Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone! Our family has had a wonderful Christmas. We started with Sunday at my Grandmother's on my dad's side with aunts, uncles & cousins. It was a very nice afternoon. Yesterday was lunch at my parents with my immediate family, then last evening was church with my in-laws and friends. The in-laws spent the day here, and for the first time in my entire life, I didn't have to leave my house on Christmas Day. We hosted the meal here for the seven of us, and I think this is going to go down as being one of my favorite Christmases ever. Our family is so blessed, and I wish many blessings to everyone!

Enjoy the holidays!

I probably won't be posting much over the next two weeks. I want to really enjoy the holidays and not worry about getting on the computer and posting it all here. Trust me when I tell you that we will be having lots of fun, and I just want to take the next two weeks to focus on my husband and kids, and the multitudes of friends and family that we are going to be able to see. I hope that everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a wonderfully blessed new year, and please forgive my absence for a couple of weeks!

Finding motivation

I really need to find some motivation and get things going here. I just seem to be lacking it right now. I need to get presents wrapped and I need to clean the house, not to mention daily tasks such as laundry, homework and cooking. It seems as though I just feel like coasting into next week and our two week break from school. I'm grateful the kids haven't had a lot of homework this week, although that just adds to my coasting!

Taking a break

This morning, for the first time in what feels like forever, I took a nap. The last time I really remember spending a morning like this is January. Since May, I've been working out of my home for my dad's office, and any morning I wasn't doing that I was usually at the grocery or trying to catch up on much neglected cleaning and laundry. The grocery was yesterday, and although the cleaning and laundry are still neglected, I allowed myself to close my eyes for 30 minutes this morning. It was wonderful! My little guy allowed me the time to sleep, and then when I woke up he crawled up on the chair with me. At first I felt selfish for doing something like that, but now I feel so refreshed and I realize it was so very much needed! Now though, it really is time to get myself motivated to accomplish some things today!

Fourteen and counting

That's right, only 14 days until Christmas! I'm trying really hard not to have a little mini panic attack! I just feel like things are getting away from me this year. I want so very much to enjoy the Christmas season, and it just feels like it isn't working out that way at all. Deep breaths, and everything will be fine!

This evening my husband has taken our daughter to the UD game. We have two season tickets and the kids go on a rotational basis with their dad. In a little over a week though, we are having a date night and I'm going along. Not very romantic, but since the tickets are already paid for it's inexpensive entertainment (as long as we don't eat at the concession stand)! The boys and I are wrapping some presents this evening and JR is also working on some scouting requirements. At least we are being productive!

Christmas tractors

This week our youngest, in Kindergarten, brought home his homework for the week. Included in it is a book he is supposed to make where he draws items for the twelve days of Christmas. They are supposed to be different from the original song. He is not particularly enthusiastic about it (as an aside...my husband and I, who remembered this assignment from two years ago with our daughter, mentally groaned when it arrived. We are not crafty people and really don't enjoy crafty homework). It needed to be done though, and I cheerfully announced last evening that we were going to begin. However, our little guy doesn't want to draw things related to Christmas, as is the assignment. He wants to draw things that he loves, such as tractors, heavy machinery, cars, and dogs. I was too late in rescuing page one, where he drew a hay truck. The solution to this was to draw a Santa cap on the top of it. On page two he announced that he was drawing tractors to go with the hay truck. I explained again that this was to be Christmas and winter things and suggested snowmen or Christmas trees or bells or candles or presents. He announced that he would draw two little cars. I explained that wasn't quite the idea and he said that he wanted little cars for presents so why couldn't he draw them. I tried to convince him that he could draw a present and pretend there were cars inside. After much cajoling and coercing, I finally got him to draw two Christmas trees. I'm sure that there are those out there who are appalled that I would stifle my son's creativity in such a manner and feel I should allow him to "think outside the box". However, the assignment was to draw Christmas items, and the youngest has a bit of an issue when it comes to following directions. He is convinced that rules and regulations are intended only for his brother and sister and others, not for him. I saw this as an opportunity to guide his creativity with direction. We've completed six days, and in addition to the above we have snow, wreaths, ornaments, and snowmen. Only six days to go but I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to keep farm equipment out of it!

Weekend update

As always, we had a busy weekend around here. I had our extra little friends through the end of the week, so Friday evening began "catch up" time around here. At first my youngest was very excited because he thought I said "ketchup" and couldn't wait for dinner. Not so fast young man! What I said was "catch up" and it meant that the entire family was going to be forced to endure a whole bunch of errand running. We did treat them to Skyline Chili for dinner though! The kids came home and tumbled into bed without any complaints, so I knew they were tired! Saturday, my husband took HT to the UD game to watch a victory, and I took JR and JC to JR's indoor soccer game. He scored two goals! It was a really great game for the entire team. That evening was the cub scout pack Christmas party for JR and after three hours of complete chaos (which I suspect was the beginning of the headache...see post below!) we finally made it home to put the kids to bed. Yesterday was church, and trying to get some presents wrapped. Tonight is the last class of the semester for my husband, and he spent the day trying to finish his presentation. This morning we awoke to a coating of snow on the ground and the kids are very excited. HT is convinced that Santa will be here any minute now!

Try this at home

Saturday evening I went to bed with a headache, and yesterday I woke up with the same headache. Never a good sign. I immediately took 2 Tylenol Sinus because I could tell that this could easily become a migraine. I have prescription medicines for my migraine, but they knock me out. I mean "be prepared to spend the entire day asleep" knock me out. I could tell within an hour that they Tylenol hadn't done the trick. Many years ago I heard that caffeine can help with headaches, and recently I read a blog post about a person who finds that drinking a can of pop high in caffeine (i.e. Mountain Dew) often helps her migraines. I didn't have time to spend the entire day in bed, so I gave the Mountain Dew a try. I also took 2 ibuprofen before I left for church, and although the headache was still there, I could tell it wasn't going to be a migraine. Not sure if it really works or not, but yesterday the caffeine really saved me!

Waterworks

Today we only had one of our little extra friends. Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to get a very good night sleep and spent the majority of the day crying. I felt awful for her because there seemed to be nothing I could do to comfort her. My kids also tried their darnedest to entertain her, but there was no amusing her today. I told her mom that I'm not certain she felt well either. I'd never really had a day like that with any of my kids, so it was definitely a new experience for me! Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day!

Extras

We have extra little friends here this week. Yesterday was only one, today there are two. When added to my youngest, that makes three. Three is never a good number. As the mother of three children, I already knew this, but I'm often astounded to learn that it isn't just my children to whom this applies. Two children = fun, laughter, pleasantness. Three children = chaos, yelling, crying, screaming, tattling, and well, you get the idea. On the up side, it is almost time for Kindergarten for mine, and naps for the other two!