First off was Thanksgiving. We have been blessed to be a part of a great group of friends here in Williamsburg. Most of us do not have family nearby, so we all kind of band together for many holidays and make them special in our own way. For the past two years we've used the church cultural hall to gather. This year we shared Thanksgiving with the Wilkersons, the Taylors, the Devereauxs, and another couple (who I can't remember their names anymore since I only met them that one day...oops). Everyone brought food and we set up tables and chairs, brought the kids' booster seats and high chairs, and afterwards the kids played with the nursery toys and the boys threw a football around while us girls talked. It was relaxing and wonderful. Afterwards we all helped clean up the food, put everything away, and vacuumed the church, and all went home to already clean houses and only a few dishes to be done. All in all, wonderful! Here are a few pictures from the event:
Rachie eating her meal
Rachel with her friends Luke (L) and Caleb (R)
Alden eating some sweet potatoes (he also really loved the turkey, surprisingly, because he comes from a family who likes ham for Thanksgiving!)
The next day we went to Mill Farm to cut down our Christmas tree. This is the third year in a row we've done this, and we've really enjoyed this tradition. The kids get to run around in the farm and pick a Christmas tree, and then we haul it home on top of our car and decorate it that night. This has been great for us the past few years since we have absolutely no storage space for a fake Christmas tree, although it is somewhat more expensive since I think we've spent about $30 every year on a tree. Some may think that silly, but this has always been pretty much the only Christmas decoration in our house. The kids love putting the ornaments on it, and I love the smell of pine and the lights at night. Next year we'll probably have a fake tree since we'll have room to store it, but we'll always look back (at least Jase and I will, since we'll remember it) on the few years we got to spend traipsing through the Christmas tree farm.
At the farm
The house after decorating
The next week (December 3rd) we held our 3rd annual Ugly Sweater Party (sorry, very unfortunately no pictures). The day of, our kids ended up with fevers and were feeling pretty bad, so we called our friends to let them know. We held the party since most everything was already done by the time they were sick, and most of our friends attended anyways. We had a nice time. The real fun actually began about 20 minutes after the last guest left. Jase and I were shuttling toys from the living room to the kids room to prep for bedtime when we heard very scary screaming coming from Alden in the other room. We ran in to find Alden screaming and blood coming very quickly from his right ear. Turns out Rachel put the handle of a paintbrush into Alden's ear canal. We knew it was really serious, and after some brief panicking, we all jumped in the car (me still in Jason's slippers and my ugly sweater, which really is hideous, although at the time I thought nothing of it) and raced to the ER. Alden screamed all the way and soaked through nearly two paper towels. I don't think I've been more scared as a mother. I had no idea what damage had been done, and he seemed really hurt. I was crying, Rachel was crying, Alden was screaming, and Jase was just driving, but was very very scared too. Anyways, things calmed down once we reached the ER and Alden seemed to relax a bit out of his car seat. I pretty much carried him around for two hours while we waited to be seen by a doctor. It could have been worse. He did pretty well letting me walk him around and going through every last thing in the diaper bag. When the doctor finally came, he took a look and basically confirmed that the ear drum was definitely ruptured, but he couldn't tell how bad it was due to so much debris in his ear canal (dried blood, etc.). He gave us some great pain meds for Alden, antibiotics so it wouldn't get too infected (although turns out it already was, that was the cause for the earlier fever in the day), and instructions to see an ENT as soon as possible.Anyways, we saw the ENT (a wonderful doctor) and his regular pediatrician (whom I love) the next week and were given more antibiotics in the form of oral and ear drops (Alden now knows the words "ear drops" very well, and doesn't really like them) as well as several other medications to help calm the swelling. The ENT doctor concluded that most of his eardrum is completely gone. He couldn't tell us much more than that until the swelling goes down and the infection goes away, so we have appointments this month (January) to determine how well he hears and the next steps (possible surgery--depending on further damage we might find beyond his ear drum, or quite possibly the ear drum will just grow back given time--up to a year--on it's own). The next few weeks after the ER drama we were pretty sick with colds, sinus infections, ear infections, prep for Christmas and our trip to Arizona, and keeping Alden comfortable.
We also had our 1st Joy School Christmas party. The kids made cookies for the dessert, we had soups and salads and rolls for dinner, and then the kids put on a little Christmas program. The program consisted of songs and a little 5 minute nativity play. Some things went better than others, but I can tell you, I sure was proud of my little girl when she played her part in the play. None of the kids actually practiced verbal parts, but were supposed to act out their parts. When it came to Rachel's two moving parts, she cut in to the narrator and actually said her part, almost perfectly. She must have just heard it a few times during practice and thought she was supposed to say it. Anyways, she played the part of the angel, and what she said to Mary was, "Do not be afraid. You will have a baby boy. You will call his name Jesus." Later she said to the shepherd, "Do not be afraid. Follow the star to Bethlehem. There you will find a baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." She said it all so reverently and quietly I just couldn't help but get a little choked up, partly from the shock of seeing such a little person do such a grown up thing. It sure made me proud though, and once again, I felt really really blessed to be her Mama. Many of her talents just came with her. Things like speaking in front of others and performing the way she did, I know she did not learn from me. That is all her own. So many things she does I am so often reminded are just from her very nature. The way she is so intuitively sensitive to how other people are feeling around her, the way she naturally wants to comfort and help and take care of people. She even recently told her Aunt Ondalynn on our vacation, "That's me. I just, you know, take care of people. Animals, Alden, baby Noah, my friends. I just like to take care of people." No kidding she said it just like that. I'm grateful for a girl who just naturally thinks of others. Without further ado, a few pics of my little angel...
And what would a post be without a little mischief? While packing for our Arizona trip in the bedroom, Jase and I realized things were too quiet (we thought the kids had been playing with toys in the living room). We went out to investigate and found this.
Alden got into the baking supplies (yes he was most definitely the instigator) and I think Rachel thought, well...what an opportunity! Flour was everywhere. Although I realized how much work it would be to clean up such a mess...kids are kids. Wouldn't this be fun if you were a kid? So we took pictures and took baths and vacuumed up flour. Oh well.
And that about wraps things up for our pre-trip fun during the months of November and December. More posts to come about fun with our families.
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