Christmas Eve and Christmas Morn!

On Christmas Eve we woke up and headed to the North Pole! McKenna had been talking about this for a MONTH! She was so excited! No one was more excited though then my siblings and I because it was our family tradition to go to the North Pole which is a small (slightly ghetto) amusement park! It was as fun as I had hoped... except super cold!

Aunt Tara and Adyson...

Gamma and McKenna!...

When we were little this slide looked HUGE!!!!... it was still big though... and still fun... kinda :)

Once we were all too cold to feel any of our body parts we headed back home to get our Christmas eve dinner all ready to eat!

Tara... being SUPER domestic :) ....

After dinner the girls opened up their Christmas Eve Jammies!

Then we had our annual Christmas Eve Shanna program which was amazing as always!

McKenna was so excited that it was Jesus' birthday! She was very excited to sing happy birthday and for the cake!

CHRISTMAS MORNING!!!

Santa found his way to Colorado and spoiled the girls with exactly what they were hoping for!...

McKenna asked for princesses...

and Adyson asked for duckies :) ...

The girls seeing what Santa brought them... they were ... less than enthused. It was actually quite anti-climatic.

Then we headed off for 10:00 church!

After church everyone was nice enough to let my 2 crank monsters nap for a couple hours before presents! Not an easy task for a group of 17 people!

Then it was finally time to open presents!...

With 17 people opening presents took quite some time! Adyson got a little bored!...

We all got spoiled rotten including a sewing machine from my parents, a video camera for me from Chris and lots of other fun stuff!!!! The rest of the day was spent eating and playing with all of our new toys! Chris especially liked his gift from the girls... a remote controlled helicopter!

Chris playing kerplunk with Livsters and Joshua!...

It was everything we could have wanted and more!

Having a Doc in the Family...

We have recently discovered what it will mean to have a doc in the family... Sickness... constant. Sickness.

When Chris was on his last rotation I mentioned that he had gotten an eye infection and an ear infection... etc. well, it wasn't long after that he brought all of those sicknesses home to us...plus every other sickness as well!... boo! My girls had everything that he had... and more.

Adyson started throwing up the day before we were supposed to leave to Colorado for Christmas and she hadn't kept anything down. When we got to Colorado Adyson just wasn't herself. All she wanted to do was sleep. It seemed fine for our 14 hour car ride but the next day was the same thing. She hadn't ate or drank anything for days and finally it got to the point where I couldn't keep her awake or wake her up when she fell asleep which really started to scare me. We headed to the ER and they couldn't believe how dehydrated she was. they immediately wanted to get an IV in her but she was so dehydrated all her veins were flat. We then spent the next 7 hours with her there trying to get an IV in her. they tried once in each hand, once in each arm, once in each foot they all failed. They then put in a catheter for a urine sample. Then FINALLY 5 people later and on the seventh try they got an IV started on my little baby. By the seventh try it took 4 people to hold her down and I was literally just praying out loud for the IV to go in and that was when i finally lost it and couldn't hold back the tears. It was not mine any of our idea of fun that's for sure. But in the end we were so glad that they finally got it started and they gave her 2 full bags of fluid. That night she was back to herself but it took the rest of the week still for her to be all better!

The good news is that they say that the family of a new doctor will get everything for about 2 years and then hardly ever get sick again... I hope it's true. :)

Single-Mom-Hood

This is my solution when I have 2 girls who want to swing and one swing available!

The last two weeks has been...long! Chris is on an away pediatric rotation in Prescott which means it's 1 against 2... all. day. long. He does get to come home for Saturday and Sunday thank heavens! Although thanks to his rotation being peds, last weekend he was terribly sick and on the couch most of the weekend. This week He has a terrible eye infection AND an ear infection!... sounds like fun!

Recently McKenna has completely stopped napping... even though she still desperately needs one.

Recently Adyson has gone down to just one nap... even though she still desperately needs 2!

This means they can quickly turn from their sweet loving selves to what I like to call, CRANK MONSTERS! With 2 crank monsters and 1 mom with little patience it just makes for long days! I keep praying for more patience! We are certainly trying to keep busy. I've been trying to finish up Christmas shopping and will purposely not get everything in one trip just so I can make another trip out on another day!

At the park...

Adyson was SO proud of herself! This is the first time she kept going up the stairs and down the slide by herself over and over! She also learned how to go down the stairs at Nana and Papa's house so she was very proud of that as well!

Adyson also recently discovered marshmallows... apparently she LOVES them! She loves to hold them in her mouth forever!

Then today happened. I was in the other room cleaning and I heard Adyson crying, which is not unusual when McKenna's around! So I went out there and McKenna (who was supposed to be sitting at the table doing her stamps) had completely stamped Adyson... I was mad. McKenna went to time out... but I got my camera!

I have one more week of single-mom-hood until Christmas break.... pray for me :)

Hohoho!

Before Thanksgiving we went to the mall. Right when we walked in, there was Santa! There was no one in line and the elves insisted we take the girls in to say hi to him! They were nervous once we were right up to Him but McKenna loosened up and made sure she asked for "princesses!" Since then she tells EVERYONE she meets that Santa is going to bring her princesses! Let's hope Santa doesn't lie because she is PLANNING on those Princesses! Adyson asked for Duckies by quacking when I asked her what toy she wants!

Today Santa was at our local Kid to kid for free! So since we like anything free we headed over!
I was THRILLED we got the classic picture with Adyson crying on Santa! Childhood just isn't complete without it!

Adyson didn't last long with Santa but here is McKenna again reminding Santa about the Princesses!...

And getting her candy cane!... She hated the candy cane but Adyson loved hers!

Tonight we had a lot of "Christmas Rain!" You know we live in AZ when the girls are absolutely fascinated with any precipitation!

The countdown continues to the best Christmas eva!!!! P.S... Adyson keeps going around saying "Hohoho!" Hahaha