Christmas 2012

Christmas Eve was time for opening jammies.

First picture had to be a Steve Urkel moment.

 Christmas morning, the children had fun seeing what was in their stockings.

Anthony loved his little cars that go on the garage he has. 

 Everyone got a box of hot chocolate. hmmm.

Anthony had a very wet diaper so we changed it, and he ran around for a little bit without clothes on.

He was trying to hold all his play-doh containers at once.

 Before going to church...yes, we changed before heading out.

It was so nice, peaceful, and spiritual to have church on Christmas day.

 Kelly's gift for Andy and me.

 Not a great picture, but the best I could get of Anthony in his new church clothes.

Back from church, delivering goodies, and some of us changing clothes.

Let the unwrapping commence!

Anthony received lots of Cars and Toy Story things.

He loved them all.

He was not in a hurry to unwrap the next present before studying each one first.

 ...and showing them to someone first.  :)

(Check out the tippy-toe action)

Lilly and her sand-art kit.

 Maggie and the velvet art kit Daniel got her.

Josh with his favorite, butterfingers! 

And, a magic kit he wasn't too impressed with.

 Toy Story characters

A gift from NYC!!

 More Toy Story characters

studying them in awe

 Cars sippy cups from Lilly

Cars book from Lilly

 Kelly in her new clothes, but she says she won't wear them together!

Chaos of unwrapping

 Toy Story book with figurines

Josh reading his magic booklet, Lilly doing sand art, Maggie doing Light Bright, and Anthony playing with his characters

 Lilly left her high heels on the front room floor.

Josh stepped on one, and it cut him.

He was screeching (understandably so) at Lilly to, "Get your shoes out!  Get them out!" 

We had no idea what he was talking about, until he showed us his foot.

Lilly and her new jeans

Empty under the tree.

Whew!

We were so blessed this Christmas.

But, the biggest blessing of all was having a healthy, happy family, ALL AT HOME for Christmas.

Christmas Break

Some of what we did during Christmas Break~

 The store was out of gum drops, so we had to make do with gum drop bells...not the same, but fun to do and festive while they lasted.

 Josh had been saving his money for months, and he finally found something fun he wanted to buy with it.

A cotton candy machine!

All you have to have is hard candies, like mints or jolly ranchers.

Josh has been generous to share with all his siblings, parents, and guests in the home (Anthony's therapists and respite person).

We've been all enjoying different flavors of cotton candy for a few weeks now.  :)

Kelly before~

 Kelly after~

She's finally adjusted and doesn't have severe pain all the time now.

Whew!

 Lilly in front of half the nook mess...she discovered taking her picture in front of the mirror every other day.

Anthony rolling around on the fun music mat that his therapist, Claudia, brings over.

It's on this mat that Anthony first started developing balance.

He gets so excited sometimes, he just starts rolling around, squealing for joy, and kicking his legs all over.  :D

 I ran an errand one night and returned home to Lilly annd Anthony on the chair. 

Josh did the same thing last night, with Anthony, but I didn't get a picture.

 Playing with Jenga blocks.

Gotta have a sippy in each hand.

 Christmas Eve, we finally got our baking on.

I came out of the kitchen to see Anthony had taken several ginger crinkles off a plate, and was starting to eat them.

He LOVED them, which made Andy smile.  They're his favorite.

 We brought out a new Monopoly game.

The kids have been having fun playing one version or another of it each day since.

Anthony explaining to Andy why he should be allowed to stay on the table.

"Bwuh, bwh, bwuh."  Insert hand motions and eveyrthing!

 Daniel owned Park Place and Boardwalk, and was quite ingenius at coming up with a winning strategy.

Anthony telling Daniel stories and pointing to make a point...

 Josh's new spy camera on wheels.

He bought this with Christmas money.  :)

Josh always buys fun stuff, doesn't he.

The girls ready to beat on pots and pans for New Year 2012!!

 I didn't realize Daniel had this shirt when we got him the pajama bottoms.

All the children have fun watching Ghostbusters.

 Maggie wrote a message in a bottle today.

She told about herself, our family, and some other fun things.

Now, we gotta figure out where to send it.

Anthony was not acting his normal all last week. 

He had no fever, but started getting dehydrated toward the end of the week.

So, we went to visit the pediatrician on call.

He sent us to the ER on Friday night for fluids, and if A's labs showed dehydration (electrolyte abnormality), we'd have to be admitted for the night.

Thankfully, the labs were decent, and Anthony perked right up after the bolus.

When the doctor called the ER to let them know we were on our way, the nurses were telling him, "Oh, Anthony!  I know Anthony.  I'll take care of him, and get the stat nurse ready."

It just makes me laugh, and think we should have some kind of frequent flier card or something.

And, so thankful for our wonderful medical community who watch out for Anthony's well-being.