Recent events in the month of December

I feel like I'm really behind on blogging, and don't have enough time right now to give it the time and attention I want to, but I also know that if I don't do what I can right now, it will never get done and I'll forget even more about the events.  There's a lot coming up too! (Christmas and Calvin's 4th bday) Our family has been on the road lately, have two sick people (Violet has strep and Dave has the flu), and every time those two things happen, all the basic, necessary things that I have to do like cooking/shopping/house cleaning/child care/laundry get behind and all I can do in my free time is "catch up" with life and not get ahead of it.  Anyway....here goes.

Violet's christmas program at WCS (Thurs, Dec 8, 2011)

Violet participated in her first school-related Christmas program.  Her entire kindergarten class dressed up like lambs.  The costumes looked like zip up fleece pajamas with hoods and lamb ears attached.  The entire music program was featured.  The band played, the classes all participated, the choir sang songs, and there was a storyline that followed the entire play with two angels named "Lo" and "Behold" narrating the whole story of the birth of Christ.  Violet and her K class sang some songs, and one particularly cute part was when they all said "Baaaaaa" like a lamb at the end of a song, made everyone laugh.  Dave and I sat in the balcony with Calvin and Vanessa, and kept them corraled in different parts of it as the long evening went on.  After Violet's part was over, her class changed out of their costumes and sat and watched the rest of the program.  She sat with Mrs. Speed and seemed to enjoy all the music.  Calvin and Vanessa were super bored, but I kept them somewhat entertained with snacks/drinks.  After the program, we went to her K classroom for a few minutes while she said goodbye to all her friends.  She was super excited and was goofing around with her friends, Emily even picked her up with a big hug!  We decided that since we hadn't had supper that night, we'd go out and celebrate (there was an option to go to the school gym and have sweets and coffee, but we decided to avoid it), so we went out to eat at the Hwy 63 diner.  Violet was pretty happy to order macaroni and cheese.  V and C colored on paper with crayons.  At one point in the evening, Calvin playfully collapsed on the bench of the booth where our family was sitting and said in an exhausted voice, "Daaaaad, I'm soooo tired, I want to go to bed!"  That little boy never fights bedtime.  He is the first to fall asleep after we tuck them in.  We finished up our salads, broasted chicken (yum) and veggies and headed home...and the late night turned out to be very late.  All the kids were in bed by 10 pm.  And she still had to go to school on Friday. 

Trip to Milwaukee to see Dave's dad (December 12-13, 2011)

We found out a couple weeks ago that Dave's dad was scheduled to have surgery done to remove a benign tumor on his left shoulder/neck.  The medical team located near where he lives in the UP of Michigan who originally operated on it a few months ago cut him open only to find a situation that was too complicated for them to handle.  They sewed him up and decided to refer him to Milwaukee.  It is a blessing for them that he is officially employed somewhere, because he now has medical insurance that is helping him pay for a lot of this medical care.  Since Milwaukee is only 4 hrs away, Dave decided it would be worth it to make the trip to the hospital and visit him, and also be with his wife Cindy as he was in surgery for a few hours.  Ted was really worried that she would worry herself into a tizzy so he was glad that we planned to spend time with her.  We made the decision to leave for Milwaukee last minute, and pulled both kids from a day of school to make the trip happen.  We left Monday evening at 7 pm, and drive into the night arriving at a hotel (Hampton Inn) near the hospital around midnight.  Surpringly, the transfer of sleeping kids from the van to the hotel room went smoothly.  They had set up a portable crib already, so Vanessa went right back to sleep, I suppose it felt good to sleep on her tummy like she prefers instead of laying back in a car seat.  I could tell Violet and Calvin were relieved to lay down on a soft comfy bed, they used the bathroom and crawled into bed with out much fuss either.  They are really turning into flexible kids and great travelers - they know the drill with elevators in hotels, hotel key cards, and whispering in a hotel room at night so Vanessa doesn't wake up.  The night was quiet, Praise the Lord, everyone felt decently rested when we woke up at 7:30 am.  Ted's surgery that was originally scheduled for 1pm was bumped back an hour to 2 pm, so he and Cindy decided they had a little extra time in the morning to visit.  We all got ready, ate breakfast at the hotel, and left to go see them at the housing place where they were staying.  It was a place called "Kathy's House".  They had a huge basement with a gigantic play room with lots of toys, our kids devoured the room, scrambling for every little thing that grabbed their attention.  Cindy met us first, Ted came down later to visit.  He couldn't make physical contact with us since he had showered with this special antibacterial stuff the hospital had given him to use with strict instructions to not touch anybody. 

We then drove to the hospital so he could check in, and get the preparation process started. Then began the.longest.day.EVER....that I've spent in a waiting area of a hospital with children. Once Ted was back in prep, Cindy hung out with us and did what we did...we couldn't leave the hospital because Cindy was equipped with a pager that would notify her of updates on Ted's progress and it only worked in the hospital territory. I didn't want to leave and go somewhere else with the kids because i didn't want to have all 3 of them alone in a strange city that I didn't know and preferred to stay together as a family....so we stuck it out a the hospital. This was an ENORMOUS medical facility. Many buildings that spanned many blocks. There was nothing for kids to do. No child play area either. There was a fish tank that occupied their brains for a few minutes at a time, and a little play table with sand and cars in it that operated by magnets connected to the under side of the table. I had brought along some crayons/coloring pages for them, which kept them busy for a little while...but other than those 3 things, they were bored out of their minds. I did take a break to go sit in the van with them so V and C could watch a movie and Vanessa took a nap in her car seat. Dave stayed inside with Cindy. When Vanessa woke up we had lunch in the cafeteria. We walked down long mile-long hallways. The hours ticked by slowly. Even though it wasn't the ideal place to be, we tried to make fun of it, stay light hearted, and avoid grumpiness, because that would have only made things worse. From 11:30 am to 7:30 pm we plodded along, waited for him to be done with surgery, then waited for him to finish the hour of "after surgery recovery", then waited for him to be transported to a room for the night.

 V and C tried barracading Vanessa out of their way but she crawled right under the chairs, much to their dismay.  They played puppies in their little area and begged me to be the zookeeper and they pretended to be zoo animals.  I don't even know how to pretend to be a zookeeper.

Vanessa's favorite "toy" was a pair of Violet's earmuffs.

A receptionist who noticed that we'd been waiting for hours offered our kids some graham crackers and apple juice.  Violet got to go back with her and help carry out the snacks.  She told the receptionist all the kid's names and how to spell them, as the names were written on each white syrofoam cup.  We thought that was a sweet gesture.

Finally we went up to see him, and he had come through the tumor removal very well.  He also had some calcium deposit lumps on his head removed. 

Cindy was in pretty good spirits the whole time, she didn't seem nervous, and seemed to enjoy our company.  Dave prayed with her before the surgery.

We talked to him in his hospital room for about 15 minutes, then decided to leave, since we had to drive home that night too.  Ted now says he has no memory of our visit after his surgery, he must have been drugged up too much to remember.

Dave said it was great to see him, it had been 3 yrs since their last visit, and 4 yrs since my last visit with them.  Calvin was a month old last time we visited them at their place in Michigan.  He was glad to see Vanessa, and hear the news of our new baby arriving in May.

We made last stops in the bathroom before exiting the hospital.  Got the kids to the van, changed into their pajamas, and settled in for the drive.  Vanessa and Calvin fell asleep immediately.  Neither had eaten supper, so we tried getting food right away, but neither would wake up to eat.  Violet, Dave and I were awake enough to have a cheeseburger.  The drive home felt longer than the drive there.  Dave and I were both exhausted by the length of the day and how taxing it had been with the boredom and waiting.  I snoozed a little on the way home, woke up a little, Dave drove the whole way, but the last 45 minutes he kept slapping his face and shaking around to keep himself awake.  A super late night...but the transfers to bed were completely silent.  We carried 3 sleeping kids to bed at 1:00 am and none made a peep.  I am pretty sure Dave and I were both asleep in our bed by 1:05 am.

Calvin's Christmas Program at Orchard Hill Church Preschool (Wednesday, December 14th, 2011)

Calvin participated in his first Christmas program at Orchard Hill Church along with all the other preschool kids who go there.  Four preschool groups were combined and practiced the same songs to perform for the short 40 minute show.  Even though he had missed the day of preschool prior to the show (We were in Milwaukee visiting Dave's dad in the hospital), they had been rehearsing the songs since right after Thankgiving.  I then heard the entirety of the songs that Calvin had been singing at home here and there, wondering where he had picked the new songs up.  He walked in with his class holding little lights.  They sang "Silent Night", "Come On, Ring those Bells", "Away in a Manger", and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".  Calvin seemed to know most of the words and the motions (which has has referred to as "oceans" for awhile now).  He smiled, seemed confident up there, but also goofed around with his friends standing right next to him, and when he caught sight of us in the crowd, excitedly waved and smiled at us.  Socially, he is either on or off, either super chatty, or very quiet.  Tonight was a chatty smiley night.  We also had the option to stay afterwards and enjoy cookies/punch with everybody, but the crowd and the fact that Violet was on the edge of getting really sick was enough for us to make the decision to sneak out the side door right when it was over, and skip out on the treats.  The program started at 6:30, and we drove away at 7:10pm, not bad!  It helps that we live only a couple blocks away.  The kids were all in bed by 8 pm.  Calvin did great.  Violet remembered performing in the Christmas program when she was in preschool, and acted like a proud big sister, and said "Calvin looks so cute!" with giggles when he was on stage.

When he saw us he happily waved!

 Took Calvin's pic, but Violet had to sneak her face in!

Violet has strep throat

I don't know where she picked it up (Milwaukee hospital maybe!), but she had been complaining about her stomach hurting off and on last week.  Then she started coughing, and then the last straw that made me take her to the doctor was losing her voice.  The strep test came back positive with in 5 minutes, so the doc prescribed some amoxicillin and suggested ibuprofen to help her with the pain.  She was diagnosed last week Thursday.  Its Sunday, and she's still coughing a little, but has no pain and should be ready for school tomorrow.  She did not go to school last week Friday.