Christmas to Remember!

It was a Christmas to Remember! We had an excellent Christmas weekend, which included Christmas Eve with Larry's family (both siblings and all the grandkids and MamMaw) and Christmas with my complete family (both siblings and all the grandkids and my parents)! How rare is that?! We were certainly blessed!

My boys loved their gifts and we have had a wild few days, with guitar playing, bow and arrow shooting, bike riding and a couple of major Nerf Gun wars. There has been astounding amounts of monkey munch, chocolate covered pretzels, pound cake, pie and countless other goodies consumed. Good thing that I got WiiFit Plus! And am I ever sore from SuperHulaHoop!

Caleb's first Christmas was so very fun and we love watching him play with his new Fav...its a Parents' Gumball Machine Toy (courtesy of Aunt Katherine)! He loves it!!!

He also had a wonder run of highly anticipated accomplishments! Our little guy hasn't seemed highly motivated to move. He has only rolled over a handful of times and hasn't really attempted to crawl. However!!! He moved from tummy to sitting in his crib Sunday afternoon and then last night, he flipped over in the night and couldn't go back to sleep! Nothing major, we just needed a little snuggle and went right back to sleep. I am so very excited! Larry was determined not to worry about the delay until Caleb was a year old (which is just around the corner). However, I was already fretting a bit. These are certainly great steps toward taking steps sometime in the future!

Great Christmas, Great Savior, Great big mess of Christmas stuff to take down and put away! I better get moving!

Happy New Year!

Christmas is Carnage!

Have you ever seen the movie "Babe"? It's a hoot and I love it...

One of my favorite scenes is one where the goofy duck on the farm summarizes his horrible view of Christmas. He shares a 'logical' progression reasoning that...

Christmas means guests,
Guests mean Dinner,
Dinner means Death,
Death means Carnage...
Christmas is Carnage!!!

Quite funny if considering the holiday through the eyes of a farm duck.

Anyway, tonight we are preparing for Christmas Eve together with Larry's sisters and their sons. This will be a tough one, since this is the first year without Grandfather. Christmas Eve was always at Grandfather's (with the single exception of last year, since my faulty hip wouldn't allow the stairs).

I have tried to buffer the emotional blow with a multitude of chocolate laden snacks. Chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate covered Ritz PB sandwiches, fudge and monkey munch. Yumm!! Not to mention baked potatoes, broccoli rice soup, layered salad, veggie tray with fresh Ranch dip, celery with PB, and the like. Of course, there will be gumbo (which is a Daigle tradition).

After our family time, we will head to the church for the two candlelight services. Then it's time to tuck the four most adorable little men on the earth into their beds to wait for the visions of sugar plums. Christmas morning is for us alone. This has been a rule from the time we've had our little ones. We love the fun! Then it's off to Grammy and Pa's for Christmas lunch and time with my family and the kids' cousins.

I am sure that it will be a Christmas to remember!

Much love to you all and I hope you have a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Quote for the Day

I rummaged through a box of books looking for something that I 'thought' I read some time ago. And...wonder of wonders, I found it! I was thinking about Mary and knew that I had read a beautiful (fictional) depiction of her evening in the stable.

I thought I would share a poignant portion:

She closed her eyes and listened, stealing time like a hidden metronome, as high and as wide as she dared to think, but she still could not begin to comprehend. She, a common child of the most humble means who had never read the Scriptures for herself, was embracing the incarnate Word. The fullness of the Godhead rested in her inexperienced arms, sleeping to the rhythm of her heart.

Beth Moore - Jesus:90 Days with The One and Only p.38-39

Eye Ball Report

Joseph is quite the docile patient and took his days of eyedrops like a champ. The bandage contact was removed and his eye has healed nicely. There will be a possibility of him having to deal with recurrent corneal erosion at some point in the future, but maybe not.

Again, I am so grateful for God's protection and provision via Dr. Mike Nell, TSO Conroe TX!

It's All Fun and Games Until...

Someone gets poked in the eye!

Our little guys were having a delightful day playing (while Larry and I painted the guest room and extra bathroom) until Joseph was the recipient of a significant eye poke.

He came into the room quietly and said, "______ poked me in the eye really bad!" I took him into my lap and pryed the eye open just enough to see two gouges right at the pupil. YIKES!!! It's one thing to get poked in the eye...I thought I was just going to give his ridiculously long eyelashes a chance to get out from under the other lid...No...this was the kind of poke that puts big cracks in your cornea that your squeemish mother is quite sure could be seen from outerspace.

Not wanting to alarm him, I calmly said...After a pause for a deep breath, "Let's just keep your eyes shut for a second, while I get Daddy." At that, I went into the other room and acted out in dramatic pantomime the need for Larry to IMMEDIATELY formulate a plan, because I was too nauseated to think straight. In our marriage, we have a concrete agreement that I handle illnesses and Larry handles blood and bones. There was evidently an oversight in regards to poked corneas. Live and Learn!

I told Joseph that Daddy was calling an eye doctor to see what the best plan was for us. He got sniffly and said, in the sweetest quivery voice, "It's one of my senses!" So darling!

Larry was able to contact Dr. Mike Nell, an eye doctor that is a member of our church. Larry had to be at the church for our major production, Bethlehem City. So, I met Dr Nell at his office. He was so kind and was able to numb the eye in order get a good look at it. He gave us 3 prescription eye drops (an anti-biotic, an anti-inflammatory and a lubricant). He also introduced me to the most fascinating thing....a bandage contact lense. I was expecting a pirate-style patch. However, Dr Nell explained that since the eyelid would continuously irritate the cornea it was better to insert a contact lense that would allow the eyelid to continue to function normally, yet still allow the cornea to heal. This was able to reduce the recovery time and avoid the common problem of one eye suddenly becoming predominately stronger than the other.

Very interesting...and we were able to get back to the church before Bethlehem City even started! Much thanks to Dr Nell for helping us out in a pinch...Much MORE thanks to God for protecting Joseph and his vision.