Christmas Week, 2009

I fell into the blogging trap. This past week has been so eventful and I haven't had time to record it all. I figure one generic post and I will be on track.

Christmas Eve was very quiet at our house. We had a nice dinner of...Taco Bell. Yes, you read that right T-A-C-O-B-E-L-L. As Steve and I were eating our nachos we decided we needed to somehow find an invite to someones house next year.

After dinner we started the new tradition of Topless-Sugar-Cookie-baking. It was tons of fun. Especially since we started them at 7:30. As we were cutting them out it dawned on me that we still had to cool them, and decorate them. I ended up only making 9 cookies and letting them cool outside so we could frost them and get the kids in bed.

After we made the cookies, the kids got to open their Christmas PJ's.

Then we went outside to feed Santa's reindeer. I think Steve had more fun throwing the glitter than the kids.

Then I decided I needed a picture with the kids. Please excuse the no-makeup look. It was Christmas Eve and Santa had too many other things to do besides get herself looking presentable.

This was the calm before the storm. Much to our surprise, Steve and I had everything set up and ready to go by 11:30. I think that is a record for us. I had assembled everything a few days before, which I am so glad a did. The kitchen took me 3 HOURS!!! to put together. I was swearing up a storm with that one! (but don't worry, nobody heard me because I was by myself) Each little piece of plastic had to be clipped out of a giant web of plastic parts and then screwed together with some other tiny plastic part.

Thomas was up and ready to go by 7:00 am. We tried to keep him contained until Clara woke up, but he wasn't having it. We decided to wake her up which was a huge mistake. She wasn't too happy and was very temperamental all morning.

Thomas wasn't.

I gave both the boys BYU hats to wear on boy-days. I also gave Steve tickets to see Brain Regan and a weekend away in May. (I guess it was a gift for both of us because he is required to take me.)

Steve gave me the Flip camera I have been wanting. Now you are all going to be bombarded with home videos. Aren't you so excited!

One of the gifts we gave Clara was a Kai-Lan doll. She loves this show and goes around saying her Chinese phrases. I got her the doll so she would continue to do it.

These were the BEST. GIFTS. EVER. I had never seen them before but snagged them at a toy conference I participated in during the summer. The past couple of years I have been able to go and critique toys for Creative Child Magazine. As payment you get to take the toys you choose home with you. I saw these Rody horses and thought the kids might like them. When I got home I checked them out on Amazon and they retail for $45.00 (small) and $100.00 (large). Major Score!!! I had no idea they were that expensive. I thought they would just be like large plastic beach balls shaped like a horse. They're not. These things are made of industrial latex and each one holds up to 400lbs. You can get some serious air bouncing on these things. I know because I think I spent more time on it than the kids did Christmas morning. I have rearranged my furniture in the family room to make a permanent spot for them.

Every time we took Thomas to see Santa he told him that all he wanted was a Buddy the Elf Toy. Guess what? They don't make them. I searched the Internet and couldn't find anything. The only thing I found was a bobble head. When Thomas ripped open the package he only saw the picture of buddy, he was thrilled. Then he turned the box over to reveal the "toy." It is kind of frightening. Thomas had this weird smile on his face and just said. "His head is kind of big."

Now for the fun part.... This stuff I don't have pictures of, so you are going to have to do some mental imaging.

For Christmas, my Mom gave everyone in the family a trip to Disneyland. We have been looking forward to this trip since July. Steve and I were going to leave on Saturday to avoid the Las Vegas to California traffic after a 3 day weekend but decided it couldn't be that bad.

Saturday night we were getting everything packed. I was heading upstairs to get laundry and Steve was headed out to the garage to get stuff in the car. Both of us heard the same thing at the same time. Clara puking her guts out. We came into the living room to find nice piles vomit all over our carpet. We were hoping that it was the leftover taco bell she ate but it wasn't. She had the full blown flu and spent the entire night throwing up. I felt so bad for her. Her and I spent the night downstairs and were up pretty much every 45 minutes.

By morning she seemed better and we figured it was just a 24 hour bug. We thought we could leave at noon or so and get to CA as the "24 hours" was coming to a close. She was acting normal, keeping sprite and crackers down, we thought we were good to go.

We got on the road and then hit traffic. I was so wrong about it not being that bad. It took us 2 hours to get to State Line, normally a 45 minute drive. The drive to Disneyland takes 4 hours at the most. It took us 9 hours. That includes all the traffic, the stopping for bathroom breaks, and then stopping because Clara puked in the car. Luckily we were in Victorville and they had a Kohls because I wasn't thinking and didn't pack her any extra clothes. She only had enough for the time we would be there. I had to take her in the store, buy her some jammies and then take her into the restroom to get her cleaned up. I felt so bad for her and I felt like a bad mommy for bringing her on the trip.

We finally made it to Anaheim around 9 pm. The kids crashed and so did Steve and I. The next morning we decided Steve would stay in the hotel with Clara and Thomas and I would go to Disneyland. Thomas and I had a great time with Grandma. Steve said he had a great time with Clara (have I ever mentioned what a great husband / dad he is!). By the time we got back from the park she was back to her normal self. It's a good thing she is only 2 and didn't have any idea what she had missed out on.

It really was a great Christmas, just lots of unplanned excitement.