Christmas 2012

Our holiday is chalk full of traditions. My big girl especially remembers each and every one and makes sure they don't get left out. While I love them, I think we need to simplify next year. Between Christmas Eve night and Christmas Day, we are very busy. We don't even travel. This year, my greatest gift just might have been perspective. We will see how well I do at keeping this new found perspective and allowing it to create change in our 2012 Christmas.

Here are just some of the things that make our day enjoyable and memorable, yet hectic.


Christmas Eve dinner which is always Mexican Chicken Corn Chowder. My kids love it!

Pictures before Christmas Eve service because when else are they ever going to wear their dresses again?

Once home again, the girls feed the reindeer. . .

and bake their cooks for Santa. . .

Next up, the girls open Steve and Heather's gifts which are always beautiful ornaments from a land far away.

The girls change into their PJ's while the cookies bake. Once out of the oven, they place Santa's milk, cookies and many cards. Savannah made a spectacular toy for Santa. She used recycled materials and made something similar to a toy cannon. She thought Santa should get a gift too. Savannah has learned to cherish handmade gifts over store bought ones. She thought Santa would appreciate the same sentiment. Double click to read her very nice letter to guy in red!

Soon we are all pooped. Daddy reads, The Night Before Christmas, and the kids are quickly tucked in bed. They are keenly aware that Santa doesn't come if kids aren't sleeping.

After a late night for parents (I am sure many of you can relate!), the girls were awake at 7:00 a.m. and ready to fly down the stairs.

After stockings, we collect ourselves, have some breakfast and start into, what seemed to be, a marathon of gifts. Note to self. . . BUY LESS next year. Yep, we are changing our ways next year.


Here are some pictures that sum up my girls' Christmas!

And these are the moments and pictures I LOVED!

My girls in a nutshell.

Lila is SO hard to buy for. She doesn't want anything. Luckily, we found a few good ducks.

It wasn't a huge picture year for Savannah. Her nose was stuck in one of her many new books.

They were so sweet when opening a gift together.

My girls took time out to open gifts with their grandparents.

Savannah cherished each and every gift. She is a very thankful girl! I can't count the number of times she said, "Thank you!"

My favorite picture. . . It reminds me that the greatest gifts are truly the ones you already have. Swimming in new toys, this is who Lila wanted to play with. If we could leave the gifts out of Christmas, it would be the perfect holiday! Hmm. . .

Festive Amusment Parks

The idea seems a bit strange but is incredibly popular in our neck of the woods.  It seems that ever family I know, bundles up to freeze their bottoms off at an outdoor amusement park during the holiday season.  We chose to do it twice.

First Dutch Wonderland. . . 

Next up was Hershey.  We were joined by Baby Kate's family which was a good thing.  Daddy got two steps into the park and was hanging his head in a toilet which sent him back to the hotel rather quickly.  He tried to make it but, sometimes, you have to give in to sickness.  Kate's family did a great job of filling the void. This time, temps were intensely cold and eventually got the best of everyone. Soon the girls were back at the hotel and enjoying their nice cozy beds.  I've never seen my three girls share a bed so easily. Nothing like a late night in below freezing temps to put you right to sleep.

The next day, Daddy rallied and Grammy and Papa drove up to join in on the fun. We spent the day at Chocolate World and had a blast. My girls love that place. 

The house behind Kate and Lila is the most amazing Hershey "gingerbread house."  Hershey candy from top to bottom!

Working the chocolate factory is a always a hit!

Ok Daddy.

As Alex took Adeline up for bed crying (over tired and cranky) he walks past Lila and gives her a ten minute warning. Lila's response..."ok Daddy, that's fine.".

Oh how they play off of each other! No other time would she be so compliant. When do we ever hear, "Ok Daddy, that's fine."? It's all so Miss Lila can stand under the good listener/girl spotlight.

I love hearing it just the same.

Eye Surgery Part Two

Adeline's surgery went well.  She was at the hospital by 7:15 and home by noon.  That is pretty good considering the hospital is almost an hour away.  It was hard for me not to be there but Alex kept me updated via text and pictures.

To begin her morning, there were various pre-op meetings and during all of those, Versed was always pushed.  It is a drug that causes drowsiness and helps relieve anxiety.  I feel that it is unnecessary and just one more layer of drug that Adeline has to come out of.  Alex held his ground and refused Versed multiple times.  When meeting with anesthesia, Alex explained that we tell Adeline she has to get her nebulizer mask before the doctor can fix her eye.  He requested that all things medical wait until she was under.  Adeline reminded everyone that she didn't want a "gum" mask.  I guess they put smells in it to make it exciting.  Not so exciting for our girl.  She wanted, "regular air."  Later, she told me that they gave her air that smelled like a beach ball and she didn't like it.  While Alex was explaining all this, someone from anesthesia asked if he would like to go back with her while she goes under.  OF COURSE!!  We have never been given that option before.

They pulled on their bunny suits and were soon in the OR.   Adeline laid down on the table with her mask while holding Daddy's hand.  She was in mid-sentence about her school friend, Anthony, when her eyes rolled back into her head.  She was out.  

She doesn't remember anything other than daddy holding her hand while she laid on one of the "cart beds."  She told me she decided to take a little rest while at the doctor and that when the doctor fixed her eye, he got some blood in it.  That is certainly true.  Her eye looks pretty yucky.  I don't really want to know how much manipulation of the eyeball went on in order to get the laser placement correct.

Dr. Forbes felt fairly confident that the surgery worked. We won't know for a week or two.  Her brain is being retrained to talk to a new eye.  It takes some time for everything to get back in sync.  So far, it looks better.  Not perfect but better.

Here she is in post-op completely out.

Before being wheeled out, a nurse asked her if she had a pet.  Adeline said yes and that her cat was named Bobby.  The nurse said, "I have a Bobby at home.  He is my husband."  Adeline asked, "Is he black and white?"  (our cat is black and white)  Anesthesia makes you say wacky things!

For the first time, Adeline slept the whole way home after surgery.  Typically she pukes and pukes some more.  This time she never did!

Here is my favorite video from the day.  Adeline tells me that she loves me and is being brave. It speaks volumes considering this is a girl that has had some very yucky things done to her in ER's and overnight hospital stays.  She really was brave!

Eye Surgery

Adeline is going in for ANOTHER surgery tomorrow.  Looks like 2013 is our best bet for a surgery-free year. . .

Adeline continues to struggle in the vision department.  Her right eye is extremely farsighted and turns in when trying to focus on objects up close.  We have tried to correct the strain that pulls her eye inward by changing her prescription but were unsuccessful.  I knew in my guy that we would eventually face surgery and that day has come. 

We have switched doctors and love her new ophthalmologist.  We feel that he gives her exceptional care and wouldn't perform the surgery if he wasn't confident that it was worth trying.  Hopefully, she will fall in the 65% of kids that come out of the surgery with a fixed eye.  We will have to see.  There is another 25% that walk away with a close to fixed eye and I would be okay with that too.  I fear the eye that won't fix!  I pray that this doesn't happen to Adeline.

Tomorrow is a complicated day.  Adeline has to arrive at the hospital at 7:15 which forces one parent to go and one to stay home and get the other two off to school.  Alex is going to take her.  I HATE not going.  She remembers that I didn't go to her last surgery which was tubes and doesn't really fall under a surgery in my book.  When recalling that surgery, Adeline told me that the doctors put the mask on her face and told her lay down and look the speaker in the ceiling.  The doctors told her daddy would talk to her through the speaker and could hear her talking to him.  Adeline then asked, "Why weren't you there?  I wanted you to talk to me on the speaker." 

OUCH! 

Wish my little Adeline well tomorrow.  I have some anxiety about this surgery for some reason.  I just want my astronaut Jet up and running around again soon. 

One of my Favorites

Lila brought this present home from Kindergarten.  I absolutely love it. 

The Sweet Smells of Christmas

It is a good thing I take pictures because I had almost forgotten all of activities that surrounded our holiday. Why it has to be a whirlwind of events that blur together, I don't know. When flipping back through my pictures, I am reminded of some of our sweetest moments. If only we spread these out to span the entire year so that we could fully appreciate the activities and time together.

We kicked the holiday baking off with a M&M snowman cake. The girls did all the decorating and thoroughly enjoyed eating it as well.

Next up was the annual gingerbread house. The girls have strengthened their design skills over the past year and produced a pretty good looking house. Savannah was lucky enough to orchestrate an, "I will decorate the front and the you girls can have the rest," policy. It held up for the most part. I can see that three separate house will be needed in the not so distant future.




The little girls had a chance to create their own gingerbread houses during Adeline's preschool Christmas party. I love the way Miss Lois has them create their own house out of milk cartons glued to a paper plates. Lots of fine motor, crossing mid-line and using hands together are involved in this activity.

Notice the frosting on their lips!

The holiday wouldn't be complete without cranking out hundreds of Christmas cookies. Thankfully, my mom is in town for this portion because I don't have the attention to detail that she has. The favorite cookies to make are the candy canes. I should clarify that. The kid's favorite cookies are the candy canes while the adults fear them because they are hard to twist. We dread them because removing them from the pan takes a steady and patient hand. We celebrate if we break less than we 20.

What surprised us all this year is that Savannah can make a candy cane cookie just as well as my mom. My mom has over 20 years of twisting experience and Savannah's cookies are just as beautiful. The twins and I still have a long way to go in mastering the art of candy cane cookies but we forge ahead regardless of our cookie's aesthetic appeal. I love how it has become a family tradition. It makes the cookies that much sweeter.

When they had had enough, the red dough worked well for Rudolph costumes!