Back in the Saddle Again

I think this has been my longest hiatus from blogging yet. It just wasn't in me, you know? I still read others blogs and enjoyed them, but I just couldn't get myself motivated to write much of anything. But now I think I'm ready. Maybe because this was a pretty productive day and I feel like things are looking up in general. Knock on wood.
2012 has pretty much kicked our trash around here. There have been weeks and weeks of bad health, loads and loads of medical bills, night after night of little sleep. I'm painting a bleak picture. But it has just felt that way... bleak. but I really think I'm sick of that. So things need to change!!

I need to keep track of some main points, so I'll just do it bullet point style by month for my own sad brain's benefit. This will probably be kind of boring.

January:
*We had a fun double birthday party for Jared and his brother Mike in Pocatello. They went spelunking and survived! It was also awesome to see all the little Stubbs cousins together. This is a photo of Jared and his brothers. I think it kind of looks like a police line up but Jared is way too happy about it.* An ambulance ride and trip to the ER for that durn thorn in the side.
* A trip to Urgent Care for a baby who's temperature was 102 with a bad cough. Result: ear infection and a dose of anti-biotics. Poor baby.* Afton's first field trip on a school bus. She was in heaven.
* Afton got an award for Linguistic achievement as school. See post before.
* Ben's asthma totally out of control with lots of nighttime waking, coughing, wheezing, and oh-so-bad behavior.
* Aforementioned bad behavior of Ben warrants an apology to a boy at school for attacking him and scaring the living daylights out of him.
* Cade's weekly physical therapy starts to really pay off and his head barely shows signs of trouble.
* It FINALLY snowed so we got to go sledding! This photo looks like it was nighttime sledding, but it was just so flippin' bright outside the camera didn't know what to do with itself.* This orchid plant that I was given when my mom passed over 2 years ago and hasn't bloomed since the day I got it finally decided to be alive and grow again. It bloomed one miraculous orchid. Good enough for me!
February
* Ben's asthma decided to cooperate and he started to breath again. Sleep returned. Peace returned. Big sigh of relief.
* We had a fun little super bowl party with our friends. It included seven layer dip that looked like a football field and a football shaped pizza. Gotta love theme parties.
* Cade had his 9 month check up! BUT he still had an ear infection. In fact, a double ear infection. Back on antibiotics.
* We said goodbye to our old van. It served us all well.* We bought a new car! A Mazda CX9 that is very fun to drive. I still need to get a picture of it. On my to do list...
* Afton's artistic talent continued to make us happy. This is a penguin she painted at school. Look at that shading!
* Cade learned to crawl! He went straight to the hands and knees method. Oh what a happy, mobile child he is! His favorite thing to do is chase a ball around the house. He'll giggle and whack it, then crawl up to it, give it a slobbery kiss and whack it again.
* Baby Breakfast Club resumed with some friends in our ward. These four babies sure have grown a ton since we started the tradition!* Cade finally got his first tooth!
* We went to a Mitt Romney rally. Jared was pretty excited, the kids caught on, and I even felt pretty happy to be there. It was a fun thing to be part of.

March
* Afton had to get cavities filled. She was super somber with the nitrous oxide and wasn't very happy about the numb mouth. But she was brave and held really still so it all turned out fine. Here she is with half her face smiling.
* Cade got his second tooth!
* Jared can drive again!
* Ben tells really really silly stories about Grandpa Pop (his imaginary friend/grandpa) and every day he pretends he is a different animal. It keeps me on my toes!
* The sun has come out and the weather has been warm. It makes everything feel better. Afton and Ben introduced Cade to the sand box and he didn't even eat anything weird, just a rock.
* Warmer weather has brought out the extra goofy behavior. The kids decided to be Princess Underwear and Prince Underpants one night. Weird.* We got out on a lovely hike last weekend. It was so fun! Our first attempt at a family shot:
This one is not much better
And there you have it. Our last two and a half months in a nutshell. Now we have some fun stuff to look forward to like redoing the sub-floor in our family room and Spring Break! The End.