My mother in law, Sandy came in the day after the Goodwills departed and stayed with us through Christmas Eve. We went out to dinner Wednesday night, the 23rd, at Mi Mexico. Mexican food is a favorite among the kids and adults in our family, so the meal was uneventful. Shortly before it was time to leave the restaurant, Ethan began asking when we were going home. This struck me as unusual, but I wrote it off as him being tired from a busy day. On the way home he asked again, "When will be home?". After arriving home by myself with the kids, while Ben and Sandy went to run some errands, Ethan started to complain that he head and stomach were hurting. I suggested that he take some Tylenol for his headache, and didn't think much of the stomach complaint, as Ethan has some digestive issues that are still being explored.
Ben and Sandy arrived back at the house, and Ethan began to decline very rapidly. Complaining about severe pain in his head, and crying loudly. He was clearly in very sudden and severe pain. I gave him some Tylenol, and he went off to brush his teeth to prepare for bed. Ben was taking care of him, then he started to vomit. Yee haw, here we go!
I started trying to decide how to rearrange our holiday celebration planned for Christmas eve with Sandy, my parents, brother and his kids. We got Ethan taken care of, and let him watch some cartoons while we monitored him. He vomited again later, so we set him up to sleep in Raina's toddler bed which is at the foot of our bed. He passed out, and awoke the next morning fine. It was clear that he'd gotten some sort of food poisoning, we think from sour milk. No matter what caused it, I don't plan to return to Mi Mexico. (Jalapenos is better anyway!)
My intent for Christmas eve was not to make a big deal out of the meal. There's nothing like spending a day or two in the kitchen to have it all wolfed down in 15 minutes and tons of cleanup. I planned to make my grandmother's yeast rolls, some gluten free rolls for Ben (partly from a mix), cook a country ham, throw together some mashed potatoes, and another veggie or two. Sounds simple right? How is it that I still ended up in the kitchen all day? Well, for one, it turns out that you're supposed to soak a country ham in water for 12 to oh, 48 hours in advance of cooking it. Oy. Perhaps I should have planned ahead a little better? How was I supposed to know this?
As it turns out, the main reason for soaking is to decrease the briney-ness of the ham. So, it turned out okay with 5 or 6 hours of soaking, it was just REALLY salty! Also, you supposed to cut off the hock, which includes cutting through the VERY thick neck bone. Turns out that my electric knife isn't sharp enough to do this. So what does one do in this situation? Ask the hubby of course. He, after all, has all the power tools. A saws-all works wonders, if a little messy. True story.
The kids got loaded up with gifts, and we all ate yummy food. I was, of course, exhausted, but happy. Christmas eve was so big that it almost seemed like too much to give the kids MORE gifts the next day, but alas...that is another ideological rant. Ben and I stayed up late putting out presents, filling stockings, and playing Santa. We nearly had a major crisis when, while assembling Ethan's hot wheels track, we realized that the motor didn't work. Ben has to take the silly thing apart and solder some of the wiring. It was disappointing how poorly made it was, but as it turned out, Ethan loved it, played with it for at least two hours Christmas morning, and has gotten tons of use out of it since then, with and without the motor. (Thanks to Daren for the suggestion to set it up on the stairs. Gravity works great...who would've thunk it!)
Raina's favorite gift, her "My first dollhouse".
Ethan with his Gran. He made the house she's holding. He loves his Transformer.
Raina with her "brella".
My niece Anne, an aspiring hippie chick. We're so proud!
Papaw tickles Carson into oblivion.
Mom, amusing herself with an oven mitt.
Me and kiddos.
The holidays make me a little crazy.
Ben with Ethan and the race track Christmas morning.
Raina loves on her new bear from Santa.
She knew exactly what this gift was for!
After our morning at home with the kids, we got ready to head up to Louisville for the afternoon and evening for dinner and gifts with Ted, Susan, and Susan's family. Much fun and good company was had by all. Ethan disappeared with Susan's nephew and nieces, Aaron, Katherine, and Erica. This is my favorite part of any get together that includes other kids, mine just disappear and wear themselves out!
My beautiful boy next to the avalanche of gifts.
Our gracious hostess, Susan.
Lovin' on Grandaddy.
Cheetos in a party dress.
Melanie gets a look from Kade Bear.
My bro.
Cute shot of my hubby and Mel.
Some of the kids at the party.
Time to snuggle with Anne.
BJ and Kade.
I'm sure I'm forgetting some things over the course of the next few days. Ethan started a Space Explorer's class for preschoolers at our local Explorium (think Children's Museum). Ben injured his ankel playing basketball, so it seemed like the perfect time to put him to work on the house! Har.
New Year's eve we started in on a project that's been eating at me for some time, painting the living room and hallway! This project was not the most ideal thing to start since the Goodwill family was slated to make their way back through our neck of the woods on New Year's Day. I had very low expectations for how much work would be accomplished. The most basic prep took me most of the day, and I didn't anticipate starting on the painting till after our guests had come and gone. I also figured on doing most of the work myself since Ben was hurting. Boy was I wrong (see a theme here?).
Ben and I got the walls painted and edged, and the window and trim taping underway that night. In fact, we were working as the clock struck midnight. We paused for a kiss and champagne toast, and got back to work!
The Goodwill family arrived around lunch time on New Year's day, and much to my shock, offered to start helping us work in the living room! Tim and Ben got all the carpet ripped up and Cindy and started in painting base boards and windows. The kids did an amazing job entertaining themselves, and we got tons done. Those Goodwills really live up to that name, and we are endlessly grateful for their hard work and help!
That evening, we welcomed the Morrow family over to have dinner with us and the Goodwills. Chris is a police officer here in Lexington (with some hysterical stories!) and another friend Tim hoped to have time with on their brief visit on their way back up to Rochester. We had, count them, NINE children in our house that night. Nine. Oh yes, nine. It's the most I think, ever at once. We threw together a taco bar, and Cindy created what can only be described as a dessert bar with three types of ice cream, toppings, and cake. Might I suggest that you always let the pregnant woman go to the store to pick up dessert? We had a great time visiting with Chris and getting to know his wife Amy and their kids.
The destruction was epic...I can't even begin to describe it. I wish I'd taken a picture, but found myself instead, wading through it, trying to reassemble games and various toy sets. It's really inconvenient to be so anal retentive so much of the time. On the flip side of this, throwing dinner together for 15 people on the fly was significantly less stressful than planning it for days beforehand...much to my shock!
So that gets us through New Years. Sorry if I left anyone or anything out. It's been a crazy busy few weeks. I'll post pics of the living room which was completed the following weekend!
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