Oh Mara, she's been such a stinker lately. She keeps sneaking in our bed at night and twirling my hair at midnight. We have never had this problem with another kid before. It's one of many examples of "life is so different for the last child."
On Ben's birthday there was an officer and student involved incident at one of the local high schools. It was quite an emotional morning, but this quote from Mr Rogers just really moved me. There have been so many heroic stories come out of this terrible incident. I need to remind me kids to look for the helpers.
School was cancelled district wide the following day, and lucky us! Our neighbor had just given me 5 free passes to the movie, so I took the kids to see Frozen II. You will note the crowns (hair braids included) Nell made for herself and Coraline. That was the sweetest thing ever. Those two can be quite the wonderful buddies sometimes.
Mara wasn't super well behaved, but we were on the top row (Reid's request), so I just let her walk around and do her thing. Eventually she fell asleep on me and I was able to enjoy the movie. Reid, Nell and Coraline loved the day out to the theater.
Reid was so in love with this picture of Mara and Snuggly, the snorlax. He asked me to send it to his teacher. I never did, oops. He and Mara are also adorable little buddies when they play together. They have so much fun Nell and Coraline will ask to join and Mara very clearly lets them know "No. Just me and Reidy." She loves having him all to herself; it's annoyingly sweet.
We drove out to the Christmas tree farm that first Saturday in December. Nell was thrilled to jump on the tractor ride with her friend Addy. As she was getting ready I'd told her she wouldn't see anyone she knows because it's an hour away in a totally different town, and I'm not sure what made her more happy -- seeing her friend or proving me wrong!
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| Someone wasn't in the mood for pictures. |
Coraline can be such a difficult child, but then randomly she can be absolutely perfect, and this was a day that she was just perfect! I love her so when she's easy peasy.
Back at home Nell became really sluggish. That night was the ward Christmas party, and she insisted (after a little rest) that she was well enough to go. Then ... she threw most her dinner up during the entertainment portion of the party. And she really hadn't eaten hardly any dinner. Poor girl, she hated missing a party more than being sick.
It didn't turn into a typical stomach bug. She'd seem to recover only to barf again. But the weirdest part was that she kept down solids just fine. Fluids were another story. By Monday afternoon I called the pediatrician to see what could be done to help her keep down some liquid and they told me I needed to take her to the ER for fluids. I wasn't totally convinced, but after an hour or so of stalling the inevitable, I packed her, Mara, and a sick Reid up for our first ever trip to ER.
She was such a tropper through the whole thing. It did completely change her. She still came home and threw up all the liquid from the ice chips, but I knew there was at least some fluid flowing through her body. After one more day of rest she was back at school for a simple half day.
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| "Tell Grandma Nell's IV was alright." |
Poor Nell was pretty beat up by Friday evening. She fell asleep on me while I rocked her at the YMCA. It felt like a pretty good gig though, to be paid $5 to snuggle my girl for 30 minutes. It's pretty dead on Friday night, so there were no other kids there and I just got to enjoy my own sweet creations.
Sunday was a lovely day at home. The kids had a Star Wars tea party after church, because why not? And then we decorated gingerbread houses that mostly just fell apart. Nell's was a complete collapse just as she finished up. I ended up just using hot glue on the big one. I think that's got to be the only way to really make them work.
Ben spent a lot of December deer hunting, and I spent a lot of our nights working at the Y. Plus with illnesses and just three weeks of school, winter break came upon us really quickly.
Thursday before break Mara and I walked with Reid's 3rd grade class to a nearby care center so the kids could carol to the residents. It was so fun to experience a little fieldtrip with this sweet boy.
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| Wyatt and Ben have been two of his best buds since 4K and Kindergarten |
As far as I could tell Nell's last day before break was just one big party. But that wasn't enough, she made a special request that I make her lunch festive. It was pretty easy to get a cookie cutter and add sprinkles, and it was sure fun to do it together. Oh life's little joys.
Her friend's mom's sent me those other two pictures from their gingerbread making party. Her house is a replica of Gradnma and Grandpa's and she was very proud of it! I'd say it looks pretty yummy.
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| So much sass in that little body. |
Posing for pictures was pretty much a first time ever for Mara, but I think she knew she was looking pretty cute for Coraline's school program. Lucky Lou, her holiday program landed on her birthday and her teacher even let her wear her birthday hate through the whole thing. Heck, she even had the full room of about 80 people sing Happy Birthday to her (after the program, but before the refreshments).
After her program we brought her friend Kora home with us and the three girls played and played together. Once Ben came home we headed out to the Nutcracker in the Castle to celebrate Lou B's birthday.
It was a pretty spectacular occasion. It just so happened that Teri and Stephanie were planning to take their girls that night too, so we all met up together at the beginning and toured the castle together. I think it made it feel like a real party for our sweet Coraline. Meeting the Sugar Plum Fairy added that extra bit of magic and made it "the best day ever" for our newly minted 5 year old. Oh how I love that Christmas baby of mine.
That evening officially kicked off our winter break, which I already wrote about a couple days ago. It was fun to receive a lot of Christmas cards this year. The Needham family won the best card award. Boring years sure can be wonderful, and it's good to be reminded of that sometimes.
I gave the girl's fairy wings for the Sugar Plum Fairy portion of the nutcracker and they sure had fun wearing them all weekend long. You can tell we didn't have Christmas weather coming into the big day.
One of my favorite memories of this holiday season will be delivering this humble little tree to a family that didn't have one the Sunday evening before Christmas. I put an ad up on facebook and had several replies within minutes. Nell was sweet enough to go to her room and find a bow to put on the box, and then she and I drove across town to deliver it to a young family that had just moved here from Alaska. That was such a sweet moment with my caring Boopsy girl. We sang along to her beloved "Silent Night" and talked about the real spirit of Christmas. I might have to make this a tradition. Surprisingly, my favorite part of it was that only one child came with me. Reid was too busy playing a game on his phone and Coraline and Mara didn't want to interrupt The Grinch. It was just Nell and I out delivering a simple Christmas joy to a family that needed an extra boost.
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