Our Year!

Since it is just me and the boys tonight celebrating the new year to come as Dan is at work, I has an idea to make a list of our past year to look back on. We will see how many things I come up with.

1.We went shopping for a king size mattress when I was 8 months pregnant. Dan wanted me to lay down on them and see what I thought was comfortable. This is obviously coming from a man. I had to trust his judgement. I forewarned him that my water could break on the new mattress. Luckily it didn't.

2. Dan was promoted to lead man.
3. My motherinlaw taught me how to crochet. I made about 6 scarves in the last couple weeks of my pregnancy.
4.Dan went to the ER 4 days before we had Elton and found out he had gallstones.
5. The birth of our second son Elton Avery Bonnes on February 22.
6. Dan had his gallbladder removed when Elton was 3 weeks old.
7. I took 12 weeks family leave off with the birth of Elton.
8.My parents came to visit and meet Elton when he was about 6 weeks old.
9. Elton was baptised at Twin Falls Reformed Church in April while my parents were here and we had a gathering after at my inlaws.
10. I accepted a new position at work as the Childbirth Education Coordinator and went to prn on OB.
11. At the end of April we flew to Texas for a family wedding. Elton flew for his first time and Caleb was the ringbearer.
12. We got to tour Crawford, Texas (home of George Bush's ranch).
13. Caleb got to go to Chuck E. Cheeses on our trip for his first time.
14. I went to the cabin in the mountains with the boys, motherinlaw and niece for a few days before returning to work.
15. After getting home from Texas we switched realtors to try something different to get our house sold. Were very displeased with the realtor we switched too.
16. Put a contingent offer in on a house that we liked hoping ours was about to sell.
17. Made it to the family cabin once with Dan and the boys. Caleb had hand, foot and mouth that weekend.
18. Started this blog in July.
19. Received a letter from a girl I grew up with, apologizing for picking on me when we grew up. I had not seen her or heard from her since we graduated high school. This was quite a shocker.
20. At the end of July our offer on the house with the contingency expired.
21. Our house showed on my birthday (August 6th) and was the showing we sold our house on. We received the offer 2 days later.
22. We scrambled and organized as we tried to coordinate the closing on our old house and closing on a new house. The house we had previously attempted to buy sold in the one week between when our offer went up and the offer on house we were selling came in.
23.My mom flew down at the end of August to visit and extended her ticket 10 days to help us with packing and moving. She was here 2 days short of a month.
24. Our new nephew/cousin, Jackson was born at a whopping 10lbs 7oz.
25. We closed on both houses September 12.
26. We began our move September 13th and had everything moved by the night of September 14th.
27. Dan got very little sleep in the month of the house sales in stress and prep of moving. On the day we moved our furniture Dan was up for over 24 hours straight as he had to go to work that night. I prayed he would not fall asleep on his 40 mile drive either way from work.
28. At the beginning of October, friend's of ours lost their husband/dad as he fell asleep on his way home from work and hit a tree. I had to explain to Caleb that his friend's daddy was in heaven with Jesus.
29. We celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. We went to Boise overnight to the Anniversary Inn while my parents stayed with the boys.
30. We celebrated Caleb's 3rd birthday with "Thomas The Train" being the theme yet again. He knew his whole alphabet and could count to 20 by then.
31. My parents brought down there old motorhome from Canada for our family and stayed a couple of weeks in their "new" bedroom quarters. Caleb calls it Nana and Papa Jack's room.
32. Max killed his first mouse. Who needs a cat?
33. We had a wonderful family Thanksgiving at Dan's parents' house.
34. We set up our tree for Christmas and Caleb was totally into the prep.
35. Caleb's new favorite movie became "The Polar Express".
36. We added a new puppy to our family - Bingo!
37. We had a eggnog and fondue party on the 23rd of Dec.
38. Dan had the whole Christmas weekend off work.
39. We held Christmas at our house. Dan cooked a wonderful 16 pound prime rib that was to die for!
40. We got to watch Elton grow before our eyes and accomplish many firsts.
41. Caleb and Elton became roomates in the new house and love it. Caleb tucks Elton into his crib every night and Elton has begun to return the "goodnight hug".
42. Max learned how to use a doggie door and enjoys the freedom of going in and out whenever he pleases.
43. I still attend Weight Watchers weekly if possible and am back on maintenence.
44. Dan loves that it only takes 45 minutes to mow our new yard. That beats the acre we had before!
45. Caleb gained a park only 5 blocks from our house that he calls "my park".

This was our year. I am sure I have forgotten something and may add to this later. I am getting ready to introduce Caleb to some sparkling apple cider to celebrate the New Year to start tomorrow. I feel very blessed as we enter 2006!

Our Christmas Weekend!

Our Christmas weekend started out Friday afternoon with my preparations for our eggnog and fondue get together. I spent the whole afternoon in prep as we decided to make 2 cheese and 1 choclate fondue. This involved grating like 16 cups of cheese as well as the rest of the prep. I was calm until it was time to actually get the fondue pot going and then got nervous. I have never actually made fondue before and hoped I wouldn't mess it up. Dan was great and helped out a lot. Everything was ready by the time the doorbell rang with our first guests.

I had a surprise planned that I didn't know for sure whether it would happen or not. I had attempted to get in contact with Santa to see if he could attend. As I communicateds through others I wasn't sure whether he would make it or not and so I did not share with anyone that me might make a visit. Thus, when the doorbell rang at 7:30 and I sent Dan to answer, he was quite in shock when he Santa at the door and didn't know whether to let him in or not. Dan was quite confused. Santa hung out on our couch while Caleb was first to sit on his knee and receive a candy cane. He made sure that Santa knew that we had a chimney for him for the next day and that he would be leaving milk and cookies out for him. The only kids not scared of Santa were Caleb, Elton and yes, our dog Max (he took a turn on Santa' knee too).

Saturday morning Dan and Caleb dropped myself and Elton off at Moxie Java so I could get a coffee and so they could do a little last minute shopping. Then we went to our church's candlelight Christmas Eve service where Caleb got to hold and blow out Jesus' birthday candle. He did very well for the service and kept wanting more music. When we got home Caleb wanted to get his jammies on because he told us that after he went to sleep, the Polar Express was going to wake him up and take him to the North Pole while he drank hot choclate. He got Santa's snack out and then the boys went to bed.

At 7am we got up and went to check the stockings out. Santa's snack was gone and the stockings were full. Caleb got his D199 engine he had asked for and Elton got his first train. The dogs loved their stockings too. Max has always thought he is a person and you would have a difficult time convincing him otherwise. He was very satisfied with his treats as you can see in the picture. He didn't move from that spot on the couch until early afternoon on which he promptly returned after a quick trip outside to take care of business. After the stockings, we proceeded to the Christmas tree to open presents. Elton received his own train table as Caleb had requested for him and both boys received some more train stuff with a few other gifts. Caleb was quite excited that Elton could now share his train stuff with him.

After opening gifts we met Grandpa and Grandma Bonnes at IHOP for breakfast. This was difficult for Caleb as he had to leave his toys. We then hung out until about 1:30 when the prep began for our Christmas dinner. We put on the 16 pund prime rib packed in rock salt and I finished the trifle I was making. Dan's parents, siblings, and our nieces and nephews were here for our dinner. The prime rib was cooked perfectly (Dan gets the credit) and melted in everyone's mouths. The rest of the dinner was great. When clean up from dinner was done we moved on to our family gift exchange which the kids were more than ready for. There was wrapping paper everywhere and fun was had by everyone. Then dessert - trifle was a hit!

Everyone headed home and as you can see by the last picture, dogs and kids were passed out. I felt like I could, but hung in there. All I can say at this point is, what a fabulous Christmas!!
We are so blessed!!

Christmas Spirit

I feel so blessed this year to have such a wonderful husband and children. What has put me in the Christmas spirit the most this year is knowing that Dan and I have the whole weekend off work. That is pretty incredible with us both being in professions where we work 12 hour day/night shifts. I will have the whole weekend with my husband and children!

We are having friends and family over tomorrow night for eggnog and fondue. Then on Sunday, we will have Dan's family over for a prime rib dinner. Appreciating friends and family is very important.

My children have been the next biggest influence in putting me in the Christmas spirit. Caleb is so into it this year. Earlier this week I found him lying under the Christmas tree singing "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town". He has mastered all of the words frome watching "Polar Express". You can also ask him who's birthday it is on Christmas and he will tell you "Jesus". I took the boys with me to the grocery store tonight to get our supplies and Caleb could be heard singing "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" throughout the store. I even joined in a couple of times.

What saddens me and frustrates me though is the whole issue of saying "Happy Holidays" vs "Merry Christmas". How did this turn into the mess it did. I am a "Merry Christmas" person and am not ashamed to say it loud and clear to anyone. I also have become discouraged over the past couple of years by the increasing commercialization of Christmas and focus on presents. I am focusing in on these things less and less and do not feel presents should emphasized as much as they are. I hope my kids can learn from me and not feed into these things.

I feel like my family has made this such a wonderful Christmas that I don't need anything else!

Potty Training

It would seem that Caleb has decided he is in charge of potty training Bingo. While he himself does not have any interest to master this, he is reallly taking it serious when it comes to his puppy. Tonight I found him standing over Bingo on his "potty paper" singing his "potty song" to him to get him to go pee and informing his brother Elton not to touch the paper because it is "potty paper".

The boys are in bed and Bingo and I are enjoying some bonding time. He has been napping and actually started eating a little tonight. I am happy about this as I am hoping his moving to his new home won't be too stressful for him.

A New Addition To Our Family

Thanks to an excellent work evaluation I had a couple of weeks ago which resulted in a lovely check in the mail, we have a new addition. This morning the boys and I drove to Mountain Home and picked out "Bingo". Caleb has been asking for a "Bingo doggy" since last summer. Mommy has been wanting another Pekingese for a long long time. Thus our new addition. He will be 6 weeks old on Wednesday.

I would have to say that Caleb is in love (well so is mommy too). He is already very protective of him and just wants to help him eat and go potty. He says that he is going to hold him, hug him and kiss him and even told me to be gentle this morning when we were looking at him. He also wanted to know if Bingo would enjoy watching movies like "Polar Express" with him. When we made our trip to Pet Smart this afternoon he really thought we should be taking Bingo with us. Someday! However with both of the boys on my own, Bingo being so tiny and it being so cold out he stayed napping at home. Caleb picked out a Christmas stocking for Bingo and all was good.

Our Week

We are starting to introduce a sippy cup to Elton for practice. He hasn't quite got it figured out, but he know it goes in his mouth. After Dan made Caleb a CD of Christmas songs this week, I got both boys to go down for a nap at the same time with both of them together in there room. The picture of Caleb was taken right after he woke up and told me he had had a good nap. I say the hair is the proof!

Caleb is having fun learning Christmas carols. I found him lying under the Christmas tree this week singing "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" with all the correct words. He has really been getting into singing the last couple of months. On Sunday he is supposed to get up at the front of our church (about 1000 people) and sing the song they have been learning in children's church.

The weather is the coldest it has been here in the 6 years I have been in Idaho and the snow isn't going anywhere. We will definitely be having a white Christmas this year.

Narnia

Grandma & Grandpa watched the boys for us yesterday so that we could go see "The Chronicles Of Narnia". What a wonderful movie! I would have to say I left the theatre excited and with hope. Hope for and about many things today that I can't even begin to get into right now. However, I definitely recommend seeing this movie. I know we will be buying it and hope that Hollywood can keep up the standard they have set for movies to come. We will be buying it.

Our senior pastor, wife and son were two rows ahead of us. Our church had been talking about the movie and even did a two week class about the book and C.S Lewis (I wasn't able to make it, but wish I had).

Almost Famous!! - Curtis Lowton

Here is one of my best friends that I went through school with from Kindergarten to graduation! All of us in school predicted entertainment success for Curt. He has written 2 books now and is in the process of trying to get published. From high school operettas to now he has come a long way!

The Boys With Santa

After talking about it for months, Caleb got to go see Santa. Of course he let Elton come too. He was an excellent big brother and made one request for himself (D199 -a diesel train) and a train table (so he doesn't have to share his I am assuming) for Elton. This is the first year he hasn't gotten upset once he got up to Santa, and I don't think Elton had any reason yet to be wary. I have never seen Elton get upset about going to anyone. Caleb went to bed tonight talking about putting out treats for Santa on Christmas Eve. I can only imagine what kind of dreams he will have tonight! There is such excitement and anticipation when one is a child!

A Moment Of Reflection

It was as I went to the mailbox to get our mail and opened it that I realized one of my most favorite things about this time of year-I love the Christmas cards and annual updates that we get from friends and family!! It is so exciting to hear from everyone and this is always why I consider it so important to get my own cards and letters done. I will hopefully be mailing ours out later this week. I just wanted everyone to know how blessed we feel to have so many wonderful friends and family around the United States and Canada.

I have all the memories of growing up and all the wonderful times spent with all of you. I hope everyone else is having a wonderful holiday season!

SHEZZA

Check out this website and listen to the music samples. This girl grew up in my hometown and I knew her. She was a few years older than I. I am so excited to see her mission now!