I found this post sitting in my drafts from early December. Makes my head hurt just skimming through...next year will definitely be simpler or I may officially lose my marbles! I still need to upload our Christmas pictures but until then, here's a leading-up-to-the-Christmas-season recap.
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Here we are. Flung right on into the winter season and I'm caught looking around wondering how in jiminy crickets we got here so fast. The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind to say the least. In the last 2 weeks: (1) I did everything to prepare for family portraits, including haircuts for whole family, shopping for clothes, ironing of clothes, gathering props, looking up photo ideas, getting everybody dressed/ready etc. etc. etc. (is it just me or do we all over-complicate family photo sessions?? Talk about a lot of work and stress!); (2) baked cupcakes for Harrison's birthday celebration at his school; (3) baked 6 pumpkin bread loaves and packaged it up for teachers' gifts to let them all know how thankful we are for them; (4) made food for the kids' feast at school; (5) family portraits got canceled at the last minute due to weather so I was able to go to a friend's baby shower; (6) took kids to the doctor twice; (7) traveled to Dallas for Thanksgiving; (9) drove back Friday and then kids were in a wedding up in Conroe on Saturday; (10) cooked/baked/decorated for Harrison's birthday party on Sunday; (11) Christmas advent service at church on Sunday night; (12) Monday was his actual birthday and it was a full day of celebration; (13) Wednesday we had our make-up photo session so I got to pack everything up and get everybody dressed and ready again, (14) finally got our Christmas decorations down out of the attic and put up; (15) did all our Christmas shopping and wrapped all the gifts since we're about to leave on vacation (!!!!!!!!!!!!); (16) went to our small group Christmas party; (17) went to a friend's birthday party; (18) kids sang on stage at church yesterday. WHEW! I really have no idea why I just typed all of that out other than to serve as a reminder to myself next year to not make myself so crazy. Holy moly. It looked good on the calendar but living it out was a little chaotic!
And now for a few pictures to go along with my summary. (Who am I kidding? I don't know how to summarize)
For the kids' school feast, teachers asked each child what their favorite food dish was and how to make it, and then the parents were asked to bring the requested dish along with the real recipe/instructions. Harper chose grapes. Harrison chose scrambled eggs. Which who doesn't love to eat at a Thanksgiving feast?? Haha.
Do you notice anything missing in the next picture? Hmm.
He told me that his dogs would have their feelings hurt if he hadn't listed them and that maybe I'll get a turn next year. Mom always gets the shaft. At least the cat didn't make the cut either.
I'll do a separate post about his birthday party but here is a picture of the Wild West scene I made out of boxes. I've never been a painter but this was fun to do! Side note: I'll bet you'll never guess who climbed to get a sharpie out of a drawer and decided to do their own "painting" on the boxes a couple of hours after I took this picture. I'll give you a hint. There were two vandals.
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I did a terrible job taking pictures at Thanksgiving. This year, my aunt and uncle hosted in Frisco. These are the only pics I managed to get:
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| my mom and uncles |
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| my cousin Addison |
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| Harrison was in heaven playing on Julian's electric guitar |
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| Harper discovered a doll house |
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| worst. co-sleepers. EVER. The red pillow is where my head was. |
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| Stopped at Taco Bueno before we left Dallas and we let the kids split a soda. They were excited about their special treat! |
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| This is a random picture but I had to take it...this van is my own worst nightmare. I don't know if you can tell, but it is PILED high with garbage. Hoarders on wheels. |
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We got home Friday and on Saturday the kids were in a wedding up in Conroe. They were beyond excited...especially since they got to wear their cowboy boots. It was a beautiful wedding!
***cue the long side note***
It's at this point I feel like I should take a minute to pass along a very important PSA. If you have children, take notice. I took Harper to the doctor Wednesday before Thanksgiving and her doctor put her on oral steroids and antibiotics for her asthma flare-ups and an ear infection. Notice two very important words in that last sentence: ORAL STEROIDS. I had no idea about their side effects. I was totally unsuspecting and naive. But I'm now very educated,
thankyouverymuch. They made Harper's behavior and temperment a little...off. Maybe "off" isn't really an adequate word. How should I put it? I guess "demon-possessed monster-child" is slightly more accurate. Which was perfect timing considering it fell over Thanksgiving, a wedding that she was a flower girl in, her brother's birthday party, and a Christmas church service. She was DEFINITELY not her sweet, normal self. Want a couple of examples? 1) She threw a fit because she wanted her snack on a pink plate, which was in the dishwasher, so like any rational person, she glared, screamed, and then bit me. 2) she kicked her shoe off while I was holding her at church and a kind elderly lady bent down to pick it up and hand it to her. This pissed her off, so she screamed "NO!!" at the lady and then chunked the shoe in her face. 3) She preferred to scowl at the wedding during pictures and refused to hold her basket. So instead, I put it on the ground next to her. Wrong move in her book. She glared at me and then kicked the basket over as hard as she could. And at the reception she was basically a feral, rabid animal rolling around on the floor under the table crying. At one point, someone tried to bribe her with m&m's, which she snatched out of their hands and shoveled into her mouth, all without letting up on the crying. Fun times for all! At her followup appointment on Monday I asked the doctor if the steroids affected behavior and he just laughed at me and said, "you mean I didn't warn you? It turns them into beasts." I was just thankful to know it was the medicine and not a phase!!!!
***and side note rant over***
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| it also didn't help that she fell asleep 10 minutes before pulling in to the wedding venue |
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| look how sweet she looked! One of only a few smiles we got out of her this day. |
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| Ring bearer and flower girl |
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| one day he'll be walking her down the isle |
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| this is where it all started going south |
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| Harrison felt like such a stud walking with all the men |
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| dancing with the beautiful bride |
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| his first taste of rejection...this girl did NOT want to dance with him and he wasn't picking up on her signals. Hahaha! |
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| such a ham |
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| Ashley & I after the wedding |
It's one of my NY resolutions to get our blog updated and finish all of the 20 draft posts I have sitting around being neglected, so stay tuned. I know you will be anxiously awaiting on the edge of your seats. ;)
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