Where to Start???

Our December started off with an 8th Grade Christmas Band Concert on the 8th. Dustin plays the trumpet and we enjoy going to watch him play. The kids did an awesome job. We decided to take Gabe with us this time to see how he would do and he was great. He loved watching his big brother on stage. We had to fit in a trip to see Santa on the 11th. Gabe asked Santa for a Dinosaur in a Rock plush toy, shampoo,(yes I just said shampoo,don't ask I have no idea!) & Tootsie Rolls. He drew Santa a cool letter which Santa was so happy with. December 12th was the High School Semi Formal. So we were off to the Hammond's (Tony's girlfriend house) to get a few shot of the great looking couple all dolled up! They are always so cute. This was the 3rd Semi Formal for Abby and Tony together.

December 13th Gabe participated in the Kids Christmas Program at Church. He was toddler Jesus and did a fantastic job!December 15th We were off to visit a new small indoor water park with The Moody's to celebrate Christmas with them. We always look forward to our time with them. What great friends they are. The boys had a blast playing in the water and being silly. Below is Gabe, Jayce and Tyrus. December 17th was the Christmas Program for Gabe's Daycare. They played a few songs with their bells, did a Christmas Poem and sang Happy Birthday Jesus. What a great program. Next year he will be in Kindergarten and I can't hardly believe it. Where does the time go?December 18th We had Christmas with The Downs' Gabe was so excited to give everyone their gifts and so was I. I made all of the gifts that they got this year and it was a big hit. We are very blessed to have them in our lives. What a huge part they play in all of our lives. Gabe looking at the book that "we" (I) made for Kelly. Every year I make a book with all of the pictures that she has taken of Gabe. December 19th we were up early to head to Sandusky Ohio for our annual Family Water park trip with my parents, brother and sister. The trip started off a little rocky but ended up working its self out and we all had a good time. Of course you are only seeing 2 of the 300+ pictures that were taken that weekend! The annual family picture was taken with Santa and Mrs. Clause this year and is missing Dustin and he got separated from the group and we didn't notice until we were all getting set up for the picture. After a quick shot we all scattered to go and find him. This to was not a fun part of our trip but all worked out.

Next post will be CHRISTMAS.

More Christmas Activities.

As a little girl my mom starting taking us to the Marshall Christmas parade. I looked forward to this parade every year at Christmas. I remember watching the little baton twirlers and looking at my mom telling her "Someday I'm going to be one of those girls" and one day I was one of those girls. I spent my Jr & Sr High years in school marching in that parade as a baton twirler for our school. Even after graduation going to this parade was just not something I was willing to miss. This parade is always the first Monday after Thanksgiving and it's one of the first things that gets marked on my calendar each year. Now that I'm a mom I love continuing this tradition with my son and I'm happy that my husband is willing to make the 45 minute drive that it takes us to get there each year! I'm not sure if either of them find the exact same joy in it as I have and still do but they both are willing participants! This was one of the floats this year. This was a replica of the Marshall Fountain with the nativity in it which is how the fountain had been displayed for many, many years. Very awesome.
The last couple of years we have invited our friends The Moody's to join us in the fun. They will sooner than later be moving and we are going to miss sharing this event with them very much but are so grateful for the years that we've been able to have them with us.

This boy is some kind of silly. He kept looking at me and telling me that he wasn't going to let me take a picture of him with his eyes open! Funny thing is even with his eyes closed this is probably one of my favorite pictures of him as it just show his true silliness.

If very rare that I get to be in a picture and of course when I do I have a four year old that is having way to much watching the parade to have his picture taken with his mommy! This was the best one out of what was taken! Oh well this too is just another side of my dear sweet boy.

P.S. Carol this post makes me think about you and hope that it gives you happy thoughts of home. We are so excited to have you and your family back in the states soon.

Some Catching Up

A few weeks ago my nephew's came to spend the night. We decided that we would go and check out the Kalamazoo Christmas Parade for the first time. The big balloons were our favorite! After the parade I told the boys that they could help me make Christmas cookies. Harrison was my trooper on this task and helped me the entire time. The following weekend we had The Fuller Christmas and the kids there got to decorate the cookies that the other kids baked. This was so much fun and the kids did a great job. We started off the day with decorating cookies and then.....We had a visit from Santa. Gabe was in HEAVEN for this part. He thought that it was so cool that Santa would visit his house BEFORE Christmas. After Santa we enjoyed a nice meal and opened some great gifts but our day/night was just starting. At 7:00 we all headed over to the PAC to watch Jordon in one of the biggest parts that he has ever had. He was FANTASTIC!!!!! We were all blown away by his performance. It is so fun to watch him do what he loves. Everyone in the show did a great job and it was a perfect way to end our family Christmas. This is part of Jordon's Fan Club! This past weekend we spent the weekend at the conference center at the Nazarene Camp. This get together is of my Mom's brother's, sister's and their kids. We had a great time just relaxing and spending time with each other. The weekend was spend playing Dominoes, Uker, Hand and Foot, Wits & Wager and many other fun games. We of course have no shortage of food with this get together as my mother's family has this "Were going to run out of food" fear. I've been in this family for 33 years and I to this day have never EVER seen this happen! We had SO much food we could have feed another entire family! This place is great for the kids because they can go downstairs and make as much noise and run as much as they want. I LOVE the above picture. This is My brother's son Ethan, My son Gabe and My sister's daughter Haley. What a group of crazy kids! Priceless...

Can you tell that they are sister??? The second day that we my mom and her sister all come out of there rooms wearing red! They all match so perfect it was pretty funny. One would have thought that they called each other a head of time but not so was the case. Great minds just think alike!

Thanksgiving

Last year Gabe was sick for Thanksgiving and we had our first Thanksgiving without being with the whole family. It was a nice dinner at home but I sure did miss the noise of family. This year I was thankful to be back where all of the noise was. We spent the first part of the day at my sister's house and then headed back home to pick up John after he got out of work to go to his parents house. We enjoyed our entire day and had so many things to be Thankful for. This is my nephew Harrison in his Indian headband that he made at school. This boy is such a sweet kid. Love it when he smiles he can light up a room.
Some of the family sitting down to dinner.

Christmas Anyone?

Next weekend we will be hosting my husbands family Christmas. So last night Gabe and I started working on getting out the Christmas decorations! Here he is helping to set up tree number 1 of the 4 trees that we will put up this year! And my husband had the wonderfully fun job of bringing the 19 totes of Rubber Maid totes up from the basement. He LOVES this time of year!!! Not!!!! He does love Christmas but I'm pretty sure bringing all those totes up is not a highlight for him! I have totally turned this boy into a Christmas nut just like his mommy. He wanted his tree in his room so badly, but his room was a MESS so I told him as soon as his room was picked up we would bring the tree up. I must tell you that I've never seen a child pick up so fast in my life! You may notice the pile just to the right in the back, that would be his toy box with all of his toys in it!!!

Here is my happy camper with his finished product.

Mom & Dad Fuller's 40th Anniversary

On Sunday November 8 my Mother and Father -In-Law celebrated their 40th Wedding Anniversary. For their special day we attend the church they were married at 40 years ago. This day was an extra special day for my mother-in-law as her sisters also joined us. They were not present for the wedding and this has always left a little void in my mother-in-law. Having them with her for this mile stone event meant the world to her and I'm very grateful that they were there to share it with her. After church it was off to brunch at Clara's in Battle Creek. The Happy Couple Rosemary & Mike FullerGrandma & Grandpa "GG" Fuller with Mom and DadTony helping Gabe ring the church bell. The Pastor told Dustin he could ring it 40 times in honor of Grandma & Grandpa's anniversary. He thought that was cool and of course Gabe also wanted to get in on the fun. Everyone enjoying good food. Our Dustin more than got his money's worth! WOW that boy can eat & eat & eat & oh yeah EAT! We told him he better enjoy it now because someday it will catch up to him!

How Long Will This Last???

Last Sunday our niece Karis celebrated her 4th birthday. She had a "Bitty" Party and each of the guest were to bring there own doll! Well Gabe happened to be the only boy as that side of our family isn't very big. Karis was very sweet to share her boy Bitty Doll with Gabe so that he would have a doll. Gabe was all to willing to carry around the boy bitty to make his cousin's special day special! But it has to make a mama think, will Gabe continue to enjoy going to these parties where he is the only boy or will be go through the girls are yucky stage??? For now I'm happy that he is so easy going and is willing to do things to make people happy. He loves his cousin very much and had lots of fun at her party, playing with her new kitten and the toys. The picture below I'm sure will be graduation bulletin worthy someday! Happy Birthday Kari!

School Party & Trick-or-Treat

The day after Gabe's surgery was his school's Halloween Party. We had sent cookies in with him on his last day of school before surgery because I didn't think there would be anyway that he would be able to attend the party. However, he had other ideas. He didn't wear his Pastor outfit to the school party as we decided to go at the last minute so he went as a patient wear a hospital outfit that the nurse gave him from when we had to stay overnight in the hospital in November last year.

There was a wide range of costumes in his class and I don't think there were two alike!

When we got home from the party Daddy was raking leaves so Gabe decided that he needed to make a "Leaf Angle". That boy is always thinking of something. After a couple of "Leaf Angle's" it was time to head in to rest for awhile. Trick-or-Treat 2009

This is Pastor Gabriel Fuller ready to hit the streets!

First stop the Downs House (which is our real Pastor!) after a few other special stop Gabe was ready to head back home so that he could hand out candy. He went to a couple of houses but wanted to go back home so that he could see all the "kids". I use that term loosely as we had more BIG kids then little.

All set up and ready to hand out candy!

Enjoying a little treat from his bag! I was so worried that he wouldn't be able to trick or treat this year because of his surgery. But worry for nothing is all I did, he should have been dressed at Superman because the way he bounced back after surgery is exactly what he is!

Surgery

Today was surgery day for Gabe. 5:00 am came way to early especially for a mama that probably wasn't looking forward to this even more so than her child. This child amazes me more and everyday. Here he is watching a movie all ready for the doctor to come in for the last check before they take him back. They had just came in and given him some medicine that would make it so that he wouldn't remember anything that was going on. As you can see this makes you very, very silly. He would just start laughing. At one point he looked at his grandma and said "Hey Grandma there are two of you!". This medicine is not only good for the child but it also makes it much easier on the parents so that you don't have to watch a screaming kid being taken away from you.Here is is all loaded up in the wagon that would take him to the operating room. Daddy asked him if he could "Pound it" which is what they are doing. Gabe thought this was very funny.I must say that when they start to pull your child away from you down hallway, it is the hardest thing EVER! I did very well while I was with him as I didn't want to cry and make him upset but once they pulled him away and then I had to go out in that waiting room to just wait. FORGET IT, all I could do was cry. We had a great pager that would update us with each step of his process but it still was so very hard. We also had a friend of the family that is a nurse and she was in the operating room with him today. She was so very kind and came out to let us know as soon as things were done that everything had went great and that the doctor would be out soon to talk to us. This is my baby in the recovery room. He was such a trooper and I must say that the Power of Prayer is the most amazing and wonderful thing. I believe with all of my heart that everything that Gabe has gone through and done would not have had the same out come with out all of our prayers and the prayers of all of our wonderful family and friends. You each bless us so much everyday and we love you all very much. Gabe is now home and recovering as if he never has had surgery at all. I expected him to be sore and lazy and all that he has wanted to do is PLAY Mama, Play!

Friends Are Great

Our family has been blessed with good great friends. Today's blog goes out to our friends Ron & Becky Glenn. Ron is a volunteer Fire Fighter and loves little kids. As we are approaching Gabe's surgery we didn't want him to go to Daycare and Becky being the great friend that she is said that she would watch Gabe for us on Monday. Becky decided that since her husband is a Fire Fighter it would be fun to take Gabe and another friend to the Fire Station for a visit. Not only did Gabe and Cooper get to visit the Station but they also got to go for a ride. The pictures below only show a glimpse of excitement that these boy had during there morning out. Thank you so much Ron and Becky for not only being friends to John and I but for also loving our son. Boys and their toys!
Becky also is a wonderful photographer and when a mom can't be there for a moment like this it means the world to her to be able to be a part of it by the wonderful way she captured the moment.

I'm thinking that it doesn't get any better than this for a four year old. He could not wait for me to get home from work to tell me all about it. I love the complete joy that is on his face in this picture. Without friends this world would be a very sad place and we are so thankful for ALL of our friends and the way that each one of them bless our lives.

Trunk or Treat

Last night was Trunk or Treat at our Church. This is the first Halloween that my child hasn't been an animal and I must admit it was a little hard. But he has a great imagination and this year he decided that he was going to be a Pastor.This is Pastor Gabriel Fuller getting ready to head to the Church.Pastor Dave with Pastor Gabe just before Trunk or Treat was getting started. Nothing better than a good friend! This was our car all decorated. We got 2nd place for the best carved pumpkin. Thanks Papa!
Gabe with his Ms. Kelly.