Brave or stupid???

Probably a little of both. Nevertheless, my best friend (brave mother of triplets plus one) and I spent Saturday afternoon making cookies or cackies (according to Kate). It actually went very smooth condsidering. Though it is hard to narrow it down, I think everyone's favorite part was Sprinkles.

Belated Christmas post

Santa arrived on schedule Christmas morning and while he had a hard time competing with the boys' Grandparents and Great-grandparents, I think they were pleased. Chase was at least. Noelly only wanted to play with Chase's stuff and take the ornaments off the tree. Fortunately, they felt much better that day. We spent Christmas eve morning in the Doctor's office where Noel got steroids added to his regimen and Chase was diagnosed with a severe sinus infection.

Ain't no party like a birthday party...

Essentially, the photos in this post are backwards, but I am blogging from our laptop at home and it is too difficult to make changes.

We celebrated Noelly's birthday a little bit early this past Sunday. I was somewhat hesitant to follow through with it given his sickness and grumpiness, but I didn't really know when else we would have it so we carried on. He did great. He completely smashed his cake, opened his first present and only wanted to play with it, and was his incredibly cute self. He didn't really eat any cake but as you can see he kindly offered me some.

The Albuterol Blues

that is what we are singing at our house. After a really rough night on Friday, I took Noel to the doctor first thing Saturday morning. I honestly thought they would tell me he had a cold, at worst, a sinus infection. I am soooo glad I took him because he had a double ear infection and bronchiolitis. The doctor did not like the way his chest sounded. She gave him a breathing treatment right in the office and sent him home with a nebulizer to do breathing treatments 4 times a day. The good news is he is much better as of this posting on Sunday night. The bad news is the side effect of Albuterol is nervousness and agitation. He doesn't want to be held or put down. He doesn't want to sleep but he is soooo tired. It is a little frustrating but all that matters is that he is on the road to recovery.

A Different Child

I was just scanning over some of my past posts and read the one about Chase's disasterous last shopping trip. I feel I owe him his due to report on the kid I took shopping yesterday. I took a vacation day from work to take Chase to the dentist, attend his school party, and then finish my shopping. I always have a multitasking agenda. Chase had the opportunity to stay home with Aunt Jessica but chose to come along instead. I made the parameters of that choice abundantly clear to him before he decided.

He was an absolute, helpful, witty, charming angel of a kid the entire day. When my mother in law asked what was making him be so good, he said "Well, it is getting close to Christmas." When I was contemplating a pair of mittens for Noel he suggested I write him a note to put his hands in his pockets (a line he had heard in "It's Christmas time again, Charlie Brown). We both decided that wouldn't be practical considering he can't read. And lastly when I asked him if he wanted to pick out something special for his dad on his own, he said " No, I really want you to save your money...Long pause...then you can buy more presents for me." He actually hugged me at one point and thanked me for taking him shopping. Me thinks he was craving a little one on one time.

Unfortunately, Mr. Noel is a bit of a different child himself. He has a terrible little cold that is making him quite short tempered. Hopefully he will feel better for his big birthday party this Sunday!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Santa and his helpers.

A'camping we did go.

What is the most logical thing to do after getting over a 24 hour stomach virus on the coldest weekend of the year so far? Take your family to join five other families camping in the mountains, of course. Ok, so that is actually the opposite of logic, but that is exactly what we did this past weekend. For a couple of months several families from church have been planning this grand adventure, so who was I to let a little fever, vomitting, and diarrhea hold us back.

I was actually feeling much better by the time we left on Friday and wasn't running a fever so I did not contaminate the entire party, and to clarify we were in campers and cabins. In fact, we were in the (around 23 of us in the 3 room efficiency style) cabin the majority of the time because it was so cold outside.

Noel, I decided is a warm weather baby because every time we got him bundled up enough to go outside he was not excited.

The main event of the weekend was a community Christmas tree lighting, caroling, hay and train riding extravaganza. The hayrides began at 4:30 with the evening to culminate in the tree lighting at 6:30, not one member of our party managed to brave the elements and see said lighting. The above picture is the point (at I would say 4:45) when Noel had had enough.

That night after dutifully eating my bland Chicken and rice soup the whole time I decided I could partake in a hamburger. How wrong I was, and as I write this on Monday afternoon I have to say I am still not feeling great. But, here is what made the whole experience worthwhile:

Chase had the time of his life in the "wilderness" as he called it and got to be with his best buddies for a full uninterupted weekend.

Wordless Wednesdays

We don't "do" mornings.

What is this?

This is what happens when I ask Chase to get the pillowcases off his bed to be washed.

Busy Mom/Happy Mom

This picture was intended to grace my Thanksgiving post in which I expostulated on the many, many things we as a family count as blessings. I mean doesn't that look like the face of one lucky mom? Well, it is (the face) and we are (blessed), but considering I am posting this one week from the intended day I will just offer up a brief re-cap.
First of all Thanksgiving feels like it was a month ago, not a week. I think I feel that way because I have accomplished a great deal in one short week. Thanksgiving was a blast spent with Chris' extra large family (over 55 people in attendance). One of the highlights was watching Noel interact with his cousin, Joe, only a few days his senior. The event was held at Joe's house and I think he was less than crazy about this bruiser taking all his toys away.
That night, rather than take my tired bones to bed, Chris' youngest sister and I plotted then executed a serious Black Friday shopping plan. That's right, we arrived at the Outlet mall at midnight and then hit each store as it opened. At first I questioned my own sanity, but one of Chase's must haves was $40 off at Target so I felt like it was worth it. We actually had a blast and spent most of our time laughing at ourselves. I then spent the rest of the weekend decorating the house for Christmas and am happy to report I was completely done by Sunday night.
This week at work has been sheer madness as it is the last "normal" week before finals begin. That translates into several late nights for me, not to mention the days being even more insane than usual. In addition to that we have a mission going on at our church, so by the time Friday rolls around we will not have been home one evening this week. That, in itself, puts me way out of sorts. Somewhere in all this, I also managed to take Chase to the dentist, get Noel's 1 year pictures made and take the boys to see Santa.
Noel's pictures mainly consist of his backside going out of the frame. He was not interested in staying still. The photographer accused me of giving him sugar before the appointment, but I assured her that he is just a busy boy. I , of course, forgot my personal camera when we went to see Santa and we don't have a scanner. So you will have to take my word that Noel did really well and sat very calmly on Santa's lap.
You will also have to take my word that I nearly died of embarrassment when Chase knocked over a hanging display of sweaters in JC Penney. Lucky for him, his life was spared because a kindly older couple kept telling me it was an accident and accidents happen. I knew they would probably call DFCS had I given him the beating he so richly deserved. Seriously, I was so angry and mortified I couldn't really do anything. I made him take all the hangers that were broken to a saleslady and apologize. That didn't really drive any lessons home though because she went on and on about how sweet he was to bring them to her and apologize. I was afraid she was about to pull out some kind of treat to bestow on him. Grrr. The curse of having a cute kid.

So, that is what we have been up too, and why this post was so long in coming and long in length.