Sick Rachael, tired mom

So I will give you some pictures. We put our tree up this weekend. We have a glorious, prelit fake tree. I was always againts having a fake tree until we bought one. It is *so* easy to put up. And prelit is like, omg, THE BEST. We bring out the three big tree segments, click them together, the branches fall open and I kind of spread out the pieces of pine "twigs" so it looks less smushed and more tree like. Then the kids come in and we ooh and ahh over the ornaments. It never fails.. EVERY year I think we have no ornaments and I wonder what we will put on our tree. And every year I realize we have TONS of ornaments, plenty for the tree. Over ten years you would have thought we had collected lots of xmas ornaments, but alas, in our move from CA back to the VA area, our box or ornaments got lost. So we had all these really pretty ornaments that we never saw again. Oh well, now we have more.. plus the wonderful addition of handmade ones from the kids.


I keep forgetting that blogger is posting my pictures backwards. Here's the finished tree. I think Ariel took this picture. I took off that vine thing hanging on it.


Trevor, Rachael and Ariel hanging a few ornaments on the other side of the tree.


The stockings were hung by the worm farm with care....


Trevor can make the weirdest faces for a picture. he's hanging an ornament. Notice Chaos in the background, chillin in his Santa hat.


The kids found their hats from last year. Notice Ariel's favorite pumpkin shirt to go along with her reindeer antlers. I think her expression is kind of priceless, too.


Rachael has been sick today. Some kind of stomach bug. She isn't running a fever, but has been throwing up all day and can't hold down anything. This was how she spent her morning, on our bed with Stripey making sure she was ok.


Strip Stripe has grown a lot since I think I last posted pictures. He still has his kitten teeth, but the kitten crazies are mostly over. He still plays with his tail and does somersaults on our bed in the morning. And he climbs up my leg when he wants attention; but he also spends lots of time sleeping. He plays with Chaos and Shadow, too and LOVES that cat tree.


Chaos looking quite festive and full of Christmas cheer. heh.