Infirmary on Wheels...

Our Christmas trip to Oregon was more like an infirmary than a vacation!  Fortunately it all seems to be behind us now....

Here's the girls all dressed up for the Christmas Eve service.  The girls were the only ones with full energy at this point, as Mike and I were up most of the previous night/morning caring for Josh and taking him to the ER. He was so dehydrated from all the puking he did (yes, he counted 21 in all, and proudly, a new family record) that he needed three liters of IV's!

I was organized enough to remember to pack the stockings for Christmas morning, but in the rush of things, Santa left the innards in bags at home. So for the time being, Josh, Kaia and Jaelyn only had toothbrushes, toothpaste, and floss in their stockings (Due to work, Kellen was back home and had a full stocking to open at midnight, when he got off work). We exchanged gifts, and as usual, the dollar store gifts the girls bought us were some of the most fun to open!

Jaelyn bought Mike nuts & bolts

WSU gnomes girls got Josh

Christmas day was spent at one of Mike's brother's houses.  We had a wonderful meal, good company, and some great group shots...

Always the silly boys...

Mame and six of her ten grandchildren.

Group shot...

You can dress them up, but sooner or later the true colors come out...

This last photo was taken about 10 short minutes before jaelyn threw up all over the floor, on this very spot!  Fortunately she didn't have it nearly as bad as Josh, but he didn't perform in front of quite the audience that she did! Thankfully she was well enough the next morning so that we could go visit Mike's grandmother. We hadn't seen her in two years, and since she is 99 now, we would have been very disappointed if we would not have been able to visit her.

We then took our infirmary north to more family. This time none of us were sick, but others were. But before that, we celebrated Kaia's 10th Gotcha Day with friends and family...

Finally, together to celebrate Christmas! Thanks Santa Kellen for finally bringing the stocking stuffers!

Papa's dollar store present!

Grandma's dollar store find, and Jaelyn's new alpaca.

Grandma and Papa and their grandkids!

Christmas was nice, but we were thankful we planned time to spend at home for selah before having to head back to work. Well maybe it wasn't all restful when we got home, but more on that later...

Cookies Galore, and More!

This week has been incredibly busy, with the school play Thursday night, and the Charlie Brown church play tonight, with rehearsals, gymnastics and preparing for the holiday inbetween! Thank goodness today ended up being a snow day, as it gave us a little more time to get a few other things done.

Josh and Rebecca prepared cookies yesterday, and today, after the snow turned to rain and the girls got bored, they decorated them.  I was impressed with some of the decorating that was done.  I think Josh has watched Cupcake Wars one too many times!

This one's arm broke off before decorating it, but in our house, she's perfect! Jaelyn asked if this was her. Love her humor!

Josh's lederhosen boy!

Simple and dainty, like Rebecca!

Yep, a polar bear that rolled in something red!

Another one of Josh's creations.

Who doesn't make dolphin sugar cookies at Christmas? Apparently Kaia does!

Jaelyn's creation.

The cookie supply was quickly depleted after tonight's play.  Fortunately with our busy Fall schedule of school and two sports, neither girl wanted to try out for speaking parts for either play.  Both were content to be in the choir. However, Kaia did find one part in the school play that suited her well...

Kaia's Christmas Recital

Here is video from Kaia's recital last weekend. The young boy at the ending did not cooperate, so it messed up the ending they had planned. Oh well, it is fun to see how far Kaia has come in a year.  Now that soccer is over, it's gymnastics competitions come January...

Beauty and the Beast...

So this past week was Santa Paws picture time for Cocoa and the girls. Looking back at last year's photo, they have all grown so much! What a beautiful group of girls!

Now here's the reason why you don't see Romeo in the photo...

Poor boy has an ear infection, and one of his eyelids needs to heal before he can begin cortisone for a lesion on his eye. So for the second year in a row, it's a girls only photo!

Seriously, Soccer?

Like the majority of the United States right now, we are having unusually cold temperatures. So guess how Jaelyn and I spent last Saturday, the coldest day of all we have had so far?  Yep. Her final soccer game. Seriously!

Actually, there was no wind and the sun was shining, so as long as we stayed out of the shade, and I had several layers of clothes on, and a hat, and wool socks, and gloves, with hand warmers, drinking my Starbucks gingerbread latte, then I wasn't too cold! The photos weren't great, as Jaelyn really didn't get many opportunities with the ball (we mostly played defense),  but I did get one of her right after her team scored their only goal, briefly taking the lead.

Jaelyn focused on the next play while her team jumps for joy!

Snacks after the game are still the best!

So for now, soccer is over. That is, until February!

What's Wrong with this Picture???

Notice anything wrong with this picture? Who knew unloading the dishwasher could be so dangerous? Guess I have a valid excuse not to do it anymore (actually it already is the kids' chore, just not this time). 

So when I took it into the jewelers they disdainfully asked me "You mean you have never had the prongs replaced in 25 years?" Gulp! No one mentioned that to me when I got engaged at 21!  The lady then proceeded to tell me they should be replaced every 10-12 years.  Let's just say between replacing the tips, prongs, and repairing the worn down edge holding in four of the channel set diamonds (that they told me I would lose if I didn't get fixed soon), I will have no wrapped gifts under the tree! In the meantime, I am sporting Grandma's wedding ring on my left hand, as I feel naked without something there! Should be getting it back in a week and a half, then hopefully I get to wear it another 25 years (with a couple check ups in between)!

Old is New Again...

Two years ago I posted about a new tradition to start off our Christmas Season. Well I am happy to say that our old tradition is back again, so does that mean it is a new tradition, or an old one? 

Last month we were excited to learn the tree farm where we cut down our tree for many years, was being re-opened by the new owners.

The girls made a bee-line for the horse. Randolph the reindeer was replaced by "Princess," the rescued pony.

Always my out-of-the-box kid, we did not go with Kellen's first choice!

That's more like it!

Brrrr....

We were happy to see that they hired the same Santa from all our past photos.

Such a colorful photo!

Unfortunately Joshua had to head back to school Friday morning, as his ride had to work Saturday. He was very much missed in the family activities. Every year my kids receive a new ornament from Grandparents and us, so that when they leave the nest some day, they will have quite a start with their own decorations. So when Josh comes home in a couple weeks, he will have two to add to the tree. Here is the finished project...

Just for kids corner.

Now if the wind can stop blowing long enough to get the outside lights up!