Merry Christmas!

First I can't get blogger to STOP underlining! That said......

There always seems to be some sort of a theme for Christmas. This years theme was electronics. Jayla and Zach got Nintendo DS's among other things, Tanner got a bunch of PSP stuff (he already has had the PSP for a couple of years) and the family got some more Wii games and accessories.

Little gamer.

Lots 'o gamers (Dan is playing Sudoku on Jayla's DS, Jake is playing the now hand me down leapster)

Jayla being left out of the gamers club. Us girls stick together.

One of the things that I decided to try to do this year, and maybe start a tradition of, is making homemade doughnuts on Christmas day. This was my first attempt at making doughnuts, EVER! And yes to "toot-my -own-horn" they turned out really yummy. Some are glazed and some are just dipped in sugar.

Dan and I don't usually get each other gifts at Christmas. We think it's much more fun to get the kids stuff (and then play with their things). But, this year Dan bought our family passes to LifeTime Fitness (you really should check this out.... AWESOME!). They just opened one up in Westminster ( 20 min drive from our house). I know that some people might think, " what's he trying to say by buying a gym pass" or "that's not very fun". But to those people I say "BAH HUMBUG TO YOU!" I have been asking for a gym with daycare and need that physical release. This is exactly what I wanted.... asked for..... and got. He totally loves me!

Now, every time I get those Christmas Questionnaires that has the question about "who is the most difficult to buy for" I always answer Dan. I never know what to get him. Maybe it's because I am always looking for that gift that will really let him know how much I love him and appreciate him. This year is the same as the others as far as that goes. Eventually he got what he asked for, which was a nice camel colored dress coat. I also surprised him by making a book about our life, so far, together on snapfish (thanks Mar for the heads up!). I think it turned out pretty good.

We hope that everyone had a great Christmas and that you were all good boys and girls so that Santa came to YOUR house. We miss all those family members and friends that are far away, or those that we don't see enough, and think about all of you often!

Dan's puncture was right smack dab in the middle of the cornea. Again, Jake has good aim.

More on the eye.......

Dan is doing great! He went in again today to have his eye checked out AGAIN. {I think this doctor likes him :) } He can wear his contacts again, but still has to use some of the many drops he was given. But he is in the clear.... literally, ha, ha. So let's see......He has been to the eye doctor 5 times in the last 6 days. That is WAY too many times in a week.

He is going into surgery tomorrow for his ankle. They bumped him up to the 9:45 am slot (someone canceled) so we have to check in by 7:45 am. That means we have to leave our house at the butt-crack of dawn! Of course, it has to start snowing now, just to make sure the roads are nice and treacherous for us. Hopefully it will be all cleared up by the time we drive home. Dan's surgery is an out patient thing. He will have a great ride home, right!?

And then there is my sis..... she was induced today, and we are still awaiting the arrival of Gavin/Dean Alleman. As of this, moment she has been given an epidural and pitocin, now it's just a matter of when he wants to come meet us.

Dan's eye continued...........

Since the last post, Dan has gone to the eye Dr. again to make sure things are progressing. When he went in on Mon. the Dr. told him that she thought his eye would heal more quickly if she gave him an eye drop that would dilate his eye for a week { apparently when his eye dilates to adjust to the lighting, it doesn't let the small tears he had around the puncture heal well}. She also gave him another prescription, a steroid this time, to drop in his eye every hour. I've lost track of how many different eye drops he's up to now. He has another appointment today. We'll see what he comes home with this time :)

So around all this eye stuff he is still preparing for surgery on Fri. We have to drive down to the Springs again. This time it's on the right ankle- the better one. Along that note this is for all you prescription smarties- Char- What is diloted/doloted (sp?) ?

It was inevitable......

Tanner and Jayla are wearing glasses!

It really isn't that surprising since both Dan and I wear them (well contacts mostly). Aren't they cute though? Their prescriptions are about the same, and isn't very bad. They really only need to wear them to see the board at school. But, they are both so excited to have them they want to wear them all the time. I've told them that pretty soon the "newness" will wear off and their ears will start hurting and then they won't want to wear them anymore. :)

Don't they look so studious!

We got the call Sat. that they were done. Dan got new glasses as well. It was a good thing the kids wanted to go get them right away. Here is the story.... as shortened as possible.........

Dan woke up on Sat. morning saying his eye hurt. It was watery, pink, and hurt. So we thought maybe it could be pink eye. We just thought we'd wait out the day and see if it got worse. It felt better to wear his contacts, so we thought that maybe his eye was just scratched a little. We went to our ward Christmas breakfast, and it just kept getting more swollen and red. When we got home and got the call from the eye Dr. that glasses were done, the kids wanted them so bad, and we left to get them fitted and take them home. Once there, Dan asked them what they thought was wrong with his eye. The Dr. examined him. He has a puncture hole right in the middle of his eye. The Dr. said "get those contacts out of your eye immediately!" She said that his eye looks horrible and that if this doesn't get taken care of he could loose his whole eye. WOW! We left with a prescription for antibiotic eye drops and the Dr.'s home number with instructions to call her if the pain got worse or if white spots appeared in his eye and to go immediately to the ER. She called us later that day to check in with him, and just wanted him to know how concerned she was because she didn't want him to go blind or loose his eye or need a complete cornea replacement. THANKS Doc! Way to make us feel better! He was putting his antibiotic drops in every half hour all day. Then Sun. we woke up and his eye was neither worse nor better, but the Dr wanted us to call her regardless. She wanted us to meet her at the office so she could just check his eye out. We drove there and she checked him out. She said that his eye looked better, and that she was relieved. She continued to tell us that she was so worried because with these problems he could loose his sight and eye within a matter of days and they wouldn't be able to do anything about it. THANKS AGAIN Doc! He has another appointment today, but already, his eye isn't nearly as swollen nor as red. So we're hopeful that he will not loose sight or his eye.

He was trying to think of when he could have punctured his eye. He thinks it was when he was wrestling around with Jake. He remembers getting something in his eye, but nothing that seemed traumatic. Jake has good aim, whatever he did.

So, Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. I always feel bad for Thanksgiving because it seems to just get glossed over and full force into Christmas. I was glad that my family could come up and enjoy dinner over here. And I am doing exactly what I said is sad..... and going right into Christmas. I am not being a scrooge, but I am just not "into" the holiday spirit this year. I haven't decided if I want to put up all of my decorations or just go simple this year. I just don't know if I want more things cluttering my house when it it cluttered with all the everyday stuff all ready. I am in a slump in general and just don't know how to pull myself out of it. Dan, on the other hand, has got the spirit for both of us. We are all done shopping for the kids, other then the little last minute stuff. We needed to be done before Dan goes into surgery again. Like I said....... I really am not a scrooge. Just not enthusiastic.