What a week!!

We had a VERY busy week this last week. It was sooo much fun though! My younger brother Kevin, his wife Chel'ea, and 1 month old Calvin were in town all week. It is so much fun to finally have a new family member that is sooo tiny! We had a baby shower for the new family last Saturday. They were blessed with many wonderful things, and of course we all enjoyed holding Calvin. They stayed in town for the week to help with our basement project, along with my oldest brother Eric.

So Adorable!!
Saturday night and all day Sunday my oldest brother Eric and I were installing wires for our future theatre system in our new family room. I definitely learned a lot!! Who knew there were so many different types of wires, and electrical boxes, and panels... Well, we got it done. We really wanted to do it before putting on the sheet rock. It made it so much easier.

Then on Monday the fun started. We decided to finish half the basement at a time, so we started with the 2 bedrooms for now. Kevin and Jesse worked for three days straight to insulate, sheet rock, mud and tape the rooms. I couldn't believe how much they got done in three days!

Kevin decided to take a break from our house on Thursday and Friday and went over to my other brothers house to help them. It was definitely a week of hard work. He did the same stuff over at their house in their basement.

Then on Saturday I learned how to pull mud! It is actually not too terribly bad. We will have to try and do a few top coats of the mud before Kevin comes back again. We are hoping to have this project done by the end of the summer, so we have our work cut out for us.

The beginning of the family room

A New Addition to the Family!!

Last Friday night at about 11:30pm we got "the" phone call. My sister-in-law Chel'ea was one week overdue and her time had finally come. She was having contractions about 2 weeks ago but it never progressed, so we think it was just braxton hicks. She didn't really know the difference at the time. Well, this time it was for real. Her midwife had come to their house and confirmed that she was in labor. She was only dilated to about 2 centimeters, but was definitely feeling the contractions. I actually hadn't really thought about making the trip to Winthrop, but it happened to be Friday night and I had the weekend off. My other sister-in-law Julie and I decided we wanted to make the trip up there to support them. I talked to my little brother and he said to just wait till morning because the midwife said it would be a slow process. Well, I talked to my mom and she was WIDE awake. This was her first grandchild and all, so she was not about to go to sleep. Julie and I decided we were gonna make the drive that night cause we were already awake and ready to go. We called my mom to see if she wanted to come with us, and obviously she said yes!!

So, the three of us girls left Spokane at about 2:30 AM (yes, you read that right!). It is about a four hour trip and since we were in my new car I was the designated driver. It's kinda crazy but we stayed awake the whole trip up there. I think there was a little bit of excitement in that car. I also had a few caffeinated beverages to keep me going for the trip. We made it into town at about 6:30 am and stopped for coffee and bagels before heading to Kevin and Chel'ea's house. We got there and Chel'ea was upstairs with her midwife and her mom. She was having a little bit of a difficult time, so we all just hung out downstairs. By this time she was about 4 centimeters, I think. We decided to lie down for a little nap, so we weren't quite so cross-eyed. Julie and I slept in the guest room for just about 2 1/2 hours. My mom couldn't really sleep, so she might have gotten about an hour of rest.

At about 2pm we decided to take a little walk to get some fresh air and wake ourselves up a bit. We didn't know how far along she was because she wasn't really letting the midwife check her. We got a call in the middle of our walk that the babies head was crowning... Oh no!! We come all this way and wait for hours on end and now we are going to miss the big moment! We all started running back to the house. We got there and she had just started pushing. She was not as far along as her sister had said in the phone call. Oh well, at least we were back now. She had been laboring in a warm pool most of the time because she had a lot of back labor. She said it helped to be in the warm water. About two hours later is when she actually had the baby.

You have to admit he's pretty darn cute!!

At 4:40 pm Calvin James Drozdov was born. He was 8 pounds even and 20 1/2 inches long. Both mom and baby did wonderfully. I was very proud of her. The midwife had two assistants to help her and they stayed for a few hours to monitor both Chel'ea and Calvin to make sure they stayed stable.

The happy new family!!

Ater we had all eaten dinner and met and held Calvin, Julie and I decided we needed to head back home. My dad was on his way up there, and he and my mom would be staying with the new family, so we decided it best to come home. We left Winthrop at about 8:00pm and got into Spokane at about 12:15. On the way out of town I picked up about 3 more caffeinated beverages. By this time I had only had about 2 1/2 hours of sleep in the last 40 some odd hours, so I was wiped. But I had Julie to keep me awake as I drove back home. Overall, it turned out to be a very good weekend! I am very glad that I was able to be there and meet my first nephew on his birth day! I have to say I think my mom is loving her new role as Nana!!

The two happy new aunties!!

The meaning of Christmas for us

Our family decided a few years ago that we wanted to change the way we celebrated Christmas as a family. We wanted Christmas to be all about family and spending time together and giving to others instead of the materialism of the world around us. Last year instead of exchanging gifts with each other we decided to give to different charities in honor of our family. Jesse and I gave fruit trees to World Vision, so a family somewhere else in the world could grow their own food. We also gave to our church who sponsors the "gift of giving water". So, this year we decided to do something very similar. We decided to draw names in the family and then people could choose whether they wanted to give to a charity, give a gift of time to each other, or make something homemade.

So, Jesse and I decided that with the people's names we had drawn we wanted to do gifts of time. Jesse got my brother Brian's name, and they both love their guns. So, Jesse is going to take Brian out target shooting and then out to lunch at our favorite mexican place Abellardo's. I had Chelea, my sister in law. She is 7 months pregnant, so I knew she needed some relaxation things. I gave her a pregnancy massage while they were in town, and then a basket with a few things for her to use at home to relax. I also went a little further and did a homemade gift for all the women in my family. I just decided to do it last week so I had a few nights this week that I was up till 4am, but it was so worth it. I made lavender scented flaxseed heat packs. I made matching neck and back heat packs. They were a big hit, I think! I love using mine when my muscles are sore, or heating up my feet as I get into bed at night, or even just warming me up when I get home in the evening and my hands are cold. I have even had a few of my massage clients that have made requests for me to make them some heat packs.

One of the neck wraps I made. I even handstamped some tags.

Another one of the great ideas I had a week before Christmas was to get all my brothers and sister-in-laws together and get a picture taken for my parents for Christmas. The last picture of all of us kids was about 8 years ago, before our spouses came along. So, I knew my mom would love it. Jesse has a friend who has gone through photography school and was willing to take pictures of us. The difficult thing was that not all my brothers were coming into town until Wednesday and the only time we could do the pictures was the afternoon of Christmas Eve! We made it happen though! We even went to Walmart and got a few of them printed off so we could have something to give them on Christmas. We even got some pictures of just the two of us with Harley.

We got a great picture of Jesse, me, Julie, Brian, and of course Harley and Maddy

This is all of us kids! We all look a little stiff because we were freezing our butts off!

This was the best picture! We gave my parents an 8x10, and we also gave one to Grandma and our Aunt Bonnie. Of course when mom unwrapped the picture there were a few tears. You know some of the simplest gifts can make the most impact!

So, I woke up one morning this week... I was out in the kitchen and Harley was on the back porch. He was kind of dancing around and I thought he was just chasing bugs like usual. Not this time!! There were about five bees on the porch and he was just trying to play with them. I quickly ushered him back into the house because I didn't want him to get stung (just about 1 week before his sister got stung and she had to go to the vet cause they didn't catch it in time and it got really bad). So, needless to say I thought I caught him before he got stung. So I proceeded with my lovely morning. I was headed over Katie and Jared's to watch Hudson while Katie went out for a while. I then had to come back home after about 20 minutes cause Harley's jowls were pink and swollen.

So this is right when I caught it. He got two benadryl right away...

This was after about 2 hours. He almost doesn't even look like the same dog.

This is Harley after his second dose of benadryl. He was pretty much passed out all day. Finally, by that evening his swelling had started to go down. Hopefully he has learned his lesson about bees!

We Got Grass!!

Camping with the family

We went camping with four dogs and nine people.... It was quite the experience!! Our family always does a weekend camping trip once a year. We went to Farragut State Park this year, so it wasn't too far of a drive for most of us. This was our last camping trip with just my parents, us kids and our spouses. Next year my youngest brother and his wife will have a baby to add to all the fun and excitement. Yes, the first grandbaby of my parents is on its way! We had so much fun this year with all of us! We really enjoyed having the puppies to entertain us! This was the first year we had ever had dogs to take with us too. Farragut has lots of activities to do including swimming, frisbee golf, bike trails, and hiking. Julie and I both said this was the best camping trip yet, because we both felt really good health wise. Godwilling it will continue this way. I am hoping this is something that we can still continue even though our family is changing. It is always a great bonding experience to go camping with your family.

Our handsome puppy just relaxing in the shade

Harley and Maddy in their down time. It was a little warm, so they weren't as active as they usually are.

We took the puppies swimming for the first time. They absolutely loved it!! The water was still freezing cold, so they were shivering most of the time. WE WERE TOO! Harley did end up actually swimming for a few feet, and then realized his feet weren't touching and kind of freaked out. They did enjoy chasing sticks though!!


Farragut has a few small cabins, so we rented one and also used the camp site next to it. Some of us stayed in the cabin and some in tents. It worked out really well for all of our needs. The dogs were just relaxing on their beds with Jesse keeping an eye on them.


Julie and I with the puppies! They were pretty tuckered out by the end of the first night. So much fresh air and sunshine!!


Mom, Dad, Brian, and Julie enjoying some shade while doing dishes


Harley and Maddy just hanging out next to each other... Until next year!!

Babysitting!!

So, we got to puppy sit for Harley's sister for 4 days! They had soooo much fun! We were a little leary about having two puppies around the house, but they were perfect angels, ALMOST!! Yes, they got very dirty, but we are used to that. Yes, they tracked mud in the house, but that already happens. Yes, we had to give them 3 baths in one day, but we have done that before! Yes, they got bit by some insect and got bug bites all over their tummies. Oh well, vet visits happen... Nothing has ever been better!! We thoroughly enjoyed having both puppies. They were very entertaining, and they entertained themselves for 4 days!

This was the last day they were together! They had worn each other out!

They actually ate together. Even with different foods, they didn't try to steal each others' food.

They heard Jesse coming, and they waited so patiently for him to come in the door!

They were so good at sharing toys! They definitely enjoy playing together!

The first night after they played from 9pm-1am. It was definitely time for bed!

Just a brother and sister who love each other!! We were so blessed to be given Harley! We just love having him! He has made our lives so much more fun over the last 6 months! Thanks for coming to play, Maddie!! You can come back any time!