1. We painted cookies! I know it seems like a little, mundane thing, but I am so proud of myself. It turns out that I'm not really a fan of making huge messes, and painting cookies is definitely a mess. But I need to get over myself so my girls can have fun experiences and memories, so I got it all together. It was a mess, but one I was pleased with.
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| You can't keep a girl from licking her fingers while painting cookies |
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| I'm not brave enough to give a 14-month-old frosting to paint her own cookies, so Joya just enjoyed eating one while we did the decorating |
2. Then on Tuesday we drove down to Colorado Springs to making graham cracker gingerbread houses with Aunt Jamie and Naomi. My mom was able to come, and it was loads of fun. I brought WAY too much candy for two little girls to make houses, but I'm not sad about that.
3. A little holiday cheer for you, performed by Alaina. (This happens to be her favorite Christmas carol. I don't know why, but it's the one she sings all the time.)
4. We kind of had two not-so-good things happen this week, but happen at the best time possible. First, on Wednesday at midnight, Joya woke up with a fever. I gave her tylenol, but then she woke up whining every hour until 4:00. Then the whole day she would run a fever, and the medicine would bring it down slightly but the fever would spike back up again about the time for her to have more medicine. It was like that all day. She actually acted okay until the end of the day, when she had just had it. She didn't nap too well either, so she was in bed at 6:30. That ties into the second not-so-good thing which was the major snow dump we got that night. I ran out to get her some infant ibuprofen so I could do the alternating thing at about 8:00. It was snowing pretty heavily and it was pretty slick out there. Coming home was worse, since I was heading north and driving right into the blowing snow. I haven't been that scared in a long time. I probably should have sent Lee, but there are so many baby medications out there, and I knew exactly what I was looking for, so I thought I could do it. I made it home safe and sound, but only because I didn't go faster than 20 mph. It was worth it, though, because around 10:30 when Joya woke up again I gave her the ibuprofen and she then slept solid for the next 8 hours. She woke up on Thursday still wiped out, but without a fever. The good I see in both of those things, however, was that they happened on Wednesday and Wednesday night and not Thursday. Any later in the week and we might have had to alter our plans.
5. Which brings us to our plans. Today we are driving to Missouri to spend Christmas with Lee's family. I've been stalking the interstate forecast, and it shows nothing but sunshine and 0% chance of precipitation the whole way. That combined with my incredibly gracious and generous parents letting us use their car is going to make for a nice little road trip. Well, all that and John Denver and the Muppets will make for a nice road trip.
Merry Christmas! It's pretty incredible that God chose to come to be with us, so no matter what is going on, we definitely have a reason to celebrate.
