Friday, January 2, 2009

Long Awaited

I expect this to be one of my longest posts to date (for two reason, all that I want to share and the length of time it has taken me to get this posted!) I am going to try and describe the 10 day Christmas events day by day, so here goes.

Friday, Dec. 19: We left the house at 3:30, just 30 minutes late of our original start time, not bad in my opinion. We weren't even 10 minutes into the drive and Ella was out for a long nap, she had been running around the house with excitement since I had picked her up and once the truck started moving it put her right to sleep. We made it to our friend's house and went out for Chinese, came back and the kids played for a long time. It was fun and relaxing. No snow at that point, yeah.

Sat. Dec. 20- We awake to beautiful snow fall, I think it is pretty, Kyle- not so much. We slowly get up and head out for breakfast just down the road, it was yummy! Then onto the long drive ahead of us, I get the DVD player in place and Ella is set for a while. We made our first stop in Kansas and Miss Ella surprised us with a dry pull up and eager did her business at the Casey's Gas stop. We made it to Kyle's folks house in time for dinner, hung out and slept.

Sun. Dec. 21- We headed to church this morning to see the rest of our family and see Miss Kinzie on her very special day- she was going to be baptisted during the service. Ella could not decide if she wanted to be in the service with us or in kid's room, after a potty break she finally decided to hang out with the kids her size. It was a nice service and after the baptism we headed to Norman for lunch. It was nice and their bathrooms are very nice,(see the trend- I checked out a lot of public bathrooms on this trip). After lunch is was back in the car for a short three hour ride to my parent's house. We got in just in time for another meal. Ella was excited to be out of the car and check out all the animals.

Mon. Dec. 22- We hang out for a while at home and then load up and go see my Grandma in Rockwall, TX. She is doing well and it was nice to spend some time with her. It took Ella a while to warm up. All during this, Kyle was suffering a bad cold and fever. We went out for lunch and then hit WalMart for a few things on the way back. We prepared a feast that night of turkey and all the trimmings and then opened gifts. Ella was in her element and one happy girl. We got some great stuff and are very thankful!

Tue. Dec. 23- We sleep in as long as possible and finally get up and going for the day. We got to McKinney to do some Christmas shopping. As Santa's helper's Kyle and I were in need of helping Santa find the right gift for Ella (a Radio Flyer Tricycle) and pick up a few other things. We ate at Alex's favorite burger place, I had a salad- was trying to be good. Later that day we helped feed all the farm animals, had leftovers and played some intense game of cards- late into the night.

Wed. Dec. 24- Christmas Eve! We are to head North today, so there was packing and loading of items into the car. We didn't forget anything, luckily, or at least Mom hasn't called telling me otherwise. We had a nice breakfast and Ella had to get her fix and feed the animals with Grammie one more time! It was sad to leave, I hate goodbyes and it was hard as we didn't see everyone while home this time.
We were not in the car long, by noon we made it to our great friend's house half way between our parents houses and spent the afternoon with them! They have two great kids and it was fun to watch the kids play and interact. We hung out til our friend's church service was about to start, and headed to the Freeman house. Again, we made it just in time to eat. (See the other pattern of eating a lot!!!!). There was a house full, like 15 of us and 5 dogs! But lots of fun. We got Ella down at a decent time and I snuck off with my brother and sister-in-laws to the Christmas service at 10. Got back in time to stuff stockings and hit the sack.

Thus. Dec. 25. Merry Christmas!!!! What a fun day. Ella really liked the tricycle and her Dad found this Little Einsteins Rocket and she loves that. The down side was that Miss Ella caught the bug- and threw up not long after Christmas began that morning. After Ella took a bath and I made a clothing change, we headed back to the activities. She did ok for most of the day, but ended up throwing up on Kyle later that day too! Nice huh! Poor baby. She was just not herself and knew it. I felt bad for her and hoped it was not something that would spread. (Boy was I wrong!)

Fri. Dec. 26- Ella sleeps through the night and for that she had thankful parents and family. It was a beautiful day, minus the wind. A group of family members made plans to got to a casino and I stayed back. I did got to Walmart real quick for a couple of things with Kena and had lunch and got money for Kyle! I spent the afternoon with the group away, outside with my father-in-law and Andrew, brother-in-law and Ella and Ava (niece) playing with the tricycle and taking rides on the riding lawn mower. It was good to see some color in Ella's face and her running around- she was finally over it! Yeah. And we watched Mama Mia later that night! What fun.

Sat. Dec 27- We brave the mall for photos with the girls. It was interesting and I am finding two year olds and their parents (me) patience is pretty slim. After photos, Kyle and Ella and I went to one of my best friends house and our kids played, opened their gifts and the parents got to catch up. Kyle and Ella headed back and i spent some QT time with T. It was great and wonderful to be with my friend, too short but still great. Cards were played til the next morning, like 1:30 AM

Sun. Dec. 28- Father-in-law has caught the bug! Insert guilt. Kyle's aunt was visiting and Ella was more than happy to help Mary Jane open all of her gifts! We watched football and later helped my in-laws begin the process of taking down Christmas. A late night of cards was had again. I had to try and win!

Mon. Dec. 29- Part of the family heads back to Texas, we were sad to see them leave. We hung out and attempted to organize our stuff as we would be preparing to leave in a couple of days. Later that afternoon we met Kena at the mall and she took Ella for the night. We went to a movie, "Australia" very good and met up with some friends for dinner later that night. It was a fun date night of being kid free. And Ella had a blast at while we were gone.

Tues. Dec 30. We head over to Kena's that morning, check out her new house and got to lunch with her hubby and Ella. We went to this place I love and they make awesome sweet tea, something I had been craving, BUT my tummy was feeling odd. I chose a side salad and again visited the bathroom twice with Ella, she loves to pee in new places! We said our goodbyes later after lunch and in the parking lot I told Kyle I was not feeling well at all. Let me tell you, salad is not fun coming up! I had been hit with the bug! We got back and Kari, sister in law, Ava and Kinzie were there to spend the day with us and I went to the back to bed and was ill several more times that day! Great and we leave tomorrow, even better. I did get out of loading up the car, the only plus out of the whole deal and felt well enough for a minute to see how bad our OSU bowl game was.

Wed. Dec. 31- New Year's Eve- 3 AM- Mother-in-law has been hit with the bug! Insert double guilt. I was feeling human like and we made it out of the house by 8:30 and on the road that morning. Poor Cindy could not get out of bed and we said our goodbyes, it was another hard one! We made really good time and I was able to stomach Sprite most of the day. We arrived home around 6:30 PM with 3 feet tall snow banks covering the entrance to the driveway. Welcome home Freeman's! We unloaded the truck cab and Kyle bundled up and braved the wind and cold to chip away and entrance to the garage for the truck. It took some time, but we got it in and unloaded the complete back end of the truck- the bed was full of two Christmases!!!

Thurs. Jan. 1- Happy New Year!!!! The house looks like a tornado hit it! Boxes, toys, clothes, suitcases everywhere, it took some time and true determination to get it done, but everything got put away and in place.

Fri. Jan. 2- Back to work and hopefully, a more regular blogging schedule. Sorry to of been gone so long for posting.



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