Catching Up

I haven't had the internet at my house for a bit, and I am really starting to miss it. I haven't posted about our holidays or triumphs or New Years Resolutions. We survived Christmas. We had a lovely Christmas Eve program where the kids acted out the nativity. It was lovely. We visited my Grandma Vesta. We need to visit her more often. She is a marvel to me. She gets all of her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren a gift. She makes dish towels for us every year. I am determined to not use them this year and keep them so my daughters can see how special she is to us. Our children were spoilt rotton on Christmas Day and not by us. It was amazing and very humbling. They played for hours and have developed irritating habits of getting out one board game after another for me. Does anyone else remember how long it takes to play the game Life! I mean, holy crap! It was a 2 hour project to set it up and play it. Their personalities are so funny. The game started conversations about things that we haven't even considered yet, like college degrees and occupations. Of course, the funny one has been telling people for at least two months that he is going to be a race care driver when he grows up. He is going to drive the number 44 car and if you turn on the tv you will see him racing his race car. It's been such an obsession that we got him a 44 car as his ornament for the Christmas Tree this year. We then had Christmas Dinner at my parents with most of my siblings and their children. It was so wonderful. We opened gifts and laughed and were loud. I loved it.

We spent the next day with the Steady One's family. It was quiet and healing and lovely. I loved it, too.

I then had most of the week to myself. My mother-in-law, bless her heart, takes my school aged children over the extended holidays. They LOVE this tradition. They look forward to it. They beg for it. They plan what they are going to do. It always involves a lot of outside time. They made grandma play old maid and Uno until her hands hurt. She is so good with them and they cherish their time with her. I cherish their time with her. My house is mostly quiet. I clean and spoil the wild one and the new one. I read a bzillion books with him. I watched tv with him. I played Thomas the Train with him. I sat and rocked my baby. We snuggled and kissed. I became sane again. It was truly a gift.

We had New Years Eve with some friends and it was back to school. Back to our routine. Back to timed teeth-brushings, and chores, and homework, and music lessons. It is a wonderful time.