Birthday Week... Interrupted

Well, you're probably wondering what happened to Birthday Week, it was going so well.

Leading into it everyone was having such a blast.

I was getting treated like it was my birthday week...

So the night of my actual birthday mom gets summoned out of town for work, but alas I still really wanted to go to Rosebud so Dad took me, Mae, Pax and my bestie Shea.

What is Mae wearing in that photo, you ask? I have no clue. Before she left she asked Dad to take a picture of her and we all thought when she came downstairs she was Olivia Newton John.

Anyway, I started not feeling well at Rosebud, so much so that I didn't even eat my spaghetti, so you knew something was wrong with me. We came home and did some cake and I tried to tough through it. Oh, and at this point Olivia is hating life and making a solid effort to sabotage my birthday with her version of nastiness.  (it's working)

Then we opened gifts. As you can see, Olivia recovered briefly and was stoked at the Shopkins Season 4 present I got from mom and dad...

And then there was a serious huddle around them.

And then, just like that, it all went to pieces. First I got sick, then Mae decided to come along with me the next day and we spent the next 8 days sicker than dogs. In the meantime, Mom came down with it as well and then this happened...

Pax goes into the ER for croupe (or however the hell you spell it. Yes, I said hell, it was a frustrating week). Dad manages to tread water and actually is secretly wishing the whole time that he got it so he could just climb into bed for three days... instead he's the ringleader of this whole circus.

So here we are, almost 13 days later. Some of us are still coughing (Mom, Mae), some of us are finally better (me) and some of us need a room with a straightjacket and rubber walls (Dad).

So that was the Birthday Week... interrupted.

Oh, and then we found an awesome app on Juliana's phone and this happened.

O, Christmas Tree

Are you serious, Clark? Yep, we were. After an almost 9-hour drive back from Kansas City on Saturday we turned around first thing Sunday morning and headed to Woodstock to get our Christmas tree. Nope, not that Woodstock, but it might as well have been. Almost an hour and a half later we arrived at our destination - Oney's Tree Farm.

It was cold, but not too cold, and we were ready for it.

And so were the horses.

So after a trek through the tree farm, which was quite vast, and Pax fully equipped with his own saw...

We found her, and Pax got to work.

Wait, no, this is her, and Dad got to work.

After about ten minutes... wait, hold up. Dad, are those leg warmers? Who are you, Olivia Newton John?

Sorry, after about ten minutes and dad talking about a rotator cuff or something, we got her down and started the long walk back. I helped carry the light end of the tree until I couldn't carry it anymore.

Got her home and got her up, and then the real fun began. This was basically Paxton's first time decorating a Christmas tree.

And we found an old ornament of me. Those are my chubby cheeks on the left.

Here's the crew.

Here's the angel I made back in Kindergarten.

And here's a recap of the day, and what a wonderful day it was.