We had a great holiday week. It was a whirlwind and tiring, but I wouldn't change a moment of it. My brother and his wife were able to come from Tennesee, and we were all so happy to see them and spend time with them. We spent Tuesday and Christmas Eve with them.

PJ and Jackie giving Corrine loves.

Corrine hadn't seen Jackie since this summer, but she took to her wonderfully. Look at that smile!

We all watched a movie that night. The girls love their Uncle Paul and Aunt Jackie; they maul Jackie. She must get "touched out" when she is here. We joke about the heirarchy the girls have created; if Grandma is here, she is the special one, but if Uncle Paul is here, then it is him. However, if Jackie is here, she trumps everyone.

We played a game that night, and drank wassail, yummy! We also ate way too many sweets.


The next day, Christmas Eve, the girls went sledding. Grandma got them new sleds, and they had lots of fun. These are from Jason's camera, because I stayed home with the baby to finish some projects up. (The nice quiet house was just too much to resist!)

I was told Payden took quiet a spill on her sled!

Ava had fun in a sled just perfect for her.

Michaela falling off hers!

Then they all came home and we made cookies for Santa. This is a yearly tradition on Christmas Eve.

We always end up with way too many cookies, but it is fun. The girls get to decorate three cookies as elaborately as they choose; two for Santa, and one for themselves!

After we got cleaned up from cookies(you will notice a theme; I was constantly cooking and cleaning up to get ready to cook more!) we made dinner. My mom suggested a Mexican theme, so we had two kinds of enchiladas, tacos, and chips, salsa and quacamole. The enchiladas were so good. We accidently left the leftovers sitting on the counter, and I was soooo bummed we wouldn't get to eat them again!

A Mexican dinner feast!

Ava had to sprinkle her reindeer food in the snow ,and the girls put out their cookies for Santa.

I will spare you all the pictures of us opening presents, but we did that with my mom and PJ and Jackie on Christmas Eve. Each Christmas, I make matching pajamas for my girls that they get to open Christmas Eve. This was this years:

And my brother sang a moving rendition of a holiday favorite, complete with choreography.Too bad we didn't get a video, but trust me, it was stellar.

My mom spent the night with us, and in the morning we opened up all our presents. I made the girls new robes this year, this is Ava sporting hers.

This is out of order, but Christmas night the girls got to sleep in the tents Santa left for them.

Christmas night, we had Jason's family over for dinner. My mother in law, Marlene, got me American Idol for the wii. More on that in another post.

Are you noticing a theme here? Cooking and eating, cooking and eating..........

We had Jason's mom and his two brothers, David and Brian over. David brought his son, Caden, and Brian brought his new wife, Heather and her daugther, Tausha. We had a nice dinner and of course opened presents, again.

Then on Friday, we had my dad and PJ and Jackie over for breakfast and to open yet again more presents. In keeping with the theme, I cooked and we ate!

Then it was time to say goodbye to PJ and Jackie for a while. It is always so hard to say goodbye when you know how far away someone is going. One last smooch for the baby, and off they went.

Like I said, it was crazy busy but fun. In the effort to not make this post too long :), I even left out parts. I am tired, but content and happy. I love spending so much time with our family in so few days. Now I have to clean the house, so nobody come over for at least a few days!

Merry Christmas!!

Taleneted Girls

Michaela and Payden had their piano recital on Frinday, and both did beautifully. It was held at the piano gallery, a piano store here in town, and they got to play on a gorgeous black grand piano! It was a treat for them and they looked so pretty sitting in front of it. Each child played Christmas music.

Beverly, their piano teacher, gave them a choice to play one or two songs. I'll let you guess which of my girls chose one, and which chose to play two! (Hint: Payden loves to play in front of people, Michaela doesn't.)

Payden played the first one from the book, and had the second one memorized. It was so cute; when she got ready to play the second, she closed her book, got a cute little smile on her face and started to play. You could tell she was excited to play that one. We have heard these songs over and over, especially Payden's(she is always playing the piano) but it was still so much fun to see them perform.

Michaela played just one song, but did it well. She enjoyed playing on this piano, and said it was so easy to play. I love that they are learning to play the piano. I hope they use it for the rest of their lives.

6 months old!

Happy 6 month birthday, Corrine! I can't believe she is already 6 months old. We have a joke in our house, we say "noboby loves Corrine" because it is so far from the truth. She is constantly getting kisses, hugs, pats and being talked to and loved on. Maybe that is why she is such a happy baby! We are so glad we got to have her as part of our family; she is a perfect addition.

Peek closely, you can see her two bottom teeth coming it!

Happy baby

Silly Baby!

Ok, another happy baby.

I had to put this one in, we see her like this often enough that I should save it for posterity!

A case of Croup

Corrine came down with croup this week. I knew what it was only from hearing from other parents what it is like. I have never had a kid with croup before this, and I must say it is terrifying. We tried to put her down on Thursday night, and she started coughing this horrible sounding cough. She had done it a little the night before, but nothing like this. She couldn't go to sleep and seemed to have trouble breathing. I got on the computer, did some research, and diagnosed her with croup. I called our pediatrician at 11:00pm to ask him what I should do. I spent all night up with her, taking her outside to breath the cold air to reduce swelling of her throat. I mean literally all night, I don't think I slept at all. Her little lungs sucked in with every breath and she was wheezing. I was worried, but her doctor to me to count her breaths, if she got to 60 a minute to call him back or take her to the emergency room. I spent all night counting her breaths, and she only got up to about 43. I can't imagine what 60 looks like. It was so sad, seeing her work to breath like that. The next day, she went in for a dose of steroids to help with the next night. (croup is only bad at night, when your bodies natural level of steroids goes down, allowing for the swelling of the throat). She did much better the second night. I am so grateful we live in modern times with doctors and medicenes. I know this infection can be very dangerous in young infants like Corrine, and I am so very grateful hers wasn't that bad. I felt blessed to have her before, and this experience has only increased my gratitude to be her mother.

I feel a little guilty.......

Every day, the baby takes a nap (if I'm lucky) and Ava has quiet time. For two hours, she can nap if she is tired, or just play quietly in her room. No noisy toys or talking is allowed, this is quiet time! I have done this with all my kids, and I think it is very beneficial. Kids need some time to just be quiet and be alone, and entertain themselves. This is also a great time for me to have some alone time, lately I spend it napping as well. On this paticular day, Ava was in her room for one hour longer than usual. The night before I had been up all night with Corrine who had croup. I left a note for the girls when they came home from school that if we were still sleeping, to be quiet and let us sleep. I had put out a snack for them, and they were quiet. I woke up at four, and went in to tell Ava she could get up. This is what I found:

She told me she was "watching Madagascar" on her magnadoodle. She was holding it up and pretending it was a tv. A little too much time alone that day?

Scuba Diving

Michaela's class had a field trip last week to a local scuba diving school. When I first heard about this, I couldn't quite believe they would let little fifth graders do this, but they did and it was fun! When they first got there, the instructor gave them a crash course in air pressure and what happens to your lungs under water, telling them very clearly that they were not to hold their breath at any time or else they could pop like the balloon he had drawn on the board to illustrate the concept. The kids were scared, and the moms were terrified, but we continued anyway. These fifth graders were so nervous, some of them even shaking. The instructor had also told them that the big fish in the tank would attack them if they were touched or bothered. I am not sure if this is true, but it certainly worked in getting the kids to leave the fish alone. They were so scared of the fish that if one came remotely near them, they swam the other way!

This is the group Michaela was with. They divided the class into three groups.

Michaela waiting to get into the water, and seeing the fish for the first time. She was a little nervous.

They used the same gear for each group, meaning that Michaela's second group had to use the masks and mouthpieces that the first group had just used, and they didn't clean them in between. I don't know why, gross. Michaela was really grossed out by this....she said "Mom, that is nasty! I don't want to use what was in someone elses mouth!" I can't say that I blame her, but I asked her if she was going to miss this opportunity due to being a germaphobe (like her mom) and she said no.

She put on the mask, and used the mouthpiece, and I think she was so nervous she didn't think much about it after that.

This is after she has all her gear on, doesn't she look so sweet?

This is where they were having them practice breathing.



After they practiced going under water and taking breaths, the instructor took them one by one to the end of the pool and back. I was so proud of Michaela. There were other kids who were so afraid that they wouldn't do it, but Michaela was one of the first to volunteer to go. I know I couldn't do it, I get claustrophobic when I try to snorkel! But Michaela was really brave. I don't know if this is the best picture of the fish, but some of them were over three feet long and very big.

Here she is coming back.

This is when he let them swim around on there own, Michaela is on the right.



All done, and somewhat relieved. She did a great job. I was so grateful to be able to experience this with her, and she was glad to have me there. Before she went in the water, she clung to me and wanted to hold my hand. Then after the dive, she said thanks for coming mom. That made me feel wonderful. After she changed, she couldn't find a sock, so I took off my socks and let her have them. I also gave her my jacket, since for some reason she left her coat at school, and she would be leaving with wet hair. So I left cold and sockless, but happy for the chance to have been there. After they left the diving school, they went to see a movie. A great field trip, and one I'm sure Michaela will remember for a lifetime.