Christmas

Well Christmas has come and gone for another year and in reality I am very happy about that! While it was fun I can really only handle so much of this season.

The Sunday before Christmas we had the Bracken Christmas party it was fun but of course like all years before I was on call and had the fear of being called out just as Santa arrived and I'm happy to announce that once again I lucked out and had no calls!! The night before the party I decided to buy the kids a new out fit to wear so since I was working I grabbed Craig (My partner for the night) and off to Wal-Mart we went. He is such a trooper and with his help we found the kids some cute cloths. I even had Maddie wear a dress she has only really wore one other dress and that was for her Blessing almost 3 years a go. She LOVED it and knew she was the cutest little girl in the room! Well time for Santa arrived and all I can really say about that was it was an adventure while most of the kids where fine and and actually happy to see him we did have a little incident with Ozzy (My nephew). Well Oz has always been a little nervous of Santa but for some reason this year he has been terrified in fact from what they tell me he has said that he doesn't need or even want anything from Santa he will be happy with the stuff he gets from his family. When Santa came through the door Oz was on the move right to his daddy's arms crying. Sant went through the routine of calling all the kids one by one so they could sit on his lap and give them each a gift and here's poor Oz on his turn Need I say more?

The following day we had had a get together with Dees family, well Dee and the kids did! I ended up waking up in the middle of the night VERY sick it was terrible. I stayed home most of the day and tried to sleep it off. I did join the family later in the afternoon for a little while but I was just not feeling good at all so ended up leaving after the gifts where opened. It was nice to spend some time with that side of the family since I always seem to work the days that they go visit!

On to Christmas Eve. We had the annual Christmas eve Chile dinner at moms house along with stupid present opening. Santa came to visit the kids that night as well and of course since I had not let the kids have a nap Maddie refused to sit on his lap but she did tell him that she wanted a "Baby" for Christmas. Mom always makes the kids a new pair of Jammie's for Christmas which they open on Christmas Eve and they are always happy to wear them .

Christmas morning started at 730 the kids where excited with all the gifts. Brady has been telling me since fall that he needs hiking boots and hiking socks so when we sat down to write his letter to Santa they where at the top of the list so he was very happy to get them Christmas morning. Maddie was happy with her "Big Girl" Dora bike but the hit of the morning was their truck . While I know we did go a little over board this year it was worth it to see their faces that morning. We made a quick trip back to my moms house that morning so the kids could open the rest of their gifts. We finally returned home early in the afternoon and just spent the rest of the day relaxing and letting the kids play with all of their goodies!

So that was the Gillins Christmas! We hope you all had an enjoyable one as well!

Maddies Cat

Ok so I thought this was cute. It dosent matter how much the cat drives me nuts I cant help but smile when I see how cute the cat is with her! It feels that it needs to sleep with her no matter what else is going on. Normally its currled up on her pillow but not this night!

Zoo Lights

So we decided to take the kids t othe Zoo the other night to look at the lights it was going to be a suprise but when we told Brady he had to take a nap he threw a fit like no other! SO I decided to tell him why he started yelling that he didnt wat to go he just wanted to stay home! Well we finally got him to lay down so the Zoo was back on.

When we got there, we where able to park close to the gate because the place was about empty. Well when we walked through the gates the kids where so excited the first stop was to see the monkeys which Maddie LOVED. It was cold but that didnt matter to the little ones. They just ran from one place to the next with out a care in the world.

Brady was upset that the train was not running so we took the kids on the Carousel. That was an adventure all of its own! Brady was afraid he was going to fall off and Maddie just wanted to ride by herself in fact she was not happy when it came to an end. Im sure she would be riding on it still if we had not made her get off!

It was alot of fun and Im sure we will be doing it every year from now on!!

Update

Ok Ok so its been a very long time!

Well Maddie is finally starting to talk better! YIPPIE! she is still not up to where she should be but she is talking that is such a plus! We have stopped with the speech therapist it seemed all they where doing is the SAME things I had been doing with her so why pay someone when I can do it myself? The big change with speech came when Brady went camping for a week her vocabulary doubled in that short amount of time. She is getting much better with the potty training thing but we still have a ways to go. We tried preschool for a little while and to put it lightly it DID NOT GO WELL! Shes not even three yet so we decided to pull her out and try her next year with Miss. Michelle (Bradys teacher) who she really seems to like.

Brady has been doing well in school and does not fight on Thursday nights when its home work time. We have started talking about kindergarten he does not like the thought of it saying "I dont want to go there and I dont want to talk about it". I am having problems with it as well number 1: he is my little guy and Im afraid that he will be upset about being there. Number 2: The school bus thing has me FREAKED OUT! no seat belts and I dont trust the drivers!


A few weeks ago we decided that we needed to get some pictures done of the kids. It went very well the kids had a good time and loved the lady that was taking them. She worked very well with them and made sure we all had a good time. Brady had to have one for his so that he could "see me and sissy when I wake up in the morning". They sure seem to love each other!

I started the Paramedic program a few months ago I have finished all the dumb stuff (Well being of a paramedic, Ambulance Operations) and have started the medical stuff! I seem to be doing well. I get frustrated but I have great help from a few that I work with. I will be attending my first skills camp in a few weeks (4 days in Ogden passing skills off). Im so nervous its making me sick!

Nothing has really changed with Dee he still works for the county with no big news going on there.

A little about us.

Dee and Dawn have been married for 9 years. Brady was born in January of 2004 and 2 short years later in January of 2006 Maddie arrived.

Dee works for Tooele County as a equipment operator he has been with them for 10 years, he is a hard person to keep still he feels he always has to be doing something, he enjoys camping and spending time with the family. He is the easy one to get along with in our little family.

Dawn has been working for Mountain West Medical Center for the past 8 years, at this time she in continuing her education and will be starting the Paramedic Program in August of this year. She enjoys time with the family weather its a day shopping, camping or just hanging out at home.

Brady has just finished up his first year of preschool it was a tough go at first since he was not use to having mom leave him anywhere but he soon got use to it and would yell "Bye mom" before we even made it in the door. He has quit the imagination, he likes scaring his sister, and jumping on his trampoline.

Maddie well where do we begin with her? She is going from the time she wakes up till the time she goes to bed running, climbing, and jumping are just a few of the things she is doing. We have recently been working with a speech therapist since she is behind in that area (mainly because she has a big brother to do all of the talking for her.) They have started with the basics like making animal sounds they have also been teaching us some sign language which she is really picking up on fast.

Well thats all for now. I will try and update often.