The 12th Day of Christmas???

Our final Christmas gathering of 2009 was at Nonie & Poppy's house on Tuesday night, December 29. Earlier that afternoon I had a doctor's appointment for the surgeon to check my incisions from my gall bladder surgery. He told me everything looked like it was healing fine, but I still shouldn't try to exercise until January 9, or one month after my surgery and to be careful. He then explained what a hernia would look like and the fact that I don't want one... YUCK! I sure don't! But, I've gained a couple pounds over the holidays between all the yummy food and no exercise, so it feels like forever until I can get back to the grind. That said, what I really should be focusing on is eating less and healthier things.

 

We arrived at Nonie & Poppy's right on time and enjoyed homemade macaroni & cheese, pork BBQ sandwiches, veggies & dip, potato chips and mixed nuts with pecan pie or chocolate turtle cake for dessert. Joshua told us he'd rather play trains than eat, but Daddy convinced him to come down for a little while. Caleb ate pretty well, though. After dinner, we got in a circle to watch the little guys open their gifts. Hilary, Missy, Kevin & Nonie were on the right side of the room. Poppy was next to Nonie, Shawn was next to him, I was in the middle and then to my left was Gayle, Brian and Alicia (pictured below). Brian took on the role of trash "bag" and helped keep the wrapping paper picked up.

 

Joshua got a 'Billy' train from Aunt Alicia, who explained that she had no idea who he already had so she got him Billy since she hadn't heard of him before and figured we didn't have him. Joshua carries Billy all over and even kissed him this morning when we left the house. Haaa!!! In the meantime, Caleb opened this latches puzzle game from Aunt Missy. We had almost bought one similar for the kids for Christmas and didn't, so we smiled when we saw it. Both kids love it. Caleb simply opens the doors, but Joshua understands the concept a little more.

Joshua has been playing with his Thomas book where he puts magnetic pieces on the pages. He is loving it. I think that came from Aunt Missy as well, but I lost track after awhile. He's been playing with that a lot today and tells me every time he picks him up that "THIS is the con-duc-tor." Haa!!! 

Caleb's favorite present, I would venture to say, was this laugh & learn puppy. He hugs it all the time and pushes on the heart and lights up when it starts to sing or talk. Oh how I fear the day that he wants a real puppy! For now I'm sooo glad he likes the fake variety. He was thrilled with this gift - thanks, Aunt Missy & Uncle Kevin!

The boys got lots of other nice gifts, too, including a Veggie Tales DVD that Joshua was excited about. I think it's called King George and the Rubber Duckie, but I've heard of it and know that it's the tale of King David & Bathsheba. Instead of the king coveting another man's wife who happens to be bathing at the time, the children's variety is about the king wanting another friend's rubber duckie for bathing. I'm looking forward to watching it with the Bean! Thanks, Aunt Hilary!

Thanks for all the nice presents. Now my problem continues of finding a new home for everything. But, again, it's a good problem to have. That means that we're not without anything, that our kids are loved, and that we need to get organized this new year! 

We had bought Jordon a really cool wave board (skateboard) for Christmas. Shawn really wanted to get him something nice - I had suggested getting him clothes since Alicia said he needed them and that way she could buy the fun things rather than spend her money on things he 'needed.' But, when Shawn heard Jordon say clothes would be a 'rip off' for Christmas, he vetoed my idea. He researched and researched, asked Alicia and got shot down on a few things (she's very careful that he doesn't get anything too violent). Finally he had what he thought was the perfect gift. It cost more than we spend on average, but Shawn wanted Jordon to like his gift. Jordon, unfortunately, didn't seem as thrilled with the gift as we had hoped when he opened it. Alicia made a valiant effort in trying to say "oh, he'll love it!" but we could see he just wasn't into it. Shawn said to me later that night when I chuckled about it, "It's not a problem - you win some, you lose some. We understand when someone makes a good effort at getting our kids something they think will be perfect only for the kiddos not to think it's amazing at first. No big deal."

 

Here's Uncle Kevin posing in Jenavieve's sunglasses: 

 

And here's Jordon in his new green Hulk gloves that made noise. Alicia looked appalled by this gift, but Jordon seemed to love them and started playing with them right away. So, I had to snap a picture even though my camera batteries were dying.

 

We left after 8 pm and the kids were exhausted, as were we. Thus ended our Christmas 2009! The next morning, I asked Mom if she minded running a few errands with me to help with the kiddos. I had to grab a few things I promised to take to our NYE party, and I also picked up some pork & sauerkraut to make New Year's Day. Then we went to J. Jill, one of my favorite stores, and I tried on some pants. I ended up buying a pair of jeans that were on sale. Afterward we went back to Grandma's house to play in her basement. I had also asked if I could use her treadmill, thinking I felt great and the doctor had said there's no real magic number, but somewhere between 4-6 weeks for exercise, less for aerobic exercise vs. heavy lifting and crunching, etc. I was on the treadmill less than 10 minutes when I felt like I was having another severe gall bladder attack... only my gall bladder isn't there, so I'm assuming it was my liver hurting where the gall bladder had been attached to it. I felt like I was going to die. Tears sprang to my eyes as I turned off the machine. I guess that's why they say don't over-do it. I changed back into my regular clothes and we went upstairs and had lunch. I was sore the rest of the day but didn't die, thankfully.

We came home and napped, and Daddy went out with the guys from our small group for a guy's night out last night. He seemed to have fun and was home just after 8 pm. Meanwhile Joshua & Caleb and I colored using Caleb's new crayons & coloring book (thanks, Aunt Alicia! They're perfect!) and then Joshua begged to use his new markers and art easel. I've scrubbed and scrubbed his hands and can't get the marker residue off of them (so much for 'washable' markers!). We also watched the Cars movie, and Grandpa stopped in after eating dinner with Aunt Jen's family. He invited us to breakfast the next morning, which I said okay to.

This morning I woke up and there were several inches of snow on the ground. But, it was a soft packing snow that mostly melted as the day went on. I stilled picked Grandpa up and we ate breakfast together and then I ran a couple more errands and dropped him off at home and came back with the kiddos to play. They're napping now and I should be getting things done, but I'd rather blog instead. :) :) :)