A plague in our house for Christmas

It was a ...er.... different Christmas this year.

It all started on the 23rd, when at 4 p.m., Austin spiked a fever. Thankfully it was gone by morning and he was left with just a really rotten cold. The kind of cold that just kind of knocks you on your ass.

By Christmas Eve, I was feeling pretty rotten -- and by the evening I had fa ever, as did Ryan. So much for a nice quiet Christmas Eve, drinking wine and watching holiday movies.

By morning I felt better -- just left with the same rotten cold that Austin had. But Ryan was not.

The only time he managed to get out of bed was to watch the kids open their presents and even then (sorry hon) he looked like death lying on the couch. It didn't take us long to realize it was pretty clear that he wasn't going anywhere. He didn't have the same cold that Austin and I had; with such a high fever (39C+), he had the flu.

After some discussion, it was decided that I would take the kids to my parents house for Christmas dinner without him. The kids were super excited to go to grandma and granddad's for Christmas and to not go may have caused rioting.

So we went -- getting there around 4:30 p.m. And it was really nice to see everyone for Christmas -- my grandma was there and both my sisters. But by 6:30 p.m., Alex, after being pretty lithargic the whole time we were there, spiked a fever. 39C+. We didn't stay much longer after that.

So now it's Boxing Day morning. Ryan's still in bed with a fever, Alex is lying lifelessly on the couch with a fever and Austin's nose is pouring like a faucet.

I think I want a Christmas Day do-over.

But on a less-sick note, the kids had a great Christmas morning. The day didn't start until 8:20 a.m. when Austin woke up -- that's the third year in a row that we've gotten a late start to Christmas morning. (I must say I do love the fact that my kids aren't always early risers!)

Austin made his way into the living room first, checked out what Santa left for him and Alex (a 400-block Lego set for him and a Mommy and Me set for Alex -- complete with baby stroller, crib and high chair) and then went to wake Alex up.

They opened their stockings, ate breakfast and then the present frenzy ensued. This is the first year that Austin 'got' the opening presents thing. He'd open each one, look at it for a minute (or 2 seconds, depending on how interesting it was) and then move on to the next one. Alex on the other hand, would open a present and then immediately insist we open the packaging of the toy so that she could play with it right then and there -- completely forgetting that there were still more presents to open.

It was the first time we've done Christmas morning just the four of us at home and it was really nice -- well other than the plague that plagued most of us.

We were supposed to head to London today to spend the day with Ryan's mom and then the following day with Ryan's dad, but we've had to call in an IOU. No one is getting out of their pajamas today and maybe even tomorrow.

Santa also brought us all skates for Christmas. Hopefully we'll be healthy enough to try them out by New Year's Eve.

Wishing you all a very Merry (and healthy) Christmas.

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Merry Christmas from The Evans Family

Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday and a joyous New Year!

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I saw mommy...sitting with Santa Claus

Two weeks ago, we went to Ryan's company Kids Christmas Party. And of course the big highlight is seeing Santa.

We've been going every year, and Austin has only ever had an issue with sitting on Santa's knee once -- when he was 18 months old. Ever since then, he's super excited to sit with Santa and chat.

Alex on the other hand is not.

Last year she wouldn't go anywhere near him. This year, she was very excited to see Santa. She kept talking about seeing him and even when we were standing in line, she was excited. Until it was her turn.

And so, this is how our Santa picture turned out this year:
It was Santa's idea to have mom sit down too. Alex may not have wanted to sit with Santa, but I was pretty excited to!

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A November and December update

Well, after a flurry of new updates in late October/early November -- I seemed to have gone silent. Sorry about that. Life has just been busy and yet, there hasn't been much to write about. But here's a quick update of what we've been up to.

The weekend of November 13, Ryan's sisters Krista and Jamie and Jamie's boyfriend came for the weekend. We went to the Royal Winter Fair on Saturday (where the kids had a blast) and then went bowling on Sunday morning (where the kids really had a blast). Apparently, bowling is fun regardless of your age.

The following weekend, Ryan went to Michigan with some guys. They left early Friday afternoon, where they went to the Windsor Casino, a Michigan football game and a UFC fight in Detroit before coming home on Sunday afternoon. I've been told it was a good time.

Since it was just me and the kids all weekend -- we kept busy. Austin had a PA Day on the Friday so we went to the Science Centre. Then on Saturday we had a daytime playdate, followed by an evening playdate/dinner/movie. After such a busy two days, we kept it pretty low key on the Sunday -- even though it was Santa Claus parade day. Instead of braving the crowds with the kids by myself, we opted to watch it on TV while drinking hot chocolate.

The following weekend, November 26-28, the kids went to Nana's house in London, giving me and Ryan two whole days of quiet. I drove them down on Friday afternoon (making the trip in 6-hours including the time I hung out in London for a bit). So, on Friday night, Ryan and I went out for dinner -- because we could. Saturday morning was spent Christmas shopping without the kids and Saturday night was spent at Ryan's company Christmas party -- which is always a big do with lots of free food and drink. On Sunday afternoon, Ryan drove down to London to pick the kids up. I've been told the kids had a good time, even if they did tire Nana out!

This past weekend (Dec. 4-5) we were in Orillia for the day where Ryan's grandmother had an early family Christmas dinner. In all, 21 people were able to make it and it was a really good time. It had been many years since we'd seen some of the people there.

That's about all that's been going on. Austin still loves going to school each day and at his parent teacher interviews last month, his teacher had nothing negative to say about him. She said he's learning quickly, listens well and is all around a good kid (whose kid is she talking about?).

And Alex's big news is that she's now potty trained. Three weeks ago, I decided enough was enough and told her she was done with diapers and took them away. It had dawned on me a few weeks earlier that the reason she wasn't 'getting it' was because if she was wearing a pull-up, she was too lazy to go to the bathroom. (Pullups worked for one kid, but not the other.) The first two days were rough -- and we went through a lot of pairs of pants -- but after that she started to get it and now she rarely has an accident. She still wears diapers at night and a nap time and we'll get there eventually.

That's all for now. If I don't get back to the blog again this year -- Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah and Happy New Year.

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