Christmas 07

It was a good one this year! It FELT like Christmas. Maybe it was the snow...all the family around...the kids actually understanding it all??? Although, I foresee problems distinguishing between Santa and Jesus' birthday!!! I was surprised at how quickly Porter and Piper caught on to it all...naming each person in the nativity and how they relate to one another. Smarties. Piper was a trooper this year and sat on Santa's lap without hesitation, telling him what she wanted (a kitchen which of course, she got!). Porter was the scaredy cat saying "NO NO" when we got him close to Santa...but he made sure to yell out his requests to Santa as we left (TOOLS!!!!). We got plenty of snow all thru December, just missing fresh falling powder on Christmas Day. It was still covering the ground, so I considered it a white Christmas anyway! Kristine, my mom, and Patrick were all here and Aunt Jerri, cousins Matt and Joe and new cousin Nicole were here right before. We had a wonderful candle light service at church on Christmas Eve and we decided to take the kids in with us rather than their classroom since it was a special occasion. To all of our surprise, they were so well-behaved...I couldn't have hoped for better. They loved the music and lighting the candles, too! I think Porter may like the candle part a little TOO much! Christmas morning was magical...except we all had to wake the kids up rather than them waking us up!! But, after the day is done, I always feel a little sad...I should have savored it more, given more, focused on the REAL reason for the season more. I guess that's why it's not about ONE day...but everyday...how because Jesus came as God in the flesh on that holy night, I can say Merry Christmas all year round!

Snow and Sickness...

Well, today started out wonderful! We walked out of the gym into huge snowflakes falling and covering everything! We carefully drove home in a sea of white and hurried in to get on our snow gear that we bought months ago for this very day...snow coats, boots, gloves, etc. We played outside and took pictures of our first, official Kansas snow (Tyler and I actually had our first in April when we were here to buy our house!). Back inside (because Porter said his hands were too cold...Piper would have stayed out all day), Porter started saying his tummy hurt. I didn't really think too much of it, especially after he pooped later:) However, 30 minutes into their nap, I heard him and went to go check and he had obviously leaned over, out of his bed and thrown up all on Piper's bed and all over her head (she's on the bottom trundle). The sad, but funny part was she was STILL asleep! I took his clothes and sheets off and Piper finally woke up, and after the initial shock and short freak-out session, she was very good about it as was Porter. I cleaned everything up, bathed them and just as I was dressing them...the puke fest started. For the past 8 hours, I've been cleaning up throw up and/or holding a head over a bucket about every 30 minutes from not one, but BOTH of my children. They have been lethargic, but so sweet. We called the nurse and she said it's a bad bug going around that will just run it's course. We finally got Porter to hold some liquids and Piper's on her way. Maybe we can enjoy the snow more tomorrow:) Let's HOPE!