The "activity" started off with a bang on November 12th when Jarred had to wisk me away to the emergency room. What I thought was food poisoning ended up being a kidney infection. Lovely! I had NEVER been in more pain in my LIFE! (That includes labor with my kids, and I even had kidney stones WHILE in labor with Chloe!) Seriously I was beside myself! Praise the Lord for giving us the resources for pain medication! After a few days in a "vicadin haze" life continued once again...
About a week later we took the older kids to College Station for the A&M vs. Nebraska game. As you probably already know, it was AMAZING!!!! Colby is already a committed aggie and relished every minute. Since we took him to the Texas vs. A&M game last year, this was his second aggie game and he has once again seen first hand that you should NEVER underestimate the spirit of aggieland! And boy was it alive and well with over 91,000 people there... the biggest crowd EVER in Kyle Field!!! Whoop! Madeline on the other hand is still far too girly to sit and listen to (as she put it), "people screaming the same thing over & OVER again is SOOooo annoying". LOL! I personally thought it was definitely one of the top 25 nights of my life. Loved being back in a place that holds so many fun memories!
The next week was Thanksgiving and we made the trip back down to south Texas to eat lots of yummy food and enjoy an extended weekend visit with family & friends. Nothing warms your heart (or stomach) like celebrating and giving thanks with those you love most!
While on Thanksgiving break I was offered a teaching position at Chloe's preschool and I gladly accepted! I have missed teaching little hearts and absolutely LOVE all the fun that a room full of 2 year olds can bring!!
And just 5 short days and another (the third week in a row if you're counting) 650 mile round trip later we came back "home" again to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday with a surprise birthday party.
That's me with my mom & brother.
This puts us about the second week in December...stress was beginning to set in as I had yet to start Christmas shopping and I was still in a good deal of pain despite being on 2 rounds of antibiotics. However, I was putting all that in the back of my head because on Dec. 18th, Jarred & I celebrated our 11 year wedding anniversary. I was absolutely giddy with excitement! We had a sitter and Jarred had actually planned a surprise date for me. Hard to believe that after over 15 years as a couple he still gives me butterflies, but he does! We were trying to get some shopping done that morning and spend some quality time with the kids when I started feeling bad again. So, instead of a fancy fun date with my man it was back to the emergency room once again. UGH! Not even morphine could get me to settle down. This time a CT scan revealed that I had a kidney stone. So, lots of fluids, drugs, and 5 hours later we were back home and for the second time in a month I spent several days in a "vicadin haze".
After a couple of days of recovering we hosted a family Christmas party with the Christmas story, cookies, cocoa, & caroling in the neighborhood. It was SO much FUN! I have every intention of making it a tradition. We are so blessed to have made so many friends in such a short time. (December 18th was actually our 1 year anniversary of living in Abilene! Crazy!)
Here we go a-caroling!!!
Colby (front row in the middle) was still finishing up the 12 Days of Christmas! LOL!
The next night Jarred & I finally were able to have a fancy date night. We got all dressed up and headed out to the country club Christmas party. We had a great time visiting with friends, eating all kinds of yummy food and of course lots of people-watching! LOL!
The celebrating continued the next day as my baby Chloe turned FOUR!!! I think this has been the hardest birthday yet! Guys, my BABY is FOUR!!! That makes me feel so sentimental and old! However, I must say the freedom that no naps and open communication brings is quite a treat! We spent the whole day loving and celebrating our little princess. We started off going to see Tangled...sooooo cute! Lunch consisted of nachos, popcorn, lemonade, candy & all the other "food groups" the concession stand covers! LOL!
We threw together a quick neighborhood party when we got home and voila.... it was present time!!!
Unfortunately part of being 4 is refusing to look at the camera when it's picture time. LOL! But I had to include a picture of her outfit! Her leggings said "Happy Birthday to me!" Love it!!
After her party the girls and I headed back to town for princess pedicures! Have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE having "girly girls"!?!?!
Her favorite part is always watching the water color change! LOL! No surprise she chose pink glitter nail polish!
We finished the day off with dinner at Chuck E Cheese! Nevermind the fact that the food gave us all indigestion, and cost as much as a steak dinner -- it was her choice, and on her special day, the birthday girl gets what she wants! It was priceless to see her so happy!
I had grand plans of finishing up my Christmas shopping on the 23rd, however "el Jefe" (my pet name for my kidney stone) had other plans. After a few short hours shopping I had to call it quits, raise my white flag, and surrender. Thankfully with all these trips to the emergency room my "at home pharmacy" is fully stocked in pain medications. I've been there twice now to know all they'll do for me in the er is give me fluids and pain meds, both of which I had available at home. So back into the vicadin haze I went. Blah.
Christmas eve we took it easy. Jarred ran a few errands and blessed us with taking charge of the house and even mastering monkey bread for breakfast! I love that man! Colby came down with a stomach virus so we had a quite evening at home. I hated not being able to go to church, but I don't think that's the kind of "holiday cheer" we wanted to spread with our friends. LOL! We did end the evening by setting out cookies & milk, sprinkling reindeer food & opening up our coodinating pjs. I can't believe after ALL the time I spent shopping for them I didn't get a single picture, but honestly I don't think any of us were feeling particularly photogenic.
And here are my sweet kiddos with their stockings Christmas morning!
(I'll spare you the hundreds of photos we took of opening presents! LOL!)
Whew! So that just about catches me up. We're still down south enjoying the holidays with our family so I'm going to wrap this up. I wish you all a year abundant in blessings! My continued resolution this year is to be more intentional with my thoughts, words,and actions and to live with a humble and thankful heart!
See you in 2011!!!
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