Merry Christmas 2011

Christmas tried to come early....like at 3 am, 4 am and 5 am, and 6 am. 7 am was the agreed upon Go-Time and trust me they were waiting!!!!

Santa came to Pennsylvania and brought 3 ipod touches and a Kindle Fire for Kels. Small packages this year! He was quite smart and pre-loaded them with apps, set them up and had them fully charged. It made for an exciting and peaceful morning.

We got to Skype with Matt for a while. He had a Christmas eve party with other military personnel last night at his place but today was much too quiet there. Not the Merriest day for him and it makes us sad not to have him with us. We are planning on making Wednesday Christmas again with him! A few gifts are waiting for us to open with him when he gets home.

We exchanged gifts with my parents then enjoyed a yummy breakfast of traditional candy cane pastries, explored new gifts and hung out. Mom made a big turkey dinner- I was super helpful. I might have fallen over mid-afternoon and crashed on the floor for like an hour! Then Greg, Amy and the kids joined us for the turkey-lurkey. Gregory got an ipod too so there was mega-apple products going in full swing. We ate too much (again) and enjoyed a very Merry Christmas together.

Tomorrow we hit the road back to Florida...this visit flew by! Not looking forward to 16 hours in the car but I know my Schmoopy will be boarding a plane an hour after we get to Florida so that should keep my motivation going!!!!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Christmas Eve

Yesterday we started reining in our stuff, got gas and snacks for the return trip. We went over to Greg and Amy's for a relaxing Christmas dinner and then off to the Christmas eve church service. The service was well done and afterwards we drove around Meadow View to see Christmas lights and luminaries lining every street. How beautiful (and warm by car)!

The kids were so excited for Christmas. We checked norad.com and Santa was in South America! Mason crashed and is the only child who slept. Kelsey couldn't even get to bed much less sleep. Matthew woke at 3 and I'm pretty sure he never went back to sleep and Kass was in and out. That meant little sleep for the adults too! ho ho ho!!!!

Rollerskating and fun family feast

On Friday we went rollerskating with the cousins. Matthew and Alexa tore it up for hours and they won the limbo. Alexa went out for the girls race and didn't have any contenders so she had instant victory! Matthew went out and much to our surprise one little contender emerged....Mason. Their lap made me laugh so hard- Matthew was a great big brother letting him catch up with his one still foot and one skating foot strategy. Mason won the wooden nickel (free drink at the snack bar) and was so very proud!!!!

Kels skated a little as did I. Kass was less than pleased to sit it out but we couldn't risk her falling and she is in a cast afterall!

After skating everyone went to Mom's for a honey-baked ham dinner and some entertainment from the little elves....

Mason is officially 5

Mason turned 5 Dec 22nd and is quite pleased to be a year older. We hit the local pizzeria for dinner with my parents and my brother's family. The cousins had a good time texting each other across the table and joking around. We brought in a Carvel ice cream cake with sparkler candles and sang Happy Birthday to the big guy.

Afterwards we came back to Mom's to open gifts and then watched Dolphin Tale. A true story about a dolphin who is at a rescue center just an hour or less from our house so we are going to go see her in person when we get back!

All in all I think he had quite a day. Happy Birthday, Masonator!

Gingerbread houses with 10 kids!

Amy and Greg planned to have the kids over Thursday afternoon (along with 2 children that she watches after school)

adding up to 10 kids. Kassidy and Kelsey went over in the morning to hot glue the houses together. Kelsey got 2 burns and was out leaving one-handed Kassidy to man the job!

The kids had their choice of frostings and candies to create a masterpiece. They were really creative!

Over the hills and through the woods

Mom flew in Thursday between medical madness and it was much needed timing!!! That left Friday evening to pack for a week in Pennsylvania. Santa will come to PA of course but Matt comes in at 12:19 am Dec 28th and wants to have Christmas with the kids too. I needed to wrap and sort our 2 Christmas locations, pack for the cold, clean up the house, hit the grocery etc.

Mom manned the troops and I worked in a frenzy. We got it all pulled together which was a Christmas miracle in itself.

Saturday morning we left FL at 730 and drove 16 hours 20 minutes to arrive in the driveway just before midnight to SNOW!!!!! It was a light dusting but man- were these kids pumped up!

Sunday at the crack-o-dawn they were out in the yard, barely dressed in the snow! We enjoyed the first day in PA with some snow, a trip to the park, unpacking and a fun afternoon with the cousins and families at Greg's house. Amy hosted dinner for all and all had a great time!

Cast for Kass

Kassidy has a high pain tolerance so for her to be crying was certainly concerning. Apparently someone took a shot at the goal, it bounced off the goalie and Kass was running towards it at the same time. The ball hit her wrist/forearm arm area and she was immediately in pain.

I took her to the ER for x-rays. They didn't see a break but splinted her and suggested we keep it on for 5 days and then see an orthopedic after that if it still hurt her. Said it could be torn ligaments or an occult fracture if not ok at that point.

Thursday we followed up with her pediatrician the next morning. He said that visually it looked broken and with the pain she had it certainly seemed broken. We went for new x-rays. Again- no obvious break but they said they suspected soft tissue damage and a possible occult fracture.

Our doctors office scheduled an appointment for Fri afternoon with an orthopedic. So....Friday we spent 5 fun filled hours evaluating the arm. They ordered new x-rays and the doctor took one peek and said it was fractured on the growth plate.

Kassidy got 2 days off school and a pink,waterproof cast for Christmas!

Holiday Rush

Last week the calendar was filled to the brim with the holiday rush- shopping, packing for our trip to Pennsylvania, wrapping, and school celebrations.

All those plans went to pieces starting Monday morning at 10:15. The school called and said Mason had suspected pink eye. I quickly scheduled a doctor appointment and sure enough he did. No school until Wednesday....which meant no holiday related progress.

Tuesday the cable/internet/phones were out most of the day until Verizon came to replace the battery. That left us with a bored 4 year old and a 13 year old who couldn't do her virtual school. I cried uncle that morning and escaped to my doctor for a miserable sinus infection.

Wednesday we were back on track and I had big plans!! I had an appointment that ate up Mason's school hours but did some packing once he came home. Later we out to play until dinner time. I sent Kass off to soccer with carpool and then we came in to make dinner.

Just as we sat down Donna, team manager, called and said Kassidy was hurt at the fields, on ice and cryying so off I went :(

Mason's "Friend" Party

Since Mason's birthday is December 22nd it gets awfully tough to squeeze in a party with holiday activities and break. We chose an earlier date for his party so that his class could come. December 11th he celebrated at Ace Golf. It was a beautiful day and all of the kids could just run amuck, golf, and play. He had a grand time!