It's Christmas Time!

It is officially Christmas. We had Todd's parents up today for Christmas, and it was great fun. We had chili and potato soup, chili dogs, deviled eggs, and Christmas candy. Sandy also baked and decorated Ryan a snowman cake, and he made us put a candle in it so he could blow it out. I would post a pic, but my camera has died, so I am using disposable. Wish me luck.

We all made out like bandits. Especially me, who got a handmade green toile quilt!!!, Todd who got a handmade racing quilt! and Ryan who got a GeoTrax remote control train set!!! Of course, the gifts we had ordered for Mike and Sandy hadn't come in the mail yet....Ryan spent about 2.5 hours driving the train around and around. I can't believe a 2-yr old can run a remote control like that...but hey, he's pretty advanced :) Apparently, GeoTrax has a bunch of other train sets you can add to the tracks, and the funny thing is that my Mom already has one at her house. We didn't know it was a GeoTrax. Maybe she will let us bring it back.

Tomorrow we are off for the farm at 11:15. I am guessing we will leave more like noon. Usually I am ready early, and then I pace around while Todd runs late. It's tradition. We are taking 2 cars and leaving the jeep in Newton so I can drop Todd off at work on the way home Wednesday. This means we don't have to rush home on the 25th! Hooray. We have to stop in Indee along the way and visit the 3 Arnold siblings - Aunt Donna (87) at Assisted Living, Uncle Melvin (91) at the hospital, and Grandpa (92) at the home. I have goodies for all of them. It is depressing that Grandpa will be at the home for Christmas Eve and Day. I hate to say this, but I hope he sleeps through most of it so he's not lonely.

Ryan is pretty much cured, although he got too excited today and started hacking away, so I had to nebulize him. I Knew he was better this morning when he threw a cup of apple juice across the living room and I had to time-out him. Naughty means healthy. I was worried because yesterday was not good. He caughed so long and hard that he threw up in the nebulizer and down both of my legs. Disgusting.

I am attaching the pics of our trip to see Santa. Ryan wouldn't go near him, except Santa was giving away Little Debbies! Then Ryan rode the train, which for $1 is a pretty good deal. It goes around 5 times. Ryan rode in a car by himself, and all the other kids rode together in the engine. I was worried he would cry or escape, but he loved it. That's him, who you can barely see, in the yellow car.

Sick Baby

Bronchitis. Croup. Ear Infection. Simultaneously. Tired Baby. Tired Mommy.

Creepy Candidates

Okay, this caucus thing is getting out of hand. Today someone from Hillary's office stopped by my house in person and asked me if I needed a babysitter for caucus night. Actually, I do, but why would I let a complete stranger do it??

I am home with Ryan today. He has bronchiolitis - which I think is a kids version of bronchitis. He has a horrible cough. I call the Dr. at 8:05 and got an 8:30 appointment!! You can't beat that. I am wrapping my gifts while he naps. The phone has rung 4 times since he went down. AAAGH! Today was our holiday party at work, but oh well. Todd is at our IRS audit, so he couldn't stay home.

I know I am way behind on my blog. I spent all last week prepping for the Climate Change Council (see yesterday's DM Register front page - I organized the meeting) then was gone Sun - Mon for the meeting. I have 2 gifts + my bingo prizes left to buy and some cooking & grocery shopping to do Sat, but otherwise I am done. Ryan has made this a good Christmas season for me.

First Time Sledding

Last weekend I took Ryan home to see his Great-Grandpa just in case something were to happen before Christmas. It was a good visit. Ryan was good medecine for his sick Great-Grandpa. While we were there Aunt Heather brought over a sled and took Ryan for his first sledding adventure in the front yard. We did it in front of the picture window so everyone could watch. Ryan loved it and just asked today "Grandpa's? Zoom Again?"

Devastating News

This weekend started out exceptionally bad. Friday night my mom called to tell me that the doctors had finally figured out why my Grandpa Arnold is so tired all the time - he has a large tumor on his pancreas and nodules all over his lungs. They couldn't say for sure - but reading the handwriting on the wall - it is pancreatic cancer that has spread. They are going to the oncologist on Wednesday, but I'm guessing since Grandpa is 92.75 years old, he won't want to treat it. It is shocking - he is still sharp as a tack, lives on his own, mows his own lawn, etc. Needless to say, this is not good for anyone, and brings up a lot of horrible memories of my Grandma's long excrutiating battle with cancer 20 years ago.

I did not sleep well at all Friday night. Saturday Rachel and I were to take the boys to a Cookie Walk, but we decided to cancel. Ryan seemed to sense that we were trapped inside and was HYPER and NAUGHTY all day. It didn't help that I was on the phone a lot - my mom, my aunt, my sister, etc. At one point I was looking in the closet for something and noticed it was really quiet. I went out into the kitchen, and he was standing on the window ledge above the kitchen counter cleaning the window with a sponge. I screamed so loud that I startled him and he fell out of the window. I managed to catch him. Another time, I went to the bathroom and when I came back he was playing in his crib. He had scaled the side of it and dove in.

He was a lot tamer today and somehow this weekend I managed to get the tree up and 75% of my cards done. I only put 50% of our decorations out since he keeps moving them around. I estimate that Todd and I have about 175 ornaments plus the regular glass balls, and most of them are glass. Atleast I will have less to put away at the end of the month. He calls it "his tree" and the tiny ceramic one on the piano is "mommy's tree".

Well, time to sign off and go to bed. I have an IRS audit of Stein's to look forward to this week!
Yee-haw!

Some Cheery Pictures

Here are some cheery pictures from Thanksgiving Day. We stayed home for Thanksgiving because of Todd's schedule. We had planned to have Diane and Brian over for dinner, but Brian had emergency surgery the day before and had 2.5 feet of his intestine removed - so it was just us most of the day. It was pretty laid back. Todd slept until about 3 pm, so Ryan and I played both inside and outside most of the day. He is obsessed with Santa, particularly our inflatible Santa. Every morning we deflate it and he jumps around singing "Santa Nap! Santa Nap!". Then we drive to school and he tells every single kid "Santa Nap! Santa Nap!". Every night the only way I can get him to leave daycare is to say "It's time to wake up Santa!" . Then we go home and I plug Santa in, he inflates, and Ryan runs around saying "I see Santa! "I see Santa!" Thn I have to drag him inside kicking and screaming :)
Ryan was quite perplexed by the snow. He kept touching it with his mittens and saying "Wet! Wet!" Please note, we are not Raiders fans, but a free coat is a free coat.

About 1 pm I started cooking our turkey. I didn't have to put the sides in the oven until about 5 pm. Diane came over about 6 pm, and we ate. I went to move the turkey with the tongs from the roasting pan to cutting board, and the turkey fell apart and bounced on the counter. Stuffing squirted everywhere! It was messy, but dang that turkey was moist!