Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas one and all!  We were so blessed this Christmas season and had such a great time spending it with the ones we love.  

We spent the week down at my parents house.  We got lucky traveling because we decided on a whim to go a few days earlier and on the day we had originally planed Snoqualmie Pass was closed.  We wouldn't have been able to come for another day or two so I was glad.

My sister Sharee and her family came from Detroit for Christmas.  We don't get to see them very often because her husband is doing clinical rotations for his medical schooling.  Our whole family was together for less than 24 hours before Leisha's family took off for Utah.  In that short time period we planned a family photo to be taken bright and early the morning Leisha left.

(Insert Picture here - I am not allowed to share it yet because it is going to be in the family New Year card but I will put it in here when I'm allowed Hehe)

It was absolutely freezing out and it wouldn't be a Volmer family photo without some sibling bickering and the occasional tears from the young-ans  but I think it turned out really nicely. :)  

My mom has a puppet nativity set that Elsy loved to play with this week.

We had a blast spending time with each other and the kids were hilarious.  There is something about playing with cousins that brings out the crazy side of all the kidswe noticed.  Elsy plays with other kids really well (usually... she can throw a good punch now and then though - yikes) but when she gets with her cousins she is completely unreserved and is her whole self.  

We went to one of Carl's basketball games.  He is a starter on the JV team.  It was fun to get to watch him play because I am usually away for all his games.  

Elsy sat on my mom's lap and ate almost a whole bag of popcorn that my dad bought.  She was pretty nervous of the buzzer on the scoreboard and didn't seem to care that she was kicking the people in front of her on the bleachers but she seemed to have fun.

And I had to throw in a picture of Lenise and Tommy.

We spent the week doing last minute shopping and lots of cooking.  I made an "Olive Garden" meal for the family one of the nights.  Lenise made a boat load of peanut butter balls that I ate all week long.  Usually when we go home for Christmas we spend most of the time there post-Christmas but this year we went for the week beforehand.  It was surprisingly relaxing because I got almost all my shopping done before we left and usually I am stressing all the way to the end.

Both of my parent's parents live in town so in our family we spend Christmas Eve morning with my mom's side, the evening with my dad's side, and then Christmas day we usually do our own traditions.  We had a big turkey dinner for lunch at my Grandma Merkley's house.  Yum!

Every year we do a nativity.  My Grandpa Merkley used to read the story out of Luke in the Bible but this was the second Christmas without him. :(  My uncle Lance took his place.  

I tried really hard to get Elsy to dress up as a sheep or perhaps an angel? but she said no to all of it.  That was okay, though, because she sat by me and got excited watching Mary and the shepherds and all the other people in the story play their parts.  I did get her to slide in on the picture though. ;) 

We also always have a special visitor come every year (ahem ahem, uncle Lance...)  Elsy was so excited to see him and followed him around the living room until he sat down.  I think it was because of her excitement that she got  to be the first to sit on his lap.  Santa gave her a pencil pouch and she was ecstatic.  

Elsy was very facinated with the cardboard from inside the pencil pouch she got.  She told me it was a camera and continued to take pictures of me for quite some time.

We came home for naps and by the time we woke up the Volmer party was ready to start!

For the Volmer side we also do a nativity, but it is a lot more of a program than anything.  Each family does a musical number (we sand Away In a Manger, the same one we sang the week before in sacrament meeting) and aunt Andrea always seems to be the narrator.  Some people may say the Volmer program always runs long, but I always love it.  It always invites a warm and happy spirit.

There are close to 80 people for the Volmer party and they all gather in my dad's "Man Cave". My sisters and mom went around and put red noses on all the deer for the festivities.  It gets quite hot and stuffy but its fun to be with family.

There wasn't enough room in the Man Cave for everyone so a lot of the kids were off to the side playing with toys, including my kids.  

We had a gift exchange and Elsy was happier with this box than the present she got.  Why are kids always like that?

After everyone left and we got all cleaned up my mom brought out the new pajamas.  She used to make us all pjs for Christmas Eve, and she still does for the unmarrieds (our new term for the younger siblings haha) but she gave us older girls socks and the son-in-laws treats.  She made the grandkids pillowcases so that was fun.  Our tradition is we all put on our new pjs and then gather to watch Mr. Kreugar's Christmas in the light of the Christmas tree.  That shot film never ceases to invite the Spirit of Christmas in.  Its such a calm feeling every year after the craziness of all the extended family parties.

After the kids were put in bed and Santa's helpers were done doing their work we went to bed around midnight.  This year as I climbed in bed I had to fight back some tears... and not good tears.  I was really disappointed that I hadn't really gone out of my way to do something special for the Christmas season for me or for my kids and now it was Christmas Eve and I had run out of time.  Logan helped me see I had done a few things but he also helped me remember that the Christmas Spirit really is something that we need to be doing all year long.  I have been thinking about that and I realized that those things I had wanted to do still can be done.  I still can make treats for people!  I still can try and invite the spirit into my home by being a kinder mom.  I can still do lots of things... although I don't think I should go caroling. :P  I was grateful for that conversation we had.

As usual, I didn't take many pictures of Christmas morning.  We usually take more video than pictures.  And nobody wants pictures that early in the morning!

Elsy and Tommy got Link and Zelda softies in their stockings.  I think they are probably Elsy's favorite gift... good call Logan.  However, she is always making them kiss...

Elsy got the bike she has been asking for since summer time.  A little red trike I found at a second hand store for almost brand new.  We got her a bike and a bike bell to go with it and she couldn't be happier.  She practiced all over the kitchen but still can't figure out how to turn.

My parents got Elsy her very own sleeping bag.  You may already know that Elsy LOVES sleeping bags so it was perfect.  She slept in it for naps every day for the rest of the vacation.

Some of the things Santa brought our family:  Logan got a new backpack for work, a new David sling, and some much needed sweats.  I got a diaper bag, a cord for my car so I can finally listen to music from my iPod, and a laminator.  Tommy got some books and cars and Elsy also got a Little People princess castle.  Logan and I got the Ninja Blender we have been wanting for ages!  Yay Santa ;)  I wish I had taken a picture of the kids with their gifts.  My mom used to do that with us.  We were so blessed and everyone was so generous.  :)

Cuddles with Kelsy!

Tommy learned to really walk this week!  I am so proud of him and his persistence!  He just practiced and practiced.  I wish I had a picture but every time I had the camera out I was trying to film him... he is just to cute!  He would get the giggles so bad every time he would walk.  Ever since he was an infant just learning to laugh he has gotten the hiccups every time he laughs hard.  So he would be trying to walk and be laughing and hiccuping.  He was just a blast.  He has a fresh set of bruises and goose eggs on his head from falling into everything, though.  I forgot about that from when Elsy went through that stage.  Its an exciting but painful time for little babes.

Logan and Carl trying to do a maze ball on of my cousins got for Christmas.

My sister Riley got a puzzle for Christmas.  Puzzles are something her and I like to do together so we spent quite a while working on it.  Sadly it didn't get finished before we left. :(

My sister Lenise gave my dad a red-footed Russian tortoise that she had been given from someone in her mission.  I think she won the best gift award.  My dad was so shocked and pleased.  The kids loved following it around as it mosied around the kitchen. Dad named it Porkey.  Here is a picture of Elsy trying to kiss it.

We had to hold Tommy back by his ankles so he wouldn't attack Porkey.

It snowed in Tri-Cities right before we left.  I took Elsy out to walk around in it on Sunday afternoon.  She loved looking at her footprints and trudging around.

We had a wonderful trip!  The roads were good on the way back.  When we came home we found that the power had gone out during the week and our heater hadn't started up again.  The house was freezing!  Logan and I laughed as we kept finding pockets of cold even after the house was warmed up.  I opened a drawer and a puff of cold air came up at me.  Poor Tommy's wet wipes were ice cold.

We are getting back into the swing of things after being gone for so long.  I threw away our black bananas and went grocery shopping.  Tip:  Always have a freezer meal ready for when you come home from a long trip.  We never have groceries and I have recently learned to do that and it has been really nice.

Tomorrow Logan's parents are coming to stay with us for a week!  We are so excited to see them.  We have three presents under the tree still waiting for them... even though our tree is SO dead.  You can snap off a branch like it was a cracker!  That thing is coming down the instant we are done opening those presents.

We are ready to welcome 2016!  Logan and I already are talking about the goals we have for the coming year.  This year we have a lot going on!  We are moving in the next few months so that will be a new adventure.  Logan is also hoping to launch his new business this year as well which is a big thing for our family.  We are excited for all the plans we have made and the plans we have yet to make.  

Let the Festivities Begin!

Merry Christmas time!

We have spent some time the last two weeks going to as many Christmas festivities as possible, because nobody can get enough of them at this time of year.  For family home evening this week we went to Redmond Town Center to ride the Christmas carousel.

I love this picture of Elsy because it says it all.  She was SO excited to be on the merry-go-round.  

And there was a nice little bench on the merry-go-round for Logan and Tommy to ride on.

Another activity we went to was Snowflake Lane at Bellevue Square.  I was sad that I only got one picture of us in the elevator.  Elsy and Tommy both had a blast.  Elsy was clapping and dancing and singing as we watched the roller skaters.  But of course her favorite was not the dancing, fake snow, or the awesome drummers, but the sucker she got from one of the dancers.  Elsy and I were front row but we got separated from Logan and Tommy.  When I looked back at them Logan was bouncing Tommy to the music and they were both laughing.  I love how magical Christmas festivals can be. :)

And then... there are those that aren't magical at all and you wish you had skipped entirely.  We decided to go down to Tacoma for the ZooLights display at Point Defiance Zoo with some friends.  Sadly our friends were not able to make it but we decided to make the drive in the pouring rain nonetheless.  We got there and it was just to cold and rainy for the kids.  Elsy loved seeing the sharks (probably because it was inside) but after that everything went down hill.  I wanted to make the most of our money spent but Logan I think was a lot quicker to call it a lost cause.  He kept saying, "This is crazy" and kept saying it was time we headed back.  I like zoos to much, though, and wanted to see all the animals (most were 'in bed' for the night).  The last exhibit was the meerkats and Elsy finally perked up for that and loved watching them dig in the sand.  She pretended to be a meerkat all evening.

Elsy actually has a rather awesome imagination.  For example, she is always indicating the living room and saying "Dis is da park, okay?" or "Dis is a school bus!".  Our kitchen table, apparently, is a dragon named Goofy.  He has pink eyes, she says.  She loves Goofy and sometimes gives the table a hug at meal times.  She is always asking me to be the teacher so she can pretend to go to school.  Another favorite is sleeping with her pillow and blanket on the fireplace.  She always is running to the couch to blow out an imaginary candle.  Another time she had a slice of cheese and told me it was a fish tank. I love watching her imagination blossom.

It may be her imagination that makes her so picky sometimes.  The other day she wouldn't eat her slice of cheese because this little cheese speck was on it.  What? 

I love Elsy's little voice.  She is starting to get to be such a good talker and can carry on some fun conversations.  She still can't say her "L's" and "F's" though so sometimes I will say a word she is trying to say and ask her to repeat it.  It's funny, because now sometimes when she is showing me something she will say, "Mom say _____" because thats what I say to her.  Two of my recent favorite mis-pronunciations are "Wedgie Tales" for "Veggie Tales" and "Booty and da Beast" for "Beauty and the Beast."  She walks around the house singing "Booty and da Beast!" over and over again.  At night when I am putting her to bed, before I leave she often says, "Mommy wanna talk with me?"  I like to ask her what her favorite thing about the day was.  I also read somewhere to ask them what their least favorite thing is too, so I try to remember to do that too so that she will feel comfortable talking with me about everything.  But it is so much more fun to focus on the positive.  

She is always adding an "Okay?" to the end of what she says and is so matter of fact.  When I get angry or impatient she is often saying "Mommy, be nice to me okay?" or "Be nice to Bay Tommy, okay?"  The other day I loudly told Logan to clean his office... okay it maybe was a little bit of a shout (not a yell that makes it sound mean) and Elsy came in from the other room to say, "Shhhh, don yell at Daddy okay?  We only yell outside." (Okay back story, Logan never cleans his office.... EVER.  And I always casually tell him to but he never does.  So this particular day I just said loudly, in a joking manner - because I seriously wasn't mad at all,  "Logan you never clean your office!!!!")  She is a doll but I can't help but tell you that the reason she knows we only yell outside is because I am constantly reminding her of that rule. :P

While she can give us a run for our money sometimes, she is always so good at telling us she loves us.  The other day I was having a bad day and she threw her arms around my neck and said "You're the best mommy ever ever ever!!"  That made me feel a lot better.

Attention!  Attention!  Tommy can walk!  Okay, not like really well, but he learned this week to stand up from the ground and will then take a few steps before laughing so hard that he falls.  It is funny because he will practice standing over and over again and just laugh and laugh.  It is so fun to watch.  Tonight he walked a fairly good distance... maybe that will be his Christmas present to me.

He is getting to be quite inquisitive and his favorite place is still the bathroom.  If the door is left open he makes a beeline to the toilet paper roll with the funniest giggle all the way because he knows he isn't supposed to go in there.  Today while nobody was watching he climbed to the very top of the stairs.  While I was proud of him it also made me very worried because if he had turned around at all he would have fallen the entire flight.

Tommy's rash finally cleared up, with his bad diaper rash lingering the longest.  I am so glad he is comfortable again.  However, after being sick we are back to struggling in the sleep department.  I hate listening to him cry but there really is nothing else I can do.  Most of the time when he is tired it is a wrestling match to keep him on my lap so I just end up laying him in his bed until he cries to sleep.  Every once and a while, when he is sleep, he will curl up into my neck and snuggle there.  That is my ultimate favorite. :)

This little boy loves his sister.  The other day they were both jumping on the bed and laughing hysterically.  In the morning when we wake Elsy up he crawls right to the side of her bed as fast as he can and then puts his head on her to wake her up with a head hug.  Aww so sweet!

Okay, so I am really trying to loose all the baby weight, but lets be honest, its like so impossible to work out when your kids are climbing on the treadmill or sitting on your abdomen while you try to do your ab workouts.  Elsy is a slave driver and is always telling me to do jumping jacks but Tommy, being the clingy boy that he is, is always so sad when I exercise.  I'm sorry but I can't wake up before my kids... not while I still am waking up twice a night to feed Tommy (which seriously has to end soon).  And I've tried working out at night but last time I did that I couldn't fall asleep forever.  Hmm... 

For Activity Day's this week we painted three little word blocks that spelled "JOY".   I am always telling myself not to ever paint again with these girls but we always somehow manage to do a paint project every few months.

Elsy even got to paint a block green and she was so pleased.  She loves running around with the older girls there.

Tommy struggled a bit this time.  It is funny because the other two leaders, Lacie and Janalee (babysitting her granddaughter), both had kids there too and all three of us were walking around with a kid on our hip trying to help the fifteen girls.  Activity Days is always an adventure but I actually love it.  It gives me something to prepare for and do during the week and the girls are so much fun.

This was one of my favorite scenes from this week.  All three of my loves playing my favorite instrument.  Logan told me that Elsy leaned over and gave him a big hug and told him he was the "best Daddy ever!!"  She loves when Logan plays the ukulele too, and is always strumming an imaginary guitar when the music comes on.

We were able to go to my cousin Mindy's wedding reception yesterday.  It was absolutely beautiful!  It was in the Hazel's barn and the decorations were stunning.  They had a false ceiling made out of branches and glowing orbs, the food was delicious,s and the atmosphere was wonderful getting to see old friends and family.  We are so excited for Mindy and Rob and their new adventure called marriage. <3

And I just loved how Elsy and Ezra were dancing together to the music...

Another highlight of the week was Logan and I got to go out to a nice restaurant, one of our friends from the ward gave us a gift card as a thank you.  It is always so much fun to get to do things one on one from time to time.  We also got to go see the new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens (only my brother Carl got to tag along).  

Today in church my family got to sing in Sacrament meeting "Away In A Manger".  I don't think we have ever done that all together.  In the past it used to be just us sisters.  My mom played the piano and my brother actually sang.  It was fun getting to practice together and we all got some good laughs in.

We are so excited for Christmas this week!  I just love spending time with family, eating yummy food, and watching people open presents.  Merry Christmas!

Grandma Elephant

So, there I was, making my way through all the touchables at Ben Franklin Crafts with my two grabby children when Elsy decided to knock a display all over the floor.  Oh gosh.  So I push the cart with Tommy in it to the side of the isle and help Elsy clean up.  When I stand up I notice a lady or two looking at Tommy who appears to be abandoned on the other side of the isle.  He is going bazerko with one of the free balloons they give out at the store and having the absolute time of his life...

By the time I finally got Elsy over there a woman who seemed to be looking at Tommy with great intent grabbed my arm.  She then proceeded to tell me how I should never let my children play with balloons, that she worked at a children's hospital and how it is just absolutely heartbreaking, and that balloons were a major chocking hazard.  I felt my face turning red with embarrassment as she seemed to tell me at least three times to never let my kids play with balloons.  It didn't help that we were near the checkout stands so everyone in line was listening in.  I stammered out a "Thank you" and then moved on.  I was really embarrassed and a little upset. I felt like:  Who was she to tell me how to parent my children?  She must not have her own children because doesn't she know we can't take every single thing away from our children that could possibly hurt them?  They would never eat food! or get clean in a bath tub!  or they would never learn how to live and navigate life!  What were balloons invented for anyway... duh!  The sheer enjoyment they give to a child! (Or maybe for decorating I might be wrong :P)  Anyway, I was pretty uptight about it.  And I didn't know if I should immediately take the balloon away from Tommy just for show for the lady to make her feel good or if my pride should allow me to just walk away letting my baby play with his toy happily and let the lady know that she wasn't the boss of me?  I ended up taking it out of his hands but still holding it in front of him to play with it as I carted away.

I was pretty bugged about the experience for quite a while.  And when that starts happening I have learned that I need to give some extra thought as to why I feel the way I feel rather than just keep stewing and steaming.  What it came down to was this:  I was mad that some other lady thought she knew how to parent better than I did.  Not only that, but that she was telling me I was doing it wrong.  It is hard when someone puts down what you have been working and trying so hard to do from day to day.  All I ever want to be is a good mom.  So it hurt my feelings that in that moment all she saw was my fault.  

So then I started thinking how I would have wanted that scenario to play out.  At first I thought well, I would have rather her just not tell me what I was doing was wrong and keep her opinions to herself!  But then I realized something.  How do we learn?  We learn either from our own experiences or from the experiences of others.  That woman seemed to have had an experience, a bad one! and she felt she should do all in her power to help that experience not happen to anyone else and one way to do that was to tell me not to leave my son alone with a balloon.  I realized if I saw someone doing something I knew could potentially be hazardous, would I keep quiet because I was worried about hurting their feelings or their pride? or would I tell them because I wouldn't want them to get hurt?  I would tell them!  Isn't that what Christ does?  He tells us his commandments, even if they are hard or might hurt our feelings somehow, he knows that it is better for us to know than to learn the hard way!

While I was thinking about all this I remembered a video I had recently watched.  It was on BBC's Life series, I believe on the Mammals episode.  There is this mother elephant and her baby and the baby is stuck in the mud.  The mommy elephant is trying so so hard to get her baby out of the mud but her efforts, although well intended, are actually causing the baby to sink deeper in the mud.  Suddenly, from behind, the baby's grandma elephant comes up from behind and with big whack knocks the mommy from behind and pushes her out of the way so that the baby elephant can have some air.  Because of the grandma's unceremonious wallop the baby has enough room to get out of the mud and ultimately lives... instead of suffocating in the sticky mud.  I realized that the situation I had was kind of like this one.  When the grandma elephant butted her daughter off her granddaughter it sure looked like it hurt!  Those are some big animals.  But even though it hurt, it saved a life.  I realized that even though that lady's words hurt my feelings, she was just trying to prevent a potentially deadly situation in her eyes.   After all this thinking, I ended up being grateful for the lady trying to help me.  I can see her now in a different light.  Not as someone who was trying to 'put me in my place' but rather as someone who was trying to help in the only way she knew how.

I think it is a favorite hobby of most moms to want to give advice.  Heck, I LOVE giving advice.  I like to think I am right about everything.  Isn't that what men are always saying about us women?  That if they want to please a women just tell her she is always right?  The sad reality, though, is that we aren't always right.  I think something I need to work on is being more receptive to getting advice rather than being the one to always give it.  Because that's how we learn!  Either by ours or someone else's experiences.  And I sure hope I don't have to experience everything for myself.

So, you may be wondering, do I still let Tommy play with balloons? Yeah.  I do.  But!  I haven't forgotten that woman's warning.  And now I always make sure I am supervising him when he plays with them instead of just leaving him to it.  I also don't want to forget the other lesson that she taught me, and that is it is okay to give advice because that is how we learn.  And it is also even better sometimes to receive it.

When It Rains It Pours

When it rains, it pours.  And I'm not just talking about the fine Western Washington weather we are having.  This week, although it started wonderfully, hath ended in disaster.

We began our week with two hair cuts.  Yay "No-Shave-Novemeber" is finally over and Logan shaved!  and Tommy got his first haircut.  We gave him a little dinosaur to chew on and the iPad and he was fine until we used the clippers around his ears.  He got super scared and started shaking and it was so sad! but I was pleased with the end result.  Sadly I forgot to take a before picture.  Just imagine him with, well, longer hair.

For Family Home Evening we had the missionaries over for dinner and then went to Costco to get our tree.  They have them all wrapped up there and you just get a tubular tree and bring it home, put it in the tree stand, cut off the rope and let it sit for a few hours (in our case a day) to let the branches all down.  You miss the fun of having to pick out your tree but this was so much easier and less pine needles and not a crooked tree like last year.

Elsy was so excited about decorating but was pretty frustrated that she couldn't figure out how to hang the hooks on the branches despite being shown several times.  She keeps taking off ornaments and playing with them.  She is currently napping with three bear ornaments on the end of her bed that my Grandma Merkley gave us a few years back.  I was worried Tommy would tear the tree to shreds but it might be to prickly for his taste or something because he barley looks at it.  We did trim the branches kinda high on the bottom and didn't put lights or ornaments on that lowest area.

This week I had an eye appointment and had my eyes dilated.  My mom says I have had that done before but I seriously don't ever remember having to do that.  Everything within arms reach was so blury and I was worried about driving home but it wasn't to bad.  I got a new prescription for some glasses to help crispify things that are far away... and no I did not think about plucking my eyebrows before taking this picture... but yes I am thinking about it now.

This last Friday was the wonderful ward Christmas party.  Somehow we ended up helping with the program again.  Also, last year the Activity Day's girls made the Santa handouts so we did that again this year.  I went to Cash 'n Carry to get the supplies... and I don't think I will go there again.  At least not with my kids around.  These were the carts!  And they would NOT turn from side to side.  Everyone that passed me laughed at Tommy sitting in this little basket.  Elsy loved it, though, and kept saying it was her bed.  She would make a good Cleopatra I think.

So we made little Santa hat hot cocoa bags for Santa to give out.  It was quite the complicated mess for the 8-11 year old girls to cut the hats, stuff the bags, and glue the cotton balls.  We had some assembly line mishaps so I brought them home and touched up a few that were scary looking and then finished off the batch.  We did 100 and I don't think they ran out...

The Christmas party in our ward is always amazing and this year was no different.  The place absolutely sparkled.  There is always a huge turn out and every one of those seats were filled.  It is a great opportunity to invite friends and there are always loads of people who are not LDS there.  The theme this year was "The Symbols of Christmas".

Logan had the big screen up that said "Merry Christmas" with falling snow. 

Before dinner Santa came!  There were some fun coloring activities for the kids and everyone gathered to chat.  Tommy wasn't to excited about sitting on Santa's Lap but Elsy was fine.  She told him she wanted a bike and a princess.

The food was absolutely spectacular.  Maybe I'm mistaken but they prep for 300 people to eat. 

So the program was great!  It was decided that we split the program up a little bit so we did a little before people ate and then a little after everyone ate.  The program started with the Young Men and Young Women singing the Chipmunk Christmas Song with helium balloons to make their voices high like the Chipmunks.  It was hilarious and they did an awesome job.

The rest of the program consisted of different families coming up and talking about the different symbols of Christmas, just a few sentences.  Then each family member would hang that symbol on the tree.  So for the candy canes they hung candy canes on the tree or the bows they put bows on the tree.   There were also a few short videos from the Mormon Channel and we all sang some carols together mixed with musical numbers. Our family got to do the last symbol which really isn't a symbol at all.  It was the nativity.

When we left the stage the big screen went up and there was a life size manger in a little stable.  A fellow in our ward built it.  The bishop came out and talked about how all the symbols we learned about were there to help point our thoughts to Christ.  We all sang Silent Night together and the evening ended.  It really was beautiful.  Here is the script.

So, while the Christmas party was definitely a highlight of the week, it was also the turning point where everything started down the slippery slope of yucks.  You see, that morning Tommy woke up with a slight fever.  It was also the day he was scheduled for his flu shots so I took him in and they told me he had an ear infection.  No big deal.  Here is some amoxicillin to help him on his way.  We came home and found Logan was coming home early because he was having some stuff going on with his side of the family that he wanted to pay more attention to and also had the ward Christmas party to work on.  While we were at the party Elsy became a clingy and sad wreck.  She felt pretty warm to me but once she ate (three rolls and a bite of ham) she perked up and started dancing ballet and strumming an air guitar to the musical numbers.  Tommy lay sorta loopily on our laps all night.  We couldn't sneak out because we were at the end of the program but luckily the kids made it.

By bed time Elsy had a fever of 103.6 F.  Her fever stayed super high for four days.  Poor Tommy's didn't get any better either, in fact his slight fever turned into a 102 degree illness as well. 

On Saturday I stayed home with the kids while Logan went to a Christmas party we had been looking forward to going to for a few weeks.  I felt like a teenager again because I cried that I couldn't go to a party.

Completely doped up on meds we bundled the kids up and went to Redmond Lights in the pouring rain that night to ensure my sanity.  I get cabin fever way to easily.

Logan always points out that we have adapted to the weather because all of us, even Tom, have rain boots and rain jackets now and we don't skip an activity just because of the rain anymore.

Accompanying Elsy's fever was a terrible cough.  She would cough and cough until she would gag and throw up.  It is so hard when your children are miserable.  At first you want to cuddle them and help them feel comfortable.  But as the night wears on, you get so tired and frustrated that they wont fall asleep.  Then you feel guilty that you are more worried about your own sleep than your poor sick baby.  Pleh...

This is me on Sunday afternoon...

and Logan on Sunday afternoon...  both kiddos woke up with high fevers again and I started to get worried about Tommy because his amoxicillin should have been kicking in by then.  I called the nurse and she told me he should be fine so I was like ... oooookaaaay!  Our awesome home teacher Steve came and helped Logan give them both blessings.

Then we caught wind that my little nephew Ezra had fallen out of his high chair and needed to go in for stitches.  That was such sad news.

On Monday I was planning on taking the kids into the doctor but Logan took our car for repairs and forgot to take the car seats out again.  But that's okay I guess because I kept second guessing if I should take the kids in.  Elsy's fever was going down (Okay it was down to 101 instead of 103) and so was Tom's (100 instead of 102).  Sadly, the car breaks ended costing us almost a thousand buckos.

By the time Logan got home my stir-crazyness led us to the Nativity Festival at the Bellevue Stake Center. (Don't worry, I kept the kids tight and didn't let Elsy play in the kids room.  I didn't want to spread to many germs... but I also needed to maintain some sanity!).

It was fun seeing all the nativities from around the world and hearing people singing Christmas songs.

When we got home I became increasingly concerned about a diaper rash Tommy had contracted while sick.  I decided Monday night I would take him in the next morning to get it looked at.  I talked with my brother-in-law Steve who is in med school and a lady from our ward who is a nurse and it was thought that maybe he was having an allergic reaction to the amoxicillin.

The next morning his fever was gone but when I turned on the bedroom light I couldn't believe it.  He was covered all over in red spots!  When I took him in they said he indeed was allergic and took him off the amoxicillin and gave us a new prescription because his double ear infection hadn't gone away yet.  Poor kid.  And my doctor said his diaper rash was a yeast infection.

His whole forehead and scalp was a mass of red.

I took lots of pictures of his rash because I sent them all to Steve.  It got worse before it got better.  Today he still is quite speckled but its more pink instead of red.  Yay for Benadryl!  And his yeast infection is almost already gone.  Woop!

Today Tommy has finally been playing on his own again.  He was super clingy and sad for the last six days.  I had missed him so much, and Elsy too!  When they started perking up again I was just so happy for them.

Tommy can hear the dishwasher open from a mile away....

And this is his new hobby.  The day after we got our brakes fixed in the van, Logan's mini set off the alert for bad brake pads. Seriously?  Luckily our friend Cameron has the tools to do that one on our own and he and Logan are actually in the garage right now fixing those.

Another drop of rain on my head this week was I found a hole in the elbow of my favorite jacket that Logan got me.  So so sad.  And THEN today I was so excited to finally go Christmas shopping now that the kids were all better (besides lingering pink spots and Elsy's cough) and I had them in shoes and we were grabbing snacks for the road and all the sudden the power goes out!  Well, whatever! I thought to myself.  Got the kids shoes on and then... the garage door wouldn't open.  Stranded.  Ugh what a bummer.  Luckily it came back an hour later.

 But you see!  This week was kinda a downer for us.  I feel like my nerves were shot from worrying about my kids all week (I mean I know they aren't reaaaally going to die, but lets face it, I worry they are going to die the whole time they are sick) and Logan has been in high stress mode with his startup he has been doing.  He works so so hard on it all the time, I really am proud of him.  But some things are taking their toll and I can tell he is spent.  Even when he takes breaks his mind wont.  We have been watching The Flash together at night and drinking yummy hot chocolate and that has been a fun winding down thing for us to do together.  We haven't watched a show together since Psych so that has been fun. (Except if you have seen The Flash you will know how terribly cheesy Captain Cold is and Logan looked up quotes of his last night and has been quoting him all day to me and I can't even stand it anymore haha).

So, after the awfulness of the week I was determined that when I wrote this post I had nothing really that great to say... but my conscience is nagging and reminding me of my goal for every blog post to have something uplifting and spiritual in it.  (Insert my cranky face that I am making to nobody in particular about being a stickler on my own rules for myself).  So here is something I thought a lot about this week when my milk supply was going down and Tommy was not eating any solids so he was dependent on my milk and when I was praying for my kids to get better...

I did some thinking about faith.  Lots of times I feel like what is the point of praying for something if God is going to do it his way anyway?  Does that make sense?  Like, yes I can pray for my kids to get better, but even if I have all the faith in the world if its their time to die or something, they are going to die.  Right?  Well, I was thinking about faith and prayer and I knew that my way of thinking was wrong even though I didn't know how I was supposed to be thinking.  While I was reading about prayer in the Bible Dictionary I came across something that helped changed my way of looking at it.  This is what it says: "Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other.  The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them.  Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them.  Prayer is a form of  work and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings."  While I know I have a lot more learning to do on this topic, focusing on aligning my will with the Father's, even when I don't understand it or when I think I know better, has actually helped my prayers get answered this week. *big sigh* I still have more to figure out on this topic though...

Now that my children are no longer oober ill I am ready for the Christmas Spirit to enter our home.  (Me holding my hands up in a welcoming manner)  Drum roll please...