Holiday wrap-up

Well we had a great Holiday season. The kids were really excited about Santa and the Elf's hiding spaces did not get old. They loved waking up every morning trying to find him. The last few days he ended up in upstairs in their rooms and they thought that was pretty cool that the elf ended up in their rooms.

Julianne said that one of her friends did not believe in Santa and she did not really question it. Then D heard her say after she looked at her Santa gift that, "he is really real." So that was great to hear. I hope she holds onto that imagination and spirit. I know that the younger kids will probably find out earlier than she does so it will be nice to keep that dream alive.

My mom and grandma were in town so that was nice to have the additional company. D's mom and step dad came for Christmas Eve dinner and then came up in the morning for breakfast. We ended the evening by going to my sisters for Christmas dinner. The kids played really well with her kids and they had a great time.

Our New Year's Eve was spent at a neighbors house. Julianne spent the night at a friends house so we definitely missed her but she had a good time. We ended up leaving the neighbors around 11:15 and told the kids that the night was over. We got them in bed and was able to watch the ball drop by ourselves. So the Holiday season was great and pretty uneventful.

Nathan had an asthma episode a few days before Christmas. This was the first time he actually talked about it and expressed his feelings about it. He told D that his asthma makes him cry. I slept with him that night and he woke up around 1:00 am and said that he was scarred as he touched his chest. He was definitely breathing really rapidly so we did a treatment and I gave him some antihistamines. The next day he was better and bounced back pretty quickly. He must have had a cold because a few days later I got it and I did have a lot of junk in my lungs. So I am sure it affected him a little more than an allergy episode.

We are not back to the swing of things and regular life. The kids were tired today and told our babysitter that they needed some time off of school. So they are trying to adjust as well. The Christmas tree and ornaments are gone and the house is back to normal, well at least as normal as it can be with construction occurring. The addition is moving along pretty fast. They already have the inside framed and just this week we were able to go into the master bedroom. It looks like it will be a great space for us. The room is about the same size as our other bedroom we will just have a larger bathroom and closet. I am looking forward to the new, lighter space, the upstairs laundry room and our new mudroom. I still have glimpses of guilt because we don't really need it and our house is great without it. However, the space will be well used so I keep remembering that.

Pictures from my dad's early Christmas


Julianne loving her new Uggs

Nathan just had to try his new remote control car in the snow. We told him it may short the car but he insisted. Sure enough it did short the car but once it dried it worked again.

Cousin time


Waking up the girls on Christmas morning.


Santa gifts. Julianne recieved an American Girl doll horse, Mallory got a fairy house and Nathan recieved a Bat house.


Some Christmas chaos

We got Nathan a Nascar race car set. It is an older fashion on where you have the triggers and you try not to run the cars off the tracks. The kids had a ball with it.




After opening the gifts the girls had massive pretend play time.

Gigi got the boy cousins these spy glasses and they loved them.


Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-Our great holiday season
-Visiting with family
-Nathan picking our pink heart rocks for the girls
-Julianne and Mallory buying me dollar store rings
-The thoughtful gifts from D