Our Christmas vacation

We are home now from our wonderful Christmas vacation. The drive tho Michigan wasn't too bad. Chicago only took about 2 hours to go through. We didn't hit any bad weather. We stayed at Jocelyn's empty house for most of the time. It allowed us room and to be ourselves a little easier. We were also able to go through our storage unit and pull stuff out that we didn't want to move with us.

We spent the first weekend in Flint and hung out with friends. We went to My parents' on Christmas Eve and stayed there until Friday and then we went back to Jocelyn's house for the next weekend. Charlie and I teased each other that most people have their vacation homes in nice, sunny places like the Bahamas, but our vacation home is in Flint, MI. As nice as it was to be able to stay there we still pray daily that it will sell quickly.

Christmas day was fun at my parents' with Kurt, Heather and Harvey. It was very relaxing. The day after Christmas wasn't so much fun. We were suppose to spend the day at Mom and Dad's but the night before (Christmas night) Chelsea threw up and kept throwing up. I woke up that morning not feeling well, except it was coming out the other end for me. We tried to go as a family and got as far as Brighton before Chelsea threw up in the car, all over herself. So we turned around and went back to my parents'. I cleaned Chelsea up and stayed there with her while Charlie took the rest of the kids to Mom and Dad's. They had fun seeing their cousins. Makayla threw up once while they were there, but that was it, thank goodness.

We were suppose to go spend the night with Kurt and Heather Thursday to Friday but decided not to since we had been sick. Friday we went back up to Flint because one of Merrit's friends from church was getting baptised Saturday morning. I had a girls' night with my friends that night and it was great. My friend who was hostessing is a beauty school drop out so she has all the stuff for manicures and pedicures and facials. So we just hang out, eat great food and pamper ourselves.

For New Years Eve we went to a party at our friends' house from church. There were four families there with a combined total of 18 kids. We had a blast playing games and ringing in the new year together. After we watched to ball drop they kids went outside and ran around in the snow and built a snow caterpillar (the balls were too big for the kids to lift them on top of one another to build a snowman). I would have pictures but my camera was at home. My friend is suppose to email me some pictures and then I will post them.

The next day we went to Mom and Dad's to pig out and watch football. The kids played outside most of the time in a giant snow pile that Dad plowed up for them using his tractor. I would post pictures of this too, except the adapter I have for my memory card broke so now I have to go buy a new one.

That night we went to Kurt and Heather's to spend time with them before we went home since we didn't get to go before. When we got there our kids were just fine. That night, though, was a different story. Chelsea got up first with the runs and didn't make it to the toilet in time. So we cleaned her up, then Alexis was up throwing up. Then Chelsea again and then Alexis. They traded back and forth several times. We were going to hang out with Heather and Harvey until after lunch, but we decided we should probably go as soon as we could so hopefully Harvey wouldn't get sick. Jaxson had a really nasty diaper in the morning as well and I was so scared we were going to have the trip home from hell. But no one got sick and no one had to have an emergency bathroom stop, even Chicago wasn't that bad. It was a huge blessing. I just pray that Kurt, Heather and Harvey stay healthy. I felt so bad.

Now we are back to every day life. The kids went to school today. They didn't get as much snow here as they did in Michigan. Everyone seems to be healthy. I was going to keep the kids home today to let them recover longer, but everyone but Alexis complained that they wanted to go to school so I sent them. It has been nice to have some time to myself since I didn't get too much of that over the last two weeks. I'm playing catch-up on laundry and scout stuff. I also got some not so good news about the house we were trying to buy. Our realtor told me today that the sellers have decided to move back to Wisconsin so the house is off the market. How bizarre is that?!?!? It only figures! So we have to start all over. I have to admit I am getting a little discouraged with the whole house hunting thing.

Love you all!