You'd better not shout...

Santa Claus is coming to town!

Well, we went to the mall the other day with our friends The Marshall's. Our main goal for going was to have the kids see Santa Claus. Ethan will be three in January so he's just catching on to the whole Christmas thing. He's loving it, though. Every time we drive by some lights he yells, "Christmas!". We went to "Peacock Lane" yesterday. This is a street where all the houses decorate quite elaborately. Ethan loved it. Even though it was raining he had to have his window down to have a clear view of all the houses. "But aren't you getting wet Ethan?" we'd query. "Yeah, but... I just... I wanna see the lights." he'd reply without looking at us. Joshy enjoyed it too. Every once in a while he'd point and "ooo" at something.

But I digress. Went to the mall with the Marshalls to see Santa. Little Gwen and Ethan are the cutest of friends. They love to hold hands and play together. Here's a little shot of them in line touching the Christmas Tree. They also had a mirror there that made you all short and squatty which they enjoyed. I stood behind them and starting to do the "We represent the Lollipop Guild" dance when I realized that unless you were directly behind me looking at the mirror at the perfect angle you probably had no idea what I was doing. I stopped immediately scanning the area for anyone looking at me. I think I got away with it. Phew!

By the by, Kudos to John and Amy Marshall for bringing their camera. At the other mall they wouldn't let us take pictures. So this time we came with the $20 to spend on ONE 5x7 PRINT!!! Ridiculous! Anyways, Amy brought her camera and John took pictures for us. Thanks guys! Incidentally, while John was snapping away one of the worker she-elves said timidly, "he-hem. Um, would you like us to take a picture?" Between shooting pictures and muttering directions John said, "Well, you can take all the pictures you want but we're not buying any." She quickly busied herself behind her elven desk. I sniggered quietly to myself.

This is Joshy and Chloe. Adorable!

Below is Ethan with the big-man himself. When I asked Ethan what he was going to tell him he wanted for Christmas he said, "A book" lengthy pause "and a car". After his visit with Saint Nicholas I asked Ethan if he told Santa what he wanted. He told me yes as we started to walk out of the area. As soon as we were out of there Ethan turned to look longingly back and just waited there. "What's up?" we asked him. "I need my car," he'd say. Over and over again, "I need my car." We tried to explain that Santa will come on Christmas to give his presents but I think Ethan just figured he was right there, might as well just get it now!

My two boys with Pere Noel. Aren't they cute? Thanks to Colleen for providing matching sweaters. I thought they looked quite stylish.

Afterwards we gathered in the food court for some eating. I had a Philly Cheese steak (delish!). Of course there was a children's arcade next to the tables so all the kids did was say, "I wanna go play!" and not eat there food. After many idle threats and forced feedings we released them to go play. Either there has been an arcade time warp or I've lost touch with reality because these things were expensive! The pic below is Ethan and Gwen on a roller-coaster simulation ride where there is a screen to watch as if you're on a roller coaster and the contraption itself moves loosely to the ride. I figured that for a buck it would move pretty good. Plus there was a bar to hold and a seat belt. I thought it would be well worth the dollar. Sadly, all it did was roll forward or backward. So you either had to be going up a hill or down to have the seat move at all. Ah, well. Just look at those smiles. Well worth the dollar right?

Hey, who are those sexy love birds?

Well, that's it for the Santa visit. Here it is Christmas Eve and the kids are in bed. We actually get to play Santa this year which is exciting. We get to eat the cookie (Challene already ate it) and drink the milk (I put it back in the fridge so it wouldn't get warm). We get to lay out presents and hang the candy canes on the Christmas Tree as to prove that Santa had actually come. It should be fun... should be. Sadly, Challene, Ethan, and Joshua are all sick! Yes, sick! The kids have been sick for almost a week and Challene for a couple of days. I guess I'm right behind her. It hasn't been much more than a cough until tonight. Ethan started throwing up tonight. I'm talking big-boy throw-up. Many many many times too. We had many plans that we didn't end up doing, mostly because we've been cleaning up barf from our couches, the floor, all around the toilet bowl and so forth. The poor guy. Joshy threw-up tonight too. Ugh! Merry Christmas, indeed. We've been invited by the Marshalls to a delectable Christmas brunch at his parents house. I hope that we'll be able to go! We'll see.

Well, have a holly, jolly Christmas everyone!

More singing time!

I had this other video of Ethan singing songs that I thought I would share.

So, what's up with us? Schools out for break. I finished my last final (still don't know for sure if I passed or not) and we are loving our time together as a family. In addition to my normal finals I had OSCE's to do. What are OSCE's? I don't know what they stand for. I can't remember. But essentially it is an entrance exam to the Out Patient Clinic. If I had not taken the split, I would be starting there next quarter. I still have to finish 9th quarter before I can start, though. But, timing wise this was when I was supposed to take the OSCE's. It's a big practical exam. There are 20 stations and you have five minutes in each room with a one minute prep time between rooms. Each room has a practical test in it. Some of the tests were: Take a chief complaint history on a 34 year old woman with neck pain. ( I had to do one on a woman with chest pain! Can you say referral?) You suspect spinal cord damage, perform a neuro exam on this low back patient. This chronic disc hernia patient needs core exercises, instruct and evaluate this patient in the quadriped track. Perform the following adjustments. Etc. There were a few stations to read x-rays and CTs. and there were a few stations with just follow-up questions about the previous station (likely diagnosis, lab tests, etc.) It actually went very well for me. I passed all but one station (I think it was the lab test station -- Who would of known that albumin is a better marker for liver inflammation than ALP/AST! Actually I should have). But, I needed to pass minimum 14/20 stations and get minimum 1400/2000 points. I did both! I'm pretty happy about that.

So, here we are in our little abode waiting for the holidays. We decorated yesterday, which was interesting. This is the first real time we've decorated with toddlers around. Previous years we didn't bother since we just came down to Utah for the holiday. This year is different, though, so we thought we'd decorate. Ethan would get so excited when he saw Christmas lights or a tree or anything, so we had to do it. It was a royal pain. They got into everything! We had visions of a happy little family singing along to christmas carols while gently placing ornaments on the tree. Yeah, right! Wake up call! We ended up stopping and waiting for them to go to bed before we finished. They still like to touch everything. I had to sit in front of the tree today just to block the kids from touching it. Josh has already tried to eat two ornamental balls. We got him, though. Only managed to scrape the paint off with his teeth. Hmmm... better check that for lead...

Well, I wont bore you anymore with my stuff. Happy Holidays!!!!!!