Christmas Vacation

This year I made a New Year's resolution that I would write at least two blog posts a month.  How do you think I'm doing?  And actually it's only kind of my fault.  For several weeks the browse button on the picture loader was down so I wasn't able to load any of my pictures.  However that problem has been fixed for the past couple of weeks and I'm only just now getting around to doing my posts now that the month is over half-way through.  So now I will be playing catch-up for the next few posts and hopfelly then I can keep up.

Our Christmas break was really nice.  We stayed close to home and mostly just enjoyed the slower pace and spending lots of time together.  My cold finally abated somewhat and so we decided to take the kids to a kid's museum in Ann Arbor that we had never been to.  Last spring we purchased a reciprocal membership from our local kids museum thinking that we would be going to New Jersey where we always visit their museum there.  But plans changed so we are hoping to visit some of the various museums in Michigan before the membership expires.  Especially because we learned that they are changing the benefits next time.  Not only is it going up in price but now instead of free admission to the various museums it's only half-price admission.  So this may be the first and last time we visit some of these places.

This one was really nice and had three floors to explore. 

My favorite was this cute little general store that was full of old fashioned items and old cash registers for the kids to play with.

Spencer remembered all too well his experience on a stretcher in an ambulence in New Jersey...

Kendall and Spencer enjoyed a game of checkers by the old time-y "window" in the store.

Kaya was ecstatic to find that her best friend from preschool was there with her family that day too!

A trip in the ambulence.

After several hours in the museum, we took advantage of the location to do some shopping at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods to help kick off our resolution to eat healthier.  This was our first trip to Trader Joe's and we loved it.  We found lots of great items that were allergy-free for Spencer and lots cheaper than Whole Foods or the health food store in Battle Creek.

For New Year's Eve we spent another evening at home which is what I love best.  We enjoyed playing some of our new games that we got for Christmas and some of our old ones too.  The night passed so quickly and before we knew it we were ringing in anothe new year! 

The kids love their new game called Fibber.

We had a fun Fast Track tournament.

After the New Year, Kalen had to get back to work but the kids and I were fortunate to have an extra week before school and babysitting resumed.  I had been told about a fun indoor playground in Chelsea awhile back and I decided it would be the perfect activity for the kids to get out of the house but stay out of the cold.  I decided to surprise them.  It was so funny because it is located in a shopping center and the lot was pretty full so I had to park in front of an Ace Hardware store.  Spencer took a look around and said: "What?  You brought us to a hardware store???"  They were pretty excited when they walked in and found themselves in a big playland.  We ended up spending quite a few hours there and the kids probably would have been content to stay even longer.  I actually wouldn't have minded either since the place has a ton of overstuffed leather sofas and chairs for adults who get tired of playing before their kids do.  It was really fun and we'll definitely go back.  We did miss Taylor though.  Apparently he is getting too old for things like this.  (Even though I do think he would have had fun there--even I played on the equipment and the slides were super fun!).

One thing that Taylor did do over the break was to go on his first date!!!  He doubled with another kid in our branch and they took a couple of the girls (also in the branch).  He had to be talked (coerced) into it but ended up having a ton of fun so we're hoping that he'll do more of it. 

The day after our trip to the Chelsea Treehouse, I came down with a lovely stomach virus and spent the last few days of the break feeling miserable and kind of mad.  Between my awful cold at Christmas and the stomach virus, I was sick for most of the break.  By the time I was better, it was back to babysitting and the crazy days of kids back in school.  I guess I would rather that than trying to babysit while sick, but still.  I am grateful for the break and I am looking forward to summer already.

Merry Christmas

Finally, I think I'm all caught up.  I feel bad about the rushed posts though and I really am hoping to do better at keeping up on blogging this year.  I think I did slightly better this year than last though.  Which probably is a bit sad.

Anyway, we had a really lovely Christmas this year.  We stayed home once again and had just our family which is always nice.  The one bad part this year was that I came down with an absolutely miserable cold so I wasn't feeling all that terrific.  I still made our annual homemade chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles at the pleading of the kids.  Plus, chicken noodle soup is great for colds anyway, so it was probably the perfect meal.  Christmas morning we got to see what Santa brought before enjoying our traditional omelet breakfast.  Then we just took it easy for the rest of the day opening a few things and then enjoying them before opening a few more.  We had a nice dinner and just really enjoyed the day together.

Santa brought Kaya her shopping cart and cash register.

Lynnsey got the beautiful American Girl doll Caroline from Santa.

Spencer loved his marble run from Nana and Grandpa.

Santa brought Kendall a digital camera that may be a bit nicer than mine.

Nana and Grandpa gave Taylor a Doctor Who Dalek alarm clock.  It works!  And it has scared the pants off of him a few times already:)

It was a great end to a crazy, difficult, but wonderful year. 

December

December was a crazy month as usual with all the happenings going on and the excitement leading up to Christmas. 

We spent one Saturday at a Christmas carnival that the college hosted.  The kids had a great time playing all the games and earning tickets to redeem for prizes.

Then they got to have another Santa visit. 

On December 7th, we celebrated Kendalls 13th birthday!  Yes, we now have two teenagers in the house.  And once again I am left baffled as to how it is possible for kids to grow up so fast. 

This year, as an odd-numbered birthday, we just had a family party.  My favorite kind.

I was so proud of this gift.  He had asked for a Doctor Who apron which were not only scarce but also about $60.  So I designed one myself and he was totally thrilled with it.

He loved his light saber and book from Nana.

The favorite though was the new Michael Vey book from Grandpa Potter.  He was just a little excited.

We enjoyed the annual winter band concert again.  This time Taylor wasn't participating so we missed seeing him.  He isn't taking band officially this year and just joins in when he can, but he was so swamped with projects from school that he couldn't work it in.  Kendall played with the middle school band though, and did a great job.

Kendall and the middle school band.  I promis he's in there somewhere.

Lynnsey has been busy all fall with the Chime Club and they've had several performances for different groups, but we hadn't been able to see a performance yet.  Finally they scheduled one at the hospital where they performed first in the lobby for the public and then went upstairs where they performed for the patients.  They did a wonderful job and performed some really difficult pieces.

The Chime Club performing for patients at Oaklawn Hospital

Kaya was so excited to go to a birthday party for her best friend and even more excited when she learned it would be held at a roller skating rink.  She had a ball and only fell down a few times.  And now she's already wanting to go do it again.

Kaya and friends at the skating rink.

The same day that Kaya was at her party, our friends invited our other kids over to make "gingerbread" houses.  They had lots of fun--even Spencer who made one that he of course couldn't eat.

Spencer's gingerbread house.

We got to open some early presents from Grandma Oswald that were actually supposed to be sent last year but weren't ready in time.  Among them was Kaya's quilt that she has been waiting anxiouly for.  It is so cute and cozy and fits on her bed perfectly.

Kaya and her "Grandma Oswald quilt".

November

November was a bit stressful for us because we had another surgery date looming before us.  This time is was for Kaya.  She developed a problem in one of her eardrums caused by the ear tube that she had put in when she was a baby.  The right one fell out and healed right up.  The left tube decided it didn't want to come out.  Ever.  So it embedded itself in her eardrum and then shifted to the side and created a large perforation in the eardrum.  That was a problem because the tube was not only preventing the hole from healing, but the hole was trying to repair itself by healing all wrong.  If left untreated it would have become an eardrum and hearing destroying tumor.  So the only way to fix the problem was for Kaya to have surgery.  And this surgery was more of a major ordeal than getting the tubes in was.  They actually had to go in behind the ear which meant basically making an incision that would allow them to fold her ear over enough for them to get a big enough work space.  The surgery involved an overnight stay in the hospital.  So we were thankful once again to have my mom here to help with the other kids so that we could both be there for Kaya.

We arrived super early to check in and Kaya was really excited about her adventure.  We were less so.  

All set up in pre-op just before they took her back.

The surgery took a couple of nerve-wracking hours in which we sat in the wating room watching a monitor that indicated where she was in the process.  The surgeon came out and told us everything had gone really well and he felt that the repair was successful.  He said the perforation in the eardrum was a lot bigger than they had initially thought and covered about 40% of the eardrum.  After another shorter wait, they let us go back to post-op to see her.  She was groggy and VERY unhappy.  She wanted her IV out and kept telling us to take her home.  Once they got her settled into her room, she calmed down and took a good nap.

Ready for a sleepover in the hospital.

Once she woke up, she was in better spirits and watched some movies while munching saltines.  They wouldn't let her have anything bigger until she could keep down fluids and crackers which took awhile for her to be able to do.  Finally that evening, she was ready and she was so excited to order from the menu.  They told her she could order anything she wanted.  And she did:  chicken noodle soup, jell-o, chocolate pudding, toast and jam, and vanilla ice cream.  It took her a good two hours to eat it, but she finished nearly everything. 

Kaya and her "giant tray of food".



She steadily improved that evening and was so funny.  When she walked to the bathroom on her own and I remarked that I thought she was getting better, she yelled: "Thanks chicken noodle soup!"  Then later when we were settling in for the night and told her it was time to go to bed, she burst into tears and said, "I just don't want to go to sleep because this was the best day ever!" 

The next morning she was doing great, so after breakfast and some time in the play room, we were all set to leave.  She has recovered really well and much faster than I think I would have.  She was pretty much her normal self right away and we had to keep reminding her that she needed to take things a bit easier.  Which was hard to do because her uncles came for Thanksgiving and how do you take it easy with all those fun rough-housers around?

We had a really nice Thanksgiving weekend with my mom, Jonathan, Timothy, and Samuel here.  The kids absolutely loved having the uncles around.

Kaya with her favorite uncle Timothy.

We also went to the local Christmas parade for the first time in a few years.  Actually this is the first time that the weather was mild enough for me to even want to go see it.  Afterward we went to the kids museum to see Santa.  Unfortunately he was unavoidably delayed and not able to get there so the staff rounded up a helper at the last minute.  Kaya was still thrilled to visit with him.

Halloween

Last winter Kalen's brother Todd sent us the complete dvd set of Gilligan's Island.  We have been working our way through them this past year whenever we have extra time before bed or on a Saturday afternoon.  It has been so much fun to watch the kids giggling over those silly episodes and enjoying them so much.  When one of the kids made the connection that there were seven castaways and seven of us, it didn't take long for the idea to come for our whole family to dress up as the crew of the SS Minnow for Halloween this year. 

It was harder than I thought to come up with some of the costumes (there aren't too many gold evening gowns for preschoolers out there...), but I thought the results were fantastic.  We had a lot of fun showing off our costumes at our branch Trunk or Treat and then again trick or treating on Halloween.  

Spencer aka Gilligan

Kaya as the glamourous movie star Ginger

Lynnsey as the lovely and sweet MaryAnn

Kendall as the Skipper

Taylor the Professor (working on that darn radio!)

Amy and Kalen as Lovey and Thurston Howell III.

The Skipper beating up on his little buddy Gilligan.