Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas to all. We have run ragged today, and we're still going. One day I would like to wake up and stay in my new Christmas jammies ALL DAY. That probably won't happen until I have an empty nest...or all my kids are teenagers. I figured for Christmas I would post a grateful list. It matches the season.

1. Family...can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.
1. Friends...new and old are such a blessing.
1. Duplicates of gifts...because people care enough to give what is wanted rather than "fluffing."
1. Heat...I'm constantly cold. Is it just me?
1. A white Christmas
1. Anticipation of my sister's arrival tomorrow with her family.
1. My parent's living in the same house I grew up in...memories of every Christmas I've ever had there.
1. Sharing Christmas cheer with strangers.
1. My clothes getting baggy on me.
1. A deeper relationship with God.

Have a wonderful Christmas and God Bless us every one.

The Lone Logan

Logan is 3rd in the sibling line. He is the lone boy. Here are some things that happen when you are the only boy in a sibling group.

1. You are ALWAYS the Ken doll when playing Barbies.
2. You are the male character in every play, show, act, song, dance, etc.
3. You get blamed for whatever rough housing ensues from said play, show, act, song, dance, etc.
4. Dignity leaves you until you are about 10 or so.
5. You must succumb to your sisters wishes simply because you are outnumbered.

Logan learned this last one yesterday, but quite frankly (sorry Kevin), I don't think he minded.

And the list goes on...

Back To School

It's a big day today for Kaelyn. She went to school for the first time in two weeks. She said she got really tired and unfocused around noon. She didn't eat anything for lunch either, so who knows if it's the mono or the lack of food. She's sleeping right now as she has been since she got home. Interims went out today and she has all D's and F's apparently until the teachers get her assignments graded. I'm not worried about it. I know she's a good student. I just hope she gets everything they assigned while she was out done.

In other news, I have a completely different cold or illness than last week now. Yay! This one has a cough and runny nose. Rory has the same thing, and Kevin didn't eat dinner because he wasn't hungry. That normally means he's getting something. I'll keep you POSTED. Get it? This is a blog post? I'll keep you posted! That was a good one.

I know I promised you a picture of Kaelyn, but trust me when I say you wouldn't want one from today. The girl is sick, and she's wearing black eye liner. So she's pasty pale and black around the eyes. Just thank me and get it over with. :)

Guess what?!?! Tomorrow is Wednesday and WE DON'T HAVE SCHOOL! I'm so excited! I'm planning on getting my January lessons all done over the break, so I don't have to work on them. Maybe I'll get February done too. I'll probably post in the beginning of January referencing this blog and saying how I didn't get any of it done. I'm going to try. Until then, over and out. Later gator. Bon Voyage!

Sick Update

Well, we thought Kaelyn was on the mend, but that might be disputed. She doesn't look too well today, and it has NOTHING to do with her hair. :)

Logan is up and running full swing again. We took the opportunity of him being sick to get rid of his soother. Last night, he put it in a paper bag and wrote, "To the soother fairy. From Logan." Well, I wrote most of it, but he wrote his name. Then we left it on the doorstep. This morning we found a toy in his backpack in exchange for his soother. We figured she didn't want it getting wet on the doorstep. Regardless Logan is now soother free!

Rory isn't feeling very well, but well enough to get herself in trouble. My hip is still hurting, but it's better than I was expecting. Kevin and Marley are still ok (knock on wood).

This is post three with no pictures. I don't even have a picture of Kaelyn's hair to put on the blog. Sorry...I'll try to get one tomorrow night.

Sickie Update

Kaelyn's mono is chugging along. She ate two meals yesterday, so there's some hope to her improvement and school on Monday.

Logan spiked a temp of 104 yesterday afternoon and then again at about 145AM! We sat with him trying to put a cold washcloth on him (which he hated) until it went down at about 215a. He's up now and his temp is on the rise again.

I am still battling a sore throat, and my head is hurting. My new symptom is my nose running now. Nothing I can't handle.

Marley has a runny nose...I think. It could be because she won't stop crying...about everything. Girls!

Our newcomer to the group is Rory. Let's all welcome her. She is currently fighting a runny nose, sore throat, and her temp is at 100 so far.

Kaelyn and Logan have doc appts. today. Logan's throat is full of yummy white spots, so it's either strep (which is what we're thinking) or mono from Kaelyn.

All this in time for next week's Christmas concerts. Yay!

Apologies

I hate apologies...probably because I'm always giving them. So here's one to you all. I'm sorry I can't blog every day anymore. I'm trying. One day I just completely forgot and didn't remember until the next morning that I hadn't blogged. I'm that scattered right now.

At Church on Sunday, the priest talked about finding peace during this season. That it wasn't about what to get whom, or decorating you house, or your tree; this season is about preparing yourself for Christ. It's about decorating your soul and wondering what you are going to do to your spiritual self to give to HIM...not others.

I'm trying to focus on this. I'm getting a bit better, but in all my "finding peace for myself" I tried to turn that into giving this season. So now I'm running around trying to get all the things that I have volunteered to give to these people to bring peace to myself. It's a never-ending cycle that I do to myself EVERY holiday. I came into this year knowing that I'm like that, and I still did it to myself...and now I'm sick.

Anyway, I'm sorry that this blog is falling behind. Please forgive me...and remember, you should be busy too...finding peace for yourself...for HIM.

Some Happenings

Well, I'm behind in my blogging since I skipped a week. There might be some interruptions here and there soon too because of the holidays. Just know that I'll be back and keep checking. Now, on to the festivities.

We decorated the tree this weekend.
Mary and Joseph are on their journey around the house on the way to the stable.

In other news, I got my haircut.

curly...

straight. I tend to like straight better.

This is Rory in her new winter coat holding the castle made out of rice krispie treats that she did in school.

Ok, I think you're caught up now for the most part.

Happy Birthday Papa!!!!!!!!!

So...today was Papa's birthday and like an AWFUL daughter-in-law/blogger, I didn't do a birthday blog for him. He's one of my only commenters. I'm sorry Papa. Here is your blog.

Things you may not know about Papa.

-He has a screen saver full of pictures of one particular person that is shown during that person's birthday month. His screen saver with pictures of him is filled with at least 10 pictures of my kids on his lap sitting at the computer. (side note: check out how many prepositions are in that last sentence!)

-He tries to keep everyone's best interests at heart.

-He wears only all white shoes...or used to. (HA!)

-His new favorite toy is Nana's Ipod.

-His middle name is the same as mine.

-He once had a plane roll over his foot.

-We can read him like a book even though he tries to hide what he's feeling.

-The word "bye" is NOT in his vocabulary.

-His favorite pie is pecan.

-His son was NO help at all with this blog.

-Papa is kind, loving, gentle, caring, doting, witty, intelligent, and wise. Think of a teddy bear. :)

Thank you Papa for putting up with the myriad of stuff we put you through. Most of all thank you for loaning us your wife on any given occasion and opening your home to us OFTEN. We really appreciate it!

Why Are My Kids So Weird?

Case and point.
So only one of these is mine, but the rest are her friends, and they all wanted a picture with the cow. Weird.
Do you see a theme here with Kaelyn?
That's just from this month and probably not all of them. Stay tuned though, December should bring some good ones.