Christmas Eve

Part 1

Making the our traditional family Christmas Eve Dinner.  Teriyaki Flank Steak, Butter-horn Rolls, Sauteed Mushrooms, Sauteed Vegetables

Finally Finishing Decorating the Tree.  The boys and I had been sick since Thanksgiving with influenza, then gastroenteritis, followed by a cold virus, sinus infections, and another bought of influenza.  We were worn out.  I was also busy putting together our Church's Christmas Music Program.  Half our lights on our Christmas tree burt out in the process of everything  going on and by the time I went to find replacements lights they were all sold out.  So I went to 15 stores and they were all sold out, except for the LED lights which were soooooo ugly and cost an arm and a leg), luckily a friend let me borrow some of hers.

Finally, we were ready for Christmas a few days before.

Nate also started Preschool the week before Christmas.  He gets to ride the bus, just like Josh and LOVES it!  The first day, when I got him off the bus, Nate's first words were, "Mommy, I love school!!!  I want to go again!  I rode the bus!  It was so fun!  We painted!  Can I go again!.....  "  He then went on and on about what he did and kept telling me how much he loved school and wanted to go back.

He was too cute!  I'm sad to see him go.  He's my baby and seems way too young to be a preschooler.   Dad was post-call and arrived home just as the bus was coming.  John was so happy to be there to see Nate off on his first day. 

Josh putting the finishing touches on the tree.

Finally dinner!  Just for our family to remember.  This is me trying to get the boys to eat vegetables first before I bring out the meat and rolls.  Nate's always been really great at eating his veggies, and in the last year Josh now requests vegetables for breakfast (this has been a huge milestone for Josh, he has become such a healthy eater).  Josh's favorite vegetables are any color of bells peppers and broccoli.  Almost everyday, Josh comes home from school telling me that their snacks are so unhealthy and how upsetting it is to him.  I didn't know a five year old could be so health conscious.  I'm grateful he is becoming so healthy.  His health is finally starting to improve after all these years.

Nate's Birthday!

Nate's 3rd Birthday

December 23rd, 2011

AM: Nate woke up looking like a different kid.  Josh randomly thought it would be funny to name him "William" since he didn't look like Nate. Nate's head, neck, and face were extremely swollen and he was in so much pain and was really emotional. 

Paged his doctor who never called back that day.  URRRR. Called John, who was out playing basketball with Josh, and told him we needed to take Nate to the ER.  We knew that Nate either had a subcutaneous bleed under his scalp or an infection or both.  John said he'd watch it.  I was uneasy about this even though John is an expert in this arena.  I kept telling myself, no one wants to go to the ER unless they HAVE too, especially on your child's birthday.  I told John that it would be worse to go to the ER on Christmas day and Nate get hospitalized for Cellulitis, which was the direction he was headed for as far as I understood.  As a pediatrics nurse, I had a patient who nearly died from Cellulitis and Nate was beginning to look alot like her.  Also, John's little sister was hospitalized on Christmas Day when she was 8 years old with Cellulitis and nearly died.  I really didn't not want to just wait around and watch him get worse.

Josh decided he should wear a head dressing too.  It was so funny and Nate laughed so hard. Josh's example helped Nate decide that it was fine to keep his on.

His 3 year old Birthday Pictures, don't look quite like Nate, but we won't forget that day.  I just think he is so amazing that he can still smile even when he is so sick and in so much pain.

I decided to relax and let try to let John do the worrying and we attempted to do something fun for his birthday.  We headed to Panera Bread for a birthday dinner with plans to come home and eat cake and open presents.  Just before we got our food, (don't read anymore if you cannot handle medical stuff) let's just say that part of Nate's head exploded a ton of puss and he was screaming.  

Off to the ER we went.

3 or so hours later an IM shot of antibiotics.

5 or so hours later at 11:30pm home with kids begging for cake that had not been frosted and birthday presents that had not been wrapped.  Kids straight off to bed with promise of birthday party the next day.

Me, just glad that Nate could be home with us for the holidays.

At the end of the night, I asked Nate how his birthday was.  His reply was simply, "Bad."  This kid definitely knows how to tell the truth.  Hopefully, we can make it up to him in January.

***If you really want to know how Nate got his head infection, just go into your kitchen, make dinner, while your husband is working and have your kids set the table.  They might decide it would be funny to chase each other while holding forks in their hands.... Basically, Nate was stabbed in the head with a clean fork thanks to his big brother, Josh.

CHRISTMAS CARDS

I'm trying to gather addresses for Christmas Cards.  Please send me updated addresses to maries77@hotmail.com.

Stationery card

Our Family Name Christmas Card

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Halloween 2011

I'm back to blogging finally.  We've had a crazy, wonderful, difficult, busy, fun several months with not very much time to spare.  Hopefully, I can catch up on posts.  I have posts of major events clear back to March that I need to post.  Does anyone else feel like life is flying by way to fast that it's near impossible to catch up or stay caught up with life?  Now back to the blog.

Halloween ZooBoo

On our way in the car to ZooBoo.  The boys were so excited and so adorable in their costumes!!!  Halloween gets better every year as the boys grow and understand more.  There is nothing better than a mother seeing her kids so happy!

Nate always has the cutest expressions.  I cannot help posting all these pictures.  He has so much personality!  I never want to forget his sweetness and his love for life.  

Josh was so excited to be a Zebra.  He wore the costume everyday and raced around the house for almost 2 months.  A couple weeks before Halloween a friend thought it was so cute that he raced around the house practicing to be the "fastest zebra."  She asked him if he had seen the movie "Stripes," which he hadn't.  The following Sunday at church she gave him the movie to borrow.  He loved it and he became even more determined to be "the fasted zebra."  The next couple of weeks he was more specific about his costume.  He wasn't only a Zebra, he was "Stripes."

This was the first time the bats were actually awake, which is perfect for Halloween.  The wing span of these bats was almost 3 feet.

The boys loved the Tiger.  The tiger got right up to Nate over 30 times, at least.  At first Nate was a little surprised as the tiger got right into his face with only a few inches between them (mostly the glass).  It seemed if at first he didn't realize there was glass between them and he wasn't so sure what to do with this large cat.  Within a second he was laughing and completely fascinated with the tiger.  We watched the tigers for about an hour. 

The boys loved the penguins as well.  We've never spent that much time at the penguins.  We watched them for an hour as the penguins swam, jumped in and out of the water, fell on accident into the water, and laughed as the waddled around.

The boys also loved petting the Dog Sharks, which is always their favorite thing to do at the Zoo.