Missouri Christmas

We are back from Christmas in Missouri and survived almost twenty hours in a car with a nine month old. T actually did very well and was content as long as he had a constant supply of puffs, handed to him one at time from mom or dad. The big boys are pros at car rides at this point and I'm happy to report that with a little Zofran and only drinking water Zane did not throw up the entire time. This is big news!!!




Anyway Christmas was great in the fridge arctic tundra of Southeast MO. I don't think it got above freezing for the three days we were their, but the boys managed to have some outdoor adventure with Papa in spite of the cold. We did presents Friday, Trina's kids mostly requested gift cards so they didn't have  much to open but our boys got all kinds of fun stuff. They both got a lot of board games and fun things that everyone could play together for the rest of our visit.

Here is an evening game of headbands where Zane learned he could cheat and look at his card in the window. Good times!

Clay with his mother and Grammi, he's growing up to be a lovely young man.

The kids playing a variation of Head Bands downstairs.

This was the happiest Thatcher was the whole visit I'm afraid, see his rosey cheeks. The Roku remote was his favorite toy at Grammi and Papa's.

Rowan got Mouse Trap which meant there was a lot of time spent waiting for it to be set up by Uncle Zach.



I was securely inside cuddling a baby through all of it. Thatcher had finished his antibiotics the day before we left (last Wed) and by Saturday he had spiked a fever and was back to cuddling/sleeping all day. As much as I loved spending Saturday curled up on Aunt Trina's couch snuggling my boy I knew that he hadn't kicked his ear infections. So Zach spent almost four hours Sunday in a Wal-Mart urgent care in Dexter, MO. I'm so glad I didn't take him as there is no way I could have physically held him for that long, my hands would have fallen off. Eventually he returned home with more antibiotics, eye drops, and a baby who looked completely pitiful. Everyone enjoyed loving on our little man. Clay might have loved it the most.

Love from the Prance ladies.

 Sad, pathetic little guy waiting for his bath, blanket in hand.



The boys had lots of fun playing with their cousins. Adeline put on a slime making demonstration for them Saturday afternoon. She is the expert in all things slime. The boys loved it and Rowan in particular has loved playing with the various colors of slime we brought home.

Everyone had a great visit and we ended our stay with our traditional New Year's Eve celebratory Ginger Ale and pretzel. Huge thanks to Amy for remembering my yearly tradition. We watched a few New Year's Eve countdown videos on Netflix then were in bed by 9pm. Everyone was exhausted from days of playing and eating delicious food. I think I was in a bit of a sugar coma when I got home from eating so many goodies.

Saying good bye to cousins, Zane is a year younger than Levi but has a solid five inches and probably thirty pounds on him. They had a great time together this visit.





Here are the two skinny boys of the family.

The boys always miss Shy when we leave.

Grammi with all the Grandkids.

So we're back and have been buried under piles of laundry all week. Zane went back to school on Wednesday and I'm sad to say was not excited about going back at all. Thatcher isn't feeling too terribly better and now has a nasty cough on top of still rubbing his ears, and snot still pouring out of his nose. I worked today and yesterday and we're having Blakley Christmas this weekend, but he has his nine month appointment on Monday so possibly we can get some more answers then. We are excited for our last Christmas then hopefully time can slow back down to a manageable pace. Happy New Year to all!!!!