It's the MOST wonderful time of the year

I LOVE Christmas break.  I love the break from school.  The time to re-charge.  To just BE at home with my own kids.  I love that Josh and I have the same schedule and we can all be together. I know how lucky we are that we can spend this time together.  I love that my sister and her family live here so that we can spend part of the holidays together.

Me and my beautiful sister, Kristin and she (below) with her hubby, Chris

I love watching the kiddos open their presents.  I love their surprise.  Yes, I over-use the word LOVE...but it is true.  It is the most wonderful of the year...for me.  I truly enjoy giving.  I find so much JOY in watching someone open a present that I have held onto in my head for almost the whole year.  Ella has this gift.  She remembers pieces of conversation.  She remembered Keelin loves cozy socks so she bought them for her (all on her own). Josh got a Georgia Bulldogs bracelet, I got a butterfly necklace, Max a little bottle of GOOP, and Charley a tennis ball. The thoughtfulness of Ella brought tears to my eyes as she remembered and held onto her secrets and surprises.  I tried to catch joyful expressions.....

Who wouldn't be excited about nunchuks?

And the Bills!  (poor girl)

A How I Met Your Mother FAN! and below...the beloved cozy socks!

Charley also enjoyed Christmas this year.  Although, we had to keep getting her more presents to open so she would leave the kiddos alone.  (Good thing I visited the Dollar Store- as she had about 20 presents!) 

Here are a few more from Christmas...hope you all had a wonderful day too.......

Love my kiddos

The one whom my soul loves.....

Opted in front of the tree....since the fire burned out....

Because everyone watches Christmas 90210 in Night vision goggles

Josh's new "man scarf"

Ella's cozy socks from Aunt Bean

Charley and Daddy...it was a RUFF day

Man Down!

A little late in posting this and Ella is going to kill me when she sees the pictures.  So Max had his tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy in October. Ella was scheduled for sinus surgery in December.  Ella had a deviated septum and she had bones growing into her airways.  They are called conchubalosas.  Which sounded like cancer to me, disasteress that I am, so I was VERY happy to hear they were just bones.  Which...is just "unlucky" for Ella.  Poor thing.  She was a total ROCK STAR.  She went through surgery (although it was an hour LONGER than they said it would be).  We went home and I gave her one dose of crazy pain meds.  After that, she insisted she wasn't in pain.  Tough girl recovered with no meds.  She tried to go back to school on Thursday but ended up throwing up from swallowing so much blood.  So we ended up home one more day.  She was more uncomfortable than anything else because of the plastic tubing in her nose to keep her septum in order.  Girlfriend got her plastic out on Tuesday and was a new woman.  She gets debreided on Monday and then we should be done!  WooHoo....Here are the latest and greatest gross nose pictures....

xo~M

Waiting for surgery

Post surgery with her popsicle 

Kinda gross, but she wanted me to take a pic of the plastic tubing inside

The tubing!

Recovery...Charley hardly left her side