Our Christmas card tree

We have the neatest Christmas card holder. It is in the shape of a tree - just a round gold wire that wraps up around and around in the general cone shape of a Christmas tree. It has stars on the wire all around the sides that hold our Christmas cards. I am so pleased to say it is very full already - and I love it!!! It is so good to hear from our family and friends at this special time of year, so to those of you that have already sent cards, thank you very much!! If you haven't yet, keep us on your list! (Ours should be in the mail no later than Thursday...getting pictures done first.) We've also gotten several e-cards, which are great as well - we just print them out and add them on the tree. It is a nice visual reminder for me of all the people that are loving/praying for us as we head towards the finish line in this crazy graduation game - MAY 10, 2008!! :)

Update on Az5

Some of you know that we have struggled with Az5 since her first birthday - she has not ever been able to take regular whole milk. While it doesn't make her sick, let's just politely say that since she's still in diapers, you don't want to be around afterwards.... Anyways, we have tried off and on to switch her from soy milk (which she tolerates) to whole cow's milk and it just hasn't worked. We have done several stool samples to rule out rotavirus, etc, which have all come back normal. We've finally concluded that she is lactose intolerant. We've gotten to the point where we are checking ingredient labels for milk, and have noticed two things. One is that sometimes when it says it contains milk, it is just the whey from milk, and she can handle that without a problem. However, if it says lactose, then it bothers her. Fortunately for us, we have been able to find lactose free milk, cheese-free pizza, and other lactose-free items. My hope and prayer is that she is able to outgrow this as she gets older - closer to 4 or 5. If not, we definitely have more options for her than from even when I was growing up. Bon appetit!

How was Thanksgiving?

Ours was very nice - very thankful too. We stayed here and went to my parents house, where my brother, sister, and my brother-in-law joined us. Everyone arrived on Wednesday, and we came over on Thursday. Of course we had our Thanksgiving morning traditions: all the pumpkin bread we can hold, as well as the Macy's parade on TV. Then it was over to GrandMommy's for cooking/snacking/football. We ended up eating around 4ish I think, and one of the first things we did was go around the table, stating one thing we were the most thankful for. We started with the kids, and both of the older two mentioned very nice things, like family and friends. Then it was the baby's turn.....and she said,"Uuummmm....." and then got down (from the kids' table ;) ) and walked over to our table, to Az1. She outstretched her arms for him to pick her up, and said,"My daddy!" Break out the kleenex!!!! It was a wonderful day, full of good food and being around the family, and also SNOW. Can you believe it? It was bitterly cold, and started snowing before we ate that afternoon. Nothing that stuck past the next morning, but it was very pretty.
Of course the next day we were in for our annual Holiday Urgent Care visit. Honestly, every year since Az3 was two years old, we have visited the Urgent Care place on some holiday during the year for someone. This year Az5 decided to have strep throat the day after Thanksgiving. Fortunately it didn't ruin any shopping plans for us, just delayed getting our tree and decorations up. However, she has since shared nicely with her siblings, and we have completed now 4 rounds of antibiotics between the 3 of them since the day after Thanksgiving. Joy! ;)