Where Have I Been?

Where have I been? There has been so much going on around here, but no time to blog . . . EXTENDED FAMILY: I love that my kids have "adopted" cousins. That our families feel comfortable enough with each other, to get together when they're in town. THANKSGIVING: We had everyone over for Thanksgiving again this year. It was nice to be able to host it again. I love the smells of Thanksgiving, and being busy in the kitchen (even though the rest of the year I don't really enjoy being busy in the kitchen!) CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS: Somehow, despite the extreme MOOD of one of the children, we got the house decorated for Christmas. We laughed at Jalen Andrew's contribution - 12 ornaments on ONE branch! He keeps watching Barbie and the Nutcracker too, so he's developed a bit of an obsession with the Nutcracker, resulting in all the Nutcracker ornaments being moved to one location which just happens to be at Jalen Andrew's eye-level. Coincidence? I don't think so. He also goes around the house, fighting an invisible Mouse King with his sword.

(Jalen Andrew actually fell asleep like this. I promise it wasn't staged.)

REINDEER RUN: Attended Reindeer Run again this year, and watched both Joseph & James race. Joseph's lungs were burning (thanks to his asthma & just getting over pneumonia), but he hung in there, and finished his race well. James also stuck with the long run. He claims that he came in 5th place (it's more like 5th from the other end), but I'm proud of him for giving it his all. Rebekah politely asked me not to come watch her run, and I honored her wishes, and so what does she do??? She ties for first place with 3 of her friends! Yes, it was a tad bit staged, to all tie like that, but still . . .1st place! Most 8th graders refuse to "run" the Reindeer Run, and opt to mosey their way to the finish line. I'm proud of Rebekah for running, and not following the crowd. CONCERTS: Joseph missed his first band concert because of pneumonia. We were all sad about that! Rebekah's concert went well, and Jalen Andrew, as always, enjoyed dancing to the songs that they played. Christine accompanied Oh, Holy Night for Adam Foulk, as part of the high school Chorale Concert, and she did an amazing job! Color Guard also got to perform a number this year for the winter Band Concert. SANTA LUCIA: We held Santa Lucia, although we had some "life is crazy, so don't bug me about it" changes to it this year. Since Erik had pneumonia, I made the gingerbread dough, and the kids and I rolled it out, and baked the cookies. Because we were running out of time to actually decorate the cookies (it was the night before Santa Lucia, and I still had saffron buns to make!), I quickly frosted 7 of them with frosting left over from Rebekah's cinnamon rolls. On the morning of the 13th, both girls opted that I dress as Lucia this year, Christine readied herself for seminary instead of really joining the festivities, and Jalen Andrew slept through the entire thing (Erik dressed him up, but couldn't wake him). Ah well, at least we did it anyhow!

SANTA CLAUS: Jalen Andrew, once again, refused to sit on Santa's lap, and enticed his Dad's help in the matter. James has heard some conflicting opinions on Santa lately, and told me the other day, "Sammy says that Santa isn't real." I said that it was okay for Sammy to think whatever he wanted, but I wondered what James thought. He quickly replied, "I know Santa is real! Why else would they write the song Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer?" The clincher though was when I read to him the book Red Rider Came Calling. The boy in the book asks Santa for a tweed bicycle, but Santa goofs, and gives him a treed-bicycle (it's stuck through a tree). I asked James if he thought the story was real or make believe, and he replied that it was probably make believe. He changed his mind, however, when I turned the page, and there was a real photograph of the treed-bike. He sat there for the longest time with his mouth just gaping open. GIFT EXCHANGE: So as not to disappoint, Erik got creative in the wrapping department, again this year, for his work's annual gift exchange. It's a paper-mache' Faberge egg. They've made a special rule at work that the "wrapping" must go along with the gift if it changes hands during the gift exchange. It's always amazing to see what he will come up with. SHOWBIZ: We're pleased to announce that Christine tried out for, and made the play Footloose. She is one of the main dancers, and is excited about the opportunity. CHRISTMAS: It was a nice day. The kids changed the time on our clocks while we were sleeping, and thought they were so sneaky. 5:00 wasn't a bad time to get up though, so we let it go. We enjoyed having my parents over for Christmas Eve, and James and Jalen Andrew both fell asleep during our Christmas Eve program; we set out their stockings for them. Jalen Andrew was excited the next morning to see that Santa had left only cookie crumbs on his plate, and kept saying, "Santa's full! He ate all the cookies!" We had an enjoyable day together, and ended Christmas day with a nice dinner over at my parents'.