Merry Christmas!

Another week has flown by and here we are, the birth of our Savior. Last night we attended mass and it was beautiful. The church was as full as I've ever seen it. We sat surrounded by our favorite people. If only my family members had been with us, it would have been perfect. Yesterday we got our projects done for our trip. N took us out to lunch. We don't go out to eat very often. I realized this when we were leaving and Eight asked "We just leave the dishes there?" Normally, they are begging to go in. We will hit the drive thru while on the road. If we do go in, its to a place where you clean up yourself. Baby Girl was in her first high chair at a restaurant this past week. N took me out for breakfast. We are nearly packed. 2 pm is the earliest we can get out the door. I still need to pack N, myself, bathroom and hotel bag. My pile to load is growing. Santa came to our house during mass last night. What a surprise that was! All were pleased, but they did wonder if he delivered anything for them at Grandma's, too. We now have a wii in our house. Not sure still how I feel about it, but I am open minded. To demonstrate, Seven was completely frustrated with his poor bowling skills. I am not sure I want to listen to more complaints. I think Five was pleased the most with her gift. She got a mp3 player and a boom box for her girl room. A handy and very cute bag came with to store the player in. Baby Girl got the biggest gift of all, a walker. She also got a learn and play puppy. It was a great night. We had a spaghetti dinner, quick and easy after a late service. Everyone was pleased and happy. Great memories and great family time together. One of my favorite parts was seeing what gifts the kids created for us.

So sorry dear readers

Guilt has me! I apologize for not blogging more, especially after compliments in Christmas cards. Not sure why I haven't kept up with it. There were moments when I could have gotten an entry in, but didn't have the right motivation. This past week has been crazy with tasks to accomplish. It seemed there wasn't a free moment in the day. I'd find myself multitasking every minute. The only time I sat down was to nurse Baby Girl, even then I was doing something else. I love all the cards and pictures we've received. So sorry to my over seas friends, your cards are still sitting here. That trip to the post office just gets me in the end. I never can get there ahead of schedule. What a day Thursday was! Five and Seven had parties at their school. Still locking all doors and signing in and out, etc. made for a congested office. No biggie, all things that should have been done before to keep things in order. Seven was thrilled with his party. He had a great turn out. He really does have a nice class. Lots of parents and wonderful activities. Five too had a great party. Baby Girl and I roamed between the rooms helping when we could. She loved it. The more chaos the better. She did manage to fall asleep for a short time. Just enough of a rest to keep her going for the remainder of the party. N was off buying a new washing machine. Yup. The 10 year old Maytag was done. We'd put money into it already. The belt and I'm not sure what else. We knew this day would come, just didn't expect it during the holiday. By the time I was finished at the school, he was looking at machines at the store. He called and we made a choice. He came home with it before the bus arrived. Then the challenge began. Feed 4 kids, dress one for a concert in complete chaos. Every surface of my kitchen was full. No spare space! The new washer in the kitchen, along with the dryer. Baking goods everywhere. Hungry kids and no plan. We made it. The house was still a disaster, but we were on time. We got good seats and it was great. Well, she's awake and time is up. I will try to get on here more, but tomorrow will be busy, too.

Sadness in our nation

Unbelievable comes to mind after today's news in Connecticut. After hearing this news, I wanted to go get my kids and keep them home for good. With that not possible, I wonder what changes will we be in for learning from this tragedy? Will our school change it's policies? Pretty much anyone can get into the school through the front door at any time. There are doors to force you to go through the office, but there is no guarantee they would stop there, especially if they had a weapon. Our best weapon is to educate and pray. What a heartbreaking experience. My prayers tonight will be for those families. Unbelievable.

My list is nearly complete!

Today was productive! Yeah for getting things crossed off my list. I finished some kid gifts and Godparents. I still have a few things to figure out with the Godparent gifts, but otherwise I am done! So excited, yet I have so much to do. We figured out containers for Christmas cookies. Now to get baking! Tomorrow is gingerbread house day in kindergarten. Five is so excited. I'll join her in the morning. Kids want to go to open gym at the gymnastics place tomorrow night. They will be tired after. Saturday we'll stay home and bake. Sunday is big with mass, pizza party, caroling and cookies. Monday we're having a wrapping party. Gotta dig out my tape, scissors and ribbon. New Moon and Azalea are coming to wrap gifts. Not sure, Daisy may join us. Next week we will deliver our treats. Tuesday is cheese ball day. We're giving the teachers cheese balls. Hope they like them, its a popular recipe that always goes over well. Should be a great next week!

Seven

This is the letter Seven wrote to a nursing home resident. I was near tears. Dear Dick I am Seven. I am a 2nd grader from the learning center. My family Christmas tradition is going to my grandmas. What is your favorite holiday? Mine is Easter because Jesus rose from the died. And get baskets of goods. Also you find your basket. One time I got Legos for Easter. What is your favorite day of the week. Mine is Monday. Sincerely Seven Sometimes they get it so right!

Who is in charge?

The kids like when I joke about who is in charge, mom or baby? There is much truth to my silliness on this subject. She tells me when she wants something. Gets me to carry her from place to place. She's the new boss in town and I her employer. We tried sleep training again. My fault it didn't work out the first time. We had success, but I let her completely fall asleep when putting her to bed. She forgot all about falling asleep on her own. We did it again last night. I think it will work out this time. She's older, more aware. She's learning new things every day. We've been working on some signs. She's starting to do all done when finished in her high chair. It's great to see she gets it. During last nights training, she cried for 30 minutes. Normal for the first night, we've done it before. Tonight will be less as will each day to follow. By the end of the week, we will be where we need to be and good to go. I just have to make sure she isn't so tired at bedtime. Our day is beginning at 5 am. Not my plan, but I owe it to her after last night. I hate how long it's been since I've written anything on here. I hope to try to get more entries in. We've started the holiday baking. Today we hit the grocery store as it's been awhile since we've been there. This week I will bake one recipe at a time and get that project done. I've still got Godparent gifts in the works to finish along with two projects for Baby Orchid we were working on and stopped. Our Christmas shopping is nearly complete. I need to finish gifts for my Godchildren and we need to order something for my brother. I think that is all once I get my gifts in order. I need to bring two baby gifts to MN, too. One for a baby boy that may come around my birthday! The other for a Christmas baby yet to be determined boy or girl. I will be ready for either. So excited. These are new parents, friends of the family, Orchid's age. Our Christmas letter is written, envelopes addressed. We will make copies of our letter today and get them in the mail. I had the cards the beginning of the month, but a picture was crooked on the card. I waited a few weeks trying to decide what to do. I finally wrote to Walmarts website and they gave me my money back. Well, I'm still sending out the card, even with the crooked picture. I couldn't waste all those cards because of one picture. It will work. She's making her way over to the couch. This girl can pull herself up and take a few steps along the couch. She's all over the place, even more than she was before. She thinks she can scale walls and climb into the standing position along anything tall. She was holding on to a chair under a desk and then fell forward, completely under the desk. Got herself a big bruise on her head. She has another spot on the other side of her head from a different injury. If she keeps this up, she'll be black and blue for the holidays. She is adorable and always in good spirits. The last week she's been slightly different. Not sure if its teeth or something in her ears. She's been tugging on her ear sometimes. I gave her motrin under the guidance of Zinnia. I hope it helps her to feel more comfortable. Now she is operating Netflix. She loves remote controls. The big kids are all doing well. We attended a gift making session at the Methodist church on Sunday afternoon. I thought it would just be ornaments and cookie decorating, but this was so much more. The kids made actual gifts for people. They put together things to go with coffee cups, etc. They were like gift baskets with different objects. It was great. They loved it and felt so proud of their creations. They wrapped everything and put it under our tree. The also attended the Frosty Shoppe at school last week. There, they made purchases for family members. It's always fun to see what they picked out for people on their list. Seven picked something out for a certain canine we will see during the holidays. Everyone was thrilled with him making that purchase. It's all coming together, just to get it all done. What a wonderful holiday this will be with a baby in the house.

One rough week

This was a challenging week in our household. With Seven having a stomach bug on Saturday, foolish me thought since everyone was fine on Sunday, perhaps we'd be home free. No such luck. Five woke up at 6 am, which she never does, and was sick. Off the boys went to school and I cleaned everything again while taking care of Five. Just before 1:30, I get a phone call from the school. Eight got sick in the classroom. Happy to report he made it to a trash can. Good thing I thought to bring a bucket because he was still sick in the car. We created a spot for Five on the floor since she was feeling better, Eight got the couch. Baby Girl seemed to have a touch of it later on. She was spitting up after eating and didn't want any food. Enough said on that subject, everyone was better by Tuesday and back to school. Once again, foolish me thought we were in the clear. Wednesday night N and I got it. Yuck. I felt better after getting the kids to school on Thursday, but poor N didn't feel better until the middle of Friday. It was rough. Friday brought sadness to N's family and friends. A 37 year old friend passed away suddenly. They still do not know why he died. His family won't have answers for 6-8 weeks. The family was close to N's family growing up. They had 4 boys and later adopted a girl. The second to the oldest boy passed away. He was a year older than N. I remember when 37 seemed old, not so much anymore. His mother was amazing with the entire situation. She talked about how she knew she was going to have hard days, but her son lived his life to the fullest, he was not in despair. Many people spoke kind words about him. He was the guy who, no matter how much money he had, he'd help make sure your electricity stayed on and you had food to eat. A neighbor told a funny story about how they were going to leave vegetables from the garden at the parents house, but didn't want anyone to know. They were nearly caught by the son hauling dishes out of the mothers house. What was he doing? He'd brought his dishes over to load in the dishwasher, wash, and take home. It lightened the mood. After we went to a lunch at the pastors church hall. Miss D came over after school to get the kids off the bus. She came on the morning to get them on the bus so we could leave early. She kept Five and Eight for the evening. Seven was invited by Daisy and son to go swimming. They also attended open gym at the gymnastics facility and he was tired when he arrived home. Baby Girl is up. Guess I have to hope to finish my week another day. I'll just add that today no one wanted to go to church. For some reason, I started singing a new song from church. Everyone's mood changed and we made it on time. It was great for our night. Tomorrow: we begin holiday baking! Five can't wait. Baby Girl is pulling herself up along the couch now. She's wanting to stand all the time. Time is really up now.

It's a beautiful day

We are in for a beautiful Sunday. It feels like a spring morning outside, already at 7 am. Yesterday was pretty low key as Seven was sick. He felt better by the end of the day and we should be ready to go. Everyone slept all night, I pray no one else gets sick. Even though he was sick, we still had some pretty good conversations. We are preparing for his first reconciliation. Five was all about answering and could make the sacrament, too. They get it and that makes me proud. With a sick kid camped out in the living room, the last thing I wanted to do was decorate for Christmas. After a phone call with Orchid, Five really wanted to decorate. I agreed, but the tree would have to wait. By the time we were done, Seven was on the mend and off the couch. I am thankful we did decorate, it set a nice tone for the end of the day. I moved their desks together next to the bulletin board. I really like how they are arranged. It is not what the new owners wanted, but gives us more space. I agreed to their arrangement for the start, but adding a tree to the room will cause even more spacial issues. I feel as if we are busting at the seams in this house. I hope we can move up sooner than later, but I am not anxious until we can afford the one we want. There are two currently listed that I would take and could move right in to, no compromises. Until we can get one of those, I will be patient and wait. One step at a time. We refinanced our house and that is near the end process. It's all heading in the right direction. Still trying to iron out our holiday plans. Turns out we will only have one day with Orchid and her family. We're considering driving back that direction to avoid a hotel fee. We'll see. It's still in the works. I can't believe how busy this week will be. Today we have a reconciliation meeting after mass. Tomorrow is RE and Eight has the Frosty Shoppe at school. Tuesday is a book giveaway for Seven. Wednesday N works over time. Thursday and Friday are Frosty Shoppe for Five and Seven. The Frosty Shoppe is a store they set up at school for the kids to buy Christmas presents for family and friends. At first, it irritated me. Just another thing to shell out money for. After attending and helping, I totally see why they have this program. The kids are so excited and it is really a nice process. I will divide our people between the three kids. They can choose a gift for the person on their list. It's fun to see what they think the people on their list will like. I will help with Seven and Five, but not Eight. Thursday is first reconciliation. It will be a nice night for our family as N will be able to attend with us. Last year it was on a Sunday and I did it all by myself. It will be a nice experience for Seven and Eight. I admit, I feel I've failed in taking Eight and hope to change that for all three of us. The neighbors who have the bus stop at their house moved this weekend. The new bus stop will be our house in the am. After school, the kids will still get off up the road. I think it will be a nice change,they won't have to be waiting outside in the winter. The kids next door were thrilled with this news. I've finished the dresser project I've been working on in the garage. I decided I want to put new hardware on it. Hope to pick that up either today or tomorrow. N got supplies to make bunk beds for the girl room. Nice changes to come to that space. Five is excited. Times up. She's at my feet.