Merry Christmas!!

Wow, I can't believe it is already over! How does the day fly by so fast without a hitch? We have had a wonderful day so far (everyone is napping right now, LOVE the quiet house). The in laws are going to stop by later to see what the kids got. Hopefully they (the kids) don't go all crazy again but they probably will. Oh well.

A recap from last week.

Tues-Fri... I was so sick. I had an awful case of the stomach flu that lasted 4 days. I wont get graphic (thank me later) but I only went from the couch to the bathroom the entire time. Not fun!! I was rude, grumpy and to top it off, hormonal! So unfair when hormones come into play when we are sick! There was more than one meltdown with more than one person, I . Just for the record, I'm hardly ever sick so I HATE being sick. Sadly I let everyone around me know it. The only upside of the whole escapade is that I lost 5 pounds! I know it isn't the ideal way to lose weight but my new goal was to not gain it all back once I introduced food to my stomach again. On Friday the only two things I ate were a dry piece of toast and 1/2 of a rice krispie treat (healthy I know). I haven't weighed yet but so far I think I have been successful.

Sat... I woke up so happy because I felt like a human again! All I needed was another night sleep and it was over, I felt so good! We went to the store 3 times (crazy!) because we kept forgetting things. I hate it when that happens. I need a life coach to teach me about making lists and remembering to take and use them. I hate my forgetfulness and was feeling just a little behind with the flu that I had. In between going to the store we had LOADS of company (the kind that stay, not just drop off and run)! I loved having all the stop ins but was feeling the pressure since I wouldn't be shopping on Sunday. The worst part of the company was before the first ones would leave the second ones would show up so on and so on. The whole day was like that, until Kyle, Heidi and Kate (brother's family) made it (they stayed until this afternoon). They had a horrible time getting here. It took them 3 hours to go 60 miles and 30 of those minutes were spent going only 2 miles! I would have freaked out for sure. They had major traffic accompanied with bad roads. We were so glad when they made it here safe!

Sun... We had a great time at church. Our ward just did a musical day with each different auxiliary singing and our bishop talking at the end for just a few minutes. The kids did so good and were so cute I might add. They sang Samuel the Boy Prophet and Away in a Manger in Spanish (our ward is combined with the Spanish branch here). All 3 kids knew every word and not surprisingly it brought tears to my eyes. After church we went to Milo's mom's house and ate dinner (yum!) and exchanged gifts.
See the goodness I got with this bag of Cadbury chocolates? I had only seen these on Jill's blog and wanted them so bad! They didn't disappoint either! We didn't stay long so that we could do our own little traditions here at home. They were a little hectic and chaotic (both the kids and the traditions) but at least we were able to make it through!

We read the nativity (through fighting), sang a few songs and tried in vain to get pictures of the 4 (only 4!) grandkids in their new jammies. As you can see it didn't work! Kathryn is trying to hard to hang on the my 18 month old niece, she is a pistol! We stayed up late, the last time I looked at the clock it was after 2 am but no big deal, we had fun. We played games, wrapped the last couple gifts and were little elves for Santa. Every year, I am surprised how long it takes to 'set' it all up and feel ready to go to bed. Am I the only one like this?

Christmas Day- Mon... Today was great, the kids are at such an easy age to please and I love that part of it. No stress with finding the perfect thing, they love it all. Milo surprised me with a new digital camera. I feel a little guilty, my old one isn't broken but I have been wanting more. We usually don't give gifts this big so I was shocked. Thanks Milo! I love photography and take any opportunity I can to take pictures. I have so much to learn with this camera. I want to find a great book on digital photography, this has so many more options/functions than my last one I'll need some help. If you know of one, let me know. I know I'm going to love this camera! I am going to use this camera as a stepping stone to the really nice, big one I'm planning on down the road (long road that is).

I am planning on removing all things Christmas from the house tomorrow. As much as I love the tree, the nativities and all the other fluff, I am ready to see it go! My mom went to stay with my grandma for a couple days so it will be just us. I don't really feel the need to entertain with her here, we just don't get a lot of the 'regular' stuff done. It will be nice to not have feel like she has to help work while she is on vacation. I think we'll go and get her on Wed afternoon.

I hope this post finds each one of you exhausted from a wonderful Christmas with your family/friends! I know I am ready for a couple quiet (hopefully) days ahead. I have so many post to catch up on. Keep checking back Milo, I swear I'm doing a birthday post!!

All my other pictures are on the new camera and I have yet to take the time to load the software. A task best left for tomorrow when the kids are napping!