The Rest of Christmas

The rest of our Christmas week was much less eventful.  We had no problems with our flight to Boston.  We avoided the flu that plagued many of our Ohio friends.  And while the rainy weather was not conducive to skiing, it made travel much easier than if it had been snow.

some of the jammies that Gramme made

he wore his new mittens around the house

table tennis

a collection of Elsas

making Jesus' birthday cake

Adventures in Parenting

Last Sunday we did our typical routine: church, lunch, then rest time.  After rest time, Scott let the kids watch some tv while I was finishing up presents in the basement.  Then Micah called down the stairs, "Mommy!  Daddy needs you!"  I came upstairs to find a little girl looking like this:

Scary, right?!  We immediately gave her some over-the-counter allergy meds and called the pediatrician's nurse hotline.  Unfortunately, after being on hold for over fifteen minutes when I finally reached the nurse, the call dropped.  The medicine didn't seem to be helping, and she was getting hives on her chest, so Scott took her to the ER.  (For those of you keeping track of our family ER visits, the score is Hannah: 3, boys: 0.)  By this point, we had figured out the only unusual thing she had eaten that day was a cookie from a neighbor.  While the doctors at our wonderful children's hospital took care of Hannah, I stopped by the neighbor's and found out the cookies contained pecans and walnuts.  The hives were gone within a few hours, and the puffiness went down over the next few days.  We now have a prescription for an EpiPen and have taught Hannah to ask before she eats anything that might have nuts. 

Our second adventure was on our way home from Christmas.  Our flight was supposed to leave at 6:45pm.  That got us home past their normal bedtime, but not too bad.  Minutes after we checked our bags at the airport, we learned that the flight was now delayed 3 hours.  We wouldn't even be leaving until almost 10:00!

Let me tell you, these kids were fan-tastic.  They walked around, got some dinner, watched a movie, ate doughnuts, played tag, and generally just had good attitudes.  

watching a movie on Scott's tablet

Smush slept on me during the flight.  The other kids snuggled and played games with Daddy.  By the time we got our baggage, the boys looked like zombies, and Hannah was curled up in the fetal position next to the stroller.  But we made it!  And it was still better than driving. :)

More stuff

Matthew seems to have mostly gotten through his biting phase.  He still has the occasional lapse, like when he's teething or if he gets too ferocious while wrestling.  But now that he has mostly stopped, he and Micah have become a lot closer.  They like to run and be crazy boys, but they also hug and cuddle.  The other day they were playing together, and Micah was laughing uncontrollably.  I'm still not entirely sure what Matthew was doing to him, but I caught the end of it:

Micah was in a Christmas pageant at school.  He rocked the role of Shepherd #3.

Hannah's snowman

Although there isn't any snow outside right now, Hannah and Jackson have been playing with an indoor version I found on pinterest: cornstarch and shaving cream.

Doing Christmas stuff

Haircut

Matthew had his first haircut.  That weird little mullet/curl on the back of his head had to go.

before

after

He loves baths!

He also loves to wear his sister's hats more than his own.  It's funny at home, but I try to avoid it in public.

Thanksgiving

Nana and Grandpapa came out a day early for Thanksgiving so that they could attend Hannah's Thanksgiving "feast" at preschool.  She was so pleased they were coming just for her that she didn't want Mommy and Daddy to come!

  I took advantage of my in-home child care on Wednesday morning to go to the chiropractor, go to Walmart, take Smush to the doctor (ear infections), drop off some clothes, and pick up some skis. It's amazing how much faster I can move when there are no car seats involved.

 Uncle Jack, Aunt Julie, Caroline, and Anna arrived at lunchtime on Wednesday.  Besides the normal fun of having cousins and extra grown-ups to play with, we also had the additional fun of swimming!  Nana and Papa stayed at the hotel in Brimfield with a small water park.  It was great to have a place to burn off extra energy!  

We also used some energy to run a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning.  It was cold and snowy and a lot of fun!  Micah ran the mile by himself (it looped around parking lots and driveways, so we could see him the whole time) and.....he won!  Ha!  Never in a million years did I think that Micah would ever win a race, but he was the first finisher at just under ten minutes.  (Yep, the competition is fierce here in Brimfield.)  But he wasn't the only one with a big accomplishment.  Hannah ran the whole thing, too!  Her first time ever running a mile, and she did it without stopping!  (She and Caroline finished together in about twelve minutes.)

the cousins in their matching jammies

This girl.  Oh my word.  That little Anna is pretty much the cutest, most hilarious thing ever.  I could watch and listen to her all day.  She could be prescribed as an anti-depressant.  In fact, I wish you could bottle her so I could keep her with me all the time.  She's cute, people.  Real cute.

What's on the camera?

 I didn't think I had anything to post from the past week, but there were actually a few gems on the camera!
Matthew's love-hate relationship with the Roomba continues:

Prior to the video, he had accidentally (I think) turned it on and got upset when I turned it off.  I told him he could turn it back on, and he did.  I guess he just didn't have the nerve to do it a third time. :)

Micah and Hannah were playing in the front yard.  Matthew excitedly watched them from his stool by the window.

Matthew recently found a new favorite spot to read books.

This afternoon the kids and I made a treat for Micah's school party tomorrow.  We had a lot of fun, and I was surprised by how much of it they could do by themselves.

(It's a turkey, if you can't tell.)

And two from Scott's phone:

daddy-daughter date at mcd's

Micah being a goofball.