Sunday, December 29, 2013

Our Family: Week of 12/23/13 - 12/29/13


On Monday, our puppy ran away (again).

The door keeps being left open, as people come over and the kids go in/out, and when I don't catch it in time, he slips out.

We spent the evening looking for him and putting up signs.

We haven't had any calls yet.

The kids are so sad (Mike and I are, too).  

But, if we can't have him... I sincerely hope that he was found and made a wonderful Christmas gift for someone on Christmas morning.

***

On Tuesday, we spent the day cleaning for Santa, while Mike went to work.

These guys are awesome cleaners, when a guy in red is bringing them presents that night.

;)

After Mike got home and rested up a bit, we had our traditional Christmas Eve party and dinner:



Followed by acting out the nativity (Mike was Joseph, Josh a shepherd, Adam a wise man, Grace was Mary, and I narrated):

And brand-spankin' new pajamas:


We set out the reindeer wreath, cookies, milk, and (new) letters for Santa, where the kids declared the ONLY thing they wanted for Christmas was Buddy (our puppy) back.

;(

We wrapped the doorway with wrapping paper, went to bed, and Santa came, and made the living room look magical:


***

On Wednesday, the kids woke up bright and early... and I held them off until 8:00.

Poor Mike had been awake for 24 hours straight the previous day, and needed to catch up on some sleep.

And, by some miracle, these guys let him.



We had a wonderful Christmas day that included us un-wrapping many wonderful and generous gifts, me crying about the said wonderful and generous gifts, talking with family, lounging in our pajamas all day, snacking, a family bike ride, and having fun with new toys.

I loved it.






It was a beautiful Christmas full of miracles and love and everything good.

Just the way Christmas should be.

***

I made myself a deal that I wouldn't deal with the baby at all until after Christmas.

I was having a really, really hard time and was completely stressed out and panicky in November about the holidays and the baby and finances and pregnancy and all sorts of stress-filled goodness.

When I get stressed, I make a chronological list of what has to be done, and set myself deadlines when I have to get things done by/start on stuff.

It's organized procrastination, I tell ya!

It worked in college, anyways.

;)

So, on Thursday we slept in, and then I proceeded to go into full-on cleaning/organizing/nesting/list-making/planning mode.

And made my family jump right in with me.

(Because they are awesome).

And because I'm a crazy-pregnant-Mama/wife.

We stayed in crazy cleaning/organizing/nesting/list-making/planning mode the rest of the week.


Which is a good thing because on Friday I went to the doctor, and they went ahead and scheduled an eviction date for this little boy:

January 15.

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Merry Christmas!

So.  It's been a year since I've blogged.

Which makes me super-sad for all of you.

(Just kidding)

But, really, it does make me sad because a) It's really hard to keep in touch with everyone; and b) We love looking at our past blog posts... it's our family history, and we've lost a year of it.

***

I've been trying to come up with a nice, but super-inexpensive, gift for family this year.  Everything that I thought of was either too cheesy, too cluttery, or out of our budget.

Today during church, I came up with an idea that won't clutter anyone's home and will still allow me to pay for my OBGYN's sports car:

I'm going to blog again.

I am committing to blog once a week as our gift to our families this year.

I'm hoping that doesn't sound terribly conceited.

Once a friend gave me a framed picture of herself for Christmas... and I thought that was pretty conceited.

Hopefully this isn't like that kind of gift.  ;)

But, we've been told by several family members this year that they miss hearing about us.  Giving the gift of time and communication, especially with baby #4* coming, and most especially because we don't live near family, seems appropriate.

So, Merry Christmas!

We love you all!


*P.S. If we've been that bad at keeping in touch of you, and you don't know: we are pregnant with Baby #4.  Surprise!