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Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you all had a good holiday season and are rested and ready for 2010.

We had a nice, relaxing week after all of the hustle and bustle of Christmas. Unfortunately, it was also an unhealthy week…

LiliBee came down with a fever and congestion on Wednesday night and was sick through the New Year. She’s recovered nicely now, but still has an occasional cough. CareBear waited a couple of days before getting the fever… but on the 1st of the year, she finally succumbed. She was really only feverish for a day, which was nice, but now she has a rash from head to toe from her amoxicillin! They assure me that it will soon start looking better, which is good because she looks very spotty.

I was able to hold out until yesterday before getting the fever part of this illness, but I’ve had congestion for several days. I look forward to being able to breathe again. And sleep again. Chris has been lucky so far, but I have a feeling it’s only a matter of time before he comes down with whatever virus this is, too.

So we spent New Year’s Eve and every day since then holed up in the house trying not to infect anyone!

New Year’s Eve itself was very noisy around here. Our neighborhood started in with the fireworks around 6pm and then the booming was pretty constant between 10pm and 1am. Around midnight, they added car horns. Poor Lucy was beside herself (loud noises terrify her) and Maisy kept trying to yell at everyone. The kids slept through it all… don’t know if it was illness or if they just sleep that soundly!

Before all of the fevers, we managed to have some fun! The girls and I busied ourselves with new craft projects (Christmas gifts from Auntie Trina) and put on a couple of puppet shows. On Wednesday, Chris and I took CareBear on an outing to see “The Princess and the Frog” in the movie theater, complete with popcorn. She even dressed up for it. The movie was a big hit and she’s already asking when she can watch it again at home. Meanwhile, LiliBee spent a fun afternoon with Grams and Pas… I think she likes it when she has them all to herself!

We’ll be spending the next few days recovering, but I think everyone is on the way to health! I hope so, anyway, since we have to get back to real life this week.

(**note: no picture as of yet since I’m having trouble getting them to upload… I know they’re here somewhere…)

Well, we made it through the week of Christmas… it was lots of fun, but I can’t say that I’m not ready to have a nice, calm week!

We had a great time with all of our various holiday activities. I spent much of last week cooking and baking in preparation for the fun family gatherings. Chris and the girls did a great job helping with the cookies and amusing each other while I wrapped presents. CareBear and LiliBee “wrapped” some of their toys up for each other and for Banjo. It was very sweet. We even managed to pick up a few surprises for Chris, which isn’t easy.

CareBear was very excited about Santa this year and directed us to leave cookies and milk on the fireplace for him. She and LiliBee went to bed very nicely on Christmas Eve since they knew that was one of the “rules”… makes me wish it could be Christmas Eve more often! We had a very nice Christmas morning that began with CareBear running through the house yelling “wake up, sleepy heads!”… but at least she remembered that she had to wait until it was light out first. The girls made short work of their presents and enjoyed checking out their new stuff.

We had my family over for brunch on Christmas. I made some tasty food, if I do say so myself. LiliBee discovered that she is a big fan of ham and CareBear ate mostly fruit. As usual. CareBear received her first pair of roller skates from my folks and wasted no time in trying them out. She’s getting the hang of it and, surprisingly, isn’t getting too frustrated. LiliBee was a little put out that she can’t skate too, but she has more than enough to distract her in the meantime. It’s so fun to see them excited about every little thing.

We also headed down to Olympia for Chris’ family Christmas. Cousin H told us all about her Christmas and the girls got even more fun new stuff to play with. We had a great visit with the extended family (it’s always nice to know we’ll see them at least once a year). I was getting pretty tired from the long week by then, but the kids had no problem keeping up with the holiday festivities! They ran around with the cousins playing hide and seek and everyone got along for pretty much the entire visit.

In non-holday news, we had another ultrasound last week. Banjo is still measuring right on for dates and looking good! I guess we’ll be starting our non-stress tests in about a month, but otherwise all is well.

CareBear decided that the day after Christmas would be a great time to get her first urinary tract infection. It was a lot of fun convincing her that we had to collect a sample for the doctor, especially since it was so uncomfortable for her, but at least her medicine is pink. She told the pharmacist that pink was her favorite color so it must be good medicine. She’s feeling much better after a couple of days of antibiotics!

This week is going to be mellow. We have no school, no farm pick-up, no appointments, no obligations. Chris is only going in to work a couple of days (between his monthly work-from-home day and the holiday, it works out nicely!) and I’m hoping to get Lilia back on a more regular nap schedule. I certainly could use the rest!

Happy New Year!

We had a interesting week… it started with flour all over the house and ended with me trying to maim myself in the kitchen! In between, there was some fun stuff, though.

But first, flour-gate 2009… I was negligent and forgot to put the flour away last monday afternoon. While I was putting Lilia down for her nap, CareBear took the opportunity to add flour to her graham cracker snack. And to the counter. And the cupboards, the floor, the frig, the dining room, the living room, the couch, the stairs and the bonus room! It was very impressive. It’s amazing how far a couple of pounds of flour can go and she managed to go through it all! She’s usually so well behaved during nap time…

Most of our week was spent getting ready for Christmas. We finished up our shopping and got all of the stuff I need to make food for our various functions. I think (hope) that we won’t have to venture out much this week and can avoid all of the holiday shopping frenzy!

CareBear is on winter break for the next two weeks and classes at the Y don’t start up again until the end of January… I don’t know what we’re going to do with all the extra time!

I got older this week. My folks treated me to a very nice dinner Friday evening for my birthday… I even got cake! That wouldn’t usually be a big deal, but I’m supposed to be avoiding sugar due to the gestational diabetes so it was a very nice treat. And now I’m back to trying to be super careful (until later this week when I indulge a bit for Christmas… the doctor says it’s ok, honest!).

My birthday celebration continued over the weekend when Chris and the girls treated me to breakfast in bed. CareBear got a big kick out of the whole idea and LiliBee loved being a “runner” for Chris and bringing me water and utensils. Later, Chris took me out for nice dinner date while the kids went to a pizza/craft/music party at the Y. Overall, a great birthday weekend!

This week will be busy busy busy! We have several family gatherings over the holiday weekend and yet another ultrasound. Plus, I’ve got baking to do (LiliBee will be thrilled, she loves it when I’m in the kitchen) and presents to wrap! It’s a fun time, but I think I’ll be happy to wind down next week, too.

I hope everyone has a great holiday and that our friends over on the East coast are staying warm!

The kids are playing their “video games”…

The funny thing is… those controllers don’t control anything that we currently have!

Chris and the girls play a lot of games that would never occur to me… including “Where’s the baby?”…

Oh, there she is!

Once we got the tree into the house, the kids got to direct the decorating. And redecorating. And more redecorating.

The finishing touch.

Papa and LiliBee lead the way into the trees.

CareBear refused to wear a coat at first.

But finally agreed with us that it was cold after all.

LiliBee makes some unusual choices.

But we eventually find one everyone agrees on!

Papa does the hard work.

And off we go!

I can’t believe it’s already halfway through December… but at least it’s a little warmer this week.

We did get a light dusting of snow yesterday, which almost made all of the cold days worth it. CareBear still dresses like it’s summer but she ran right out into the backyard to celebrate the first snow flakes of the season anyway.  LiliBee wasn’t far behind, but luckily she still lets me dress her in warmer clothes.

We visited with Santa on Wednesday and both kids were cooperative and happy! It was amazing. I’m not sure how we managed it, but even Santa was impressed.

We went out to get our Christmas tree on Saturday afternoon. The kids thought it was a lot of fun (once we talked CareBear into wearing a coat) and loved picking out the tree. It was too cold for all of us after a while, though, so the girls and I abandoned Chris for the warmth of the office. He did a great job of cutting the tree down and getting it on the car all by himself, though!

Decorating the tree was a big hit. The bottom 2/3 of our tree is very kid friendly and there’s nothing that they can mess up so they’ve been having a lot of fun all weekend redecorating and redistributing ornaments. LiliBee loves the jingle bells, which I find to be very helpful in figuring out what she’s up to when I’m out of the room.

I did my mom duty at school this week, though being the “outdoor mom” when it’s 12 degrees is not all that it’s cracked up to be! CareBear decided that she should wait in the classroom where it was warm rather than helping me with the set up and take down. Still, I had a lot of fun making green play dough snowmen with the kids once class started. I also spent an interesting afternoon wrapping gifts at Borders… people were very friendly and generous for the most part!

This week is another busy one! I should be finishing up Christmas shopping (and awaiting delivery of my online purchases, which is always fun). CareBear has her last week of school for the year. We’ll be celebrating my birthday and gearing up for big holiday fun next week. And I need to get all of the critters in for the checkups!

I hope everyone is staying warm and well!

Last week, I posted about CareBear and Spots. This week, it’s LiliBee and one of her “babies” hanging in the car…

They play with toys.

They give hugs.

They take in the sights.

They talk.

They ‘re very cute.

It’s a good life.

When we’re bored or the weather keeps us inside, we often end up with an indoor “playground”… they like to surprise me with it.

CareBear likes to show off their handiwork.

LiliBee explains how everything works.

And then there is lots of climbing.

And jumping.

And climbing.

And, surprisingly, a lot of getting along!