The POLAR EXPRESS

Ryan's ALL TIME favorite movie is the Polar Express (book, for that matter). We were fortunate to score some tickets to ride the Pol X at the Hood River Rail Company. We had a great time- just like in the book, hot cocoa and cookies were served. Elves came on and sang Christmas carols...and the ride ended at the North Pole. When we got to the 'North Pole', which was decorated with MILLIONS of Christmas lights, a huge spot light hit Santa as he came walking toward the train. ALL the kids on board started screaming and were plastered to the window. It was so neat to watch and these pictures are priceless!

Here's Ryan with the conductor:

His ticket, which really DID get punched!

After the ride, he RAN to Santa and JUMPED into his arms! He told Santa that he wanted to see him, "fly off". (as in fly off on his sleigh)

Gage and Santa on board the Pol X:

Ryan and Santa on board the Pol X: Ryan, "I'd like a BIG, black, Dodge monster truck please".

SNOW!!!

Home Sweet Home

Oh, how sweet it is!
We were able to put up our Christmas tree on the day after Thanksgiving. Gage and Ryan sure have enjoyed the Lionell Christmas train that their grandparents bought!

Ryan's glad to be home!

Fuzzy picture but HOW cute are all my boys???

Ryan and Gage in complete and utter amazement!

Gage is happy to be home too...

Me and the boys...

Ryan's Trip to Sacred Heart Children's Hospital

...What a scary time for our family! Ryan spent 7 days at SHCH this month. He was diagnosed with CMV, a virus in the mono family. The virus is common but manifested itself worse than average in Ryan.

In case any of you have to deal with this virus, these were his symptoms in order of appearance : rash (esp. behind the knees and elbows), fever, ear infection, wouldn't sleep through the night, vomitting once daily, chills, swollen eye lids, distended stomach. These symptoms all transpired over the course of three months! We thought it was "just that time of year" but obviously something worse was going on.

It's through the grace of God that we are able to tackle these scary times. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. He truly answers prayer!

Thank goodness for digital cameras! I took this photo the day I took Ryan to the ER and was able to show the ER doc exactly how Ryan looked when he first got up from his nap. You can see how swollen his face is- especially his cheeks and eye lids:

This is on Halloween- see his cheeks? Totally swollen.

This is a bad picture, but you can see how distended Ryan's stomach was- super tight and very big. The ER doc said it was 'normal'. We won't be taking him back there again.

JD and I took turns sleeping with Ryan/sleeping on the couch.

The ER doc bought Ryan a front-loader. As you can see, even with his favorite tractor in hand, he's just not himself ;(

Ryan was so excited about getting balloons that he wouldn't let them go... :)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Happy Halloween everyone!!! I took these photos of Gage yesterday on our deck. He is playing (okay, eating) an oak leaf from our "mighty oak tree". I preserved the leaf and plan to use it on a scrapbook page someday...

..little Ryanie Pie...

What do you see in there Ryan?

..."seeds".


mom carves with a knife...

dad carves with a drill...

Hope your Halloween is FUN!

Special Gifts

Grandma Gayle made the boys some SUPER cute (and snuggly) fleece blankets. Gage got Tigger:
and Ryan got "Cars":

and as you can see, he's becoming quite the HAM these days. Must be a McElroy :)

It's that time of year...

It's that time of year again- cold and flu season! Nothing is more frustrating that coming down with a runny nose and cough. Ryan seems to be very suseptible to colds these days...probably has something to do with starting preschool :) Check out the photo below: perfectly healthy kid, right? This photo was taken 10 minutes before...fever, chills, throwing up...the works.