Merry Christmas!

I guess I should probably say, "Merry Sickmas" instead, because that's how we did Christmas this year! :( Hudson woke up on Christmas Eve Eve with a 102 degree fever. We were at the pediatrician by 9, where they had already diagnosed 22 that morning with the flu! Hudson's flu test came back negative though (thankfully!) and he was diagnosed with croup and given a steroid shot, and we were told that as soon as the fever broke, he was good to go. Little did we know the fever would be up and down all the way until Saturday! Geez!

 

Anyway, on Monday of last week, we made our cookies for Santa. The boys had so much fun! The cookies were horrid, but Santa still ate them!

 

 

And I made a wreath!

Carrie, Andres, and baby Rooney got into town Monday evening so we headed over there to see them! Hudson was obsessed with Rooney! Had I known he would wake up sick the next day, I would NEVER have let him hold her (and he wouldn't have even gone over there), but I had no idea. And I just pray that she doesn't get it because croup with a baby is really scary. Thankfully, she hasn't gotten it yet and it's been a week so hopefully we are in the clear.

 Harrison was so sweet with her too. He got on to me when I was burping her (he did NOT like me hitting her on the back). And when she fussed, he was quick to tell someone that she needed to eat! I hate that we did not get to visit with them as much as I would have liked. They had to leave early, early Friday morning.

Hudson woke up with no fever on Christmas Eve, so we thought he was good to go. We went on with our plans to meet my family at the BCC for our annual Christmas Eve lunch.

See, he doesn't even look sick?!?!

 Mama Jean got to finally meet Rooney!

 And the boys were all over Aunt Carrie (sorry Carrie--she did get sick, obviously).

 We attempted another family picture...someone was not cooperating and it wasn't the 3 year old!

 Death grip on the arm!

 My cousin Molly (and her mom and dad!) joined us this Christmas and it was so fun having her here! I seriously did not get the "good hair" gene.

Hudson was supposed to sing in church at 2, but we decided we needed to not expose the whole world to his sickness, fever or not. He was sad, but we thought a good nap might be in order that day. Joel did go on to church so I was glad someone represented! I was so sad to miss. It's my favorite thing about Christmas.

After naps/church, we got ready to head to Joel's aunt and uncle's house at 4. Hudson woke up a little puny from his nap, but said he felt ok and really, really wanted to do the night's festivities. He didn't have a fever, but you could just see that he didn't feel well in his eyes. We probably should have stayed home...but, we went.

 We played a fun round of dirty Santa (with good gifts) for the men and women and then our little family had to head to my parent's house.

We had a small dinner and then opened gifts. Harrison LOVED this shark sleeping bag! He was so cute in it!

 And this was Hudson's favorite gift...I'm proud to say that he is just about done putting it together too. He has been in his room working on this all day for days! He loves him some legos (I wish I felt the same way about legos, but I am proud of him for doing it all by himself!).

 Baby Rooney was so good the whole time. She is the most chill baby! Here she is posing with her envelope from Mama Jean!

 Joel got a Yeti cooler and he was very proud of it!

And this is the closest Hudson will be to a tuba...this was my dad's present from my mom. It's a work of art! :)

 Then we came home and put out milk and cookies for Santa! It was LATE by this point! It was a long day, but a good one (except for Hudson not feeling so hot). Speaking of hot, we took his temp right before bed and it was back up to 102. It was the strangest sickness!

Santa found our new house! The first thing I heard the next morning was "Oh my gosh!" and I went running to meet the kids in the den. They were so excited that Santa came!

I think Harrison might still be half asleep here though!

 

Santa also brought a trampoline AND a basketball goal. I don't think BOTH of those gifts were on Santa's list. But, I guess the boys were extra good this year. I hope they don't think this is the norm going forward because it is NOT! Yikes!

 I think that typically Santa would have put these together before he came, however, Hudson told everyone that Santa would have to just leave the trampoline in the box this year since there was no way he could get it down the chimney. So, that's just what Santa did.

 Daddy got some new sunglasses! Too bad he hasn't been able to use them yet--darn rain!

 We had the Reed's over for breakfast, which included breakfast casserole, cheese grits, pecan bacon, AND Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls. You could have just rolled me out of the kitchen after that.

 No pictures of me, but Joel definitely spoiled me this year too! Tory purse AND shoes (and I didn't pick any of it out!)! I was a happy girl!

 Hudson still had a pretty good fever, so he was quarantined at home for the day. I don't think Joel was all that sad that he missed another huge meal at my parent's for lunch. Yes, huge breakfast followed by huge lunch. I gained quite a few! Harrison went with me though and we had a fun time!

 Harrison got a few more gifts, including this tunnel, which my mother decided she needed to try it out. I thought she was going to get stuck in there!

 Harrison LOVED getting all of the attention. He is a different child without his sidekick brother around. You could definitely tell he had had some sugar the past few days though. He was a wild man!

 We went home for naps (ALL of us) and then headed to the Reed's for opening gifts and dinner.

 The boys were spoiled yet again and got some great new things!

 More legos--this boy was in heaven last week!!!

And we got some really nice things too!

Words cannot express how exhausted we were after Christmas! It is always so fun and it's great that both our families are in town, but it's ca-razy. So, add in a sick child and it was just hard this year. Hudson's fever finally went away for good Saturday morning, so he is finally on the mend, and no one else has gotten it, so hopefully it will stay that way. We still had a great time with our families though...one of the best parts about Christmas is everyone being together at once!

Joel spent the better part of the weekend putting together the trampoline and the basketball goal--that's what he gets! :) If it ever stops raining, I'm sure the boys will enjoy them!

It has rained so much that finally we got a small break in the rain this weekend and I sent (really, I threw!) the boys outside. I took a peak out the kitchen window to see what they were doing, and this is what I caught! Too funny!

 Lots and lots of lego time...

And playing with new games. What's in Ned's Head is a hoot!

 We even snuck away for a movie yesterday morning!

One more week of fun and it will be back to the real world. We are planning to enjoy every minute of it!

What a great Christmas we had (despite the croup!).