Merry Christmas from The Dugorepec Family

[ Click on picture to enlarge]

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Boy, this year has sure been busy but exciting to say the least. So much news and so much fun, who could ask for more? Here’s a little recap of our year:

January 2006

• Lexie turned 2 years old. With it came that sweet little smile that just looks so innocent. NOT!!! This child is really the devil in disguise. We’ve even wondered if we should call a priest to have her exercised. After talking with a lot of moms, some teachers and some counselors, I’m happy to say that this is THE TERRIBLE TWO’S! Because Bella didn’t go through the two’s to this extreme, we didn’t expect this with Lexie.

February 2006

• Lauren Grace came into our family. I gave birth to our cutest little bundle on Valentine’s Day. Very easy delivery – one long push and out she popped! She’s by far one of the best babies we’ve had.

April 2006

• Bella officially became potty-trained. Going back to two in diapers was a blessing!

June 2006

• Bella & Lexie became avid swimmers. They learned how to jump off the side of the pool and swim with only floaties on their arms. Every single morning they started their day with “Mommy, can we go in the pool???” It sure made nap time easy on me. They would be completely pooped by the afternoon.

July 2006

• I opened my own business called Crop Street Café. It’s an online scrapbooking business.
• Milenko picked up golfing. He now plays golf EVERY weekend that is sunny.

August 2006

• Our first family vacation. We went up to Oregon for The Gardner Family Reunion. We drove. BIG MISTAKE!!!
• The girls got to go to the beach for the first time on this trip.
• Lauren cried almost the entire time – we found out on the way home that she was getting Roseola measles and that was why she was so irritable the entire trip.

September 2006

• Lexie officially became potty-trained as well. Now we’re only one in diapers (with the occasional accident from Lexie).
• Lauren had two milestones: Her 3rd tooth appeared and she started crawling all over the place.
• Bella and Lexie both started preschool. Bella’s 2nd year, Lexie’s 1st year.

October 2006

• The kids spent a lot of time with Grampa because he was moving up to Seattle at the end of the month.
• The kids got to go to the Pumpkin Patch and pick out pumpkins 2 pumpkins each.
• They all dressed up like pink & purple butterflies & went trick-or-treating with their cousins Nic & Christian.

November 2006

• Bella turned 4 years old.

December 2006

• The Polar Express is the kids' new favorite movie - every day.
• Our lights are hung, the tree is up, the presents are wrapped and the kids ask each morning, “Is it Christmas Time yet?”
• For the holiday festivities, my family is getting together here for Christmas Eve and we’re getting together with Milenko’s family the day before.

We hope that everyone is doing well and that you have some great plans for celebrating this holiday season. We wish you all the best and look forward to seeing you next year!

Happy Holidays,
The Dugorepec Family
Milenko, Debbie, Bella, Lexie & Lauren
(and Cede, Beamer and Biscuit too)

Here's a cute little picture of all the "Gardner" Grandkids - when MOST of them are smiling.

Clockwise: Nic, Christian, Bella, Lauren & Lexie.

Lauren's Little Boogie

I had a little boogie.

It was inside my nose.

I picked that little boogie

and in the mouth it goes

That yucky little boogie

Didn’t taste so good

I should have listened to my mom

It tasted like she said it would

YUCK!

No boogies were harmed in the making of this monolog. In fact, Lauren really didn’t do all of this in sequence – but it sure is hilarious!

Lexie’s First Haircut – An Unforgettable Experience

Lexie was in one of her great moods today. She is feeling a little under the weather so it makes everything 10 times worse than it already is. As many people know, Lexie’s hair is always doing its own thing – usually making a rat’s nest in the back of her head. It’s been this way for about a year and every morning it’s a major chore trying to comb through her tangled mess.

While Lexie was in the bathroom, she didn’t quite make it to the toilet and peed herself. After I cleaned up the floor with bleach and put her clothes in the wash, I put Lexie in the kitchen sink. Why? Because Lauren was upstairs sleeping and if I dared to put Lexie in the bath tub, that would be the end to Lauren’s peaceful nap. I soaped up Lexie and put a ton of conditioner in her hair and let it sit for about 10 minutes. I was running around with Bella at the same time so the extra time that the conditioner sat in her hair was just perfect for me. After 30 minutes of de-tangling Lexie’s hair, she had nice smooth, long hair again. It was so pretty – for the one moment I was going to admire it! I went upstairs, grabbed the scissors and came down and cut Lexie’s hair. I didn’t cut it with the clippers like I would have liked to but I did cut about 2-3 inches off in length. I cut just enough to make the tangled mess a little easier to tame.
Lexie didn’t have a problem with me cutting her hair. It was Bella that had the problem. She saw that I was cutting Lexie’s hair and yelled at me to stop. She then ran out of the room and hid in my computer chair sobbing….I don’t love you anymore, Mommy! When I came in and tried to explain what I was doing to Lexie’s hair she told me that I cut off all of Lexie’s hair and now I don’t love you any more. Now how do those crushing words sound so hilarious? I guess it was just because I couldn’t keep a straight face while she was so upset with me. I let her call Daddy and tell him what I did. Boy, those tear drops were HUGE! She told Daddy “Mommy doesn’t love Lexie anymore and she’s cutting her hair off.” On top of that, she told him “Lexie’s hair isn’t pretty. It’s not long like mine.”

Now that Bella has had a chance to go upstairs and rest, I can see that Lexie’s hair is super cute (and manageable) and Bella has forgotten all about the bad hair-do.

Milenko also reminded me that Bella’s sweet disposition also came through when she saw Lauren cry for the first time. When she saw that, Bella started crying too because the baby was upset. I sure hope this caring disposition of hers never changes

What a fun day we had!