Well...that was interesting...

We had big plans to visit my parents and Jeff's parents over Christmas break.

But alas....the best laid plans of mice and men can certainly go awry. 
And they did.
In the form of sickness.
Apparently 3/4's of the United States is battling a nasty flu-like virus.
And now we are part of that statistic.

Jillian fell prey within hours of arriving at my parents.  She spent Christmas Eve day and Christmas Day pretty much quarantined and in bed with a fever.

We still had hopes of her getting well enough to soldier on to Iowa, but that was not to be.  The day after Christmas, she was fever-free but Jordan and Zoey were not.

We wanted to take ourselves and our germs out of my parents' house to protect them, but there was a snowstorm from Cleveland to New England. 
We couldn't go west to Iowa and we couldn't go east to get home.
We were goin' nowhere.

So we put the sickies in a room with a TV and movies and waited for daylight.
The kids were no better the following morning so we packed up and headed for home.
Thirteen and a half hours later, we were home safely.
But very bummed not to get to see Jeff's family in Iowa.  Wah.

God must have a plan that we do not yet see.

Tonight we have two more sick kids, so I guess it was a wise decision to shorten our trip and head back to the barn.

We DID have a wonderful time while we were there, though!
We saw Ryan!
We ate yummy food.
We spent quality time with my parents.
We ate yummy food.
We enjoyed seeing my dad's brother and his wife.
We ate yummy food.

I need to go to the gym.
I say that like it ever happens.
ha.
Or is ever likely to happen.

Here are a few pictures.  I tried to mostly get shots of my dad and the kids together and didn't get too many during the Christmas-present-opening and ensuing bedlam.

Singing Christmas Carols 

The three youngest kids sing a Christmas carol to Grandpa

Katie-bug opens her favorite present of the year.

Ryan's present to Chloe.  They have been best buddies since she was a baby.

 

Bedtime stories

The photos below are courtesy of my Uncle Jim.

Ryan helps his younger cousins put their new toys together

Cousins!!

Group shot!  (Jillian doesn't even look like she has a fever...)

 

Sadly, we did not think to do a family picture of just us with Ryan.  wah.
In fact, I have no decent pictures of Ryan because he is so camera shy.

Now we are home and thankful that we were able to see Ryan and spend Christmas with my parents.  Looks like we will hunker down and use lots of kleenex and cough medicine for the next few days as we ring in the New Year.