Happy New Year!

I am officially on my deathbed, as I am victim #4 of this plague tonight. Thanks to Isaac, who sent this to me while I wait for the end...

~~~

Rockin' in the New Year!

And celebrating on the East Coast Feed. Haha

What?!

It's midnight somewhere.

Happy New Year to All!

Team Lopez 2014

Wondering what Jason heard about the New Year.

He was having bad dreams and told me that his calendar only had one more day on it.  And that he didn't want to die when the year ended.

I asked him what he thought a New Year meant. He thought stuff ended.

I told him that "It means time for a brand new calendar with new pictures to see.  Each year, we try and get better and have more fun each time.

And what fun would it be to only ever have one Christmas, or only one Halloween, or Easter or Fourth of July?"

I hugged him a lot.

And told him to get some sleep and I'll see him next year.

~~~wonder where the boy gets his flair for the drama? 

Is This Armageddon?

Okay, okay.

I'm kidding about Armageddon. Mostly.

But duuuuude, it sure feels like the end is near with how the last few days have gone.

The stomach flu that fell poor Shawn on Christmas day continues to work its way through the family. Isaac was struck down early this weekend. Jason was hit yesterday.

Only Jack and I remain standing at this point. Any bets as to how long we manage to escape this plague that has descended upon our humble house?

Sigh.

Anyway, I have learned a few things from my time at the frontlines these last few days. (Be warned, vomit talk ahead.)

1) Woolite Pet Stain Remover works pretty well at removing both stains and smells even when said stains and smells do not come from a pet.

2) Fabreeze comes in unscented!

3) It is time for a new couch. Jason killed it. Ahem.

4) My boys are quite lovey and even smiley when they are really sick. Shawn was so stoic, only asking for me (or Isaac) to be near him and rub his back. He'd thank me and tell me he loved me every single time. Jason, who is a bit more dramatic, would vomit, roll over, look at me, smile, and tell me he loved me. Sweet, right?

5) It is possible to be elbow deep in said vomit one minute and then go back to finishing your meal a few minutes later. (after washing your hands, of course) You can even enjoy your meal. Go figure.

6) It is possible to wear vomit and not even notice until the person who vomited on you tells you that you smell. (Oops. In my defense, the bathrooms were all occupado.)

7) Methods to calm nausea in children, as suggested by friends on FB, are: ginger (various forms), peppermint (mint), Zofran (the prescription route if you can get it), heavy syrup from peaches, children's Pepto Bismol (for 2 yrs and up) and Imodium AD (for 6 yrs and up), and 7 Up.

8) I. Am. Exhausted. And I'm not even sick! Taking care of more than one person who is sick is exhausting.

9) After experience with both during this round of the Sick, if given the chance to choose whether to deal with someone else's upper body "issues" or lower body "issues", I hereby declare that the choice would be upper body issues. HANDS DOWN.

It seems that 2013 was the year of the Sick. I've lost count of how many times we've dealt with germs since August alone. We have one more day to get rid of this crud before the New Year.

Fingers crossed that we start 2014 with everyone feeling a whole lot better!

Christmas

A tiny bit from our Christmas holiday...



There are many moments we failed to capture on camera this year. We were a little preoccupied with a sick Shawn to take as many pictures as usual. :(

Cute Baby Saturday

Jack made a funny noise the other night while he was in bed, so I went in to see what was going on. I found him like this...

He is lying across the short end of his crib--and yes, he's still in the crib. He may be in it forever if I can swing it. The boy needs to be contained!--with his toys piled under his head as a makeshift pillow.

Cracks me up!

Friday Five - Christmas Edition

Santa brought the boys beanies in their Christmas stockings. Jack has taken a liking to them, wearing all three on his head at the same time!



He's starting a new trend!

This morning, he put a hat on as soon as he got up and kept it on continuously until nap time. He threw a fit when I tried to take it off for his nap, so I left it on him. You guessed it, the boy had it on when he woke up, too!

~~~

Jack singing Jingle Bells is just about the cutest thing. :)




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Not to be outdone, Jason created his own Christmas song. Lol.




~~~

Christmas day was not too fun for Shawn. He opened a few gifts here and there, but he was sick vomiting most of the day. Many of our pictures from Christmas day look like this:

He's on the couch.

I'm so glad we got a few cute ones of him, too.

He lasted long enough to open his stocking, took a two and a half hour nap,
opened a few presents from us, took another nap
for the rest of the day. Insert periodic vomiting and you've got his day.

He seemed to do a little better on Thursday. Today he ended up sleeping/resting for much of the day.

Poor guy.

~~~

The top presents of the year for the boys:

Jason - loves his LeapPad Ultra (because it has internet acces to videos and games-he calls it his iPad!), his Monster's Inc. CDA van, and the Hot Wheels Car Maker toy Santa brought him.
 

Shawn - also loves his LeapPad Ultra (he especially likes a new LeapFrog video he found on it) and his stuffed Sully and Mike toys.
 

Jack - his favorite is a bit harder to pin down, but he's spent the most time playing with his Little Tots Toy Pirate Ship and his Max and Ruby Beanie Babies. In fact, I think he really enjoys putting his Max and Ruby Beanie Babies inside his pirate ship. lol

 

Throwback Thursday - Our First Christmas As a Family of Four

It is Thursday, right? I'm exhausted enough to really have no clue without checking. :) Plus, I have just managed to download pictures from Christmas. Now all that's left is to figure out what to do with them.

So, as a stalling tactic, I take you back to one of my favorite all time pictures--our first family picture with the boys. It was also the first time I got to hold the big boys together.

The Christmas season a la 2007...


Our first family picture...

Are we not the happiest looking parents on the planet?!
Because we totally were. :)

The boys together for the first time since birth...

Jason left, Shawn right
Love the "My first Christmas" hats on their heads!

All I could do was stare at them. They were so tiny and sweet.

Long and lean, these two.
Love that Shawn is actually longer than Jay here.

Newborn socks on preemie feet. These socks went up to their knees!

Merry Christmas!

From our house to yours,

Merry Christmas!

12 Days Till Christmas - Team Lopez Style (Day 12)

There's just one day till Christmas,

so you all get to see...

Twelve magic beans,

A gift from Elfie!
12 magic beans!

 

You plant them in a bit of sugar.

The finished product after planting

Voila! A candy cane garden grows!

 

Eleven homemade cookies,

Ten on a float (Santa and his 9 reindeer),

So, you can only see part of them, but trust me when
I tell you they were all there. The boys loved seeing Santa!

Nine presents under the tree,



Okay, now we're at more than nine. :)

Eight things on our to do list,

1. Wrap presents (hallelujah!)
2. Address and send Christmas Cards
3. Go see Santa (pictures to come!)
4. See the Christmas lights (This is the best day ever!)
5. Go Christmas Caroling on Sunday (He had a BLAST!)
6. Crafting, crafting, and more crafting
7. Take the boys to go shopping for their gifts to family (we made them instead!)
8. Be Merry

Seven words about Santa,

      Me: Guys, what is the best thing we've done this week?

      Jason: It was when we saw Santa.

      Shawn: Yeah!

      The big man in red was a hit this year!

Six handmade ornaments,





 

The boys did the snowmen. Jack did the reindeer.
Shawn did the tree and the two small ornaments.

 

Five in a picture,




 

Four fingerprint snowmen,





I heart them. They totally feed into my fascination with
the boys' hands. lol

 

Three gingerbread houses,

Decorated by (from left to right): Jason, Jack, and Shawn

Two kissing boys,



Showing a little love at Candy Cane Lane.

and Santa's scout named Elfie.






It was Elfie's last night with us. He pulled out the stockings
and decorated. He even gave the boys two gifts, magic seeds and bath paints!

He went all out decorating. He made cute little snowflakes
to remind of us his North Pole.

Here's his note, the seeds, and the present.

Painting it up in the tub!

Now all there is to do is wait until morning. The boys are wildly excited about Santa coming. I have to admit that I am excited, too!

 

Merry Christmas, everyone!

 

12 Days Till Christmas - Team Lopez Style (Day 11)

We've got two days till Christmas,

so you all get to see...

Eleven homemade cookies,

Sigh. Confession. We were supposed to make cookies today. I had it all planned, but as you can see, there is no picture because there was not cookie making. Things like that happen.

So, until tomorrow, when we actually do get the chance to make cookies, I want you to picture this scene in your minds: There is a calm serene mother with perfect hair (hey, she looks a lot like me!) adoringly supervising her three tidy and well behaved boys as they rollout and cut sugar cookies into holiday shapes. There is no yelling or throwing of ingredients. All are happy and smiling the entire time. Then, the boys willingly clean up the slight mess they made as the mother proudly watches.

What? It can totally happen! Fine. The perfect hair is a bit much, right? ;)

Ten on a float (Santa and his 9 reindeer),

So, you can only see part of them, but trust me when
I tell you they were all there. The boys loved seeing Santa!

Nine presents under the tree,

SO, it has been discovered that we cannot
leave presents under the tree. Jack likes presents.
Now it is bare again under our tree. Sigh.

Eight things on our to do list,

1. Wrap presents (hallelujah!)
2. Address and send Christmas Cards
3. Go see Santa (pictures to come!)
4. See the Christmas lights (Our Christmas Eve tradition)
5. Go Christmas Caroling on Sunday (He had a BLAST!)
6. Crafting, crafting, and more crafting
7. Take the boys to go shopping for their gifts to family (dollar store, here we come!)
8. Be Merry

Seven words to Santa,

      Me: Jason, do you think you'll be on the naughty list or the nice list?

      Jason: Nice. It says so on my shirt.

      You can't argue with logic like that, now can you?

Six handmade ornaments,




Fingers crossed for more crafting tomorrow.
Shawn wants to get back to the beads.

 

Five in a picture,



Not the winning pose but close. :)
I really love our photographer. I don't know how she
always manages to get some really good shots of our uncooperative subjects.

 

Four fingerprint snowmen,





I heart them. They totally feed into my fascination with
the boys' hands. lol

 

Three gingerbread houses,

Decorated by (from left to right): Jason, Jack, and Shawn

Two kissing boys,



This is an older picture (one of my favorites) because Jason
was complaining of a sore throat today and I do not want
to contaminate the entire crew with whatever he may have!

and Santa's scout named Elfie.






Hanging around on his swing.
The boys had their minds blown when he'd
occasionally start swinging. "Mom! How'd he do that?!?"
Heh heh heh.