This year, I thought we were going to have a peaceful and relaxing time with our families. But sometimes my plans are not always what happens. You'd think I'd be used to this by now, but I am continually getting lessons on flexibility.
Our break started out like any other. We had a work day at school, then last minute shopping for the food I needed to make (which was really easy this year), then making sure that everything was wrapped and ready to go. We had planned on doing our Christmas with the Walker family on Christmas Eve and then spending the night with my folks and having Christmas with the Ehrlich family on Christmas night. Well, when we got to my parents house, we were told that my nephew Ethan (my brother Brandon's son) was in the hospital. It turned out that he had pnemonia (not sure about that spelling). We headed up to the hospital and brought him a couple of gifts that we had for him b/c he was not able to even walk around since he was hooked up to a bunch of tubes. So we thought that maybe a new toy would take his mind off of not being able to run around.
Going to the hospital was not the best place for Jaycee, but she did pretty good and lucky for us, Ethan was the only kid on that floor. So it was OK that Jaycee was kinda loud. The timing was not great for her either, but what can you do? We felt so bad for poor Ethan, but it looked like things were getting better for him by the morning. We all ate breakfast that my parents made for us, and then headed back to the hospital to check on Ethan. It looked like he was breathing on his own for a whole 24 hours and he was going to be released soon.
Being in a hospital was not the best place for a busy two year old, and Jaycee and I and Tom took turns walking up and down the halls while we waited for the status on Ethan. Eventually we all ended up back at my parents house and finally had a late lunch and then opened the rest of our gifts. The kids ended up liking each other toys which was quite funny to all of us. After unwrapping the new toys, we found the kids in the back room playing with all the old toys while the grown ups were investigating their new toys. Something is wrong with that picture.
Later on in the evening, we headed over to Tom's sister's house and ate another big meal there too. I think that we need to only do one meal a day from now on, but our plans were slightly changed due to the hospital. After eating, we watched the kids play with Tom's brother Danny's new puppy which is super cute and cuddly. Jaycee right now is really into animals and wants to pick them all up. We are working on her being gentle with them and just petting them. But when they are so little, I think that she thinks they are like her stuffed animals. Both her and the dog wore each other out by the end of the night. We did a lot of talking and watched football and watched the kids play with their toys. I am so glad that both families this year decided that it was ok to just get gifts for the kids.
This was an idea that I got from Pinterest and had to try. It is a Christmas tree made out of felt and then I also cut out round red ornaments and what were supposed to look like lights. Jaycee has a lot of fun "decorating" the tree over and over again, until it fell off the door and we couldn't figure out how to get it back up without falling down. She got really made when it fell down.
I found a really neat idea from a teacher that I work with about making your child's faces into elves. Then you use their name as an acrostic poem to write things that describe them. I made two of them this year and they turned out pretty cute!!!
This is our Christmas tree this year.
We were pretty low key with our decorations this year, and I actually really liked that.
One of Jaycee's Christmas presents. A new kitchen that will hold up for a while (I hope).
Jaycee decided that while Tom and I were putting together her kitchen, she would eat some animal crackers. We were wondering why she was so quiet. She has decided that she likes sitting at the table in the BIG chair instead of her booster seat, but she still has to use her booster most of the time.
Daddy was having fun putting together the kitchen.
Jaycee did not have a nap at all on Christmas day, and this is her when we went to Tom's sister's house. She instantly took to Tom's brother's new puppy, and decided to cuddle up with her new Jayhawk blanket and the puppy. I think that both her and the dog wore each other out.
Well, it wasn't quite the holiday that we had set out to be, but we made some pretty fun memories anyways. We hope that you all had a great and Merry Christmas too wish you a wonderful start to your new year.
(By the way, in all the excitement I had limited time to take pictures, so this post is not as riddled with pictures as some others)
the Ehrlich's
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