christmas cousins

a little overdue, i'll admit. but here they are. sorry mom. :)

we are alive

still recovering, but alive. we are all over the tummy virus, but now i think i have a sinus infection. i am so stuffed up and can't breath. fun times. as soon as i get my house back to some state of "normal" i will post about christmas. nick was good to me. really, really, REALLY good to me.

sick house

so olivia has an ear infection. she is miserable, can't sleep, and has been fussing all day. the only time she is happy is if i am holding her or letting her nurse. i'm exhausted to say the least. and if that's not enough, luke starting throwing up right as we were about to start eating all the snacks and cookies i made for our early christmas party with nick's parents. i'm surprised anyone still had an appetite after seeing luke projectile vomit all the way from the living room to his bathroom. so after cloroxing just about everything in the whole house, we are finally back to square one. both kids are finally asleep. thank goodness. but, i'm not expecting that to last long. since the first puke episode, luke has been throwing up about every 30 minutes. and he is such a little trooper. he was literally opening up presents and taking breaks in between to go throw up. fun times, let me tell you.

and an update from the evans house

well, olivia is sick. she was up last night with a 102 degree fever, a horrible, congested cough, watery eyes, and snot just pouring out of her nose. poor baby. this is her first time to be sick, ever. since she was in no condition to go to church this morning, i stayed home with her while nick and luke and grandma and pawpaw all went. olivia just finally passed out. she has to be sitting up or she can't breath and starts coughing and choking on all of the congestion.

we are waiting for acute kids to open. i thought for sure they would be open this morning but apparently they don't open until noon. so here i am updating the blog, bouncing olivia in her bouncy seat with my foot, and drinking my much needed caffeine.

tonight we are doing "chris-chris" with nick's parents and may go see the christmas lights in deerfield this evening. that is if olivia is doing any better. otherwise, it is going to be a long next couple of days inside the house with sister.

bad santa pics

okay, so this is my niece and nephews santa pic from last year. it's pretty funny even though both kids have a look of shear terror. anyhoo, so why am i posting this, you ask?? well, my sister entered it in a "bad santa pic" contest with GMA and the producer called her today and asked if it would be okay if they use it on the show tomorrow. too funny! i can't wait to see it. i think they may be doing some kind of contest on the show, but really, i have no idea.

take two

i attempted for a second time to get a good photo of the kids for our christmas card. i don't know if i am just feeling the pressure because it is already a week into dec and i usually have my cards done by nov, or if i'm just having a hard time making decisions or maybe i am just being too picky. getting a good shot of one of your kids is one thing. getting a good shot of two of your kids, together, is a whole other story. i am exhausted. so since we will not be using any of these on the card, i thought i would share some of my favs. i have decided now that we will make attempt #3 tomorrow morning as a family. it should be a real good time.

our pudgy little princess.


and look who's almost sitting up!


this one is cute, but you can't see luke's face very well, so it's a no-go for the card.


buzz lightyear all cleaned up.


and this is the smile i get now every time i pull out the camera.


cute, but i can't be sending out a christmas card with my two year old's snake tattoo peaking out of his shirt sleeve. and the bag of candy just screams 'i'm a little stinker and my mom had to bribe me for this cheesy smile'. nice.


so stay tuned for 'take three'.

elves' christmas tree farm

this year we decided to go out to the elves' christmas tree farm in denison to cut down our own christmas tree. we were so excited and by "we" i mean me. i am pretty sure nick and luke could have had just as much fun picking out a tree from the "he-po" (home depot). and even though we had to drive to oklahoma (almost) and we paid three times more for the same tree we could get at home depot, the complimentary apple cider and hayride made it all worth it...haha.

hayride


more hayride


luke with his saw


luke found the tree he wanted and began to saw


luke standing in front of a possibility


on the hunt for the "perfect tree"


cannot find the "perfect tree". back on the hayride, headed to get a precut tree. how disappointing.


at last, the "perfect tree"!

stinker pants

flying olivia

grown up lukey

this picture cracks me up. he was acting all zoolander and totally came up with this pose on his own.

{luke at 2 yrs 9 months)