I Jinxed Myself

I should have known better then to send out a Christmas letter 2 weeks before the end of the year declaring that the FINAL score for the year on ER visits was Dani 1-Chris 1. Even as Bryan and I were reading it before we printed them we joked that since I put that in there it would not be the final score.

Here we are December 29th , just three days short of 2008, and we just returned from the ER. Dani was able to squeak one more visit in before the end of the year. I promise people, I am nice to my children. This is genetic. We were so close to bedtime when I heard a thunk from the playroom followed by an ear piercing scream. You know the scream where instantly you know it is bad without even knowing what happened, love that scream. There was Dani laying on the ground between the Lego table and the train table, as I got close I noticed the blood flowing out of her mouth. This one was bad.

My attempts to stop the bleeding were failing, I needed some help but unfortunately Bryan was at work. Chris came in very handy though, he was able to call Daddy and get him on the phone. I learned quickly that talking on the phone with a screaming child is a challenge, so I went to plan B. Chris ran across the street to Julie's house to get her. With Julie's help I was able to look at her mouth and see the huge gash inside her lip by her nose. Off we went to the ER again. Chris went over to Julie's and stayed there while we took Dani in.

Fast forward a few hours.....Bryan left work and headed out to meet us, driving the speed limit of course. Dani's final diagnosis was Nasal Trauma and a torn Frenulum (that piece of skin between your upper lip and gums). I guess they don't like stitching the mouth up since it is so likely to get infected. Dani gets to drink the yummy pink goodness called Amoxicillin for the next few days. Poor little thing looks like a prize fighter. The doctor said that she will probably have a lot of swelling and will look bad in the morning. Her lip was huge tonight and her nose was all red, there is a possibility she broke it but there is so much cartilage there really isn't much they can do. Kids heal fast luckily.

So that was my night. With 2 days left now in 2007 the ER score stands at Dani 2-Chris 1. I don't DARE say this is final.

She was not a happy camper.

Merry Christmas to all
our friends and family!

We wanted to send out a very Merry Christmas greeting to all our family and friends. Especially to some great friends of ours, James & Tristen Anderson, that were not able to get a card in the mail this year. They are 5 months into a 365 day trip around the world.....so James and Tris, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and safe travels as you venture to yet another continent.

It was a nice, fairly quiet Christmas day in the Francis house. Chris decided to wake us up at 6:58 declaring it was time to open the presents under the tree, our Christmas prayer for sleeping in was not answered this year! The kids were happy to see some treats in their stockings and some special treats under the tree. Although I have to say that now that Chris is getting older the presents are a little more challenging. The concept that everything was not for him and they all could not be opened at once was a hard one for him to get. After presents, Bryan made us a nice egg breakfast and we lounged in our PJ's all morning. For our morning exercise we decided to take a nice 3 mile walk to Starbuck's. This gave Chris a chance to ride his scooter and we got Aron out for a nice walk. We returned for nap time and a chance for us to clean up the mess from the morning. There was still one more member of our family that needed her exercise, so we headed to the park this afternoon to play fetch with Sierra.

The best part of today was that we did not have to drive anywhere, it was great. I think that may need to become a family tradition. Merry Christmas to you all, we pray that you have a wonderful holiday with your families.

Chris waiting for the "GO" on digging into his stocking.

Dani almost fit in her stocking :)

Dani got some great dress up shoes, but as you can see she prefers to wear them with no clothes.

Dani and Mommy hanging out by the tree

What else does a girl need......shoes, purse, and phone. Thanks Miss Sara!

Christmas Eve with the Family

For the first time in a few years Bryan has Christmas Eve and Christmas day off, so this is a new concept around here. After all the running around this year it was nice to have a few days of just family time. After a nice night with friends for Bryan's birthday we started off Christmas Eve with a nice day around the house playing with the kids. We headed to Cornerstone for a fabulous Christmas Eve Service. It is always great that no matter how many times you hear the story of Christ's birth it can have a special meaning.

My mom and sister headed over that night for dinner and presents with the kids. My sister walked in with an interesting treat for us to enjoy during dinner. I have to give her credit for his creativity and guts to bring this. It was a four pack of "grab n' go wine". Of course I had to take pictures of this because I had never seen these before.....it was hilarious. The only problem was the kids kept going for them since they look like the chocolate milks they get at Starbuck's.

Fine wine at it's best.....the best part was that this wine is from Lathrop. Just one town over from Tracy...only in the Central Valley.

Chris and Dani were definetly ready to open some presents.

Dani preferred walking around with the present more then opening them

Dani modeling the new jacket from Aunt Mamie.

Chris checking out the new excavator

Mor Mor (my mom) and Dani

Mor Mor and the kids, they were a little zoned on the new Shrek 2 movie

The Chapman Ladies

Life of the Party!

There are things that you get used to when your husband is in law enforcement and they work crazy hours....one is going places by yourself. This can be alright at times, but it does get old after a while. For some reason this year I was getting the feeling that every Christmas party was on a Friday and that meant Bryan was working. That is when I got the idea.....he is coming with me.

So with the help of a computer, a laminater and a wooden spoon from my purse (don't ask).....I had my sweet hubby to join me tonight at the Griffin's party. He was a hit and boy did he have a good time. I have to admit though that a few times through the night, he did creep me out a little. For some odd reason it help having him them as my "date" since this was a couples thing. Enjoy the fun and kind of disturbing pictures.

The lovely couple.

Bryan got to hang out in the plant while we were eating appetizers in the kitchen.

Matt, Bryan and Matt

Bryan had fun with the Chance's

I think this was his favorite part of the night when he got some love from Erin and Joanna

Brian was testing out the head massager on Bryan's head.....as you can see he was not a huge fan of this one. Come to think of it he did not look to thrilled all night.

Bryan was a little confused by the kitty cat candles I got at the white elephant gift exchange......now this picture scares me.

I have definetly learned how to make lemonade out of lemons!

Just a fun conversation

I looked back at when my last post was and am disappointed that I got off my roll I was on. I don't have any pics to put up today (my camera is at work) but I did have a fun conversation with Chris tonight.

Dani was in bed and Chris was "helping" hang some frames that fell off the wall (don't ask). One of the pictures was of Bryan and I on our wedding day. He was staring at the picture for a while. Part of me thinks he was trying to figure out who was in the picture with me. Bryan had hair when we got married and that is a site Chris has yet to see. After looking at the picture for a while he looked up at me...

C: Mommy is this from the day that you got married?
M: Yep!
C: Is that daddy with you?
M: Yeah bud, it is.
C: Where was I?
M: You weren't born yet.
C: Oh, had you not gone to the store and bought me yet?

Honestly, what am I suppose to say to that.

Cookie Time

Chris and I had fun with the ginger bread cookies after Dani was bed one night. He had so much fun decorating and watching them bake. I don't know why this was the first time I had done this with him, but it won't be the last. Maybe next time Dani can join us.

Chris is ready to go with the ginger bears.

Naked cookies

He was so concentrated as he put the red frosting on.

These were the bears that mommy did (I had to have some fun too.)

The cookie makers....I promise he had more fun then it looks like in this picture. He is not really a fan of the self portrait like his dad.

Just a little peek into my life.

I have been meaning to post this for a while now. I was reminded tonight when the first one happened to me on the way home. Enjoy!

You know you are married to someone in Law Enforcement when...

..you're used to a call ended by "oh (censored), gotta go, love you" and then sirens and the line goes dead

..laundry for him consists of 9 million undershirts, 20 million black socks, 10 million pairs of underwear (5 million white/5 million black).

...you are not upset when you call and hear, "Can't talk now. I'll call you right back,"; nor are you upset when it takes him 2 hours before "right back" happens.

...mail 4 him? A few bills, Sports Illustrated and Galls catalogue

... this conversation is considered normal:
"Hi babe, what's up?"
Husband: "Oh... I'm in jail..how are the kids?"

..you get asked if there is room in your purse for his gun and you don't even think that is weird.

..the kids learned to read by checking caller ID and not answering the phone if City of **** popped up on dad's day off.....

..you go down stairs to do laundry and find a loaded gun on the ironing board because when he got home 4 hours late he was 1/2 asleep when he got undressed....

..people call your cell phone any time day or night to reach him but don't want to call his phone "in case HE is sleeping"....

..you haven't had a ticket since you started dating.

..your sig. other has a checklist to go through before leaving the house: gun (check), badge (check), cuffs (check), etc.

..you don't find it unusual to say "your gun is showing" ....in church.

..you start to talk *code*

..He can remember the name, address, and date of birth of every person he has arrested, but forgets you have asked 3 times for the trash to be taken out

..your desk at home is cluttered with all types of papers for police reports, and though they are covered in dust, and over 3 years old, you MUST not touch, move, or God-forbid, throw away.

..you don't find it odd or disturbing at all when you're two year old declares rather loudly that "daddy's got a gun!" (she's told her brothers he was going to shoot them too)...you just shush her and move on to the next aisle.

..you find flexi-cuffs and those orange abandoned vehicle stickers laying around the house


..you can put his bullet proof vest back together after washing quicker then you can folding the towels.

...when you cant sit at a restaurant unless his back to the door never mind have him look at you instead of everyone else in there....

..when he stands leaning on a counter or wall and has his right hand perched on his hip where his gun would be except he isn't wearing his uniform...

..he won't buy a shirt unless it is long enough to cover his off duty weapon

MADD Banquet

This Tuesday I attended the MADD Law Enforcement Recognition Banquet with Bryan in Oakland. Every year MADD recognizes all the officers within Alameda County who have arrested more than 25 people for a DUI that year. This year Bryan had 30 DUI's and joined 15 other deputies from ACSO at the lunch. I was proud to be there as his wife and show my support for all he does everyday when he walks out the door to go to to work.

It really hit me when I was looking at the number of DUI's they had for the year and knowing that it was just for Alameda County. This year they arrested 4600 people for DUI and these are just the ones that got caught. Kind of scary. So this holiday season, please, please please, be careful when you are out there driving. All the deputies with the command staff and Sheriff Ahern (he is the one with a ridiculous amount of stuff on his jacket.)

The guys and the wives that were there.

Cool shot of all the cars parked on the pier.

The plaque....bad shot but cool.

Victory

Everything is fixed! I enjoyed filling up my new car for a mere $45, I accomplished 14 loads of laundry in 48 hours with my new machine, and we have a fully lit Christmas tree. I guess it was a good thing we did not put the lights on the house last week, after all it was the week of broken things. Roof + broken= ER. God knows we don't need any help finding our way there.

Little Miss Personality

I had to post some pictures I got of Dani today when we were at the park Dani is getting such the personality these days. This girl is little miss adventure, she was starting to scare me a little at the park with the things she wanted to climb on....we do have a family historythis is some SERIOUS hair

I just love that she is having so much fun here.

She could spend hours playing with the buckle on the stroller....even in the freezing cold. I want you to look closely at the outfit int he pictures. Daddy dressed Dani this morning. I do have to give him credit for putting together a cute outfit. I just did not have the heart to tell him that he dressed her in leggings, a long sleeve shirt and her terry cloth swim wrap. He tries. I love him for that.