Merry Christmas!

Our 3 little elves were very excited for Christmas this year!  They are starting to get to the age at which they can start to understand a little more about what Christmas is really about (at least Austin and Sarah are).  We learned some more about the Christmas story and talked about sharing blessings with others.  Trevor doesn't quite get it yet, but he's pretty excited about it all the same.  He has been having a blast singing "Happy Birthday" lately (to anyone who may or may not be having a birthday, to himself, or to "Christmas Claus").  I got scolded by Trevor for singing it wrong when we sang "Happy Birthday" to baby Jesus.  "It's not baby Jesus's birthday, it's Christmas Claus birthday!"

We always stay home for Christmas and this year was no exception.  Due to the holidays (both Christmas and New Years) falling on a day of the week I usually have off (Thursdays), I actually had pretty much my normal work schedule over the kids' holiday break - only busier because it has been a wicked year for illness, particularly influenza and we are always a little more short staffed in clinic over the holidays.  Despite working hard, I did still enjoy this special time with my babies. We made Christmas cookies together (see our last post), had movie nights snuggled on the couch, went to "The Grinch", and enjoyed Austin and Sarah's Christmas programs among other things.  

On Christmas Eve, we went to the 6pm evening Mass (because we discovered it is much less crowded than the 4pm kids' Mass!).  Trevor (and sometimes Sarah) usually enjoys the nursery while we attend Mass on Sundays.  However, for the holiday, the nursery is not staffed and Trevor sat with us...well he didn't really "sit" per se.  He was pretty wiggly and actually took off down the side center aisle at one point and made it all the way to the front of the church, right in front of the alter and up the front center aisle before I caught him (running behind him frantically in front of the entire congregation).  Ah, adventures in parenthood!  After Mass, we enjoyed a delicious dinner at Biaggi's, where Steve and I had our rehearsal dinner for our wedding. The kids were actually quite well behaved at the restaurant and we even received compliments on the kids' behavior from other restaurant customers. If only they had seen Trevor an hour before!

This was the "kids pizza" Trevor ordered.  HUGE!

Austin is into photobombing lately.

After dinner, the kids enjoyed some ice cream sundaes!

Then we headed home to get ready for bed quickly so Santa could come.  The kiddos got their elf jammies on and checked the NORAD Santa Tracker with Daddy.

Then we put out our Christmas cookies and carrots for Santa and the reindeer. 

I thought this series of faces from Trevor were just hilarious and adorable, each in their own way, so I couldn't choose just one...

I'm being good, Mommy (even though there are cookies right next to me)!

Hmm....those look good.

But Santa's watching...I better be good or he could pull me off the nice list at the last minute!

See how precious I'm being?  (Nice list! Nice list! Nice list!)

Since the kids got to bed late on Christmas Eve, we told them they needed to sleep in...and they did (a little).  Trevor was up around 7:20am and Sarah was up shortly thereafter.  We had told Austin that the goal was to sleep in until 8am.  The second the clock hit 8am, Austin was up and ready to go too.

 Excited kids waiting to go downstairs to see what Santa brought!

Austin and Sarah turning the corner to see the stockings (and Trevor following not too far behind). 

 I love this little sweet smile on Sarah...

Nanny and Grandpa came over for the morning festivities.

Austin got a mini checker board with his stocking, so he and Grandpa got a game going right away.

The kids got to give Nanny and Grandpa the ornaments they made them.

They were all very excited about the gifts they received.

Ah, the fun of trying desperately to get the packaging open while the children eagerly (and not usually very patiently) await being able to play with their new toys!

All 3 kiddos got a racer from Jake and Neverland Pirates - Austin got Hook, Sarah got Izzy, and Trevor got Jake.  They play together with them so nicely!

Trevor got a Jake bandana, spy glass, and treasure map and wore the bandana for the rest of the morning.

Checking out the treasure map with Austin.

Austin and Sarah got more of their "Celestial Buddies" and super comfy reading pillows from Nanny and Grandpa!

And Austin was very excited to receive a full sized checker board.  Throughout the day, he played (and usually beat) Grandpa, Uncle Brian, and Uncle Michael. 

Trevor checking out his letter transformers with Nanny. 

Sarah reading to Austin.  It still amazes me how well she reads. Not only did she just start reading on her own (like Austin also did at age 4), but she is so fluent when she reads, not really having to stop and sound out many words.  She just reads! What a smart girl!

We also got to FaceTime with Gramma and PopPop in Texas while the kids opened their gifts.  We enjoyed a yummy egg bake breakfast at home and had a little down time for the kids to play before we headed over to Nanny and Grandpa's for a Christmas gathering with family.  I, unfortunately, had started getting a little cough and a headache, so with all the influenza I had been exposed to in clinic, I was super careful to stay away from family members (particularly our 92 year old grandmother and our 8 month old nephew) for fear of bringing influenza into the family.  We had an absolutely scrumptious meal Nanny cooked for us and enjoyed some time catching up with family.  By the time we headed home, the kids were exhausted from an exciting and fun day (with no naps).  It was a wonderful Christmas!

Then back to work for Mommy the next day.  I still had a little cough that gradually got worse throughout the day, but didn't really seem to cause me much trouble during my work day.  It wasn't until I got home Friday night that I crashed.  I never got a fever, but I had every other symptom of influenza from the cough and headache to the chills and body aches. I was down for the count on Friday night and Saturday and started feeling much better by Sunday evening (which is good because I was back to work on Monday again).

The kids were off on break for 2 weeks. Austin had a morning basketball camp one morning.   There was also a fun activity at school on Tuesday called "Cabin Fever Day" in which the school was opened for kids and parents to come enjoy some company and activity.  They had craft tables in the cafeteria with middle school kids as helpers for the little kids, games and open gym activities in the gymnasium, and a walking/running track for parents.  The kids and I went and had lots of fun, but Trevor had woken up with a mild fever and, despite playing and running in the gym and having fun, he started to wilt by the time we headed out.  We had to run up to the library after that and, by the time we were heading home, Trevor looked terrible.  He was poking at his head and his ears, so on the way home, we popped into clinic and I listened to his chest and checked his ears and throat.  Those all seemed OK, but he looked terrible, so I had him tested for influenza (even though I could tell that's exactly what he had!) and, of course, he was positive for influenza A and had a higher fever.  The poor kid looked and felt miserable. We took him home and snuggled him and got him a nap and some ibuprofen and he started to perk up in the next day or so.  I was just waiting for the big kids to get sick with influenza too, but they never did!  Phew!

Now we head full steam into the new year!  I'm hoping that influenza calms down a bit so we can get a bit of a relief in terms of how crazy busy it has been at work.  Hopefully all the kids being off school for 2 weeks will limit how many germs they give each other when they come back from break!