Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I will be honest and say the last couple of days, I have not felt very Christmasy. I miss my family. I miss our pre Christmas traditions. I miss driving through Sherwood Forrest. I miss driving past the house covered with giant blow up characters. I miss our friends and our favorite annual Christmas Party. Mainly, I miss my family. But, I am trying to break out of the funk. I know this is truly going to be the best Christmas ever. We have cut way back on Christmas, which I am really excited about. Each gift has been carefully thought about. And instead of our late night Christmas Eve service, we are doing something entirely different. We are going to church early (at 3:00) and then going to do something so very special I can't even tell you about here. It is something we have waited for for FOUR long years! I know this is an unfair teaser, but it's not my news to spill yet. I promise to spill when I can. It is what I am looking forward to the most on Christmas Eve.

Emmy is much better. However, this child and steroids do not mix well. She has not slept hardly at all. I am not exaggerating when I say she did not sleep more than a total of an hour after midnight last night. Today she has had a few short short naps, but nothing like usual. She had her last dose tonight, so hopefully by Christmas Eve, she will be feeling more like her wonderfully sleepy self :)

A Christmas Party, Polar Express Day and a barfing sister story.

This post is so jumbled. But I uploaded all the pictures and it is too hard to rearrange them all, so, um, sorry.

First we have the Christmas party. Precious babies. I mean big kids.

 Now, this day was Polar Express day. The pictures are in exact opposite order. But, let me tell you, it was amazing. The amount of hours and volunteers it took to pull this off was incredible. I helped set up the day before, but I cannot take credit for anything, because other ladies spent literally months making this stuff. I was just happy I got to help a little bit. The kids had no idea what was going on. They just thought it was a pajama day. Their mouths just hung open when they saw everything.

Ok, so this was actually right before I left. The kids were wild and crazy until Miss B pulled out a book. It's amazing how quickly she can calm 19 crazy 5 and 6 year olds. She's good.

 This is the hallway leading to the Kindergarten pod. The tracks are my favorite.

 Hallway decor

 The ticket booth.

 Hallway decor again

 Look who was waiting for them in the pod!

 More Hallway decorations.

 So excited. She could not be still.

 No, really SO excited. After her first sip of Hot Chocolate.

 Hope's punched ticket.

 How cute is the gingerbread house?

 This is the North Pole!

 The conductor punching their Polar Express Tickets

 On their way down the track on The Polar Express

 A little teasing from Miss B

 Quite possibly Hope's very favorite person in the whole world.

 This is Cooper! He and his family are our friends that moved from Little Rock when we did. His sweet Mommy kept my Hopey Lou while I was helping set up (and then Hope cried when I picked her up because she wants to live with them forever.)

 The day started with all of Kindergarten going straight to the cafeteria. One of the Kindergarten teachers read the Polar Express story and told them that something magical happens everytime she reads it! Then the kids lined up, were given their train pieces and tickets and in came the conductor. It was so fun.

 And then, here's a little song I made up.

It goes like this.

"I love my sister."

" I love my sister..."

"Until she spits up."

It's sweet, isn't it?

And on the 8th day of Christmas, my baby got the croup

Last night, I laid in bed with Hope and Noah in Hope's bed and tried to catch up on all the Christmas books we haven't read yet. We all fell asleep. I woke to a horrible sound, and knew immediately that Emmy Love had the croup. Both Noah and Hope have had the croup before, and both went to the Emergency room. This time, I did all that I knew to do and held out to take Emmy to her fabulous doctor in the morning. We didn't get much sleep, to say the least. Well, Dr. K confirmed the croup. And while we were at it we did an official weight check. Let me back up to say that we weighed Emmy quickly yesterday, and she was 13 pounds 11 ounces, with clothes and wet diaper. So, today naked baby weighed 13 pounds 2 ounces! which put her in the 16th percentile. She went up TEN percentile points in 4 weeks! This is so awesome. We have been so worried about her, and no she is our biggest baby again (she was our biggest at birth by 2 ounces :) Dr. K called her a chunky monkey!

I took these pictures yesterday. I did not keep many of Hope's baby outfits, but this was my all time favorite. It was her first Baby Lulu outfit. I bought it knowing Hope would be born near Christmas (Her due date was 12-9) I didn't think Emmy would fit in it, but she does! It makes me so happy :)

 These are from today. Yes, I only took the pictures for our Christmas card TODAY. Why, because I ordered these shirts off of Etsy on DECEMBER 1st, and they didn't arrive until yesterday. I do love the shirts, but I wouldn't order from this seller again. Oh well, they are here now. And I will force them to wear them for the next 4 days.

Emmy has had 2 doses of steroids today, so I am really hoping for a better night!

Christmas Card Out-take #1

I like to call this one,

"I picked it just for you."

Frisco Light Show

Last weekend we headed to Frisco to their lightshow on the square. It was so fun... and free! The best kind of Christmas Fun. The lights are set to music on the whole square. Everyone walks around and there are train rides, bounce houses, carriage rides, and of course, Santa was there! This was Emmy's first Santa encounter, and the first that Noah remembers! Hope was super excited, Noah was just shocked that Santa was really there, and Emmy, well, she just knew he was NOT her Mommy!

We have promised Hope that we will do something "Christmasy" every night. It has been a lot of fun! I heart Christmas time, and I can't believe it is next week! I braved the stores today (with the millions of others! But, I was without kids, so it didn't bother me one bit.) I went to the Mattel outlet store in Richarson. Umm...Awesome! My Texas friends, you are in trouble for not telling me about this earlier. So glad I went there first, because I would have paid a lot more for the things I was going to buy anyway. What was not awesome were their shopping carts. Their rusty shopping carts. Their rusty shopping carts with metal shards on the inside. The rusty shopping carts with metal shards that I sliced my finger open on. It hurts. And I need a tetnus shot, and probably could have used a stitch or two. But, I kept shopping. We have so many nieces and nephews to knock out, I had to keep going. I am planning on getting a shot tomorrow. Boo. I asked the man who worked there (who helped clean my finger) if he thought I should get a shot. He said "Nah, I slice my hands on these every day and my jaw hasn't locked up or anything." Awesome. I will be getting a shot.

North Pole Express

I was able to go with Hope last week on her first field trip! It was so much fun. I can't share many pictures because there are other kids in the pictures and I don't want to post them without permission from parents. But, I can tell you, it was so fun! Of course, for Kindergarteners, the highlight was really riding the bus! Hope was very sad when the train ride was over. She never likes for the fun to stop. She kept asking while we were on the train when were we going to the field trip. I'm not exactly sure what she was expecting a field trip to look like, but it wasn't the train itself, that's for sure! She did love it though. It was so special to be with just my big girl while John stayed home with the babies. She is growing up way too fast.

Emmy's 4 month picture

Since Emmy is almost 5 months old, I thought it was about time to post her 4 month picture! Isn't she yummy? Just looking at her picture makes me want to go upstairs and wake her up to give her some sugar! But, I won't. Yet.

A few pics from today!

Emmy was feeling quite festive today! Does anyone else notice how chubby her cheeks are getting?! I think she likes baby food! Especially oatmeal. Yummy. Those cheeks make a worried mama very, very happy!

 Noah has a little obsession with the Wiggles right now. John brought in his car from his Ninny a few weeks ago, and he calls it his "Toot Toot Chugga Chugga." I know it's hard to tell what is going on here, but he is trying to keep Hope away from his precious Toot Toot Chugga Chugga!

A very rare picture of my 3 babies together. We are soooo close to getting a good picture!

Tomorrow I am going with Hope on her first ever field trip! We are going to ride the Polar Express Train! I am so excited. Hope is too! Pictures coming soon.

Thanksgiving wrap up

Well, of course we went to Little Rock for Thanksgiving! Surely no one thought I would miss that, right? I went with the kiddos for the whole week to help my sister pack for her move into the city! Although, after I arrived with three children, I soon realized that despite my best efforts, I was not a huge help. I so wanted to though! I still feel bad. But, Noah was either into something, or Emmy was screaming. And Hope? I'm not sure I saw Hope the whole week we were there! She grabs her cousins and disappears for hours and hours of skit acting, movie watching, art making, doll house playing, trampoline jumping, make over doing....

In no order whatsoever...

Mimi time!

Bathtime in the sink!

Emmy scored a new Jenny Jump Up. She is not sure it's a good idea to let her sister swing her...

Baby Power!

Emmy tried her first Veggies on Thanksgiving! Sweet Potatoes! I even found her a Thanksgiving shirt that had baby food jars on it! So, that is the reason she is dressed like a boy! In her first pair of jeans!

Aunt Lisa and Emmy

More Taters

This is not the actual picture we used for Mom's Christmas card, but you get the picture of what we were trying to accomplish...

And because, the four Hoover siblings are incredibly awesome (or not), we did our own version...

Mama Bee and Paw Paw Sullivan

And, because she's too school for cool...

:) And, if you think I am mean for posting this, please know that my sister posted a picture of me drugged up and waiting for my appendectomy last year ON FACEBOOK. I will never be able to repay her for that one. I do love her though.

Our New Santa

I am not a collector of many things. But, a lot of you know I have a little obsession with Clothtique Santas. I have been collecting since long before John and I got married, and I have about 25 of them. Blame my parents who used to make me duck between people and run to the display every year at the Dillard's day after Christmas sale from the time I was 10. That's right, we are the crazies. I have tried to tone down my obsession in recent years. My goal is to only buy one. Usually, that doesn't quite work, because I find at least two that I neeeeed. Anyway, so I buy one (or 2 or 3...) the day after Christmas every year. and really, the best part of decorating is finding what I bought the year before, because I can NEVER remember! I was so happy when I pulled this Santa out tonight! We told everyone on Christmas Day we were expecting Emmy, so the next day it was so nice to be able to openly discuss that we would have a little baby next Christmas! Now, someone please tell me why I did not think to buy a new stocking the day after Christmas last year! Ha!

Have I mentioned how much I love Christmas time? I do! Life is good!