Meet The Early's: T'was the Week Before Christmas

I have made the egg nog, baked poppyseed bread, wrapped the gifts, and sent out our Christmas cards. I am soaking up the calm before Christmas next weekend. Baylor and Finley are out of school on Monday and Briley is out of school on Tuesday morning. I then have the pleasure of having all the kiddos home the rest of the week so I am happy I have just about everything ready to go for next weekend.
Last weekend we took the kids to Deanna Rose to watch the Christmas light display. The kids always have fun doing this, and then we went over to Christmas Place to drive through their light display. We got home and the kids went to the basement to watch Elf, and Andy and I watched It's a Wonderful Life. I don't know why the kids didn't want to join us. Actually, I think Andy slept through most of it, but I love it.
Saturday morning we went to our neighbor Lily's birthday party. They had a pizza party at their house and the kids made pizza. They always make the most delicious pizzas so it was a treat for everyone that went. Ingrid also made the cutest aprons for each child. I was really impressed with her sewing skills!
After the party I went to get a massage. There is truly nothing better than getting a massage when it is cold outside. I love getting on that heated massage table, and warm oils. Bliss! I also had a hand wrap to try and soothe my dry cracked hands. That night we stayed in, and actually forgot all about Baylor's basketball practice. Whoops!
Sunday morning we went to Church and the Bambinelli blessing. We had a Baby Jesus for each child to get blessed, and then it was time to go home. Finley was starting to feel sick, and ended up falling asleep before the birthday party she was supposed to go to. Andy took Briley to her game while I stayed home with the others.
That night we had a fancy dinner in the dining room requested by King Baylor. He made everyone dress up, and we used the Christmas china.
Monday morning we woke up to Baylor throwing up. He was sick all day, and pretty much camped out in our small bathroom on the main floor with the door shut. It heats up in there, and I think he liked that. Finley was also home sick with a cold and fever. I was busy cleaning as much as I could so that no one else got sick. I really don't know how Atticus did not get it because he kept eating and drinking after them. I did get a lot of wrapping done while they napped, and watched one of my favorite shows.
That night between Baylor getting sick, I had to pack up the kids to deliver cookies for Church. They were delivering them the following morning for teachers at a KCK preschool that I volunteered at last month. Thankfully he did not get sick in the car. Andy had a dinner that night so I couldn't wait for him to get home.
Baylor was feeling much better by Tuesday, but I didn't have him go to school since he hadn't been symptom free for 24 hours. I didn't want anyone else getting sick this close to Christmas. He did miss his field trip, and that made him upset.
Briley had a basketball game early Saturday morning. We really have no idea why it was not canceled because it was so icy. Everyone was grumbling when they came into the game. After the game, I took Atticus in for his first haircut, and he looks so big. Finley also got a little shape up since she cut her hair last week. It looks a little rough, but hopefully it will grow out soon.
Andy then layered up, and went to the Northwest Missouri State game with his friend Shawn. There was an extra ticket, but I was not going to sit in that. It was much better from home. While he was at the game, the kids played outside. I had to drag them in when it got dark out. Briley kept shooting hoops, and the ball would get stuck because the net was frozen. She would then get the broom to pop it back out.

Sunday we decided not to go to Church since it was so cold out, but we did make a trip to Marble Moon Factory that afternoon. I woke up in the middle of the night in a panic because I had forgotten to get something that is a tradition each Christmas. While I was getting what I needed, Andy took the kids in for a marble making demonstration. It is such a fun place to go with so many old toys that you may have forgotten about, and of course all the new toys too. That afternoon we watched the Chiefs and I made bread for the teachers. That night I sat down and watched Dolly Parton's Christmas movie while Andy rolled his eyes every few minutes.

Monday morning Finley and Baylor had Christmas parties. Andy went to Finley's while I helped with Baylor's. Andy had to leave to go to Buffalo, NY later that afternoon so I was thankful that he went to her party. That night we had Grinch night which means green waffles while watching The Grinch. There are certain nights that the kids anticipate, and this is one of them!
Tuesday was Briley's last day of school and she was out at 11:30. One of her friends invited Briley and one of her other friends to Great Wolf Lodge for the night to celebrate her birthday/moving away. We have always talked about doing this, and we just never have so Briley was very excited to go. Since she was having a fun day, I thought I should do something with the others so I took them to Union Station to see the holiday train. The line went quickly, and we were able to go onto the train. You could also meet Santa but the line was long, and we didn't have Briley so we skipped that. I love Union Station at Christmas time, and I'm glad we got to go before the train left.

Thursday morning I took the kids to Bass Pro to see Santa. We had seen Santa at Church, but Finley would not go near him so I thought I would try one more time. She did not want to be close to him, but she at least got in the picture. Later that night we took around egg nog for the neighbors, and settled in for a Christmas movie. Andy is home now until after Christmas, and I really can't believe it is just a few days away! I'm excited, but at the same time it always make me a little sad when it is all over after so much anticipation.

A couple of random things that have happened that I need to document. Baylor loves our nativities, and he really spends a lot of time playing with it. Andy took pictures the other day of some of the things he has done. I don't know what happened, but it looks pretty serious.

Finley is always saying things that make me laugh and she recently was in the bathroom while I was getting dressed the other day and told me she really liked my bubbles, and wondered why she didn't have bubbles. She was also looking at her Frozen flipper floppers and told me that Ana and Elsa were beautiful just like her. Oh she is so different from her sister!

Lastly, Andy finally got into his office at work. It took about six months but he moved in yesterday. I suggested he put a picture on his wall, but he says he wants just enough in his office that if he ever leaves it just takes one box that he can carry out.