Bath Time With Auntie Chow!

Leftovers and Auntie Chow over with Saige was AWESOME! I soaked teh roast, heated bread, made potatoes & veggies, and set the table with china....why not right!? We had a great Sunday and the kids loved their bath!! Well, the girls did because Drew can not have one for many weeks...that meant FUN TIMES! He has been such a punk and I kid you not....the girls are so happy!

Anyways, good for Drew for doing so well!

Christmas!

I am way too tired to write a detailed post about Christmas this year...hey at least you all got pic to look at! I have not even called my Grandma yet!!!!! We wanted to get a New Years thing together, but we are so beat that we are just hanging out here.

So, here are some pics of Christmas this year and even though there are not many (I was very busy) we had a great time and wanted to wish every one......MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Ugly Sweater Party!

A few weekends ago Derek and I threw our first 'Ugly Swaeter Party!' I hope to make this an annual event and would love to have it become bigger and better each year. Here are a few pictures, but I was very bummed that I did not take more or better ones:( Oh well! I am so happy that some of my MC members came, Mikey made the trip, and Mar came to party even though she is seriously sicky preg! Until next year!!!

All I want for Christmas

Few weeks ago the kids told daddy what they wanted for Santa to bring them for Christmas. Daddy wrote it down and since for some reason blogger will not let upload the scanned letters I will tell you some of the things the kids want.

Lilly- 'walking legs,' pretty earrings, her ears pierced.
Drew- New Mario game, new Wii controller, Toy Story game,
Emma- anything princess:)

They both ran so fast to the mail box to send it to Santa and were so excited the next day when Nona, our mail lady, picked them up. Now Drew says that he should have 'ordered' that from Santa when he wants to add things to his list. I keep telling him that Santa will know:)

It is DONE!

Before "Happy Juice"


After "Happy Juice" kicked in



Bye, Bye! I loved how they transported the littler ones. Wagons everywhere!

Later at home after some pain killers and dinner


For those that I told, thank you for the prayers, advise, and well wishes for today. For those that I did not tell (i.e my sis, Patty) I am so sorry! Maybe it was my copping mech??? It was a hard night and day for us emotionally, but we got through it. Drew did so well during pre-op, surgery, post-op and now at home....frankly I am not surprised. We are been blessed with a very healthy happy boy and we needed to focus on that while he got ready, was rolled away from us, watched his patient number on a screen reporting that he was being wheeled to the OR, in the OR, and alas the surgeon came in, then we were off to recovery. When he woke up he only gave 4 or 5 crocodile tears then wanted to go home to watch Avatar! He did not freak out or have complications, so proud of him! Here is the run down on what happened today at CHLA, an amazing place!

*Drew had a Meatoplasty, Google it and then go ouch!
*Wake up time was 4am! Showered, threw Cars on in the car and headed to CHLA for a 6am check in.
*Waited forever on the 7th floor until we got to pre-op at 8am.
*Drew did not want to put on "tiger pj's" because he chose not to like tigers this morning.
*Got some 'happy juice' (yes, they call it that) and became drunk....it was hilarious! He kept pressing the same buttons on a toy and smiled and told us he had feet. Then he put on the jammies.
*Prayers were spoke and off to the OR he went. Love Derek, he was so emotional and there is nothing wrong with that:)
*Mc D's for a latte while Derek waited for Drew. There was no way I was sitting in that waiting room. I got back and 10min later it was all done!*
*We saw him! Just as sweet as could be sleeping all wrapped up. I remember that warm feeling under the thin white covers from my sections:)
*We kept him asleep as long as possible, he woke a bit later, we got him dressed and we were off for home.

This is why I think if went well. First, he is a healthy boy. Second, we did not tell him why he was there until we got to pre-op. This worked for us, may not for you....but if you have kids you know 'the freak out attack' they can have. Third, we gave it to God. Watching all of the Chemo patients in their jammies, masks, blankets, no hair, and parents just wanting them to get better made me think a lot about how I have been lately. I have been short tempered and stressed. My stress is nothing compared to what these little people are going through...I need to remember that. It is my stress and what I am being given right now, but the thought of having a sick child....horrible. These were babies that should be outside playing in puddles not in there. Finally, I followed instructions given by the doctor, prepared Derek and I as much as I could, ate something, drank water, took my meds, remembered to breathe, had my mom watch the girls (thanks mommy!) got plenty of sleep, and let the nurses/doctors take the lead. After all, they know what they are doing and see this everyday. This is the second time that we have been through a child's surgery, maybe that helped too. Of course, when we had concerned we asked questions.

Party Before Christmas, Lee Style!

Lee Family Christmas 2010 was a hit. It was so nice to have The Weils down! Even though Connor is filming in Vegas it was nice to have Uncle Al and Sky. I am not sure if they are use to the amount of people and activity of the family, but I am sure they will be use to it by next year.
We did not order from Wings this year, but maybe we will next year because Kels will go pick it up! We kept telling her that since she will be 18 next Christmas she better get a J-O-B because she will joining us in the 'adult' exchange. She was a good sport about it!
All of the kids and adults have a great time, but it is really strange to see the the progression of life in the once young kids from bugging us to open presnets and playing dress up to having boyfriends/driving/talking about politics and religion. IT IS SOOO STRANGE!
The littlest ones went first, then the teenagers, then adults. I should have timed it, because it took forever! When the kids were all done Em said that she wanted to, "go home to play with her presents." It got a little difficult with our older two because all they wanted to do was play with every toy and could not understand that there were too many people and too many toy parts. It has been two days and we are still opening presents! We wrapped up around 10:30, but did not go to sleep then. Elisa and Dwayne came back to our house, we put our kids to bed, talked and drank some good wine. Well, at least Elisa and I drank some wine...I am not sure what the boys did. I do not think they did either because when waking up I found an almost empty bottle of Jack, my laundry everywhere because the hamper was broken, the bikes were sideways, Derek's shirt was ripped, and there was a dart in the hose of my washing machine. Party was a success! Hangover cure.....Hero's with the family!

The 15 Month Old

LP, Lilly, Lillian, Bills, Pretty Girl, or IttyBitty turned 15 months!

She is a joy! Loves to smile, laugh, throws herself back on the floor while you hold her because she is pissed at you, does not look at you if you yell at her, she eats everything, our only baby to take her bibi out to put something in (drives us crazy!), she does not walk, loves to stack items, loves to already play tea, has only been sick a few times, LOVES Gabba, just got her ears pierced, loves cookies, hates her diaper changed, needs her blue and 'L' blanket to sleep at 7:30pm, loves her Nana and Aunties sooo much, is warming up to boys, IN LOVE with hats and her bottle.

Like I said, she is a joy. Except, she HATES BOWS! Is she really my daughter? Did they switch her? Oh wait, she looks like Derek...I guess she is ours:) If you look at most of the pics of her on the blog she does not really have a bow in that beautiful hair of her's. Oh well, I guess one of the girls was going to be like that!

Tackle Tuesday

Yes, it is Friday, but I had to post my tackle because maybe others could use the awesome results.

So, I HAD to find Ms. Brenda some awesome CLIP ON earrings. Well, I had no idea where to go that would not break the bank and I thought???????>>>>.... Stein Mart?? I have never even been in one (old person store that my mom always talks about..haha you 50 yr old). So while Derek was at home sleeping with Lilly and the other two were are the Maloof's house for a play date I headed over to pick through what I thought would be no more than 10pairs of CLIP ONs and would be out of there in 15mins. I was so wrong!!

When I walked into the store I thought, "I am the youngest person here and where are the earrings!?" Well, other things caught my eye and I was there for 1.5 hours! There was so much stuff and it overloaded my brain! I kid you not, they have 3 racks of CLIP ONS!!!

So, if you want some clip ons and maybe find some other stuff that you really do not need but MUST HAVE...go to Stein Mart, but not on Tuesday when there is a huge line at the register due to senior discount day! BTW, Ms. Brenda loved her present:)

Girls Night

Tonight we went to a performance at the Dance Academy, "Winter Celebration." Here is a picture of Em and I heading out. Em was so excited to go and actually lasted the entire two hours of the performance! It was so good and Em wants so badly to be a 'big girl.'



Since there is no photography allowed during performances I could not take any to post/share, but I do have this one of Em watching the big girls/boys performing at a mall this past weekend. She is just so in love with this dancing stuff!

Avah Grace Turns 2, Gabba Style!

My long time friend De Anne's daughter, Avah is turning two tomorrow, but she already had her party! Avah has always been IN LOVE/OBSESSED with the TV show, YoGabbaGabba. In fact, she was the kid that turned my kids onto the show. I do not even think Lilly knows who Elmo is, but she dances her heart out to, "there's a party in my tummy, so yummy, so yummy!"

De Anne told me prior to going to her house that it 'threw up gabba all over her house," and it really did! From matching earring for her and Avah, outfits for both of the babies (thank goodness the 12 yr old was not subjected to one), gabba brownie pops and cupcakes, gabba party favors, gabba music, gabba decor, and I must not forget to mention one of the characters came....Muno (I have no idea how to spell that, but he is the huge red one). I think Avah just about died when she saw the red thing! It was so cute and she just walked up to him, hugged him, then walked away, then came back, then tried to put Drew's Muno shoes on it, then walked away....went on for 30 min! My kids went crazy for a min or two then back to the jumpy.....but LP crawled around it and DANCED! So cute!

Also, I have to say that if it were not for two babies born in the beginning of Dec two years ago, I do not think we would have Lillian! Just thought I would throw that in:)