Snow Days and Tonsils

We got 6 inches of snow and 2.5 days off of school the first week of December.

The kids played for hours!!

David is always a stud and pulls the kids around on the sled first thing in the morning as soon as he finds out he doesn't have to go into work. I tried to keep Lucy inside but eventually I caved and let her out and she was so happy!

And then on Dec 9th Ashton and Mallie went into have their tonsils and adenoids out. They both snored like beasts and we were pretty sure it was causing Mallie some sleep apnea since she is always tired and falling asleep in the car even after 12 hours of sleep at night.

We wanted to document Ashton's huge tonsils for him.

Pre-op at 6:30am.

They loved getting to ride on the bed together down to the OR.

I love great nurses. Mallie was still barely waking up when they rolled her out and the nurse put down the guard rail and said, "You can hop in bed with her." She just cuddled right up on me and didn't even cry. She was so so good.

Ashton on the other hand was an emotional mess. I was holding Mallie when he came out and he couldn't see me on the other side of the room. So David was with him talking to him and he was pretty groggy and saying he was in pain. A few minutes later David and I switched kids and I walked over to his bed and as soon as he saw me he burst into tears. It's such his personality to try and hold it together and be strong in front of Dad and then when Mom comes around then he's safe to lose it.

Thank goodness for tablets. I marvel at the ease we have now of keeping kids occupied. Don't get me wrong I'd gladly live in the 50s where kids could run wild through neighborhoods and we didn't have to worry so much about safety in person and online and I definitely could do without car seats. But I AM so grateful for how much easier life is for me in moments like this!

We're now almost 2 weeks out from tonsil surgery and the kids have done really well. I don't know why we thought they would automatically know what their throats could and couldn't handle but we were wrong. Mallie walked right in from the hospital and tried to grab some pretzels from the pantry. We had to keep serious tabs on them as they are chip (and all things crunchy) junkies. But a few boxes of popsicles, lots of pancakes and lots of water got us through. Hurray for no better sleep and army medical care!

End of November

First up right before Thanksgiving. This guy turned 6!

Ashton is definitely the oldest child. We made him pay for half of his own birthday present. He wanted this lego castle so badly and we just don't do $75 on a birthday gift no matter how great it is. He was more than happy to pull out his piggy bank and make it happen.

 We're going to try and only do friend birthday parties on the 5,10,15 mark. So Ashton picked his favorite dinner and we had cake. The cake that was overcooked and then frozen. David had a Thanksgiving lunch at work and asked me to make brownies. So I made brownies... and after they were in the pan I tasted the batter only to realize it was cake mix. So I put the cake in the oven and got out the brownie mix. Then I put the brownies in the oven.... and then I left for an activity at the Church and forgot to tell David that I left things in the oven. Can we say, pregnant? So he was upstairs getting the kids ready for bed and couldn't hear the oven timer go off. I came home to overdone cake and brownies. Being awesomely frugal we cut out the center stuck it in the freezer, pulled it out and frosted it two days later for Ashton's birthday. And you know what? The kids ate it all and they didn't care!

Ashton at 6 thinks he's all grown up. He's super helpful around the house and loves his sisters. Legos are his thing now and his Dad is still his best friend. David plays Stratego with him at least a few times a week and I'm his regular checkers partner. He's the best oldest kid ever!

 

Thanksgiving came and we did our annual grateful tree. This year the kids were awesome at coming up with their own stuff. Ashton's best one was "I'm grateful to be me" and I even put on there "chocolate" more than once.

We hosted David's family again for Thanksgiving. As always we had a blast. Chanelle (David's little sister) makes all the nieces and nephews pillows when they're born. They're the only ones our kids will sleep with and are well loved. Well, Lucy finally got her own and she loves it!

I don't have any other pictures of Thanksgiving but this one of Lucy and the giant bucket of cheeseballs David's parents brought up. This girl is clever. She scouts for all her own food and because she is so darn cute and usually in the right place at the right time we let her do whatever she wants. She probably ate her weight in cheese balls over the week.

 

That's a wrap on November!! 2013 is coming to a close far too quickly!