because i need a little magic.

the past couple of weeks have been a roller coaster.

our downstairs bathroom is still not completely finished, we now no longer have a wall with an enormous hole in it, but the linoleum hasn't been replaced, so even though the bathroom is "functional," the floor is still just cement.   this is WEEK 4 of a messed up bathroom.  when we were told it would be a quick fix.

ben's oldest brother matt came into town and we had so much fun spending time with him.  i'm not completely sure he'd say the same about his time spent with us, since from the moment he stepped foot onto our porch he was faced with disaster.

caleb brought the stomach flu home from school so that he missed his christmas party.  he was so sad, and so was i.  that little guy was looking forward to it so much, he just loves school and especially the parties.  luckily he has an awesome teacher who came to our house to give him his book exchange gift and a gift from her.  he was elated.

matt & ben left friday night to go on an overnight backpacking trip and took some pretty amazing pictures along the way:

i stayed home with the kids and helped caleb get back into shape.

saturday night, just as we were planning on going out to dinner as a family and with matt, leah projectile vomited.  so she had caught caleb's stomach flu and a few hours later, it turned out that i had too.

ben and i worked together helping leah out, in between me clutching my own stomach and praying for mercy.  then at about 3am, i was awoken to the sound of water rushing onto the floor of our master bathroom.  i jumped out of bed to see our toilet randomly overflowing.  i turned off the water and yelled for ben, who was so startled that he fell out of bed with a huge KA-BOOM.  even though i was sick and couldn't believe the wet carpet, i couldn't help but burst out laughing.

we set up a couple of fans to start to dry out the carpet and went back to bed.  i have no idea how much time passed, but the next thing i remember, i was being woken up to the shrill beeping of our smoke detector from downstairs.

ben and i ran down as quickly as we could, only to find that the water from upstairs was worse than we had thought, and had leaked through the top floor down to the bottom floor.  water was leaking through the smoke detector, which had set it off.  there were leaks pouring like rain onto our downstairs.  we set up bowls and buckets for the dripping water.  i was so sick, and we were both so tired.  the last time i looked at the clock it read 6am.

on sunday i was pretty much out of it, laying in bed and moaning incoherently.  luckily leah was through the worst of it and feeling better, but neither kids were well enough to go to church.  ben had to teach a lesson, so awesome matt took care of the kids.

monday i was feeling better, just really weak and dizzy with a gargantuan headache, and leah was also not 100%, so i missed out again on going out to dinner....again.  for anyone who knows me, going out to eat is one of my favorite things to do and we don't get to do it very often, i was disappointed.

BUT to make up for it, my friend andrea came over after "whipping up" a bunch of peanut butter & chocolate cupcakes, and oreo cheesecake cupcakes and we put together a mini surprise party for matt.  he shares a birthday with the baby jesus so he doesn't get much solo attention on his day of birth.

here are andrea's delicious creations:

here is matt's surprised face:

we were so grateful for his help, and just having his positive personality around helped us get through a pretty lame weekend.  thank you again, uncle matt!  next time let's get the whole family in on the visit and i promise we'll provide working plumbing and no barfing.....hopefully.

here i am trying to get a normal picture of the brothers.  clearly they wanted to work against me:

there have been other things going on that are personal and not for the blogging atmosphere, but let's just say that those things make the water leakage and upchucking look like child's play.

don't get me wrong, we're happy here.  and blessed, there is so much to be thankful for.  sometimes it feels like it's harder than it needs to be, you know?  why can't things just go smoothly?  i know that's life.  it's just difficult when you feel like you're being hit from all sides.

anyway, i'm excited for christmas.  it's only our little family this year, and even though i'm missing our extended relatives, i just love being with my 3.  i'm grateful that even though there is chaos around us, inside we are happy to be together.

lately you know what i've been missing?  SNOW.  yes you heard me.  even though driving in it isn't much fun, i am a girl who absolutely loves being home during a snowstorm.  sitting under a blanket, sipping hot chocolate.  or even bundling up in coats, boots and a hat and walking through it and playing in it.  i think it's magical. 

it just doesn't feel the same here in arizona, and even though i truly appreciate most days that i can go outside and still tan up, during the christmas season i just miss snow.

it reminded me of my favorite scene from edward scissorhands.  random?  i know.  but i do love that movie and the music.  and especially the scene where she walks outside and dances in the snow he's created for her.

so here's a little montage, you can watch the whole thing or just skip to about 1:45 when the part i'm referring to goes on.

well this posting has pretty much been all over the place,  

but i wish all of you a fantastic christmas weekend!