from our thanksgiving vacation to E.P. long, long, long, drive back. 12 hours to be exact. but we had fun. the down side was both my girls and now Alex are sick. as soon as we got there my belle got asthma. thank God i listened to that little voice telling me to take the nebulizer. but what oh what could be making her sick??? (sung to "oh where or where has my little dog gone?") well the light bulb above my head finally shone bright. it is the pecan tree at my mother in love's house. my belle is allergic to pecans and I never dreamed that just being near a pecan tree or playing in it would trigger an attack. well, chalk that one up to a lesson learned. so our holiday was full of breathing treatments. then... my little one gets sick on thanksgiving day. tori had been so looking forward to the turkey (particularly eating a bone with meat... i don't know where she gets this). well, she just didn't feel well, and by the evening i was cleaning up vomit off the bathroom floor. that toilet was just too far away for her. oh but wait, it gets even better. later that evening, while we are asleep, i hear belle coughing and coughing, and then bleeehhhh!!! all over the sheets. i jump out of bed and rush her to the bathroom, but wouldn't you know it, that darn toilet was just not close enough... AGAIN!!! you would think that after so much clean up i would be the one sick. no, not me, but Alex. well, i guess God figures I am the one that needs to stay healthy to take care of the "sickies" of the house. so needless to say, belle stayed home one more day today, which, thank goodness, she did since vomiting was also on the agenda today. I may need to buy some stock in Calgon.

We did have a great surprise in E.P. though, SNOW!!! a virtual winter wonderland. it was great, although, my poor little ones didn't get to play outside since Belle was sick and it wouldn't really be fair. so we admired it from afar. we didn't think that it would last as long as it did though. How long did it last??? about 3/4 of our drive home. there in lies the 12 hour drive. but it was beautiful and hey, that may be our only chance to see snow this season. you never know with our crazy weather. but the girls did get to play lots with their cousins on our trip which made the vacation doubly enjoyable. it had been a while since we had gotten to do that. and they even got to play with some new cousins from Arizona. the little ones speak both english and spanish fluently, and i was way excited about that since now belle seems a little more interested in learning Spanish. that may have been just the inspiration i needed.

of course i did indulge in my favorite meal while in E.P... chico's. it is a true E.P. institution, and you really need to be from their to truly appreciate it. we also visited family and got to see my aunt terry's newly remodeled house... Wow!!! so awesome. I am so glad she listened to me!!! now i have someone else to give decorating ideas to.

i have lots of pictures to post, but i have to charge the camera first. so that will be up tomorrow.

okay, i am off to take down the boxes of Christmas decorations from the attic. i have lots of ideas, and figure i should get started on that now. i have plenty of shows to watch on my DVR and looks like everyone will be in bed early tonight, so it is the perfect chance for me to get started.

have a great evening.
*ciao*