Winter Sports

It was a white Christmas and we got out a lot to enjoy the snowy white ground and sunshine. 

We went ice skating with a bunch of friends at the outdoor rink downtown.

Carolyn went sledding with our neighbor (Ollie).

Carolyn even tried skiing. 

pictures soon

Mom and Dad both got out skiing over the holidays, too.  I do not get out very often, so I had to ski all day to get my money's worth.   And, oh my, my legs were burning by the end of the day.  (Note to self: It is time to start hitting the gym.)

The Date

Steve wanted to take Carolyn on "a date" for his Christmas gift to her.  Carolyn got new shoes (with high heels!) and wore her fanciest dress.  Steve put on his tuxedo.  They went to a tea party at the Grand America hotel downtown.  They also went to a movie.

Both cannot stop talking about their date;

The smiles on their faces when they talk about the evening are so special.

Carolyn also told me she looks forward to when Daddy can take both her and Elizabeth on a date.

Merry Christmas

Christmas Eve started with a trip to the theater.  I took Carolyn and her friend Sevilla to see "Babes in Toyland" at the Children's Theater.

When we got home, Steve had prepared a delicious beef stew and lemon tart.  RJ was our guest for dinner.

Later that evening, we opened plenty of gifts and have a lot to be thankful.

To the Altman's -- Carolyn loved the unicorn drawing and dress-up dolls (Thanks, Rachel).  Steve is excited to take me out to one of our favorite restaurants (Great Choice, Bill).  I am looking forward to a spa day (Thanks, Jen).  And, Elizabeth looks adorable in her polka dot jammies and hat (From Hayley).  Harry and Carol, the girls' bank account have been padded, and we will of course enjoy our visits to the zoo with the membership we bought with her generous funds.   We also love to have your dolls on our shelfs.

To my mom and dad--  there were so many big and small packages to keep us busy.  Carolyn's favorites included the puppet theater, tickets to Disney on Ice in March, the Boogie Board, and the ice cream spoons.  Elizabeth enjoys hearing "rudolf the red nosed reindeer" read by you.  My favorite gift was the "winter" scarf, the suitcase scale, and the opportunity to look for bargains for some new work clothes.  Steve's favorite is his new fleece, which he has worn practically every day since Christmas.  The swimming shark was definitely cool, but it struggles a bit at our higher altitude.

To RJ - both girls look adorable in their new clothes.  And Carolyn loves the new books and the tic-tac-toe games.  Steve and I will now have unwrinkled clothes, thanks to the steamer!

To Kristin K -- we are patiently awaiting the strawberry plant to sprout.

To Mary Anne and Howie -- Carolyn enjoyed making the crowns, and has already picked out several recipes to make.  Elizabeth has her new soft-sided book in the crib.

And to everyone else -- Thanks for the homemade jams, cookies, jewelry, and soap.  Thanks for the cards and mementos sent through the mail.  Thanks for stopping by and for inviting us over. 

We are so thankful for all of our friends and family. We may not have been able to be with all of you this holiday season, but we thought of you a lot.

And, then there was Christmas morning.  Carolyn and Elizabeth both woke up around 9am.  Santa came to visit, and brough the two special gifts that Carolyn asked for .... a ruby red slipper door stopper for Carolyn and a new chew toy for Elizabeth. 

Can you believe that we had some tears on Christmas morning?  Carolyn was so sad when all the gifts had been unwrapped.  She was overwhelmed by everything.

Thankfully, the tears did not last long.  We enjoyed a breakfast together and started playing with our new toys.  Steve went skiing for a few hours, and then we hosted a party with plenty of cocktails, pizzas, and friends.  Although I got a new camera from Steve for Christmas, I did not take a single picture of the fun we had that evening.  

Merry Christmas!  



Day 14

Ever wonder what happens to a 4 year old who has been sick with high fevers for 14 days?  Well, here is the beauty that emerged when her fever finally broke on day 14. 

What a pleasant and welcome sight to see.   

Please say a prayer that this is really the end of this for her.  It has been a long, hard couple of weeks.

Christmas Cards ..... Nightmare

Back on a sunny, crisp day in October, we had family photos taken.  We were all dressed up in coordinating colors.  The weather was perfect, and the photos that I saw on the photographers camera were excellent. 

Then, the photographer tried to download them from his camera to the computer and his SD card became corrupted.  He lost the photos.  I was hoping that he would find a way to salvage them, but to no avail.  The photos were gone forever.

We tried to reschedule with the photographer, but getting all four of us together, dressed up at a time he was available was nearly impossible.

Ah, those were supposed to be my Christmas card photos.  I was sad, mad, and very frustrated.  No family photos. 

I had good intentions of having someone take our photo the last couple of weeks, but none of them looked good or I forgot to actually have a photo snapped of us.  Then, Carolyn was sick for over a week and had no interest in having her photo taken.  So, finally, yesterday afternoon when Carolyn's fever finally broke (after 9 days straight), I dressed the girls up and snapped a few photos of them by the christmas tree.  I am not very happy with any of them, but one of them will do, I guess (I am out of time).

Below are some of our efforts, but you will see the photo that Steve and Carolyn wanted to send on the cards, which should be in the mail by tomorrow.

It was almost the year without Christmas Cards.




 

Lost Photos

Steve had some photos and videos on his phone.  He just learned how to transfer them out, so here are a few random photos and videos from the past year

At Kings Island this summer.

In Cleveland with the Altmans.

Leo, who is not walking very well, but has certainly bounced back from his injury this summer.

Newborn Elizabeth, minutes old.



Steve and Harry bowling.  Not sure when this was.

Carolyn, playing on the horse at Grandma Carol's and Grandpa Harry's house.

Bike Riding

For her birthday (in June), Carolyn got a new bike -- a pedal bike!  She was very enthusiastic when she first got it, and was doing far better than I expected her to.  Then, there was a near-fall over the curb that scared her away from it for a while.  By the end of the summer and early fall, she was ready to try it again, but still had a lot of hesitation.  As you can see in the video, she insisted that I walk by her, with two fingers on the back of her neck.   



Next summer, I am sure she will be flying around on her bike. 



 

Santa

Carolyn was very hesitant to see Santa Claus.  She insisted that we all go, so here is our December family photo.  We were at a family holiday party at the community college.

It is a cute photo of all of us; too bad I only have a cheap laser printer printout of it!

School Days

Carolyn, age 4.

Carolyn is in the "red classroom" at Montessori Community School.  Her teachers are Ms Karey, Ms Sheila, and Ms Lauren.  Her friends are (top row) Wally, William, Seren, Ava, Anie, Flynn, George, Ellie, Boden, William, (bottom row)  Mckay, Nikos, Pierce, Carolyn, Gracie, Sadie, Elias, Reed, Isadora.

A trip to the hospital

Carolyn's first trip to the hospital, at age 4.5

After our holiday brunch, we all laid down and took naps.  Steve and I woke up feeling refreshed, while Carolyn woke up feeling lousy.  She had a high fever.  Then, she was up most of the night, throwing up.  When morning came, she complained of a severe headache and said that she could not move her head because her neck was hurting her so bad.  Look up those symptoms on-line and you will see one scary diagnosis ..... meningitis.  So, off to the urgent care Steve and Carolyn went.   By the time they got to the doctor, she was so lethargic that she could barely stay awake and Steve had to carry her.  The doc was concerned enough by her symptoms that he sent them immediately to Primary Children's Hospital for more observations and bloodwork.  There, they hooked her up to monitors, encouraged her to eat/drink (purple popsicles), gave her some meds to get the fever down, and let her sleep for a few hours.  They were watching her to see if her vitals would stabilize, mainly whether her pulse/heart rate would come down, once her fever came down and she was rehydrated.  After a few hours, her pulse was still elevated, but it had decreased a bit (from 160s to 140s).  She also perked up, smiled, and said she was hungry.  These were all good signs, and led the doctors to believe that there was not a secondary (bacterial) infection, so they sent us home after giving us a list of things to watch for.       

Whatever it is, it is one nasty virus.  So far, no one else in the house seems to have it.  So, please keep your fingers crossed for us.     

UPDATE:  It is influenza.  Likely a nasty strain that emerged too late to be included in this year's flu shot.  Going on day 5 and only a little improvement.

UPDATE:  Day 13.  Still not well.  She was fever free (mostly) on days 9 and 10, but still really weak and tired.  She tried to go to school for a half-day on day 11, but came home with another high fever and was more miserable than she was in days 1 thru 8.  Back to the doctor we went.  Doc was concerned.  She was convinced that she had picked up a secondary infection since her body was so run down, but Carolyn gave us no clue where it could be.  Ears were clear; no earaches.  Throat was fine; no strep throat.  Sinuses and lungs were clear; no pneumonia or sinusitis.  No rashes.  No reported pain anywhere, just very high fevers.  So, the doc started writing orders for us to get a chest x-ray, blood cultures, etc.  We were on a mission to figure out where the infection might be, and it was proving to be a long day at the hospital.  The first test we started with was the least invasive one -- a urine test.  And, thankfully, this test came back positive.  It turns out that Carolyn has a very bad urinary tract infection. A shot of antibiotics, followed by another 10 days of  super-charged antibiotics should have her feeling better soon.  Fingers crossed.  Though, the antibiotics often cause nausea (including vomiting) and diarrhea.  Great.

Holiday Brunch

Every year, we host a holiday party for our neighbors and friends.  We cook a lot of food, offer a lot of beverages, and enjoy a morning/afternoon chatting with friend.  Altogether, we probably had about 50 or 60 people come through the house.  We invited primarily neighbors this year because the number of kids our friends have is multiplying, and we cannot (or do not want to) have the space for all those kids running aroumd.  There were a lot of people as it was.

I had great intentions of taking a photo of every family that came, but ended up with hardly any photos of the event at all.    I mainly had photos of the food stations set up around the living room, before anyone arrived.  Boring.

But, I did end up with a couple of photos of our guests, primarily some of the kids.

And, now, my notes on what I did.  I am sure I will consult this post next year to see what was on our menu, so I do not duplicate it exactly.

Menu:  homemade pretzels with ham and cheese, meatballs, mac and cheese (at Carolyn's request), three egg casseroles (bacon-egg casserole, potato crusted asparagus herb quiche, polenta sausage casserole), shrimp salad served on lettuce leaves, cereal with yogurt and berry compote,  citrus salad with mint dressing, cookies and chocolates from the bakery (Les Madeline and Caputos), a bloody mary bar, coffee bar, mimosas, and screwdrivers.

Activities:  I played holiday movies for the kids on the downstairs TV, had coloring activities on the table in Elizabeth's room, and a mess-free ornament craft on the desk downstairs.