Christmas Kids

I love this sweet boy. Look at this sweet smile. I just want to eat his cheeks. Lately, he has been stealing my scarf that Wendy made me last year. He loves how soft it is, as well as the blue color.

We were heading out the door to drive around town to look at Christmas lights. In case you weren't aware, swimming goggles are a necessary accessory for driving around town to look at Christmas lights.

So is a thumb :)

Walking Pneumonia

Tuesday afternoon, Chloe and I went to visit Miss Wendy. She is a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner at a pediatrician's office in Marietta. Both Wendy and one of the doctors listened to Chloe's heart and breathing before determining she had walking pneumonia.
Wendy let me listen through the stethoscope and I was able to hear the crackling of the pneumonia in the top/front of Chloe's left lung when she was breathing in deeply.

The doctor agreed that the pneumonia wasn't there when Chloe saw her doctor last Friday. Wendy got Chloe started on stronger antibiotics and an inhaler last night. She woke up without a fever this morning and it stayed gone all day.

Chloe got her own little breathing treatment before we left the office last night. She was so good during the whole, long visit. Chloe even peed in a cup for the first time, which she thought was pretty silly.

Today, Chloe was jumping up and down, clapping her hands in excitement after we told her she could go back to school tomorrow. She has missed her friends so much over the past two weeks that she has been out of school.

So very thankful her fever is gone and she's well enough in time to go back to school and be a part of her Christmas concert tomorrow night!

Decking the Halls at the Grandmas' Home

After my Mom's Christmas party dinner, we watched the kids decorate the tree. They had a TON of fun!

Owen thought he was pretty clever when he found me peeking in from the back porch through the window.

It's nice to have a tall person on hand for the midget decorators.

Reeeeeeaaaaaaccccchhhh!

Owen took his decorating job very seriously and was so careful when hanging the ornaments. He would move his face very close to make sure he could see what he was doing.

Little Sick Girl

Running a 102+ fever every day for over a week has taught Chloe how to be very proficient in using the ear thermometer and taking her own temp. She can push it into place better without it hurting, than I can.

She makes some funny faces when taking her temp.

Really funny faces. Silly girl.

So serious!

I LOVE this shot. Sweet, sweet girl!

Little Imp

Earlier this week, I had gotten up and left my office for a little break. When I came back, this is what I found in my chair. Trying to take up as much room as she could, arms spread out on each side holding my desk and toes pointed out as far as they could reach.


She was pretty pleased with herself. Thought she would steal Mommy's work chair.

She thinks she's pretty cute, too.

I agree with her. I love this Bean.

Decking the Halls

I love these little reindeer. They are heavy in the hand. Their weight surprises me every year as I pull them out of the boxes.

Owen's advent calendar. Last year was a challenge to find something new & different every night. This year, I'm taking an easier route and putting one coin behind the door every day.

This is Chloe's advent calendar. Of course I have to put the same coin behind her doors as I do for Owen. :)

Todd's stocking that my Mom made years ago for him. She used my stocking as a template for size and shape, but then pieced together different fabrics in blue that we loved.

Owen's stocking that Grandma Eloise made for him when he was just a couple years old. His is the largest stocking hanging in front of the fireplace.

Here is my stocking that Grandma Eloise made for me when I was a little girl. This is Christmas to me, seeing this stocking every year. I love this stocking!

Chloe's stocking that is losing it's chalk board with her name on it. We are hoping that Grandma Eloise will finish her stocking over this coming year so we can all have handmade stockings made with love.

Leaves

My boy had fun raking leaves the weekend after Thanksgiving. He helped his Papa Ford rake them from around the whole front yard.


They made a really big pile.

I enjoyed seeing them work together to clean up the yard. Owen thought it was fun.

Can you see my boy in this pile of leaves? Look closely and you may see a shoe underneath these upwardly scattering leaves.

And there he slides, right out the other side.

Dinner at Miyoshi

After we got home from our cruise, I wasn't ready to start cooking again yet. So we went out to Miyoshi instead. It helped having a nice chunk taken care of by a gift certificate I bought online at www.restaurant.com for a fraction of the gift cert value. Yay for restaurant.com and their awesome sales!

Chloe likes their soup, but makes me eat the mushrooms first.

Chloe is also not fond of the fire. She must sit in Grandma's lap to protect herself. And plug her ears. :)

I LOVE this picture. One of my all-time favorites. Thinking I need to get this printed/framed for Chloe's room. :)

Owen was impressed with the magic tricks of our chef.

He thinks magic tricks are some of the coolest things ever and wants to see the tricks over and over. And over.

My Bean. My little artist. Coloring sweetly.

She decided she didn't like the company at the dinner table so much and descended to a horizontal position.

She decided to show a little more attitude when she realized my camera was in my lap. Can you see what face she is making?

Not as blurry here, just a bit dark.

Here we go.

Full on attitude.

In focus.

Not too dark.

And no flash.

I love my new lens.

Now I can capture moments like this under restaurant tables.

Halloween 2009

Jackolanterns carved the afternoon of Halloween. Nothing like the last minute to get things done.

These were the dozen plus snails removed from the pumpkins when they were brought inside for carving. Who knew pumpkins were snail magnets?

This was the Halloween party at our clubhouse on Friday night. Both Owen and his friend Nate were Darth Vader. This was also the first time Owen had been out of the house in three days since he had strep throat that week. He was happy to see his friends and play!

And Halloween night. Before it started raining. That is Preston playing Yoda.

Nate is in the middle and Owen is on the right.

The rain was supposed to be gone for the evening, but it started back (after one very long, rainy week) about five houses into Trick or Treating. So we headed back home and the kids hit maybe ten houses total before going inside to count their candy and ask why other kids were still out Trick or Treating. But with Chloe having finished her antibiotics for strep throat the day that Owen got strep throat, we weren't about to take any chances of getting sick(er) kids from the cold and rain.

They still got plenty of candy. The next day, we played Trick or Treat upstairs. Todd sat in Owen's bedroom with a bucket of candy while I sat in Chloe's room with another bucket. The kids took turns knocking on the doors so we could tell them "Happy Halloween" and put more candy in their bags. I think that was more fun for them than going door-to-door on Halloween.