Clean up, Clean up, everybody everywhere....

Well, the swine flu has left the building! It lingered longer than I thought it would- even yesterday- 6 days later- we were still pretty sick. But today was like a miracle- I woke up feeling SO MUCH better. I've washed all the sheets and clothes-started homeschooling again (after several weeks of hiatus) and Lysoled this joint inside and out. :) Props have to be given to my dear, saintly husband who took off several days of work to play nursemaid and put up with every random (and ever-changing) request I made.

Mama's back and kicking. Bring it on.

Okay....now I've made myself laugh all day by doing my Whitney Houston impersonation based on this hysterical skit from SNL...you have to watch... "I am in top physical form...Mama's back ya'll- Shoop!"

Christmas 2010

Well, as you know, this year was a swine flu Christmas and even today- the day after Christmas- we are are still sick. Even with the flu hovering in our house BB and Poppy made the trek up to spend Christmas with us. They brought a million presents and went and bought the groceries and made all the meals. Thank you, thank you BB and Poppy! On Christmas eve, Poppy bought Marc a chain saw (to get our own fire wood) and got some corn and a salt lick for the deer. The kids got up some energy to get up and put out the corn with Marc and Poppy.



And we were rewarded for our efforts- Christmas morning there was a big doe standing to the right of our swing in the woods (deer not in picture). Marc spent Christmas eve like he spends all Christmas eves- putting together the toys. This year the big ticket "put together" items were Marky's wood-working bench and Tucker's trampoline.





Christmas morning was so exciting- Santa baby was totally aware and knew which things were his.
Marky loved his workbench and made a wooden tank that same day! He also loved his cowboy cap gun and little machine gun and camo rain boots! Poor little guy would open a few presents and then lay down and rest. Then he'd get back up and open a couple more. It's tough being sick.






Julia had a super fun Christmas. She got a littlest pet shop house from Santa that she loved- here she is taking it in! And she got 12 little horses and this amazing wooden horse barn for them that she is beside herself over. Although her favorite gift is probably the stuffed horse that is extra soft that she has held ever since Christmas morning.






And my favorite Christmas gift- Tucker's little trampoline! Oh my goodness- it is beyond adorable to see him jump on this thing- which he did ALL DAY on Christmas- we didn't even have to show him how to do it- he figured it all out by himself. He smiles so big with that dimple and jump, jump, jumps! BB also got him a fish light thingy that he sat on the floor and looked at for almost an hour. He is such a sweet baby and loved Christmas so much this year and opened his own presents.




BB and Poppy left after having a chilli and cheese toast Christmas lunch. So far it looks like they avoided the flu. All five of us settled in for a long winter's nap (well Daddy and I watched Family Man), and then we woke up and played with our new things.

That night Daddy read the Christmas story from the Holy Bible and then we prayed for every family in our Christmas card basket (and even those who didn't send a Christmas card).




Today we're still feeling low and we haven't left the house. Marky spent the morning playing with his new snap circuit kit- which he loves! He and Daddy had to explain to me all the different tech terms, and they've made many creative electrical circuits. Right now as I type this, Marky is reading Encyclopedia Brown on the couch. Marc is holding Julia and reading her new Beatrix Potter books to her. Tucker is playing with wooden blocks and watching the snow flurries outside, and I'm sitting by the fire in my snuggie with a laptop. I'm pretty sure if we weren't sick we'd be out and about and cleaning up the house and doing laundry. Thank you Lord for slowing us down and letting us really enjoy and appreciate this Christmas.

Shana's Christmas

Every year Shana comes over and we have a special "family" Christmas with Aunt Shana. This first pic was actually taken at the Christmas party (you will notice there were no pics of me in that post- the photographer is never pictured!) Anyway- Shana always goes overboard and gets everybody too many presents. Just another reason my kids adore Aunt Shana. These pics were taken on Sunday the 18th (the day I think we all contracted swine flu- I have since learned that at least two other kids in the the Sunday School class that I teach and that Marky is in got the flu too). P.S. Tucker LOVED this remote controlled puppy and said, "my puppy" a lot. :)

Christmas Card Pics

Thank you everyone for your well-wishes. I don't remember ever having the flu before and no, we didn't get flu shots. It's just as awful as they say. It started Tuesday with Marky having a high fever and a cough and the other two having mild fevers. Then on Wednesday morning Marky never got out of bed. I finally went up there and gave him tylenol (b/c he was on fire) and said, "get up when you are feeling better". About 45 minutes later I went back upstairs and found him laying on his stomach on the floor at the top of the stairs. (Yes, it scared me to death). I said, "what's wrong?!" and he said, "I can't walk." That's when I knew it was the flu and got everyone in the car and headed to the doctor. Marc met me and carried Marky in (he literally couldn't walk and his fever was still sooo high). Then the doc found out it was swine flu and treated all three kids. All the while I am waiting in the car my fever gets higher and higher and then I ache all over and have chills. The good news is that supposedly swine flu has a shorter duration than regular flu and we are all on tamiflu now and big Marc has so far stayed well enough to take care of all of us. The flu is definitely not like a cold- you can't just push through and fold some clothes or wrap some presents- the flu shuts you down! P.S. For you homeopathic types out there, we are taking oscillococcinum that we got at Whole Foods, and I think it's probably helping.

Anyway, here are some highlights from this year's Christmas card photo shoot of fun. My favorite shots were the outside shots, but Tucker had just woken up from his nap and was in no mood to smile until the sun had gone down and we'd moved the photo shoot inside. :) I hope you have a Merry Christmas and enjoy your families!

Swine Flu

So me and the three amigos all have swine flu. What can I say- pray for Marc!

Christmas party 2010

Last night we had our first ever Christmas party. It was so much fun! Everyone who came brought appetizers or sweets or wine so these pics were taken before we "filled up" the tables. :)












For drinks we had wine, beer, egg nog (leaded and unleaded) and my mom's famous Port wine cooler punch. :) Salty food was in the dining room- sweets were in the kitchen. By far, the highlight of the party was the entertainment. I wanted a real, old-fashioned Christmas party with readings and singing. The four guys read from Handel's Messiah Part 1 (which is all about the prophecies and Christmas story). They also read an Advent prayer as a group. Then guitar-genius Chris led us in several carols including all the stanzas of O Come, O Come Emmanuel, Come Thou Long Expected Jesus, and The First Noel. Then our opera-singer friend Adrienne blessed us with haunting version of Lo How a Rose E're Blooming. A wonderful night, with wonderful Godly people who encourage us so much. I did an evite this time instead of a real invite and have had mixed reviews. I've already heard of two people today who never got it an didn't know about the party (including the neighbors across the street who watched and probably wondered why they weren't invited!). So next time I'll probably do invites the old fashioned way. And I've learned you have to be flexible b/c people are apt to call merely hours before the party to cancel so don't go overboard buying food. All in all a wonderful night and a wonderful weekend. We actually had a date night to see Handel's Messiah on Friday night with the Alabama Symphony. We were on the second row and for the first time I had the lyrics in front of me- reading the words added so much- it is so much more beautiful than I knew. P.S. Marky won the Birthday Party for Jesus poster contest for his age group at church this morning. He drew a nativity with Isaiah's prophesy, "the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light"- all his own idea- he only asked me how to spell Isaiah. :) I love this time of year. (I don't know why blogger is turning this pic- when you look at it in "my pictures" it's right-side up!)