our christmas (part three, with angie's fam)

the third christmas celebration we had was in calcasieu with my parents. chet and ashley, stone and stahley were able to be there, too. it had been two years since we had seen them, so a visit was long overdue! with six adults and five kids (and one on the way :) ) we knew it would be crowded- mom and dad had a friend offer for us to use his families' camper. it really worked out great. joel and the boys and chet and his kiddos all slept in the 'man cave' (poor stahley with all of those guys :) ) and the rest of us stayed in the house. the kids really loved the trailer! honestly, it was nice to not have to deal with putting them to bed or get up with them during the night. joel was a trooper to have to do that most nights. i really enjoyed getting to visit with mom and ashley in the evenings after everyone went to bed.

for those of you who don't know, i grew up in the country, and when we visit, i really look forward to just hanging out and not being so busy. i am glad that we didn't have a lot going on and we able to just spend time together. we had our 'christmas morning' on the 26th. the kids had a ball and enjoyed playing with their toys and stone's toys, too. :) lane and ellen were really sick by that time. lots of coughing and fevers that wouldn't go away. it made me sad that lane really wasn't himself for most of the visit, just because he was so sick.

some of us (ash was sweet to stay home with sick kids) went to church with my parents on sunday. we all met up for lunch afterward and it was pretty crazy as you can imagine with all the kids. we went for a quick visit at my parent's friends' connie and gene's. this is where we took pictures of the family and i forgot my camera. you will just have to take my word for it that we were all together and in church clothes. :)

joel and chet got to go see louisiana tech in the independence bowl. they won! it was fun to watch some of the game on tv. the kids were really cheering and that was fun. that night we let them have a slumber party on the living room floor and eat popcorn and watch a movie. they really did have such a fun time with their cousins.

at some point, the guys all went to my dad's hunting lease to shoot guns and do boy stuff. :) they also got to shoot off the rockets that our boys got for christmas. that was really fun.

ashley and i decided to paint the back room at my parents house for them. i think it turned out really nice, but it was kind of crazy juggling the sick kids and the like.

i got to spend some time with my best friends from high school, christy and bridgett. i always enjoy time with them. we always laugh a lot. lifelong friends are the best!

by wednesday morning, lane was not feeling well at all and ellen and davis were sick, too. we didn't want to leave for a two day car ride with three very sick kids, so we took them to the doctor. we waited forever, but once they saw lane he had over a 104 fever. the nurses were pretty freaked out and it was so sad to have him so lathargic and sick. it is the most nervous i think i have been about a sick kiddo, for sure. turns out, he had a double ear infection and ellen had one ear infection. we got loaded up with drugs (literally) and within the next day or so, they were starting to feel better. what a yucky thing to deal with on vacation. i am thankful that it was nothing worse.

(stone taught davis to say "do you have your tickets?" "tickets to the gun show!":

we left on new years eve, it was sad to leave my family. thanks, mom and dad for all you do for us. we had a great time. and chet and ash, let's not go two more years. :)

we headed home- but we had to stop early in order to watch the lsu game. :) it was a really enjoyable evening, ordering room service (fayncee) watching lsu dominate and going to sleep early. it is so good to be home. the house is completely trashed beyond recognition, but i don't even care yet. it will get clean eventually, i hope so anyway... new years resolution #1- unpack and clean.