Friend's Christmas 2009

Saturday was our turn to host our monthly friend get-together and since it's December it was our Christmas party! All the kiddos came dressed in their Christmas jammies...so cute! Tacos were on the menu for dinner with ice cream sundaes for dessert, yum yum! We have such a great group of friends and getting together is always a great time. There are 7 kids, 5 and under but 8 adults so we still outnumber the little people! It's nice to be able to relax and share the responsibility of kid-watching. They are all such great kids too!

Trey and Abby pre-funking

Watching Prep & Landing

Some were ready to take the kid picture

One was not!

Buddy did NOT want to sit down

So darn cute!!

Not a bad looking bunch!

Present time!

The mamarazzi

Malia looking extra festive!

Isaiah helping Trey with his new toy

Lots of fun and laughter!

Ice cream sundaes!!

Christmas Card Rejects

This one is cute but didn't make it

Buddy Bud

Trey had his 18 month well child check last Wednesday. The only appointment I could get that didn't interfere with work and I had an available babysitter for Abby was at 12:45...smack in the middle of his normal naptime. I thought I was in for a not fun visit but Trey was so great! He tried flirting with a little girl in the waiting room but she rejected him, twice. Sad! He had a great time getting weighed and measured (26.3 lbs and nearly 35 in!) and he had a blast running back and forth on the paper covered table. He was a little shy with the doctor but didn't cry at all until he needed his teeth checked. He has NEVER let me look in his mouth since he was born. A tongue depressor finally worked and then he had a new toy afterward! Dr. Bishop said that Trey was the most mild-mannered 18 month old he'd had in months. A little crying during his shots and then he was happy again.

18 months old!

Into everything!

Likes to be up high

Sometimes when life gets you down you just need a pop tart

Nakey-nake is always cute!

And the Flu Rolled On!

So after a week of recovery for me it was Abby's turn to come down with the yucks. She woke up from her nap last Friday and started throwing up, among other things. It was exactly like my flu so I knew the vomiting and all wouldn't last long. She was pretty mellow about it all and I even got to cuddle a bunch with her. It's not often that I get to just sit and hold one of the kids. She went to bed early, slept all night and has been a weirdo ever since! She's obsessed with throwing up now and keeps saying that she's sick. If she's distracted life is great but as soon as she gets a chance to think about it she starts acting up about being sick. Hopefully she'll get over it soon and be back to her normal cheerful (*cough, cough*) self.

Then last Tuesday Jerry came down with the flu himself. He had to go to school in the morning but it became apparent that he couldn't hold out until for the sub who was coming in the afternoon. His principal took over his PE duties for the last hour of the morning and Jerry came home and slept the rest of the day. He stayed home the next day as well, holed up in our bedroom with his laptop, tv, Blackberry, saltines and water! By Thursday he was feeling well enough to head on back to school.

Thursday night my sinuses decided to empty themselves and the faucet that is my nose hasn't really stopped since. I finally started feeling better once the pressure let up but I have continued to sound like a life-long smoker, complete with cough, ever since. I even woke up to find myself having a super awesome nose bleed about 5 this morning. Lucky me!! I'm really hoping that this is the end of our winter sickness...fingers crossed! I was thinking the other day that it would be fun to live in Australia where Christmas happens during the summer, not too many people are as sick in the summer as they are in the winter. It's hard to feel the Christmas cheer when you just plain don't feel well!

PS. Said illnesses are the major reason my blogging has sucked lately. I was informed Saturday that my last post had been November 29th. Oops!

Abby

We've been trying to get Abby to give up her queen size bed and downgrade to a twin so that she'd have more room to play on her floor. Sears had a sale on Princess bedding and we took Abby to look at it and they had it all on a real display bed so she got to look at it. And that seemed to work because she really wanted it. I think without having been able to see it and touch it and sit on it she wouldn't have been as excited about it. So she and I went back and picked up the comforter, sheet set, bedskirt and an extra pillowcase (which included a trip to B'ham because the comforter wasn't in stock here!). The next day I swapped the kids' beds and put her new Princess stuff on and she is IN LOVE. Sure makes her room look way bigger!


And she is doing a little better on the whole craptastic attitude thing. She finally won her Leapster and a game so she's been busy playing with that. She earned it by staying in her room until a decent hour in the mornings for 35 mornings. Only took her 4 months to get there!

The Flu

So Thanksgiving was great. I had all the dishes done by the time Jerry finished putting Abby to bed. I was perusing the Black Friday ads trying to figure out exactly what I needed to get from where. About 10:30 I started not feeling super great, thought I was just tired. By 11:30 I told Jerry I needed to go to sleep or I was going to die. By 1:30 I hadn't slept a wink and had started throwing up...neat. I made my way downstairs to tell Jerry that there was no way I would be going shopping at 4. Poor guy spent the next few hours listening to me throw up every mildly liquid substance my body could find. Ew. I managed to fall asleep by 6 and moved myself upstairs when Abby woke up so that she wouldn't see me. I spent the next 24, yes 24, hours in bed, mostly sleeping. I have never spent that much time in bed by choice. Thank goodness Jerry had the day off so he was able to take care of the kids. The next day I thought I was feeling slightly better so I got up and took a shower but that completely wiped me out. Jerry has season tickets to the Huskies and Saturday was Apple Cup so he for sure was not going to miss it. He called my mom and she graciously agreed to take the kids until bedtime so that I could rest. Yay! I spent a few hours on the couch, took a long nap in bed, spent a few more hours on the couch, put the kids to bed when my mom brought them and then went to bed myself. I feel slightly more human today. It's just amazing how a little throwing up (okay, a lot!) can wipe out your whole system.

Sadly, tree trimming and other Christmas decorating will have to wait until I feel up to it. But on the upside, Jerry did make it out on Friday morning and got most of the Xmas shopping done for the kids!

Thanksgiving

I hosted Thanksgiving for my family this year. It was great to get all the little kids together since they hadn't played together since July. Food was excellent, company was good and my house got cleaned!

Trey and Easton

Grammy and her girls!

Trey was very hungry

The Girl Table

Taste-testing the pumpkin pie

One of many "smile" attempts

Finally got a decent one