Hope it's not a bellwether!

Sorry I have been so long without a post. We have had a ROUGH START to 2009.

The week after Christmas, Henry had a stomach virus. Or as he calls it..."I had a Big Burp in the bed."
The next week, Leo had "a big burp in the bed."
Few days later, Henry had a virus that consisted of high fever and a wheezing cough. Hello, Nebulizer!
Few days later...you guessed it! Leo had the fever/wheezing virus. We were in Lubbock for this one. He ended up with an ear infection from this ordeal.

I thought...surely we are done. Nope.
Last Friday night, Henry had another "big burp in the bed." Followed by 5 days of problems at the other end.
Wednesday, Leo woke up in the wee hours telling us his stomach hurt. No big surprise. He caught Henry's bug. He threw up all day. The next day, he was still very weak and nauseous and running a high fever. About 9:30, he was moaning sadly about his stomach and he just didn't look right. So I started talking to him, and he WASN'T MAKING SENSE! Couldn't tell me my name or whose house we were at! So, we flew to Plano to the dr's...many tests later....

WE HAVE THE FLU! Type A, to be exact. And, yes, we were all vaccinated! I'm telling you, it really laid Leo low. We had to fight him to keep him hydrated, he could hardly walk...good times! We had about 3 very rough days, and I thought we would either see improvement today or be hospitalized b/c I just couldn't get enough fluid in him. He would say so pitifully..."Mommy, I'm so thirsty but I just don't want to put it in my mouth." :( :(

But, lo and behold, he came down the stairs this morning by himself - first time in several days. We were very relieved. We have had a much better day, and he and daddy even went outside for a bit.

I seem to have caught a touch of it, but we are all on antiviral drugs, so I think that has saved me.

We had temps in the high 60s today, so I threw all the windows open. I hope all the sickies fled our house and only good things entered! Surely we have some happy, healthy days coming our way! And some sleep. Man, we have been short on sleep for the last four weeks.

Another Leo quip!

Today in the car...

Leo: Mommy, can we get some paint and pain the swingset?
Me: No.
Leo: But, Mommy, I heard you say we are going to paint it.
Me: Yeah, we're going to seal it. But it is clear paint that will protect the wood. It will look exactly the same.
Leo: (big long pause) So it's like the color of spit?
Me: Exactly the color of spit.

:)

Leo's advice for the evening

Overheard while Todd was giving the boys a bath...

"Dad, if you ever toot while you're in the tub...don't drink the water."

Deep Questions

Yesterday it came up in conversation that I used to work at McDonald's.

Leo: (Amazed) Mommy, you used to work at McDonald's??? (He is in awe that I used to control the distribution of chicken nuggets.)
Me: Yes, when I was in high school.
Leo: Mommy...do you miss working at McDonald's?
Me: (thinking about it) Yes, Leo, I believe I do.

Christmas!

Leo comes downstairs to see his Santa loot...

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Henry checks out his cupcakes for his kitchen...

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Leo loves his "color duds" that turn the bathwater into colors...

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More Henry...

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Time for Christmas Breakfast! We had Eggos and sausage...in our Shrek shoes of course...


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Leo loves his Bolt Wii game from Gran and Grandpa...

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And Henry loves his Richard Scarry books from Gran and Grandpa...

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Nana sent Henry some slippers. Henry LOVES, LOVES, LOVES footwear of any sort...so we had to try these on...

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He quickly believed figured out that the slippers were like ice skate on the concrete floors and had to take them for a spin!

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Our good friends, The Hutchesons, came over for dinner on Christmas Night. We so enjoyed sharing Christmas dinner with them. We used a menu from Southern Living as our guide and had a wonderful meal. We did a salad, yeast rolls, an onion pudding (medium on this!), asparagus, and beef tenderloin for dinner. With yummy red wine...and iced tea! Miss Allie (*loud cough* YANKEE!!!) was interested to learn that no Southern Christmas table is complete without iced tea!

Miss Allie assembles the salads.

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Miss Allie had an unfortunate incident...involving a spilled drink...that required her to put her pants in the drier within an hour of arriving. So some of our "formal dinner" was done in workout shorts.

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Tomato soup with Christmas Tree croutons. (I made those Christmas Trees!)

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Deviled Eggs. This wasn't on the "official" Southern Living menu, but I'm sure it was an oversight! Every Christmas Dinner has to have Deviled Eggs!

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Group photo by the one and only Leo!

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The beef tenderloin was so yummy - melt in your mouth!

After dinner, we had my yummy Cream Cheese Pecan Cake. I copied the Southern Living illustration, and I have to say...mine was even more beautiful. I used rosemary from my "garden" for decoration.


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Close up of the "embellishments."!!!

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All of the offspring wrestle after dinner...

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We had a wonderful Christmas! The boys loves their loot from Santa, and it's nice to have friends to share the holiday with when family is far away.