2011 in Review

 Can't believe we are at the end of another year.
We had a bit of a bumpy start; but all in all, 2011 was an amazing year, full of so many incredible blessings.

 January

January 28, 2011
Morning of transplant
After 13 days at TCH being treated for various issues secondary to liver failure,
Weston received his gift of life.

He had a rough immediate recovery.
Almost 2 weeks in PICU.

 

 February

We are so lucky to have such wonderful, caring and supportive friends.
Wishes for Weston party organized and hosted by our amazing Lake Travis ISD family.

February 17, 2011
Hospital Discharge Day!
One month at TCH and a new liver.
We spent another few weeks in Houston (close proximity to TCH) at my wonderful uncle and aunt's house.

 March

Homecoming
Emily hadn't seen her brother since January

Working on potty training

Spring Break at Dell Children's, surgery and all

 April

National Donate Life Month

 

 

May

Keeping it real...real silly

 June

Emmy turns 3!

 July

Bubby's First Birthday!

Taste of victory
Completely Potty Trained!
Thank God for oreos!
(Good call, Claire!)

 August

First Day of School

 September

Future Texas Cheerleader

 October

Wessy the Dinosaur and Emily the Nice Bruja

November

Cowboy Sundays

December

My beautiful girl. A true Christmas Angel.

My handsome, healthy boy

Happy New Year!
Welcome 2012!

Playing with Presents

Daddy encourages playing ball in the house...





Mommy encourages cross-dressing...

Christmas 2011

We had a wonderful Christmas at the Golden house.
A very happy and HEALTHY Christmas.
For some reason, I can't upload our pictures.
But take my word for it, the kids were precious and they made out like bandits.

Santa somehow fit a Jeep 4-wheeler (munchkin size) and a pink guitar keytar for Emmy and a race track and cars for W.

Today Emily says her favorite present is her Rapunzel dress and wig, aka the blonde rat's nest.
Not quite sure what Weston's favorite present is; perhaps Emily's iPod?


We spent Christmas day with our best buds, the Harman's. They kids were so cute and played so nicely together all day. :-)

So Much For Waiting

Moms with small kids...what does your Christmas tree look like?
The lower third of mine has been destroyed...stripped of its ornaments and garland.

And the presents...I wrapped most of them at least twice, because little hands can't keep to themselves.
This is an example of one that I've wrapped twice:

In her defense, the little brother ripped it up the second time and Mama didn't feel like wrapping it for a third time. Christmas is starting a little early for the E.

Emily and her favorite toy of the moment.
Yes, Emily was DYING for a garbage truck.

<3A girl and her sanitation vehicle.<3

Wes decided that he wanted his handy work to benefit him, as well.

Playing catch with Daddy.

We are getting ready for the holidays here.
Every day, we take a room and CLEAN and at night, BAKING!!
I made some pretty yummy oreo truffles, eggnog pound cake and the infamous SLUSH tonight.
Not quite sure why I chose to clean the kitchen today...

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There are just no words...

A Visit to ETx

We are just back in town from visiting MeeMaw and PawPaw in East Texas.

Emily's version of how the Nativity scene should work.
Baby Jesus is at front, as He should be.

Emily drinking coffee with her PawPaw

She wanted a mustache like her PawPaw

So, we think PawPaw is E's soul mate.
They fed off each other every minute they were together.
Good and bad, lol.

Emmy had some hilarious mischievous moments...
when being told Santa won't bring her presents, "I'll be good NEXT year."
After PawPaw said he'd take the fall for an unfortunate daddy deer acident, "YEAH PAWPAW! You broke it! You're on the naughty list!"
"Put Wessy on the naughty list. I'm on the 'Great' list."

She thought Mr. Mousey was Santa. Oddly enough, Mr. Mousey couldn't look less like Santa if he tried. She was hamming it up, trying to be sweet to her brother in front of "Santa".

PawPaw with his Golden grandbabies

Poor Wes.
He had another spill and scraped up his nose.
I don't know HOW his nose gets the brunt of his spills.
But, here we are again, with a scraped up nose...right before Christmas.

29 for 364 More

I just celebrated my 29th birthday.
I am recovering of two self-inflicted nights of rich food and cocktails...multiple cocktails.
Not feeling so hot.
Getting too old to indulge two nights in a row?
blech

My friend, Claire, just celebrated her 29th as well and I'm stealing this from her:

My 20's:
20: Attending The University of Texas School of Nursing

21: Graduated with my BSN, started working in ICU and got engaged

22: Married! <3

23: Left the hospital to work in the schools

24: Expecting our first baby!!

25: Gave birth to our precious baby girl

26: Went back to the hospital to work in the OR, Baby #2 on the way
27: Welcomed our Little Man
28: Witnessed first hand the amazing grace of God and gift of life when my baby received his second chance at life

29: ?

Winter Wonderland

 Last Thursday was Emily's class Christmas Party.
Laura and Claire, the class moms, did such a great job. Adorable decorations, clever activities and games...so sweet!

Why does she look like she's always up to something??

Making her Winter Wonderland scene with cotton balls, marshmallows, coconut and rice
I think more marshmallows got in the tummy than on the page

Look at all the parents that were able to come to the party!!
We are so lucky!

The book gift exchange.
Hilarious!
"Look!! I got a book!!!" 14 times. So cute.

So Mommy banned Bubby from this party.
We learned our lesson the hard way from the Halloween and Thanksgiving parties.
It is just too hard to keep him out of trouble and be there for E at the same time.
Thus he was exiled to the Land of Misfit Boys...aka, Daddy's school.
Don't feel too bad for him, I hear he had a blast cruising for chicks and attracting attention.

Wordless Wednesday::Angel

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Precious Baby Girl

We had been going through a rough patch with Emmy.

I mean R O U G H.

Rough as in phone calls from school about her behavior.

Rough as in the Fire Department wouldn't take her.

Rough as in research conducted for a military boarding pre-school.

But, it seems in the last week or so, she has really turned it around and is just as precious and sweet as can be.

Her own, personal Christmas tree.
It looked cute, for about 2 minutes...lets just say that all the lollipops have been "tasted" and subsequently discarded.

I went in to check on her that night and she patted the bed beside her and wanted me to lay down with her. <3<3<3

I just love the way children look at Christmas trees!!

So yesterday, I was feeling brave. Got both kids dressed and headed out to run some errands. Not Indiana Jones worthy, but not a cake walk. The babies were great and so cooperative I decided to take them out to lunch.
We enjoyed a nice lunch at Panera, just the three of us. <3

Sweet girl enjoying a sweet gingerbread treat.

She had another great day at school today!
It is her turn to fill up and present the "Me Box".

She is SO EXCITED. She told her daddy that she needed to "put beautiful things in it".

Maybe it's Sparky...I don't know, and frankly I don't care.
It is so wonderful to have our sweet baby girl back to her normal self.

NBAAD and BAMF

You've Come A Long Way, Baby &lt;3

Prepare to be inundated with links...

Today is National Biliary Atresia Awareness Day and the start of the Biliary Atresia Man Fuzz fundraiser benefiting the BA research program at Texas Children's Hospital.

NBAAD:

Check out the awesome video, courtesy of SuperLiverMom Jen Guffey.
AND the first Public Service Announcement for BA!!
Making some waves!!

BAMF:
Today is the first day of the Bili Beard for BAMF 2011.
"Like" the facebook page so you can see the evolution of the infamous BAMF in all its glory.

Feeling generous??
Donate and mark your donation for BAMF!
Every penny raised will go straight to Texas Children's BA research program.

The cause of BA is still unknown...and there is no cure.

Feeling altruistic??
Register to be an organ donor.

Wordy Wednesday

Meet Sparky...

Someone had a rough day, yesterday.
But, when Sparky moved and showed her that he was really keeping tabs on her, she turned it around and had a Gold Star day today!
You go E!

At first, we were pretty apprehensive on how she would react to Sparky and his spying for Santa deal.
We thought Santa was pretty much dead to E, as he didn't give her the guitar she asked for right then and there...
She holds a pretty mean grudge.

We shall see how long the Elf Extortion yields positive results.


Speaking of Naughty List:

Weston finally got revenge on his big sister for every time she disturbed his peaceful slumber!

He seemed pretty pumped about it,too!

But little Bubby couldn't stay on the Naughty List too long:

I mean, really...can you resist this sweet face and angelic voice??

Make sure to come back tomorrow!!

December 1st is National Biliary Atresia Awareness Day

and we have big plans to celebrate!!

So Thankful

From our turkeys to yours...



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Winter Wonderland Wednesday

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Turkey Day, NOLA Style::Day 1

We were up bright and early this morning and heading to the airport.
3 suitcases, 2 car seats and a stroller. Oy! But the Sky Cap was awesome and hooked us up.
We breezed through security; did you know kids don't have to take off their shoes? What a life saver!

The babies were ANGELS on the flights. Weston only got a little restless during our layover in Dallas. I am one proud mama!




A little chocolate milk before boarding.



She's so excited!


Checking out the view


Emmy said "SNOW!!!"


Presh!!


No plane ride is going to keep him from missing his nap.

We had some delicious seafood gumbo and boiled shrimp waiting for us. Can't complain about that :-)

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