When we arrived home from Indiana, we got our Christmas tree right away. Jim picked out a beauty, the biggest one we've had yet, I think.
A few days later, I was scheduled to go in for my surgery. The boys and I took a walk the day before around the lake and to the park. It was a gorgeous day, and I enjoyed trying to get some action pictures of them on the swings, and they loved chasing the geese.
The guys before I was admitted to the hospital. Jim did such a great job with them, and the boys were troopers through the whole day there!
The surgery went well, and I stayed overnight at the hospital. I think the Dr. felt a little sorry for me with 3 rambunctious boys to take care of post-op, because she told me she wanted me to stay overnight even though earlier she said I could choose. Ha! (We had been bringing the boys to the previous several appointments when we both wanted to be there to make decisions about surgery...they were actually really good and sucked quietly on lollipops. Well, Garrett did jump up a few times to see diagrams but Jim would quickly direct him back to his seat... ;-) )
A highlight for me was that after the surgery the Dr. came to check on me and said, in essence, "I just have to tell you that your kids are so wonderful. The nurses and staff have been talking about them and I've really hardly ever seen kids like yours. They're polite and easy to talk to...." She asked what we were doing for homeschool, what kind of curriculum we use, etc. Always nice to get encouraging feedback like that, especially after a surgery that takes away the ability to have more kids...it's nice to know that the ones I have are doing so well. :) God is so good. I need and ask for His help regularly, because this parenting thing is something I can't do (well) on my own! And how like Him to send those encouraging words at the right time!
Mom and Dad came for a week and it was wonderful to have them both there, hanging around and helping out where needed. Mom taught school for me, cooked, cleaned, etc....Dad helped a lot too in various ways and it was nice to have time to just sit around and chat and have him joke with the kids. :)
Here I came back to find Wade had slipped into my invalid spot! (See his wide open smile?? He's lovin' it!)
This was a cute one of Wyatt and Wade helping with the blender...
Wyatt took one of the hats Auntie Lisa made and tied it around his waist to create a carrier for piglet and penguin. So nurturing...
Ah, yes, here is Wade again sneaking in to snuggle with me. :)
Had to sneak this one in of Wyatt building a creation...
Garrett enjoying some extra attention from Grandma. :)
We had an early Christmas with Mom and Dad and Jim made an SCD version of Aebleskiver. So yummy!
We decided not to decorate the Christmas tree with anything other than lights this year, but Mom and the boys actually had a lot of fun making paper chains and snowflakes, pictures, and packets of candy to open on our little family Christmas. It was fun to see what the kids' idea was of decorating a tree.
Here we all are...
Wyatt got a bin of his OWN Kinnex!
Wade was really patient about waiting his turn to open things!
Jim had fun doing most of the shopping this year on Black Friday and got a number of great gifts!
Garrett got a joke book! (We're enjoying hearing some REAL jokes these days...) ;-)
Garrett had been really really sad earlier this year when his vacuum broke (his yellow stick vac he got for his 6th birthday...) He kept asking us if he could have another, planning how he could save enough money for one, and started bringing Jim little ads from the newspaper for vacuums on sale. Jim played it cool, and little did Garrett know he had one waiting for him in the trunk of his car! When Garrett opened the vacuum up, he was more excited than I think I've ever seen any kid with a new gift! He said, "Whoever got this for me MADE MY DAY!! This is the best Christmas gift EVER!!"
Wyatt got a bubble toy which he really loved!
Wade got a new race car which he was very excited about!
And Jim surprised me with the complete I Love Lucy collection.
Checking out the microscope with Wyatt...
