....And We're Back!

*SIGH* it's been a busy, long two weeks!

So, without further ado, here's our Christmas 'story':

December 20th - Our journey started off with a bang! About an hour before we needed to leave, I was packing the car and set Rowan on the couch opposite Seth. Well, Rowan summer-salted off the couch, Seth hastily took the laptop off his lap in order to pick her up and in the process tripped over the power cord, knocked Breck over and landed funny which hurt his neck/back. So we had two crying kids and one grown man in pain on the floor - not a good way to start our trip! We left for Iowa around noon and made it about 2/3rds of the way (which is roughly 215 miles = 3 1/2 hours) before having to stop! Rowan slept that entire time and Breck watched his movies. (BIG thanks to Grandma Scott and Granddad Johnson for the portable DVD player!) It was as pleasant a drive as a car packed with 4 people and 4 Christmases can be. We ended up stopping in Bethany, MO for gas, leg stretching, and so I could feed Rowan....and Breck and I got a snack, too! Just after we hit the Iowa border, Rowan started in with her ear piercing, blood curdling screams! And Breck went #2 so we had to stop on an exit ramp to change him. Brrrr! (Did I mention that it was about 20 degrees out? And windy!) So, back on the road we go, with Breck happy once again and Rowan still crying (she just wanted to be held and I'd have been more than happy to do so while we drove, but we like our kids and don't want to be charged with child neglect or have them taken away - and certainly not raised by the state of Iowa!) We listened to Rowan cry for the next hour, which is how long it took to get to my mom's house. We got there at 5pm, unloaded our bags, got the kids' diapers and clothes changed, Seth and I changed into our nice clothes and we piled into my parents' car at 5:45pm, 30 minutes later than planned, to leave for my cousin's 6:30pm wedding that was 45 minutes away! We were about 5 minutes late and missed the bridal procession...not bad considering! She had a desert reception, so we ate some cookies and cheesecake and then headed out to get a real dinner....at 8:30. When we got back to my parents' house it was late enough that the kids, Seth and I all went to bed!


December 21st - This was a pretty lazy day! (thank goodness, because we needed it!) Seth was in pain most of the time, but hung in there like a trooper! We opened presents with my mom's side (Christmas #1) and then just sat around, watched movies and played games for the whole day. We stayed the night at mom's.


December 22nd - Another lazy movie day at mom's.


December 23rd - Seth had enough of the neck/back pain and made an appointment with a chiropractor in Des Moines. He went to that around 9am and the kids and I did some shopping. He was done around 10am and then we headed to my Grandma/pa Hildreth's (dad's side). We got there and had lunch, then Seth had to go back to the chiropractor for an afternoon session. Breck stayed with G&G Hildreth and Rowan came with us. After his 2nd appointment (which did nothing for him) we went to Anglo (a jewelry store) to replace my flushed wedding ring (Breck + wedding ring + toilet = no more wedding ring) and made another stop to get a couple Christmas gifts. Then back to Grandma/pa's where we kind of lounged around and Grandma tried force feeding Breck foods he doesn't like. And we spent the night with them.


December 24th - Seth went to his morning chiropractic appointment (which did nothing for him) while I stayed at Grandma/pa's with the kids. I got us packed up and when Seth got back we went to Walmart (big hassle) to get diapers for Breck (we were down to 1!) and then to my dad's for lunch. We hung out there until about 5:30pm and went to my Grandma Scott's (mom's side) for our traditional Christmas Eve get-together, which consists of 50+ loud, blue collar people crammed into a ranch style home! And although I love my family, many are not really the kind of people I want my kids around. Let's just say that it's a stereotypical dysfunctional family with a lot of smokers. Anywho, we left Grandma's around 9pm and went back to my dad's to stay the night.


December 25th - We got up and had Christmas #3 with my dad's side, ate breakfast, then packed the car and headed to my aunt's for Christmas #4! We visited, ate lunch and opened more presents. While Seth was loading the car, he noticed that we had a very low tire - thankfully, my uncle had a big air compressor and got us back in good shape! We left at 2:30pm and the kids slept all the way to Topeka! (that's 275 miles = 4 hours!!!) We stopped at Grandma Taylor's (Seth's grandma) to feed Rowan and she ended up making us our dinner, too! We got home around 9pm, unloaded the car and headed to bed. But I didn't stay in bed long because I ended up getting either food poisoning (Seth's guess) or the flu!


December 26th - So, between my 5 times of getting up for me and getting up 4 times to feed Rowan, I was exhausted in the morning! Seth ran around town getting some last minute gifts - thankfully he took Breck with him and Rowan slept great while they were gone, which meant I got to sleep, too! I was feeling tons better in the afternoon - still tired and achy, but much better - so I decided to tough it out and go to Christmas #5 at Seth's parents' house. We got home around 10pm.


December 27th - Then we got up, ready and went to Topeka for Christmas #6 with the Taylor side! While we were in Topeka, I needed to stop at CVS and spend my ECBs since they all expired that day! It stared snowing during lunch and kept on going 'til evening! On our drive home, the road got pretty slick and we saw about 5 cars in the ditch along the interstate!


The 28th through the 31st were pretty standard days - highlights include getting a new chest freezer (thanks to Lorrie & Gale! and to Seth's sweet deal finding!) and Breck getting the flu for the first time ever! :(