottom of the box was a check and a gift card to Tiffany's.
Heather is so wonderful. We have no idea how to say Thank You for all the great things she has done for our family the last month. We wish that we could spend more time together, but living at oppisite ends of the country makes it hard.
So Heather, if you read this, Thank you so much.

I don't know if anyone has heard about our storms we have had up here, but one hit two Sundays ago, then again on Wedensday. The Wedensday one trapped me at my In-laws for the night. ( They live on a hill and you have to go down a really steep hill and then up their hill to get to their house and seans retarded Celica got us stuck...another blog) Then on Saturday night another storm came in and it was so bad Church was canceled and We still haven't gotten the celica. So I have had no way of going shopping. Shopping on Christmas Eve, NIGHTMARE!.....Not really. We got to the Mall around 12 and there were no lines, no crazy traffic. It was really nice. Sean told me to go find an outfit and we would met back. Well I still have baby weight to lose, so I don't want to buy clothes that Im hoping wont fit next month. But I decided on a pair of pants. Sean found a nice coat, but wasn't to interested. We headed up and got the boys some clothes, picked up some frying pans...(Ohh... we are in Macy's) and then I saw this reallly really nice coat for Sean and I didn't see it was on sale. He did. He decided that he wanted it and I was thinking that we were going to spend $400. The guy rang us up and it was $250, Seans Macy's card was declined for some reason...We aren't to sure why. The kid behind the counter started giving us all these discounts and then it was $132. He ran the card again and it went.

We then left and went to Toys'R'us and I paid for Vincents Bumbo in the video game section and then decided to get a few stocking stuffers for Jade. SO we went through the check out (that also had NO LINES) and I told the guy I had the reciepts for the bumbo if he need to see them, and he was like, no I don't care. SO If we were dishonest poeple, we could of gotten it for free...Hmm..JK. never would I do that.

We wish that we would of had the money to buy gifts for all of our family members, but with Sean being out of work, we just could afford it. I am sorry.

I wish EVERYONE and very very Merry Christmas. We love you all.

Sean received an announcement letter to day from the Border Patrol & Customs department with his test results. He took a series of test and graded 98% on them. Now, he will be put on a list of names in order of the graded score. When a job comes along that fits his criteria, he will be informed. 98% is great, lets hope that he is at the top of the list. Sean would love to be hired on because he see's the growth oppertunity. I see stability. We will ALWAYS need these people. Lets cross our fingures that he hears something SOON.

Then today driving he received a call from the Treasury Department wanting to interview him for a security job. He goes in on Jan. 7 to take their series of tests. He applied with them back in Oct/Nov.

It is interesting to me how SLOW agencies are in the hiring process. But Sean would rather work for the federal goverment becuase layoff tend to me marginal. BUT today, he extremely thankful for the job he has now, with out that, I don't know what we would do.

Saturday/sunday we got a good amount of snow and it was FREEZING. We went to my In-Laws for Dinner and headed home, Jade was convienced school was going to be canceled. I said probably not. Well, Monday AND Tuesday were 2hr late starts. I think because it was so cold, it hadn't snowed. Wedensday we were supposed to get a huge snow storm, so the canceled school.....It didn't start snowing until 5p.m. and I thought it had stopped.....Noooppppeeee I couldn't have been more wrong. I am driving sean's celica and the stupid car got stuck on a little hill and started to slide down the hill. One side of the hill had a giant dumpster and the other was a ravene. Jade started screaming, Vincent was already screaming. It was great. I called my F.I.L and he pick us up and backed the car dowh the hill. It was unsafe to drive, so we stayed at their house for the night. School of course was canceled today. I just got home and waitting for sean to get back.... He hasn't left Yakima yet and it will probably take him 5 hours to get home. I HATE the winter.

Vincent and I just got home from his two month check up. He is weighing in at 14.07 pounds, 97 %. So he gained a little over two pounds. Hieght was 24 1/2 in. 95% He grew 1 1/2 in. And his head is 15 3/4, gained the 3/4 and is 50%.

That has been going on, Sean went and took the Border Patrol tests this morning. They will be graded and called back 6 weeks to 4 months from now. So it will be exciting to see what happens.

Yesterday I went to drill for the first time in 7months. I am eligable for the I.R.R. (I don't have to drill anymore, but still on the army books for another two years) in april. So the recruiters are wanting me to re-enlist and if I do it before April then it knocks two years off. The re-enlistment would give us a bonus of $15,000. We REALLY REALLY need that money, but I don't think so. My comander pulled me in his office and we talked about my options:
a. Stay where I am. I am in a very low deployable status for two years since my unit is just starting. So Sept 2011, I need to be out of the unit.
b. Go into the I.R.R. and hope I don't get deployed. The I.R.R. is the scarest place to be since that is where they are pulling a lot of soldiers.
c. Try to seperate for not having a family care plan. I am not willing to sign away custody of Vincent, so if I am asked to do so I will be released.

Tomorrow Vince has his 2 month app. He will be getting a ton of shots. Also tomorrow is the R.S. Christmas Dinner.

Wednesday we have Cub scouts

Thursday: Play group, vision eye therapy for Jade

Friday: Christmas party at Lynns.

We totally spaced school pictures the first go round, which was ok with us becuase Jades picutres weren't the best. Retakes came along and I sent him to school with a $32 check for a picture package. TODAY the retakes came back. Jade informs me that the lady never got the check. SO, I called the company and asked what had happened since it hadn't been deducted from our account. I thought maybe she wasn't sure who it belong to, or whatever. Nope not the case, so if we want to order pictures from her then the prices are doubled. FORGET IT.
IF Sean gets paid on the 15th then I am going to take the boys to penneys and get them done.
It is ridiculous how expensive school pictures are in the first place and to charge double for retakes is insane. Especialy since everything is digital. Sorry Stephanie, you can have your $20 back.

Sean has now been gone for two days and all in all it hasn't been too bad. Yesterday I took the baby for a walk with the dog, put up the Christmas tree, vacuumed, picked up a few groceries for Jades lunch, hung out at Amoures for an hour, made dinner and then put the boys to bed.

Today Baby and I went to my unit to find out what was going on for this weekend and then Jade came home from school. We went to the library (we try to do this every Monday...) He wanted his little buddy T.J. to come over so I told him to do his h.w. and make his bed and that would be fine. Jade powered through everything and then went to his little buddies house. Unfortunately he was busy. My cell phone then rang and it was Jades teacher. hmmm.... She is extremely concerned about Jades progress in school and asked for permission to sign him up for some testing. We were asked last year if he could be tested and Sean said it was ok, but they decided not to because Jade had made significant progress. But now not so much I guess. I told her that would be fine and then called Sean. He is going to call and talk to her tomorrow.

All in all I am trying to keep myself as busy as possible, but I think the baby has realized Sean is gone. He cried for almost two hours tonight. He wakes up everytime I try to put him down. Right now he is swaddled as tight as I possibly could and snuggled in the boppy. He slept like that last night for almost 4 hours. I am hoping it works again. He has not been napping during the day.....

In my not so little hands. Anyone wanna guess what it is? Well other then the baby that is currently pooping. I was so irratated at Jen because SHE didn't read the first one, SHE went to the mooovieees and saw it. So what does SHEE do? SHEE reads this one in a day and now is probably done with the ENTIRE series.

But I am not jealous. I bypassed 532 people and found this book on the uncatorgerized shelf. YUP. Go me.

SO I will be reading New Moon until I am done. I put myself on the waiting list for the other books, sooo hopefully I will get the next one soon.

I am wanting to buy the baby an activity play mat and I can't afford a brand new one. All the ones that I have liked are like $80. So I decided to peek in at the local goodwill. My girlfriend Lacy had gotten a TON of really nice baby stuff, so it seeemed to be a good idea.

As I was walking back to the toy area I walked past the baby rack and picked up a jammie....it has a HUGE poop stain. I laughed out loud so loud the worker looked at me like I was crazy. I instantly remembered a story Peter told me one time. He was in a thriftstore and tried on a pair of pants and there was POOP inside the pants. LOL.

I don't get it. When I donate items, I always wash them and pull out anything that is stained, ripped and not wearable. Even the toys were really nasty. I will chalk it up to the neighborhood I was in and not steroetype all Goodwills.

I am going to go to Ross when Jade gets home, maybe they will have one....

We woke up and headed to Seans parents for breakfest and hanging out with his Sister Stacy and husband James, Sister Heather and son Dylan and then his parents and Jade. Stacy made a kesh (I haven't ever had) and we watched the parade. After the Parade, Sean and I and baby went home and picked up the sweet potatoes. YUMMY...

There was so much food. The Turkey was huge. I don't think we even made a dent in it. Funny story, My grandmother used to use the the neck, gizzards and what ever else comes in that little bag to make the gravy. When I found that out I geeked and would insist on it all being thrown away. Seans mom uses them also in her gravy. I didn't say anything, just made a mental note not to eat the gravy. Well Stacy was in the kitchen and didnt know why all of that was boiling and threw it away. WHOA go Stacy.

Everyone loved the sweet potatoes and said they should be part of the traditional food.

Amores camera takes better pics then mine, so I have to get copies of the pics I took and then I will post them.

Vincent was given a name and a blessing on Sunday the 30th. Sean and I both have Drill next sunday, so We chose to do it this weekend instead of waitting another two weeks. I bought him a unisex outfit hoping that the rest of our children will be able to wear it. At first Sean wasn't too excited about putting the baby in a dress and then the morning of I wasn't too sure. But He looked adorable and looked great. (however we decided that having a girl and putting her in a car seat in a dress will be the biggest pain ever.)

We asked the Bishop to give the blessing along with the missionaries to be in the circle. Sean really likes Elder Busso. My friend Lynn wrote down a few points for us to remember. I was so excited when she emailed me with that because I forgot to ask someone to write it down. These are the points she remembered:

November 30, 2008. Bishop Sharmahd administered the blessing
*Body will function as it was made to, and organs will work in concert together.
*He will listen to the counsel from parents and those who love him.
*Bless his parents and grandparents that through him they will be cognizant . . .
*He will marry and make celestial covenants.