Holidays and Such

Cannon took this pic

A couple days before my birthday Cannon got sick, again.  He spread the love and I wasn't feeling so well on my birthday.  But well enough to enjoy the day.  Ryan had returned home from a work trip to Phoenix the night before and he took the day off just for me!  He had told me a long time ago that that was his plan, but I completely forgot so it felt like a great surprise!  We had a lovely morning together. Ryan had to leave for a couple of hours for a work meeting, but Cannon and I had a little nap while he was gone.  We went out to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. Not my typical pick for a restaurant, but I've been wanting wings lately (again, unusual for me).  It was a nice day.









That Saturday night we got a sitter for Cannon and headed out to dinner and a movie.  We saw the Hobbit first and then went to get dinner.  Right as we pulled up to the restaurant our sitter called to let us know that Cannon had been throwing up.  So we cancelled our reservation and headed home.

We all ended up being sick for pretty much the rest of December.  It was "just a cold," but the worst one any of us had ever had.  It really hit us hard. 

Church Christmas party



Cannon's Christmas stash

We still enjoyed Christmas though!  It was a nice peaceful Christmas at home.  Cannon loved everything he got and was excited to play with his new toys.  Both our families were very generous to us and we were able to get a lot of things we needed.  We had Christmas dinner with our good friends the Kanooths.  They made a delicious ham dinner and then we played Risk (guys choice).  It was actually my first time playing and I got second place! 






Nice set up ruined by the dogs!

And I'm just realizing now that I was horrible at taking pictures on Christmas! 










 Ryan worked the next two days, but had Friday through Tuesday off.  It was so nice to finally spend some time together! 

For New Years Eve we invited our friends, the Vorwallers, to come for dinner and play games.  I made salsa and dip.  Ryan made calzones.  And they made sliders and dessert.  Way too much food, but so yummy!  We were kinda lame and went to bed at 12:30.  We must be getting old!


Off

On

The next day we finally got to use the trail gator!  I had my eye on this for awhile and I got it for Christmas.  Basically it's a tow bar so I can pull Cannon's bike until we get to the trail.  Then I can unhook him and let him ride on his own until he gets too tired and then I hook him back up again.  It was a beast to put together, but it's a breeze to get his bike on and off.  We had planned to go for a family bike ride and Cannon really wanted to go to Boca Ciega Park (which he calls the Island of Sodor).  It's really far for a little guy (8.4 miles one way on Pinellas Trail), but he begged and begged.  It told him that it would take us a long time to get there and that it would be a lot of hard work and that he would probably get tired.  But he insisted that he could do it so we set out.  We had lots of stops along the way to rest and have snacks, so it took us about two hours to get there.  Cannon was on and off, but probably rode a good mile or two on his own!  He was so proud of himself when we finally reached the playground.  We played there for almost two hours and then headed home.  It took us about an hour to get home and Cannon rode another mile or two by himself.  When we were about a mile from our home he got really tired.  I still have the baby seat on my bike so I let him sit in that the rest of the way home.  I couldn't believe we made it, but we we'll be sticking to parks closer to us for sure!

Ryan had to return to work that next Wednesday and I ended up working that day plus Friday too.  Saturday we made another attempt at dinner and a movie to have an early celebration of our anniversary.  Luckily no one got sick this time!  We just had a quick and simple dinner at Panera and then saw Les Miserables.  I think we were the last ones in our family to see it, so we knew what to expect (as far as the crying and such).  We both really enjoyed it. 

My Sunbeam!

On Sunday Cannon moved up to be a Sunbeam at church!  He is out of nursery and in with the big kids now!  He was so excited and did very well.  I'm excited for his new opportunities for learning. 








 Yesterday was our real anniversary.  Seven years!  Ryan got home late from work, so dinner was a little cold but still good.  We don't really exchange gifts for our anniversaries (we like to go do things instead), but Ryan surprised me with some chocolate.  Then we reminisced about the past seven years and thought about what the next seven years might bring.  It's fun to think about things like that!

So that brings us up to date!  We are hopeful for this year.  Hoping that Cannon will have better health (10 times of vomiting, croup three times, three trips to the ER, two IV's, one hospitalization, and one nasty cold)-my kid who used to never get sick!  Hopeful that Ryan will be up for a promotion at the end of the year.  Hoping for a house with a backyard.  And hopeful for some other things too.