Sick

Last Monday night, just over a week ago, Lily woke up with the stomach virus.  It carried over into Tuesday around lunch.  Ever since, our house has been in a constant state of sick.  It took Lily all day Wednesday and Thursday to recover from the stomach bug.  Friday morning we were ready to send her to school and she woke up with a rash all over her body (which has never happened to any of our kids before).  Friday after lunch, Austin began throwing up.  Poor Austin continued this ALL NIGHT LONG.  He really had a bad case of the virus.  Also on Friday night, Peyton began to run a fever of 101.  We watched him through the night, but by Saturday morning it was up to 102.6.  So off to the doctor we went and he was sent for an RSV test, a flu test, and a chest x-ray.  The RSV and flu were negative, and the radiologist didn't see anything on the x-ray.  My doctor was a little concerned about one spot in his lungs, but we decided to watch him overnight and see if his fever went down on its own.  Well, then his fever got up to 103.  So she decided to call us in some antibiotics and treat him for pneumonia.  Sunday, Daniel began to complain of his stomach hurting and showed other signs of the stomach virus...if you know what I mean..(I won't go into grave detail).  So yesterday, everyone stayed home from school.  Obviously we have been doing a whole lot of laying around and TV watching around here.  Since they were on the mend (so I thought), they wanted to paint yesterday, and I let them...

 They decided to write love notes to everyone in our family.  Note to family members...they weren't done yet, so if you don't see your name....never fear...I'm pretty sure they ended up covering EVERYONE! :)  As you can see, Daniel's were very efficient.....just like a man.  Same color, same saying...just a different name on each one.

 Lily on the other hand, took her time.  And changed colors with each line (so she put it).  And as you can also see, when she runs out of room...it's no problem.  She just puts it anywhere else it'll fit.  As long as all the letters make it on the page that's all that matters.  She actually has gotten much better with this when she writes, but I guess when you paint there are different rules....I mean it is harder after all. :)

 And I think Austin just put every color on his page and never dipped his brush in the water in between.  And he just did one and then was done.  I'm not sure who this masterpiece is supposed to go to...he named many different names while he was painting it.  I guess we can cut it into multiple pieces and send it to each person? :)

 And I just had to include this one.  My Papaw passed away a year and a half ago.  So Lily said she would take this one to heaven with her so she could give it to him.  So sweet.

I was thinking we were on the mend yesterday...until Jason woke up this morning feeling sick, and Daniel threw up.  Who knows why it seems that the virus has to wait 3 full days before it can implant into the next person in our family?  I sure don't.  But hopefully we can be in the clear soon!  Hope you all have a wonderful, germ-free day! :)

Star Day

Our little Lily girl was the Star Student of the Month in her class for the month of January!  We are so proud of her!!  And she was quite proud of herself too!  We found out around mid-January that she had received this award.  The Star Assembly, the short little ceremony at school where they recognized her, was scheduled for the beginning of February.  Lily couldn't wait.  She was writing notes left and right saying "Lily is a star."  She was constantly asking, "How much longer?"  She had her outfit picked out for over a week.  And then...of all things, the week of the Star Assembly, I think we had a 2 hour delay everyday due to the weather.  So it had to be postponed.  Finally, last Wednesday, was the Star Assembly.  Lily was so cute. 

 As you can see all the other kids were dressed in their normal school clothes.  Not Lily.  She was all decked out in her favorite dress, necklace, and of course, her high heels.  After all, this was a very special occasion.  And she was soo serious too.  It was absolutely adorable.

 The principal giving Lily her reward...

 We kept trying to get a picture of her afterwards.  She hasn't quite mastered the smile without looking like she's worried or in pain.  :)

Oh, she is such a cute little princess.  We sure do love our little Star and are so very proud of her!!  Way to go Lily!!

A Trip to the Studio...

A couple of weeks ago, we took a trip to Sears to get the kids' pictures made.  I haven't had them made in a very long time.  And I needed a 3 month picture of Peyton to match the other kids' adorable 3 month pics hanging over my fireplace.  So we took off.  As expected, it was quite an ordeal trying to get 4 kids to all smile....I take that back...JUST LOOK at the camera at the same time!  I wasn't super happy with how they turned out overall, but we definitely got a few really good ones out of the whole experience.  Here's a peek...

 

 As you can see, these...

 And these...

...are the ones I am not exactly fond of.  We could not seem to get a decent one of the 4 kids or the family....which was not too fun.  I think after the whole entire experience, we have decided to start taking our pictures at home from now on...but I am glad I got some cute ones of the baby and of each of the kids individually.  So that's that!  AND...only 3 more days 'til Christmas!!  We're getting pretty excited around here!!

This Week...

 Merry almost Christmas!  I am getting pretty excited!  I am pretty much done with my Christmas shopping...and wrapping!  Just a few more things to pick up and wrap...a little bit of caroling to do this weekend...a candlelight service to go to....a 4am wake-up call on Christmas morning....and then off to Tennessee!!  Whoo hoo!  I'm excited!  Have I mentioned that yet?  I didn't think so. 

Meanwhile, we've been going about life as normal.  This week...between school Christmas parties, wrestling, and the usual fixing dinner, laundry, dishes, baths, changing diapers, baby feeding, etc., etc., etc., I have felt at every moment of the last 3 days that I always have about 6-10 things I could be doing.  It has been a little overwhelming at moments, but today I paused for just a moment, in our extremely cluttery house, and reminded myself that my kids are only young once...and that if they are loved and taken care of that day...it's still a successful day.  It really is ok that the house looks like a tornado came through.  That being said...after getting the kids from school and finding out neither had any homework...I took the hour we had before church started and zipped around the house like a crazy woman at least putting everything in its place.  Ahh..it does feel better not having everything everywhere.  In the middle of all the craziness, we did have a little battle one morning with our little Austin.  He doesn't like spinach...at all.  So we decided to try the ole'...go on to bed now and you can just eat it for breakfast in the morning...trick.  Austin, of course, very much lives in the moment...so he wasn't thinking much about how horrible eating it for breakfast would be.  But he found out...

 But we followed through!  He almost threw up several times while eating it, but he did it!  And now I am very temped to never fix spinach again...at least for a long time....of course, I will...I'm just tempted.  :)
And here's my precious baby...the poor guy has really had a battle with cradle cap, but we got some special cream and some medicine and already after one day we are looking MUCH better!

 I've also been getting lots of these special letters lately.  This one was from Daniel (Btw...on the inside there was a little note that said..."I like you" in it).  Melt my heart!

 Love him...

So, there's life for us in a couple of days...I feel like this post was a little all over the place, but that's ok.  It'll be so much fun to look back on a year from now and read.  :) 

Children's Christmas Program

Tonight was the our Children's Christmas Program at church.  This is always one of my favorite nights of the year in all the churches we've been a part of.  It is one of the most adorably unpredictable nights, and that's exactly what makes it so great.  If you didn't have a few kids say funny things, or do funny things...it just wouldn't be the same.  Have I mentioned how much I love it? Granted...I do have my own precious babies up there and that does sweeten the pot for me too.  :)  Here's the first song they did...Party in the Sky.  It was such a cute song...and I can't explain it, b/c it's a very upbeat song, but when they sang it...I felt the tears welling up in my eyes.  Something about it gets me all choked up.  I don't know if its the adorableness of them up there, or seeing them so happy...or because my own kids are getting so big...or all of the above reasons.  But regardless, I teared...and it was a great song and the kids did a great job...

 About halfway through the song, Lily realized her wings weren't sitting on her back perfectly.  So she was a little preoccupied for a bit...

 And then sweet little Kyle joined all the kids up on the stage.  He hadn't been to any of the practices because he is only 2.  But it absolutely made my night that he walked up there like he owned the stage and joined the big kids.  He is so adorable!

 Singing loud and proud!

  I just loved it.  I loved the kids.  I loved the songs.  I loved the whole program.  Have I mentioned that yet? :)  Merry Christmas!!