December - The end of a busy year

December was a whirlwind like mentioned in previous posts but we of course had fun along the way. We visited with Santa at the annual Cookies with Santa event at CFES and I was once again the chairman of the event. It was exhausting but rewarding and Ben and I were both glad when it was off our calendar. The girls attended many holiday parties...at their schools, friends homes, church and so on. We went to our traditional Nutcracker performance a few weeks before the girls performed it themselves and this year we took Olivia too. She had never seen the production in the big theater and she loved every single minute of it.




Olivia discovered her love for salad and comes home everyday from preschool with shoes full of sand. I don't know how she can stand to walk with sandy socks all day. Isabelle had Polar Express Day at school and wore her reindeer nightgown and continues to hang out with Paloma and Emily most days at school. Ben traveled multiple times to snowy weather destinations and tried to take a picture one night to text the girls. I think we were all a little relived when December came to an end and life began to slow down just a bit. Life is a funny thing, the days often seem so long but the weeks fly by too quick. Now we are on to the new 2014 and have new goals and great expectations once again. According to Oprah, Cheers to a New Year, and another chance for us to get it right.

(The WORST) Vacation in So Cal

The day after Christmas we woke up early and boarded a plane to sunny Southern California. Uncle Seth was getting hitched to a new Aunt Natalie on December 27th, in Newport Beach, and the girls were excited to be a part of it. I think both girls could navigate the airport by themselves and probably could fly alone and were champs on the plane like usual. Their new IPAD and Nabi kept them busy most of the flight and Ben and I had a glimpse of sitting quietly reading to ourselves on a family trip. After finally getting a rental car from the painful LAX, we were on our way to the hotel to meet up with all of the Cosby clan.

Lucky for us with the time change working in our favor, we were up early and made it to the sealing in plenty of time the morning of the 27th. The girls looked lovely in their white wedding dresses from Grandma and it was so fun to see them and their cousins all fancied up. Seth was handsome and Natalie beautiful and before we knew it they were sealed for time and all eternity. Olivia was acting a bit grouchy but we figured it was the time change and having to pose for pictures and missing a nap, etc. Sadly, we were wrong!

After the ceremony we all four found ourselves asleep in the hotel room after lunch for a nap. (Bad sign #2.) We woke up groggy but made our way to the wedding reception where we planned to celebrate, dance and enjoy the night. Quickly the girls started to go downhill and an hour in, both were laying on our laps and asking to go home. WHAT? They love weddings and the food all looked so yummy. We decided it was best we leave, so we skipped the cake cutting and sparkler send off for the bride and groom and by 8:45pm all four of us were in bed. (Bad sign #3.)




Livi didn't sleep long and I sat up with her most of the night as she tossed and turned and felt warm and clammy. When it was finally morning we got up and packed our bags for a few days at Disneyland but only made it to the elevator to check-out when Isabelle began throwing up. The poor girl was mortified getting sick in public and with Olivia burning up and Isabelle puking, Ben and I didn't know exactly what to do as we sat homeless in the parking garage. Thankfully we made it to our next hotel, about 20 minutes down the freeway, before Belle got sick again and this is where we sat for the next three days as the girls both fought the worst case of influenza.







We kept thinking they would sleep it off and feel better in the morning but every day just seemed to be worse than the one before. Sadly we had already bought our Disneyland tickets and the girls were beyond devastated to not go, so we drugged them up and rented a double stroller for a few days and tried to have a little fun at the parks. The girls had moments of enjoyment and I managed to snap a few pictures when they were awake, but we spent most of our time pushing them around asleep in the stroller hot and flushed. They didn't want any treats and sometimes could barely sit up to watch the parade go by.

Our last day seemed the worst, 5 days from our arrival, and both girls were still fevery and resisting food and drinks. We were pretty sure it was the flu and knew there was nothing to be done, but Ben and I finally got nervous enough that we checked out of our Disney hotel and drove across L.A. to find an urgent care and get a doctor's help. The girls looked so awful and the doctor took one glance and took us back quickly to examine. Isabelle was so hot and flushed but her hands were so ice cold that the doctor could not get an oxygen reading thru her fingertips. She was officially diagnosed with Influenza, dehydration, Acute Upper Respiratory infection and Acute Otisis Media. Olivia had swollen red eyes and a high fever and her diagnoses was Influenza, Acute Otisis Media and Conjunctivitis. Yikes! An hour and several prescriptions later, we left and felt very relieved that we had begun the healing process with the girls, albeit a slow one.

We checked in to our third motel in a week right next door to the LAX airport, dropped off our rental car and got into bed drugged and early again. We were worried that the girls' ears would be too painful on the flight, but the Motrin helped enough and both girls were glad to cuddle up with mom in the tiny airplane seats and watch a movie for 3 hours. All four of us were more than thrilled when our feet hit our Texas soil and we could get in a hot bubble bath, wash our dirty germy clothes, and sleep in our own beds. The next day was New Years Eve but none of us were up to much, so we stayed home and rang in the New Year at 9:00pm. It was not the vacation we had planned on and we hated that we missed so much fun at the wedding and Disney and wasted so much money, but we are grateful that we were together and watched over and that after another week or so made a full recovery. Happy New Year 2014! We were blessed this year and look forward to what the future brings!

NOEL

I remember really enjoying last Christmas, in 2012. I was ahead of the game in shopping, cards, baking, everything. The holidays seemed fun and relaxing and I told Ben, I did it right this year! Fast forward a year and Christmas 2013 was the complete opposite. It was December before I could get my feet on the ground and I spent the entire month rushing from one thing to the next and doing things as quickly and thoughtless as possible. It was really not enjoyable and I felt overwhelmed and sad nearly the whole month. Either way, Christmas came and went like it always does and my head is still spinning a bit.



The few days before Christmas we spent with the Christensen family, all 13 of us! The girls had their cousins Leo and Max sleep over and spent every waking moment playing as fast as they could before Max had to fly back to Ohio. They had fun opening their mittens from Grandma and eating breakfast with Grandpa at IHOP. One of their most favorite parts was the treasure hunt Grandma and Grandpa planned all over the Coles Crossing Park and especially digging up the treasure box that was buried in the trail and filled with CASH. Isabelle grabbed a handful of bills and screamed I'm going to be rich!

The girls opened their gifts from Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Van on Christmas Eve and were beyond thrilled with their new Anna and Elsa dresses. They immediately put them on and have since learned all the lyrics to the Frozen songs. Christmas Eve night was spent at the Vernon's home where we ate yummy appetizers, opened gifts from Grandpa Elmo and Grammie and put on a Nativity puppet show. On the drive home, Olivia asked if they could please go to bed "dirty" because she was worried if they took a shower they would be up too late for Santa. We quickly got them clean, in warm jammies and left notes and snacks for Santa and they were still snoring before 8:00pm.

Christmas morning came early at about 6:30am and they girls were so excited with all of their presents. They loved their personalized Santa bags that Grammie made and could not believe that Santa brought Isabelle a new awesome 20" bike and her own Ipad mini, and Olivia a Mirco Mini Scooter and a Nabi! We spent a couple hours opening gifts and eating breakfast and eventually made our way to my parents for a Christmas dinner complete with all the festive trimmings.


Despite the madness of the holiday, the girls thoroughly enjoyed their Christmas and Ben and I did our best to keep up. It seems like just as quickly as the 25th of December arrived, it left also and we were quickly boarding a plane for Southern California and Uncle Seth's wedding. We are grateful for the reminder of our Savior's birth this time of year and love the quiet moments we get to spend with the girls celebrating His life and having holiday fun. Tis the season to be jolly....