Sing it if you know it

Natey and I have been dying to put up our tree. Today was finally the day to get it done. I've never actually put the tree together, but Justin had to work so I got the job done. I sure hope it's done correctly. Since Justin has done it every year that we've had it, we no longer own the instructions. However, it looks symmetrical so it must be right, right? I put Claire down for her nap and got Jack to sleep and Natey and I got busy on the tree. He wanted to help with everything, of coarse, so I told him that his main job was going to be putting on the balls. With every single layer, I heard "Is it time for the balls yet?" You can only hear that so many times before you want to jump off the highest point of your house. Any way, it wasn't long and Claire was awake. I tried to let her lay in her crib long enough for us to get done, but that clearly wasn't going to work. I went to get her and that's when the real chaos broke out. It was finally time for Nathan to do his part (do you hear the angles singing?). Nathan would put one on and Claire would take one off. I thought I was going to pull my hair out strand by strand. Both the kids are sick so they are short with each other. Claire's new favorite word is NO! and she's not afraid to use it liberally. Ok, so look at the tree closely. Can you see how ornament heavy the bottom is? I know it's kinda hard to tell on the picture, but there are probably twice the ornaments on the bottom that there are on top. I decided that after Nathan goes to bed tonight I'll even it out - which means that I don't need any more on the top. He had a good time decorating - kinda - well, he had a good time until Claire came to 'help'.

While Natey and I were decorating we were singing Christmas carols. Go ahead - sing it if you know it:
We wish you a Merry Christmas
We wish you a Merry Christmas
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Good tidings we bring to you and your kin
Good tidings for Christmas and a Happy New Year

(Join in) Oh bring us some piggy pudding
Oh bring us some piggy pudding
(enter the sound of a screeching record)

I stopped Nathan and told him that it was supposed to be figgy pudding. He told me how wrong I was because he learned this song in school and it says piggy pudding. "Ah" I said. "I didn't know that I guess". He said (as sure as the sun is yellow) "Yeah, I learned it in school" as he hung yet another ball at the bottom of the tree. It CRACKED me up! That's some funny stuff.

As I said before, Nathan and Claire are sick. This house hasn't been the most fun place on earth the past couple of days. Natey seemed to be getting a cold the day we went to see Santa and it's just gone down hill from there. Claire also started getting it that night. They have been cranky with us and each other. Claire wants to be held yet Jack needs to be fed and.....oy! (If you're eating, shut this and read it later.) Last night Natey and Peach were running around the house chasing each other when Claire stopped and threw up. Nathan can NOT handle stuff like this. He can't even stand it if Claire has a really bad dirty diaper. Anyway, I was trying to clean Claire up and noticed that Nathan was gagging. I told him to get a drink of water. He ran over to our Culligan drinking thing and drank right out of the spicket. I told him to take deep breaths which he did. Then...all of a sudden....he was done. He got sick too. Nathan started crying and I started laughing. Poor little guy. I guess with that weak of a stomach the chances of him becoming a doctor are slim.

I got our pictures back that we had taken of the kids. They turned out better than I thought they were going to. That was a nice surprise. Now I have to write a Christmas letter and get them in the mail. That should be easy enough with 3 kids right? Lordy!