Kitty's got a molar! It's on the bottom left. She now officially has five teeth! Yay. LOL I'm glad she's feeling better although, this does explain why her mouth was paining her so much last week. We just put it down to the tummy bug that she had. Poor little one. She also has a bud for the opposite side, really big and swollen so it should only be about a week before that one pops through. She still hasn't gained back any of the two pounds that she lost through that mess, but the puke and diarrhea are gone though, thank Goddess. Both of the girls had that although, poor little Kitty had it the worse. Carey and I were both exhausted all of last week because we didn't get a full nights sleep the whole time. Kitty kept waking us up puking everywhere, and one night she woke us up about every two hours. Sigh... I still have a big tub full of pukey sheets and blankets that need to go the laundromat. Bleh



We got our tree on Saturday. It's a really pretty fir tree and it smells heavenly. We made a family trip out of it and got it at a local owned small business. The kids had a blast running around and looking at all of them and we finally settled on the one because it was getting dark and cold. We got a few funny looks hauling it home on our bike trailer. LOL. It's beautiful and full on the bottom although it's a bit scraggly up top. The very top is also a bit crooked so our glass topper is more to the left giving our tree a decidedly crooked look to it. I only decorated the front since it's against the wall between two stands so it didn't matter. I put three strands of lights on, two colored and one white. The kids had a lot of fun putting kid friendly ornaments on the bottom and just as quickly Kitty snatched them off again. LOL I was unable to use my parents antique stand this year. :( The trunk was too wide so I got to run around town just as businesses were starting to close to try and find on. The first stop I made they had a really awesome one that held a gallon of water and the tree was held in place with a pedal activated clamps. But they wanted $60 for the damn thing! Bleh. So I finally found one at the fourth stop I made. I was wanting a metal one but wound up with a plastic one. :( Ah, well. The bottom of the tree is so full and thick that it's not even noticeable.

Our local Christmas charity delivered presents for the kids. They really made out like fat rats and got way more than I asked for or even wanted. They did get the three big things I asked for though and I'm really pleased about that. I wanted a trampoline for Deedee because she jumps on everything, a scooter for Charles and James had asked for a skateboard. I wanted one of the small skateboards but we've wound up with a full sized one so it's going to be interesting watching James with it next summer. We'll have to get him some elbow and knee pads.



We have had our family pictures taken for the year. Once again, it was in front of the tree in our Church sanctuary so it seems that it's turning into a bit of a tradition with us. Carey went out and got a beautiful new tie with stripes of lapis and a kind of purplish tan. It wound up coordinating with mine and the girls outfits very well, even James' tie. And if I'd borrowed a different tie for Charles his would have matched too. I had originally meant to wear a black dress with beadwork on the bodice and the girls were going to wear floral dresses with large black velvet and white lace collars. Unfortunately, we discovered too late that the one Deedee was going to wear had gotten something on it and it was still there after being washed which by that time it was too late to wash again and dry so we went with different ensembles. Kitty wore my blue velvet dress with the little lace apron, Deedee wore a beautiful plum velvet with a large white collar and I wore a black velet skirt and a dusty lavendar silk top with rhinestone buttons and a rhinestone buckle on the matching belt. Carey's mom took them for us and she's sent us a few of them but I'm hoping to have her burn all of them that were taken onto a disc for me, if she still has them all.