Last Sunday before the kids went to bed, Andrew had me
open my birthday present since my birthday was the next day. They got me a
beautiful watch. Andrew was very excited to give it to me and I love it. He
gave me one years ago that had quit working this year. I have my Ironman watch
that I can wear with more casual clothes, but I still wanted a nicer one to
wear most other times. So I just bought a cheap one at Wal-Mart and called it
good. But then I ripped off the stem of it one time when I was carrying in a
large load of groceries. So I was very happy to see a new one. Lincoln also let us open his gift to us-a very sweet nativity set he made for us at school.
The next morning was in fast forward from the
moment I woke up. I got a bike ride in and then got the kids and myself ready
to go. Andrew headed to the office while I took the older two to school. Then I
dropped the younger three off at my parents’ house so I could run my car by the
dealership and have a sensor replaced. Andrew had to make sure he was at the
office so that Protech could get in and install a new copier and then he met me
at the dealership so he could take me back by my parents’ house. Then he had to
head to physical therapy. I brought along some supplies so that I could work on
assembling the party favors I had signed up to bring for Ellie’s Christmas
party the next day. And of course Lincoln wanted to be my helper and would help
hand me the different items I needed to put in the bags. We were able to get
them all done and I thought they turned out cute.
And soon I got the call that my car was done, so Andrew
picked me up and took me back to the dealership. I decided to make a quick stop
at Aldi on my way back to my parents’ house and stocked on some milk and few
other things so that hopefully I didn't have to go back until after Christmas.
Then I loaded up the kids at my parents and headed home. Andrew was home eating
lunch when we got there. I got the groceries in and put away and then he
offered to stay a bit longer if I wanted to take my watch to the jeweler to
have the links taken out so it would fit correctly. So I ran uptown and got
that done in about ten minutes. Andrew was pretty tired but headed back to work
after I got home. I made lunch for the kids, worked on laundry and made some
peppermint rice krispie treats to take to my parents for everyone. Alex came over and he and Lincoln played for a
bit. After I got the twins down for a nap, I worked quickly to get some other
chores done around the house. I had decided I would give myself a little gift
for my birthday and spend some time reading a book which I never do anymore. I
got about 45 minutes because Andrew ended up calling and saying he could pick
up Jackson and Ellie from school. Autumn had told me I should read Unbroken so I downloaded it on my Kindle
and started reading. So far, so good.
And it was so nice to just sit down and relax for a bit in the middle of
all the hustle and bustle of Christmas. I even read some more after the kids
got home since the twins were still napping. But then I had to get them up so
we could head over to my parents for my birthday dinner. Caroline and Jared flew into St. Louis and
Lissy picked them up and they all came home. My mom made a delicious dinner for
all of us and a very yummy, pretty red velvet cake. I still love it! And my
gift from them was again a house cleaning by Michelle. I love those too! And
Lissy gave Miles and Bennett their belated birthday gifts which included some
Batman footed pajamas. I ended up giving the three younger ones baths at my
parents’ house so they got to put on their new pjs. They were unsure of them at
first since they weren’t used to the footed pjs anymore. But they grew on them
and they loved their capes. They were also extra excited that my mom left a tray of cookies and goodies right at their level so they indulged.
We did baths over there because Lissy had a surprise for
the kids. She bought a couple Groupons for a conference call with Santa. But
you had to set it up at least 2 hours ahead of time, so the earliest we could
get it was 8:30. You could give them some information ahead of time. And then
at 8:30 they got online and got to do a video chat with Santa. He called them
each by name, knew their teachers’ names, some of the presents they wanted,
some of their friend names, etc. The kids were a little confused on how he knew
all of this stuff. My dad had to run to the hospital a little before this
started so I think Jackson was thinking he had something to do with it but he
was back before the call was over. Santa also told the kids why they were on
the nice list-some of their good qualities. But then he also pointed out a
naughty thing that they should work on. He told Ellie and Jackson that he
wasn’t happy with their lying. Jackson blew it off but Ellie was very offended
that he would say that. She was adamant that she didn’t lie. But overall it was a fun experience for them
and so sweet of Lissy to set it up for them.
After the call I loaded everyone up and headed home and
then to bed. Jackson and Ellie still had school the next day, but at least it
was just a ½ day. So we got them off to school the next morning, washed the car
and then I worked on sending off our secretary’s paycheck and ordering some
office supplies before the end of the year. Lincoln and the twins entertained
themselves with his remote-controlled helicopter. I am shocked it is still working. Partway
through the morning I started feeling nauseous. I even put my hair up in a
quick pony tail because I thought I was going to throw up. I decided to go
ahead and try to get some stuff done and keep my mind off it. Then I finally
just lay down and read for a while. But I had to get moving and get the kids lunch
since we had to leave early to pick up Jackson and Ellie at one. So we ate a
quick lunch and headed out. On our way, Leah called to see if I could pick up
Zach and Kate. That meant Ellie ended up on the floor, but we made it fine.
After we got home, I kind of burst the kids’ bubble with my pre-Christmas
lecture. They are expected to get their rooms clean and help clean the house
before Christmas. Then it was onto being nice to each other and their cousins,
being polite, having a good attitude and helping me out since Andrew isn’t able
to really help much. We’ll see if it
helps.
Thankfully I started feeling better and we headed over to
my parents. Amanda and Todd and their family pulled into the driveway at about
the same time we showed up while Sara and her family and Kaitlin and her family
were already there. And the craziness began. My parents had cleared out the
garage and basement so the kids had some good spaces to play. My mom had made
some soup and sandwiches for dinner and then we had a special visitor. Santa
came to see the kids. Brady was not intimidated at all and immediately started
talking to him. Santa eventually made his way into the family room and sat down
to visit with all the kids. I was so surprised to see Miles climb up on his
lap. But he had seen the others get some candy so he decided it was worth it.
He didn’t talk to him at all and was just interested in getting the candy. We
eventually got Bennett up there too. Jackson was our only one that didn’t get
on Santa’s lap. It is kind of sad that he is all done with that. Amanda’s
family wasn’t feeling that great so most of her kids didn’t join in either. As
we were finishing up with Santa we had some other visitors-carolers. They were
a good-sized group with a lot of kids. We knew most of them and so we surprised
them Santa. The kids loved it and they all got a picture with him.
After we got home that night the kids got to open their
Christmas pjs since my siblings and I got to open them at my parents. The next
day was Christmas Eve so I spent the morning making sure everything was ready
to go for that night and made some more peppermint brownies. The kids had to
make sure their rooms were clean and they put their pjs in the car to have them
ready for after midnight Mass. They also
opened their sibling gift exchange presents. Lincoln had already told Ellie he
was getting her a new softball bat. The three younger boys all got Magformers
in an attempt to cut down on the fighting when they are playing with them. Then
Ellie gave Jackson a micro Minecraft Lego set which he was excited about. After
we finished that up we went to my parents again for the rest of the day. Andy and his crew showed up that afternoon. I
took the kids back to our house and met Andrew there so that they could nap. Andrew
had physical therapy that morning and was told he could move to one crutch and
then totally off of them at a pace he felt comfortable. But it was still kind
of difficult for him to get the twins ready for a nap. So I did that and
changed some laundry then headed back to my parents. My parents had cleared out
the basement and set up the garage so the kids could play in those areas.
Andrew thought he could get the boys back to my parents house for dinner and
did fine with it. My parents fixed chicken spedini for dinner-it has become a
tradition for them. We aren’t always there since we usually spend Christmas Eve
with Andrew’s family. After dinner, we headed home to regroup before getting
ready to go to Midnight Mass. On the way home, Andrew got a call from his mom
that Annie had just had her baby, Joseph Farwell Brimmer. He was 10 lbs, 2 oz!
And I think everything went pretty smoothly for them. I thought it was neat
that they had a baby named Joseph on Christmas Eve.
I changed the twins into their pjs and then dropped them
and Andrew off at the house and then headed to Edina. We got there about a
quarter till midnight and it was packed. It was the first Midnight Mass since a
fire damaged part of the church. They did a great job with the restoration and
it looked wonderful. Lincoln fell asleep on the drive over and I had to carry
him in. Then he slept through the whole Mass. He was laying on my lap so I had
to lift him off every time I had to stand up and lay him back down when I sat
back down. Ellie stayed awake the whole service and Jackson drifted in and out.
The music was beautiful. Kaitlin actually took a video while they were singing O Holy Night and it is so neat to be
able to listen to it again.
I was surprised that I wasn’t totally exhausted because I
had not slept well the night before. But we made it home fine. It was a little
later than usual since they had someone speak at the end of Mass about how the
restorations and financing were going. The kids got into their pjs as we headed
home. I had some Hot Hands from my triathlon, so we broke those open and put
them with their pjs before we went in to Mass so that their pjs weren’t so cold
when they were putting them on. I joked with Jackson that he had to stay awake
while I was driving home since he was sitting up front with me. That didn’t
work though. So they went straight to bed when we got home. Andrew heard us
come in and turned on the TV and covered his head with the blanket to block the
noise out. I got ready for bed, put up the wrapping paper at the top of the stairs
so the kids wouldn’t come down the next morning until we were ready and brought
up a few more presents. I took pictures after Santa had come and it is fun to
look at the time on the clock in the picture-3am. I went to bed around 3:30 and
read for a little bit before I fell asleep. I feel like I hardly got any sleep
as I heard Andrew up on his crutches going to the restroom a little after 5 and
didn’t sleep much after that. I guess I kept thinking the kids were going to
wake up. But they didn’t get up until after 7. I went ahead and got up earlier
and made sure everything was ready to go. Then the kids started waking up and were
excited to get downstairs. Jackson had to run to the bathroom just as they were
all coming down so we missed him for the first few minutes. Ellie was so excited to see that Santa
brought her a balance beam. But then she blew through her presents and was
disappointed when she couldn’t find more. But once she started looking through
the presents she had received she started to cheer up. The twins would open one
present and want to play with it for a while before they moved on to another
one. I think their favorites were their new Leappads. It actually took a few
days before they started playing games on them instead of just watching Paw
Patrol videos again and again. Less than a week after Christmas, Miles could
pretty much talk along with the videos and say what they were saying. The twins
also got scooters which they had fun riding around the house throughout the
week. Andrew even took them outside to ride them one afternoon. Lincoln’s
favorite gift was his Kindle and his Ziggle riding toy while Jackson’s was his
new DS games and a new scooter. Jackson also got a gift certificate to take an
online youth computer programming class to learn Java code and make your own
mods for Minecraft. We had talked about it before so he was excited to see that
he actually got it for a gift. I gave Andrew some biking stuff and a GoPro
camera. I was happy that he was excited about the camera because I think he and
the kids could have a lot of fun with it. I also gave him a canvas of a picture
he took in Italy and a photo book of the pictures from our trip. Then he
surprised me with some new speakers I wanted. He actually ordered 4 and they
sent him eight. We knew the guilt would get the best of us, so I chatted with
Amazon and they sent us a mailing label to send the four extra back.
After we opened our presents and I cleaned up a bit we
headed over to my parents house to open presents with my family. They were all
waiting for us when we got there so then my parents opened the doors to the
family room and all the kids ran in. My parents got busy handing out presents
while the kids opened them and the parents took pictures. It was chaos, of
course. But the kids had a lot of fun. My parents gave us a fun gift…they are
getting some rooms for those of us who have kids going to Kanakuk at Big Cedar
for a couple of nights. That was a fun surprise. And a fun gift I gave my mom
was a sign I made with a quote from a book we share a liking for, A Christmas Memory, by Truman Capote.
When the weather gets gray and cold, we will call each other and say, “Oh my,
it’s fruitcake weather.” Everyone had a great morning. After we opened
presents, we had a brunch, collected our gifts and headed home to regroup.
Ellie actually stayed at my parents’ house but the rest
of us went home. Andrew and the twins
rested while Jackson and Lincoln played with their toys. I worked on cleaning
up and putting stuff away. Then I started working on finishing my parents’ last
gift. I had made them a Christmas video a few years ago and she wanted me to
add to it. Bella was the youngest grandchild then so things have definitely
changed since then. So I worked on picking out some pictures from the last few
days, edited them and worked on making the last song for the video. Of course it took longer than I expected and
we were rushing around to get back to my parents’ house for dinner. We got
there just as we were starting to eat. But I still had save the video and
upload it to YouTube. So I did that while we were eating and visiting. And
Andrew even went back home for me to get my charger since my battery was dying.
After dinner we did the family gift exchange. The
grandkids went first and then the siblings did theirs. There were several
humorous t-shirts exchanged this year. After we finished that up I gave my mom
an ornament that had the web address of the YouTube video inside of it. We got all the kids settled first because the
video was about 25 minutes long. Then we all got to watch it and I am glad my
parents liked it. It is fun to look back at all the fun memories. By this point
I was exhausted so it was time to head home and go to bed. Ellie and Lincoln
ended up staying at my parents for a sleepover with their cousins.
The rest of the break was spent spending time at my
parents’ house just hanging out, playing games of Monopoly and we even got a
couple movies in and a quick dip in the hot tub. I also finished reading my book. We also had a surprise visit from my cousin,
Jimmy, and his family for the weekend. They went with us to the movies, played
some games of Spoons and made a sad attempt at karaoke (they are good at it, we
aren’t). It was a fun weekend. Miles and Bennett came down with colds and had
some pretty yucky runny noses so we skipped church on Sunday. I always have a big urge to purge and clean
out everything in the house after Christmas so I made some sad attempts to get
that started. I did buy a few new shelves and storage totes along with a few
bin organizers for closets. Then I started in the new office but didn’t get
very far. I think that will have to wait until after the kids go back to
school. Ellie kept asking to work on her new projects she got for Christmas. We
settled on doing some painting. Jackson spent a lot of his break working on
Minecraft class which has been great for him.
Most of the family was still in town for New Year’s Eve.
Andrew actually took the kids out to the ranch for a few hours that day. It was
freezing but they always like seeing the cows. Then he kept the twins at home
for their nap while I brought the others to my parents to play for a bit before
we had to head back home and get ready for dinner. The twins had just woke up from their naps
when we got there so they had a good four hours of sleep and were ready to go.
We were late getting to AJ’s but it didn’t matter because we didn’t get in
until at least a ½ hour after our reservations which were at 7. It was a very
busy place but they were so great with us.
The kids overall did pretty well.
Amanda brought several packs of TicTacs which kept them entertained for
a while. Then I brought out the twins’ LeapPads which helped get us through the
rest of the meal. But it was a late meal. We didn’t even get our food until
after 9, so it went pretty well considering. Bennett spent a lot of time taking
selfies on his LeapPad and then we taught him how to turn the camera around so
he could take pictures of others. We
ordered some wedding cake to go for dessert but the kids did get to enjoy some
vanilla ice cream with hot fudge before we left, so my kids were happy. We
dropped Andrew off at our house, picked up our overnight bag and headed to my
parents to conclude our New Year’s Eve celebration. We got there just in time
to watch the ball drop in New York and then my parents started handing out the
hats, horns and noisemakers. Miles wanted to wear all of them but Bennett wasn’t
interested. All of the kids had fun with all of it and I think all but Lola
were able to stay up until midnight. My dad shot off fireworks which the kids
loved. Some went outside to watch while the twins stayed inside with some of us
adults and watched them from the windows. Then it was time to get the kids to
settle down. The twins slept on the fold out couch with me in the basement
while Amanda’s three oldest kids, Ellie and Lincoln slept on the floor down
there. Jackson stayed up on the couch in the family room and stayed up late
working on his Minecraft stuff. Amanda’s kids and Ellie did great going to
sleep but Lincoln rolled around for a while saying his belly hurt. He
eventually fell asleep though. Then the twins had trouble going to sleep too
plus I wasn’t feeling that great. So it wasn’t the best night of sleep but oh
well. The twins would wake up night and randomly cry plus they were both
coughing. Bennett also broke out into
some nasty hives at some point during evening so I think they were kind of
bothering him.
Caroline and Jared were leaving this morning so I
went ahead and got up and showered. The twins did sleep in a little though. My
parents were already up and getting breakfast ready. Then everyone else started
waking up and getting around. Caroline and Jared left a little later. Everyone
else is leaving later today or tomorrow. While it was an exhausting week
(partially due to illness) it was so nice to be able to have everyone home and
hang out together. My parents do such a great job of taking care of all of
us-they are constantly moving, getting food, cleaning up and taking care of
kids. So now it is time to get serious about cleaning the house and it will be
time for the kids to go back to school before we know it.
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