Our Thanksgiving that almost wasn't...

What a WILD ride the past week has been!

Taylor caught a cold last week and had been pretty snotty and coughy.  Our holidays always kick off on Thanksgiving Eve.  We head downtown to see the lighting of the Santa, tree, and wreath.  I contemplated not going this year because Taylor was a little under the weather, but the weather was AWESOME (we barely even needed coats!) and she seemed to be feeling a little better.  So, downtown we headed!

Both girls had coughing fits right before they lit the tree. Mom had to duck into a restaurant and get bottles of water... and cookies :o)  I thought, great... now Jaden is getting sick.

We went to Grandma's on Thanksgiving for dinner at noon. The girls were under strict instruction to COVER THEIR COUGH, blow their noses, and wash their hands... Oh, and don't give the babies their germs!  Jaden's right eye also looked a little red, but there was no crust so I ruled out pink eye and figured it was just from coughing so hard the night before.

 

This year, the girls made place mats to show what they were thankful for.  First, they traced their hand and made a turkey.

Next, they cut out their turkey and some leaves. On the leaves, they wrote what they were thankful for.

We glued everything down and...

Tada!  Thanksgiving place mats!  I took them to work and laminated them so the girls could use these during dinner next year.

In case you can't read them, Jaden is thankful for, "Pat (her great-grandma), Daddy, Wayn (her great-grandpa Wayne), gramu (grandma), gramps, Mommy, Taylor, and Alyssa (one of her friends)."  She sounded out and spelled all of the words herself.

Taylor is thankful for, "Tea Parties, Grandmas and Grandpas, Hot Dogs and Applesauce, ABCs, Baby Maxine (her favorite doll), Mom and Dad, Jaden, and My Friends."  She told me what she wanted on her leaves and I wrote them.  These girls have a lot to be thankful for!!

Then they did puzzles with Gram and Gramps... I love the concentration :o)

After dinner at Grandma's, we went to Mike's parents' house for more delicious food!

I did get a little shopping done on Thanksgiving. I went to one store when it opened at 9 a.m. for an awesome deal and then to another store when it opened at 8 p.m. for another awesome deal!  Let me tell you... there are some CRAZY people out there!  Thankfully, I was able to get in and out of the store in under 10 minutes!  I was the 10th person in line to get into the store (because instead of standing in the line at the main entrance, I went to the back door... a little known secret around these parts!) and first in line to check out.  It was awesome!  Except, my throat started to feel tight and scratchy...

I did not head out into the crowds on Black Friday.  Instead, I tackled my family room!

That's the only picture you get for now...

The only problem was, my one-day project was not completed on Friday because that's when our weekend from H-E-double hockey sticks started!  During dinner, I noticed that there was yellow goop coming out of Jaden's right eye.  Grr... blasted pink eye.  I took her to Redi-Med after we were done eating and as they were doing the normal check-up stuff, they discovered that she had a fever and that it sounded like she had fluid in her lungs.  They wanted to get an x-ray to check for PNEUMONIA!  Are you kidding me?!  We went in for pink-eye and came out with a mild case of pneumonia.  Terrific.  I was actually thankful for the pink-eye that night. The Dr. said that they caught the pneumonia early enough that it was easily treated.  Had she not had the pink-eye, we may have had a pretty bad situation on our hands!  I took her home and tucked her in... poor kid!

The next day, I continued to work on my room.  My cold was getting worse and my ears were hurting a little.  I took some cold meds and pushed on through to try to get my room done.  By the end of the night, my ears were plugged.  It felt like i was driving through the mountains.  They would not pop.  It sucked.

After we went to the grocery store on Sunday, I walked around the neighborhood passing out flyers to my upcoming Holiday Open House for my Scentsy business.  It was COLD and by the time I got home, my ears felt like they were on FIRE!  I went back to painting my room... then I started to feel nauseous.  I felt dizzy.  Actually, I felt like I had one too many glasses of vino!  I laid on the floor and texted Mike (in the basement) that I needed help.  Turns out, I had vertigo caused by my ears.  Now, I've birthed two kids and the vertigo/ear infections... WORST PAIN OF MY LIFE.  I felt like passing out, or puking, or crying... or all three at the same time.  Horrible.  I went to the doctor on Monday and after looking in my ears, his exact words were, "Wow! I have never seen ear infections this bad in an adult before! This is what we are used to seeing in a child!"  I win. Thank you.

So, where are we now?  We have unofficially bought stock in Kleenex.  The girls and I are blowing out some pretty nasty stuff!  Hopefully we are working it out of our systems.  Jaden's pink-eye is gone and she finished up her medicine for the pneumonia.  Taylor is still doing the runny nose thing, but I have a feeling that will last until March.  My throat is feeling better and I can breathe through my nose finally.  My left ear is perfect, but my right one still sounds a little hollow.  I have one more day left on my Z-Pack, though.  I'm hoping that we will all three be at about 95% by the weekend!  Mike, well, he has seemed to escape the sickness for now.  If I was a betting person, all of my money would be on Christmas Day for him.  Hopefully I lose though.  The family room is about 95% finished. I just need to get some window treatments and do a fun DIY project.  Then, you'll get your before and afters :o)  Hopefully you all had a better long weekend than we did!

Happy Thanksgiving!