Christmas 2015

I'm finally able to post about Christmas!!!  My computer crashed and I just got myself a new laptop....woohoo!!!  So Christmas was just so fun this year!  We did lots of fun activities all during the month and I was just giddy for Christmas Eve to hurry up and get here...Pearce was too!  That day, we were going to go to the 3:00 Christmas eve service at church, but Pearce was just getting over a really bad cough, so we decided to stay home.  We baked our cookies and then braved the store to get reindeer food....carrots :)  Pearce arranged the cookies on a plate and poured Santa some milk.  Then Pearce arranged the carrots on a plate and put the plate outside for Santa's reindeer.  Pearce very happily went to bed early that night.  Chris and I waited for a couple hours before we got all of his presents out to arrange.   Santa brought Pearce a tent, a sleeping bag, a Peppa Pig playset, Daniel Tiger Trolley, a Minion bathrobe, and several other goodies for his stocking.  Pearce woke up around 8:00 on Christmas morning.  We all slept together in our bed :)  Pearce woke me up and asked if it Santa had come.  We got up and Chris went out to the living room to film Pearce coming out.  Pearce was soooo excited when he saw all of his gifts Santa had brought him!  Chris and I just loved watching Pearce go through everything and start playing.  Pearce saw that Santa ate his cookies and even left him a note :)  He also went outside to see if the reindeer had eaten their food, which they did :)  We left around 1:00 to drive to Dallas to have Christmas with my family.  We got there around 5:00 and really enjoyed being with everyone.  Pearce, of course, could not wait to see Nay Nay and Charlotte and as soon as he was with them, his fun began!  We had a great dinner and then opened presents.  Pearce got hooked up with all things Scooby Doo by Auntie Ashy, Auntie Jen, and Mama and Papa!  He got the Scooby Doo Haunted House, the Scooby Doo van, and the Scooby Doo characters.  He loved it all!!!  We stayed at Ashley and Wayne's for the weekend.  Saturday was Chris's birthday.  That morning, Pearce gave Daddy his birthday presents and then we went over to mom and dad's house that evening and had a feast of Mexican food.  Mom made a yummy cake for Chris.  We sang Happy Birthday and then Pearce helped Daddy blow out his candle :)  We hung out at Mom and Dad's for a while and had a great time just all being together....despite the awful weather we were having!  Chris flew back to Austin Sunday and Pearce and I stayed a couple extra days at Mama and Papa's house.  We visited Grandma and Mary one day.  Pearce is always so sweet to Grandma when we go visit and I know Grandma really enjoys Pearce's visits.  Mary is Grandma's roommate and Pearce always says hi to her :)  Mom and I got to go to two movies during our time there....one we loved and one we hated, but I still loved being with Mom doing our favorite thing!  Papa took Pearce to see Alvin and the Chipmunks movie, which Pearce loved.  Pearce got to go on a golf cart ride, play, make an orange Julius, make cookies, play some more, and watch movies.  We love Mama and Papa's house!  Pearce and I came home on Wednesday and enjoyed the rest of the Christmas break just being kind of lazy.  Actually, Pearce was lazy and I was busy decluttering/cleaning the house and doing a bit of redecorating!  Christmas was so wonderful this year.....now to get ready for a certain someone's 4th birthday!!!!

 

Christmas Carnival....and a trip to the doctor.

 The Good:
Monday night, we took Pearce to a Christmas carnival in Round Rock.  It's been going on all month, but we just now had time to do it!  We got there right when it opened at 6:00 and didn't leave until 9:00!  The rides were perfect for him and he did everything several times.  I rode all of them with him and I now know I am old because several of them made me feel a little sick....but they were all kiddie rides!  Pearce loved the little roller coaster....I told Pearce he had to always be my ride buddy because Daddy doesn't like to ride a lot of rides :)  I have visions of Pearce and I riding the big roller coasters and rides one day, so he has to be brave!  His favorite thing of all, though, was the mirrored fun house.  We went through several times and I had to tell Pearce to keep his arms out in front of him because he kept running into the glass walls :)  We made our way through each time and then went down a twisty slide at the end.  Pearce then told me he wanted to do it all by himself.  That made me a little nervous because I thought what if he couldn't find his way out??  But he was persistent and at least I could see him going through because it was all glass, so I let him.  He totally did it in no time and was sooo proud of himself!  There was also a gigantic slide thing that Pearce loved.  We did it several times together and then he said he was brave enough to go by himself.  So another older boy carried his rug up for him and he climbed up the stairs all the way to the top.  The older boy put his rug on the slide for Pearce and then Pearce would not go!  I ran up the stairs real quick and told Pearce he could do it...and then gave him a push :)  He said "Wow, that was fun!"  I asked if he wanted to go again by himself, but he quickly said no, so he went on my lap a few more times :)  There was also a neat light maze and little houses that you could go inside and explore.  There was a ticket booth that kids could go in, so Pearce and two other older girls went inside.  I was outside and walked up and said "I would like two tickets please."  The older girls started playing along and pretended like they were giving me tickets.  Then Pearce said "Hey, that's my mommy....nobody messes with my mommy!"  He's a little possessive of me, I guess :)  We also ate all the yummy carnival food....nachos, a funnel cake, and cotton candy!  We had so much fun.  When we were leaving, Pearce said "Thanks for taking me here."  My sweet little boy. 

 

 

 
The Bad:
After the carnival, we went home and got Pearce ready for bed.  He started coughing pretty much non stop when we got home and all through the night.  He's had a bit of a cough for the past week and a half, but this coughing was literally nonstop.  None of us got much sleep that night.  I gave Pearce some cough medicine, but that didn't help him at all.  I took him to the doctor yesterday.  His oxygen levels were fine, his lungs were clear, and there was no wheezing, but the doctor agreed that his cough was awful.  Although Pearce doesn't have asthma, she wanted to try a nebulizer treatment just to see if that gave him some relief.  It did help him during the treatment, but as soon as it was done, the coughing started up again.  All the doctor could tell me to do was to make sure he rests, take cough medicine, and drink lots of fluids.  On our way home, we called Auntie Ashy to talk and Pearce wanted to talk to her....he could hardly even talk because he was coughing so much...poor baby!   So, the rest of the day, was spent on the couch watching TV, drinking warm tea with honey, and just resting.  THANK GOODNESS today his cough is a TON better!  He slept a lot better last night and coughs every once in a while, but soooooo much better.  We had another lazy day today, so, as Daniel Tiger says "Rest is best!" 

 

Pops, Mimi, and GG Christmas 2015

This past weekend, Pops, Mimi, and GG came for an early Christmas celebration.  Pearce could hardly wait for everyone to get here!  GG got here first and soon after, Pops and Mimi arrived.  Pearce was practically drooling over all the presents they brought, but he was very patient until Saturday when he got to open them.  Thursday evening, we just all hung out at home and had vegetable soup and corn bread that I had made.  On Friday, we went to eat lunch and then went to the mall to see Santa.  I asked Pearce where we should go for lunch and he said "Wuby's."  That's my boy....he loves Luby's!  Then we headed to the mall to see Santa.  Luckily, we didn't have to wait too long, and Pearce hopped on Santa's lap and told him what he would like.  He had on the cutest Christmas shirt that GG got him :)  I waited FOREVER to get his pics printed out, so during that time, the grandparents took Pearce to the jumpy place in the mall.  By the time I met them, he had already been there an hour!  He jumped a little more and then we headed home.  GG brought Pearce a gingerbread house to decorate, so we started on that.  It was quite the spectacle, I'm sure, watching Pops and I trying to assemble the house :)  After all the sides dried, then it was time for Pearce to eat the candy decorate with the candy :)  It looked really cute!  It lasted a whole day until Pearce said he wanted to eat the house!  Oh well, it was fun!  We took Mimi and GG to see a light display that we like.  It's the 12 Days of Christmas and all of the houses on the cul-de-sac go all out with their lights!  On Saturday, we went to eat lunch at Mighty Fine and then took Pearce to Catch Air to play.  Pearce LOVES that place!  As soon as we got back, Pearce was ready to open his presents!  We decided to go ahead and let him open his presents that afternoon and then the adults would open theirs that night after dinner.  It was so funny watching him open everything.  He kept saying "Oh wow, this is awesome!" "Oh wow, I always wanted this!"  No doubt about it, his grandparents spoiled him with really nice gifts.....thank you!!!!!! He has loved playing with everything and I'm just glad I recently did a toy clean out so we have room for all the new things!  Chris cooked us a great dinner Saturday night and then we enjoyed exchanging our gifts!  What's so funny is that one of the gifts had red shredded paper in it....Pearce played and played with that shredded paper!  We had such a fun weekend together!  Thank you Pops, Mimi, and GG for our gifts and for coming to Austin to celebrate Christmas with us!!!!!!  We love you!!!!!

 

 

Pearce spoiled????  No way :)