Christmas 2011

We had several Christmas's this year. Starting the first part of December, Dena was visiting and she wanted to take Rachel out for a special day. They bought a little tree for Rachel's room and decorated it. I thought it turned out so cute, decorated in pink and purple of course. It was a fun idea, and Rachel had a great time with her Aunt Dena.

Dena and my Mom came another day when she was in Snyder on vacation. She also got her hair cut while she was in Snyder. She donated it to Locks of Love.

Christmas Eve we joined our big kids in Snyder where they had been staying while Wade was in the hospital. Christmas in Snyder was a whirlwind this year to say the least. We open presents at Grandnanna and Grandpa's first.

This picture of Luke is blurry, but I had to include it because he got something he was really wanting, and I was really not wanting. Nobody had even mentioned to Grandnanna that he wanted it. She said she knew it was for him the minute she saw it. This little dog sings and makes a certain favorite noise of Luke's throughout the song. He was thrilled and it was the first gift he opened!!
Grandnanna and Grandpa picked out the perfect gift for Miles too. Everybody had to check it out. Tenley looks like she might throw up.
Ian was trying to help his Dad by shining the light so he could see better.
Wade with his new camera....now he can be just like mama.
Tenley wearing her frog hat.
Sydney wearing her cow hat.
Mac snuggling with Grandpa.
Grandpa found something to interest the kids on the computer.
After the party was over at Grandnanna and Grandpa's we headed over to Memaw Linda and Granddad Bob's for more presents.

Kate was glad to see Memaw.
Luke once again lucked out and got something he had really wanted. This time he had wanted it bad enough to cry when I would not let him buy it the week before Christmas....you don't buy toys before Christmas!!
Rachel got a pretty new dress.
Mom got pictures.
Their gift from Aunt Dena.
Wade eating Cherrios from his new bowl sitting on his new Mater truck.
Kate with her ponies.
My dad in his shirt that was a little small. The other gift he got was just the right shape, size, and color!!


This was the view from the front seat of the car on the way home. We drove thru snow most of the way. It got pretty heavy too.
Next, we will see if Santa Claus visited our house this year!!

We Would Like to Interrupt Your Christmas Plans for a Short Hospital Stay

Poor Baby Wade got put into the hospital on the Thursday before Christmas. He had been having diarrhea for over a month. We had taken him to the doctor after Thanksgiving with this problem. She treated him with Flagyl, an antibiotic, which did help but did not completely clear everything up. The doctor then thought that he may have some food allergies. First, we switched him to soy milk. That did not help. Next, we tried almond milk and a gluten free diet. Everything just kept getting worse. Nothing we were doing was changing the fact that he was having six to eight really bad diapers a day. Finally, the doctor decided to run some lab tests to see if it was allergies or something else. Chris took him in on Wednesday for the tests. Thursday morning the doctor called and Wade had tested positive for clostridium difficile, a bad intestinal bug. She wanted to admit him to the hospital to give him some fluids. Wade's CO2 was at 12. The normal range is 20 to 29. He was just a LITTLE dehydrated!

I made a phone call to Grandpa to see if he could help us with the big kids. He was here in an hour and a half. He did not mess around! He picked up the kids and I headed to the hospital. I was glad that they found out his problem and they would be able to help us, but the timing was kind of bad....CHRISTMAS!! I got him all checked into the hospital and we were taken to our room. Then the fun began!! Turns out Wade is not a fan of sharing his blood. Poor little guy...it was awful...everybody that needed to get blood had a hard time getting any from him. He was poked three times each time they tried to get blood. What a coincidence three was his lucky number each time! All I can say was Wade is a fighter and VERY strong!!! It took three people to hold him down every time. All this fighting did tire him out some.

Look at his eyelashes.

He got caught up on his reading....


He looked so cute in his little gown.
This is what Wade did most while he was in the hospital....throw fits. He was really agitated the whole time. Every time somebody came in the room it set him off....he knew they wanted blood.
We were in the hospital for 36 hours getting Wade re-hydrated. The doctor told us he did test high for allergies too. We are just going to watch him and see how he does when he finishes his new medicine. We were released at 9pm on the 23rd. We were getting nervous that we would have Christmas in the hospital. We all came home and went straight to bed. We woke up to snow!
Wade out of the hospital and a White Christmas....things were really looking up!!
Wade is our first baby to be sick enough to be admitted to the hospital. Rachel and Luke have had day surgeries, but we have not spent the night.

Salt Dough Ornaments

For a fun project we made salt dough ornaments. I got the idea from a blog. They were super easy to mix up and lots of fun to paint. This was a two day project. The first day we mixed the dough and used cookie cutters to make the shapes.

We cut out 39 shapes!
Then we baked them for four hours....this is why it was a two day project. This was Wade's contribution to the project. He watched them bake.
The next day we painted them and decorated with glitter.
These were Luke's that he decorated. He did such a good job!!



All of our new ornaments....
Kate with her snowflake and tree.
We used red ribbon to hang them on our little tree.

This was so much fun and the ornaments turned out so cute!! The kids are already making plans to make more next year. These are my new treasures for sure!!

Look Familiar??

This just goes to show you the apple does not fall far from the tree. I am about 17 months in this picture. Maybe they will grow up to think their screaming Santa pictures are funny too.

Wade's Solution to My Ornament Arrangement

Decorating the Tree With Lots of Helping Hands

The kids were ready to decorate the tree the minute we got home from seeing Santa. We did make them wait until after dinner. The kids are such a big help decorating....and they are fast. I am also grateful they are equally willing to help undecorate the tree after Christmas.

Wade was not too sure what to think of the tree at first. But let me assure you he is not scared or timid any more. He knows how to turn the lights on and off. He thinks it is his job to turn them on whenever they are off. He has also broke one of my favorite ornaments that was part of a set...now I just have a set of three. :0( With a little rearranging of ornaments after that mishap things have went much better. I really don't care if he rearranges or takes off the ornaments left on the bottom so we are getting along fine.

Luke poses for this picture every year. I do think it is funny....but not as funny as he does.
All done decorating...I told you they were fast. Most of the ornaments are on the same four or five branches, but that is how I like my tree decorated!!

Spelling Bee Champ!!

Rachel is the Spelling Bee champ of Greathouse Elementary this year!! We are so very proud of her!!!

Picture with the judges and top three finishers.
Rachel with her First Place trophy!!!
Rachel earned a place in the City-Wide Spelling Bee in March. She has lots of studying ahead of her.