A Very Viral Christmas

Saturday morning started with Daisy having a fever.

She missed the fun of packing.

She rallied enough by evening to open some prezzies.

She was looking better and got a good nights rest.

And then we were off to Grandma and Grandpa's!

 When the kids finally woke up, it didn't take long to realize that Daisy in fact did not sleep it off.  She just sat there with that pathetic look you can see there, moaning.

At this point we were about 200 miles down the road.  It was Kansas or bust.

We went directly to celebrate Christmas with Granny and lots of that family.  It was great to see everyone.  Not sure how many of those peeps are now sick…

The next several days Daisy felt better, then bad again.  We went to see Grandma E, and I was smart enough to have her stay home for that visit.

Grandpa and Crystal took the kids sledding a couple times.    Daisy, Eli, Nathan and Alex went first.  They had a great time, but it was frigid out there and the windchill was probably in the teens.

Not that Grandpa and Crystal were bothered by windchill.

Time out for some hot cocoa.  On second thought, that may be all the walking in a winder wonderland that Daisy can handle.

Round 2 with Zeke, Nathan and Alex.  Poor little Nick was too sick to go at all.

Boys will be boys.

By Christmas Eve Daisy, Zeke, and Nick had all been feeling bad. But we Christmased on with horsey rides

 until horsey got tuckered out,

games and crafts,

 pictures,

lots of food and presents,

and an abundance of love.

Christmas morning the kids were excited that Santa found them.

But then people started not feeling well again, including Daisy, Abe, and Dad.

The drive home took it out of everyone.  

From the bottom of my heart, I'm sorry to everyone who we left in our wake of sickness.  Besides for being ill and making everyone else ill, we had a great Christmas!

Tis The Season To Be Jolly

Oh we've been jolly all up in here.

Eli was eager to see and talk to Santa; taking his picture, not so much.

When I say I had help decorating the tree, for the first time since having children I do not have to use air quotes as I say it.

There's so much enthusiasm when digging the stuff out.

Someone with OCD tendencies would not be able to leave the ornaments where they may lie.  I think it's cute the way so many of them get put in the exact same place.

Hung by the chimney with care.

We're jolly both inside and outside the house.

Zekers and Daisy sang wonderfully in the Cantata at church.

And check out the new tree for my front porch.  One man's trash is another man's treasure.  Just sayin'.

Ho Ho's, Twinkies and SciFi

Eli understands what Christmas is this year.  We're working on the part that Jesus was the best gift of all and that's why we give gifts to each other.  He knows about Christmas trees and gifts and Santa.  He puts on the Santa hat and walks around the house saying, "Ho Ho Ho."

Daisy saw my outfit after school one day and exclaimed that she should have worn her belt that matched.  She quickly ran to put it on.  I love that she's my little Dinky Twinky.  

Zeke is really starting to enjoy his SciFi books.  He likes them 'because you never know what's going to happen.'  For RIF he got to pick a book from the 4th/5th grade table and he was pretty excited about that.  It was a ghost book.  He enjoyed it so much he couldn't put it down.  I love it!  He makes the teacher in me proud.

The Trifecta of Teeth

Zekers had 3 empty spaces where his new teeth are going to be grown in for a couple months now.  

Not only did he lose 1 more tooth

or 2 more teeth, 

but 3 new teeth in as many days.

Yep, that's 6 empty spots where there will one day be new teeth.  Grow teeth, grow!