Birthday Surprise

      This weekend, Joey managed to pull off something that I previously thought was impossible: he threw a surprise party for me without me having any idea!!!!  I have always said that I could never be surprised because I am too observant and suspicious of a person.  However, I truly had no idea! 

     I guess Joey had been wanting to throw me a party for months.  A few weeks ago, he had mentioned that he got to put together a little party for his team at work.  I told him that he should have it at some one's house so it could be outside of work.  He agreed and I started suggesting ideas to him.  I suggested he have it catered by Chick Fil A, etc.  I love planning parties and events so I started coming up with lots of suggestions.  We later discussed where to have it.  A friend of ours lives in some nearby condos.  It has a gorgeous clubhouse that you can rent out.  A few years back, we rented it for Bryan's 30th birthday.  Joey told me that he wanted to rent it for his work party.  I thought it was a great idea. 

       For the past few weeks, we had been discussing and planning his work party.  Since I didn't know how late we would be, I arranged for my mom and sister to babysit the kids.  I was completely planning on going to his work party.  I literally suspected nothing else.  We pulled up the clubhouse and went inside.  We walked up the stairs, and imagine my surprise when I saw all of my family and friends!!!  Everyone said the look on my face was priceless.  I wish I could have seen it myself.  My parents where even there with the kids.  It was the best birthday party ever.  It meant so much to me to get to spend an evening with friends and family.  Joey did an amazing job on everything.  He even sent Bri and Brad to get decorations and balloons.  He had all of my favorite foods there.  I could not have asked for a better party.  Thanks again to everyone who was a part of this and that did a great job of playing along and not spilling the beans!!! I also want to thank Joey who did an amazing job.  He's the best!  Here are some pictures from the night.  Unfortunately, the camera battery died so we didn't get too many pictures.  

The best picture we have of my face. 

I still was a little confused what was going on.

Lots of people showed up.

What a fun night!

All the girls and me

Great picture of Kari and Ella

Such cute decorations

There were a ton of balloons!

Brooke and Bryan

Ashlyn had a blast with the balloons.

Christmas is getting closer!

     This week was yet another busy week.  They always seem so hectic before the holidays.  Ashlyn went to a birthday party for a classmate at the zoo.  She had a wonderful time.  Joey said that they party was so much fun for all of the kids.  Dawson and I went to a cookie exchange at my coworkers house. Dawson had a great time getting to play with other babies his age.  We got some excellent cookies too. 

      Ashlyn is getting very, very excited for Christmas.  On Sunday, we went to a lights display at a church.  You drive through it in your car.  We go every year and it's a really fun experience.  Dawson really enjoyed it too.  I just love all of the fun activities to do this time of year.  Ashlyn and I have started working on some Christmas crafts.  This is my last week of work before break, and we are really looking forward for more craft time when I'm not working. 

       We had a true Christmas miracle come early this year!  We received some absolutely amazing news about my brother-in-law's health tonight.  His surgery went great last week, however the surgeons were pretty convinced that he was dealing with something very, very grim.  Waiting for the pathology reports to come back this week was very tough.  Tonight, we got the  miraculous news that it wasn't what they thought it was, and he well make a quick, and full recovery.  Thank you God!  Prayer is a very powerful thing and thank you to all who prayed for him!!!  What a great gift right before Christmas!

Ashlyn decided to be a goofy girl and put on my glasses. 

Cousins and best buds

They are too cute together.

He just loves that lens cap.

Ashlyn had a great time painting her first ornament.  Here is what it looked like before.

Getting started on the painting

She was really taking her time and doing such a good job.

Here is the finished product.  Didn't she do a great job?

Last night, we tackled a gingerbread house.  Here is what it looked like before.

Doing a great job spreading the frosting.

Putting the candy on.

She is so serious when she works.

Here is the finished house.

I think it turned out great, and most importantly we had such a good time making it together.

Naughty Elf

     Our elf, Eddie Buddy has been very busy this past week! Every morning we awake to something else that Eddie has done.  We have noticed that he seemed to be a litte naughtier this week than last week.  Here are some pictures of what he was up to this week.  Can't wait to see what he does next week.  I know that Ashlyn jumps out of bed each morning to go discover what he did.  It's so much fun!

One morning, we came downstairs to discover that Eddie Buddy had put toilet paper all over the Christmas tree!!!

He even got toilet paper on the ceiling fan. 

This is where we found him with the toilet paper. 

One morning we found that he had used toothpaste to write Ashlyn's name.  He's a funny elf. 

Ashlyn really, really liked this one.  He made snow angels out of flour.

This was an extra special morning.  We found him watching t.v. and he brought Ashlyn a movie.

On this day, we opened the fridge and found out he had dyed the milk green!!!

Elf on the Shelf

This morning, Ashlyn found him riding her pony and all of our My Little Ponies lined up.

     This Christmas season the DeLorme family is very lucky!  An elf has decided to come and stay at our house.  The elf came the day after Thanksgiving and Ashlyn could not have been any more excited.  He even came with a book that we got to read about the elf watching kid's behavior and reporting to Santa every night.  Ashlyn even got to name our elf.  She decided on the name Eddie Buddy.  Eddie Buddy watches Ashlyn and Dawson all day.  He leaves at night to the North Pole to report to Santa what he saw that day.  The funniest part is that we find him doing something funny every morning.  Ashyln is having an absolute blast discovering his every morning.  He does some funny things!  We are having so much fun with Eddie Buddy.  We hope that he continues to come back each year.  I will periodically be posting some pictures of his adventures.  

 

One morning he lined up all of her Care Bears.  He must like playing with her toys. 

He decided to take a nap in the wreath.



He even hung stockings on the chandelier! 

10 Months Old

     Dawson turned 10 months old a week ago and I am just now getting around to blogging about it!  Things have just been too crazy.  Dawson is walking!!!  He took his first steps the week before he turned 10 months.  In just the last week he has started to walk a lot.  He loves taking steps and walking to Joey and me.  We always get very excited for him and we start to clap.  In turn, he starts to clap.  The whole process is just adorable.  I am so proud of my growing up little boy.  I can't believe he is already walking.  I thought for his 10 month post I would post his likes and dislikes to change it up a bit.

Likes: any and all food- we still haven't found one food he doesn't like, crawling up the stairs, taking baths, his bath toys, playing with remotes and phones, playing with Ella and Ashlyn, hanging out with his dad, Cheerios, cuddling with mommy, petting the cat, waving and clapping, blocks, playing with books, mommy making funny or silly faces, walking, trying to touch the Christmas tree

Dislikes: going to bed, getting changed, when he eats all of his food, getting put in his carseat, having things taken away that he wants to play, when the dog barks loudly.  (There isn't much he doesn't like as he is a very happy and content baby).  

 

There he goes!

You can see how excited he gets.

He's a pro already.

I discovered he loves playing with cups and spoons while I am cooking.

Great way to entertain him.

Doing his pushups.

Reading a book

Relaxing

Smiling for the camera

Dawson on his ten month birthday.

Vegas

      I wanted more than anything to be able to write a lengthy post about what an amazing time we had in Vegas and running our second half marathon. Unfortunately, Vegas 2011 will always be the race that wasn't meant to be. We left for Vegas Friday morning as scheduled. It was an uneventful trip there and we arrived safely. Once we got there, we headed immediately to the race expo and picked up our bibs. Katy and I were so excited after going to the expo. We couldn't believe how many runners we kept seeing everywhere. After the expo, we headed to our hotel to get settled.

      Shortly after checking in, Katy got a phone call that her husband, Bryan was being taken to the ER. One can imagine how emotionally distraught Katy was hearing how badly Bryan needed her when she was all the way in Vegas. She was able to keep in contact with his family and they updated her that his condition was very serious. (Since this is Katy and Bryan's personal business, I won't go into too many details on this blog as to what is going on.) After Katy got this news, we knew she had to get back home as quickly as possible. We started to look into flights out right away. I knew that there would be no way that I could mentally run 13.1 miles with what was going on. I also knew that Katy was really going to need me at home. We decided that we would both head home. We were able to book flights for Saturday morning at 6:30 a.m. We flew out Saturday morning and we were home Saturday at noon. What an exhausting 24 hours that was!

     Once we got home and Katy made it to the hospital we immediately knew that is where we needed to be. Vegas will always be there. We can always try to run it again next year. Joey and I are actually going to Vegas next month for our 5 year anniversary. I am much more concerned about Bryan. Bryan needs all of the prayers and positive thoughts he can get right now. He will be having surgery tomorrow, and we are praying for the best outcome for him. There are still a lot of unknowns at this point with what he is exactly facing, but we do know he has a long road ahead of him. So, please pray for Bryan, Katy and Ella and that he quickly gets better and is on a smooth road to recovery. I will posting later with some more positive posts.

Thanksgiving 2011

       The DeLorme family had another great Thanksgiving this year.  We were happy to be able to make it up to Joey's Dad's house this year.  After our races, we hopped in car and headed for Buena Vista.  We had a great day of relaxing and watching football.  The kids had a wonderful time playing with their special toys at their Grandparents house and getting showered in Grandma and Grandpa love.  There was a large group of people at dinner and the food was wonderful!  Dawson ate and ate like we guessed he would.  He definitely loves Thanksgiving food.  We all left that night with very full bellies and some great memories.  

Playing with Papa. 

They love their toys there.

Dawson enjoying his food.

Loving some mashed potatoes.

Ashlyn and Papa were having a blast eating together.  He even got her to eat some stuffing.

Ashlyn and Dawson with Papa and Grandma

A family picture

This picture is out of order, but on Friday we went to see the Muppets movie.  Ashlyn was very excited to see these guys in the lobby.