Our poor little sick girl...

Sick little Rachel with Bradley wanting to sit right next to her.

Today was Rachel's last day of school before Christmas, but unfortunately, she didn't get to go. She woke me up this morning at 5:30 and said her throat hurt, her nose was running and her tummy hurt. She was also burning up. So, I took her back to bed, gave her some Motrin for her fever and laid down with her. About 20 minutes later, she started gagging, and luckily, we made it to the potty in time for her to throw up in it. I figured that the Motrin had aggravated her already sensitive tummy, so we decided to go in the den and watch a Barbie movie. I was already worried that she would have to miss school today and I didn't want to talk about it with Rachel and make her sad. But, today was supposed to be a super fun day at school. They were having a class Christmas party, exchanging books with each other, having a book fair and even Santa was coming to visit. Also, ironically, this was the party that I had volunteered to organize. Thankfully, I had already arranged for Deborah to watch Bradley so that I could be at the party. So, she stayed home with the kids while I ran to the school to set up for the party. I also was lucky enough to have such wonderful moms in Rachel's class who were more than willing to pick up the slack and run the party. I came home from the school and took both kids to the doctor, where Rachel was diagnosed with strep throat and Bradley just has a nasty cold. Rachel felt so puny at the doctor, that she actually laid down on the examining table. Bradley was obviously feeling great, so he was jibber-jabbering and being brave and charming with all the nurses. Anyway, we got 2 prescriptions...one for each child and then came home to rest. Poor Rachel has been asleep most of the day on the couch. Bradley hasn't been able to stand that she's laying there and either wants to sit right with her/on top of her, or he likes to pat her head or face and say, "Ray Ray hurt". Rachel loves the attention from her baby brother and is tolerating him so sweetly. The above picture is just this evening where Rachel fell asleep (again) and Bradley climbed up next to her to watch tv. They are such sweet kids and sweet siblings!! I hope my little ones feel better before Christmas...hard to believe that's 1 week away!!

Another Princess Party!

the lovely scarlet dress

Hannah, Rachel & Laura

Rachel dancing with Callie, the birthday girl's little sister.

Cinderella applying Rachel's make-up

post make-up...isn't she lovely!?!

Rachel and her best friend, Kate

Last Wednesday Rachel was invited to another Princess party...this time for her friend Isabelle. This was her 3rd party at this "princess house", and she has loved each one!! This time, the lovely Cinderella was there to dance with the little princesses, apply their beautiful make-up, and serve their delicious tea, complete with pink tea, petite sandwiches, fruit and cheese puffs...all on the finest china. Rachel scarfed her little sandwich down before Isabelle's daddy had a chance to say the blessing! (I guess she was hungry!!) She had a blast dancing and trying on several beautiful gowns. It was such a fun little party!

Rachel - Christmas decorator

Here are a few pictures of the extremely enthusiastic Christmas decorator doing her own thing. She had the step ladder parked at this position for a long time, so this is where the majority of the ornaments were hanging.

Jack's Creek Tree Farm

Last Friday, we went to the tree farm to pick out our Christmas tree. We like to look at the leyland cypresses, but we always end up getting a pre-cut Frasier Fir since the limbs are just more stable. Anyway, we met Gege and Papa at the farm and all picked out our trees. Both kids took separate rides on the hayride to see the tunnel of lights. When we got home, we began decorating. We didn't get many ornaments hung Friday, so we had lots to do on Saturday. Rachel was by far the most enthusiastic decorator. She made exclamations about each ornament and picked out just the right spot for each one to hang. The majority of the ornaments she hung ended up on the same 2 or 3 branches. They were no longer sticking out, but sloping straight down. So, when she went to bed, I had to spread the ornaments around a little. But, her excitement was contagious and fun and definitely got me into the Christmas spirit. Bradley liked the ornaments, and tried to take off a few, but mostly just wanted to wrestle with the styrofoam snowman that sits around in the den. I think this will be that snowman's last year with us.

Not so good Anniversary Pictures

I was really disappointed in the Anniversary pictures we tried to take before going out to eat. I wanted to have us dressed decent and photographed, so we set up the old tripod. But, I don't like these at all. Oh well! Maybe our holiday pictures will be better!!

Rachel's Thanksgiving Feast

Rachel decided to get her hairnet (from when a vet came to visit

her school) to keep her hair out of each recipe.

Bradley had to wear a hair net to keep all that hair from getting into the food.

The cutest little indians!

Rachel and her friend, Mimi K

Today was Rachel's Thanksgiving feast at school. Nick and I met her for lunch and left Bradley with Gege. We knew we would be better able to enjoy ourselves if we weren't chasing Bradley around. The kids were either pilgrims or indians and they had made some adorable costumes to wear. The dinner was just good enough to make me really excited about eating a huge feast on Thanksgiving day with everyone. Rachel and I had to bring a dessert, so we made lemon squares and a peanut butter cream pie. Both were surprisingly simple to make and both turned out tasting really good. It was a fun time spent with our little girl!

Our fun anniversary evening!

We had a great time celebrating our anniversary, having some one-on-one time and enjoying a deliciously expensive meal at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. The drive was well worth the trouble because the food was so good. We came home and fell asleep early and had no little ones to bathe or put to bed. We also slept very soundly with no monitors or noisemakers and our own bodies woke us up on Saturday morning. It was so nice getting up and watching something besides cartoons and fixing something to eat when we felt like it. Of course, we missed Rachel and Bradley, but we definitely enjoyed and savored the break. We did some Christmas shopping on Saturday morning and then ate a nice peaceful lunch at a mexican restaurant. When we picked up the kids, Bradley was asleep due to his 4:30am wake up, but Rachel was very excited to see us. She was tired from all the excitement of spending the night with Gege and Papa too, so, once Bradley woke up, and was extremely grumpy and wanting me to hold him, Rachel turned on the tears too. It was melt-down central for awhile, but we loaded up the car, got them home and had a couple more melt downs before everyone was back to their old selves. The kids slept great last night and we all got up and went to church again this morning!

At church this morning, Rachel was a "pro" when it came to staying in her class. Bradley, however, knew what was coming, so he started crying when we got to his room. I sat with him for a little while and the workers who were in his room were trying very hard to get him interested in some of the toys. He just wasn't interested. So, after about 10 minutes, I realized I was going to have to leave him and see how he did, since I knew Bradley wasn't ever going to tell me to leave him. I told him I would see him in a little bit and smiled and walked out. Of course, he was crying and looking at me very sadly. So, I stood outside the door and listened and it only took him about 30 seconds before he stopped crying. I was amazed, but very glad!!! I peeked back into the classroom through the window and he was sitting in the teacher's lap. He didn't look happy, but at least he wasn't crying. So, I actually got to sit with Nick and hear a really good sermon. I am so proud of Bradley, because I know this is very new to him and he doesn't understand why he has to do this. It's not like I've provided him very many opportunities to get comfortable with strangers. But, I feel very encouraged and excited that he's doing so well and I'm very happy to be back in church! A funny thing at church...right before the last prayer and invitation, our pew made a large cracking sound and we felt a slight shift down as our pew fell about 1/2 an inch. Nick and I both thought it was hilarious and we felt a little self-conscious that we had made the pew break. I hope this is usually some very heavy baptist's seat and that he'd already put quite a strain on the pew. :)

A really funny misunderstanding...on our way home from our delicious anniversary meal, Nick and I were having a good talk about what we had learned about each other in the 8 years we've been married. It was really fun and sweet to reflect on, and not something we ever do. I won't share any of it, except this...I told Nick that it took me several years to learn that "his sighs don't mean anything" (he sighs alot and it always seems like they mean something negative). However, Nick heard, "his SIZE don't mean anything" to which he replied, "thanks alot!!" I realized that he had misunderstood and quickly explained myself. It was a funny moment and a good story to share.