Happy New Year

Happy New Year!  We pray you enjoyed the holiday season and are looking forward to the start of a New Year.
December was busy at the Handy house.  Keeping up with William alone is a full-time job. He's full of energy and curiosity and a complete joy to watch and be with.  Santa was good to him this year.  Although if he'd seen Santa with his toys I'm not sure he would have liked them as much!!  We went to the Bass Pro Shop in Cincinnati to see Santa (I highly recommend that over the mall!).  He liked Santa from a distance but once I sat him down the uncertainty began.  And when I walked away panic set it!  We did get some pictures with Santa that are the typical 1st picture with Santa.  And we got a pretty good one with Mama in the picture too.

Help!

Decorating the house was fun this year.  William loved Mama's Scooby Doo stocking. It sings and the mouth moves.  I think we must have pushed that button 1000 times this month!  He did great with the Christmas tree and loved that it was full of balls.  When I took the tree down he said "ball" for a half an hour, mourning that they were gone.  There was one ball on the tree we let him have and he reached for it anytime he was close to the tree.  It was a Mickey Mouse ball that was dad's.  I added something to our decorations this year. Dad always had a snowman in the backyard on Greene Hills. Casey had mom save it for her and when mom downsized recently Casey said she'd be willing to let it go.  So, of course, I took it!  He is proudly displayed in the backyard of our house and it brings a smile to my face every time I see it! 

Will with Scooby Doo

 

The week of Christmas was tough at our house.  Tuesday night William came down with the stomach flu.  Two days later Steve came down with it.  I was the queen of Clorox and cleaned behind them both like a madwoman for the entire week.  A hungry madwoman, that is. I went on a small hunger strike that week in fear of the inevitable and trying to keep my stomach with just enough food (bland food at that) in it to keep from feeling starved! I held onto hope that I'd at least make it through Christmas. On Christmas Eve I was brave enough to invite Casey to bake cookies with William.  We had a blast and made a huge batch of cookies, and a huge mess! Will got his own little baking set for Christmas with a spoon, rolling pin and cookie cutters.  We made cookies for everyone. 

Ready to get started!

Adding the flour ...

and wearing a little too!

Covered head to toe ...

and front to back!

That was hard work!

We went to the Christmas Eve service at church and that's when things started to look dim for Mama.  Lo and behold I didn't end up making it through Christmas and spent Christmas Eve sleeping on the bathroom floor. Bless Steve's heart our son must have known something wasn't right because for a couple hours while I was in the bathroom he was awake and crying and wouldn't let daddy put him down.  I'm not sure how Steve managed to take care of us both as well as he did!  Once Will went to sleep Steve camped on the couch until I was well enough to go to bed. 

We slept pretty late Christmas morning but woke to a Toys R Us explosion in the living room.  Santa brought Will a ball pit, a tunnel and tent, a recliner and some other smaller toys.  The ball pit was the hit of the morning.  And the chair too.  He loves to climb in and out of it like a big boy.  He and BJ love the tunnel and on a few rare occasions have been in together.  Right now his favorite is his tent.  BJ loves that too but he's a pretty smart cat and takes off as soon as Will joins him!  He also got a Mickey Mouse pillow pet.  He LOVES Mickey and calls him "ts". We aren't sure where that came from but it's definitely his name for Mickey. 

Ball pit!

In his tunnel

Checking out his stocking

Calling Santa to say thank you!

Loves his new boots!

Sitting in his new recliner opening a present from Mama and Daddy.  He can see the balls!

Checking out Mickey Mouse

We made it to my mom's sometime that afternoon.  As I was lying on the bathroom floor on Christmas Eve I was in tears thinking I wouldn't get to see Nat and Adam.  It'd been 7 months since I'd seen Nat and our visits with Adam are few and far between as well. I was devastated I wouldn't get to put my arms around them and hug them. Thankfully the bug came and went quickly for me (my husband and son were not that lucky) and I was able to hug them both!  That just might have been my best gift that day.

Adam, Nat and William

Will with cousin Nat.  Boy we miss him!

Will and Mama

Shoes from Casey.  He loves them!

Tractor from Uncle John and Aunt Darlene

Pooped ...

Will and cousin Casey

Uncle John and Aunt Darlene helping Will unwrap his Critter Clinic from Uncle Jamie

The grandkids got flags, framed and engraved, that were Grandpa's.  A very special gift.

Grandma with the kids: Allison, Adam, Grandma, Will, Nat, Casey and Beau.

Cousins: Adam, Nat, Will and Casey

Uncle John putting together a basketball hoop from Grandma

We had to miss brunch with Steve's family Christmas morning but did make it that evening and spent some time with them.

Will's car!

I love it!!

This is super cool!!

Uh oh!

Riding in the trailer.

You may be wondering about those cookies we baked just hours before I got sick.  Well, sadly they got pitched and the family got pictures of them instead!

As we say good-bye to 2011, we are thankful for the many blessings God has given us and pray for a 2012 filled with blessings beyond words for our family and yours. 

God bless,
Alisa