Ups & Downs

A trip home (hmm, I guess home is where I live now, so I mean a trip to where I grew up) usually means multiple visits with family. Today we had brunch with my dad's family. The kids behaved well, although I didn't get a good picture of them in their cute matching outfits :( Maybe my mom did.

With the highs come the lows, because after dinner our "one night" stomach bug got the other kid... poor Grandma & Grandpa were up with her most of the night as she was sleeping on the floor in their room.

More Shopping?!?

Yup- after breakfast we headed out to the stores! The girls headed to JoAnn Etc for a little bargain hunting with our gift cards, then to the mall for lunch and ornament bargains at Hallmark. The guys hung out during the Dandilion's nap and then wet to lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings - they brought me home some too :)

Christmas #3

After two Christmas mornings, the long drive yesterday afternoon, and the late night with the extended family, and the Dandilion not sleeping well in new surroundings - we were all pretty tired by this morning. Once again, we were up somewhere around 7:00 to "come down" to open presents. Grandma and Grandpa had made lots of special things for all of us... here are a few samples...

"Super Man"


"Alison" (as in Alison Wonderland) - with a matching one for the doll

Christmas #2

The Tumbleweed came in to get us around 6:45, but since the Dandilion wasn't up we told her we would have to wait... and wait she did, because when he did wake up around 7:00 we had a serious mess. Clearly he had gotten sick at some point in the night, but he didn't seem too bothered by it, so we did the laundry and disinfected the crib and then we were able to go see if Santa came... boy, he sure did.


I think this was the "Roller Coaster Christmas" - the kids both got roller coasters - and there were lots of ups & downs!

Christmas #1

Christmas Eve was our first "celebration", the Tumbleweed put it. We got up around 7:00 all headed down for madness & mayhem. The Tumbleweed was truly into it and loved ripping open packages, and since the Dandilion didn't really "get" opening yet, she opened all of his too.

We had a nice dinner (yesterday's ravioli with homemade sauce) and relaxed for the afternoon before we headed home. The kids weren't as sleepy as we had hoped and were awake when we got home. It delayed some of the prepping we needed to do for Santa's arrival, but it did make it possible for the Tumbleweed to set out cookies and chocolate milk (with a pink bendy straw) for Santa and for both kids to enjoy the bedtime stories together.

Tradition

The Tumbleweed was able to help Papa make the ravioli for Christmas dinner. The process has truly simplified in the past 5 years and was much less time consuming (and easier for a kid to help). Dozens of cheese & meat raviolis were prepped and ready to go for Christmas Eve.

Holiday Party

Despite the one hour snow delay, the Tumbleweed's class had their Holiday Party. It was pretty laid back, so we were actually able to see how the kids play together and which "centers" they enjoy in the classroom.


After the party, I had to head home to wait for the UPS man to bring the final holiday package. Fortunately he came around 3:00, so we were able to get to the inlaws before dinner :)

Santa Sighting!

Santa was in Millbury tonight! He was scouting the route on the top of a fire truck. We were a bit confused at first, hearing sirens and all. When we realized it Santa was right in front of our house! We got up from our dinner to look out the window.

About 10 mintues later we heard the sirens again! Santa had turned around and come back down the street - this time we carried the kids outside to wave.

Just goes to show you - you never know when he is watching!

(I got a lousy picture, but I'll share anyway)

Snow Day

The Tumbleweed says to me just before dinner, "Mommy, we didn't go anywhere today." Pretty unusual for us, but the snow has us changing plans every few hours. I think we have about 12 inches right now, and 5"-8" coming in tomorrow.

The Tumbleweed had fun playing in the snow - making snow angels and then "snow fairies", catching snowflakes in her mouth, and playing on the slide.

Still Decorating

I finally got my Department 56 North Pole Village display up on the mantle. I really love how perfect it looks on our mantle (of course I did think of that when we designed the mantle).

It had taken me so long to get to it this year I had been debating about putting it up at all (and I am still deciding if I am putting up the family room tree). At this point, I don't think anyone else will see it but us, since all of out parties & playgroups have already passed. Although last year I left it up until February...

White Christmas

It looks like we are going to have a White Christmas! We are snowed in watching the white stuff fall. I think there is about 6-8 inches right now, which isn't too bad when you are home doing Christmas-y things.

This morning I ran around like crazy trying to get everything done before the storm rolled in... which was supposed to be around lunchtime. They canceled the afterschool program at the Tumbleweed's school, which I had specifically signed up for today so I could get all of my errands done. So we left early and did a few before school, and then I did the "secret stuff" after I dropped her off. We came home at noon and settled in for the night.

I still have lots of projects to do, so I hope my head cold doesn't hold me back too much.

In our own beds...

All of us enjoyed a good night's sleep in our own beds last night. After 3 nights of the kids waking throughout the night while we were displaced, we were thrilled that the kids slept really well last night. Both kids slept so soundly I had to check on them periodically.

Everything is getting back to normal after the ice storm. We still have to clean out more of the refrigerator and toss some of the things that got wet in the basement flood, but otherwise we are getting back to life as we know it - on the go all the time, hosting playgroups, and preparing for Christmas...

Holiday Concert

The Tumbleweed had her first holiday concert this morning... very cute.

She was so excited about it, but deep down I was hoping it was canceled. With all of the weather problems, that was possible - and it would have made life a bit easier. But that was not the case, so we had to drive two hours to get there, since we spent last night at the inlaws due to the power outage. On the way we stopped at Target to get some festive clothes, since all of hers were in the dirty laundry at home.

Once we were at the nursing home, she happily danced around the room to get out some of her energy. Then the teachers rounded them up, painted whiskers on their faces and stuck little red dots on their nose, assembled them in rows, handed out jingle bells, and got them to sing. They did great.

Snap, Crackle, Pop

That's what it sounds like at our house today. The snapping, crackling and popping sounds are coming from the trees covered in ice from last night's ice storm. We are hopeful that no more trees will come down with tonight's winds, that the pipes won't freeze with the cold temperatures, and the power will come back on soon so the sump pump can pump the water out of the basement.


I hope to get back to my "December Daily" posts and be able to post pictures again soon... but we'll see. My computer was supposed to go in to be fixed this morning but with the ice storm we didn't take it in :( Until it is fixed - the pictures will remain on my camera.

Anyway, this storm brought back some childhood memories of the Ice Storm of 1991...

~No power (and heat) for a week ... also no school
~Playing games at the neighbor's house because they had a wood burning stove and we only had electric baseboard heat
~Moving our mattresses onto the floor of my parent's bedroom to share light & heat
~The cool photos my mom took of everything covered in ice

MOMS Night Out

Tonight I was able to get out for a holiday party without the kids! It was nice to have civilized conversation with some wonderful ladies. It is amazing how much you can talk about when you aren't constantly getting interrupted!

Kitchen Decorations

I am slowly plugging along at getting all of my holiday decorations out. Tonight I got the kitchen decorations out. This year I put out the baking ornament display in the window, the reindeer ornaments on the chandelier, the holiday towels on the oven handle, and a few holiday scented candles around the room - my current favorite scents are "Holiday Sparkle" by Colonial Candle and "Christmas Eve" by Yankee Candle.

Holiday Party

This morning we had our first holiday party of the season - the Annual MOMS Club Holiday Party. We all had a great morning celebrating with our friends! It is fun to look back at the past year's parties to see how much the kids have grown...

Pouty Snowman - 2006

Two kids - 2007

My little artist & my little climber- 2008
(too busy to be photographed together!)

Puzzling

One of the few times I actually make the time to do a puzzle is at Christmas time. I have always loved puzzles, and now the Tumbleweed does too. All of my holiday puzzles are 500-1000 pieces, so the two of us are working on one together. Fortunately, I have a roll-away puzzle mat from my grandmother that makes it possible to tuck the puzzle away during the daytime because this is going to take us a while!

Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies

aka Peanut Blossoms. The Tumbleweed was thrilled to see the first Christmas cookies of the season sitting on the counter, exclaiming "Can I have a Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie?". She got a small sampling before I swept them off to my first cookie swap of the season.

Escape Artist

The Dandilion almost executed the perfect plot to sneak down to "Santa's Storage" this afternoon.

The Tumbleweed had just come in from helping put up the outdoor lights, but I was still outside talking to the Eagle. I had let her up the stairs and left the gate open knowing that the gate was still up in the family room keeping the Dandilion in. I closed the front door to keep the heat in while I stepped outside to discuss dinner. A few short minutes later, I see through the door that the Dandilion on the landing.

I panic. How did he get to the landing? Did he fall? I run in and catch him, just as he is turning to go down the rest of the stairs to the basement on his belly. Phew. He has been learning about stairs over the past few months, but I am not close to trusting him on them. It seems as though he knows more than I thought.

So, now that the Tumbleweed can "un-babyproof" the house by herself, I have to double check everything. It's always something, isn't it?