Christmas Blogging, Interrupted!

Oh the great plans I had for the Christmas season at the Brown house and on the blog! And then this little unwanted friend named bacterial infection came to visit and ruined all of that!  So . . .

Thanksgiving was extra special around our house because it was also Ryan's birthday! We celebrated the weekend before with dinner at Superior Steakhouse. They surprised us both when the waiter delivered a birthday slice of cheesecake to the table! HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN!

A few days later on Sunday and old friend, Unexplained Fever, came to visit to my sweet little Conner. The boys had a big weekend coming up so on Tuesday we decided to hit the doctor.  Of course, as is par for Conner, there was nothing wrong him except for the fever.  We were almost dismissed with the dreaded words "Oh it's just viral . . . take Tylenol and Motrin," but luckily we did a blood test and his white blood cell count was double the normal limit.  Antibiotics - yea!

Amazingly he felt better in time for the BOYS HOCKEY WEEKEND aka MOM'S WEEKEND TO HERSELF!! Ryan took the boys to Dallas to attend hockey games Friday & Saturday night and Legoland during the day on Saturday.  They all three had a great time!

And I got a very rare weekend alone - all alone in my house with full control of the TV and the menu and bedtime and it was FABULOUS!! My mom, sister, and I spent all day Saturday shopping and it was great to hang out with them!

The fun came to an end though when by Monday afternoon Conner was back running fever.  Back to the doctor again and again told we are fine except for fever and another super high white blood cell count.  We changed meds and went home to suffer.  Most of our days last week looked like this or worse . .  

And as anyone who knows Conner can attest this child DOES NOT lay down; he does not nap and yet essentially that is all he did so you could definitely tell he didn't feel good.  Friday we were back at the doctor with more fever and ulcers in our mouth.  He got a shot and was very mad with me.  Saturday was the worst day ever but thankfully do to many calls for prayer on Saturday night, Sunday he started to improve!

We celebrated our newfound health with fireplace s'mores!  Conner liked to roast them but didn't really want to eat them.  Mason gladly took of that for him!

Here is Mason showing us how it's done!

Due to rain and Conner's sickness we got our tree later than ever this year and Conner & I did not go to pick it out.  It's definitely a "Charlie Brown" tree but that's OK! I'm just glad Mason & Ryan went and got one for us while I stayed home and loved on Conner.

Christmas also means Christmas parties at school! Conner & I only caught the end of Mason's party but Mason had a great time! He got to visit Santa and they sang Christmas carols in class and took home a stocking full of assorted goodies!



I had the most productive day on Wednesday - rooms got cleaned, bills got paid, fan blades got dusted, presents got wrapped - and I was thinking that I could totally get back on track in time for Christmas festivities . . . WRONG! Almost as soon as I began to think that did I notice Conner was broke out in hives . . . and I got a cold . . . and Mason began to run fever . . . and oh that's a post for another day!

Black Friday 2011

I am one of those crazy Black Friday shoppers who leaves her house in the wee hours of the night/morning and waits in line to get the Doorbusters!! I LOVE it!!  Its like a game and I find it to be great fun!

I met up with some of my best gal pals, Elise and Holly, at Wal-mart at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving night.  I actually got there first and had to park at another store and run into Wal-mart by myself.  It was one of those moments that I knew my mom would die if she saw me - running alone at night through two parking lots and a field!  I love the bobbing and weaving and carrying toys on my head that entails Black Friday.

I guess because stores opened earlier (later?) this year it increased the crowds because it was like nothing I had ever seen before and I have been BF shopping for 7 years.  Thankfully I got lots of good deals and it was so worth the lack of sleep - not only for the deals but for some quality time with my girls!

I did learn one lesson though - one should always wear a Christian T-shirt when BF shopping because it holds you accountable!  I was wearing my WOGGLE Christmas T and WOGGLE stands for Woman of God - Growing, Loving, and Encouraging.  Elise & Holly left me on buggy duty for a few minutes and a girl realized the line she was waiting in did not actually lead to a register and she asked if she could go in front of me.  Now on BF time is money and you want to get to the next opening on time but I was working on "Loving" and I let her in line.  However this kind action resulted in everyone in her non-existent line to try and boot me out of line and while I would have never been down right nasty to someone it was on my tongue to let them know I was next!! I did stand up for my position in line but in a very WOGGLE way!

So no one got hurt, no one got yelled at and it was all very fun!

Poor Elise had it bad because I was pregnant and therefore not up to speed and Holly had just had surgery and was not up to speed.  So we alternating staying in the car while she shopped but it was still great fun with great friends!

Holly was our photographer so check her blog for pictures - I'm sure they will be up soon!