sick and tired, but Christmas-y!

A horrible cold complete with hacking cough and perpetually dripping nose has been making its way through our family, starting with Maryn last week and finally making its way to Lucy in the last couple of days. Actually, it started with my Dad, but I'm not pointing fingers (or tissues). To compound issues, we took Lucy to the doctor for a bad diaper rash and found out she also has an ear infection. Poor baby! She's such a toughie that we had no idea she was hurting. We're all (mostly) on the mend now and it's time for a long overdue blog update!

We are getting into the Christmas spirit here and put up our Christmas tree last night. That is a story unto itself as I happened to buy a stump-less tree without thinking about how in the world I would put a tree with no stump into a tree-stand. A little branch trimming and some poking and prodding got the tree into the stand and it's only a teensy bit crooked. You don't notice, do you?

As we hung our ornaments on the tree I realized that our collection is seriously lacking. I ended up putting some on that would better be left in the box, and others that I had no memory of where, when or why they were procured. And the fun of ornaments is reminiscing about the stories behind them (which we got to do when we helped mom, dad and Amanda trim their tree last week). So this is my plea for ornaments. Anything with a good story or sentimental value would work. Handmade is always good, too. Any takers? I know you guys will come through :)

We've been working on pictures for the Christmas card and I think we're going to have my talented freind Allie take some in her new home studio this week. I was trying for a picture of just the girls today and man is Allie going to have her work cut out for her: these girls won't sit still together for anything! Here's the first attempt:

This is after the chocolate chip bribe:

I quickly realized that chocolate and white dresses do not mix well so these are the final shots with lollipops instead and a dress-less Lucy:


And a funny story to end:

We periodically purge the kid's out-grown toys, usually saying something like "we're going to give these to kids who don't have any toys." This goes over fairly well and the kids forget about it quickly once they get consumed with the toys they still have, or, more likely, making toys out of things that not designated as such ie: mommy's kitchen utensils or books.

As I finished typing this post I looked behind me to notice an abnormally quiet Maryn serenely pulling carefully organized (have I mentioned that I'm slightly OCD) books off the shelf. As I told her to put them back with a slightly annoyed tone to my voice, she retorted "but some people don't HAVE any books!!!" I guess she's getting them ready to donate to the Goodwill. Hmmm. Put me in my place.

And with that I leave to put my bookshelf back in order. OCD, remember?!