Christmas 2012

 We had a wonderful, healthy Christmas!! :) Everyone was well and we were all able to enjoy the day! I'm so thankful.

 We managed to get a family picture on Christmas Eve.

 All the girls!

On Christmas Eve, the girls sprinkled reindeer food on the lawn (on the super warm "winter" day)

and then we got them all bathed and into their new Christmas pj's (thanks Grandma!).

  Then we got in the van and went to look at Christmas lights at a nearby neighborhood. 

(Kennedy, Kaitlyn, Jillian)

On Christmas morning, the twins were up first and we woke up Jillian.

Santa left them each a LeapPad 2! They were very excited!

Kennedy playing with her LeapPad

 Kaitlyn excited about hers too!

 Each girl also got a Cabbage Patch Kid!  :) 

Kaitlyn got a blonde one named  "Kait Lelia"

 Kennedy got a blonde one named "Ariel Marie" We tried to find one with the name Kennedy, but we couldn't ever find one. She didn't seem to mind at all.

Jillian got a red headed one named "Maya Jillian"

 Jilly enjoyed playing with her LeapPad too! 

Right before the girls came down the stairs to see what Santa brought them, Jillian said "I hope Santa brought me a LeapPad!!"  So glad he did! :)

 Each girl also got a "mini" American girl doll. They had been begging for a real American Girl doll, but Santa had already decided on the Leap Pad when the begging started....so maybe for their birthday. But, they sell "mini" dolls that come with a mini book. Each of my girls wanted a specific doll.  Jillian wanted "Rebecca".

Kaitlyn got "Caroline" and Kennedy got "Julie".

 All the girls with their dolls.

Around 10:00 we headed to my parents house for more Christmas fun!

 When we first got there, all the kids got on their LeapPads and started playing on them...Cooper got one when he turned 4.  It was cute to see them all playing on them.

Then it was time for presents! There were soooo many and the kids had such a great time!

 Jillian loved her La La Loopsy umbrella.

 Kennedy showing me her new video

 Kaitlyn excited about her new art supplies!

 I tried to get a picture of the whole room...I think I missed my dad and brother.

 Jillian got an adorable Strawberry Shortcake dress up dress. She loves this.

 After all the presents were opened, the kids played and played. I found Kaitlyn digging through her bag of toys....she was practically inside the bag!! (Can you see her? Her head is in the bag and her plaid dress is sticking out!)

We had a big Christmas lunch and stayed around until about 4.  I'm soooo thankful that everyone is well!! We are looking forward to some more Christmas fun soon. Tony's Aunt Dar and Uncle Lee will be coming for New Years and the girl's PawPaw and Ya Ya will be coming in January sometime.
Merry Christmas!

Class Christmas party

 Today was the last day before Christmas break and party day at school! Since, Kennedy is still recovering, she had to miss her party, (she was bummed!)  but Kaitlyn was super excited about hers.  So this post will be all about Kaitlyn!  :)

 First thing, they sat and listened to instructions from their teacher.

 Then, they broke into groups and rotated through 3 different stations.  The first station 

was Christmas Bingo! :)

 My happy bingo player

 The next station was cookie decorating. They had extra large cookies and were able to put on

icing and sprinkles. 

 The third rotation was "Pin the nose on Rudolph"

 We stopped and got a sweet picture together. 

 After the 3rd rotation, they all got to eat some fruit, cheese and chips. Kaitlyn was sooo happy that I was at her party and I think she loved having all the attention.  Her smile was so big! I loved seeing her so happy.

 My happy reindeer. :)

 Class picture time

Her class was surprisingly very calm. They all sat and ate quietly and the party was very organized.  I hated that Kennedy missed her party, but I am thankful that I got to spend such quality time with my sweet Kaitlyn.

It's beginning to look a lot like.....

 THE FLU!
Yes....we are sick, yet again.....and this time we went all out with the flu.

It began on Sunday. Kennedy had a headache and a fever when she woke up in the morning. ( I thought maybe she caught Kaitlyn's fever virus)
 Tony stayed home with her and I took Jillian and Kaitlyn to church (in the pouring rain)
They had a fun time celebrating Jesus' birthday with cupcakes, party hats and balloons! :)

 I teach Jillian's class and here are all the little darlings enjoying their treat. (all girls!)

I was just hoping it was going to be a quick 24 hr fever and then it would be over. Well...no luck. I kept her home from school Monday.

 She doesn't look sick, does she? 

She stayed fever free until 2:30pm. I was really thinking she was over it, but really it was just the beginning.  Poor thing...she wanted sooo badly to go to school on Tuesday because it was

 pajama day.

Tuesday morning came and I wanted to get a picture of the girls in their pj's before school. Kaitlyn was super excited!

 She loved that she got to wear her sparkly house shoes to school.

 Kennedy really wasn't feeling all that great, so I just snapped a picture of her on the couch. I told her she could wear her pj's all day too (just not at school) 

I still had convinced myself at this point and it was just a fever virus.

 One more picture of Kaitlyn with her robe. :)  

By Tues evening Kennedy started having other symptoms besides a fever (cold like symptoms) so I decided to take her to the dr. in the morning . 

Wednesday morning I take her to the dr and her flu test came back positive. I was floored. We had gotten the flu shot and I didn't think her symptoms were bad enough to be the flu!  

We got her started on flu meds and got some for everyone else in the family to take too (preventative)

My parents kept Kennedy and Jillian while I was at work and my mom calls later in the day to let me know that Jillian now has fever.  We go ahead and assume it's the flu and start the flu medicine  (full dose) for her too.

 I'm sooo thankful that we had the medicine for her right away because she is having a harder time with it. Her fever is much higher than Kennedy's was.

 Poor baby...this is her today during one of her high fevers. Breaks my heart.

But she did manage to give me a smile when she saw I was taking pictures.

So far, Kaitlyn has been fine. (on medicine to prevent)

 She has gotten to enjoy the fun-filled week before Christmas at school and tomorrow is her class party. Kennedy is so bummed that she can't go and that her grandparents from Springtown/Azle can't come anymore.

I'm not quite sure how long this is supposed to last, but I would love to have this done by Christmas. Praying it happens.

An update

 Well, to continue the story from the last post, the sickness in our house didn't stop like I had hoped. Last Saturday and Sunday I became very sick and ended up having fever, a sinus infection, pink eye in both eyes and a stomach virus!!

I took 3 days off work to recover.  I don't think I have felt that bad in a very long time!! Thankfully, my wonderful parents took the kids for us.  We didn't want them to get sick and I knew I couldn't take care of them very well. Tony was tending to me, but careful to not get too close. We didn't want him to get sick as he recovers from surgery!

During the worst of my sickness, God gave me a little encouragement from my bed.  My bedspread happened to stick up like this (the under side) and there was a cross...reminding me that He is with me always!! Love how God does small things like this to help us through difficult times.

After a couple of days, I was feeling better and the kids returned back home. We missed them so much, but were so thankful for time to recover.
Upon their return, I took Kaitlyn's temp. and you wouldn't believe....that girl STILL had fever! Her fever ended up lasting 17 days. Oh my!!!
It finally ended and I have never been so glad to see a fever go!


One of the fun activities we are doing to count down days until Christmas is something I saw on Pinterest.  I wrapped 24 Christmas books (books I had, my mom had, and some I borrowed) in newspaper and placed them in a little red bin under the tree.

 Each day until Christmas, one of the girls gets to open a book and we all read it together! It's a wonderful cost free activity and my girls are REALLY enjoying it! It's a surprise every night (even if they already know the books).

We also made a Christmas chain and each day we take off a link and read what it says to do.  Sometimes it says, "Bake Christmas cookies " or " Have a picnic by the Christmas tree" etc.  Our church provided this for us and they love this too!

Nothing fancy, but here is the little red bin with 24 books

 wrapped with love (in newspaper!) :)

 The first night, Kaitlyn got to tear off a link from the chain. It said "Retell the Christmas story". She used the nativity set to help. (They love this set!)

 I thought the picture below was cute of the girls....all dressed up for church and sitting at the piano together. They really want to learn how to play. I started lessons last summer, but we weren't very consistent. I need to start them up again while they are so interested.

 We had to move our piano out of the office and into our breakfast room to make room for......

 A baby grand piano! :)  Someone GAVE us their piano! I have always wanted a baby grand and we are so thankful that we were able to have this one. How fun it will be to have all the girls playing on it one day.

Just as things were settling down and everyone was finally healing, we had one more little bump in the road. Tony called me Monday and told me he was at the ER. He was having a pain in his chest. He was worried about a possible blood clot. They ran many tests on him, and thankfully everything was clear. Not sure what's causing the pain, but we are all thankful it doesn't seem to be serious.  He got home around 9pm that evening. Poor thing.

Tomorrow is our last BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) before Christmas break and I'm thankful that I get to go. My eyes are still recovering and I'm still wearing my glasses instead of contacts, but I'm sure it will continue to heal and the pink eye will be gone soon. (They said it could take up to 2 weeks)

Here's hoping that NEXT week is a healthy one! :)

End of November happenings

 We stayed home for Thanksgiving this year due to Tony's surgery and Kaitlyn's fever (I had picked her up from school on Tues, and she still had fever on Thurs). My parents did come over to eat with us. Someone from our church was so kind and brought us a Thanksgiving meal!! Yum!

 We watched the parade! The girls were excited about it this year.

After Thanksgiving, we got out all the Christmas decorations and put up the tree.  The girls could not wait a moment longer!

Jillian found the elf hat and promptly put it on while she decorated.

 Kaitlyn, bursting with excitement!

 My little trio decorating the tree. They were sooo fast! It was decorated in no time!

 Kennedy stopping to pose for me

 No luck getting a good photo..... they were in such silly moods!

 Here they are modeling their Christmas outfits! Again...I took so many pictures, but never got "the one".  (Can I tell you how fun it is to dress 3 little girls??)

Meanwhile........

Kaitlyn had never gotten rid of her fever!! 

Ugh! On Monday (day 7) of her low grade fever, we took her to the Dr.

 She said it was just a fever virus and would have to run it's course...but to come back after 10 days.

I kept her out of school for the first 3 days of the week, but on Thurs and Fri I sent her and the nurse gave her medicine when she needed it.  (It was such a low fever, it was ok for her to go.)

 Backing up a bit...On Tues evening I came down with a fever and chills. I thought for sure I had caught the dreaded fever virus. Wed I still had a little fever and was losing my voice.

Thursday was my birthday and I had completely lost my voice by this point.  I didn't have fever, so we did decide to go to a little Mexican Restaurant nearby to celebrate.

 Family picture!

 They did a great job embarrassing me by putting this hat on my head and singing to me!

 My girls

At the restaurant, Tony tells me that he doesn't feel good. Oh boy! We head back home and he lays down. He never got sick (I'm sooooo glad) and we think he may have just over-done it that day.( He went back to work this week after the Dr. checked him out.  He is allowed to take his brace off now for some things, but he wears it at school.)

On Friday, I feel horrible and Kaitlyn STILL has fever!! (Day 11) I made it through school (barely) and took her to the Dr. at 4pm. 

I didn't come out with any new info. She says it's such a low fever (99.1-99.6) that she isn't worried at all and still feels that it is a virus.  I was a little frustrated that I spent more money to be told the same thing and it has lasted sooo long.  I just want her to feel better.  We will just keep watching her.

While at the Dr. to keep her entertained, we take silly pictures and send them to daddy...then he sends a silly one back!  :)  This is one of her more mild silly pictures. :)

I'm quite thankful this week is over and I sure hope this coming one is a healthier one!! 

The girls are very excited that it's the 1st of Dec. Now they can start their countdown!!