Christmas Recap

Its December 27th and we are snowed in. (Well, the boys and I are, but Scott is off to work this morning). I'm thankful for a boat load of new toys to occupy the big boys while we are couped up. I may try to take us all out for lunch this afternoon for a change of scenery, but its so windy out and I loathe getting in and out of the car on windy days. We shall see.
The last couple of days have passed in a blur.
And all the typical Christmas craziness has occurred in my house.
Hyper Children. Check.
Grumpy Parents. Check.
Loads of presents. Check.
A meltdown or two. check.
A Christmas spanking or four. Check.
Questioning how and why did Christmas get to be like this. Check.
A time to reflect about God's love for us thru His greatest gift, Jesus. Check, check and check!
Christmas eve started out fine. I cooked my annual ham and scalloped potatoes. We invited a friend of ours and her mother who had no family in town this year for Christmas eve dinner, and that went well. I had started to make a red velvet cake for dessert, but alas, I did not account for a nursing baby in my timeline of events and cooking schedule and it sat un-iced in my kitchen until last night.
Dinner turned out nicely and the kids actually ate some ham, and my guests were lovely and my mom wasn't too late for dinner. (she always runs late, I know where I get it from.)
Christmas eve church service was a disaster. We got there late, and the church was packed. I wasn't expecting it to be so crowded since it was at 6pm and there are 3 services. We couldn't even sit together, but it was a good thing cause B was in rare form and drove Scott bonkers until I removed him. J got hungry mid service and wasn't going to be patient about eating, so B and I took him downstairs. I was soooo paranoid to let B in nursery, since I know of at least 3 families with a stomach virus (all from church), so I made him sit next to me while I nursed J. When we returned after the service was over, B did something that pissed Scott off so bad we left in a huff. Later I found out that during the service, B 'colored' on the chairs with the candle we were supposed to use for singing...and a raft of other offenses. We skipped our annual visit to a local live nativity and went home and supplied some discipline and got the kids in bed quickly after our birthday party to Jesus. It was a little bit of a mess, but I was expecting it. The kids were wound up. I think that Scott wasn't expecting it and the kids behavior really set him off.
Christmas day was nice. Not too crazy and no fighting. I was expecting worse, but it was really a nice relaxing family day. No family drama, no trips to the ER. (Last year MIL went to ER on Christmas day).
As always, Scott spoiled me with gifts, and I felt terrible because his big gift is on back order and he basically got 3 gifts...lame ones at that.
Scott is a gifted gift giver, and knows things to get me that I didn't even know I wanted. This year he got me a Keurig Coffee maker...because he knows how much I HATE to make a pot of coffee in the morning, but need to drink my coffee or no one is happy. So he got me this single cup brewer, which is very nice. I think I may prefer our Mr. Coffee coffee better, but the Keurig is nice. Very nice. And very convenient. He also bought me some outfits which are the right size and something I will actually wear. I'm always impressed with his sense of fashion. (that's a little scary). Ha!

I still always wonder how Christmas got to be so crazy and commercialized and so far fetched from the amazing true meaning of Christmas. We try to focus on our Savior being born with the kids. Q knows the true meaning and will recite that to you when you ask. But I think as long as there are presents involved in Christmas, kids will always get crazy about that. Q was so excited to open presents, he asked about 100times the week previous to open presents. It was a little annoying. This year with our Advent calendar we read a verse and did some nativity crafts almost every night. It was fun, but B, not being the crafty type, enjoyed destroying whatever Q made. I wanted to ring his neck several times. I discovered that if the craft is a bit over his head, he just becomes destructive. He enjoyed things like coloring and gluing. But anything more than that, no gots.
I attempted to make cookies with the boys several times, but it always ended up with me yelling and not the beautiful picture of a Christmas tradition I was looking for. Why do the kids always have to ruin it for me? Ha!

All in all, I am thankful for a nice Christmas with my family. Thankful for a reason to celebrate. Thankful for a God to humble himself and come to this earth to save us.

Nervous (again)

Its totally normal to get nervous when your kids are being quiet, too quiet, right?

Today's First

Well, today I had my first call from the school nurse. SHe called right as I was headed out the door to pick him up off the bus. "Q fell and hit his head, and I'd rather not put him on the bus." She said. That was enough to make my stomach flip flop to my feet. The kid has fallen and hit his dome so many times. Each time I wonder if it will be the time it causes damage enough for a concussion. I'm so used to him and B falling and hitting their heads, it happens a ton. But this time freaked me out since she called and didn't want him on the bus ride which is less than 2 minutes.
I raced over there thinking the worst, expecting blood or something. I get there and my poor boy is sitting with an ice pack on his head, and looking so pathetic. He's fine, thankfully, and a nice egg on there which will look perfect for Christmas pictures. Aparantly, Q does not know that hands are a good thing to extend out in front of one's self to stop the cranium from hitting the floor when falling.

Nervous

Is it normal to get nervous when you hear your two older children giggling in the other room?
Or have I been conditioned to know they're up to something?
Must go investigate said giggling now...

Gibreckle

-J had his first well check yesterday. He's now 11lbs 4oz. and 23" long. Tall boy, 96% in that area. And his head is NOT off the charts like I thought it'd be.

-B was super cute at Dr's office yesterday while J was being examined, the doctor was looking at J and talking to him, "are you going to talk?" B pipes in, "No, he doesn't talk, he just makes noises." He goes on and on w/ the doctor who is this older guy with no personality. I was shocked that he was making Dr. Personality laugh with his antics. Then he turned to me and asked how old B was. When I told him 2, he was blown away. Apparently, speaking in 6 word sentences is advanced for B. Who knew? Well, I sorta knew, he sounds like a attitudy 4 year old at times. And when the exam was over, B left the office while I was packing up J.
The doctor saw him leave and said, "I guess he's really independent, or doesn't care that he just left you..." I said "why, did he just leave?"
Yep, he was out the exam room, down a long hallway, and out at the front door, trying to push it open. (and Dr. Personality was kind enough to rescue him for me.) This is not the first time this has happened. He was almost outside at the bowling alley last week when I realized he was gone.

-I pulled out the Christmas decorations and B is now calling Christmas balls, cannon balls. And the candles have become bombs. Suddenly he and Q are really in to bombs and cannons and pumpkin chunkin. I had some left over pumpkins that I put in the trash that they rescued. Q then asked if they could play "pumpkin chunkin'". Hmm, I guess. They then spent the next hour tossing the pumpkin down the stairs to see if they could make it "explode". I was sitting trying to figure out why they're so into all of this explosion stuff now, and I finally remembered. Scott likes to watch Mythbusters with them, and they are often blowing things up on that show. And for Thanksgiving, Mythbusters hosted a pumpkin chucking contest. I think I might have to put a kibosh on the Mythbusters thing. Or maybe the whole discovery channel (they like to play Dirty jobs too). Q has only had two bad dreams that I am aware of (or have been awoken out of sleep to deal with). One was two nights ago, and that one was about bombs.

-My mom is done with chemo. Praying she doesn't need anymore treatment ever! We're awaiting test results to see if she is a genetic carrier for cancer.

-My last meal delivery is tonight. I now have to cook. Waaah. I never can time it right so that J doesn't need to eat in them middle of me prepping dinner. Or he just decides to be fussy all through the late afternoon. Getting meals is such a blessing. I'm so thankful for my friends who have given us meals over the last month.

-I have no Christmas shopping done, not started anything or even thought of any gifts for anyone but the kids. This is not unusual for me. I'm not a planner or organized at any point in my life have I ever had anything done at this point.

-This may be TMI, but I laughed so hard at this, I thought I'd share. At my Dr's appt this am, my doctor asked me if I needed a scrip for bc. I said no, I don't like to do hormonal bc when breastfeeding. So he says, "so you're going to use the exhaustion method then?" Huh? "With 3 kids you're too exhausted for that?" or "The avoidance method?" or "The two separate beds method." Seriously, who'd have thought my doc was such a comedian.

That is all for today.