It's a Merry, Merry Christmas!

On the last day of school in 2012, for the kids, I picked them up a little early.  We went to Providence Baptist (P's old school), to visit with Payton's former teachers and friends.  She was SO excited and got to meet up with all of her old teachers, and a few friends...

Payton with Daniella (and her baby sister, Alexa)

Payton with her old "boyfriend"Lawton...he was playing hard-to-get!  Also, last year's teacher, Miss Karen (who is Lawton's Aunt!)

 Speaking of school, here are some projects our little angels worked on this past month:

We were also able to go watch Payton's friend, Mattie (5), in her Christmas dance recital.  Payton has been wanting to take ballet, so I wanted to let her see what to expect.  She told me to "sign my name up, mommy!" as soon as she saw the first little girls dancing.  She loved every minute of it!  Mattie felt like a star with all her "fans" watching!  The little girls were absolutely adorable, and the costumes were so pretty!  Looks like Payton will be starting dance in the spring!

Let's see...oh, our friends Diana and Tobias came by one night to watch some MNF and hang out.  Their little man, Roman, is a handsome little guy, and Payton loved holding him.  He's almost exactly a year younger than Griffin.

And Payton LOVES Taylor Swift and plays her guitar while singing.  She sings a lot. 

And whether she's channeling Derek Zoolander, or Kevin McAllister, she sure is hilarious!

 And in the bad news of the month...Griffin has had a cough.  Dry, annoying cough, for about 3-4 weeks now.  Not a cold, just a cough.  It keeps us all up at night.  After an inevitable doctor's visit, he has been put on Zyrtec for allergies (seasonal, the doctor thinks), a homeopathic cough syrup that I found to be safe for 12+ month olds, and a breathing treatment.  This breathing treatment happens once per day, and uses a "nebulizer" to turn a liquid steroid and asthma medication (albuterol) into a vapor.  It takes about 20 minutes per treatment.  We were told to use the mask.  You see how well the first try went: (imagine 20 minutes of torture for this little guy).

This breaks my heart, so, obviously we needed to come up with an alternative.  The following evening, after he'd been asleep for hours, he began coughing again. We got him up, gave him cough meds, then a breathing treatment.  As sleepy as he was, I put him in bed with me, turned on "The Voice," and Brian held the mouthpiece (a separate device) up to his face, basically filling the air around his face with the vapors.  He sat there completely content and cuddly, watching the singing on TV.  Wow.  That made me feel so much better about this TWO week (or more) treatment, and from that point on, we've used the mouthpiece and been able to get the meds to him successfully.  I think we see an improvement (barely) but he still wakes up one to two times per night.  We rub Vicks on his feet and chest, give him some cough meds, then he goes right back to sleep.  I, on the other hand, take forever to fall back asleep.  It's been a trying few weeks, and I feel like we have a newborn again.  The getting up at night is one definite that I don't miss of those days!

The weekend before Christmas, we traveled to Radford, VA to visit with Nana and Granddude.  They threw a "Winter Solstice" party and had some friends bring food to share and their instruments for singing carols.

Here's Emma and Payton (and Baby Abby) on the way to Virginia...

 Here's the Winter Solstice Party and Nana and Granddude's friends...(notice Elfie to the right of Fred, who is my favorite Santa :)

And after the kids were snug in bed, Brian, Yours truly, and Laurie (aka, our party friend and Vice Mayor of Radford) went out at a local bar: Sharkey's

And the following morning, we got to open presents with Granddude and Nana!!  Payton was really excited, and Griffin is starting to understand more and more.  Payton got a dress up (dutch) outfit and a camera.  She is GREAT with the camera.  I think she's a little photographer in the making!  Griffin got a hammer and nails board, and loved banging on that.  The highlight for him:  a ball.  Of course ;)

See our tired faces?

None of us slept very well over the weekend, and since Brian and I got "out" of the house both nights, that made for later than usual bedtimes.  With that and early risers, we were all tired.  Brian and I took a nap with Griffin after it was clear he wasn't going to sleep on his own.  We just wanted the baby boy to feel better...it was heartbreaking to this momma!

Success, FINALLY!  I was ninja-like when I put Griffin down from rocking him to sleep, and even then, as soon as I'd shut the door, he would wake up screaming.  I reminded myself of what Tom Cruise felt like in Mission Impossible! Anyway, we all decided naps were needed so into the bed all 3 of us went.  I NEVER let the kids sleep with us, but all I wanted was for Griffin to sleep. 

Nana and Granddude were gracious to keep the kids both nights, and we were able to go see the Gregory Brother's Christmas Show on Saturday evening.  This isn't your typical Christmas show.  When you have time, please check them out.  AWESOME show!  Brian grew up with these brothers, and Evan and Brian were best friends back in the day.  Evan and Sarah are married, and she makes a great addition to the group.  Seriously, check them out.  You won't be disappointed (FYI, for those of you familiar, the Gregory Brothers are the ones who "Auto-Tuned" the song, Hide Yo Kids, Hide Yo Wife, "Bed Intruder Song," among many other YouTube hits.  They are a very talented bunch!

http://www.youtube.com/user/Spuzzem256?feature=g-high-u

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG7NrM448ig
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpBKjv8iWc4

Hide Yo Kids, Hide Yo Wife:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMtZfW2z9dw

 So, here's a glimpse of our night at the show, and then the post-show party at the Gregory Brother's Mom's house...

Sarah, my new "bestie," at least for one night. We had a good time, for sure!  New Year's Eve, Brooklyn, NY...2013.  LOL.

Our family Christmas card...HA!

Good times.  Good friends.  Merry Christmas!

Pulling for Daddy's Bears at Hickory Tavern...

We've been promising Payton a "big girl" bed forever.  We've had the bedding sitting around waiting, forever.  We have finally ordered the full bed-set conversion kit (to go from toddler bed to full bed, which will be here this week) and we bought the mattress.  She couldn't wait for her bed, so we went ahead and made it up for her, and she's slept SO well the past couple nights and for naps.  She took a two and a half hour nap the Sunday we got back from Nana and Granddude's.

For you parents with early risers...you MUST buy one of these clocks.  It turns green when you are ready for them to be able to come wake you up.  It's 8 o'clock here at our house.  Payton waits, and waits, reads, and plays in her room (assuming she's up before 8), and as soon as it turns green, in she comes, all excited.  It's WONDERFUL!

This brings us to Christmas Eve.  Payton was REALLY excited this year.  Griffin had a harder time saying goodbye to Elfie than Payton, although he doesn't "get it."  He loved coming upstairs every morning to find him.  This is what they found this morning...Elfie's last morning.  He also left Payton some hot chocolate.

I took Payton to Sardis Presbyterian for the kid's church service.  Granby sung in the choir, and Grumps joined us in the congregation. Payton did okay and we only had to leave twice (we were in the front row, so it we were definitely noticed).  Once for a "talk" about how she needed to be quiet and sit still, and the other, when she announced, during a quiet prayer, that she needed to go "poop."  Awesome.  God really does move people in mysterious ways!  Afterwards, we met Brian, Griffin, and Uncle JP at PF Changs for dinner.

After getting the kids in bed, Santa was hard at work, getting everything ready for the morning.  The kids left Santa some cookies and a glass of milk, and settled down quickly.  Here's what they'll wake up to in the morning...

Yes, our 2 year old is getting a snowboard.  Now, Santa, bring us some snow next week in the mountains, PLEASE!

And thank you to everyone for your awesome Christmas cards!  I love seeing all the kids growing year after year...

Santa Claus CAME TO TOWN!  Christmas morning went a little like this...

This is Payton's ORIGINAL Bunny Blankie, ie-her "B-B."  We threw it away last summer, but somehow Santa found it, washed it THOROUGHLY, and stuck it in her stocking.  Most likely her favorite gift!

Carrying her present to the chair.  It's heavy, Mommy and Daddy!

We're hoping to get to use this new board this week in the mountains!

Even G was wanting to get on it.  Look at that form (I think the Thomas the Train toy and candy cane helped)

Some serious snowboarding in their genes!  My little ripper!

Future Basketball Star, no doubt!

Already trying to palm the ball!

Kids checking out their presents...Payton got an American Girl doll (Bitty Baby) from Santa!  She named it Taylor, after Taylor Swift.  I told her she needed to give her a middle name, and she said Swift.  Then she changed it to "Cracker." She must have been hungry?

G giving baby "Taylor"love

Santa was good to everyone again this year!

I forgot to mention what Brian got for Christmas.  Santa brought him a stomach bug. Shortly after all this present-opening and picture-taking, Brian was banned to our room for the rest of the day, so it wasn't a very Merry Christmas for him.  It was a very busy day for me, as you can imagine.  After the kids took naps, and I finally got a shower, my family came over.  More presents to open!

Griffin is trying to steal Grump's basketball

Success!

Notice the Thomas engine in his left hand.  Will not put it down!

We had a nice (rushed) dinner, and headed out the door for the Lake Wylie Bowl and Bounce (hey, I didn't name the place, but that's exactly what it is).  Everyone had a great time, except Granby. She wasn't feeling well either :(  I hate this time of year, just for that.  We met up with the Tophams and Tisdales...

We hope each of you had a very merry, and blessed Christmas!  (now, who wants to come over and help me organize, put away Christmas decorations, and clean?  Come on.  Anyone?  Bueller?  Bueller?)