Our blissful Christmas holiday ended abruptly the next afternoon when Kyler said to me, "Mom my head itches." Yep all my worst fears came crashing down. LICE, LICE, LICE!! I looked at the back of his head and saw a nasty bug crawling around. And then when I remembered that we had all shared the same hat the night before when we played the saran wrap ball game!! NOOOOOO! At that point we all had to be treated. We drove into Childress to buy the treatment and see the Payne family who drove up from San Antonio. We spent the next 4.5 hours treating everyone's hair. Kyler had the lice for a while because there were so many nits and eggs, as well as live lice. Radley had one bug in his head and not much else. By this point, Damon was suffering with a migraine and had thrown up in the car. He really didn't want us to mess with him, but we had no choice. Thankfully his went pretty quickly because he didn't have anything. Luckily Kenney and I didn't either. Bentley however, had quite a bit. Not as bad as Kyler's but we found 3 live bugs and quite a few egg sacks! Yuck! The boys really wanted to spend the night with their cousins, and we assured them Damon would be fine the next morning. Nana and Shayla were troopers and agreed to let them stay.
The next day I was supposed to be finishing up the packing for our trip to Missouri. But now I had to also do load after load of laundry!! Bentely woke up with a slight fever and wasn't feeling good. Shayla then called to tell me that Radley woke up and threw up on the couch. I felt horrible that they had to clean it up, but we thought he had just gone to be super late and gotten up way too early because he was acting fine. Damon, however, was still not feeling good and his headache had not gone away, which was strange because he never had a migraine that lasted through the night. I decided to go in early and pick up the boys. When I got there, Damon was still not feeling good and was running a slight fever also. Great, just great! With everyone home, I was finally able to get our packing done as well as most of the laundry.
We left the next morning for Missouri with Acey in the car too. Not too far down the road, Radley asked what the spots were on his hands and feet. I remembered seeing a few red spots on Bentley's ankles but didn't think anything of it. But when Radley mentioned spots on him, I thought about a conversation I had with Kerry about a kid at church who had hand, foot, and mouth. I was pretty certain at that point that's what was going on. I called ahead to Missouri and warned everyone there. We successfully cleared out the house, haha! Everyone left or made plans to make sure they would not be there when we got there!! At lunch we confirmed that the kids had hand, foot, and mouth. Damon's fever and continued headache was because he now had hand, foot, and mouth. So by this point we had lice, fevers, migraines, puke, and HF & M, not to mention the pouring rain the entire drive and the dog going with us that just adds to the fun!! Before the week was over Mackenzie got spots, and Kyler had a super high 103-104 fever one night. Some of the other cousins that were at church with use ended up getting HF & M too, and their spots were so much worse than ours. So even though all of the kids got the virus it could have been much much worse!
A few little spots on MJ
Bentley's hand. She never really seemed to complain about her spots and neither did Radley. Damon had one hard night, and the spots bugged him the most.
One of the big blisters on MJ's leg.
Her biggest blister
Ears
Bentley was begging for the week leading up to Missouri that she wanted to get her ears pierced while we were there. She would not shut up about! We were planning to wait for her to ask us when she wanted it done and figured she was old enough to let us take care of them afterwards. It was quite the ordeal to fin a place to get it done. We wanted to find someone professionally trained, but we couldn't find anyone that would do it. It took us 3 attempts to find 2 people at Walmart that would be able to do both ears at once, but after about 4 hours of trying and waiting it was finally time!
She was so excited!!
Her pursed lips!!
She was so excited about her ears and looked in the mirror more than I thought possible! It has since been a challenge to keep them cleaned, but it is almost time to switch them out.
She did super well during the actual piercing. It was after when all the people were clapping and looking at her that she got nervous and scared. However, even through the tears, she couldn't stop finding herself in all the mirrors to see her ears. I was skeptical about getting it done at Walmart, but it turned out great. The ladies were super nice and her ears look really good.
This is her explaining to Dad how it happened. I love hearing it from her perspective!
Poor Mackenzie looked pretty rough with her spots, scratches from a fall on Christmas, and her big goose egg! Thankfully she's a pretty happy girl!
Here's video of Mackenzie's injuries!
The swing is always a hit!
Acey loved running around too!
Don't let them fool you, they should have been wearing jackets!!
Here's a little view into our drive to Missouri. In Radley's defense, he was sick and Dad was encouraging the fit making it worse. Kenney got a good laugh though.
I forgot to add this to an earlier post, but this is Bentley all ready to get shots: purse, phone, lipstick, and her crown. All very fitting!
We had a perfect Christmas day (or so we thought until the next day). The boys were quiet when they woke up at 6:00, and we didn't hear them until 6:30. We finally let them wake up the girls around 7:00 and almost opened all our presents before the sun came up! Everyone was super happy and grateful for the presents they received. Damon put on his football gloves and didn't take them off for hours! Kyler couldn't wait to get his Alexa setup and going. Radley was super excited about his ice maker. Bentley could not have been happier about her Frozen II and Belle dresses. Mackenzie was just happy! I couldn't keep up with all the wardrobe changes Bentley had throughout the morning and rest of the day. It was ridiculous!
The kids requested chocolate and blueberry muffins for breakfast. Kenney got his Simply Orange juice. And I didn't have any dishes to clean up because I made the muffins and dinner the day before. Winning all the way around!
It was such a nice day we all went outside and played. We started in our own yard and ended up at the school for more throwing and running space. It was just a good day!
Kenney and I decided we wanted to spend the entire day in our house and not have to leave and gather for another family event in Childress. I knew I wouldn't want to be in the kitchen making dinner so I planned the day before and made a lasagna (not your typical Christmas dinner but something I knew everyone would eat and I could make ahead). I thought it would be neat since we were staying home together to have a special table setting for dinner. I got out the limited stemware we have, got the cloth napkins out, and the special Christmas plates. The kids were super excited about the table setting. It really surprised me how much they seemed to enjoy it.
After dinner we played the saran wrap ball game which was really fun. We each took turns rolling a dice to get a 6 and putting a hat, gloves and glasses on. Then we could unwrap the ball that was full of candy and money. We then popped some popcorn and watched a movie. It was a PERFECT day!
Notice how Damon was wearing his football gloves the entire time he opened presents.
Eating her breakfast muffins.
Outside playing some football
Acey wasn't going to be left out.
Ready to cheer on her brothers.
Right before she climbed into Bentley's chair and face planted!!
Dad getting in on the action.
The cheerleaders
Playing with the new jerseys and balls, and gloves and everything else!
A bad picture of her scraped up face.
The painted and complete bird house.
All hung up and decorated waiting for the inhabitants.
We went to the school to play with a little more space. Mackenzie thought she was such a big girl!
Our dinner centerpiece.
Ready for our fancy dinner.
Radley's napkin, haha!!
Candlelit dinner with Christ as our focal point.
We finally let the boys go wake up the girls. This is everyone just waking up.
The kids all telling me what they got for Christmas
Mackenzie really like the candy from her stocking.
This is one of Kenney's Christmas presents. I think he's had a lot of fun showing people his 'watch.'
Mackenzie liked the present too; it was really funny to watch her get scared after she knew it was coming.
Just a little look into our morning together.
Getting ready to eat our dinner. The kids were super excited about our fancy dinner and are still talking about it.
Radley's Santa letter: Dear Santa, I want a hoverboard, A ice maker. A electric scooter. A football, basketball, baseball, and Pokemon cards. A light saber. From Radley Keys
