Snow Day!!

I will never get over my thrill of working at a place that I get to stay home when it snows.  As long as the district is closed completely I get the day off too.  That is a huge help when you have kids in school that's for sure!  I let the girls sleep in to whenever they woke themselves up and they came down to discover that Marshelle had been on top of the situation.

Kellie brought Olivia over around 845 to hang with us for the day.  The snow was gorgeous while it was falling, I would say we got about 4 inches and tapered off gradually but early enough that we went sledding for an hour before lunch. 

Home to dry out and do some indoor stuff and then Fred came and got Liv and we all met up at Cross Fit again.  Today, back to normal.  We are supposed to go to the city on Saturday to see A Christmas Carol at the Walnut Street theater but the forecast is looking slightly ominous calling for a snow/ice storm Saturday afternoon into Sunday morning.  We shall see....

Christmas Portraits 2013

Finally got our Christmas portraits done this year.  Had to reschedule twice because of illness and Lily's eye but third time was the charm and we got them done yesterday! Joe and Diane came this year as well and I think we got some great pictures.  Just posting a few :)

The beginning of December

So this past weekend was a busy one as the holiday season approaches.  Saturday was the annual Breakfast with Santa at Crooked Billet where the Dads do all the cooking and prepping and the kids get to visit with Santa.  Olivia came with us because her parents both had separate things going on.  Rowan and Liv sat with Santa willingly - Lily refused.

After breakfast I took Rowan and Liv to Cross Fit!  They have signed up for December and January while they wait for Girls on the Run to start.  Get some training in early :)

Sunday was a busy day!  We finally sat for our Christmas portraits and we invited Joe and Diane this year with us.  They turned out great!  It also snowed - much more snow than they were calling for and expecting.  It was beautiful, of course it will be raining today and wash most of it away but now I hear they are calling for more snow tonight - fingers crossed!

Our elf Marshelle returned as you know - this year she has been full of antics - so far this is what she has done on her nightly returns from the North Pole.

Can't wait to see what she comes up with this year!

Thanksgiving 2013

Just getting back into the swing of things again after a 4 1/2 day weekend.  I left work early to pick Rowan up for early dismissal on Wednesday.  We grabbed Lily a little early and then when Parker got home we enjoyed a nice quiet evening at home.  Thursday we woke up, watched the parade and then headed to Aunt Karen's for dinner.  

Parker and I left around 930pm, leaving the girls to spend the night at Karen's with Joe and Diane and then having them go up to Joe and Diane's and come back home on Saturday.  What did Parker and I do?  Shopping.  Lots of it.  Got great deals and finished all of it - yep, finished!!

Saturday before the kids got back we decorated the outside of the house.  Went a little simpler this year and I think it looks great!

Joe and Diane brought the kids home around noon and we all headed out to see the movie Frozen.  Great movie, very cute and we all enjoyed it!

Back to our place where we introduced a new holiday movie to the girls, Home Alone - they loved it, laughed out loud at some parts.  It was great.

Sunday I woke up early and got all the inside decorations ready.  We spend the day decorating inside including the tree and now it is all done!!  

And lo and behold once our tree was up - Marshelle reappeared the very next day.

Hatboro Holiday Parade

The Sunday before Thanksgiving is when Hatboro has its annual Holiday Parade.  Once again this year our Brownie Troop was a part of it.  The theme was Candy Cane Cavalcade.  It should have been - It is way too cold for a parade - it was frigid cold outside.  Below freezing with gusting winds.  Bitter and raw.  It was so cold I wouldn't let Lily go because of her health issues and as such Parker did not go either.   But we made it! And then we all went home to warm up!!

Peddler's Village

Medical issues aside we did something we have never done before. We went to Peddler's Village the night they turned on the Christmas lights for the first time!  And traffic was so congested we missed it by 15 minutes! Haha. Regardless we saw the lights, had a nice dinner, saw the gingerbread houses and promised Lily we would come back one afternoon so we would be there when it got dark and we could see the lights turn on then.

Hospital, not once...but twice...in 5 days...

For the same kid!  Poor Lily.  First we were at a friends place for dinner when Lily was running through the backyard and tripped...unfortunately her landing zone was a raised concrete pad that she landed face first on!  It looked bad, really bad...we gathered her up and ran to the ER.  I was thinking concussion, cracked eye orbit....it was scary.  It was swelling pretty bad too.  The ER took us in, ran a CT scan, checked her all out and pronounced her free to leave, but watch for signs of a concussion.  Thankfully there were none.

Cue to 5 days later when we have a follow up visit at the pediatrician to get her eye checked, make sure it is healing well....Parker is already with Lily at her school for their Thanksgiving feast and I am at Rowan's school for her feast.  I had walked to Rowan's school and Lily and Parker got done early so they came and picked me up.  We get to the doc and I hug Lily and note she feels warm.  We get in to see the doc and she has a fever of 102.1. Oy vey.  They start asking if she has been sick, just a cough for a couple of days, runny nose, typical cold I say.  They listen to her lungs.  Can't hear them through the wheezing she is apparently doing.  Put her on a pulse ox meter - only 91, supposed to be 95 - this causes mild panic at the pedes who then give her a nebulizer breathing treatment...pulse ox does not change - they do a second one and then give her a drink of prednisone syrup....no change...they say will do a third but if pulse ox does not come back up to 95 we are going to the ER...What?!?!?!  We came for the eye! Third treatment - by now Lily is shaking from all the albuterol...no change...sorry, we will call ahead, you need to go to the ER.  Oh.  My.  God.  Do you know how much my co-pay is???  We were just there!!!  Off we go - Rowan is with Kenzie and the Kembles so we don't have to worry about her.  We get to the ER - they were expecting us - they hook Lily up to a pulse ox meter on her toe - 95 - I want to die and go home. They insist on keeping her and monitoring her...pulse ox starts dipping...down comes a pulmonary guy who hooks her up to yet another nebulizer treatment that lasts for an hour, then we get a chest x-ray to check for pneumonia.  

No pneumonia.  One good thing.  After treatment pulse ox starts dipping again but not past 93/94 consistently.  A pede from CHOP comes by (children's hospital of philadelphia) does not like the way Lily is retracting while breathing.  Insists we stay for more monitoring, may admit Lily for round the clock neb treatments.  We came for the eye!!!  Finally we are allowed to go home with a prescription for prednisone and orders to follow up at the pede in two days.  Saturday Parker takes Lily to the pede where they put her on an antibiotic for a sinus infection, say she still has the wheeze but to finish the prednisone syrup and come back on Tuesday.  Tuesday we go back, still a slight wheeze but finally, the eye gets looked at!! and gets pronounced healing fine.  And we leave with an inhaler to be used as needed.  Sighs..