Christmas

Christmas this year didn't exactly turn out as expected.  As soon as Poppy got off the bus on her last day of school before vacation, she had a temperature and some yucky cold symptoms...

We did lots of snuggling on the couch and had to miss one family party in Rochester, but then Poppy seemed to be feeling better on Christmas eve so we headed out to do our rounds of parties...

Both Poppy and Sam were sooooo excited to wake up on Christmas morning.  It is so fun to watch the excitement of it all through their eyes...

 {one of her favorite gifts from Santa was this nutcracker snow globe}

{and Sammy loves his collection of Thomas books} 

I got this cool record player/stereo from Santa and my favorite part of the whole morning is when "Drummer Boy" started playing on the radio.  Sammy dropped was he was doing and sat down right in front of the stereo and stared at where the beautiful music was coming from.  He quickly shushed anyone that was talking and he just sat there and stared and listened until the song was over.  It was adorable.

After the excitement of gift giving was over, everyone took nice long naps and then we headed over to Uncle Scott & Aunt Jessica's for some family time...

Unfortunately Poppy's fever was back by the time she went to bed on Christmas night, but I was so thankful that she felt good enough to be able to spend the day with family.  (and also thankful that she didn't pass this virus along to any cousins!!!)

Bright and early the next day we were at the doctors office where they told us it was probably the flu.

{how sad is that puffy little face?!}

After a few days rest and lots of more snuggling together, Poppy made a full recovery and we went to my cousins absolutely beautiful new house for another family party...

Aunt Sue gave Poppy and Amelia these adorable sparkly outfits and Poppy has barely taken hers off since then...

Unfortunately, the next day both Sammy and Marc woke up with fevers...  :(

They both had the flu and then Sam had an ear infection and then Marc's turned into bronchitis/ beginning stages of pnuemonia.  Luckily, I was able to get a script for tamiflu from my doc so that I could stay healthy and play nurse for almost 2 weeks straight!

Luckily, today is that first day that everyone is just about back to normal.  We've paid our dues - no more sickies around here!!!

So Christmas definitely did not turn out as I expected it to, but a little part of me is actually glad that everyone got the flu because it forced us to stay home.  Ever since going back to work, I can barely remember a single day that I got to just stay home and be with my family.  Although I was expecting to go to a lot more parties and go shopping and to the movies and have lots of playdates and go out for fun dinners, etc over the break, I enjoyed every minute of staying home taking care of my family.  It was just what the doctor ordered for this mama.

December (part 2)

 {Poppy and I went to see The Nutcracker.  She loved it.}

............

We had new friends over for a playdate...

After we made our little Snoopy gingerbread houses, we went on our annual trip to have breakfast inside of the big gingerbread house...

{No touching!}

 {Busted!}

.............

{We made lots of cookies this month!}

............

We created an assembly line for our Christmas cards...

{My little "helpers" turned out to be quite productive!}

...........

 We went to Poppy's school for an adorable Christmas show, followed by a Puerto Rican lunch for the parents.  Poppy did a great job singing songs with her class.  I snapped a pic of her letter to us that was displayed with others outside of her classroom...

{We are so proud of how great she is doing at school and how much she loves it!}

{horsey rides at Uma's}

{Uma & Upa}

{Poor Poppy has been sick for the past couple of days, but luckily she woke up today and is back to her good ol' self!}

December (part 1)

And another month passes in the blink of an eye.  Here's what we've been up to around here lately...

We had Marc's family over to make his grandmother's recipe for ravioli...

 {Poppy was quite the helper}

{Sammy (and his blankie) wake up just in time}

{Say cheese!}

.................

The first snowy weekend we had, we hiked through the forest (or tree farm) to find the perfect tree...

 {it was so cold that Poppy and I voted on the first tree we saw}

 {it took a team effort to get it back to the car}

{and another team effort to get it decorated and then Poppy got to put the star on}

..................

 

{big boy helps unload the dishwasher}

{love these two to pieces}

...........

My clerk and I did a little decorating in my new library...

..........

She diligently wrote her letter to Santa... and only had to update it a handful of times throughout the month...

More to come...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Better late then never, right?!  

We had a perfect day.  We relaxed and played at Uma & Upa's house and then had a yummy dinner with family...

{my two favorite pilgrims}

{While I napped, Poppy curled up with a book.  I could watch her read all day long.}

{Awesome hair.  He will never get it cut.  No matter how many times a store clerk asks how old "she" is, I don't care.  I love his awesome hair.}

{olive fingers!}

{The natives were getting restless waiting for their feast}

{Happy Thanksgiving!}