Christmas Break Part 2

So Aaron has decided to grow a beard this break. Now that he's the scout master he feels a bit more freedom. :) He looks good. 

Unfortunately the day after Christmas Brooke took a turn for the worse and we found sores on her tongue and mouth. So I took her to a minor emergency clinic that was open the day after Christmas. They told us she had the Herpes virus in her mouth. So they gave me a few prescriptions and one of them was a numbing cream so that she could eat and drink which she hadn't been doing. So we picked up the meds and packed up and drove to Arlington to do Christmas with my family. 

Well the drive was horrible, the traffic was bad and Brooke was screaming the whole time. We still coudn't get her to eat or drink. She wanted to so badly but each time she tried she just screamed and threw the bottle out. Then she just got too scared to even try. Her doctor had told me she needed to urinate 3 times in 24 hours and we were at about 10 hours without urinating so we were really pushing it but she just wouldn't do it. 

We finally go to Arlington and the Cs ran off with their cousins and started having fun. They were so excited to have fun with their cousins. After awhile we opened the presents and Camilla was a machine again. Carson was really into this as well. He got a lot of Pokemon and he was in heaven with it all. He also got a nerf gun and loved it. Camilla was thrilled with each of her gifts. Poor Brooke didn't get to do anything, she was just crying and screaming so we decided to just put her to bed. 

Well Carson decided he wanted to spend the night with Sheppard and left with them but after they pulled out of the driveway he changed his mind and wanted out of the car. He thought they had stopped and jumped out of the car but Cory was backing up and ran over his foot. So I was putting Camilla to bed and I hear screaming so I run into the living room and find Carson screaming. Well after he calmed down he was fine. He could move his ankle and I knew it wasn't broken it was swollen up so we got some ice on it and he showed my mom all his new Pokemon cards. Then I finally got the 2 big kids down and Brooke was up again and upset. So Aaron and my Dad gave her a blessing and we decided to make a bed for her on our floor and she slept all night long. That was a huge blessing. We didn't think she would sleep at all. 

Tuesday morning Brooke seemed better and even drank some milk and water but then she stopped again and started with her screaming. At this point we are at almost 24 hours without urinating and we just wanted to get Brooke home to her own bed and so we can try and get her to the doctor again. 

I went for a run with my brother, finally! And then we were off. 

Well on the drive I talked to Brooke's doctor and the doctor that saw her and we called Uncle Spencer and everyone said we needed to get her into the hospital. We were at over 24 hours without urinating and they said she was severely dehydrated and we needed to get an IV right away. Well we were still driving home and so we dropped off me and the other kids at the house and Aaron took her straight to the children's ER by our house. 

She got right in and they got started on treating her. At this point we were at over 30 hours without urinating, she had stopped talking and there were no tears when she cried. Poor thing, it was very sad. 

She got an IV and was a champ. Soon after her IV she went to the bathroom but it was still work to get her to drink. They put pain meds in her IV as well. Aaron did a good job taking care of her and convinced her to give some juice a try. As soon as she tried it she couldn't be stopped. 

Aaron took her to get a prize for being so good at the hospital. When she came home she was talking to me, oh how I had missed that sweet voice. Oh man I loved seeing her walking and talking. 

She told Camilla she would share her play doh with her because she loves the color purple. Everyone was so happy to have Brookey back home.  

Brooke slowly got better each day and we are so happy to have our girl back. 

Wednesday was a busy day with unpacking and cleaning and trying to get organized again so we decided the kids needed a fun night out. We took the kids to get dinner and then we went to Chuck E. Cheese. The kids had a great time. 

Then on Thursday we decided to have friends over for a play date (which turned out to be a disaster, we won't be having another play date for awhile). Carson finished his swim camp that afternoon and got second place in the relays, he is a champ. 

Friday I needed to get the kids out of the house for a bit, they have been fighting a lot this holiday break. So Spencer wasn't feeling well so I left him home with Aaron to take a long nap and me and the kids went to the gym for awhile. Then we divided up and Aaron took the Carson to get a hair cut, how handsome is this boy? And then he took the girls to get their nails painted because they missed out on doing that at Grandma's house and were very sad to miss it. (We were only in Arlington for about 15 hours).

Friday night the kids went for a night run so Carson could get his 10,000 steps and he wanted to try out his new head lamp. 

Now we are busy planning our New Years Eve party. Its going to be very exciting! 

Christmas Day

So this Christmas was magical. I wish that I could bottle up the feeling of the day and keep it with me always. The kids woke up after 7 so we were pretty happy with that. Spencer slept in making it much easier on all of us. :) Camilla was the first one up and couldn't contain her excitement. Poor Brookey woke up with a fever and wasn't herself but mostly just wanted us to hold her and sit in our laps, which we never mind. The kids went down the stairs one at a time and Camilla was so happy to find her scooter and a new Princess in Black book. Carson came next and first checked out Camilla's loot and then started reading his note from Santa for tennis lessons with Dad. They were very happy to see that Santa ate all their cookies and fed his reindeer the celery. Then they read the note from Santa that let them know their big surprise was in the back yard. They ran out back and were very happy to see the brand new fire pit! 

Then we began the present opening. Camilla was a maniac she couldn't get enough of it all. 

Brooke was slow to open her presents but loved her food set. 

Carson got a new Calvin and Hobbs book and he was distracted the rest of the time reading. 

Brooke loved her fairy dress up. 

Then we played with our new toys for awhile and then we went to church. It was a lovely sacrament meeting but sweet Brooke wasn't feeling very well. She came home and took a very long nap. 

For dinner the Petersons came over so we could test out the new fire pit. Isn't she lovely? 

First we did a short nativity. The kids did great. Camilla insisted right away that she be Mary and she was perfect. She took very good care of baby Jesus. 

There is always a sweet spirit when we act out the nativity. 

Then it was time to get the fire going. The kids loved making their hot dogs over the fire pit. 

The food was awesome. Aaron made burgers and sausage on the grill and Jamie brought yummy side dishes. 

Aaron hung up some lights on the tree and they were lovely. 

It was a perfect night and then we roasted s'mores. 

It was just one of those nights when the kids all played happily, Brooke stayed upstairs watching a movie most of the time and we just hung out and talked. 

I loved looking over and seeing my boy eating s'mores and reading Calvin and Hobbs. I so love this boy. 

Merry Christmas Everyone. This is a year we will always remember. It is such a special time of year. 

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve started off with us finishing up a few projects, running a few last minute errands and me going on a horrible run. Then we got started on all the Christmas festivities. I made a fancy dinner and the kids made special drinks. Then it was time to make cookies for Santa. The kids wanted to make extra yummy cookies so that Santa would bring them more presents. 

These cookies were dang good. They each made one for Santa and one for themselves. Well Camilla made like 4 for Santa later and Carson ate a bunch for himself. :) 

We took some family selfies before we watched Elf.  

Love this little family of mine. 

After we watched Elf and did baths we got the kids to bed. We let them all sleep together in the girls' room and they were just so excited! 

Then it was time for Santa to get to work. 

Santa and those reindeer really needed to work hard to get the fire pit all ready to go. I sent a text to my parents while we were working asking them if they ever got any sleep on Christmas Eve. Lol.

We actually got done around midnight and everything looked perfect. We were so excited for the kids to wake up. 

Christmas Break

We watched UT take it all the way to the finals and then loose to Stanford. It was a heart breaking loss but Stanford outplayed them. 

We finally pulled the trigger on getting moving on our path. Once we decided to get moving the ball just kept rolling. We brought in our tree guy to take out the trees that were in the way and help clear out some of the landscaping. 

I took the kids to a birthday party at a large arcade one morning. The kids had a blast and Carson, as usual, blew through his tokens. Ha ha I stayed with Brooke and she loved playing all the games. Camilla ran around with her friends the whole time. 

When we got home the yard looked very different. 

On Sunday we decided to deliver treats to our neighbors. The girls were the only ones tough enough to brave the freezing temperatures. Camilla insisted on wearing her Santa hat. 

My little elves. 

Everyone loved having their treats delivered by these two cuties. 

Carson and Aaron had a late night date to do some shopping. They also stopped to get some ice cream. 

Camilla has been doing crafts the whole break. She made these glasses out of some materials that she found in the backyard from all the materials Aaron is using on the path. 

We decided to do gingerbread houses on the night Aaron was playing tennis. It went alright but the house fell apart a few times. It is hard to get the house to stick together, I tried super glue! 

Carson lost interest in about 2 minutes. Brookey was having fun but just kind of put a few pieces on. Camilla worked hard on it the whole time. She wanted to make it look just like the box. She works so hard. 

We have had some fabulous weather and trying to spend time outside. We had a fun afternoon at the park and the kids loved taking turns sliding with Spencer. 

The kids have all tried to help Dad with the path. Aaron has been working sun up to sun down on the path. 

This was his life for an entire week. We sure missed him but man the path looks beautiful. 

I was going a little crazy so one night Aaron came in when it got dark and immediately we packed up dinner for the kids and he took them to see Trolls at the dollar theater. The kids were thrilled! They had a great time and I loved being home with just Spencer. I cleaned the whole house while they were gone and greatly enjoyed some alone time after Spencer went to bed. The kids loved this movie. 

Aaron finished up the path just in time for the kids to ask Santa to bring us a fire pit. :) 

Christmas Time

It is starting to look like Christmas around this place. Aaron put the lights up all around the house. They look beautiful. Aaron has to be pretty creative because we have no outdoor outlets which is crazy. 

We also picked out a tree and the kids loved decorating it. Camilla especially loved going through each ornament and knowing right where she wanted to put it on the tree. 

The kids love that they each have ornaments from the year they were born.

Camilla had a winter performance at dance class. I mean isn't she so graceful? I know she's only five but look how beautiful!

We had a slight mix up with Spencer's stocking. Ha ha. I ordered the wrong, non returnable, size from Pottery Barn. So it just looks like we love Spencer the most and he can fit inside his stocking. :) 

Carson had a winter performance also at school. 

We all went and cheered for our sweet boy. He did a great job.  

All of the kids had parties at school. Aaron went to every single one of them. He was the only parent at Brooke's school but she sure was happy to have him there. The next day was Camilla's party. She loves her friends. 

Then straight to Carson's party. They had great games and Carson was very happy. He hardly had time for Aaron. 

Love, love, love my boys. 

Now its just a countdown until school is out and Christmas break is on!!