We're home!
1700 miles, almost an entire day of total driving time (23 hours over the week, yikes!), 200+ pictures, and a 12 passenger van stuffed to the roof. There was lots of food and family and and friends and fun. It was wonderful seeing everybody!
And now I have at least 10 loads of laundry to do and I feel like Scrooge Mom because every other sentence I say is "Not right now." (To the Creepy Crawly Bug Maker, a trip to Barnes and Nobles, opening a tea set to paint, finding a Game Boy, hanging a Tinkerbelle clock, eating fudge, pulling out Kyle's loose tooth, using a Lego gift certificate online and on and on...)
My sister, her husband, and my brother arrive today around 3pm for our annual New Years Party. Tonight I think we're going ice skating (I want to laugh at my brother) and for tomorrow my brother-in-law has requested a trip to DC. It'll be interesting since Ford will be laying in State. Monday of course we'll all be nursing hangovers. Well for the 5+ feet crowd, the little ones will probably still be on their sugar high.
Tuesday "regular" life begins again. I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet.
Have a safe and happy New Year!
I was just thinking that I really hate shopping on Christmas Eve but then I remembered that technically today is Christmas Eve Eve Eve. It's only Christmas Eve at our house because I want the kids to open Santa's gifts under our tree tomorrow before we drive off into the wild blue yonder. Or maybe the less sentimental and more practical reason is that I don't want to drag 10 cubic feet of gifts to Ohio/Indiana and back.
The plan goes something like this:
Today: laundry, shopping, attend Zach's class magic show (yep, the school that never seems to be in session has classes today, go figure), wrap a few more gifts (about 15), pack, knit
Saturday: Santa arrives! And then drive to Cincinnati Ohio (500 miles, 7-8 hours depending on traffic and children's bladders), knit
Sunday: Lunch at Skyline with Maggie and her husband! Christmas Eve festivities with Greg's family, knit
Monday: Christmas! (Hopefully I will be done with the knitting at this point because the kids are suppose to wear the sweaters this day.)
Tuesday: My side of the family's Christmas at my sister and BIL's (A little over a two hour drive into Indiana)
Wednesday: Drive back to Ohio and I think we're going to Sherry's in Greg's home town. (probably a 3-4 hour drive)
Thursday and Friday: Drive back to Maryland at some point... (I wonder if I have another knitting project I could bring along.)
Saturday: My brother (who doesn't blog) and my other sister and her husband arrive at our house for our annual New Year's Party.
It may sound a bit crazy with all the driving but it's not that bad. First I don't have to cook. Err wait, first I love seeing all our friends and family! And then in a really close second, I don't have to cook. hehe
Merry Christmas Eve Eve Eve!
(P.S. The twins are better and so far so good that no one else has caught it. I'm packing puke bags in the van just in case.)
Crud, the twins are sick. They've taken turns puking since 4am. And now they are crying since they can't go to school and will therefore miss "mystery munchies." (Something about sharing snacks, Em and Ally were bringing in candy canes that I never found time to add the pipe cleaner antlers and googly eyes to.) I'm thinking that their soccer coach may also be crying since he's going to be down two players at an already shorthanded indoor game tonight.
And since I seem to be slow on the draw lately, I just realized that we're going to Ohio on Saturday to return sometime before the 30th. I've been patting myself on the back for having all the gifts already purchased but now I need to wrap 50+ presents. Oh and buy batteries. Conservative early estimates show I need 8 AAA, 16 AA, and 4 D.
Why am I still sitting here? Cause I'm a little shocked at all the stuff I need to do. This month has been crazy by most standards in the first place but I thought I was doing pretty well. The Christmas cards were sent, the presents bought, the kids saw Santa, the gingerbread house made (and eaten), and Greg's work party was a hit...
But then again I didn't buy any of the kids' teachers gifts and I didn't knit the planned new Christmas stockings. I currently need to finish 5 sweaters, sew 3 skirts, put together a photo collage frame, buy decorative tins, do laundry, wrap presents, take down the pine roping (we are never ever getting a real tree, the needles from the roping are driving me insane), and pack for 6 for 7 days (Greg takes care of his own stuff). I also have fabric to sew cute Christmas aprons but I'm thinking that may only happen if I don't close my eyes for the next 48 hours. Did I mention Santa's gifts will be opened Saturday morning? Crap! I don't have any cookies for Santa...
If you see a woman running in circles mumbling "8 AAA, 16 AA, 4 D, decorative tins, cookies" please buy her a Mountain Dew and send her home.
One of my 30 before 30 goals* is to do something with my unofficial guides. 8 topics is a good start plus I'll expand on those and add an intro but I think I need a few more ideas. So while I'm knitting away today (#13 on the 30 before 30 list), if you have a question about any aspect of life with 3 or more kids under 6 years old (remember I had five children 5 years old and younger for awhile), leave a comment. Thanks!
* (Eek! I've only completed 4 so far and I turn 30 in 9 months and 5 days!)
So today I have to run a bunch of errands...
(The kitchen table with mini-quiche, meatballs, spinach balls, fruit platter, egg nog, gingerbread house by the kids, gingerbread tree by me. Missing is a shrimp tray.)
I'm so over grocery shopping. Too bad the family wants to eat something besides pb&j and crackers.
(My computer desk as the punch and alcohol station.)
I need to make returns at Target, Michaels, Best Buy, and JoAnns too.
(The entry with poinsettias, pine roping, and bows. You can see the kitchen on the right and my desk is to the left.)
At JoAnns I need to buy a bunch of random stuff like googly eyes and brown pipe cleaners to make reindeer out of candy canes.
(The dining room, aren't those roses gorgeous? Pumpernickel bread with dip, roll-ups, veggie tray. Missing are another shrimp tray and walnut glazed brie with pears and crackers.)
I also need to go to the bank to cash a check. If someone wants to volunteer to do all this for me, I'll give them the amount of the check. Course it's only $8 so...
(The fireplace in the family room. I talked Greg out of an actual fire since we've never built one here and used some of my 45 candles instead. Also in the picture, IKEA furniture)
I wonder how long it would take for Safeway to deliver.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa....
It's one week until Christmas!
Actually that's not a big deal because all the kids' gifts are bought (and half wrapped). The huge issue right now is that I have 5 Christmas sweaters to finish. The boys' sweaters only need the zippers, Kelly's needs the capped sleeves and turtleneck parts knitted on, and *shudders* the twin's haven't even been started. Oh and I said I'd make skirts for the girls. (A couple yards of fabric each, some elastic and a few hems, easy as pie.)
The cool thing about it being a week before Christmas is that it's my dad's birthday! Since we all know he reads here, let's all wish him a Happy Birthday. I bought him a really nifty gift, I'm just crossing my fingers he doesn't have one already.
Happy Birthday Dad! I love you and wish I could be there!
We survived the holiday party!
Actually it went better than great. The house looked fabulous, the food was delicious, the kids were very good, and the guests were a lot of fun.
We should do this every week!
(Oh wait, I didn't enjoy the cleaning part beforehand that much...)
I do have some pictures to share but my computer was taken down to set up a temporary bar on my desk. It was a good trade off (I'll probably put the computer back together tomorrow).
I owe a huge thanks to my in-laws. They were amazing. They arrived Friday afternoon and it seemed like they just unloaded the entire party from their vehicle. As Greg said when they were leaving today that they better plan to do this again next year because they've set a very high standard to match. They make party throwing look as easy as breathing.
Today I'm trying to catch up on laundry. And figuring out what to do with twenty pounds of leftover food and deserts. We may be eating mini quiche, shrimp, pie, and cookies for every meal for awhile.
Happy 8th Birthday Emily and Ally!
Wow, 8... Here's their birth story if you are interested.
So the trip and dolls from the American Girl Place in November were their birthday gifts from us but I bought the accessories for their dolls (there's always some accessory or clothing item to buy, it seems) to give them so that they'll have something to unwrap today. And I just wanted to see the dolls with the accessories anyways. hehe
They've asked for tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner and a SpongeBob cake. Greg suggested using frosting covered pretzel rods for the limbs. Hopefully the cake will turn out okay (I love the smell of baking cake), I'll be icing it later.
Bonus!!! My in-laws are driving to Maryland as I type! They are coming out for the girls' birthday and to help with the party tomorrow night. Funny how I mentioned wanting them to help and now they are. Maybe I should ask the powers that be for a million dollars here. Although the part about the maid hasn't come true and man, I am so tired of cleaning.
I have 26 tasks left to complete on my list of 71 things to do. The original list was 60, I hate increases like that. Plus I need to go to the grocery store, flower shop, the party supply store, and Costco today.
I promise to post pictures of the twins later! (Just ignore the fact that I promised to post pictures of the New York trip and that hasn't happened yet...)
TGIF!
I bought 45 candles on Monday (a mix of pillars and tapers in red, green, and white) for the party. I think I may have gone a bit overboard and therefore will be returning a lot...
(I'm still cleaning. Today's goals are the toy room, kitchen, and scrubbing walls.)
Zach, Ally, Kelly, Santa, Kyle, and Emily
Taken Saturday Dec 9th
I wish I knew what Kyle was smirking about...
Hi all! I have two exciting links to pass along to you today! (And then I must go back to scrubbing baseboards...)
I have a guest post up over at Larger Families. They are doing special entries about the holidays. Go check out mine and leave a comment so maybe they'll invite me back!
But enough about me, my dear youngest sister has a blog. (Finally!) She really should have started it before the wedding but I'll take what I can get. Go check out The SC Files and quack in the comments for me. (You'll understand when you get there.)
And seriously, how do baseboards get so freaking dirty?
And to top the day off, I made numerous mistakes at the Market Day pick-up tonight. As in I gave someone French toast sticks instead of French bread sticks. And I can't count, I almost gave someone 13 boxes of chocolate covered pretzels instead of 10. And I confused a box of individual chicken pot pies with a single large chicken pot pie. I never make mistakes, I feel like such an idiot.
The kids have been awful, it's like someone gave them shots of caffeinated brattiness. The threat of Santa isn't working (and I swear I haven't even used it yet, Greg only did on Saturday). So there was a lot of screaming (by me) when we got home from Market Day. My throat hurts.
I have a list of 50 things to do for Saturday's party and that doesn't include any grocery shopping or cooking (the list started at 60, I've managed to cross off 10 items in 2 days). Greg's out of town. The twin's birthday is Friday. We have chess club, a soccer game, a Boy Scout meeting, and hockey practice & game this week. I'm feeling a tad overwhelmed at the moment. This is going to be a crazy week even by my standards. If I ever needed a 27 hour day, it's definitely gotta be now. Except all I really want to do is crawl into bed. (After first making sure my alarm clock is set correctly...)
Can we start this week over already?
Weekends are suppose to be about sleeping in, not waking up two hours early to freeze in an ice rink. And then today Greg had to be up at 5 something to catch a flight to Louisiana so as usual I set my alarm to help make sure he got up. But somewhere along the line my alarm time got completely screwed up and didn't go off at 7:30. I woke up at 8:20. Two minutes after the bus picks up.
Luckily last bell at school isn't until 8:45 and car riders drop off after the bus riders so the kids weren't late. Although getting everyone ready in 20 minutes (they usually have 30-45) involved a lot of yelling and pushing and "oh my god can you just put your socks on and quit arguing with me?!?!"
Also? The internet connection on my computer is screwed up at the moment so I'm on Greg's.
I'm ready for summer vacation again.
Weekends are suppose to be about sleeping in, not waking up two hours early to freeze in an ice rink. And then today Greg had to be up at 5 something to catch a flight to Louisiana so as usual I set my alarm to help make sure he got up. But somewhere along the line my alarm time got completely screwed up and didn't go off at 7:30. I woke up at 8:20. Two minutes after the bus picks up.
Luckily last bell at school isn't until 8:45 and car riders drop off after the bus riders so the kids weren't late. Although getting everyone ready in 20 minutes (they usually have 30-45) involved a lot of yelling and pushing and "oh my god can you just put your socks on and quit arguing with me?!?!"
Also? The internet connection on my computer is screwed up at the moment so I'm on Greg's.
I'm ready for summer vacation again.
Good morning!
See I knew Greg would find a way to get me. Although I can't say he's having a delightful time at the moment since he's on a red eye from California that lands in 5 hours. (1:30am plus 5 hours equals 6:30am, just checking my math here)
So back to why I'm up at 1:30am. Zach has a hockey game at 7:30am tomorrow. Err, today. And it seems at last week's game, unbenounced to me, Greg said we'd bring muffins to the Dec 9th game. Hmm...
Okay so he did tell me midway through the week that I needed to bring muffins. We had already decided I'd be taking Zach to this game due to Greg's travel schedule. But then I got sick and no one wants to eat muffins baked by an ill woman (not that I would have wanted to bake them then either) so I put it off. And today (err, yesterday) I didn't really want to bake with the kids (mean scrooge mommy) so I put it off until they were in bed. But since it is Friday (err, was Friday) they stayed up late and then I got distracted by folding laundry and watching Man vs. Wild (he has nice uh... teeth, yeah that's it, for an Englishman) and so I remembered around 11pm that I needed to bake muffins.
I also kinda forgot that muffins take longer to bake than cookies (20 vs. 10 minutes). Maybe I should ask Santa for a second oven.
Anyway besides the 7:30am hockey game, we have an 11am pancake breakfast with Santa at church and the girls and I have a Girl Scout thing from 12:30-4pm. Luckily due to my procrastinating nature, the Nutcracker was sold out for tonight so we're going on Sunday at 6pm. Oh and there's another 7:30am hockey game on Sunday.
But honestly my biggest problem right now is figuring out how to transport 72 muffins (36 blueberry, 36 banana) to the game. Hmm...
Bah, I need to get over this cold already.
In lieu of a real post (or any more whining from me), here's one of my favorite pictures from New York. We parked the van in New Jersey and took a ferry over to Manhattan. One of these days (January?) I'll update the Pictures link above with more photos from our trip.
Mom, I'm fine!
(Isn't it fun when family members read and then they call you all concerned about what they read?)
Two other Brownie moms have the same sore throat/headache thing and they tested negative for Strep. I'm doing alright (really!) but my lymph nodes in my neck hurt like a hmmm, they hurt. I'm drinking lots of hot tea and since tea drinking goes so well with knitting, I'm working on the kids' Christmas sweaters. So I'm being productive even if it's in a relaxing enjoyable way. Tomorrow I'll get back to tackling my crazy untameable To Do list.
Quote of the Day: "Never trust a man who, when left alone in a room with a tea cozy, doesn't try it on." -Billy Connolly
(I should knit a tea cozy! Except I don't have a teapot, I use the coffee maker...)
Is there any possible way to postpone all illnesses until January? Or February, January's calender is pretty booked already. Although February is rather short. Actually March looks open at the moment.
So there was the food poisoning last week. And now I have this killer sore throat/throbbing headache thing. It's like a migraine with the additional symptom that I can't swallow and every spoken word hurts. I had dreams all night long that I had to learn sign language. The worst part is I can't swallow the pills that would help with the symptoms. I've never ever in my entire life had trouble swallowing pills, even those gigantic prenatal vitamins. Do they sell extra strength Tylenol in liquid form? I may be chugging the kids' icky syrup stuff later. Oh oh, I think I've seen DayQuil in a liquid. Blah, it's freezing outside and Greg's already gone to work, I really don't want to run to the pharmacy.
Mostly I hate losing days, especially at this time of the year. Does anyone else feel like that? I know I only have a finite amount of time on this planet and every day has to count. And when I'm sick and unable to do more than the basics (keep the kids fed and clean and the house from not falling down around around ears) I feel... Deprived. And grumpy. I don't relax well by the way, I like to be doing. So being sick and forced to take it easy makes me mad. I plan to be eighty years old and hiking and traveling and crafting and doing "stuff." I'm probably not going to make a very good old person, huh?
I have two Girl Scout things tonight (one with the Brownies, the other with leaders) and a babysitter coming to the house during the Brownie meeting (I have a babysitter! Hallelujah!). So I need to prep for the meetings and straighten the house so it doesn't look like wild boars live here. And the computer monitor light is starting to make my headache worse so I should wrap this thing up.
I had better be better tomorrow or... I don't know, insert some kind of threat against the universe here. Life is too short.
I have a new project! (Because I need something else to do like I need another set of twins.)
We're hosting a Christmas party for about 20 of Greg's employees and their families. So the RSVP list will be higher than 20 but I don't know how high yet. Did I mention this party is in 10 days? 10 days!!!
Between now and Dec 16th, we have 2 soccer games, 2 Brownie activities , 1 GS Leader meeting, 2 hockey practices, 3 hockey games, breakfast with Santa, tickets to the Nutcracker (the local figure skating club), Market Day, 2 chess clubs, and Emily and Ally's birthday. Oh and Greg will be out of town for a few days. There's probably a Boy Scout thing in there too. (Knowing my luck, we're hosting it and I won't know until Greg calls the night before while he's out of town.)
Don't get me wrong, I love party planning. And I usually love parties. It's the whole "party doing" between the planning and the actual party that I have issues with.
The cleaning, ick... The house isn't a complete disaster but I'm going to have to put my scrapbook stuff in the storage room and Greg doesn't think 15 skeins of red, green, and white yarn (for stockings!) on the book shelf count as decorations. They are the right colors! The house could use a good deep clean though, the fingerprints on the walls have fingerprints over them at the moment. The worst part is I need to clean the toy room. *shudders* I think I'll teach the kids how to scrub baseboards.
Actually the funniest part about this party so far is Greg and the decorating (all you knitters, explain to him that yarn can be decorative!). His dad is an interior designer and oh boy, their house is amazing at Christmas time. People have him decorate their houses for the holidays. Luckily Greg can be a bit um, less than motivated to do all that.
So besides hanging out on the roof, I've been writing down Greg's ideas for decorating. And it's good that one of us can add and is concerned that January's menu may only be ramen noodles and bologna. A few examples:
50 feet of garland and 15 red bows for the deck, $60 *scratch*
12 large poinsettias, $120 (I think we've agreed to 6)
Candles, red bows, garland, pine cones, fresh flowers, bathroom accessories, table clothes... $$$ Good thing Michaels, Kohl's, and JoAnn have everything 50% off (although if it's always 50% off, doesn't that just make it the regular price of the item?)
I really shot myself in the foot last week when I told my mother-in-law that we didn't need to decorate much inside the house because we weren't having any guests this Christmas season.
(The food: One of Greg's co-workers is going to help and his work is paying for that (although I wish they'd throw in a maid and offer to pay for Greg's parents to fly out with all their party supplies and know-how)).
If all else fails, at least I have some fabulous shoes to wear.
Crap...
Zach's home "sick" and I had planned a bazillion and two errands to run today. I could kinda use a PJ day myself but the whole lack of food in the house is a bit annoying.
("sick" is whiny, tired, coughing, alleged puking in his mouth but no fever or headache)
I can't really take him shopping with me either because the main part of the bazillion and two errands involve Christmas gifts for him.
I guess I should quit complaining about not being able to go out and deal with the gazillion and three things that need done around the house instead.
Lesson learned: Do not buy lunch meat on its expiration date. Although it's an interesting (and painful) way to lose five pounds. Luckily no one else ate any but me.
Now that I'm finally feeling sort of human again, thanks for all the congratulations on NaNoWriMo. Next year I won't leave almost half of the writing to the last few days. As for publishing, NaNoWriMo is more about the act of writing 50,000 words. They really don't do anything with the selling aspect. Some people have had their novels published through traditional means so it's not out of reach. Maybe in January, I'll look into it.
Next up, Christmas shopping and knitting, woohoo!
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