Our House Exploded

Other than having a huge storm system hit Utah at just about the same time we were supposed to take off to head home yesterday the trip home was nothing to comment on. We were de-iced twice and sat on the ground for around 2 hours. We did managed to still make our connection in Denver, which was also delayed, but only because we carried both children and went our fastest. They were boarding when we were landing. We finally made it to St. Louis at around 1:30AM.

Then we got home and collapsed.

This morning our kids did let us sleep in. Our cat did not.

We did manage to unpack all our 5 pieces of luggage, but we did not manage to find places for all of it. The kids are in toy and book heaven. We are just managing to get around the piles of things until we can get a few orginizational items later this evening.

Hope the winter travel isn't too bad for everyone else.

I'm leaving it up

If you didn't know that last post was my sister's, meant for her blog. I think it's funny so I'm keeping it up there. Hahahaha.

Tomorrow we go home so today I'm sorting through all our stuff trying to fit it all in the bags. I think it will all fit and that my friends, it what you call a Christmas Miracle.

Christmas Recap

How was your holiday?

Mine has been awesome. This year the ear doctor and I loaded up the truck and headed over over the rivers and through the snow to my grandmother's house in Utah. I just love being at her house...it always feels like home the minute I step through the door.

This year there were I few things that happened that I was exceptionally proud of:

1) We frosted gingerbread boys with my two nieces and didn't get any red frosting on my grandma's light colored carpet
2) We went bowling at the BYU campus lanes and even though I saw all 4 of Nie Nie's adorable kids with their dad I didn't act like a total fool and run over to gush over the cuteness of that little red-headed Jane
3) I got the ear doctor the perfect presents for his workshop (little circular saw and leather covered pneumatic stool) and only managed to forget to buy 1 battery...
4) I totally let my little nieces have the first couple of turns playing my new Disney karaoke game on the Wii instead of taking the microphone and belting out songs all by myself
5) I've limited myself to only a single can of diet coke a day


All in all, a pretty successful Christmas!

"Where Did You Get Those?"

Even though Dan left all the presents he bought just before leaving it wasn't a real loss. Firstly, he has the receipts so he can easily return them once we get home. Secondly, our plan (read: Dan's plan) was to wait until we got to Utah to do most of the Christmas shopping. Pretty good plan once he finally convinced me to stop stressing about not having everything done already.

Yesterday, Dan told me that he would just do the shopping and let me be free to take the kids to Tangled and other Christmas activities. I wrote down a list of people that we needed to get presents for and a few suggestions and then let him do his magic. He's an amazing present shopper. He did one marathon shopping trip with the ear doctor, our brother-in-law and was done just before dinner. He took things downstairs to keep in our bedroom while I took one at a time to wrap them. Well, it was a pretty busy night so I didn't get them all wrapped and I forgot about them completely right before bed.

We took both the kids into our bedroom to get them dressed in their Christmas pajamas. Charlotte climbed on the bed and pointed to the few presents that Dan, I mean Santa, had purchased for both the kids pointed and said, "Hey! Where did you get those presents?" We told her we'd talk about it in the morning and rushed her off to bed.

That explains our 9 PM shopping trip to Borders and Walmart last night. We were out trying to restore a little Christmas magic for our kids. Luckily we had about $30 in Borders gift cards to spend so it looks like Santa will visit this little family after all.

And also she forgot to ask about the presents this morning. Few!

This Will Surprise Nobody

For as smart and put together as he is, Dan sometimes forgets pretty basic things. That is why his family will not be surprised at all to hear that he forgot to pack the bag he put his nice clothing in and all the Christmas presents he bought the Saturday before we left for Christmas. He also thought he forgot to pack any shirts whatsoever, but on closer inspection, by me, three shirts were found.

We all have our moments right?

The Excitement is Building

Today we leave for great grandma's house. I can tell that the excitement is building for Christmas. We are finally healthy (enough) and even though we have a long day of packing, cleaning, and traveling we are all very excited.

Everyone cross your fingers that we have a good flying experience.

It Will Never End

Every year when we go to my side of the family someone gets sick. I remember the year I was pregnant with Charlotte and everyone got sick and I thought I might just die from all the puking. This year it wont be us! I can tell you this with complete confidence because we've been sick for the past month. This sickness has climaxed this past week with vomiting and diarrhea. We are getting it out of our system now so that it wont be our turn over the Christmas break. Also I plan on bringing hanitizer (Charlotte's word, not mine) and Clorox wipes with us on the airplane. I may be crazy, but at least I wont be sick.

In spite of all this horribleness, I would like to leave you with something I realized while drifting off to sleep last night. My husband makes me laugh out loud every single day. I think it may be a goal of his. He is truly a very funny person.

The Stats

I know it's boring but Greg's well child check was this week. His stats are as follows:

Height: 33 1/2 inches (Somewhere between 50-75%)
Weight: 25 pounds (Just under 50%)

Did you notice that he actually lost a pound between the last check up and now? Well, he did and nobody's worried about that because he's finally starting to be proportionate.

The Trend Continues

We woke up to 3 inches of snow this morning.

Dan woke up to rain in North Carolina.

For our enitre marriage Dan, the one that loves the snow, has missed most of it.

An Update From Last Night

The Benadryl didn't work. Turns out that it doesn't really help when your daughter has a fever. Then she'll wake up 5 times in a night and ask and ask for more medicine. And its very hard to tell her that you've already given her all the Tylenol and Motrin that she can have. At least she made it through the night without puking, even if we did all start the day at 6 after being up 5 times the night before.

So we got up and put the kids in the tub. The one was perky and happy from a good night's sleep the other one was looking like oatmeal with purple circles around her eyes. I took the little guy out and then went to work washing the hair of the sick one. I turned around when I heard, "uh oh." He had pooped on the step stool and then walked through it. Awesome. After breakfast I sat her down on the sofa and went up to take my shower.

My little buddy went up with me. Mid shower he slipped and I heard a pretty solid thunk on the side of the tub. I opened the curtain and both hands were covered in blood. So there I was naked and wet trying to figure out where the blood was coming from. Turns out he hit his chin.

I didn't want to take him to the ER along with another sick child if I didn't have to so I called up any friends I could think of whose husbands were still home at that time of the morning. Our friend Rich was home. I bundled the sick one and the bleeding one and brought them over to our friend's house and he said it wasn't deep enough to need stitches but that gluing it shut was a good idea. So I held Greg tight while Rich glued it shut.

We're home now and it's 10 AM and I hope we're done with drama for the day.

Introducing:

My Aunt.

She's super funny and just what I needed to read tonight.

Dan's gone again on another interview. This time on three actually. He's driving from St. Louis to Columbus, OH then to Wake Forrest, then up to Hershey Pennsylvania, then back home on Tuesday. I'm hoping that he doesn't hit any bad weather, but just in case I made him pack a loaf of home made bread (with a mixer that doesn't really like making home made bread) and a blanket. If he is stranded in a snow bank at least he can live off of that for, what, an hour?

He left me at home with two sick kids. Charlotte is right now barking out her cough from her bed. I just keep hoping that the Benadryl kicks in and she sleeps through the vomit inducing cough. If not, it'll be a long night for all of us.

But at least my aunt is funny and made me chuckle.

All Is Calm

Today I steam cleaned our cat pee rug and also the upstairs bedroom we are currently fixing. I also did laundry, cleaned the kitchen, vacuumed the upstairs landing, made snacks for the kids, cleaned the kitchen, did more laundry, cleaned the kitchen, read books, played scatterpillar scramble, made lunch, helped start creative recipe playtime, really cleaned the kitchen, more laundry, played three shell monty, lost playing candy land, made dinner, helped the little guy wake up happy by cuddling, finished dinner and cleaned the kitchen again.

Tonight I'm beat. Dan took the kids on his trip to the Home Depot to get more quarter round for the room we're fixing. Perhaps it was selfish of me, but it was super fun to sit here and listen to him try to get the two aimless wanderers out the door. He'd get one squared away and turn around to see shoes on the wrong feet on the other and by the time that was fixed the mittens on #1 were off. The other one may or may not have a complex about being left behind and thus spent most of the time hyperventilating about that possibility. It's funny to hear the same things come out of his mouth that come out of mine when trying to get them out the door.

See? It isn't just me.

Almost 4

Have I yet mentioned that having an almost 4 year old in the house is pretty much delightful? She is so smart and yet still mispronounces enough to make life really funny. My most recent favorite is that she can't remember what her humidifier is called so she decided that pacifier is close enough.

Also Dan's favorite is what she says when referring to mixing up frozen concentrate of orange juice. When she does that she has to "chunk the junk."

Tis The Season

Tonight Dan is on his way home from Nebraska. He interviewed there today. So I sit in this drafty old house, feeling the cold wind rush through the front door (something we'll get around to fixing one of these days) and think about interview season. That is what our lives revolve around right now. We are in interview season and everything else seems to have, well not taken a back seat really, but changed somehow, to accommodate. Christmas seems to be tucked in between Penn State and The University of Washington.

My husband is so smart and capable. I have no doubt in my mind about his ability to accomplish his goals. The Lord has truly blessed him with his skills and also an understanding of the lifestyle commitments that will come along with being a good doctor. It is something that takes a special type of service. I am only coming to realize how perfectly he will fit into his career as our lives unfold. What I am learning about him, he already knows.

That peace and confidence seems to pervade him through this whole process and I so admire it. He finds joy in the successes of his fellow classmates, even when he experiences set backs. That humility and faith, to me, has been the most precious lesson of this season in our lives.

Has this experience been quite so emotional and humbling for anyone else? I feel that questions enter my head that create conflicting desires on an almost daily basis. What if he gets an interview there? What if he doesn't? What if we end up living there? How can I help to support him and prepare our family for what is completely unknown to me? Part of me can't wait to unfurl the sails and speed into the next phase and the other wants to drop anchor and stay in this beautiful moment in our lives.

I have also learned of my own areas that require improvement. I keep desiring for the faith to let the Lord direct our lives. I suppose faith or no He's doing the directing anyway. My faith must then be that if we do our part He will bring to pass what will be for our good. On top of that I must have the humility to stop worrying about anyone else. There are so very many good things that can happen for us no matter where we end up.

What a very wonderful and rich season of our lives.

Something to Laugh About

Here's the best Halloween picture we could get of the two kids this year.

Dancer and Prancer

For your viewing pleasure. I thought you'd all like this.