The last time I was here, I told you that Ophelia Belle had turned a year old. We had a birthday party for her on the seventeenth with family, and gifts, and cake and ice cream. She liked two of those things.
This is the adorable swing we got her. It folds up flat so it can easily be moved around the house. The little kids helped me assemble it while she was napping, so she woke up to discover the surprise!
She seemed to like it okay.
Callista got her a banana.
This is the face of a crazy lady.
In this photo, it looks like my neck is on steroids, but not my head.
Trying it...
...she was not a fan. At all. Like I've told you before, if it isn't made of butter or meat, she is not interested.
Juni didn't seem to mind.
After partying hard with the birthday girl, the kids made crafty Christmas ornaments with my mom.
That evening, after everyone had left, Atticus started running a fever and feeling sick. The next day, Finneas and I fell ill too. Luckily the kids got over their bugs pretty quickly, but I wasn't so lucky. I'm pretty sure I had influenza - fever, nausea, chills, fatigue, a terrible headache and sore throat. It was a real thrill ride. It lasted until Friday, so the first week of school break was basically a total bust. I got almost nothing accomplished other than making sure the kids didn't starve to death. Luckily, they found ways to occupy themselves and pass the waiting time until Christmas, like when Mother Penelope pulled out a gingerbread house kit and helped the younger kids assemble and decorate it.
Luckily, pretty much all of our Christmas prep was already done, and the few things that still needed attention were able to wait until the end of the week when I was feeling better. Friday night I made food for the next day and we were all set.
Christmas Eve breakfast: homemade cinnamon rolls and breakfast burrito bread.
We had gotten some snow earlier in the week, but the temperatures were dangerously low so the kids hadn't gotten to go out and play in it. By Christmas Eve, it had warmed up enough for them to play, but not enough to melt the snow. Perfect. They spent most of the day playing outside, coming in long enough to eat and then heading out again.
Preparing for incoming.
I feel like the towels were just for show and didn't end up serving any functional purpose.
We had cheeseboard for lunch, and then a popcorn party for dinner while we watched The Nativity Story. It was a good day! Before our movie, the kids opened their Christmas jammies so we could all snuggle together in a color-coordinated heap. (This year Todd and I even got jammies to match them!) At bedtime, the kids all camped out in the boys' room for their annual Christmas Eve slumber party.
Christmas morning we all got up early to open stockings and eat our Christmas breakfast of mimosas and bagels and lox. Then we got ready for church and got to spend the morning worshiping with our church family.
We came home and the kids opened their gifts from each other while we waited for the ham and potatoes to finish in the oven. After lunch, they opened their presents from us.
Literally the best breakfast of the whole year.
I knocked my stocking on the floor and broke my present before I even got to see it. This figurine used to represent the fact that Todd and I gifted ourselves a half a beef this year. Perhaps the aggressive butchery of the ornament (SERIOUSLY - HOW ARE THEIR LEGS SO BROKEN?!) is symbolic?
Atticus' favorite Christmas gift this year.
The big kids pooled their money to get Oey this adorable little scooter.
Because we had a second tree this year, the kids got a whole tree to themselves for their gifts to each other.
Oey got a board book with photos from their baptism, so they all wanted to see it.
Then we all fell into a Christmas coma and died.
Seriously, it was a wonderful day. But if I never eat another meal again, it will be too soon.
On Monday, we spent the day cleaning up the house and organizing their rooms to find homes for their new things. I also went back to being sick. Fantastic. After a couple days of hitting the oregano oil pretty heavy, it cleared up again.
And there were a couple other items of note this week:
Many, many, many screenings of Home Alone and Home Alone 2.
Oey loves this hat, and we love seeing her in it, so she basically wears it all the time now. I'm pretty confident it is starting to fuse to her head.
Lots of creating happening.
This little creative endeavor was actually produced 5.5 years ago now, and she is aging like a fine wine - a fine, salty wine.
Lolo didn't get the memo that the rest of us are on a hunger strike.
Atticus got some dip pens for Christmas, so he has been experimenting with those.
The weather started warming up so the little boys spent their last snow day trying to scoop up and haul enough snow from the field for a snowman.
The weather is now back to beautiful (it was in the 60's yesterday) and I seem to be officially back to healthy, so hopefully I can actually get a few projects from my to-do list done over school break. I'm starting to run out of time!
