Chatter

Happy Christmas Eve Eve!!

So excited.

We still have a ton of wrapping to do. I love wrapping.

I spent yesterday and today at my mom's house, hanging out and doing food preparation for tomorrow and Christmas Day.

My sister arrived home for Christmas today.

Last week Sam got his ear pierced for the third time because he keeps letting the hole close. He wants both ears done eventually because "girls think guys with pierced ears are hot". The next day at school some girl told him he looked sexy. Sweet mercy.

I have been trying new foods lately. This week it was chicken souvlaki (however you spell it) and a cranberry. Very tasty. Last month it was a crab cake. That just about killed me. My throat closed over and was all itchy. I went to the pharmacy and got some benadryl and survived. In case you haven't noticed. All my life I was allergy free and now... crab cakes.

Ian and I are so overdue for a date. We were going to go out last night but ended up sitting in our living room by the light of the Christmas tree, just talking about life and our faith, and our hopes and dreams.

I've been loving these last few days at home with the children. Yesterday we tried a craft I saw on Pinterest that I figured I could handle. I bought four plain white mugs at the dollar store and pulled out my sharpies, and the kids and I each decorated a mug. Then I baked them at 400 for 40 minutes. The idea is that the marker becomes permanent on the mug and then can be used as a regular mug. Well let me tell you that wasn't what happened. The head faded what we wrote on the mugs and you can still wipe off the writing. So, we'll use them as pen holders or something.

We've renewed our lease until January 2014 which has brought me great relief. Our original lease was until the end of January 2013, and I was feeling very unsettled and worrying if we'd have to move again so soon. I'm very happy to have another summer and Christmas here.

I didn't send out any Christmas cards this year. Again. I had a list made up, but things were just so busy and I never got around to writing them out and mailing them. Maybe I'll send out Happy New Year cards. Who am I kidding, I'm not doing that.

Tomorrow night I'm going to mass with my mom. I haven't been to Christmas Eve mass in several years so this will be really nice. I was a semi-practicing Catholic until I was 30 then we started attending an awesome Baptist church about 10 years ago. Every so often I long for the traditions and reverence of the Catholic church.

I have a gross cough and a sniffly nose. This nonsense has been going on now for about two weeks. I'm worried it will turn into bronchitis. I had it back in the spring and it went on for seven weeks before I was completely healthy again. I don't have time to be sick!

Last week Julie got her arm caught in the car door. I don't know if I can even explain how it happened. She opened her door and leaned against the door jam thing as she got out, at the same time that Sam opened his door, which kind of crushed her elbow. Cue the screaming and tears. It was all swollen and she couldn't move it so we went to the ER in case it was broken. It wasn't and we were on our way about 2.5 hrs later. She wore her arm in a sling for a couple of days, and except for some bruising she's ok now.

We took the kids to see Santa last week. All four were in the picture together which just makes me laugh. The older two, of course, know the truth about Santa, but they're so committed to keeping the magic of Christmas alive for the little ones.

I'm sure there's more to talk about but I'm pretty tired. I need to answer some email and then head to bed. Tomorrow will be a long and exciting day for the children.

Catch ya next time!