The aftermath

I am curled up on the sofa by the fire while a Nor'easter snowstorm blows around the house. I love a good blizzard! It seems like a good time to blog about our Christmas day festivities.

Before we let the kids come downstairs on Christmas morning, we Skyped Ryan so he could be with us while the kids opened presents. It was so awesome to have Ryan right there. At first we just talked and then the kids started to open presents. It was so cute how they would show him what they got.

Sweet Chloe, who has always been Ryan's buddy, started to cry when she was talking to him. She misses him so much. When the kids chose their spots to sit and open presents, she sat down right in front of the computer so she could be near Ryan.

Here they come!

Jordan is but a blur as he flies by

And Jake brings up the rear

Clustered around the computer to wish Ryan a Merry Christmas

Ryan was very festive in his signature Santa hat. He always wears one when we open presents. We sent him one right after Thanksgiving so he could get in the spirit a little early.

Jeff adjusts the computer so that Ryan can see the kids tear into their presents

Woowee...Gymboree outfits from Grandma!

Stylin'

Molly is a budding photographer and now she has her own camera. Look out world!

Jillian really wanted a pillow pet

Dad records the memorable moments

What a mess!!

Jordan's Army bear {or is it a dog? whatever...}

Katie model's her new outfit {Mom...this photo is for you!}

Zoey fell in love with this ridiculous blow-up football helmet that we got as a gag gift for Molly

{who has been begging for a real football helmet}

Jake {helps} set the table for Christmas dinner. The kids insisted on eating in the dining room "because it makes dinner feel special."

Smile everybody!

Notice they only have rolls on their plates.

Don't forget to take our picture, mom!

{Notice the Teenager lurking in the background. I have to be sneaky to get a photo of him.}

And just to prove that I was actually there, I took my own picture.

T'was the Night Before Christmas

T'was the night before Christmas

and all through the house

the kids were all Wii-ing

and stressed was my spouse.

Ten stockings were hung by the chimney with care

in the hopes they wouldn't topple

into somebody's hair

When up in the bedroom there arose such a clatter

I sprang from the couch to see what was the matter

Away to the doorway I flew in a flash

to see a small child sprinting a 50-yard dash. {away from the scene of destruction}

More rapid than eagles my words they now came

and I whistled and shouted and forgot all their names.

Now Katie, now Jakie, now Chloe come here

I know where you live so you cannot steer clear.

In the midst of the chaos the dog started barking

just what the kids needed to diffuse Mama's snarking

{Oh sure...she looks all calm right here but don't let that fool you.}

Just when my head seemed about to explode

The sounds of sweet singing filled my humble abode

My children were singing about Jesus' birth

and all of a sudden, my heart filled with mirth.

Life can be messy and filled with frustration

and sometimes we can only dream of vacation

but with all of it's trials, it comes with the promise

That God will be with us, no matter the....um.... {someone help--nothing rhymes with promise}

well...anyway... I'm obviously not a poet, but I do know that God has always been by my side and will always be beside you, too.

Have a wonderful day celebrating His birth!

Merry Christmas,

my darlings...

"Let me tell ya...

I've been good!

Real Good.

{You believe that, right?!}

Zoey's Cast is O.F.F!!!!!

I took Zoey to Shriner's today. This appointment was to check the leg under the cast and measure her for a prosthetic. We weren't sure if she would need a new cast put on and happily....she did not.

Ready to get that baby off!

Buzz...buzz...buzz...

They gave Zoey a stuffed animal to hold onto in case she was afraid of the saw. Hmmm...she covered her ears and laughed because it tickled.

After the cast came off, they covered her leg quickly in case the sight of it would scare her. She was so used to having that heavy cast on her leg, that she kept it high in the air and wouldn't put it down. It was so funny! Her leg was floating...

Next stop was the prosthetic area. This time, she finally got a look at her leg with no sock. I took a photo but thought it might be a bit T.M.I. for you, so won't post it.

Little sweetheart kind of shut down. My heart hurt for her. It was such a shock to her to see her leg with no foot.

{Honestly, her incision looks VERY good--only some scabs and the skin looks healthy and normal. I have seen much worse and was not expecting it to look as good as it does.}

To distract her, I said, "Do you want to smile for a picture for Mama?" Normally, she will flash me one of her huge signature smiles because she loves having her picture taken.

But this time, she looked at me, thumb in her mouth, and shook her head no.

I asked her if she was sad and immediately, her little face crumpled and she started to sob. I held her while she cried and felt totally helpless. I tried to soothe her but everything I started to say just sounded glib. So I stuck to telling her how much I loved her.

Eventually, a staff person came into the room so she pulled herself together and stopped crying.

Bless her heart.

Then it was time to pick fabric for her leg. They wheeled a huge bin into the room and we started rooting through the choices.

This was her first choice.

Ummm....really? A camping theme? Sweetie...don't you think you want something else? Something that will go a little better with your clothes?

Then I saw this one and thought it might be a good compromise since it was colorful like her first choice.

She loved it! Thank goodness. The print is a bit large, though, so I hope it will be okay. It's not too late to change it, so if anyone has advice, feel free to tell us.

When we were done, it was time for lunch so I gave her the choice of the hospital cafeteria or McD*nald's. Believe it or not, she chose the hospital cafeteria! What a hoot!

By the time we were done eating, she was in good spirits. When I tucked her into the car, she said cheerfully from the backseat,

"I'm happy!"

She has been fine ever since--except for the time that Jake accidentally stepped on her leg. {wince}

That is the one drawback of having the cast off--she has no protection from bumping her leg or having it stepped on.

We will be going back to Shriners in a few weeks for a first fitting on the socket of the prosthetic. They will build it in stages and on our fourth visit she will get to try it out. So hopefully, by the end of January, she will have her new leg!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

On the way home, we both enjoyed looking at the beauty of New England, with it's fresh coat of snow.

The Annual Cookie Baking Extravaganza

I left off my last post telling of our day that started by playing out in the snow much earlier than I wanted to. In my haste to post and get to bed, I neglected to share with ya'll a most memorable moment.

Remember...I was all grumpy because the kids wanted to go play out in the snow before I was done drinking my morning coffee?

Yeah.

Well, we were out there frolicking in the snow--me in my sweats, bed head and glasses. {Because OBVIOUSLY, I didn't have time to go up and shower, beautify, and dress in a gorgeous ski outfit that I don't own}.

And then.

A neighbor drove up, stopped and HORRORS, rolled.down.her.window. wanting to talk.

Well, I couldn't be rude.

Thankfully, the hood on my parka was covering my bed head but I might have been better off going with the bed head. Just sayin.'

I actually had to carry on a conversation as if it was a perfectly normal thing for a woman to be romping around in the snow, camera in hand, wearing sweats and looking hideous.

After the kids came indoors, we needed to get started on our annual Christmas cookie baking extravaganza. The truth is that I hate cooking, baking, or anything else that happens in the kitchen except eating. So I do not look forward to the cookie baking day.

With its yucky flour mess everywhere.

And kids with sticky fingers... licking, wiping and all manner of gross things.

But THEY love it. So there you go.

As the cookie dough was warming up after being in the fridge for awhile, I decided to wash Zoey's hair.

{I know...kind of random.}

But the kid had stinky hair. She can't take a bath with her cast on. Doctor's orders.

Jillian thought it looked fun so she insisted on taking over the soaping while I did the rinsing.

For some reason, Zoey was still in her jammies. Not sure why...

Meanwhile, Chloe and Molly started working on the cookies.

All done!

And then I decided that she need a trim, so out came the scissors. I know. More random-ness but sometimes you just have to seize the moment.

{Yes, I am cutting her hair in the kitchen, but not near the cookie dough.

You were judging me weren't you?}

As I was cleaning up, I noticed that Jake had climbed up on the stool to watch the girls. Fortuitously for him, there was loaded squirt bottle just waiting. It was too much to resist.

Especially with his sisters and a whole bowl of cookie dough directly across from him.

His sisters appreciated being squirted SO VERY MUCH.

Back on track after banning Jake the little pest from the kitchen.

All baked and waiting for frosting the next day.

To be continued....

Tomorrow we are going back to Shriners and I *think* Zoey is getting her cast off! She will be getting fitted for her prosthetic. Exciting!

Let it Snow!

We finally got some snow today! We woke up to it and the kids were chomping at the bit to get out and play.

I do not function well in the morning. And they wanted to get all their snow stuff on when my coffee cup still looked like this.

Not nearly enough caffeine consumed to get me down the basement searching for matching mittens. Ya know?

However...the little buggers were persistent.

So I got grumpy.

Just keepin' it real because I don't want to make it seem like all is sweetness and light around here every day. The truth is that I wanted them to wait a few hours and I was seriously annoyed.

However, after watching them play in the snow, it did raise my spirits as I saw how much delight it brought them.

Getting thwacked on the back with a snowball

Eating a piece of ice from...where?

After watching the kids play for a bit, I went in to check on Zoey. Sweet girl was looking longingly out the window at everyone.

Well, that was just sad. So we asked her if she wanted to go out and play. Um...yeah! As long as we could keep her cast dry, I decided to get her out there.

I think she liked the idea!

She had to sit in the sled the whole time, but she didn't complain at all.

Jake...don't eat yellow snow okay buddy?

Still smiling after being outside for over an hour. She said she wasn't cold but I finally had to force her to come inside so she didn't get hypothermia.

After that, we came in and made cookies but I will have to post those picture another day.

Christmas Program

Last week was our church's kids Christmas program. Six of our kids were in the show. We were given a CD of the entire production in uh...probably Sept. and were instructed to listen to it as much as possible.

For me, after one complete hearing of said CD, I decided that 'as much as possible' might not be more than three times.

Total.

And then we misplaced it.

So my little kids didn't know the songs as well as some of the older kids.

Stop judging.

And then there was the 'stage fright' as SaraGrace would say. It does render one completely powerless.

"I didn't know there would be so many people staring at us."

"Everyone else seems to be having fun...maybe this will be okay."

"I guess this is where we do some motions to go with the song."

"I seriously have no idea what we are doing up here."

Thankfully, the big girls knew the songs.

My sweet Molly

"Um...everyone else is singing. What are we supposed to do?"

Molly had a speaking part and did a good job.

Little Chloe played Mary

"I am completely clueless right now."

Overall, the kids sounded really great {much better than the CD} and we enjoyed the play. Jake was mostly interested in the cookies that were served afterwards.