We had a very blessed Christmas together!

Our Christmas Eve tradition, started when I was very young myself, is to eat at Red Lobster before or after church. Used to that that was the only place even open, which is how we started, but it became a family tradition we grew to cherish and I've continued with my kids.

All dressed up and ready to go...

Christmas morning dawned bright and early for this tired Santa! But the kids were SUPER excited!

Gifts were well received, with Thanks all around...

Grandma was a huge hit with the Happy Nappers she sent...

The American Girl PJs and slippers...

The snowboard...

The AA ballerina ornament Olivia got, And the other special special gifts.

It was a Christmas of "recycled" gifts from myself. We have a FB page locally that is like an online garage sale, and I found some AMAZING deals, like two "new to her" American Girl dolls and clothes...

This HUGE remote control car...

A Buzz Lightyear snuggie and Butterscotch the horse...

We didn't forget to take time to wish Jesus a very Happy Birthday either. Liam kept busting out singing to Him all day long which was so cute!

And later in the day some very special friends came over with dinner and a jump for the van!

It was a VERY special and blessed day! We hope yours was too!

I have never gotten a flu shot.

There, I said it. My daughter gets one each year at one of her quarterly appointments. I always figured it doesn't always cover the current "strain" anyway, so what was the point. Well let me tell you, if a simple (yes, simple, even though I DESPISE shots) shot could've prevented what I've been going through the past four days and am still knee deep in the midst of, I would've gotten ten!

Wasn't feeling great while my mom was here visiting, but more of a cold, this Monday I felt worse and had our school nurse take my temp. For most a temp of 99.5 wouldn't signify much, but I NEVER get fevers, so I KNEW something was wrong.

Tuesday I stayed home because Liam wasn't feeling well, but then I woke up and felt just yucky! Still hoped that by staying home and resting all day (we literally lay on the couch and popped movie after movie and I slept through most) would "take care of it."

By Tuesday night it was SO much worse. My throat felt like swallowing glass, my chest HURT, my body ached, my head hurt, I was back and forth feverish and chilled, and just. felt. awful. I took off Wednesday and called the doctor. I ended up having the flu, a bladder infection, and possibly strep. I started antibiotics, but the symptoms all persisted, and are still there now raging as much as then. I went back to the doctor today and basically they said wait it out. The flu is kicking my butt! It's all I can do to put food on the table for the kids and get them to and from school. And even then, Olivia did one breakfast for me. If I take three ibuprofen I feel "ok" for a while, but you can only do six in 24 hours so that doesn't leave much of a reprieve. I am PRAYING the next two days see some relief in these symptoms, and that the kids stay healthy!

And next year I WILL be getting the flu shot! IF there is even a CHANCE of bypassing this HE** I'm in, I'll do it!

Thanksgiving was wonderful.

We were invited to a special family's celebration on Thursday and another very special friend's on Friday, making it a time of friends and thankfulness for sure.

Last week was another story! :)

While most were saying, "I can't wait until Friday this past week," I was overheard saying, "I can't wait until Monday."

This past week and weekend the dance studio Olivia takes classes from put on their Nutcracker performances. Quite a big deal in our neck of the woods. People wait for hours to get in line first to buy the "best" tickets the day they go on sale.

For most, their child is in two of the four weekend performances. Meaning they have one dress rehearsal and one tech rehearsal during the week and then the two shows.

But for students Olivia's age, they are in all four.

Which meant that that was all we did this past week after school got out each day at 3:40:

Monday: Tech Rehearsal 5-7

Tuesday: pick up costumes

Wednesday: Tech Rehearsal 5-9:30

Thursday: Dress Rehearsal 5-8:30

Friday: Performance 6-9:20

Saturday: Two Performances 2-9:20

Sunday: Performance 2-4:20

While it was EXHAUSTING, it was worth it.

The show was a huge success and Olivia had a ball!

In the midst of it all, Grandma came to visit in order to see Olivia's show. with work, the best for us was for her to come in Wednesday night while a friend gave Olivia a ride to and from her rehearsal, and leave to go back next Saturday, the 10th.

Needless to say the kids were pleasantly surprised as they had no idea!

Grandma and I went to the show Friday, the boys and I went Saturday afternoon, and Grandma stayed with the boys while I worked backstage Saturday night.

While she was with them, Braeden was "playing guitar" and hit the wall, causing our Elf on the Shelf Tom to fall from the ceiling to the floor.

She suggested he pick up Tom and Braeden began yelling, "No, the magic will disappear!" He also kept holding his forehead saying, "My mom is going to kill me!"

The next morning, Tom showed up on our kitchen counter in full recovery mode.

Braeden was glad he was going to be ok, but was beside himself with worry and guilt.

(HILARIOUS!)

The whole saga kept me in stiches.

Course I'm probably scarring him for life! :)

In between performances this weekend, we had a nice Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner with Grandma. We tried to get her to visit during the holidays but for this year she really felt like staying in FL. Maybe next year. :)

Grandma opened her gift from us which was a spinner hardside suitcase, filled with gifts (in gift bags so hopefully they'll make it through security ok) for her to open Christmas morning.

And while most of our decorations were up, the kids had not hung their ornaments, so we set about finishing that up and making the tree look amazing as usual.

Now I'm ready for a relaxing week at home.

We'll be sad to say goodbye to Grandma on Saturday, but it's been a great visit!

Of course I took more than just 11 pictures last Friday. Was going to post these sooner, and it just didn't happen. :) But here are more images from our day on 11/11/11.

Love the bread flying through the air!

Trying to be serious like Abe. :)

It's cold again now... brrr!

Last night I went with friends to see Eclipse and then the new Breaking Dawn Part 1!

It was so good! I think it's the best one yet!

We had a good time, but why oh why does my body now HURT so very much?

I guess 41 just doesn't "do" lack of sleep like 21 or even 31.

When will I learn!?

Oh well, kids had no clue I was even gone and I had a great time! :)

What a date in history! 11 / 11 / 11 - I mean, how cool is that!? :)

So... we did something fairly cool to celebrate!

Today the kids and I did 11 activities, spending under $11, and taking 11 photos along our way.

Olivia kept saying how many things we'd done and adding up how much we'd spent, too cute!

And Number ONE on our agenda, breakfast in bed! (Cost - nothing, just what we had around.)

Number TWO: dropping off an old flag to the local VFW. (Cost - nothing, total cost - nothing.)

Number THREE: a donut for each as a morning snack. (Cost - $2.85, Total - $2.85)

Number FOUR - feeding the ducks, and boy were they hungry! (Cost - $1, Total cost - $3.85)

Number FIVE - Playing at the park near the ducks. (Cost - nothing, Total cost $3.85)

Number SIX - Visiting our local history museum. (Cost - nothing, Total cost - $3.85)

Number SEVEN - Lunch! (Cost - nothing since we had a gift card!, Total cost - $3.85)

Number EIGHT - Walking through our state park. (Cost - nothing, Total cost - $3.85)

Number NINE - Buying "penny" candy at our local candy store. (Cost - $2.88, Total cost - $6.73)

Number TEN - Reading at Barnes and Noble and picking up five books I won in a raffle recently. (Cost - nothing, Total cost - $6.73)

Number ELEVEN - McDonalds to play and eat. (Cost - $4.14, Total cost - $10.87)

Liam had had enough by McDonalds and things spiraled out of control fairly quickly, hence the ONE picture that is quite blurry. :( So we left rather quickly but once home and laying down for a movie he calmed down and we had a great rest of the day too.