2009: The Year in Review

A lot of my bloggy buddies are doing this, so I guess I shall follow suit.

Here is what happened in Rissa Roo's house in 2009:

January: Surgery to correct kidney reflux

February: Bout of viral pneumonia

March: Somebody special turned two years old

April: Surgery to remove tonsils and adenoids

May: Getting out in the sunshine and flowers. Downsized trach and capping full time while awake

June: Getting together with our trach family.

Visiting Nana & PaPa's farm in Grand Junction and meeting cousins for the first time

More cousins visit from Nevada

July: Independence Day fun
and swimming

August: visiting the zoo with a couple of trach family members
and partying when a trach brother got his hardware removed

September: Labor Day Colorado Springs Balloon Classic

and a few unseasonably COLD days before the end of Summer

October: due to the H1N1 scare, Halloween and trick-or-treating indoors in the comfort of our home

November: A little snow play

December: A fun family Christmas

We wish everyone a Happy, Healthy, and Blessed New Year. Happy 2010, bring it on!!

Christmas in Pictures

I thought I would share how much fun we had over the Christmas holiday through pictures. Get ready for a lot of them! I wish I got more pictures of Marissa enjoying time with Auntie Katelynn, and Nana & PaPa. She had some good quality time with each of them. She is no longer afraid of people she is not used to seeing now, its more like a shyness. But she hates to have her picture taken so it made for a difficult time capturing any of it on film.

I wanted to extend a very special thank you to a wonderful little bloggy buddy elf who sent Marissa and Elmo chair, an Elmo book and Cookie Monster and Elmo figurines. You know who you are. Jeremy and I wanted to let you know that Marissa loved coming down the stairs Christmas morning and seeing her new Elmo chair. She yelled "Elmo!!!!" at the top of her lungs and proceed to pick up the chair and carry it around. She was very proud of it! Thanks again!

My Step-Dad, Larry, aka PaPa, with his new big boy toy: 12 gauge double barrel shot gun like the Old West cowboys used on stagecoaches.

Uncle Nate looks a little nervous! Can you blame him? ; )

Auntie Katelynn being goofy.

Thanks for the Elmo Tickle Hands, Bubby and Zeyda!

A very Sesame Christmas. Auntie Chelle had an Elmo blanket made with Marissa's name on it!

Christmas in 2009: multiple laptops in use. : )

And a video!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Getting Ready...

... for Christmas, of course!

All the gifts have been bought and wrapped, the Christmas day family dinner is ready to be fixed, and the stockings are hung by the chimney with care. We are preparing for a fun family Christmas, complete with my sister Michelle, her boyfriend Nate, and my sister Katelynn, Mom and Step-Dad (Nana & PaPa) from Grand Junction. They are planning on being here sometime the afternoon of the 24th and staying with us until Sunday. I am really looking forward to spending a few days with my family. It is going to be crazy fun and relaxing at the same time! I wish we could have our whole family here for the holiday, but we will celebrate with them long distance instead.

I figured I would post one more time before the big day and share a couple of pictures. Enjoy!

Our fluorescent Christmas tree. I thought it would be a good idea to put LED lights on our tree this year. Little did I know that they would be so big and so bright! If you ask me at any given time on any given day, you'll get a different answer as to whether I actually like the lights on the tree this year. I am more of a traditionalist when it comes to Christmas trees but it is growing on me. : )

Couldn't find a picture frame ornament for 2008.

Any guesses as to why she is so happy??

She is reading a book about Elmo while watching an Elmo video, of course!! Pure heaven!!

I hope and pray this Christmas season finds all of you in good health and spirits. I hope and pray you are able to enjoy the coming days with people you love. And, I hope and pray you all take time to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas.

Merry Christmas and God bless you all!