Backtracking

So the weekend was great! Thursday we went to Columbia as planned for the Kopsky family Thanksgiving. Tons of great food to eat and lots of time to visit and play. We got to meet Cousin Matt and Megan's new baby Jackson for the first time and he is a cutie! We stayed in a hotel that night and Caleb was really excited because the last time he has stayed there was 2 years ago so of course he did not remember. When we woke up on Black Friday we did not go shopping, we went swimming! The hotel had an indoor/outdoor pool however we only ventured over to look outside and did not actually go through the flaps (it was REALLY cold). WE decided to stay inside where it was nice and warm. So we made it back and realized that our furnace was not working. Mark made some calls and luckily they were able to determine what was wrong and had the part available so they were even able to fix it. We were both happy to not have to manually start the pilot all weekend long to keep warm! So far the holidays have been a success, but we still have to make it through Christmas. Two years ago when we went to Columbia, Caleb had been ill with a really high fever all week, but no other symptoms. By the time Thursday/Friday rolled around we could hardly control his temperature by rotating Tylenol and ibuprofen. Needless to say from Columbia we went to Cardinal Glennon where 9 hours later they finally figured out that he had pneumonia by doing a chest x-ray on a whim-and he never even had a cough! 4 days later we were able to go home. Last year on Christmas Eve Caleb decided to do a dive into the wooden couch at Grandma and Grandpa Gardner's house and it was a bloody mess. He had a fat lip and a nasty looking mouth for awhile. Needless to say we were at the dentist the day after Christmas. He still has his front teeth, but we still think, even a year later that one of the front ones in on its way out. Once more holiday to go! Friday we went ahead and decorated inside and Caleb loves 'his tree'. We had just bought new lights for the tree last year and used them of course, but none of the strands worked this year. Being married to an electrician, he had to try a fix them. It really was mind boggling! The highlight of it is that Caleb also got to get his train out. We have never seen him so calm, he sat and watched it go around for over 30 minutes. Saturday the boys worked on the outside lights while I cleaned inside. Mark let Caleb get on the roof, but I did not venture outside to witness that! The lights look great! Mark made a tree out of lights as a compromise to putting lights in the big trees in our front yard.