Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!

Wow!!! Busy, Busy, Busy.

We have had a lot of things going on and I just haven't had much time to get caught up on the blogging thing. Oh... and if you haven't noticed I haven't dusted off the ceiling fans in a while either.....YUCK!!!! ( kind of hard when they're 20 feet in the air!) Just try and focus on the Christmas tree instead...or better yet.... do the cross your eyes thingy while looking at the tree! Remember that one!

Well, I guess I'll start with the most important news to share

Max is scheduled for his surgery this Friday (January 4th). He will have his lip repaired, some work done on his nose, a P.E. tube placed in his right ear, and possibly a little touch of work to his palate.

I must say I'm more nervous for this surgery than I was for his first! There is a lot riding on the outcome of this surgery and his future. He has an excellent craniofacial team so I know he's in good hands but being the worry-wart that I am, I'm of course, still worried.

We expect Max to stay overnight at the hospital and if he eats and drinks well and his pain level is managed, he will go home Saturday!!! Some children stay for a couple of days but I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Could you keep Max in your thoughts and prayers?

Well, in other news.......

The kids have been getting busy and making some Christmas gifts for Grandma, Grandpa and Nana. They absolutely love doing crafts and look forward to craft time everyday. Sonja will say "Mommy..... is it "cratts" time yet!!!

Anyway..... here are some of their priceless works of art!!!

Here Max uses some red paint to the piece of egg carton which will soon be transformed into a beautiful flower pot. Notice his brush stroke technique! ( hehehe) A little bit here.....

....and a little bit there!!!!! Wallah! Zee body is zee best canvas Oui Oui!!!!

Sonja uses the " stick out the tongue as you paint' technique! A very difficult move! :-)

and.....Wallah!!!!!!!! Perfect!!!!!!

After they finished painting the egg carton piece and it dried, we glued in a piece of floral foam and covered that with peat. They each picked out the type and color of flowers they wanted to use and with my help, inserted the stems into the floral foam along with some miniature pine cones. They were so proud of them and that evening, we took them over to Grandma's and Grandpa's house ( they couldn't wait for Christmas). Nana will get hers for Christmas.

The next gift project was "boxes of love". They each painted a jewelry box (I had laying around collecting dust) and let them dry. After they dried, we glued small metallic confetti hearts to the outside of the box and also put a few inside (even though they are not meant to be opened but sometimes the recipients get a little nosey :-) Glued a grosgrain ribbon around it and attach the following poem with some string.

This is a very special gift

That you can never see.

The reason it's so special is,

it's just for you from me.

Whenever you are happy,

or even feeling blue,

you only have to hold

this gift and know

I think of you.

You never can unwrap it.

Please leave the ribbon tied.

Just hold the box close

to your heart,

it's filled with love inside.


They were a hit with the grandparents.

On the 23rd, we had Christmas at Dan's parents house along with Deano( Dan's brother), Becky and their girls Drew and Luci.

The kids enjoyed themselves and then came home with their little goodies.

OH NO!!! Emergency!!!! Sonja has some paint on her elbow!!!!! She has to have it washed off and quick!!!

She is so funny about getting dirty like that.

Max getting right into it with his paint brush. Painting the box and......

again.....painting himself!!!!!!

The two peanutheads snuggling in for a little nap on the couch..... well at least until Sonja says " Mommy he's laying too close!....... I Can't sleep!" in a whiney little voice.

Outside enjoying the snow and bundled up like little Michelin men!!!

Christmas eve day we made Christmas cookies....for Santa of course. They love to help cook and especially love to mix the ingredients together.......FOREVER!!!!! This year, I opted to get the pre-made cookie dough. They both wanted to roll it out ( in some areas it was so thin you could see through it!) and took turns doing so. Sonja was really good at using the cookie cutters while Max on the other hand, only managed to successfully make one lonely maple leaf cookie, but most importantly, they had a ball!

Max is more of the "quality assurance" type of guy. As you can see above, he checks the palatability of the dough. I think it passed the test because he checked it several times!

Ahhhh...... and "don't forget the sprinkles Mom" Sonja says.

Yeah..... lots of sprinkles..... and frosting too!

On Christmas eve night, we went to my sisters home to celebrate with her and my niece Ana.

Dan was the camera guy for the evening and he caught this one of my Mom, which she was so upset. She didn't want it taken because she said she was in her "bummy" clothes. I love her regardless of what she wears!

Here Sonja and Max help set the table and put the food on the table for Aunt Vicky.

One of Sonja's gifts was a Hannah Montana" wig. She couldn't stop looking at herself in the mirror. I think she was curious to see herself as a blonde.

One of Max's gifts was a little peoples ride on bus. He is CRAZY about it!!! He rode it all over Vicky's house making it play the little song.

Chase, Vicky's boyfriend son, pushes Max around the house on his new ride.

After all of the fun at Aunt Vicky's house, we took the loot and headed home to get ready for Santa. After the kids had their bath and got into the P.J.'s, they posed for a few pics.

Check out the little ham bones.....

Sonja could hardly wait to get the Santa dishes and load them up with Santa and reindeer snacks.

Sonja and Max's letter to Santa.

Sonja was so excited to leave Santa some cookies and milk she and Max made along with a note to him. She also left carrots for the reindeer.

Max recently started going through this little phase where he doesn't like people to sing. Sonja and I were singing a song and here you can see Max yelling " AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" Go figure! I didn't think my singing was that bad!

Max and Sonja had their own Chritmas trees in their room which they helped decorate Here is Max's little Charlie Brown tree. It's one of those little fiber optic ones el cheapo, but Max likes it.

Sonja had a white tree in her room. She just loved it and didn't want me to take it down. After Christmas, she pleaded with me to keep it up.

A few days after Christmas, we had an evening outside playing in the new snow.

Draggin' 360's on Grandpa's slippery driveway

Max locked and loaded for his redneck ride!

Daddy and Max

Little gigglehead himself

Max and Sonja with their semi-homemade "Yo Gabba Gabba masks.

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and have a wonderful New Year!
I would like to ask all of you who see this to keep those people who are separated from their loved ones, have lost a loved one, the lonely, the elderly, and all those who haven't family to share this beautiful season with, in your thoughts and prayers.

Birthday party!!

In early December, we attended the 3 rd birthday party of my Goddaughter Hannah. The kids had a great time. My great friend, Hannah's mommy, made sure the day was one to remember. She made homemade gingerbread houses for the kids to decorate. Sonja was so happy about being able to decorate her own house. For months, everytime the Betty Crocker commercial for the cake decorating set came on she would say "Mommy!! Maybe Santa bring me that for Christmas!" Anyway... with Lizzy's help they made a great gingerbread house complete with candy cane arches at the front doors, M&M chimney with a Teddy Graham Santa, mint chcolate chip roof and Cherry frosting snowbanks...yummy. All of the kids were given goody bags with lots of fun stuff.
Here are some pics.

Max getting ready for some serious gingerbread decorating!

The two cuties Gracie and Hannah decorating their gingerbread house. Don't they look like little angels??

Sonja with her goody bag and Tinkerbell head piece.

Max looking at the goodies in his goody bag. The gingerbread house Sonja and Lizzy made is to Max's left.

In case you're wondering, the headgear max is wearing is the latest in Shrek wear!

The wide smile I fell in love with will stay... Well at least for a little while longer!!

Max was scheduled for his lip repair, PE tubes, palate revision and some nasal work for December 4th. We were going to go to Syracuse on the 3rd to stay over night and be easier for the day of surgery. Our arrival time at the hospital was to be 6:30am.
On the 3rd, we received a call from the Dr's office that the surgery was canceled as the Dr's father was critically ill and he was flying to see him. Later in the day, the hospital called to review the surgical orders with us. I told them we were called and the Dr canceled the surgery. She said moments later that she was just informed of the Dr's cancelation.
On the 7th, I was called by the Dr's office, as they had to reshedule what was supposed to be Max's post op appointment. I'm sad to say the Dr's father passed. On Monday I will find out when Max's surgery will take place.

As far as his sugery being cancelled, I'm not at all sad. As a matter of fact I'm glad!!! I was sad though thinking about Max having the surgery and having the face I fell in love with be forever changed, never to be seen again, not to mention the pain he will have following surgery. You might think I'm crazy but for those of you that have a child born with a cleft, you know exactly what I mean! I know... I know.... It's best that he has the surgery and I know that he couldn't live as full and happy of life if he was never to have it..... BUT... I cry when I think of not ever seeing his sweet little wide smile again! That is a part of Max and a part of him that I fell in love with!
I also feel sad because Max will know what is going on, more so than he did with his first procedure. I think he will make a big stink when they take him to surgery. If he does, I'm going to see if I can take him down to the surgical suite in hopes that it won't be as traumatic for him....we'll see. So.. for now... I get to engrain Max's face into my memory a little while longer, taking in his little expressions and facial movements that soon I will never see again.... forever changed.....
Here are a few pictures of the two peanutheads and the faces I fell in love with!!

The peanutheads! Max's shirt says "Always happy" and he in fact usually is a happy little guy. Sonja loves Max and is more tolerant of him than before. She's growing up so fast... too fast!

I love this one of Max with his cute little crinkled up nose and sweet crooked smile and Sonja tickling Max's chin!

Sonja giving Max a hug, Max just taking it in!

Awww... this picture makes me want to scoop them up and give them a great big hug.

The Cinderella shoe!

Just a little story from the "Motherhood Files".

Recently Sonja had been picking her nose! I kept telling her that it is not polite to do that. Well, she continued to do it and then one day she said "My nose hurts Mommy!". I told her that it's probably from her picking her nose and that she should stop it. As her nose picking continued she also decided that I needed to blow her nose for her after her nose picking session. This went on for over a week. One day after one of her sessions she approached me to blow her nose. As she was blowing she did so very hard. When I took the tissue away I noticed something in her nostral. I brought her closer so I could see what it was. Lo and behold a tiny Cinderella shoe from her miniature Cinderella was what I saw!!!!! I asked her what it was doing in her nose? She said "I don't know!". I asked her if she put it there (as if I didn't know)! She of course said "Yes". I asked her how long it had been in her nose because this nose picking thing had been going on for over a week! She said "I don't know....I think a long time" in a whiney kind of voice. I told her that she could have hurt herself by doing that and she should NEVER do that again. She promised she wouldn't. Thank God it came out and no damage was done. Kids!!!

Our Thanksgivings!

This year we celebrated two Thanksgivings. On Thanksgiving day Dan's Mom and Dad invited us over to their home. Visiting from Canada was Great Grandma Green, Dan's grandma and Dan's Auntie Pat. They kindly invited my Mom over also. We had the traditional feast and watched the kids play and dance.
The following Monday we had our second Thanksgiving here at our home. My sister, her daughter Ana and boyfriend Billy came along with Dan's parents came. My mother was unable to come due to her health but I sent over a plate for her to enjoy at home.
We have much to be thankful for. Grandma is 89 and in good health, relatively speaking. My Mom's health has improved slightly. We are blessed with two healthy and happy children that I thank God for everyday. I have a wonderful husband that is also my best friend. I have my best friend and sister Vicky, with which we share the same mind sometimes. I have many good friends, Heather, Mimi, Karen, Nancy G, Carol, Suzi, who I don't know what I would do without, although I don't get to see them nearly as much as I'd like. I am blessed richly!!!!

Below are a few pictures taken at Dan's parents house.

Max, Sonja and Great Grandma Green. In this picture Max is trying to wink at me. I think it's so funny because he crinkles up his nose, squints both eyes and smiles a little smile, all the while saying "Eeee".

Sonja and Max with Dan's Auntie Pat, also from Canada. The kids just love her! Sonja remembers her each time she comes and runs over to give her a big hug. Max on the other hand just watched from a safe distance at first ; ) As you can see he quickly warmed up to her.

Sonja, Nana (my mom) and Max. Max looks like he's saying "Uncle Sam wants YOU!" doesn't he? It seems he frequently does the finger pointing thingy when he gets his picture taken. Why? We don't really know but I think it's cute!

Dan, Great Grandma Green, Max and Sonja. Sonja decided she wanted to show us her belly-button!

It was great to see Grandma and Pat on our American Thanksgiving.

I'm a big kid now!!!

It's a little personal but Max is peeing in the potty!!
On October 19th Max peed for the first time in the potty! We thought at first it was just luck but he has since gone in it many times. I think he saw Sonja using the potty and thought "Hey! I can do that!" Some times he forgets to get himself all in (if you know what I mean) and gets a little on the floor. After he does it he jumps up off the potty and waves his hands in the air and yells "AYYYY!" It's pretty funny. On Mondays, Max's speech therapist comes to our home. It was close to the end of his session and suddenly, Max whips down his pants and pull ups and sits right on the potty (we keep the potty close these days) and proceeds to pee right in front her! He did his usual "happy pee pee dance" and she applauded along with us! It was a little embarrassing but thank God she thought it was cute too. She was pretty amazed! I'm not sure if this means he'll be trained anytime soon but it's a start! I think it's pretty good considering he just turned 2!!!!! Good job maxie boy!!!

Trick or Treat!!!!

The peanuts!!! They had so much fun on Halloween. A few days before, our local Walmart had a Halloween parade. We decided we would take the kids. They had people walking around with treats handing them out to all of the trick or treaters. At the different departments (sports, photo, etc) they were giving out treats too. As you enter the store, they had a guy there taking pictures of the kids dressed up in the costumes and they were developed and you could pick them up in the evening. Max and Sonja thought it was pretty cool.

Our sweet little angel Sonja. I fell right in love with this costume when I saw it. You can see it has feathers on the trim and halo and also real feathers on the wings which Sonja was thrilled about. Intermixed with the feathers was irridescent pieces and maraboo feathers. It sparkled like little diamonds, even in the dark! I figured, what better costume to have with a soldier than to have an angel watching over him!!! Everyone commented on how cute they were and especially on how beautiful Sonja was. Many also got the whole "angel watching over the soldier's" thing too!

We took the kids to the streets otherwise known as "Halloween Row" in town where people really get into it. Many people sit out on their porch and hand out treats. There were "haunted houses" and of course Sonja wanted to see what they were all about. Sonja and Max weren't even afraid! As a matter of fact, they would say "HI!" and wave to the people dressed up as monsters etc. I think watching Scooby Doo is the reason they are not afraid. They pretty much know that there are people under the costumes. We saw many of our friends on our journey and then before going home we visited family.

They were so excited because people were giving them CANDY!! Sonja would say "Come on! We have to get some more candy!" They used their best manners and Max was saying "Trick or Treat!" too!

Max couldn't stand still any longer. He's a man on the move!!