Party Time and New Happenings

These past couple of weeks have been crazy to say the least! Thankfully the kids are all finally feeling better (hopefully we'll stay that way for awhile) and I have even been able to get some stuff done around the house that I had planned on doing during my two weeks off but hadn't been able to yet. We are working hard to get the basement in order to finish it off yet this winter. We need the space SO bad! This equates to me going thru a whole lot of stuff and donating/selling/organizing.

Because I have so many pictures to update with from these past few weeks I've done mini-slideshows for most of them. Enjoy!

My cousin Renee (also Johnathan's Godmother) and her boyfriend Jordan came to visit us and the kids on December 19th. On December 21st B.J. and I were able to meet up with our best friends, Eric and Dani Krohn (also Johnathan's Godparents and we are their daughter Niah's Godparents) for dinner and exchanged gifts for our kids.


Christmas with Renee and Krohns 2009

The Guenther family Christmas was on December 20 and we had my sister and her family and my parents over. Thankfully the trio were all healthy for both mine and B.J.'s parties with our parents!


Guenther Family Christmas 2009

Initially we were all planning to go to Christmas Eve service at the church I grew up in and we were married at and to attend my families party afterward but since Annabel and Johnathan ended up being sick that day I took Mady alone. She had a great time having my full attention as well as that of my family members and stayed up way later than normal! She was really good in church and at the party, I was very proud of her!


Christmas Eve 2009


Christmas Day 2009 was interesting to say the least. Mady was healthy and happy as could be. She helped decorate cookies and opened many of their gifts herself and was the only one to help B.J. and I open ours. Johnathan did help make some cookies but it was shortly after that that he took a major turn for the worse. The majority of the day was spent holding him and Annabel with them asleep on us (captured some adorable snuggling pics) or them napping. Johnathan did spunk up a bit towards the end of the night and was able to check out his new tricycle and a few other toys.


Christmas Day 2009

B.J.'s parents came to town the weekend after Christmas for a quick trip. We celebrated Christmas with them on the 27th.


Buckley Family Xmas 2009

It was the first time in a few years that we went out for New Years Eve. Our neighbors, Matt and Kristin Weber (Mady's Godparents) invited us to a party and the Storch's (Annabel's Godparents) were also there. Prior to children we used to all do a lot together so it was great to finally be able to hang out with everyone again! Both of them have 3 year old girls and 6 month old boys so it's a fun time when you get all those kids together! We were nervous about a) germs and b) how to handle all three with no gates, highchairs, all the other gear you're used to in your house but overall things went great, all three of the kids ate really well and behaved well too. Now just praying that with the little bit of exposure we're giving that no one gets sick...


New Years Eve 2009

This last video is made up of a bunch of random pictures which I will describe. The kids have been enjoying playing with their new Xmas toys, some hits are the Thomas the Train Trackmaster set, trampoline, sketch toys, learning bike, Dora tent, Leapfrog Scout and Violets, new books, and learning toys/crafts.

Annabel's recent development is in her self-feeding. She started with McDonald's french fries earlier this week, yesterday peanut butter toast, and today pancakes, sausage, mac-n-cheese, pizza, and cinnastixs (which she loves) and she's been holding her own cup quite a bit lately too! We are so proud of her! This is a huge development (I honestly didn't think it would come this quickly), not only will it make life easier for everyone but it is also a socially acceptable thing that will be important in life. She continues to work on pulling to a tall-kneel and a half-stand to play, hopefully this will be the next thing she masters! In therapy this week they tried E-STIM (uses electrodes to stimulate the muscles to contract) on her left hand and we targeted getting it in to extension and it worked really well! The plan is to try it a few more weeks and we continue to see positive outcomes then they will submit for insurance to cover a machine for home as it is optimal to do this everyday in order for the muscles to learn the right movements, eventually allowing her to move them on her own.

Mady tried her first go-gurt this past week and did quite well. She is funny, when she decides she's tired she'll lay down wherever, such as the fireplace!?! Also in this slideshow are pics of B.J. and Johnathan in their matching Peyton Manning jerseys and of the trio in their MSU outfits for the Alamo Bowl. GO STATE!!


Misc. 2009_2010 Pics