Day 3 and 4

Our Christmas Countdown Continues.

I had visions of getting out of the house early on Saturday and spending hours scrapbooking. Didn't happen, the night was a disaster. I did eventually get gone but then had just one bad misstep after another, almost comical. I did eventually get a good couple of hours of work done at home after the boys went to bed. Going for a redo sometime early in 2012. I made it three times total in 2011.

Anyway, since I was hoping to get out of the house I went with something easy for our countdown and something that had to get done anyway.

Day 3 - Write letters to Santa.

Reactions were what I expected. Ryan went running for the paper (which is why we ended up with neon green) and was so excited. Reid was disappointed. He said something like "I thought these events were supposed to be fun." Poor kid, he HATES writing. It literally took him about an hour and lots of urging from me to just do it and be done.

Ryan's:

He actually wrote all of the things he wants and then told me what to write to Santa at the bottom. His writing is getting so good:

Reid's:

At first Reid just made a list like Ryan but I told him he actually had to write a letter. That's when he came up with "Hi Santa. I can't wait till you come"... such an overachiever... ha ha.

Ross:

Whenever you ask Ross anything he ALWAYS answers with "I don't know" first and then tells you the answer. He doesn't know what he wants for Christmas though. He does know that there are presents downstairs, he's already started unwrapping a few of them. He also knows he loves Christmas trees. He should be a lot of fun come Christmas morning!!

On Sunday Russ was gone all day. He left for a coaching clinic before the boys and I were out of bed and went right from that to his 5:40 hockey game.

Anyway, I thought about the calendar several times during the day but just didn't have the energy to do anything big. Earlier in the day I had hired a neighbor boy to watch the kids while I stole some time to go on an 8 mile run with Suzanne and her husband. We tackled some major hills and I felt drained. It had already been a long morning of house cleaning, grocery shopping, etc and I didn't have lunch until 3:00. So, I just kept putting the calendar off. Finally, I realized it was getting late and we needed to do something so we made cookies.

Day 4 - Make Cookies.

Of course the boys were thrilled when they opened this slip:

John had played four games in St Louis this weekend and had JUST gotten home from the trip and said he was wiped out. Thankfully, he still helped me scoop dough so the boys didn't go too nuts waiting turns.

The cookies weren't great. I think I remember us having this problem last year too. I went with the lower temp and they just weren't done enough... still doughy. Our last batch was the best as I left them in longer but next time we'll go the higher temp and longer time recommendation. Doesn't matter, we still ate them.

Day 2... Chocolate Milkshakes

So, no good pics from tonight. The boys were re-scheduled (from our sick day) for three MUCH needed haircuts from 4:30 - 5:30 and then Reid had hockey practice from 6:50 - 7:50 so I switched our planned event up a bit. After haircuts Russ took Reid to hockey and to get a chocolate milkshake. I took the little boys to get some dinner and chocolate milkshakes.

Random rant: I try not to eat McDonald's ever so when I do I get the Bacon Ranch Salad with the lowfat dressing. It's actually pretty good... with crispy chicken. I decided to be even better tonight and got it with the grilled chicken. I was not a fan.

Since I had no pictures of our event to share I thought I'd share a picture of our advent calendar... the same one we have used since 2008 (glad I painted the year on the back). The boys and I painted this together (Reid was 5 and Ryan was 2). I believe Russ helped touch up some areas too.

HA HA... I moved the calendar to make sure there wasn't mess in the background. But... to be completely real, here's the real picture:

That's right, I have a sink full of dirty dishes (okay and papers and mail piled on the other side of the island). I have been up since 4:30 am (workout) and actually did get a LOT accomplished today. I FINALLY got my phone fixed, a new phone ordered (and mailed) for my mother in law, a lunch out with a friend, and a large to do list of real work (the job I get paid for) accomplished. At 3:30 I had a huge deal blow up at work and I was able to resolve it AS I was picking kids up from daycare and getting them to haircuts. By the time I was done with milkshakes, dinner, putting up our fourth Christmas tree and some other Christmas decorations I made the decision that the dirty dishes could wait until tomorrow morning :) My blog readers (both of you) were much more important. Now off to put Ross to bed. Ryan has found the Grinch that Stole Christmas (the movie version) on tv and is SILENT (maybe a first time ever)... he loves everything Grinch!

Let the countdown begin...

Tonight we started our annual Christmas countdown. Any doubt that I had about the boys enjoying this process as much as I do was put to rest when they saw our advent box sitting on the island when they got home. Both Reid and Ryan were just excited to see it. Reid came in from school and said "I knew this was going to be out tonight".

We opened the first door after dinner.

Day 1 - Go to the Olathe Public Library and see a working model train display.

Some local hobbyists had a couple of model trains set up at the library and were showing the kids how they operate. The boys all found it interesting. Cheap. easy. fun. After we had watched the trains for a while (idk, 10 - 15 minutes) we let the boys play with the puzzles and toys in the kids section of the library before leaving and heading home.

Ross enjoyed the trains as well... he just wanted to touch everything so we spent time shuffling him back and forth and keeping him busy.

More sickies...

What a week!! Ross got better and was back at daycare on Wednesday. Ryan woke up Tuesday night at 11 pm throwing up in his bed (ugh)... pajamas, sheets, pillow, manky, floor, bedskirt... nothing was spared! He proceeded to get sick SEVEN times between 11p and 4a. My alarm went off at 4:45a for my workout class. I got up to get dressed and felt so nauseous. I couldn't decide if I was sick, if it was the smell of our house, or if I was just tired but I realized there was no way I was going to make it through a workout. I went back to bed and slept my longest stretch of the night until 7a.

I went in to wake up Reid at 7 and the first thing he said was that his stomach hurt. Ugh. I told him that he wasn't going to school then. By 8:00 he was throwing up as well. By 10am we heard from John that he had just thrown up as well. And that's basically how our day went.

By mid-afternoon we were wiped out. Ryan laid down on top of me on the couch and fell asleep (so I moved him to the other couch). When I got up to move Ryan I found Reid behind the other couch sound asleep. I can't remember the last time (YEARS!) that I saw Reid fall asleep during the day.

Here's Reid taking his snooze. He's my cozy pajama boy (he'd be mad if he knew these pictures were posted). And... Yes, I made both boys carry a trash can with them from room to room the whole day!

And then there's Ryan who prefers to only have boxers on. He never sleeps with a shirt on and would prefer to spend the day in only his boxers every day.

A sick McDowell boy...family

Ok, I'm taking a vacation day... sort of... trying to multi-task. Anyway, I thought I'd get a blog post out there while it's actually current and not a month behind. Our Christmas countdown starts in two days so the blogging will hopefully pick up in frequency (you're welcome Courtney).

Today's update... Baby Ross.

As we were walking into daycare on Monday Ross coughed and proceeded to start throwing up on the sidewalk. Of course I couldn't get him to bend at his waist so it was down his coat, shirt, pants, etc. I grabbed wipes and napkins out of the car and cleaned him up as best as I could. I let the daycare know we had made a mess, dropped Ryan off and hightailed it home.

All day... he was fine. I think maybe he had a lot of phlegm and just coughed too hard.

Then, Monday night (Tuesday morning) Ross woke up at 1 am saying he had owies in his tummy. He was very uncomfortable. He still had a yucky cough so I ran the shower with hot water and we sat in there. He was crying and mad because he actually wanted to take a shower. Eventually he calmed down and fell asleep laying across our step stool.

He went back to sleep fine but I couldn't :( I was up from 1 am to 3 am. When I got Ross up the next morning he had a horribly yucky diaper. So I kept him home again on Tuesday. He was loving it. We dropped Ryan off at school and Ross just kept saying "No school. Stay home."

I got him some pedialyte which he downed quickly.

He was pretty good for the most part all day, maybe a little whiney and clingy but no more getting sick. Here he is sitting in his recliner watching Elmo.

We already had an 11:00 dr appt for an ear and height recheck so we went to that. Dr Moore said that since he had a diarrhea diaper the yuck was probably leaving his system. And... he got a clear bill on his ear and height (back at 25th percentile).

So (I got this posted late)... it's now Wednesday and he's back at school. Unfortunately... the rest of the family is down for the count. Ryan got up at 11pm last night and threw up until basically 4:00am. When I woke Reid up for school he said his stomach hurt and he was throwing up within the hour. Later in the morning our hockey boy, John, came upstairs and he had just thrown up as well.

So far Russ and I have survived the throwing up portion although we both feel miserable. My stomach is in knots and I feel nauseous. When I got up at a 4:45 for my workout I couldn't decide if I was sick or just exhausted so cancelled on my trainer and went back to bed.

Ryan, who was up ALL night is full of energy... bouncing around the house, talking nonstop... so I guess it went through his system fast.

That's all for now... I caution everyone to stay away!

Grandkid Pics

The week before last my sisters and I were trying to be sneaky and get the grandkids' pictures taken as a Christmas present. We weren't sneaky enough and my mom figured it out. She went with us to get the pictures taken so she's seen these anyway. I thought I'd post a few of the proofs. We haven't placed our order yet but these are some of the favorites.

One of the better ones...

The kids loved the silly pics...

And the McDowell boys...

Ross' Birthday

Last Monday (10/24) Baby Ross turned TWO! Seriously... I can't believe it myself. That might be why I haven't seemed to be able to blog it (not really).

On Monday Ross had his "party" at school. I took Elmo face cookies to share with his friends. I also made some party favor sacks. I bought labels for the bags on Etsy that said "Elmo likes his goldfish, his crayons too... and so can you." Inside the bags I put crayons and goldfish for his friends.

That was really it. He enjoyed it. If you asked him how old he was he said "cookies." Everything about his birthday was Elmo cookies! He's got it down now and says "Two!"

These were taken a few days before his birthday. He decided that his Tonka truck was his new riding toy...

Here he is riding it around and around the island...

So... that's what we got him for his birthday. It's a blurry picture but it's the best picture that I could get. He really likes it.