The Good, the Good, the Good and the REALLY Ugly

Well, we'll start with the Goods....On Dec. 15th Sam & Sophie performed in their first piano recital! They were pretty nervous but did an awesome job. Sophie played "Deck the Halls" & "Broadway Boogie" and Sam played "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". I'll try to add the video soon.This is their Russian piano teacher , Irina Fennessey. She means business and is a very good teacher as well as an amazing performer.

Also on the 15th was Ellie's brother Matt's birthday! We were lucky enough to have him here as he was visiting for a wedding. So we took him out to dinner and came home for chocolate cake! Happy Birthday Uncle Matty!

On the 18th, Sam had a pack meeting and earned his Webelo!! We are so proud of all of his accomplishments in Scouts. He has until his birthday to earn his Arrow of Light and then it's bye-bye Cubs and off to Boy Scouts!

I even got pinned, earning the mom's Webelo.

On the 20th, Sam had a holiday concert at school where he played the violin and Sophie had a "New Years Eve" party. Where the second graders count down to "midnight" (noon) and celebrate the new year.

Sam with his best bud and violin companion, Isaac.

Sophie cutting it up for "New Years".

Well, here comes the REALLY ugly. If you are especially squeamish, don't read on. It reeks with TMI, but feels good to get off my chest.
So after a busy week or two, we were off on Thursday afternoon to spend the weekend with Daddy in the bay area, and Brooke and Dave were going to take our kids overnight so Chris and I could celebrate our anniversary on Friday. Sounds great, but the best laid plans.....
What should have been a 5 hour trip took us 8 hours due to traffic and an accident. So we arrived very late and exhausted. The next morning, we all bathed and I was doing Sophie's hair when, what's that I see?! Something moved! Yes, Sophie had my worst nightmare, LICE! I freaked out! It has been going around the kid's school with 4 cases in Sophie's class alone. So she is definitely the carrier.
We checked all the kids and sure enough Maggie and Sam were afflicted too, though not as badly. So what should have been a romantic anniversary turned into a day from you know where. And the kids did not get to see, let alone stay with their cousins which was especially heartbreaking.
Chris went out and bought loads of Rid, Nix and Pronto and we got to work. We all put the shampoo treatment in and then I spent the next 3 1/2 hours going through Sophie's hair picking out nits. I thought about cutting her hair, but really wanted to avoid it if I could. By the time I was done I was exhausted and so when it was time to move on to Maggie, I decided to cut her hair. I cried as I chopped. But she now has a cute little bob and we all like it. The sad part was that Maggie hardly had any nits, only 4, so it wasn't even necessary. Sam it turns out did not have any. (He only had 1 live bug, so I think he had just gotten it that night sharing a bed with Sophie). So....Chris and Sam took the van out and got it cleaned and threw everything we had in the laundry. After spending the entire day in that hotel, we decided to hit the road! We just had to get out of there. I never want to see that hotel again!
We made it as far as Gilroy, the "Garlic Capital of the World". We needed to eat and Chris and I wanted to go somewhere nice-ish (it WAS our anniversary). So we found an Italian restaurant. Of course by this point the kids had fallen asleep but we dragged them in anyway and had a romantic candlelit dinner with three sleeping kids with lice. Good times....
We drove until we were tired which ended up being in Paso Robles. We found the Paso Robles Inn at midnight and Chris mentioned it was his anniversary and could they give us a special on a room with TWO beds. Oh what they must have been thinking. But it was a cute place.

The next morning it was back to work. Everybody showered and lined up for the checking. Sam was still clean & Maggie only had a couple of little ones. Sophie took another couple of hours.
After taking care of business we walked around town with the fun little shops and saw "Alvin and the Chipmunks". Then we left and got home about 10:00 Saturday night. I was dreading it, knowing that the work was just beginning. This has honestly been a nightmare.