Week by week 25

(December 13-19) This is the week that we left for Utah. We started out lazy and got frantic as we packed everything up to take home with us. We always take all our souvenirs home to store them till we go back. We still seem to always bring more stuff back with us than we take.
We also decided to check out where "Pere Noel" (Santa) lives. Apparently he lives pretty close and has a house just across the border in France. We drove there on Saturday to meet some friends. When we got there it was snowing. James was excited about the snow. There were a LOT of other people there to see Santa's house too. Brian and Johnny inside the warm house.
Me and James in Santa's kitchen. There were lots of things cooking and lots of dirty dishes piled up.
This is the room where the elves make all the toys. There were a couple of trains going around the top of the room and James thought they were pretty cool.
Inside Santa's sleigh that was already loaded down with toys for good boys and girls.
The secret stash of presents.
My boys with the secret stash of presents.
They also had reindeer and Santa (he was sleeping in his bed). They showed where all the elves slept and ate and lived. It was super fun for James and it was his first real experience with Santa. I think he enjoyed himself. I know he enjoyed the snow again on the way out. We also spent some time having fun with our hair this week.
Where's James? He loves to play this game.
We played on the floor while mommy packed. It is so hard to decide what to bring and what to leave when there are kids involved. I always seem to overpack for the kids but I'm getting better every time.
On Tuesday we left for Utah and the kids actually did okay. I was shocked. I'm not saying that they slept much but Bimmy didn't have any major meltdowns and Johnny was an angel. We had to literally run to every one of our connections and we were the last people on the plane both times. We didn't even get a chance to go potty between flights let alone get food or drink. I was sooo glad when we made it.
Needless to say I only took a couple pictures when we first arrived. James was so happy to see his cousins and this is the only picture that I got of them together. They moved to San Diego a few days after we arrived but not before me and my sister, Pink, went and saw the newest Twilight movie. My sister was pretty irritated to discover (at the end of the movie) that it is a 4 part series. She has not read the books. We miss them lots. James and Lexi are great partners in crime. She does lots of bossing around and James loves to follow her around and obey. They played house (She was the mommy and he was the son) and princesses (he was the handsom prince and she was the princess). Here they are "decorating" (really ripping apart) my mom's Christmas tree.
I was a bit ambitious and thought that it would be a great idea to take James to see the lights the day after we arrived in Utah. We went.
James slept. We couldn't wake him up at all. Not even to see the temple or the Christus or the lights. Nothing. We left and took him home and got him changed and ready for bed and he didn't even open an eye. That is very weird for James. Brian and James both ended up getting sick. It turned out to be strep throat and so we finally got them on antibiotics on Friday. James strep was on his face (looked little little pink zits) but the antibiotics cleared it up and they were fine after a few days.
Also on Friday we went from my parents house to Brian's Mom's house. Uncle Trevor (Brian's brother) flew in that day and we all had fun just chilling that weekend. We got some babysitters and went and saw Avatar with both families (mine and Brian's). It was fun but like I said earlier, I didn't take many pictures. Don't worry, I got a little bit better as the trip went on. At least I got James and his Gramma!