Happy Birthday Brian

For Brian's birthday my mom kindly came over and watched our sick kids while we went to sushi and The Hobbit.  A few nights later, she again welcomed our sick kids into her home for dinner, cake, and ice cream despite Xiana throwing up minutes before we left.  Happy birthday to our dear daddy.  We don't know what we would do without him!  For one thing, we would probably freeze :)  I'm so thankful he's mine and I'm his.... it was a wonderful day!  Happy Birthday babe!

family pics

We ran outside in the freezing cold accompanied by my sister in law and snapped some photos.  For a 10 minute photo shoot, I'm pleased with the results.  My other friend is editing one of them so that I can blow it up and replace our ancient family photo.  Then we set the timer on my father in-law's camera and got a shot of the whole group.  When Jenn and I went to put his pictures on the computer to share with everyone, it suddenly disappeared.  We were panic stricken trying to look for it without anyone realizing it.  Finally, we were too desperate to be able to hide our fears.  Kevin teased us appropriately, but we were genuinely afraid.  Kevin asked if Kolton had put it in his jammies (it didn't take anyone long to discover that he is a non-stop full of mischief sneaky, crazy, hand full of a little boy). I assured him the Kolton hadn't touched the computer.  We took the chair apart and had the whole house in a frenzy.  Brian again asked, are you sure Kolton doesn't have it?  It seemed absurd which I stated for a second time... just as Brian pulled the sd card out of Kolton's jammies... what a little turkey!  All was not lost.  It was a great relief. 

ramp

One of our friends has a dad who is wheel chair bound.  Because he was coming for the holidays, Brian built a ramp in her new house.  The kids loved it... especially the tire swing.  We have so many trees I'm really racking my brain to figure out why on earth we haven't had one for a long time now: a perplexing question that I intend to answer promptly.

Oh there's no place like home for the holidays...

 

 After a fun filled, slightly uncomfortable trip, we were all happy to be home.  We had a scare that our water main had burst in our absence so we hurried home to see if Brian could fix it.  Our second Christmas miracle was that he couldn't find a leak.  I'm not sure what made it bubble up and puddle the day my brother-in-law stopped by, but whatever the case, I'm grateful for Christmas miracles.  Xiana asked Santa for a gymnastics Dora.  He delivered.  She does a full routine... she's cute, and a little bit freaky.  One of Kolton's many gifts was this fun tent and tunnel.  He loved climbing through and acting crazy.  We'll see how long this tent survives his rough tendencies.

Xiana practiced roller skating on the carpet in the living room.  This is exactly as it should be I feel.  She was so funny with her absolute inability.  I fear I've deprived her and hope for many more living room sessions in her future.

It snowed in Battle Mountain, but the kids were still sick enough that it wasn't entirely tempting to them.  I'm happy to report that the first morning we were home, they geared up and headed out.  They jumped on a snow covered trampoline, played with spoons and bowls making all kinds of creations, and attempted a snowman.

Brian has been playing with his new trucks pretty much non stop since we got home.  He's like a big kid... except that his toys are way more expensive!  The trucks are a lot of fun.  They can go up to 60 mph, but they are entirely unmanageable about any faster than 30.  Kolton loves them yelling, "caa, caa caa" repeatedly.  He gets cold much faster than the bigger boy and comes in the house crying, "coold... owie!" in an effort to get me to hold his frigid hands.  While we had a wonderful time visiting family, it was also nice to be home.

Christmas!

Christmas morning I had been up with the flu all night.  Thankfully, I was spared a long drawn out process.  Xiana was pretty listless still, but Brian assured me she needed to eat and drink.  I was doubtful, but he was right.  As soon as she ate a banana and drank some soda, she perked right up.  Kolton acted fine, but he had approximately 10 dirty diapers before 8:00 am so I was tired, and worried.  And yet, Christmas went off without a hitch.  Everybody got completely and utterly spoiled rotten. Kolton had enough attention span to open most of his gifts, Xiana got everything she asked for, and Ekco got a surprise new keyboard so she could learn to play the piano.  My big surprise was a new shotgun which I promptly took out to use.  Ali made beautiful scarves for all the girls.  It was a triumphant day.  Everyone ate scones, felt better, and relished in the Christmas aftermath coma.  I'm so thankful to be so blessed. 

I couldn't help but think on Christmas and on the days following what a superior experience it was to deal with sick and whiny kids on Christmas in comparison to the poor parents whose children were not there for Christmas in Connecticut.  I couldn't help but think of how painful it must be to look at the presents under the tree for your sweet 7-year-olds who were no longer in this life.  What do you do with the gifts?  I can't imagine the grief as they returned those prizes, broken hearted and empty.  This Christmas wasn't perfect, but Christ is.  Because of His birth, all of those little victims are saved.  Becuase of the very reason we celebrate this season, those hearts will be healed, sorrows reclaimed, and life reinstated.  I am very grateful.