Playing Catch-up

The Blog has taken a big back-seat to life lately. Just keeping up with all 3 girls, their activities and managing my house takes up more hours than I have in a day! By the time we get the last child to bed around 9pm, I have no desire to blog. I just want to hang out with my husband, visit him and relax and/or watch mindless TV (hello Duck Dynasty!) for a bit before we crash. As a result, much of November is lumped together in my attempt to get it all on here.

Since Addison was having surgery the Monday before Thanksgiving, we broke my no-decorations-before-Christmas rule and decorated the weekend before Thanksgiving, while she was feeling well. Good thing, because she wouldn't have been able to help at all, had we waited. The girls all put trees in their room, and although Tommy moved on to MARS in May, I still put up my Coke tree.

I love the trees and lights and most of all the delight it brings my children, but to be totally honest, it is December 8th, and the decorations are already starting to drive me a little crazy! As beautiful as they are, they are also a bit cluttered and part of me longs for the peace and order of my regular decorations.

On the Monday before Thanksgiving, Addison and I arrived bright and early (before daylight) to Children's Hospital to have her tonsils and adenoids removed. I have put this surgery off for 6 months, but after determining that she did need to have it done, we booked that day so she would only miss 2 days of school, but have a week to recover. Children's Hospital is amazing and the stuffed animal, balloon and wheelchair went a long way to making her feel better. This surgery is ROUGH! My girl has a high pain tolerance and it served her well throughout recovery. The poor girl seems to have an adverse affect to pain medication and she can not sleep while taking them! It made for a long week. She spent 4 solid days in bed and 3 more barely moving around the house. She ate lots and lots of ice cream, Popsicles and frozen yogurt tubes. She did go back to school on the 8th day and only came home early twice that week. The sweet school nurse was very helpful and accommodating, we kept her freezer stocked with Popsicles and Addison made daily visits down for pain meds, a Popsicle and a short rest on the cot. We are three weeks out now, and she seems to be back to 100%. I am thankful to have that procedure behind us! Thanks so much to all the friends and family that called, provided meals and sent her gifts. We felt very loved.

Reagan's kindergarten had Open House. She was an outstanding tour guide, showing us around her classroom and specials classes. She loves school and we are so proud of how well she is doing.

 

We have baked lots of holiday treats. You know Addison doesn't feel well when she is missing out on the licking of the spoons! Notice the blue sundresses in the middle of winter? Gracyn LOVES this dress. She asks to wear it everyday and can't because, it is 50 degrees outside. However, the minute we come in the house from our daily activities, she goes straight to her room and puts it on. EVERYDAY! Sometimes she talks Reagan into putting on her matching one.

Same dress, different day. Thankful for a beautiful, warm and sunny day to put up our outside decorations. I set up a chair and blankets outside for Addison, but she never made it out. She got from our bed to the couch that day and couldn't go any farther.The rest of us had fun enjoying the day and setting up the yard.

Gracyn decorated Gingerbread Houses with her class. The kids were adorable....they just piled and piled candy on their little houses. Miss Megan let them lick the spoons from their icing for a few minutes. When she went to take Gracyn's away for the trash, I thought she might have to wrestle her for it. Gracyn was not ready to give it up!

Another blue dress picture. She has her "Dad" tattoo on. The tattoos were actually part of the small group bible study that Tommy and I are leading. We were supposed to wear them to remind us of God's love for us, but our children got to them first!

Our children toilet-papered our room. They got the idea from our naughty elf, Trixie! He rolled Addison's room one night while she slept and they were inspired. Tommy and I knew exactly what they were doing when they wanted to give us a "surprise" in our room. We just let them have their fun and enjoyed our 10 minutes alone on the couch while they worked!

Reagan joined Daisy Scouts!

She had her little ceremony to join, which was fun for the whole family. I am not sure how I feel about the whole Girl Scouts thing. Many of the activities they strive to do are things we do regularly as a family, so I wasn't sure about paying dues and adding another thing to our schedule, but the group is all sweet, special little girls we know, love and want to foster friendships with, so we went for it. She is having a blast so far. Ask me how I feel next month when we are selling cookies!



Gracyn got to bring home the class fish, "Gus". He came to spend the weekend with us and we documented our activities with him.

 

Trixie the Elf joined us from the North Pole. This might be the most favorite holiday tradition in our house! The girls are ecstatic to find him each morning and he is always coming up with new mischievous things to do. He has ridden the American Girl horses, played on their Gymnastics equipment, toilet papered bedrooms, eaten candy and brought treats and notes to the girls.

 

How is that for November in a lump? Add in an ear infection for one child, a sinus infection for Daddy, final days of physical therapy for me as well as oral surgeon visits about wisdom teeth, lots more fun activities, Nutcracker rehearsals and just everyday life to complete the picture. November went by in a flash and December promises to do the same. May we take a break in all the chaos and fun to remember the reason for this season.