Monday, December 29, 2008

Christmas Sickness

We had a little sickness over the holiday, too. I mentioned being in the Children's Clinic with Sarah Beth. She ran a fever on Christmas night after having a cough for 3 days before that. The doctor gave her an antibiotic. She has declared that she wants to change doctors, too. Dr. Thompson was not in the office that day, so we saw Dr. Murray.....a woman. Sarah Beth was impressed. She said she wants to only go to her from now on. So, I guess our days with Dr. Thompson may be limited. He has been our pediatrician for 14 years. I will really miss seeing him. For those that know me.....I am a little too interested in people like that. I am not satisfied with knowing a little information about a person. I want to know more. Plus, Dr. Thompson is very intriguing. He has 11 children. I want to know all about that. Just like I like to watch TLC's "Jon and Kate, Plus Eight" or "17 (18) and Counting". I kind of think Dr. Thompson's house would be like that. But, I guess we will venture into the "female doctor" land.

Then on Saturday afternoon I called Zack to touch base while I was in Lake Charles with GranJan. He sounded funny so he said, "I bit my tongue." Ok, no big deal. Well, later he calls me back and lets me know that he REALLY BIT HIS TONGUE. SEVERELY. It is bad, people. It left a huge hole in his tongue. He couldn't get it to stop bleeding and was in lots of pain. So, we got some gauze to put pressure on it and I got some Ambusol to relieve the pain. Do you go to the hospital? Do you treat in yourself? I never know, but we called his FEMALE DOCTOR and she said if we could get it to stop bleeding then it would be ok. I did not want to have hospital charges, so I was determined to take care of it ourselves. SO, I found some mouthwash from an oral surgery I had and told him to rinse. Well....it didn't burn my mouth when I used it. oooops! Poor guy is recovering.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Emotional Christmas

We have had a season of major ups and downs in our family. On December 20, we went to Houston to pick up Alex from his first semester at BYU. We were so very excited to see him and have him here for the holidays. I think I wanted to make everything that we have ever made for Christmas and make it extra special because he was home. I think having him be away makes him being home all the more special.

We drove home that night and went directly to the Pogues to do what we had been putting off for a day or two....say goodbye to our closest friends.....really more like family. I didn't really think I would cry, because I hadn't really much in the weeks leading up to this. But, it was not a pretty site. I cried all the way home with Mary Catherine sobbing in the backseat. I miss them like crazy and have cried many times.....including right now. Last night I went up to Mary Catherine's room. She was on the phone and I said, "I miss the Pogues." She was wonderful and got right off the phone to talk to me. I AM SUCH A GIRL! Gwen will think I am being ridiculous when she reads this.

So, I spent the rest of the week preparing for Christmas. Sewing.....lots of sewing...until the wee hours of the morning. But, I got it done, including 16 stockings for the girls American Girl Dolls, robes for girls and doll, and PJs for girls and dolls. A little shopping and cooking in the mix and we were ready.

We had invited the Skinners and Zack's parents and grandmother over for Christmas Eve dinner after we attended Mass with Zack's mother, but Sister Skinner called early afternoon to say her car had broken down and she was having a really hard time with the death of her son and wouldn't make it. My heart aches for her.....really. So, when we returned from Mass we were pulling in the driveway and spotted the Morris' leaving our house from dropping off treats. So, we invited them to stay. They had been sick and were planning to eat leftover chili for supper. We were thrilled to have them. It was so fun to have a baby around. My daughters followed after him and would have kept him if had been an option. He was so fun and his parents weren't so bad, either! Zack's mom and grandmother came, too and we had a great time visiting and eating WAY too much.

Santa came in the morning and the kids were up just after we went to bed.....first at 2:30, followed by 4:00, then us by 6:30. This has prompted me to think that Santa will definitely wrap presents next year. The stocking can be emptied and then we will open presents when WE decide to get up. Too much earliness with too little sleep. We had invited all 6 Lake Charles are missionaries to come for breakfast and so at 6:30 I began to fix breakfast. After eating, Zack, the sister missionaries, and I fell asleep in the chairs. Little snooze later, we got up, played some more with the kids and off the Maw-Maw's for lunch, where I fell asleep again, after lunch. Not enough sleep for me in the last few days. When we came home Santa GranJan had arrived with a new sleigh of gifts. More eating and opening and staying up late.

So, all culminated in falling asleep in the waiting room at Children's Clinic the next day with Sarah Beth, who took a picture of me all slumped over on the arm of the couch. Yeah, me!!!! Yeah, teens and pre-teens with cell phones!!!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Dollar General and Secret Santa

Ok, so, our family loves Secret Santa, as I have already talked about. So, last night we went to Dollar General to get somethings for our Secret Santa family. The trip began with Sarah Beth and Mary Catherine--yes, the big girls--getting in trouble from the sales clerk for throwing balls in the store. I just knew it was them, or even Zack, before I even saw them. Of course, that made them crack up. So, we found what we were looking for and several of the girls then had to go the bathroom. I was about to check out when MC told me that Lily had an accident and that they had clogged the toilet. When I went to check it out, Lily had left a trail outside the bathroom all the way into the bathroom and was standing in soaking wet pants. Zack unclogged the toilet and I went to look for Lily some pants to buy. I finally found some sweat pants with a cute top. In the bathroom the girls were laughing and laughing. Bought the pants and Secret Santa items and helped Lily clean up and change clothes. Of course, there were many jokes about our wonderful FHE. I told my family that I would post about this great FHE idea! Zack responds, "yeah, go to Dollar General, stop up the toilet and pee in the ailes." You just can't take us anywhere!

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Blogging???

I just feel too overloaded with emotion to blog.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Secret Santa

So, we have a tradition in our family of doing Secret Santa's each year. We draw names--all 8 of us--and then from Thanksgiving to Christmas we secretly go around doing nice things for each other, leaving little treats, and then giving a gift that is unwrapped on Christmas Eve. This is also when we are supposed to reveal who we have. Secret Santa is truly my favorite part about our holiday. It is so fun to see the kids sneak around to leave treats and do nice things. We were talking about last year's SS the other night and while it was difficult to remember what we received.....we all remembered what we gave.

The most fun is Lily. She is Secret Santa SuperStar. Well, all except the Secret part. But, she tries so hard. She told me she just wants to scream it out! For the past two years she has had Zack and he just had her tied in knots, teasing her and keeping her on top of her toes. It was hilarious for the rest of us. He even kept it up all this year. He would make comments all the time about how he had the best SS. So, this year she was determined to keep the secret. So, when the moment came she was so excited. It is the first year she could read the name herself. So, she drew her paper, read it, and looked straight up at Sarah Beth! She set off immediately to clean SB and MC's bedroom. But, according to her, it was too messy. So, she went on a hunt for something to give her. This is what she decided on! (Camera won't download!) It is an old Barbie, 2 pots of Play-Doh, a green stuffed elephant, an Indian hat and macaroni necklace that she made at school. Sarah Beth found it later just piled on her bed.

Later we went to Dollar Tree and I told them they could pick one thing to give their SS. So, Lily looked all around the store---telling Emma that she was shopping by her self....like a grown-up! She finally decided on a Christmas snow globe (Lily loves snow globes). When were home Lily got the snow globe out of the bag and promptly dropped it. Yeah, broken....like all of HER snow globes! She came to me sobbing like she just lost her best friend. I assured her we would buy another today--it's a $ and a little heart was broken. But, then she decided to give it anyway. Sarah Beth found it and went on and on like the great big sister that she is. So, then Lily disappeared again and came back with a note for Sarah Beth. It said, "I you!" Lily told Sarah Beth that her SS must have left it for her and she just happened to go to SB's room to "check on the snow globe....in case it fell off the shelf or something."

We sure have fun with this. I will post more about funny things that happen from now till Christmas. And of course, I am sooooo ready for Alex to come home to participate with the rest of us!