Our Week End Wrap Up (a few days late, as usual)

Clayton and I have these great ideas from time to time. This Saturday was one of those times. We had the great idea to take the kids to see ICE at the Gaylord Texan. ICE is something they do every year. It's in a giant tent and it's ice sculptures. This year they were doing How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss. They also have a giant Nativity made out of ice. Sounds great, doesn't it? And since my big sis Melanie called to tell me it was something I had to take the kids to see it was a no brainer; right? Wrong.



Don't get me wrong.....ICE is TOTALLY worth paying to go see if you're in the Dallas area. In fact it's just flat out AWESOME! Especially the life size Nativity made solely out of ice. It took I forget how many artists an entire month of 12-hour shifts to complete the masterpiece. I'm sure you can read about it at the Gaylor Texan website, which I can't remember at the moment but if you're that interested you can Google it I'm sure.



Now my friend Melanie is pregnant with her third bebe. She is a planner. She has a 3 year gap between her first two. So when she said we should take the kids to see it I should have been smart and realized it would have been great for the oldest two and possibly Henry, but the girls, uh, no. Actually it wouldn't have been bad at all if we had had at least two more adults with us. (Where are Nana and Pa when you need them?) But let's face it, with the stroller anything is doable (is that even a word?). Funny thing is, they don't let strollers into the ICE exhibit. Still I'm thinking we're okay. I mean there are two of us and two babies. And if all else fails I can hold both girls and Clayton can take Henry or visa versa.



They tell you it's 9 degrees in the tent so dress accordingly. No, I'm not kidding...it's actually a chilly 9 degrees in there. That's why they equip you with parkas as you enter the tent. These are no ordinary parkas. You are suited up to brave the Arctic. They are thick, they are bulky and there are only sizes so small. So Henry and the girls resembled that kid from a Christmas Story all bundled up yelling, Hey guys wait for me! And see, trying to hold babies that have on layers plus winter coat plus thick blanket for legs plus Arctic parka that's at least 5 sizes too big = you're gonna need a lot of sleep later on that night. Add that to a whiny Henry who hasn't had a nap and is coming down with a TERRIBLE stomach virus (only you don't find that out until the next morning when you're gonna get ready to go to church and you walk in his room and are knocked down by the smell of puke and it's ALL OVER EVERYTHING: bed, sheets, floor, him, hair, pillow, pj's, comforter, sheets.....GROSS!!!! Like soaked through to the plastic cover on the mattress kinda gross) and you've got a good time let me just tell ya!



Despite all of that the older boys LOVED it and mama loved the Nativity so much I could have stood there in the 9 degrees for an hour or so just gazing. I have a thing for Nativity scenes. After all, Jesus IS the reason for the season! I would definitely do it again, just not with or five kids and only two adults. The best part for the kids was the giant ice slide. Even little Henry exclaimed as he was coming down, "I want to go again!" But one time was enough for us. We exited the ICE tent, turned in our parkas and headed in to the gift shop where I got an adorable ornament. It's a ball with the three wise men painted on it. I heart it!

The Gaylord Texan is all decked out for Christmas. They have awesome decorations and a life size gingerbread house, Santa is there of course, and an array of elves doing balloons, juggling, you name it. They even have people dressed like Dickens Christmas Carol singing carols all around the hotel. We took it all in. It was a jam packed day to say the least. We headed to Cracker Barrel for an early supper and I kid you not, I almost fell asleep at the table. We were seated right in front of the fireplace and that fire felt soooo good. We headed home and got the kids down with every intention of finishing up the tree and cleaning house but that never happened. We crashed as soon as we could.

Sunday we woke up to aforementioned stomach virus. I hope no one else gets it. It is a nasty one. Let's just say that today was day number 3 of me completely stripping his bed and washing everything on the sanitary cycle (not b/c I'm a germ freak but b/c it HAD to be done). Anyway, I'm hoping that tomorrow those nice clean sheets will still be nice and clean. I'm keeping my fingers crossed at least.

Oh, also on Sunday I finished lighting up the tree. Henry was not feeling up to par and was laying around most of the day. Clayton had made a Walmart run so we'd have stuff to feed our kids for lunch and I was busy as a bee with the tree. I had help off and on by all kinds of little helpers. William resorted to my room for some tv time and I could have sworn Henry followed suite. I started supper and was almost done when William emerged and I asked, "where's Henry?" He said, "I don't know." And I said, "I thought he was watching tv with you." William said, "no, I haven't seen him." Clayton was home by this point. So I run upstairs and through the house calling for him with no answer. I told Clayton he wasn't here and ran outside and through the neighborhood screaming his name like the psycho that I am. About 10 or so of our neighbors ran out to help look while I told Clayton to call 9-1-1. I ran to the park and down in a creek looking for something floating when I heard our neighbor yelling we found him. I ran back to the house where he was found ASLEEP ON OUR COUCH under a pile of his newly washed sheets that hadn't made it back on the bed yet. Just call me mother of the year. After I had a complete meltdown and finished hyperventilating we finished up supper and called it the end to the weekend. I hope to never have another moment like that again. Who cares if that stupid tree gets decorated? But just so you know I did finish up the tree today. It only took me 15 days to do it, ha! I'll post some pics tomorrow.

Oh, and in typical April fashion I forgot to take my camera to ICE so I cannot share our insanity or the beautiful baby Jesus carved out of ice. It's probably a good thing too b/c I'm not sure I could have carried one more thing with all those Arctic parkas. Oh well, maybe next year!