Christmas in February

Since Dad was home from the hospital finally, we decided to have our Christmas with my mom's family. We normally have this celebration on Christmas Eve but we put off the present exchange until Mom and Dad could be there. The only thing that stunk was that Miranda had to work after 4 days of not being able to make it through the snow, so she had to miss out. We didn't take our traditional bow picture with all the girls since she wasn't there. First time in about 6 or 7 years! I didn't get many good pictures, mainly because Carter was using Christiaan and me as a jungle gym while we were opening gifts. But here are a few of what I did get.

Dad, Mom, Micah, Aly, Hayden, Grandma, and Chloe

Upside down!

Nathan and Chandler. I swear, every time you try and take their picture together, this is what you get!

It wouldn't have been a normal Christmas gathering without some sort of drama. This was the aftermath of one incident: Devin's antique snowglobe got knocked over and shattered. Drew was attempting to glue the statue inside back in its place.

The other incident that I did not get any pictures of was that Karen's yorkie Griffin fell into the frozen over pool. Christiaan went to the truck with a load of gifts and came back in saying that he was hearing a weird noise that sounded like a dog yelping. At first she suggested that it was the neighbors dog across the street, but when he said it was behind the house, about 5 people immediately ran out back. The porch light was burned out of course, and despite the darkness Christiaan and Micah found poor Griffy about waist deep in frozen water on the top step of the pool! He was stiff from being so cold, but after being blow-dryed and wrapped in a warm fleece blanket and sitting in front of the fire, he was good as new! We aren't sure if he actually fell in, as he has never done that before, or if Clyde the St. Bernard pushed him in. Seeing as how 2 other of their dogs have recently come to an untimely death, the normally soft hearted Clyde is beginning to look like a serial dog killer.

Anyways, today we are home again on another "snow"day! 5th in 2 weeks! Insanity. I have no plans of going anywhere today, even though the roads are mostly clearing, because it is still below freezing and the wind is blowing like crazy. Carter and I have caught up on some sleep that we were already behind on this week. We will see in the morning what the day brings! I am betting we will be back to school, possibly with a delayed start.

Dad got some good news at his clinic visit yesterday. He gets to stay at home until at least next Friday, only doing the IV treatments every other day, and going to the clinic for them. They want to monitor his levels more closely since last week his potassium got so high that it could have stopped his heart! They also said that the fungus in his lungs has shrunk a good deal, so the treatment is working! And there are still no blasts showing up in the bloodwork. Keep praying it away!