Christmas festivities

  The past couple of weeks have been wonderful!  My wonderful mother in law, Linda, arrived a week and a half ago. Right when Linda walked in the door, Kate squealed and did a happy dance as she ran into the living room to then turn right back around and run the other way! She definitely got her shy bone from me. We had a happy few days in Del Rio, shopping, running errands, and getting ready for Christmas, and then headed out to San Antonio on Friday.
  First stop, to see Santa!  We didn't get to see the Bass Pro Shop Santa like we had hoped (his free tickets sold out), but the Sam's Club Santa made Kate just as happy!  ...Abby, not so much.

  We had a great time enjoying the city Friday afternoon and all day Saturday. Saturday evening, I ran my half marathon with Melanie Strong and did way better than I thought I could. 2 hours and 3 minutes!!

  Sunday morning the hotel does a weekly rubber ducky race in their wading pool for the kids staying at the hotel. The kids decorate a duck and then all are dumped into the pool at the start of the race.  We weren't paying a ton of attention till we noticed Kate's duck was towards the front of the pack. Her duck ended up winning third place and she won a stuffed elf!
  We then checked out of the hotel and headed to Denny's with the Strongs. Breakfast was delicious but more importantly, fun for the kids. They were laughing up a storm and having a blast with each other, all while getting some food into their tummys.
  Tuesday Paka arrived. Kate was thrilled!  We had been telling her all week that she couldn't open presents till Paka was here. I realized the day before Russ arrived that Kate was planning on opening presents right when he arrived and so I explained we had to wait one more day after Paka arrives to open presents. She understood well enough because we all survived Christmas eve just fine!
  While Andrew was driving to the airport to pick up Russ on Tuesday, Linda, the girls and I went over to the Strongs to make and decorate Christmas cookies. Kate complained of a tummy ache after we got home. I'm sure it had a lot to do with all the cookie dough and frosting she was eating... which means she had a wonderful time!

  Christmas eve morning, all six of us went to gymnastics to cheer on Kate.  She was fairly overwhelmed with all the support she was getting and was not happy the first half of class.  She eventually warmed up to everyone and had a great second half of gymnastics.

  After we got home, we put all the Christmas goodies we had previously baked onto plates to be delivered to our friends. We then delivered our goodies with a 10 second snippet of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".  I have gone over to the other side...of mommyhood, and decided to make my family sing while delivering Christmas goodies. Something I slightly dreaded when I was a child, but still have good memories of doing. 
  Our day of being out and about was finally done and we were able to sit down and enjoy ourselves, for one minute, before throwing the girls into the tub for a quick bath. We then opened one present, matching family pajamas, and sent the girls to bed so Santa could come.

  Santa did a wonderful job of setting up presents and I'm sure he had a ton of fun getting everything perfect for Kate and Abby's first Christmas at home. Once Kate woke up, it was go time. Everyone else got up before she was allowed out of her room and cameras were at the ready! ...well, one camera. Mine was dead.

  Santa ended up bringing a toy train and a Anna doll for Kate and a teddy bear and elephant toy for Abby. Kate was super excited about her toys and then saw Abby's new toys. I thought we might have a problem but after I told Kate Santa had brought them for Abby she excitedly took them over to Abby to show her her new things.
  We opened presents for a while and didn't get around to opening a few of the girls's presents because they were so happily playing with their new toys. (We did eventually open them at the end of the day.)

  Breakfast was delicious. I was able to Skype with my family while my little brother, who is on a mission, was skyping them. It was great seeing him but hard saying goodbye. I'm so proud of him and the work he is doing. Andrew and Russ went shooting in the afternoon and dinner was in the evening. It was a wonderful day and we feel so blessed for all our family and friends that love and care about us.

  I love the Christmas season. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for giving the world the greatest gift, his son, Jesus Christ. He truly is the reason for the season.

House full of sickos

  The past three weeks have been full of one sickness after the other. This time of year Andrew seems to get sick and then stay sick forever, however, the rest of us are usually fine. Not the case this year as you can see by the picture below.

  Three weeks ago Kate had pink eye and an ear infection. Two weeks ago Kate threw up all over the Durango. Two days later Andrew and I caught what she had. A few days after that Abby got pink eye and Kate a double ear infection. They both are now working on getting over the latter string of germs but I now have a cold and can barely breathe out of my nose. Not to mention, every time I bend down my head feels as if it is going to burst.
  With all those sicknesses set aside, and forgetting about Andrew's ridiculous-drawn out-crappy work situation, we are doing great!
  We are SO excited for Christmas!!  Grammy is arriving Monday, Friday is my half marathon, Paka is arriving the following Tuesday and then a couple days later is Christmas!!!
  Kate is kinda understanding what is going on.  She loves helping me wrap presents and putting them under the tree.  We baked gingerbread men last week, which she also loved. Every time we go to Wally World she spots at least two dozen Santa's. I feel like my excitement makes her excited and then me seeing her get excited makes me even more excited!  It's a wonderful circle to be in.
 I still have a few more presents to get and make and wrap.  My goal is to have everything ready, wrapped and sent by the time Linda gets here so we can just enjoy our time together as a family and not have to worry about running around last minute.  It is looking to be a wonderful time of year!