Hopey's New Playhouse!

I've missed you my dear, sweet blogging friends!! Please forgive my lengthy absence from the blogging world, but things have been just slightly chaotic since the move! (And I PROMISE, pictures of the new house are coming SOON!!) Anyway, in the meantime, I wanted to show you Hopey's new playhouse that she found in the backyard of our new house. Some people might call it a dog house, but Hopey calls it home! :) I mean, the thing's heated and air conditioned, so that dog had it pretty good to begin with!

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY HOPEY DOODLE!!!!!

Two years ago today, we were blessed with our precious little girl!!! Happy Birthday to you my little Hopey LuLu!!!!!! WE LOVE YOU SO STINKIN' MUCH!!!!!!!!!!! 

We're Back!!!

We're finally home from the Sunshine State, but it sure tricked us with it's nickname this year! We had some pretty cold weather with icy winds, and we ended up in winter coats halfway through the week! BUT, we were determined to get out and enjoy the warmer weather no matter what the cost! I have many pictures of us trying to brave the frigid Florida air, but I have over 900 to go through, so I need a little bit more time. For now, I'll leave you with a couple of my favorite, and you'll just have to wait with bated breath in anticipation of more to come! :)

 

Simply Fantastic News!!

If you've already seen this on Facebook, my apologies for the duplication! BUT, if you haven't, it's my great pleasure to present to you OUR NEW HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Slightly Delayed Fall 2009 Pictures...

In September of last year, the Schell/Witzig family took a trip to Wisconsin to celebrate my Gram's 80th birthday with her! There were all kinds of fun things planned for the weekend including family pictures and a BIG party!

Now let's rewind a bit. Seven days before we left for our adventure, I had taken Hopey to The Department of Health to get her 18 month shots. Many times in the past, they've run out of certain vaccines, and you have to go back at a later date to get them. On this particular day, the only vaccine that they actually had in stock was the MMR. I was a little bit nervous about that one anyway, so I was perfectly fine getting that one all by itself. After the nurse had given Hopey her vaccination, she told me that we might notice a fever, rash, etc. in the next 7 to 10 days. For some reason the words 7 to 10 days didn't register with me.

Let's fast forward to seven days later. Ahhh yes, the day we're leaving for Wisconsin! Hopey woke up that morning with a slight fever, and refused to eat anything. This is very unHopey-like. Again, for some reason this just didn't register with me. Anyway, because Hopey absolutely despises her car seat, we always travel at night in hopes that she'll sleep. As the day progressed, Hopey became more and more irritable. By the time Brian got home from work, I had become quite concerned with how the trip was going to go.

You know what? Not until 3:00am, the 10th hour in the car with a screaming child, did I remember what the nurse had told me about the MMR. I guess I hadn't realized she meant that the first time the symptoms might show up would be 7 days later...

SO, by the time we got to Wisconsin, Hopey was running a fever of 103.4, had a crazy rash from head to toe, refused to eat, and could do nothing but scream. The poor thing was a mess, and nothing we gave her seemed to bring her any comfort. We talked to her doctor back at home, and he told us what was going on. He told us to use Tylenol and Motrin for the fever, keep her drinking fluids, and it would pass in a couple of days.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we're supposed to be getting ready for family pictures. Neither Hopey or her parents had slept in the last 48 hours, so we were a bit concerned about how these pictures might turn out. Needless to say, we've definitely taken better family pictures...It's actually kind of hard for me to look at the pictures from that day because Hopey's poor little face brings back all of the memories of how sick she was. Don't get me wrong, we were SO THRILLED to share my Gram's 80th birthday with her and to finally have Velie/Schell/Witzig family pictures taken!!! Everyone else looks GORGEOUS, but please excuse the exhausted Witzig family. AND, a super big THANK YOU to my cousins Dani and Tairyn for getting that doll out for Hopey, you girls saved the day!!! All of that said, look at Hopey in these pictures, and I think you'll understand why they make me sad.

For My Mom

My dear, sweet mother has recently brought it to my attention that I haven't been doing a very good job of keeping up with my blog, and for that, I'm sorry. I do most of my updating on Facebook, but then I forget that not everyone is on Facebook, so all of you aren't seeing the Witzig happenings. Anyway, Ma, this post is for you! You asked to see some of the Christmas pictures today, so here you go! I love you, and I promise I'll do better! :) 

That Santa Boy Looks Like a Mean One

According to my mother, that was my catch phrase during the Christmas season when I was really little! :) And very sadly, I think it might turn out to be Hopey's too!!

Last week, we thought it would be a super idea to take Hopey to meet Santa again this year. Afterall, she did really well with him last year! So, I spent the morning prepping her for the big meeting and getting her all dressed in her fancy Christmas dress. She was so excited I wasn't sure we were going to be able to get her in her carseat! My mom, grandma, and Brian all came along to show their support. ;)

Finally the big moment arrived, but there were several children ahead of Hopey, so she had to try to wait patiently. She kept trying to sneak away from me so that she could go see Santa, and when that didn't work, she just kept yelling, "Hi Santa!!" from the back of the line.

By the time our turn rolled around, she had noticeably begun to change her mind about him. She started hanging onto my leg and whispering, "No, no, no." As I was about to put her in his lap, she must have decided that she absolutely hated him, and she started screaming and crying at the top of her lungs. Fortunately, Santa had a VERY big chair, so we ended up having a family picture with Santa instead!