Grandma's House

After initially calling off the trip up North to see my family, we experienced an amazing break in the spate of sickness, and we decided Saturday afternoon to pack up and leave first thing Sunday morning. We were so glad we did! It's been a few years since we were able to make it up to my Nana and Poppop's house for Christmas, the place where I have so many fond childhood memories of presents, tons of food, warmth, and music. And not much has changed over the years except that the house doesn't seem as big as it once was.
Bekah and Sadie so enjoyed the experience, with Bekah especially bonding with Kirk and Chad, following them around all night long. The two girls were overwhelmed by the sheer number of gifts; books, bath toys, stuffed elephants, a snow globe, DVDs, adorable clothes, and so much more. Bekah had to take a break, watch Boz for a bit, and then come back to open the remnants. But it was so much fun!! Oh, and Cara now has the minivan itch since the Newby's were kind enough to loan their Honda Odyssey for the voyage. I'm not ready to give in yet, but those automatic sliding doors are pretty enticing.

BEWARE: the word vomit will appear below!

I don't have much to say in this post other than to say sorry we haven't posted for over a week. We've been sick. It's been miserable, but we are just putting one foot in front of the other in the slow trek back to health.

Bekah led it off by throwing up several times early Sunday morning. She looked like she was doing better Monday but then Tuesday she relapsed and we ended up taking her to the ER to get treated for dehydration. She has been better since then but still tossing her cookies about once a day and being generally exhausted. Today it was so sad; she was happily molding her play-do when all of a sudden she lost it all over herself, the play-do, and her play-do utensils. Early Wednesday morning Cara caught Bekah's stomach flu and by that evening she was sent to a packed French Hospital ER to get a shot, normal procedure for her due to her genetic condition that limits how well her body can fight a virus. While waiting at French, Jan (who was watching the girls) called to say that Sadie had just started vomiting. Thankfully, Sadie and Cara are now recovering slowly but surely, and we are especially hoping Bekah turns a corner soon though she has been not doing well tonight. We were hoping to travel up to the San Jose area this next weekend to have an early Christmas with my family and maybe even take the girls to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but it's now up in the air.

I should mention though that Cara and I were able to sneak away Sunday overnight as an early Anniversary celebration, and we had a wonderful time staying in Pismo, going out to eat, and actually going to a movie (Four Christmases was only mildly funny though, in case you were wondering). I'm so glad we had that time before everything went totally crazy.

Christmas music addict

This year I waited longer than ever to bust out my favorite Christmas music--the day after Thanksgiving. Yes, I did it! I waited until the culturally acceptable moment to begin the Christmas season, a strange feeling after working at the Parable, where Christmas music is heard come October. So what sounds are heard while we deck our halls this season? Here are a few favorites:
Yes indeed, nothing like a little punk rock Christmas music to get everyone dancing. This is Bekah's downright favorite to dance to, or "hop, hop" as she says when she wants me to pop in Relient K. This CD has it all; rocking versions of the "12 days of Christmas" and "Deck the Halls", thoughtful, poignant ballads like "I Celebrate the Day", and some laugh-out-loud songs like "Santa Claus is Thumbin to town." This was the first one I listened to come Black Friday.
The power of this one sneaks up on you. You're whistling along to a good version of "Do You See What I See?" and all of a sudden Todd Agnew's gravelly voice bursts into a whole new dimension, allowing you to see the Christmas story through new eyes, and from multiple perspectives. The songs on this album are almost all original, written from the varied lenses of those involved in the Christmas story (Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, etc.). Though these songs don't always sound "Christmassy", their depth will blow you away. Listen to the first song and last song back to back for an amazing musical journey!
Cara will tease me on this one since she doesn't think MWS is very cool, but there's no knocking its hugeness. It's all about the sweeping orchestra, the glorious choir, and a great guest performance by Mandisa. I grew up listening to his and Amy Grant's Christmas music, and yes, I used to think "Emanuel" was a rockin song. And still, I find myself reaching for his music each Christmas, just not the awkward 80s holiday tunes anymore.

So what about you? What Christmas music gets you in the spirit of the season? Any new favorites?

Our Wonderful Weekend

It started with my last day of radiation...the office gave me a graduation certificate! Going away for the weekend was a great way to celebrate. We went up to Katie and Rob's and we had such a great time!

They took us to a beautiful tree farm on Saturday. A trail lead us up a hill to the main area and along the way we came across a little cottage and castle that Bekah had a great time playing in. Then we took a train ride around all the Christmas trees (Bekah is obsessed with trains right now she was in heaven - when it was over she said Again! Again!)...it was really fun but really cold! I don't think the temp. got any higher than mid 40's the whole day....as you can see I had to leave my flip flops behind and I wasn't the only one wearing a hat :). Keith and Bekah also had fun going through a corn maze at the end of our visit at the farm. What a fun adventure!

That evening (after a warm lunch and naps) we all went to the Kingsburg Christmas Parade. The girls loved all the lights and music and we treated ourselves to some hot chocolate and popcorn.

The girls did really well the whole time (this was our first trip with both of them) which means that Keith and I had a wonderful weekend!

Thanks Katie and Rob for all the weekend fun!

Some Fun Pictures!

Keith and Bekah put up a tent in the house one cold afternoon and it became the "hang-out" spot for the rest of the day.

Nana Netty was able to calm Sadie down with some love pats...bless you!

And Bekah took some time to show Papa Scott how to use a tape measure...

she is so helpful!

At this point in the instruction she let go of the tape and laughed as it shot back at Papa Scott...don't worry...nobody was hurt.

Oh Mr. Gavin (my nephew) he had to borrow Sadie's bib and it looks like he likes it :)

The girls and I are practicing our piano skills....we have none but it was fun pretending!

Well, tomorrow is the last day of my radiation treatment! To celebrate we are taking a little family trip up to see my sister Katie and her husband Rob for the weekend....Bekah is very excited!