Pinterest wins again!

This was one of my favorite Pinterest ideas ever! I loved being able to see my nearest and dearest every day. Since I spend all my time in the kitchen, this was the perfect pin. The little white card on the far bottom right is from the policemen thanking us for the doughnuts :)

RAK: Update

Well, I got most of them done by Christmas :) We took treats to the firemen and policemen, we donated food to a local food bank, we made treats for the mailman. we gave away an item on Facebook for free and we donated to an international charity. We didn't tip the Publix cart guys because I only went twice and I didn't have cash either time. I will do it before New Year's though. We also didn't do the drive through one either because I only had fast food once and there was no one behind me because I was eating lunch at 3pm. I still really want to do this one so I will try to do it before New Year's.

Merry Christmas! Fevers, vomiting and ear infections for everyone!

It wasn't as bad as it sounds, but all parents have a perfect vision of what Christmas morning should look like and my vision didn't involve any of those things. We really had a wonderful Christmas despite the illness. We drove to Birmingham on the Friday before Christmas. The drive down went great, first hurdle cleared. I had dinner at Village Tavern with some dear friends who I don't get to see often enough. Not everyone could make it and they were missed :( My first duty of the 2013 is to plan a fun playdate that everyone can come to. Wish me luck! Saturday we had Christmas at my mom's house with my cousins on her side. We had a great time. Some of them met Sam for the first time!

Saturday night I decided that Sam had an ear infection. He was fussy all day, pulling on his ears and he's already had 2 in the last few months. We got him some meds and he seems to be feeling better. I'm praying this isn't the start of chronic ear infections. Poor fussy baby :(

On Sunday, Joey played golf and I hung around at my mom's house then that afternoon we went to my step-sister's house to have Christmas with my dad. We had a great time with them too! I'm so ready for my dad to retire and move back to Birmingham. When that happens, my entire immediate family will be in one city! We won't be there, but at least we'll only have one place to go to see everyone :)

On Monday, we had Christmas with Joey's family and we celebrated his grandparents' birthdays. I wish we could have stayed longer, but after dinner we rushed back to Huntsville.

We had a lot of work to do. We had to unpack 3 Christmases worth of gifts, 4 days worth of luggage and laundry and we still had to get ready for "Santa". Thankfully, the kids fell asleep on the way home and we slipped them both into bed and they stayed asleep until morning. We made some coffee and hot chocolate, put Christmas Vacation on and started putting things together. It was nice :)

 Frosty the Elf had to leave us, but he left a sweet note for Finley.

Joey and I were up before the kids on Christmas morning. We were so excited! Finley got up and I immediately knew something was wrong. Her cheeks were bright red. She held out as long as she could, but shortly after seeing her presents she wandered back into her room, got in the bed and passed out. She had a 101 degree fever :( She alternating between playing with her toys and napping.

Sam woke up shortly after Finley and was feeling much better so he was my happy boy again.

Both kids are all smiles today so my only problem is finding a place for all of this.

Now for the MVP (most valuable present) list...

Finley: plasma car from Joey's parents, dollhouse kitchen from us, a train that my dad and step-mom gave Sam and the reading tent from my Mom.

Sam: the painters tape we put on the tv cabinet doors so he wouldn't smash his fingers and Finley's plasma car.

We had a wonderful Christmas and we hope you did too!

My Baby Man

We're a nudist colony around here during the day. Sometimes I just get tired of doing laundry.

Frosty's Antics: Day 3

That scoundrel, Frosty, is at it again! He rolled the bathroom! Finley thought it was really funny. Unfortunately, we think Frosty flew away for the day because she was so upset about Finley's behavior this morning. Finley wasn't very nice to brother. We're not sure when she'll be back :(

Frosty's Antics: Day 2

Look what Frosty did last night while we were asleep!

A family of performers.

Finley's Christmas program was last week. She did great! She sang most of the songs and shook her jingle bells. She looked so cute! This year they wore angel costumes. She was so excited when she saw Sam and I had crawled to the front to wave to her.

On Sunday, Joey was in the Boar's Head service at church. He was a wonderful shepard and even grew his hair and beard out to prepare for his role.