Blog Catch Up - December and Early January synopsis

In December, we were lucky enough to start attending church with our new respite provider Dana.  That definitely has helped our attendance and helped me to actually listen to the talks/lessons.  That is one blessing I am very grateful for.

We celebrated Christmas Eve as a family a day early, since Kevin had duty on the real Christmas Eve. We were all able to open 1 present. I opened a very cute calendar Garrett made me at school. It had fun pictures for every month that were made with his hand prints, i.e., a turkey for November, an upside-down handprint that made Santa with the fingers for his beard for December, 2 handprint as a spider with the fingers for the legs, etc. Very fun! Kevin opened a toolbox. Garrett opened his Leapster Flix thing...which he wasn't too interested in...Caiti opened her Dora doll with the twin siblings. Jason opened this fun ball toy that you put the balls in the openings in the top, and they go down a maze until they come out the bottom. We ate barbecue pork sandwiches and had eggnog. We fulfilled a Roach family tradition and watched Christmas Vacation. It was a nice day.

On the real Christmas Eve, I celebrated with Michelle. We spent the morning visiting with one of the families Michelle works with. They are very nice, and it was fun to hang out with someone who also has children with autism. "Stevie Claus" and Sharon Shedroff, a friend from the ward, also stopped by for a visit. That evening, Michelle and I wrapped presents and listened to the Messiah. Then we helped Santa get everything ready, and I stayed up until midnight making CDs for Kevin and cleaning up the house because we all know Santa can't come to a messy house.

On Christmas morning, I got up early and made some bacon and eggs for everyone. By the time breakfast was ready, Kevin got home, so we were able to have a nice Christmas breakfast. We then opened presents. It was so cute because Caiti opened Uncle Jared and Aunt Lynley's present first, and ended up playing with that the rest of the day instead of opening presents. (She got My Little Pony from them.) Michelle said it was her best Christmas ever, gift wise, because Jennifer bought her a wet suit and a body board. She was so excited. Our Christmas was very successful. This was the first Christmas that ALL of the kids absolutely loved their presents and were entertained and playing all morning. So we had a wonderful morning and early afternoon...However, then Caiti got sick and threw up many, many times, and the neighborhood turned off our power for a couple hours and we only had a couple candles. Annoying! Overall, though, I had a great Christmas.

That Friday, Kevin and I were able to use his Movie Tickets that he got from Santa. We decided to go see Sherlock Holmes. I just had a really nice time with my honey. I love when we can go on dates. It makes my week have a little bright spot to look forward to. 

Michelle inherited some tickets to Universal Studios from her friend Ali because he was going to use them when his dad came to visit from Turkey but they didn't end up going, and they expired on January 4. So, she kindly gave them to Kevin and me to use for a day away from the kids. She is our respite provider, so we had an instant babysitter too. Kevin and I had such a nice time together and some much needed alone time. We really liked the Simpsons ride. The Jurassic park ride and the Mummy ride were fun too. I loved seeing all of the characters that my kids are obsessed with, like Dora, Shrek, Spongebob, the Penguins from Madagascar, Alex the Lion, Curious George, etc. So fun! I sure love my Kevi!  We had to use a disposable camera, so whenever we end up getting those pics developed, I will try to remember to post them on the blog.

On January 6, Garrett turned 6, so now Aunt Michelle is trying to teach him a new answer when people ask him "How old are you?" We had a birthday breakfast of eggs and ice cream cake. Garrett was able to open his presents. He got a magnifying glass, a couple of squish balls with Curious George on them, a monkey swing toy, a pair of dress pants and a soft and comfy body pillow.  After breakfast, Kevin and I took Garrett to Sea World for his birthday. That was just the perfect morning. We had such a nice time with our little boy. We had planned on just hanging out at Sesame Place the whole time, but we got there at 10, and Sesame Place didn't open until 11. We ended up just walking around the grounds until we came upon the penguins. Garrett absolutely loved watching them swim around in the water. When we left them, he was upset and kept saying, "Swimming in the water!" He got distracted, though, when we saw a bunch of flamingos out in the open. The worker even let Garrett pet the flamingo. It was really neat. (Yes, we did take pictures, but they are also on a disposable camera and will be posted someday when I actually get the film developed.)  Finally, Sesame Place opened, so we were able to take Garrett on his first theme park rides. They had a teacup-type ride with Abby Cadabby, Elmo's Flying Fish ride and an Oscar the Grouch ride that was this thing that swayed back and forth. He loved those rides! He had to go on each of them twice. We also ended up taking him on the rapids ride where we all got soaked. He loved having mommy and daddy all to himself and going "bye bye." Kevin made Garrett hamburgers for lunch because that is his favorite. Such a cute daddy.  The rest of the day was rather uneventful, but I think this was definitely Garrett's best birthday yet. It was so fun to spend the morning with my sweetie pie.

Okay...I think I've caught up on the more eventful parts of the last couple of months when I was too lazy to blog.   Now, if I can only keep up...