A Post Christmas Catch Up

Not too sure where to start when it comes to telling you about our lead up to Christmas but I'm sure the photos below will give you a clue!!LOL
It all started on the weekend of the 15th/16th of December when there was a nasty incident between Sarah and one of her girl friends, I won't go into to too much detail as they really don't matter that much, but needless to say I am hoping that she has learnt a very important (and painful) lesson!LOL
Then on Tuesday night I received some bad news about my Fathers health. I did not sleep well that night so I woke up on Wednesday morning determined to go down and see how he was going for myself. I was going to take everyone with me but Lacey had woken up with a pain in her tummy and didn't feel very well so I went down on my own. It was good to see my Dad and to realise that he was in fact going to be ok for quite some time and that he, in his words "wasn't going anywhere anytime soon". Later in the afternoon Sarah rang to let me know that Lacey was now really sick so I headed back home immediately. John arrived home at the same time and we both decided that she needed to go to the hospital. They diagnosed her with suspected gastroenteritis and after spending a few hours on IV fluids and receiving an injection to help with the nausea they returned home at about 9.30pm and she went straight to bed. She woke up again a few hours later with severe pain in her lower abdomen which proceeded to get worse so I decided to take her back to the hospital at 5am. This time she was diagnosed with appendicitis and a decision was made to operate. We were told that the OR was very busy due to an equipment failure but that they would get her into surgery as soon as possible, but at 7.30 that night, we were still waiting!! By this time she was in so much pain even with all the morphine they were pumping into her that I was starting to get really worried. The nurses tried to get them to bump her up the list but to no avail. Eventually they took her to theatre at 10.30, but sadly, by this time her appendix had ruptured and she had developed peritonitis so instead of an overnight stay in hospital, she ended up being in there for 5 days!!! It looked like she may even have to stay in there for Christmas but after being pumped up on 4 different types of IV antibiotics, she was thankfully allowed to come on Christmas Eve!!! This was such a scary experience as I have never seen Lacey so sick or in so much pain. It's awful to have sit and watch that knowing that there is absolutly nothing you can to do to help.

So, as you can imagine, Chritmas Day at the McGuire household was a very quiet one!LOL I will post some pictures soon take on Christmas morning.

A Belated Merry Christmas

To all our family and friends - we hope that you have all had a very enjoyable and safe Christmas!

We have had a lot going on over the past week or so and will fill you all in on the news in a future post.

A Visit From Travis

Last weekend Tegan and Corey brought baby Travis over for a visit. While he was here we managed to take this picture of a very proud Auntie Sarah!

Year 7 Graduation

Last night Woodford State School put on a graduation ceremony for the Year 7's of 2007. At first, Kaydon didn't want to go at all, but I insisted and he ended up enjoying himself immensely! I can't believe that he will be in High School next year! Where has the time gone??
Mr Winrow voted Kaydon the "Most likely to Captain an Australian Cricket team!!LOL

Its an end of an era for us as we have had at least one child at Woodford State School since 1993 when Arlie started Pre School.

Looks Like Christmas!

Well it's certainly starting to look a lot like Christmas around here! I thought that my love of this time of year might ease off as my children got older, but it hasn't!! I still get excited about putting up the Christmas lights and decorating the tree and I really love the fact that the kids still get a kick out of it too. Arlie even came home for the occasion, as it has always been a big "family" thing that we do all together.

Silly Season

Lacey is such a card! While we were putting up the Christmas decorations, she decided to become a living Christmas Tree complete with lights, and decorations!LOL

Glenn

On Saturday night we went to Glenn's place for a pre Christmas BBQ. It was great to catch up with him as we haven't seen him for a while. He had recently returned from a trip to Darwin so we spent some time looking at his photos and just generally chit chatting. Jasper enjoyed getting all the attention from the kids and also getting the few left over sausages. Glenn even got Morgan, Kaydon and John to try some crocodile sausages! Sarah and I on the other hand was not quite so brave!! Glenn always has some really interesting little gadgets around his place and the kids were fascinated by this plasma ball light. I think Morgan did really well to get such a good photo of it!

Disappointment

We have a very disappointed Lacey on our hands today! She went for her assessment day with the Navy and sadly, they want her to wait 12 months to get some more "life experience" before she starts her Navy Career. They would like to her finish year 12 and consider applying for the ADF Gap Year as an Officer. She has no idea what she wants to do now, but is being quite philosophical about it all even thought she is bitterly disappointed.

Personally I would like to see her return to school and complete year 12, but she has 8 weeks holidays in front of her so no decisions have to be made yet.