And Just Like That, I...

...caught a cold.  At the 8:30 church service we attended this morning, I felt perfectly healthy.  When we went to the Christmas tree farm afterwards, I marched up and down the hills with vigor.  Then we drove to the barbershop to drop off a tree there and...

I sneezed.

And suddenly, I knew I was catching a cold.  A half hour later, while eating lunch here with my parents, I felt the familiar tight throat and the itchy, drippy nose.  Oh no, here we go.  Let me grab the bottle of Vitamin C and the box of Puffs Plus.

My original plan was to spend some quiet time this afternoon finishing my mother-in-law series; but once those symptoms hit me, I decided the wiser course of action was to go to bed and sleep while the little ones slept.  So much for finishing that series today!  

No matter.  This gives me a chance to post these pictures from our romp at the Christmas tree farm.  It's a delightful tradition for our boys, and I'm not sure Christmas would be complete for them without it.  When we first went back in 2007, I suspected that it might be the start of a family tradition; and sure enough, every year we make the trip to Singers Glen to the farm (here is 2008 and here is a snippet from 2009)--much more fun than our family tradition in San Diego of making a trip to Home Depot to choose our tree!  

At the farm, there are hills to climb...

...and run down...

...and run back up.

There are long shadows to chase...

...and a tree to (watch Daddy) cut down.

There are more hills to climb...

...and arms to outstretch when the climb seems too much and you have to call out, "Mommy, carry me!"  (To which I replied, "No, I can't carry you because I'm carrying Shav, but I can hold your hand!"  Then suddenly Tobin found new strength and realized he could actually climb it himself after all.)  :)

There are hills to fall down on...

...and get up on to continue the race with your brother.

There are trees to drag down the hill:  one for home and one for work.

And today, for a short time only, there were the cutest boys to photograph!

And no trip to the Christmas tree farm would be complete without candy canes to suck!  See how serious Tobin is about this?  :)

Also today, as a happy surprise, there was a kind lady who was willing to take a family picture of us outside the springhouse.  Pictures of our little family of six are few and far between, so I was especially grateful for this treat.  

Shav was a little distracted by David's candy cane; in fact, the only way we could get him to point his head in the general direction of the camera was to ask David to let Shav have a lick.  :)  Maybe we should have let Shav have his own.  

Oh well, there's always next year.  :)