Christmas at the Farm....and a mess of sick

This past weekend we headed down to the farm to celebrate Christmas with the Great-Grandparents and other extended family. We left Saturday around nap time and the boys did pretty well riding down. They napped for a while and then enjoyed some in-ride dvds. We first went to Huggy Grandma's house (my Dad's mom). The boys were ready to run around when they got out of the truck. It was great to see her as we've missed her the past two times we were down. Then it was off to my other Grandparents' house for dinner. Mom had been there all day cooking up a great feast. It was wonderful to see them and my aunts / uncles / cousins. The boys weren't interested in eating, although Cole was VERY interested in the green punch. My two aunts had gotten them Christmas presents so they were excited to have something to open and play with. They were all over the place! After dinner and as much running around as I could stand, we went to the farm to spend the night.

Saturday night was rough. I started feeling not-so-well and then my fever spiked to almost 102. My throat was hurting so I knew immediately that it was strep. We managed to make it through the night and I was on-line at 7am Sunday trying to find the nearest Urgent Care. The boys played with Grandma & Grandpa on the farm while Tim & I ran to Urgent Care. Turns out, I was right and had strep. I had them give me a shot of penicillin instead of a z-pak hoping that it would knock it out pretty quickly. I had such a hard time eating, drinking or even swallowing. Felt like knives in my throat. When we got back to my parents' house, the boys played a little more and we tried to get them to eat lunch. Then we loaded up and headed back home. The boys must have known that I wasn't feeling well because they were the best angels on the 3+ hour drive home - better than ever!

Once we got home, I found myself on the couch fast asleep. Tim took care of the boys Sunday night and pretty much for the next few days until I could get a little better. I missed work on Monday and half Tuesday, only going in because I had a deadline. Thankfully it was a pretty quiet week at work so it was no big deal. Wednesday I was still feeling pretty crummy - oh yeah, I must mention that I had pretty much quit eating other than a milkshake because it just hurt too bad - and had a huge fever blister outbreak so I made an appt with my doctor. Strep getting better, fever blisters needed some help so he gave me a prescription (which has worked wonders!). The same morning, Tim went to Urgent Care to discover that he also had strep. Seriously?!! They put him on a z-pak and he started feeling pretty good right away. He thankfully didn't get the extreme strep that I did, maybe I took the brunt of it for him. What a thoughtful wife I am. =) We're both on the mend now and feeling much better. The boys seem to be healthy as can be so we're being super careful not to give it to them.

What stinks the most is that I haven't been able to give anyone kisses all week. But I'm saving them up. They'd better watch out when I'm better!!

Cheeto boy watching a movie

Presents from Huggy Great-Grandma

Hugs from Huggy Great-Grandma

Eli & Cole rocking on Huggy Great-Grandma's front porch

Love my Huggy Grandma

At my other Grandparents, Cole loving the punch

At the dinner table with Great Grandma & Great Grandpa

A truck that makes noise - YAY!

Reading a Cars book

Cole got a truck too

My not-so-little-but-still-sweet little brother

Family photo with Great Grandma's tree

Love my Grandpa

And I love my Grandma

Uncle Billy & Cole being silly

Christmas Parties at school

Friday was an exciting day at school - visits from SANTA and Christmas parties. I actually had to take Cole to the doctor early morning to check out a cut on his toe so he got to school late and I actually got to see Santa with him. Hopefully we'll get to see the pictures from school. I unfortunately didn't use my time wisely, only smiling for the camera with Cole and forgetting to tell Santa the things on my list. Oh well......maybe I'll remember next year!

That afternoon, the entire school held their classroom Christmas parties. As always, Eli was excited to see me when I got there. His class put on a great recital showing the parents the wonderful songs they have been working on. I was caught off guard without our video recorder (another lesson for next year!) but did have my camera so I recorded the class songs on it. I hope to get at least one to manageable size and post it separately. The kids were so cute and they did a great job. Ms. Clara (the lead teacher) loves songs and loves teaching the children. After songs, I sat with Eli for a second and then headed to Cole's class to get him. Cole was happy to see me and excited to go to the big boy room. They enjoyed sitting at the table together, drinking juice boxes and eating treat foods. Then it was madness with the kids playing and running around. Cole led the charge a few times!

Ms. Clara reading to the kids before party time

Getting lined up and ready to sing

Mommy & Eli

Eli & Ryan - such great buds!

Nothing beats a juice box

the boys love their sugary goodness.

Cole led the dinosaur stomp on the table. Fun for all!

ROOOAAARRRR!

After the party, Carol & Ryan stopped over - a special treat. I couldn't resist this shot of them crouched in dump trucks watching tv.

Snow day - trying to stay sane

Today was a snow day for the boys - no school. In some ways, it was everything a snow day should be - fun at home and staying in pjs all day (Eli). In other ways, it was what you would expect as a parent - seeing how many rabbits you can pull out of a hat to keep everyone happy and busy. Overall, it wasn't too bad of a day.

Tim and I both ended up staying home today. I was supposed to go to work for a meeting right after lunch but it was cancelled fairly last minute so that left us both here. Our day's activities included some tv time, running around the house, playing play-doh, pretending to play air hockey, making chocolate chip cookies, nap time, more play time, monster trucks, dump trucks, a trip to Kohl's for me & Cole, having breakfast for dinner and some reading and coloring. The big surprise of the day was that Santa sent Eli a video message. It was super cool and Eli liked it. (If you haven't seen this yet, take a look at Portable North Pole. Best of all it's free!)

The day had a lot of chaos but was fun. We kept it low key and the boys seemed to enjoy it.

Cole trying to roll his play-doh

and then cutting shapes. He's my little cookie helper in training!

Eli pretending to play air hockey with cotton balls (got to have imagination when trapped inside!).

Eli crawled on the couch pretending to go to sleep. He really just wanted to snuggle and watch tv.

Watching his video message from Santa.

Overalls

One of my favorite things about having two boys is watching them wear a lot of the same clothes. This past weekend, we put Cole in overalls for the first time. He rocked them and I see more overalls in his future! I then had to pull out this picture of Eli to compare.

Eli - Jan 2009 - almost 17 months old

Cole - December 2010 - just over 17 months old

Two weekends, one post - finally catching up

I can not believe I am so far behind! Life has been so crazy busy and had me going non-stop. Let me see if I can remember what we've been up to - fortunately I usually take lots of pictures (but that has even suffered lately, unimaginable!!).

Two weekends ago - 12/3 weekend. Saturday morning Carol & Ryan came over to decorate Gingerbread trains with Eli & myself. We did it last year and had so much fun doing it that it deserved a repeat. The boys did pretty well but Eli was much more interested in eating the candies than decorating his train. At one point, the boys were running around crazy and Carol & I were left doing the decorating. I think we could easily be happy baking and decorating on our own - it was probably more fun for us than the boys! Saturday after nap, we had fun in the SNOW. Eli & Cole were so surprised to see the snow when they woke up. We spent some time outside and enjoyed playing in it.

Eli & Ryan making gingerbread trains.

Carol & Ryan

Mommy & Eli

Finished product - I thought the marshmellow snowmen and teddy graham carolers were a great touch.

First snow of the season - it was quite a surprise.

Cole - just being cute Cole in the snow.

Eli had fun driving his dump truck through the snow (yes the pool dump truck! It's quite versatile.)

Cole had fun playing with the yard toys as well.

Mommy & Cole - such sweetness.

Mommy & Daddy self portrait.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this gorgeous tree.

Eli & I had a fun snowball fight.

Boys in winter hats - LOVE the hats.

We also worked on decorating our Christmas tree that Elfie Jim delivered. It was a multi-day process. First the lights - colored this year - went on. Over 1,000 of them. Then a few days later, we worked on hanging ornaments. I opted not to put all of our ornaments on but rather make the tree about the boys. It has mostly their ornaments with just a few of mine & Tim's favorites. Eli & Cole loved helping decorate. I unboxed the ornaments, Cole took them to Daddy and Eli helped hang when he felt like it.

Checking out the lights

1st ornament on the tree - this year's Woody & Buzz ornament

Cole delivering the next ornament to Daddy.

My boys decorating

During the week, I couldn't resist taking a shot of Cole during one of his mini floor tantrums. His tantrums don't last long because he quickly realizes they are ineffective on us. A major drawback of being 2nd child!

Last week was a blur. I did a quick day trip for work, worked a lot and we survived. We all were fighting some icky almost-sick thing. Didn't put us out of commission but made life a little tough.

This past weekend was not a great weather weekend so we had another indoor weekend and got a little stir crazy. Eli & I worked on some great sugar cookies (ok I think they turned out great, I've been practicing making pretty decorated sugar cookies). He enjoyed helping me mix things up and he also got to sift flour for the first time. Yes we made a nice little mess in the kitchen! The boys were especially happy to taste test for me. Other weekend activities - we did trips to the Y, ran some errands, tried to stay dry and warm during the cold rain, battled to get naps, battled to maintain sanity and we did it!

Mommy's baking helper

Decorating his two snowflake cookies.

Adding sprinkles

Showing off his masterpiece before it disappeared.

Cole checking out my handiwork - notice the dab of icing on the corner of his mouth?

Some of the final products.