It's been forever it seems since I last blogged. November and December were crazy busy in our household. Because of preschool sickness and ear infections, we missed going to Little Rock for Thanksgiving. So we made plans to visit around the tenth for Christmas, but Rachel came down with a terrible case of the flu that turned into pneumonia (glad to see her flu shot is working :P). A 3 day visit to the local children's hospital will really mess up your travel plans! :( Not to mention what it does to you to see your baby in the hospital (I could write a lot about this, but i won't...we'll just say that Rachel does not make a very good patient, but what 3 year old does i suppose). I just
thought hospital beds were uncomfortable to sleep in singly...sharing one all night with Rachel all hooked up to an IV is worse, but i was more than happy to snuggle my baby girl; she was so scared the whole time we were there. She would start crying when anyone, including the housekeepers, came in the door afraid that she was going to be poked with needles or stared at through some new strange apparatus. But she is much better now and had the whole month of December to get well before heading off to school again.
My resolution for the year is to get myself more organized because our schedule has gone from busy to super busy. Rachel goes to regular preschool two days a week in the mornings (this is the one she's gone to since the end of Sept; she
loves her teacher and mentioned several times that she "miss my Cori" over the break), and since she turned 3 she goes to a program at an early childhood center run by the local school district two different days a week in the afternoons for kids with speech delays. And then once a week she has a 30 minute appointment with a private speech therapist. Those of you who know me well know that my middle name is "forgetful", so I'm really trying hard to keep up with all this! And of course i have to throw in grocery shopping, running errands, vet and doctor appointments, car oil changes, etc. with all this. So far, I've only missed one appointment, but was able to make it up two days later and kept it! I'm keeping on my toes to say the least!
It would also help if my own feet weren't my worst enemy; I took another tumble today trying to climb over a baby gate and hurt myself...second time in about two months (last time i fell in the hallway while carrying a laundry basket; not good...that fall was because my feet and my shoes decided to go different directions). Josh has threatened to run a makeshift zip line through the house and attach me to it with a tether...probably not too bad an idea at times :)
So because so much has gone on (and my digital camera habit is no better...I will take my 10,000th picture soon!), the next few posts will be out of order. I know everyone is eager to see Christmas pictures, so here goes. I'll try to keep the commentary short because there's lots to see.
Christmas was so fun this year! This was the first year Rachel has really been down with the whole Santa Claus thing, and we had lots of fun watching her get all excited about things. Here's a nice picture before everything got played with...Santa is so neat and organized!
Here's the reaction we got from Rachel when we went to get her out of bed, but she perked up very quickly after we told her Santa had visited while she slept!
This is the view we got most of the morning. The kitchen was a big hit with both kiddos; I think William liked it mostly because it was something cool to pull himself up on.
William wasn't too interested in most of his gifts, but he did like attacking the wrapped items. He just seemed to lose interest once the paper was off.
The nurse at the hospital brought around some toys for Rachel to play with, and one that she really liked was this Elmo/Sesame Street Rock 'N Roll guitar; she was very excited to see it again :)
This was the one toy that seemed to hold his attention the most Christmas morning; a book that lights up and talks to you.
Rachel's very motherly nowadays and loves taking care of her baby dolls (she's very serious about it too...twice I've found her nursing them; kids don't miss anything do they?).
This toy has been very popular at our house too. In fact, she played with William's toys more than he did it seemed. Christmas evening, Rachel announced to us"me like baby toys!" :)
The simplest toys seem to be the most fun ones for them too; I love that she likes the Etch a Sketch as much as I used to.
We had Joshua's family over for Christmas lunch, and this is my Martha Stewart moment for the year. The cookies spread out much more than I'd anticipated, so all the girls look like Mammy from Gone with the Wind and all the boys look like Cartman from South Park!
The day after Christmas we thought it'd be a good idea to go to the mall since we hadn't gotten out as a family in a while...bad idea! We drastically underestimated the pull of a big sales day during an economic downturn. But, Rachel got to try out her new overalls that she got from her Mama K :) (and no, she did not wear the hat to the mall; that was just a last second idea for the picture)
Round 2 came on the 27th when my family came down to see us. We all had a great time and the kids loved being inundated with even more gifts (if i haven't said so before, they both made out like bandits this year! Everyone may just need to get William empty, wrapped boxes for his birthday because I honestly can't think of anything he needs!). My parents heard from Santa that Rachel was getting a kitchen so they decked her out with all the necessary cooking tools :) She still puts on the hat and apron almost every time she plays in her kitchen!
Just had to include this one because it's so cute and William's not a blur which is how most of my pictures of him turn out these days!
Another big hit: the Tinkerbell-ish fairy dress. She's worn it at least 422 times since this photo was taken...
And lest we forget...the tea set to end all tea sets. This one not only comes with Mrs. Potts and Chip from Beauty and the Beast, but also is served on its very own rolling tea cart! As my dad noted, has anyone else noticed it seems like little girls have some kind of tea party chromosome? She was so funny...once her daddy got the tea cart assembled, she dropped everything and immediately began serving tea to everyone in the room! It was hilarious!
This is technically William's gift from my parents, but he's too small for it (and it scares him a little because of the whinnying and galloping noises it makes, but he's coming around). Rachel had no trouble however commandeering it for herself. There's a cute video that goes along with this that hopefully i can get posted soon. Not sure where she got the idea of waving while riding her horse...
We spent a nice lowkey New Year's Eve watching The Princess Bride (Rachel's new favorite movie) by the fireplace and toasting marshmallows :)
*sigh*
I really don't want to talk about it, but my little guy looks so cute in his official Sugar Bowl gear, so i'll include this one
Rachel came home from her first day back to school with a belated Christmas present from Ms. Cori. When she sat down to open it she insisted I take her picture :)
Hope you enjoy all the pictures! And hopefully I won't wait another 2 months before I post again! Have a wonderful 2011!! :)
It was also the unveiling of Addie's new playhouse which is, in a word, awesome! Her dad did a terrific job building it in their backyard.
The boys hanging out in the shade
Rachel had a Halloween party at preschool at the end of October. In hindsight i'm really glad they had this because she was actually too sick to do any actual trick or treating this year. So not only did she not wear the costume i made Halloween night, she also woke up in a horrible mood the morning of the party and refused to wear it to school. At least i convinced her to wear the headpiece and she looked a little like Juliet maybe....?
The pinata was a big hit; that's her teacher standing right behind her with the scarf on. It was Really cold that day!
Joshua got to take a long lunch and join us :)
Hanging out after the party with a Halloween lollipop
Took a trip to Hot Springs to see Joshua's grandparents in early November. I now call Papaw "the baby whisperer"; kids Love him and rightly so :)
We drove up to West Mountain while we were there and enjoyed the gorgeous view! It's nice to go somewhere where the terrain rises more than 10 degrees :) 
