Christmas 2015

Christmas 2015 was a huge SUCCESS! For the better part of a week we had Nana Terry, Bumpa Larry, Grammie Kim, Grammie Merlene, Papa Rick, Great Aunt Linda, Great Uncle Bob, Bob's sister Jane, Uncle Dan, Aunt Nicole, Cousins Hayden & Paisley, Julie, Ted and Maddy. Oh, plus 7 dogs!

The week was filled with cooking, playing cribbage, laughing, playing with toys, watching TV, smiling and so much more. We opened tons of presents, made cookies, made pies, ate and ate and ate, and overall just enjoyed each other's company. We missed a few special folks who are no longer with us but forever live in our hearts.

Here are quite a few photos to show off our fun!

Decorating for Christmas

There are a couple of factors that have lead us to go a little crazy with our Christmas decorations this year.

1. Last year we closed on our new house on December 8 which meant we moved December 9-13 and then were out of town much of the remainder of the month. Alas we did not have a tree, decorations, or really any mention of Christmas in our house (we were at my parents for Christmas itself which had many decorations, so we weren't totally deprived).

2. This year we are hosting Christmas in Washington for the first time ever! That means Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Great Aunts, Great Uncles, and Cousins will be joining us in our house.

So why not go all out if you are making up for two years and you have a whole brood of family to help you celebrate!

We started decorating right after Thanksgiving, and took advantage of some awesome Black Friday sales to stock up on more lights and decorations. Maddy was very into decorating and was a huge help. It was so fun to decorate as a family. This week has been mostly focused on the outside and then we'll move to the inside (to coincide with rain coming into town).

Maddy and the Rock

About six weeks ago Ted got a call from daycare telling us that Maddy had put a rock in her ear. After a visit to the pediatrician and then an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist it was confirmed that she had a small rock in her right ear that they couldn't get out. We tried special ear drops for a week with no luck. The rock wasn't hurting her, more annoying than anything. After a follow-up with the ENT we scheduled surgery for November 16.

That morning we arrived at the hospital super early and got all checked in. We had to wait for a while until surgery began but luckily the Children's Hospital had lots of fun toys and games. Finally it was time to go back to surgery. Maddy was not thrilled to leave mom and dad but before we knew it the doctor was out to tell us everything was fine. He gave us the tiny rock (maybe we'll make it into a necklace for Maddy to wear). 

Maddy came out of the anesthesia with no issues and was quickly eating Popsicles and crackers. She has told us many times now that she's not going to put anything else in her ears. Fingers crossed!