Vehicle shopping

Starting Monday, my husband and I will be vehicle shopping. We've been talking about this for over 18 months now, and little things have started happening to remind us that it's really time. Our van has been very, very good to us, but it's a 2001 and has over 124,000 miles. Little things have started happening to remind us that it's time to vehicle shop. About a month ago, I was at church and the van didn't want to start when I was leaving. The battery is less than 2 years old, but it was the first really cold morning of the year and I think that had something to do with it. It ended up starting on its own after a few minutes. Just over a week ago, the horn stopped beeping when we lock the doors. Again, not a terribly big deal, but I do like the "warm fuzzy" of the horn beeping so that I know that the van is locked. And Tuesday when my husband and I were going to meet up with some friends, the power steering stopped working, just for a couple of minutes. Oh, and the passenger window goes down now, at least most of the time. I've been keeping my eye open for used vehicles, and frankly, it's just discouraging. We bought our current van used in 2005. It had less than 30,000 miles on it and we paid $11,000. Now, used vehicle prices have absolutely soared. I'm not crazy about the thought of another mini-van, but because of having three kids and taking frequent trips, we need to have a vehicle where I don't have to have a carrier for the top...it's just not a practical option. I'm finding that larger SUV's that fit the bill are way, way out of our price range. My husband and I both agree that a car payment is not an option for our budget. We will pay cash and that will be what we can afford. So, we are in the market for a low mileage mini-van. We should be able to find one with less than 40,000 miles on it for less than $20,000. I'll be honest though, it's hard to get excited about going out and looking, and especially about spending that amount of money, for a vehicle that I don't really want!

Not exactly relaxing

It's been a very nice break, but not at all relaxing. And I am not one bit pleased that the kids have to go back to school on the 2nd. I can't believe the district isn't waiting until Tuesday! My husband's district was supposed to be moving into their new high school over this break, but that isn't happening. He doesn't see his students again until the 17th...hard to believe! I'm sure we'll enjoy our time together, but that's going to be a lot of time together without the kids.

Anyway, I think partly because it's been rather short, the break hasn't been relaxing. Not stressful necessarily, just very, very busy. The kids first day off I attended a funeral for a friend's mother. I hadn't planned to spend the day not being able to clean my house and get things ready for the holiday, but of course there was no where else I would have been. And I also got to visit with one of my best friends who came down from Chicago to be there. The next day my husband was also off, and we continued cleaning the house, but most importantly we went to the grocery to prepare for our big feast. My mother had used a gift card to purchase the turkey breast we were having, and I also had to drive the 40 minutes to get it from her. Christmas Eve we managed to sleep in and attended mass at 7:00 in the evening. Unfortunately Father wasn't even there at 7:00 in order to get started. It was nearly 9:00 by the time we were home, and our Christmas Eve tradition is to give the kids new jammies as their gift from us. We also read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and it was 9:30 before everyone was in bed. My husband and I were up until Midnight doing some more cleaning and of course being Santa. The kids were up and at 'em at 7:30 Christmas morning, and everyone was very, very pleased with their gifts. We enjoyed some cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then I began the process of organizing our gifts and continuing to clean the house while my husband began cooking our dinner. We had a wonderful Christmas evening with my parents, sister, grandmother and aunt. My father's favorite gift was a photo book I'd made for him of him and the kids fishing the very last time we were all able to spend the day at the lake. It was nearly 8:00 before everyone left that evening, and I still had to get everyone packed and things ready to hit the road for my in-laws the next day. We were able to do lots of visiting with friends while we were there as well, and hit the road for home just in time to meet up back here with our friends who had moved west 18 months ago before they left the next day. Yesterday I spent the day cleaning and organizing (not to mention unpacking) because we were supposed to host our local friends for New Year's eve eve. I was fine until late afternoon, when my body just began screaming "yuck!", and that's pretty much where my body stayed for the rest of the evening. We had to cancel our plans and I spent the evening medicated and in bed. I feel better this morning, although I have some concerns about our plans for the evening. I guess we'll just see what the day brings. Through it all, the kids have been enjoying late bedtimes, and of course have been enjoying all of the wonderful gifts (and lots and lots of attention) from all of their loved ones. It's so hard to believe how quickly they are growing...in just six years JR will be finishing up high school. It just doesn't seem possible!

Happy New Year everyone...may you all be blessed with much happiness and good health!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all! It's been a very nice morning in our house. Santa was good to the kids, and there were even gifts that they hadn't realized they wanted. We are trying to organize and get ready for the next "wave", which will arrive sometime after lunch. My parents, sister, and grandmother will arrive for Christmas dinner this evening. Tomorrow we are headed to PA for our Christmas there. But this morning, we are just enjoying the magic of Santa, and are grateful for the REAL reason of the season!

Santa is not happy

I can pretty much guarantee that Santa Claus is not pleased with the behavior that has been happening in this house. HT has decided that rules don't apply to him. In fact, if you ask him, "Do rules apply to you?" his answer will be no. He has been smuggling toys to school when he has been explicitly told that he isn't allowed to take them to school. If I don't inspect his back pack right before he walks out the door, he'll manage to smuggle them along. We are at our wits end with this, as is his teacher. He's also become quite good at back talking to me and yelling at me. AGH!!!! JC has also been difficult. Yesterday she decided to spit on her brother, basically because she felt like it, and of course he decided to spit back at her and then arms/hands began flailing in attempts to hit each other, and it's just ridiculous. We also learned yesterday that JC attempted to cheat on her science test. She said that she didn't understand the question and was looking over her notes to see if she could relate it to anything. We believe this, because she is having a great deal of difficulty in school understanding questions and concepts that aren't stated EXACTLY the way that she first learned it. For instance, she can give me a correct answer orally, but is unable to write an answer that makes any sense. She is also unable to choose a correct multiple choice answer because it isn't worded EXACTLY how she is looking for it to be. She's frustrated, and we are hoping that something can be worked into her IEP to help her with test taking. Her science teacher was extremely generous and allowed her to start over on the test after the notes had been confiscated. My husband is tired of coming home to tears and an angry mom over the behavior of (mostly) the youngest two. And the fact that Santa is supposed to be coming this weekend doesn't seem to be making any difference at all. Hopefully they'll get back on the nice list in the next three days!

A long short week

I can already tell it's going to be a fairly long week, even though it's only a three day school week. JC and HT both fell asleep in the van on the way home from my Grandmother's last evening, and they aren't exactly getting along this morning. It really drives me crazy when we have a morning like this one, and I don't frankly see the next two getting any better. The kids are ready to be done, but it just isn't quite time yet.

On the upside, we had a wonderful Christmas celebration with my dad's family yesterday. Everyone was able to be there, and that really meant a lot. We took a picture of all seven great-grandkids who used to fit so easily on the couch, but not so anymore. The oldest is driving, and my youngest, the "baby" is almost 8. I love that we all got to be together!

It's beginning today

Today is our very first Christmas celebration of the year. The kids have been looking forward to this ever since my grandmother mentioned at Thanksgiving that we'd all be together again in just over three weeks. The kids are definitely excited, and we are all looking forward to seeing cousins we haven't seen since July (and in some cases, since last January)! There is a chance that one cousin has a hockey game today. It was going to to depend upon whether they won or lost yesterday and I don't know how they did. Even if they do play, they'll be there later in the day. I'm so grateful, so very grateful, that we get together like this and that my kids get to know family. I hope we always have this!

It's going quickly

It's really hard to believe how quickly the time is going. We are already half way through December, and there are only just a little over 2 weeks left in 2011. Honestly, it feels like it was just a month ago that it was starting to feel like spring and baseball practices were beginning. JR is starting to realize the quick passage of time as well. It's one of the many indications that he is growing up. The kids are getting excited about counting down to Santa Claus. JR still plays along, and although we've never had a discussion about it, I very much doubt that he still believes. JC asked me about it while we were out shopping Saturday. She said that EVERYONE in her class says it's their parents and there is no Santa. She said to me that she was SURE it wasn't us, because Santa gives toys and we only buy them what they need, not fun things like toys. I had to chuckle to myself...it's not all bad that she has that perspective! HT is certainly not behaving as though he believes in Santa. In fact, on Tuesday I had contact regarding inappropriate behavior from a teacher of each child. I was NOT pleased. Some privileges have been lost and bedtimes are a little earlier in an attempt to help each one make better decisions. Overall though, things are moving along smoothly (and quickly!) in these last few days of the year.