Monday, December 29, 2014

Christmas part 1

I have no idea how many Christmas posts there will be this year. I need to find my camera. Grandma - did I leave it at your house? Actually it's probably in one of the 873 bags that are sitting in my bedroom unpacked.  Christmas and Christmas travels have thrown up all over our house.  I even canceled the cleaning lady who was going to come this week. There was no way I could get the house in any reasonable shape before she came tomorrow.  

I want to go through the kids toys and purge before I put things away and we end up with toys coming out of every seam of our house.  I think my goals are lofty.  I am hoping to send the two older kids with the babysitter to the museum one day to get them out of the house so I can attempt to be productive or so I can sit on the couch and read or sleep or do whatever I want for at least a few hours. 

Aunt Lynne got a new puppy. Her name is Sydney. She's a good puppy but she's a puppy so she likes to play and nip and jump. My kids are wimps and did a lot of screaming and crying b/c she wanted to play with them.  

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The girls and I got dressed to go to Christmas eve service with Grandma, Grandpa and Lynne. The girls did well. Madelyn didn't talk through the entire service which I was quite terrified of happening. She did a good job. She went up for the children's program. She was very excited about the lighting of the candles at the end of the service. She did a good job of holding on to the candle and letting Aunt Lynne help her hold it so she didn't get burned with melted wax or burn down the church.  I just saw visions of her dropping the candle and burning the church down.

As church was getting ready to begin she informed me (rather loudly) that she was so excited for the dancers to come out. I had to break it to her that there were no dancers. I don't really know why she thought there were going to be dancers. Maybe she confused the alter with a stage.
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Sunday, December 28, 2014

MSI

Jess and I decided to take the kids into the city and go to the Museum of Science and Industry. It's such a massive place that even when it's busy it doesn't feel too busy. I didn't know what to expect in terms of business due to the holiday weekend.  It wasn't very busy and the kids (Jack and Miss M) had fun. Big Willie spent most of his time at the museum in the stroller b/c he still wasn't feeling the best. 
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Jack and Miss M  pretended to fly on a real airplane to see Grandma and Poppy in Florida.
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The girl can't handle noises and the plane had buttons people could push to replicate the sound of an airplane flying. She couldn't handle it so she walked around with her hands covering her ears.
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The kids waited their turn to ride the big tractor. Miss M informed us that Jack was the farmer and she was the farmer's wife.  
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The kids in proportion to a tractor tire.
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We played in the kids area.
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A rare moment where all three played together.
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Big Willie and I had to leave the kids area to have a snack. It was past his nap time and past lunch time.  I didn't prepare very well. I didn't take enough snacks for three kids who needed more than peanuts and pretzels.
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We had a few meltdowns on the way out of the museum b/c kids were over hungry and over tired but we survived and made it home with everyone alive. 

Busy Friday

Craig, Jessie and Jack came up Thursday to celebrate Christmas and hang out for a few days.  We ventured to the train restaurant for lunch since the adult to child ratio was in the favor of the adults. It was a success. There were no major breakdowns.  

Jack loves trains. He doesn't discriminate.  He loves them all.  
Here he's calling "all aboard" to the passengers.  
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Miss M pouting bc Big Willie gets a turn to steer the wheel.
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He had fun riding and driving the train car.
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Aunt Nessie came over Friday night after work to hang out and have Christmas together. We made a lovely dinner and opened presents. Jack was so excited/concerned with Aunt Nessa's arrival.  They snuggled on the couch to read some books. He was mainly interested in the search and find books. 
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Aunt Nessie with all her nieces and nephews.
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They are losing control and getting crazy.
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Monday, December 22, 2014

Random

In an effort to not miss our window of opportunity I tried Miss Cate in the Bumbo seat. She's still a bit young for it.  She sits alright for a short bit but then ends up slouched over.  I don't want to forget about this fancy contraption and then have her get too big for it.  Big Willie never sat in the Bumbo as his thighs were always a bit big and he got stuck.  He still gets stuck. Miss M and Big Willie like to sit in the Bumbo but Big Willie still has big thighs and still gets stuck in it.  
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Victim #2.  This time the sheep met his match while Miss M was running around with him.
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We made gingerbread cookies. They wouldn't stop multiplying. Every time I thought I was out of dough it seemed we weren't and a few more cookies were made.
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Jack (in his fancy/matching elf pjs!) helped decorate the gingerbread cookies. All kids love to saturate cookies in frosting and sprinkles.  I am not sure even the kids ate the cookies. They might have all gotten thrown away.
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Aunt Nessa bought Big Willie kinetic sand for Christmas. Miss M asks to play with it all the time. It keeps her entertained for a duration longer than it took to get it ready so I call it a win.  There are so many projects she wants to do which take me longer to set up and get ready than she actually plays with them.
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Apparently the kids found the tissue boxes and thought it would be fun to pull out each of them while they were in the process of having an underwear party.  I should buy cheaper tissues. They were quiet and not fighting for a few minutes so the price of tissues was worth it.
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Sick babies

Big Willie still isn't feeling better.  He's taking a long time to get over whatever is trying to run its course through his little body.  He's developed a pretty nice cold on top of his ear infections which isn't making him feel better. He just wants to sit on your lap and love on you. But when there are other children that need food and other basic needs in life it doesn't allow for us to sit around and watches much television as we'd like.
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You know a little boy is sick/tired when you can put him in bed and he gladly lays there for you to put blankets on top of him. Usually after I lay him down he sits/stands back up and laughs as though bed/nap time is a game.
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I don't know that he's screaming here b/c he's sick. But boy was he mad. I don't know why. Like majority of the times when he's screaming.
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I don't know if it's the medicine or whatever is running its course through his body but he essentially poops all day long which has led to a lovely (awful) case of diaper rash.  It looks like welts all over his rump. I decided to let him run around in some of Miss M's underwear to try and let the rash heal up with some fresh air. 
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He peed about every five seconds so eventually he ended up with naked buns.  I realized things were pretty quiet in the basement and so I went down to check on him. As I walked downstairs I found him playing in his poop. Oh grand. Off we went straight for the bathtub.  Aunt Jessie was cooking dinner. I don't know where the men-folk were at this point.  Aunt Nessie was here and helped clean up the basement floor.  You know you have a good sister/aunt when she doesn't find something else more urgent to do or call for a taxi to go home at the first signs of poop but rather she helps clean it up.
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We all know Big Willie loves his sister. And because he loves his sister so much he can't keep his hands/face out of her business and subsequently has given her his cold.  It's pretty sad. She can't breath very well b/c her little nose is stuffed up.  She's coughing quite a bit also which wakes her up when she does finally get to sleep.  
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I wish there were more for babies than humidifiers and some Vick's vapor rub to help them feel better.
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Sunday, December 21, 2014

Jessie's camera pics - Chicago

Miss M and I had made gingerbread cookies before Jack arrived. We were able to decorate them together one morning. The cookies were saturated with frosting and sprinkles. 
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Cousin love.  There was a lot of nakedness that weekend.
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It was a lot of fun to waste tissues and toilet paper.  We (I) stopped caring when we (I) realized it was about the only time the kids weren't fighting/arguing/antagonizing each other.
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The kids played with kinetic sand that Aunt Nessie bought for Big Willie for Christmas. It was a relatively contained mess.
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Jack just showing off his search and find skills to his father.
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Jessie's Camera pics pre-Chicago

I was up early with Miss Cate one morning while Jessie and Craig were still here and I stole her camera disk so I could steal some pictures she had taken and found some pics pre-Chicago trip. They are just so cute I thought I would share for everyone.

Jack's Halloween costume. He's Max from the book Where the Wild Things Are. I have to give myself credit for finding it for Jessie. She mentioned she had wanted it for him and I found a used one in perfect condition for a third of the retail price. Yes. I am an incredibly awesome aunt. 
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Jack just working on doing what men do...reading in the bathroom.  Jack is pretty much potty trained now. Don't you just want to eat his face it's so cute.
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Grandma Nan and Poppy visited before Christmas and they opened presents in matching outfits.
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Grandma Nan & Poppy with Big Jack.
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Add in a Craig.
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Craig, Jessie and Jack went to Union Station in STL and rode the Polar Express.  They had a really good time. I don't know many of the details except Jack liked it and that's all that mattered.
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Jack is holding his ticket to give/show the conductor.
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