Happy Birthday to Haley

Haley's birthday is December 27 and we always make sure to make it a very separate celebration from Christmas. This year I took some vacation time and stayed home with her to celebrate. Preston was home, too, since the daycare Haley and Preston attend was charging holiday rates. We sent the little boys to their daycare as usual so I could take Haley and Preston out for the day.

We started off with a trip to Sweet and Sassy, where I had a Groupon for a glam makeover package for Haley. It was her own little spa day, where they gave her a manicure, fixed her hair (lots of glittery sparkle spray), did her makeup (barely there, but enough to make her very happy), and even gave her a special birthday girl tiara to wear for the day. She loved it!

From there, it was off to lunch where, thanks to her birthday tiara, they gave her a birthday sopapilla and sang happy birthday to her. She enjoyed being the center of attention.

Preston just enjoyed being along for the ride.

After lunch we went to Ceramics in the City, where the kids each picked a project to paint. They had a great time personlizing their projects and keep asking when they can go back again. (It was a lot of fun - I would love to go back again too!)

We headed home to let mom rest for a couple of hours, then it was time for birthday dinner. Haley had specifically requested Cinzetti's (yummy Italian buffet restaurant) and since it was a kids eat free night, we agreed. The lesson we learned was that you should NEVER go to Cinzettis on a kids eat free night during a school holiday week. I have never seen so many people crammed into a waiting area. We managed to squeeze inside and find a place for everyone to stand (standing room only doesn't come close to describing how crowded it was in there - and it's a really big waiting area) and I wormed my way to the front to check in for our 6:45 reservation. Parties of two (usually the fastest to get seated) were being quoted a wait time of 75 minutes. I guess it shows how good the food is that people accepted that and sat down to wait.

We waited 45 minutes past our reservation time and FINALLY got a table. Then began the dance of you sit here while I help these two fill a plate... now I'll sit while you go fill a plate for that one and that one... oh wait, now this one needs to go to the bathroom... now this one needs to go... I'll wait here while you get a plate... but now this one needs to find the bathroom... I'm going to get a plate - I guess I'll take these two with me to get their refills... What do you MEAN you're full - Daddy and I haven't even eaten anything yet!

Whew! It was exhausting! It reminded me why we don't take the children to buffet restaurants... it's just too much work. But Haley thoroughly enjoyed her birthday dinner. She opened her presents at the restaurant and was thrilled to get more pillow pets, a beautiful new Sunday dress, and the Nintendo DS she's been asking for for two years. (She didn't care in the least that it's used and several years old!) And of course, with her birthday tiara, she got a fancy birthday cake and a birthday song. (She didn't actually care for the cake that much, but I thought it was delicious!)

And next time, Aaron and I are going to Cinzettis without the kids. :)

Christmas!

I thought I wouldn't like having early church (9 a.m.) on Christmas morning. But it was really very nice. We got up early enough that the kids could see what Santa brought and play with it a little, then had some breakfast and got everyone ready for church. We enjoyed a really nice Christmas program and then headed home for lunch and presents. It was nice the way that it spread things out a little... usually the kids are pushing to open presents immediately after checking out the gifts from Santa and it seems like Christmas is all over with almost as soon as it began. This year the Christmas excitement lasted a little longer and it was lovely.

Rylen looked so cute in his Sunday best.

Rylen enjoyed hanging out with Daddy on Christmas

Santa brought Preston a Transformer

Brekken got a Transformer, too.

Rylen got a new car.

Haley got a new fashion doll.

Preston and Brekken got Paper Jamz guitars and they were rocking out!

Preston and Brekken both got new airplanes that they like very much.

Haley got her very own real guitar. She is working on learning to play it and looking forward to some lessons from Grandpa Schurz!

Grandma thriftily used an old box to wrap up a present for Brekken. When he took off the wrapping paper he was so excited: "A heater! My very own heater!" Who knew he'd been wanting a heater? LOL He was happy with the present that was ACTUALLY inside as well and not too disappointed not to have his own heater.

We also added to our family of pillow pets this Christmas... bedtime now requires that we locate about a dozen much-beloved pillow pets to tuck everyone in. Not sure how I managed to not get pictures of any of those!

Christmas Train

It's long delayed, but I'm finally getting around to posting pictures of our outing on the Christmas Train. I bought a Groupon for the Christmas Train in November and it was good for 3 weekends in December. Of course, I was deathly ill for the first two weekends, so the last weekend was my last chance. I didn't want to waste the Groupon and the kids really wanted to go, so in spite of the fact that Aaron had to work, I decided to take the kids to the Christmas Train.

My first clue that maybe this was a little bigger event than I realized was when we were directed to event parking before reaching the train museum. We parked in the big lot and then had to catch a bus to the museum. The kids were thrilled! A bus! A HUGE BUS! They couldn't believe how lucky they were to be able to ride the bus. I was a little less thrilled, because it meant that my plans to transport Rylen in the stroller got scratched. Plan B, pop Rylen in the Snugli carrier and off we went.

The kids got to play on various pieces of train equipment.

I could barely drag the boys away... though they were very disappointed that it was chained in place on the tracks and I could not push them around (in this enormous, heavy piece of equipment) as they requested.

They wanted a picture with all the trains to show how big they (the trains) were.

We waited in line by this train for a VERY, VERY long time before we actually boarded the Christmas train.

And finally, the highlight of the day was a trip around the tracks on the old steam train. The kids loved it... though I couldn't get a great picture of them because I had a bad angle. But they are smiling and having fun. :)

After all the exploration of the trains and the train ride, we also saw Santa. Unfortunately I was stumbling with exhaustion by then (a day long excursion with four small children is not a smart idea when you are recovering from the flu) and completely forgot to get any Santa pictures. Next year...

I've been MIA...

That flu really knocked me for a loop. I was really down and out for about 2 weeks, then dragging for another week. And four weeks later I'm FINALLY almost over it. Still too easily exhausted. Still with the stuffy, snotty head, annoying cough and a voice that comes and goes. But it's better than it was.

I've gone from this handful of meds (4 times a day):

To just this:

I've also learned a nifty new phrase: Reactive Arthritis. Apparently this is where your body decides it's not bad enough to have the flu. Not enough to get strange rashes all over as a result of either the flu or the meds you're taking to combat the flu. No, let's add in a strange condition where for some reason the flu virus triggers your body to start attacking your own joints, resulting in a sudden-onset case of arthritis. In my case, most of my joints are a little sore, but my right knee for some reason is the major target. It's all swollen and sore and doesn't want to work for minor tasks like walking. Thus the ibuprofen, which does help somewhat. But hey, the good news is that it should only last 3-12 months... *sigh*

Believe me, I will NOT be late to get my flu shot next year!

Trichotillomania: The Secret to Web Traffic

Apparently there are a lot of people out there who are interested in trichotillomania. A while back I wrote a post about how I think I have trichotillomania because I pull out my hair and eyebrows when I get stressed... or bored... or while watching TV or reading... or when I stop reminding myself not to do it.

Nothing groundbreaking, just kind of a quirky little habit of mine. But apparently trichotillomania is a highly searched term on Google. Ang Google is sending people to my blog post. Rarely does a day go by without my web traffic meter showing me that someone has been reading my post on trichotillomania. I posted it in March and I'm coming up on a thousand page views of that post alone. I guess that tells me I'm not the only one pulling my hair out!

It also tells me, if someone is trying to pull web traffic to their site, they need to post something about trichotillomania. :)

Quick Funny from Brekken

"Mom! There's something in my boot!... Oh wait... it's my toes."

Tara and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week (and a half... or more)

It's been a long couple of weeks. Two weeks ago I had a good Saturday with the kids. We did a little Christmas decorating, made some cake pops, it was fun. I felt fine. On Sunday - I still felt fine. We got up and went to church where I (as usual) ended up in nursery with Brekken and Rylen. I read the nursery kids a story, helped with snacks and felt fine. And then suddenly, I felt really, really cold. Cold enough that I found a couple of blankets in the toy closet and wrapped up in them even while others in the room were taking off their jackets and sweaters. Within 15 minutes, the other ladies in the room were volunteering to go pull my husband and kids out of class so I could go home - the flu hit just that fast.

We went home and I was so out of it that I just stumbled to the bedroom to lay down. Never noticing a thing as I walked  right past our poor cat, Grace, who had died while we were at church. Poor Aaron. Grace was his cat. She loved him more than anyone, and she was definitely his favorite cat. They've been pretty inseparable since he picked her out and brought her home. She was a sweet cat and I miss her, but I know it's been much harder for Aaron. I was so sick and out of it that I was of very little help as he wrapped her up and carefully buried her and made a marker for her.

I was still so sick on Monday and Tuesday that I could barely function. I was trying to work from home and I was responding to emails as needed, but did receive a comment or two indicating that my emails were a little less coherent than they could have been. When I saw the doc on Tuesday, he confirmed that it was indeed the flu (type b to be specific) along with a small ear infection and a slight case of bronchitis. He gave me some Tamiflu, told me to stay home for a couple of days - all week if possible - and I should be okay by the weekend. I took the Tamiflu. I stayed home. (Though still working - I have no sick time and too many projects to not be working.) On Wednesday I moderated a couple of webinars from home and too much talking resulted in the lovely experience of coughing so hard that I threw up several times in the middle of a coast-to-coast call with around 20 nurses. Thank goodness I managed to hit the mute button before that little episode!

By Monday I thought I was doing well enough to go back to the office. Aaron disagreed and tried to convince me to stay home, but I had a bunch of people coming into Denver for an education session and felt like I needed to be there. I got there at 7 a.m., and by 8 a.m. my boss was sending me home again. Something about pale, sweaty, too sick to be here... Apparently it had been a bit too much, because when I got home I fell into bed and stayed there for about 6 hours before managing to get up and do a bit of work.

On Tuesday I was the recipient of a lecture about how influenza is a serious illness and it kills healthy people every year and I need to take it seriously and get more rest - blah, blah, blah... it really sunk in since here I am back in the office again on Wednesday. Where they repeatedly tried to send me home until they realized that there was no one who could fill in for me on some things that HAVE to be done today. We'll try again with the work at home tomorrow and shoot for the office on Friday. I'm sincerely hoping this no good, very bad week will come to an end soon!