Christmas 2009!

It's finally here! Christmas with the Andrew Bang Family! Andrew's family was so gracious to allow us to spend their year for Christmas with my family in CA. I can't say it was the best Christmas I've ever had, but it's definitely one I will never forget.

We stayed with my Abuela who recently lost her sweet companion. Christmas wasn't the same without Abuelo, but it was nice to fill her house with family in his absense. Isn't this picture of Abuela and Owen precious!? Melt my heart.
We went to Naples for the annual Christmas boat parade. Andrew and I dream of being wealthy one day and owning a home down here. If you have ever been to Naples then you know what I am talking about. The cutest and most amazing houses in the coolest (and nearly most expensive) part of So. Cal. The party we attended was at the house behind Elly and Andrew. Complete with toy roller coaster outside!
Seeing Santa was pretty successful. Elly wouldn't sit with him, but let's be honest...who expected anything different? This was the Santa at South Coast Plaza. He had a full blown house that you walked into...it was really cool.
The Nativity Pageant is a big thing at Abuela's house EVERY year. I have pictures of me in this pageant when I was very very little...and you only get to exit the pageant once you produce offspring to take your place. Elly got to be a shepherd. I was amazed that she willingly participated...it was so darling!
Here is the whole group of pageant-ers. See Andrew? He was honored with the position of "king" so he thought that was pretty cool. I guess if you haven't been in the pageant every year for your entire life, it is pretty cool. Actually, it's funny to think back on my years in the pageant...we always took it so seriously and made it a real production.
This was the year of Dora. Elly got 3 sets of Dora jammies, 2 different Dora dolls, Dora books, you name it. She was pretty excited about all of it.

Here are the kids waiting to decend the stairs on Christmas morning! The tradition lives on. We always lined up in age order, but we didn't really push that part of it this year.

Elly was ready and willing to open EVERYONE's presents! She didn't care if they were for her or if she got to keep what was inside...it was the act and ART of opening presents that delighted her. She'd tear one open and then shout "a numma present!" (another present).

One of her favorite gifts was a play tent that Santa brought. It is still set up in our family room and has proved worth every penny! This is the tunnel leading from the tent. Definitely the coolest part. No one told this tent maker that tents don't usually come with tunnels.

The Handy Manny tool box was by far the BEST gift Elly got. It came from Daddy, of course. She has not missed playing with it one day since Christmas. She slept with it on the way home from CA even which was totally hilarious and classic.

Owen and cousin Bryce got matching outfits from Grandma this year and since we hardly ever do the matchy thing, we had to take this photo opportunity! They are both like "what's going on?" This totally cracks me up.

Everyone comes to Abuela's house on Christmas afternoon for family gifts and a big lunch. It was great to have everyone there!

Mom spent five days of the Christmas break in the hospital (thank goodness she hasn't been back since) which was a big bummer for Christmas, but she was released December 23, just in time for some wig shopping before Christmas day. Doesn't she look sassy in her new do? She has a few different styles now, so they joke that Dad is getting a reputation for being seen around town with many different women :)

And a visit with Grandpa wouldn't be complete without some compelling, heart-to-heart talks between Grandpa and the babies. I love the way the little ones look at him and hang on every word.

We'll see my family again at the end of this month when my brother Christopher gets home from his mission in New Zealand! We can't wait and are counting down the 15 more days til we're all together again!

Like I said, Andrew's family was GREAT to relinquish their year this Christmas, but we did have a Christmas with them as well. Pictures from that will be coming soon, but for now, I'm wiped out! This post was a doozy! If you're still reading/looking...pat yourself on the back, you deserve it!

Happy Birthday Andrew!!

Andrew turns 30 today!! To commemorate the occasion, I thought I would list all the ways he seems like an old man to me..j/j. He’s made me promise not to make any over-the-hill jokes. Since I threw him an over-the-hill surprise party at 25, he figures I got my laugh already. Instead, I’ll list a few of the reasons I love him so dearly:

1. He is a GOOD man. Andrew is honest, righteous, responsible and true. He wants to follow the Lord and do what’s right. I take for granted that I never have to worry about him getting drunk, going to strip clubs and being arrested :) haha. I know he’s coming home to me…he loves me so well. After I got into bed last night he came to tuck me in, gave me a hug and said "You know I love you right? You're my girl." Be still my heart.
2. He is SO PATIENT. He puts up with a lot from me and is so quick to respond to me and the kids with a hug and an “I love you.” when we really deserve a “What the heck is wrong with you!?!?”
3. He is the BEST FATHER. Andrew shows our children compassion and understanding in a way that was meant to come from mothers. He is the most “involved” father I know. I laugh at the word “involved” and when people use that term in relation to their husbands. To me, it’s just so apparent how much Andrew loves his children.
4. He makes me LAUGH so hard. Andrew may be a quiet guy, but he knows how to make me laugh so stinkin hard. We get the biggest kicks out of the smallest things. We found a pair of nice, leather, men’s shoes at Kohl’s on Saturday for $6.99 and we paid for them and went running out of there hysterically laughing like we robbed the place! (you probably had to be there) When I first married Andrew, one of the biggest surprises to me was the way he laughs at the TV. Andrew will loudly and without restraint belly laugh at anything funny on TV. It’s so infectious, I won’t even be in the same room, but I’ll start laughing myself. If I’m on the phone and this begins, the person on the other end always asks me “What’s Andrew doing?” “Watching TV, what else?”
5. He is always trying to IMPROVE. Even though Andrew is amazing just as he is, he is always trying to be a better husband, a better father, more selfless, harder working…it goes on endlessly. The way he cares about the kind of man he is and values the life we have together lets me know we’ll be happy together forever.

Thank goodness he’s mine for ETERNITY!

Thanksgiving 2009

I know some of you will think "Amy, it is WAY too late for a Thanksgiving post!" But let's call it technical difficulties since that is usually a forgivable excuse. Plus, I still have a Christmas post to do so hang on for one more "catch-up" post.

This was probably one of the best Thanksgiving's I've ever had. We had 14 house guests (making a total of 18 of us!) in the form of my family (minus Christopher) come and stay this year. It was such a fun week and we really took advantage of our time together. I'm so blessed to have such an amazing family and we can't wait to see Christopher again NEXT month when he comes home...the family will finally be complete again.

We had all 8 grandkids together so we had to snap millions of pictures! This was the best we got which should impress those of you with large groups of kids or any kids at all. It should also impress those of you who merely know any kids. These little things are in age order: Tyler, Logan, Nathan, Elly, Landon, Owen, Bryce and Annabelle.

It is Andrew's family tradition to have Thanksgiving at the park every year and they are so welcoming to let any and everyone join in! It was perfect weather and we loved running around in our summer wear! The kids loved the enormous play area and the parents loved the extra relatives who chased after them! Above are Andrew's Dad, Dan, cousin Jessica (daughter Emma), sister Sarah, bro-in-law Greg and Mom, Helen.

It was 80 degrees or more for most of the trip and so we heated up the pool and went swimming of course! It was like a bathtub. I love this picture above...Tyler plugging his nose. He was the only kid brave enough to jump in without parental assistance....notice the other ones clinging to the adults! Also notice Janae's face...she was getting a kick out of the whole thing.
My mom treated all the girls to manicure/pedicures which was so fun! We are not a "fancy" family, but we really loved being pampered like this. Angela and I went for the pedicures and Angela died laughing the whole time they were rubbing her feet. It was hilarious. You probably can't tell in the picture above, but Erin and Janae were really adventurous with their nails! They turned out super cute. My toes glowed in the dark. It was repeatedly said that if we had a black-out, my toes would lead us to safety.

Grandpa was in his glory reading stories to the little ones who hung on his every word. This was the most popular, Wheels on the Bus, book.

Dance parties are another must when our family gets together. Notice all the great dance moves. Please also notice Elly in the background checking her reflection out while she practices moves from her dance classes. :)

One of the coolest things we did though, was ride the bus! Andrew's Aunt Raelene drives a school bus and was so super kind to bring it over and give the kids a private tour and ride! The kids were beside themselves and really loved sitting in the drivers seat and taking a ride around the block. Aunt Raelene showed them all the ins and outs of the bus and even showed them how to check the oil!

We plan to make this Thanksgiving reunion a bi-annual tradition so I hope everyone keeps coming back! It was pretty squishy with 18 of us last time, but if you can get 18 people in a house together what's a few more? As we grow, I hope everyone continues to come back because there's nothing like spending the holidays with your family.

Hands on Your Hips!

Have I even mentioned that Elly is taking DANCE LESSONS!? It's been going on a few months now and it is so super cute to watch. Elly started out as a statue participant, meaning she watched only and did NOT participate. Now she has upgraded her skills to a selective participant. She takes a while to warm up b/c she is still a super shy girl (getting a little better with age though I have to say)...anyway, it's a tap and ballet class and tap is first so she ends up doing very little of the tap and almost all the ballet. What kills me is that she does ALL the moves at home. We borrowed a copy of the cd they use for class and I do the dances along with Elly to help build her confidence. I don't know who is funnier to watch, her or me. Those of you who know me well, know that I am NO DANCER. Poor Elly is probably not learning anything with me. I didn't even know what a "shuffle step" was! :)

Elly loves her class and her teacher "Miss Mandi" so I keep taking her. She is learning and I see her blossoming little by little and that excites me. She loves to wear her dance shoes and her favorite moves are actually all tap moves. We'll be in the middle of something that has nothing to do with dance and all of a sudden Elly will shout "Hands on your hips! March in place!" and begin to show us. She also loves "knee bounces" and "boogie woogie", ask me to show you sometime :)

Before & Afters

I've been promising these to several people for quite a while and there are LOTS of pictures so let's just get started. Here is our new house. We love it so much and don't care if we never move again. To many it's just your average home, but to us it's a real dream come true. A lot of sweat and blood went into this house...mostly by Andrew, but I did some painting and made some decisions so let's just say "WE" did this :) Here is the front of the house as we found it. Notice that you can't even SEE half of the house and there are two completely different garages. We saw potential!

Here is the front after. Just like a trip to the hair salon; a trim and color can do wonders!
The old entry. Notice carpeted walk-way, orange paint, non-existent base boards and early 90's light fixture.
We tiled the entry, framed the windows, new base boards and light fixtures...no more orange paint. Bye-bye orange...you are NOT missed.

The front door used to be an icky light beige color...Andrew chose this midnight blue on his own. He is one brave man and he's super lucky I loved it! Shows more of the framed windows...I love that part! I don't know if you can see the tumbled-stone design on the floor by the door. New light fixture...old one resembled that of the before pic above.

Before kitchen. Not bad at all actually. Notice laminate countertops and direction/size of island. Also ugly, old tile :)

New hardware on cabinets and granite. The granite is actually a green color, but this picture makes it look black. Sorry. We turned the island and added a breakfast bar. That was MY genius idea. I pat myself on the back regularly. There is a big open space in the kitchen now, room for several people to be in there at once. I love gathering in the kitchen.

Before master bedroom. Notice carpeted bathroom. ICK. Also notice nice brass features and cute little toddler in the corner.

New paint job and base boards. No cute toddler in this picture, but she spends plenty of time in our room...I promise.

Not a great after pic, but we changed the lights, added tile and SPRAY PAINTED the shower black. Yep, that's right. It's great too. That's how we do things in AZ.

Second upstairs bath. Notice shower walls and yucky tile. Also AWESOME padded toilet seat complete with caution tape.

Andrew tiled this shower himself. It's travertine and granite. New fixtures and bye-bye padded toilet seat.

Andrew tiled the downstairs shower too with white slate and a cool glass mosaic, but I don't have a finished picture of that yet. I'll work on it...I promise :)

Mom went to the hospital last night at about 8:30 PM because she had a mild seizure episode (not sure how any type of seizure can be MILD...). The hospital did an MRI which showed little and watched Mom for a while and then released her at 6:30 AM this morning. On the drive home she had another seizure in the car and so my Dad rushed her back to the hospital and they have now admitted her.

Mom is not in ICU, but a regular room for a change and they will be consulting with her oncologist in Seattle today. Her surgeon has seen her MRI and doesn't think it is anything surgical. They really don't have a lot of answers yet, but Mom is talking and moving well. Unlike last time, she is alert and has strength, etc. so those are good signs. They think it may be a side effect of the new chemo she is doing.

I wish I didn't have to write these posts. It really stinks and I'd rather keep it to myself, but we really need your prayers so here I am asking again. Thanks everyone.

Family Pictures 2009

Here are the BANG FAMILY 2009 PHOTOS! Our friend Beka Lowe took these pictures for us that I think turned out great! I am usually so picky when it comes to family pictures, but I am so thoroughly pleased with these. Check out Beka's website by clicking her name above or check out her blog at http://lowephotography.blogspot.com/. Thanks Beka! We love them!

This one of Owen shows off his beautiful blue eyes and just makes me think that he is the sweetest little piece of marshmallow you will ever meet!
Elly wasn't super thrilled about taking pictures this day, but check out that smile. I think it helped that she is holding her favorite teddy bear "Hickory" and that Grandpa is in the background hitting himself in the head with balloons to make her smile :)
We don't look too old right? There are so many other family shots and shots of the kids that I LOVE. Maybe I'll post more in a week or two. I'll stretch it out for everyone to enjoy right along with me :)