Unexpected Merry Christmas

This year we stayed in Charlotte for Christmas. All of us, except Addy, got the flu!

It all started on Saturday Dec 13th. Jackson came home from Mimi's house feeling sick. He ended up testing positive for strep (no flu test). He was out of school all week. Monday Mimi got sick. Wednesday Josh and Aaron felt bad. Aaron tested positive for influenza A. And yes, we all got the shot.

Friday Benny started with a croup cough and tight breathing. He got treated with a steroid Monday night. His fever has been all over the place and he's had it the worst. Tonight will be day 7 for him with a fever. He also had a chest xray which showed no pnuemonia.

I started feeling sick Sat night with a scratchy cough. Never got a fever but still have the head cold.

Joyce made Christmas Day very special by having us over for a meal, games, and gifts. Josh also went shopping Christmas Eve night to get the kids each a gift since all of theirs are in Ohio. (They get so many from others, we usually don't buy them anything.)

Love and miss our extended Ohio family. Still so many reasons to be thankful.

Great Wolf Lodge

For Christmas, Grandma & Grandpa Neville treated us to a weekend at the Great Wolf Lodge in Charlotte.

Our room had a special sleeping area for the kids with their own TV. Benny's standing on his bed.

Who knew a set a stairs could be so fun? We spent our first night exploring the lodge.

We watched a Christmas show in the lobby which included fake indoor snow.

Ready to go to the water park, bright and early on Saturday morning.

Everyone's watching a huge bucket of water about to dump.

The wave pool was one of our favorite activities.

The kids were so entertained by all the squirting water coming from the ground.

Mimi drove over to visit on Saturday. We made crafts in the Cub Club area.

The kids made snowflakes. We've got them hanging in our windows at home.

We were able to ride some of the bigger water rides with Addy & Jackson while Mimi watched the little ones.

One of my favorite parts of the weekend was bowling, made especially for kids.

All of them LOVED playing. Benny was the cutest bowler ever!

The last night, we ordered pizza and hung out together in our room. Thank you Neville's for a great weekend!

Another early Christmas gift came last week, these much needed couches. We got them for only $199 each on Black Friday. Thank you Grandma!!!