Every year our church does what I call mini-nativity scene recreation. One lucky family is chosen based on the baby born closest to Dec. 1 to be the Holy Family. I thought after missing it by 2 weeks when Zac was born we were in the clear. Apparently not. So this year baby Jesus was a bouncing baby 8 month old with 3 older siblings. (And Eric as a pretty hot looking Joseph! Ow!) We are quite a progressive church. Last year Jesus was twins with 2 moms.
For this occasion Luke got his first hair cut. The mullet had to go!
We also got to celebrate Sara's 11th birthday. If you remember from a previous entry she was in negotiations with her parents for a cell phone. I am thrilled to say she won and has unlimited texting privileges. Yes! We celebrated with all the family at Oma's with another one of her beautiful homemade cake creations.
The Sunday before Christmas Eric and I gifted ourselves with a babysitter and a night out. The wonderful sitter arrived with fresh baked cookies and all the fixings for the kids to decorate while we went out. Wow! However we were punished for this indulgence when we came home to Claire screaming in pain, sick yet again. After a three hour visit to the doctor that involved blood tests, x-rays, and a thorough head to toenail examination we were sent home with yet another round of antibiotics with the hopes of a peaceful Christmas. The next evening we got a phone call from an on call doctor letting us know that a bacteria had shown up in her blood culture but it was yet to be identified and she indeed has mono. Seriously? Great! That explains the 33 visits to the doctor the past month. Fast forward to today, the bacteria was just a contaminant and the mono is over and really not as scary as we thought. But let me publicly apologize to every person Claire has come into contact with in the last month, i.e. the Early Childhood Center.
Our first of 4 Christmas celebrations began on Wednesday the 23rd with Sara. The family all came to our house for a brunch and mini-present opening.
Our second celebration was Christmas morning. Santa was very good to us as always! Zac got the G.I. Joe he asked for, Claire got her ballerina dress and slippers, and Luke got a super cool tricycle he had no idea he wanted! All of us got the Wii. I'll let you know how good that is when I actually get to play it. Butch and RoRo joined us for breakfast. They arrived at 9:00 a.m. and left at 9:33 a.m. - Butch style. ;)
Celebration number 3 was at Oma and Opa's house Christmas night. We ate fabulous food, played with cousins, and had so much fun opening presents yet again!
Our 4th and final celebration was the day after Christmas at Butch and RoRo's for breakfast and the last bit of presents. It was all so exhausting but so fun! I was sad it had to end.
To make me feel better, we got a sitter again. This time we double dated with 2 of our great friends. The whole event was orchestrated by Eric and began here.
Yes. Rock climbing. I was hoping that it would be the hobby I never knew I wanted to take up but I was wrong. Never-the-less it was fun, especially watching Eric. He gets so jazzed about sharing things he loves with friends. I was anxious to get to the great pub he mentioned that was up the street!
The next day we packed up the kids and went up to Big Bear to stay at Oma and Opa's cabin. After sitting in RI-DONK-U-LOUS traffic, we arrived to a beautiful snow filled town. Zac loved it and didn't mind that we didn't have boots for his poor feet. Claire declared she does NOT like snow, walked around in it for about 15 minutes, and wouldn't touch it since she had a band aid on her thumb and could NOT put on gloves. Luke stayed nice and warm in the cabin...which was wise since we had to leave unexpectedly the next day when he spiked a fever of 102.
Thursday we are going to see Disney on Ice with RoRo (her Christmas present) and January 14th Luke gets to visit the ENT Doctor. The fun never ends around here!
Despite the stress of all the sickness we have endured the last month, Eric and I feel so lucky and thankful for every person in our lives and every minute we get to spend with them. Thanks to all for a Merry Christmas and here's to a Happy New Year!
