Christmas Prep

Ho Ho Ho!  Christmas is coming!  The girls school had a Christmas event on Thursday this past week, as well as the book fair right before it!  We had a fun time at both, and there was a nice sign out front to greet us on our way.

I caught Grayson reading a Christmas favorite story, A Very Snowy Christmas.  It feel like it's been a long time since we've read it, but it's about some mice celebrating Christmas, and it snows, and they make cheese pies, and when Brooke was around Grayson's age she spent a December saying "they're making pie cheese!"  Pretty good book, even better memories.

Monica and the kids met the Ellers at the park after school one day this past week.  It appears everyone had a great time together, and I'm very grateful they all got together to play.

I headed in to work on Wednesday morning.  It had been... a while, but hey, that means my knee is doing better.  The train was all decorated for Christmas, which was pretty awesome, and they were even doing a thing at the Leander station.  The mayor got on and gave me a candy cane too, so that was pretty cool.

Jelly's fur has gotten matted again, which means we needed to find a groomer.  In the past we went to a groomer at our vet, but out here we just saw a groomer close by our house and went there.  They were awesome, and they even gave Jelly a bath!  I asked how she did with the water, and they said she meowed a bunch, but otherwise was good.  They couldn't blow dry her because she did NOT like that, which doesn't surprise me, but other than being a little wet she was great when I picked her up!  So it's nice to know we know where a good groomer is again.  We also didn't have to give her any medicine this time, and it seems like she was good for the shaving.

Thursday we went to the school, and first stop was the book fair.  The kids all picked out a book to keep, and a book to donate as well.  Right outside there was a photo op spot, and Grayson threw on a convincing disguise for his mug shot. Unfortunately for him, even with that great disguise, he'll still be recognized by his socks with sandals.

Right after the book fair was a Christmas event at the school.  We headed to the cafeteria for some cookies and lemonade, and made a few crafts.  Then, on our way to the next room we passed... Woody the Wildcat.  I don't know what the mascot's name really is, but I was a wildcat in high school, and our mascot was Woody.  The girls took a picture, but Grayson was a bit more nervous.  In the next room we got in a line to pick up a kit to make flower planters, and then left because it was getting late.  Everyone had a good time though

We worked on getting our house decorated for Christmas over the weekend.  Monica made this lovely wreath, and I put up a bunch of lights... which we didn't take a picture of.  There are still more lights to put up, so maybe I'll get a picture this week once I'm done.

Saturday night we headed out sub for Santa shopping.  The kids had a lot of fun walking the aisles and picking things out that they would have loved, and so knew someone else would love too!  I even grabbed a few things that, if I am being honest, would probably still play with today.

And that's the news.  I hope everyone else is having a great December and getting ready for Christmas!  Watch those cheesy movies, listen to the carols, eat some cookies, and drink some egg nog for me, because honestly, I can never get too much of that!  Cheers!
 

Winry Loses Her First Tooth

Winry's tooth came out!  Sometime last week Winry showed us that she had a wiggly tooth.  She was pretty worried at first about it falling out at night and losing it or swallowing it, but not so!  In the end Monica pulled it for her, and she was very excited.  She's really excited for her new tooth to grow in as well, but has a nice gap for now.

And while on the topic of Winry, Monica caught her jamming out to some Christmas music this week.  It's even Jingle Bells which is Grayson's absolute favorite and an instant classic here this year.

Having aunts here was great for Grayson on Monday, because he got all the attention while the girls were at school.  This included a giant marble run, which is his favorite toy to play with right now.

He had a lot of gratitude to show for the great marble antics.

He had a lot of gratitude to share all around.

My sisters took off on Monday evening, but Gram was still here for a few more days.  That called for tacos for lunch, and one of the best smiles from Grayson ever caught on camera!

It looks like Grayson was pretty tired when it was time to pick up the girls from school, and he appears to have tried to take a nap on his steering wheel.  We'll have to keep an eye on this kid when he's getting to driving age...

Grayson still loves his Duplo train, and it's always out in his room.  He often wants to make impossible bridges, but I realized that the train pieces actually can connect to blocks, so we made some nice elevated curvy bridges one night.  Living the dream.

Here's a picture of Winry right after her tooth was pulled.  As expected there was a little blood, so she was taking care of that.  It was pulled in the morning before school, and they still made it to school on time!

Jelly found the ottoman open and knew a perch when she saw one, so up to the top she climbed.

On Friday night Cedar Park had a tree lighting, and so of course we went!  They had a living oak that was super lit up really cool.

There was also a fire truck that we could climb in and see.

And we waited in line to see Santa as well.  It was pretty fun, though we did spend most of our time in lines because we wanted to see the big things.  There was a stage with performances, and we were able to see that from the line.  The girls really liked watching the dancers, and we were all excited to sit with Santa.

Saturday morning was our ward Christmas party.  They had food, and we wrote letters to the missionaries, and we made Christmas trains.  Oh, and we all wore our new matching pajamas!  It was a really fun morning.

After the party we headed to HEB to get a Christmas tree.  We found one we liked, and then the girls helped pull it through the net stuff to keep it safe on the car.

When we got it home it was time to get it decorated!  I'm just realizing I never got a picture with it done... and I guess I don't actually think we quite got everything on yet.  But the tree looks really nice so far.

And I think that's a wrap.  We're working on getting all our decorations up for Christmas still, so look forward to the good progress next week!

Thanksgiving and Brooke's Baptism

Whoa, Brooke was baptized!  What an amazing day!  I'm super proud of her, and we had a wonderful time celebrating with everyone who came out!  It was a very special and spiritual experience, and I hope she remembers how she felt for the rest of her life.  I know I felt the Spirit very strongly, especially while confirming her a member of the church. She even got a baptism journal that had spots for everyone to share their experiences from her baptism, which was cool to get to share.

You may remember the last post ending with me feeling sicker and sicker.  Well, on Tuesday I was feeling particularly bad and decided to head to the doctor, only to be diagnosed with pneumonia.  I got my antibiotics ASAP to stop being contagious as soon as possible, which was important since everyone started showing up on Tuesday.  I'd also had to find alternate sleeping arrangements for the last few days as my coughing at night was keeping Monica up, so I partook in urban camping!  There was just enough room in my closet for a camping air mattress, and honestly, it ended up being pretty comfortable.  It also gave me a retreat so I could stay away from everyone the first day they were here and I was contagious, though I actually spent most of that day in the office where I could watch stuff on my computer.

Monica spent a lot of Tuesday, all of Wednesday, and all of Thursday morning cooking.  Or... that's what I think she was doing from isolation.  It was pretty nice having people come because they all chased the kids around so that Monica could cook while I was MIA.  Anyway, Thursday for lunch we had a solid snack lunch platter with this little charcuterie board!  It was delicious.

When I woke up from hibernation everything was ready for Thanksgiving dinner!  How lovely.

And check out all of the amazing food we had!  It was all delicious as well.  Loved it.

And here's everyone enjoying dinner.  Don't forget to look way in the back to catch everyone.

Grayson came out of his shell to say hi to everyone!...  I mean, this was just amazing.  Grayson sure is a lot of fun, and has very high entertainment value.

Come Thanksgiving evening it was pie time!  Yum, we had 6 kinds of pies.  I definitely say the highlights were raspberry cream and cinnamon!

On Friday Celeste took us all to a movie!  It was Grayson's first movie in the theater, and he had a great time.  He did have to go take a little walking break towards the end, but otherwise was fantastic.  It probably helped that the chairs were power recliners, which was fun for him.  He got his fruit snacks out before the movie, but I told him he should save them for the movie, so he had me open them and then just held them until the movie started.  He did lick one for a while (trying hard to wait to eat it) and needed his hands cleaned, but otherwise no issues!

And he sure loved hanging out with Celeste, who was more than happy to read him books!  Friday was the day I started intersecting with the family again, but I'm sure there were great interactions earlier in the week too.

And Friday evening we decorated turkey cookies!

Saturday was Brooke's baptism!  I am so proud of her!  We all had a wonderful time, and a TON of people from the ward came!  I didn't expect the turnout to be much larger than our family, but there were more people from the ward than our family, so that was awesome.

Winry and her cousins, Jake and Laura, all sang a special music number.

Here's the whole fam back at our house after the baptism before people had to take off.

My mom just had knee surgery, and my dad cancelled his flight when we found out I had pneumonia, but we had a call going during the baptism, and they called and chatted with Brooke afterwards as well.

Saturday night we had Brooke's birthday party too.  Unfortunately, only one of her friends could make it, but we had cousins and aunts there to spice it up.  

Brooke was super excited about her gifts, especially this Buc-ees fanny pack.

And we all had cupcakes before people took off.

Meanwhile, back in Utah, the busts continue to get good use.

And that's everything I've got for this week.  I'm almost done with antibiotics, and at this point I'm feeling pretty good, but still coughing a bunch.  My understanding is that this is to be expected.  Hopefully my coughing will subside soon, and then I'll be able to return to my bed, but really, I've been sleeping great, so no real complaints.
 

Happy 8th Birthday Brooke!

Brooke turned 8 this week!  Hooray, what an amazing day.  Brooke has been an amazing kid her whole life, and I'm so grateful we have her!  I'm proud of her choice to be baptized next week, and I can't imagine our family without her!

Cutting to the start of the week, Winry had a school project to help hide a turkey.  They were supposed to color them however they want so that it won't be found on Thanksgiving, and she picked to do hers like Pikachu with a pokeball behind it.

Brooke was feeling pretty sick this week and missed almost all of school.  On Tuesday we took her to the doctor and she had a double ear infection and walking pneumonia!  She got antibiotics and was feeling well enough to go to school on Friday for her birthday!  But much of the week was being at home not feeling well.

Winry got a coupon for a free "water ice" at school, and Monica took her this past week.  I don't remember what the normal name is, but when we went to Philadelphia a few years back they called it water ice.  Anyway, looks very yummy and I will be needing to go soon.

The day after Brooke's diagnosis I started to feel sick, so after a few days I took an at home COVID test.  Great news, it came back negative, unfortunately, that didn't change me being sick for several days.  I even went to urgent care on Friday to check if I had pneumonia but things were negative.

We got a new switch game this week called Watermelon game.  It's a pretty basic game, but everyone has a lot of fun playing it, and Grayson thinks it's really funny when fruit combines.

Friday was Brooke's birthday, and she was fortunately feeling a lot better!  She'd been feeling better each day, but on Friday she thought she'd have the energy for school.  She opened presents in the morning and got a kickin' bracelet making kit from Winry.

Monica and I gave her a watch, which she's really been wanting.  It's pretty cool.  It's a Garmin watch so she can record activities, etc. and it also lets her text us messages.  It's been pretty fun so far, and cool to hear from her at recess sometimes.

We also went to the school and had lunch with her for her birthday, which was a lot of fun.

For dessert Brooke chose mint brownies.  We sang happy birthday and then it was time for dessert!

Come the end of the week I was feeling pretty sick, and was pretty checked out from what else was going on.  Apparently Grayson and Brooke worked on cleaning our shower!

Brooke was not alone in medication.  All the kids had ear infections and took antibiotics at some point, plus whatever Brooke got for pneumonia.  Anyway, there's been a lot of medication going around lately.

Meanwhile, on the couch, I was feeling quite ill.  I've just been getting more and more sick as the week goes on.

But next week we have visitors coming!  What could go wrong?