Packed like a mini-van

I know what you're thinking... Could my girls BEE any cuter?
No. No, they cannot.
They are simply the cutest little Bees ever.


They also shared their cutest with my parents during our infamous visit to Albuquerque this October. Brad and I packed up the mini-van and brought our girls on our first big Family Vacation. We drove to Midland/Odessa for a night with my sister Diane. After one night with Auntie Didi and her ridiculously cuddly dog Murphy, we packed up the car again to head to Albuquerque.

*Note: When I say, "packed up the car... I mean it. We packed 2 pack-n-plays, sheets and blankets for the girls, girl clothes, our clothes, coats, baby backpacks (quite large), a box of toys and coloring books, a bag of fun car activities (water color things and the like), diaper bags, movies for the car, food and drinks. How people survive without a mini-van is astonishing to me. I'm simply baffled by the anti-mini-van sentiment... oh... I'm off track. Back to our regular blog...

We packed quite a few activities into our visit to Albuquerque. We went to Children's Museums, Fall Festivals, parks... the girls had a great time. They also enjoyed just playing in my parent's beautiful courtyard. They're pictured above sitting on a bear named... I can't remember the name... but my parents have a few "named" bears in the garden. I'm pretty sure that they name the hummingbirds, too...

It was our last day in Albuquerque when I fell and broke my arm. It seems like ages ago, and yet... only a few months. The picture above was taken about 5 minutes before the Big Fall.


The girls had a great Halloween this year. Grandma Gail sent Bee costumes, which fit the girls perfectly. My good friends came over for dinner with their baby boy and a few in-laws.
The girls really, really didn't understand the Trick-or-Treat process. They were completely confused as to why Melissa wouldn't let them in her house. (This is where we go to play, right? Why won't she open the door?). The confusion intensified when Mel handed the girls each 2 pieces of candy. They have NEVER seen a package of candy before, but Ana's instincts kicked in. She held onto her treasure until the next house. When she was offered 2 MORE pieces of candy at the next house, she quickly trusted Daddy with her candy stash.

Keira's favorite part of Halloween was giving candy to the kids visiting our house later in the evening. "MORE KIDS?!" she would shout (*pronounced "Moah kids"). She is extremely social and thought that a zillion kids coming to her door was the best night ever. The next morning she woke up asking for "MORE KIDS?!"

Oh... I almost forgot... we also had a BAMOM Fall Festival. Good thing I didn't forget that. It is like forgetting to pack the 7 hours of Curious George episodes on your iPod before you leave on a Family Vacation. That... would be a cross-country tragedy.
*For some, knowing the words to at least 14 episodes of Curious George IS the tragedy. At least Brad and I can say "Thank you window mon-khey!" to each other.

Yes. October, like the mini-van, was packed to the brim.
It was a full month... and worth the ride.

Order now and get your free seizure

I fell off the blog-wagon for a little bit. I'm afraid life caught up with me for a few months. It caught up to me, tackled me and then spat in my face for good measure.

After breaking my arm, I thought to myself, "2008 really sucked."
The afternoon of the DAY that I had that thought Ana had a seizure.
3 Doctor's appointments, 1 EEG and 20,000 tums later - we find out that the Doctors can't find anything wrong.
That is a good thing.
My pediatrician said something that I've hung my hat on these last few months - "Everyone gets a free seizure." With that, as long as Ana goes a year without a seizure, we're probably home free.

2 days after Ana's seizure, my dad had a stroke. I told him that he was a copy-cat and shouldn't try to take Ana's thunder, but he wanted to go to the hospital, have tests and a good chunk of stress, too! (He kept asking about Ana while he was going through all of this - silly man).
During the same week, my sister broke a few toes and my mom missed her 3rd root-canal.

Now that everyone has recovered from Oct-Nov, I can safely say that we're all okay.
We're lucky.
I feel like the H family has dodged a few bullets this year... and I'm so, so glad that we're all still okay. (I'm not leaving the house until 2009, but whatever).
Ana is great, Dad is great, I'm going to physical therapy a few times a week, Brad is starting to play again, Diane hasn't broken any additional toes and Mom's mouth is almost worth as much as my car.

I'll update the blog with actual FUN stuff that has happened the past few months.
Not all of 2008 sucked.
Not all, indeed.