Is It Christmas Yet?

See Mother. See Mother laugh. Mother is happy.
Mother is happy about Christmas.
Mother has many plans. Mother has many plans for Christmas.
Mother is organized. Mother smiles all the time.
Funny, funny Mother.

See Mother. See Mother smile. Mother is happy.
The shopping is all done. See the children watch TV.
Watch, children watch.
See the children change their minds.
See them ask for different toys.
Look, look, Mother is not smiling.
Funny, funny Mother.

See Mother. See Mother sew.
Mother will make dresses.
Mother will make robes.
Mother will make shirts.
See Mother put the zipper in wrong.
See Mother sew the dress on the wrong side.
See Mother cut the skirt too short.
See Mother put the material away until January.
Look. Look. See Mother take a tranquilizer.
Funny, funny Mother.

See Mother. See Mother buy raisins and nuts.
See Mother buy candied pineapple and powdered sugar.
See Mother buy flour, and dates, and pecans, and brown sugar, and bananas, and spices, and vanilla.
Look. Look. Mother is mixing everything together.
See the children press out cookies.
See the flour on their elbows.
See the cookies burn. See the cake fall.
See the children pull taffy. See mother pull her hair.
See mother clean the kitchen with the garden hose.
Funny, funny Mother.

See Mother. See Mother wrap presents. See Mother look for the end on the scotch tape roll. See Mother bite her finger nails. See Mother go.
See Mother go to the store 12 times in one hour.
Go Mother go. See Mother go faster. Run Mother run.
See Mother trim the tree.
See Mother have a party.
See Mother make popcorn.
See Mother wash the walls.
See Mother scrub the rug.
See Mother tear up the organized plan.
See Mother forget a gift for Uncle Harold.
See Mother get hives.
Go Mother go. See the far away look in Mother's eyes.
Mother has become disorganized. Mother has become disoriented.
Funny, funny Mother.

It is finally Christmas morning. See the happy family.
See Father smile. Father is happy.
Smile Father smile.
Father loves fruit cake.
Father loves Christmas pudding.
Father loves all the new neckties.
Look, look. See the happy children. See the children's toys.
Santa was very good to the children.
The children will remember this Christmas.

See Mother. Mother is slumped in a chair.
Mother is crying uncontrollably.
Mother does not look well.
Mother has ugly dark circles under her blood shot eyes.
Everyone helps mother to her bed.
See Mother sleep quietly under heavy sedation.
See Mother smile.
Funny, funny Mother.

Another Busy Week

Here’s a run down of last week:

Last Sunday our ward finally had a Court of Honor. Caleb earned nine merit badges and got his bronze, gold, and silver Eagle Palms. He accomplished the goal he’s had since becoming an Eagle last year.

Each boy was asked to tell about their experience earning one of their merit badges. I was thinking Caleb would share something cool, I mean he earned some of those merit badges in Alaska, and he had a cool experience earning his law merit badge. Instead he shared that he realized the week before the Court of Honor that unless he earned another merit badge, he wouldn’t get his silver Palm. So he started and finished his photography requirements. He’s funny.

On Monday, we went to Caleb’s choir concert. They were amazing.

On Tuesday, Caleb gave in to peer pressure and tried out for the school play, Alice in Wonderland. He tried out with a monolog from Knights Tale that he didn’t spend too much time practicing because he was hoping not to get a part. He got a part. LOL.

That night, we went to a Voice Male concert at Thanksgiving Pointe. It was way fun.

On Wednesday, we had a little break. Caitlin and I went to Young Women and decorated gingerbread houses.

Thursday was Caitlin’s orchestra concert. Her friends came over after school and curled her hair. She has really cute friends and they are helping to make her girly.

We also made an offer on a house. Someone else beat us to the punch and we didn’t get it. I was sad for a few days, now I’m over it and looking again.

Friday brought the HopeKids Christmas party and our ward party. Both were fun. Our ward party was catered by Rodizio Grill- yum! Each auxiliary also had to put on a skit. Our Bishopric rocks! Their rap routine was so great. In fact, I have a feeling it’s on You Tube by now.

On Saturday we almost finished our Christmas shopping and then went to a concert we have been waiting all December for. Jon and Steven are our favorites. Caitlin was thrilled to meet her favorite cellist after the concert and it turns out he’s as nice as he is talented (and shorter than I thought he’d be).

We promised the kids we’d take them out for breakfast after the concert. It was a late, but fun night.

For Grandma and Grandpa

Here’s a little taste of the kids Christmas concerts. Over two and a half hours of concerts condensed into less than 2 minutes… you’re welcome.

Caleb’s A cappella concert- I really liked how the choir director didn’t shy away from using actual Christmas music.

Caitlin’s orchestra concert- I have no idea what this song was. It wasn’t familiar (or didn’t sound familiar), but the cello’s were the best of the bunch.

Two words about beginning orchestra- amazing and painful (amazingly painful?). Seriously though, most of these kids have been playing their instrument of choice for only three months. That fact that they are ON STAGE and mostly playing together is huge. There sure is a big improvement from year to year. The Concert and Symphonica groups were awesome.

The bad video is most certainly not from me holding in laughter… nope, not at all. I was bursting with pride.

December Update

It has been a really interesting and emotional week. I won’t go into detail, but the lessons Clint and I have learned in the past few years have changed us… in a good way. I can honestly say I am grateful for the trials we’ve had and the sacrifices we’ve made in the last 5 years.

Other than a little drama, we’ve had a good week. On Monday night, we went to the aquarium with Caitlin’s cancer support group. We’ve been meaning to go there for a while and it was a fun night. Afterwards, we went to Schmidt’s Pastry Cottage for dessert and for a drive to see Christmas lights.

I found some time to go to breakfast with my favorite work friends. They are so fun and make my job tolerable on tough days.

Today Caleb went to the Winter Ball. They had a day date with a snowball fight (with rolled up socks), watched a movie, and ate pizza. When he left for the dance, he looked so nice. I’m happy he’s dating and enjoying high school.

I took Caitlin and her friends to the movie today and then this afternoon, she babysat for one of her young woman leaders. She’s getting more babysitting jobs these days and seems to like it.

With both kids out of the house, Clint and I played the whole day. We went back to the Up house and took a bunch of pictures, then went downtown. We spent some time at the Gateway, had lunch at Tucano's, ran some errands, and then went to a movie (I know, two in one day for me!). It was a great day and was fun to be out and about after working a lot of hours this week.

This coming week is going to be a little nuts. We’ve got something, or in some cases, several things each night. I can’t believe we only have two weeks left until Christmas!

A Quick Little Update

I am so far behind posting on my blog, I don’t even know where to start…

• We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We spent it with my family- parents, sibs, nieces and nephew, grandma, and my aunt. We had a fun weekend shopping, crafting, and hiking. Caitlin is head over heels in love with my mom and dad’s new puppy, Cooper and had fun playing with him.
• Caleb and Caitlin both did awesome in school last quarter and both made honor roll. This is especially exciting for Caitlin. She is doing amazingly well in school and it actually seems to benefit her to have seven different teachers. She has also found that she loves reading. Yay!
• Caleb was asked to the Winter Ball by a girl named Analee, who is in his seminary class. He answered her with a scripture scavenger hunt… it really came in handy that his name is found in the Bible.
• Caleb was called as a Family History Consultant in our ward, with three other youth.
• I took Caitlin to Time Out for Girl’s in November and it was such a great experience. I love that she wants to make good decisions.
• Yesterday we did our BIG deep clean in the basement. We do this three times a year and while I absolutely despise the thought of it, it is so satisfying to have the kids rooms purged, cleaned and organized before Christmas. I am constantly amazed by the things I find during these marathon cleaning adventures. Here’s an example… these are the socks found in Caitlin’s bed… I found more between the mattress and box spring. I think she forgets that we have laundry baskets and trash cans in strategic places in our home that she is free to use.
• Finally, the big news… we are officially house hunting. Eeekkk! There is a house we’ve already found that we really like, but we’re trying to remain unemotional about it until we’ve looked into it a little more. Other than knowing where we want to be, we are pretty much starting from scratch. We are open to both pre-owned and new, one and two stories, and many different styles of homes like cottages, bungalows, four square, Victorian, etc… We definitely have a wish list and a target budget, but other than that we’re open minded. The only thing that we’ve pretty much ruled out is building a new home.
• Our December is off to a busy start and we have a lot to look forward to and be grateful for.  Love this time of year!