The Great Sickness of Christmas 2013

I have a rare night off from the box tonight, so currently I'm sitting on the couch, white dog is snuggled beside me chewing on his half dead squeak toy Santa from Christmas & Miss Congeniality is on TV.  It's quite lovely!  And my computer is open to blog…so here we go!  :)

I wanted to be sure to recap Christmas for the pure sake of having it documented here.  It's seriously the longest post every, so feel free to skip over this post or just scroll through all the pics!

Our pretty tree!!

Christmas started the weekend before Christmas for us!  My extended family was down from Virginia & this year we did a white elephant gift/gift card exchange at my brother & SIL's house & it was really fun!

Scarlett & Daddy :)

Chatty baby girl!

Jude's new crown!

Roen & her new baby carrier :)

Loves her wub-a-nub!!  Haha

Wells sporting his new crown! 

Abel on his bike!

I think he's a fan :)

Memaw got an iPad!!!  (Not from the white elephant, haha, that wouldn't
fit the $25 budget!)  She was so surprised!!

Erin & Ryan - miss them so!

The great sickness of 2014 began that weekend, also!  My nephew had a low grade fever & runny nose, but was a trooper for weekend fun!  My parents were staying with us while in town, it was fun to have them over!  My mom started feeling under the weather Monday.  DayQuil became her best friend & she helped me prep for Christmas Eve Brunch the next day!  I was feeling slightly under the weather, just some drainage & a little sore throat, but not as bad!

We made Cinnamon Bun Muffins, Uncle Warren Pancakes & Chocolate Pecan Pie (not for brunch, obvi!)!  All were a big hit by the way, if you need any gluten free ideas or a good Paleo pie recipe!

Monday night, B & Warren coached at the gym, so I stayed home & made dinner!  I introduced my parents to one of our favorite Spaghetti Squash dishes & it was a hit  :)

Tuesday was Christmas Eve, no one showed up at the gym for the 6am class (shocking right!?) so B & I got our own workout in & then came home to host brunch!  We did our sibling gift exchange, also!

The kids got to pick one gift to open that day!

Mama & baby girl - twins!!

Such a good gift opener :)

Sweet Wells wasn't feeling good Christmas Eve, he seemed to have caught what was going around!  My mom was still living on DayQuil - fevers & runny noses all around :(

Poor snotty baby - still smiley, though!

Dakota's favorite spot :)

We had soup night at my bro & SIL's & were planning to go to the Christmas Eve service at Josh & Callie's church, but had to skip it due to all the sickness going around.  Poor Wells & Mimi were fever twins & hung together that night!

Wednesday was Christmas morning!  We woke up, just B & I and my parents at our house & opened from one another!  My mom & I whipped up our own version of this breakfast casserole (cooked in the oven, not the crockpot) while we all showered up.

We managed to take a sweet family photo before heading back over to J & C's for breakfast & presents with the kids!  The breakfast casserole was a big hit, btw!  And everyone was finally feeling a bit better!

Michelangelo is his favorite!!

Legos with Uncle Brandon :)

We left their house & headed up to Concord to see the rest of the family.  We thought the great sickness was leaving us, but Brandon talked to his sister up in Michigan & she had come down with the flu!!  She was missing most of sweet Weston's first Christmas & was so sad :(  We were keeping our fingers crossed she would magically be better by the time we got there the next night, ha.

The poodles love B!

Scarlett loves to open gifts :)

Scarlett with her little squeak baby (that's what I always called mine, haha, aka a Madame Alexander Doll)!

Duncan likes BearGran pets :)

B & I snuck away for a Christmas Day workout since we'd be stuck in a car the entire next day!

We came home & cooked a yummy steak dinner for the 4 of us, relaxed a bit & packed for Michigan.  Berkley was sad to be leaving his Mimi & BearGran!

The day after Christmas we left super early for Michigan!  This is how Berkley prefers to ride...

Spoiled much?

Thankfully, we didn't really encounter any snow until we got to West Michigan!

I did such a great job of taking pics on our new camera while in Charlotte, then we got to Michigan & didn't bring it out one time!  Major fail!

B's sister was feeling a little better by the time we got there, not 100%, but a little better.  We all hung out a little while that night, the pups played & then we went to bed!  Traveling will wear you out!

That night, Weston came down with croup & after a short trip to the ER (see - it really was the great sickness of Christmas 2013!), everyone was home to recover.  He wasn't feeling the best, but he hung out most of the day.

Berk loves the snow!

We went to work out at our friend Paul's CrossFit again, then grocery shopped to cook for family Christmas that Friday night!  We made a Paleo dinner for everyone, including the Paleo pie & opened all our gifts!

Weston was a little unsure about opening gifts at first!

Cute big boy!

Saturday turned out to be worse for Weston than Friday :(  Croup gets worse before it gets better apparently!  He's such a busy boy, but just laid in his mama & daddy's bed all day!  Ashley & Weston had to miss Christmas number 2 with B's grandparents, but we were sure to bring home plenty of food for them, haha.

We laid low that night & talked CrossFit, a spring sibling vacation & life in general.  We sure wish we lived closer to them!  We snuggled these boys & gave them faux hawks...

Sunday was more of the same, hanging out, working out & then we got dinner with some of B's best friends!

It was a great visit, despite all the sickness!  That definitely put a little damper on things, but great to be able to stay for a few days & enjoy our time there!

We drove home the 30th, another looong trip in the car!  Once we got home we put all of Christmas away!  

Another Christmas in the books!  And finally recapped on the blog!  Thanks goodness, feels good to be caught up :)