The Christmas Season Gears Up

The kids Thanksgiving break extended into last Monday and they enjoyed having a day to just relax without anything really going on. It was a dreary day outside, so we stuck inside. The twins weren’t feeling the best as they had been battling a stomach issue. Let’s just say our day was full of poop. Literally, including Buddy. Unaware of it, Ellie had stepped in dog poop when she took Buddy out one time and I noticed it later on the bottom of her boot and on Buddy’s dog brush. So she had to get that cleaned off, along with some of the carpet in the office where I think she tracked some. While she was doing that, Jackson was in charge of picking up all of the poop up in the yard, in the rain. Yay for having a dog J. Ellie did cry a bit because it smelled so bad but she eventually wrapped her snow hat around her face and got it all cleaned up. And Jackson was a trooper because he doesn’t want me to even think about getting rid of the dog.  And I wiped a lot of poopy bottoms. Bennett was really hurting and I had him lay down in my bathroom when I eventually got around to taking a shower and he fell asleep. It was definitely a day to lay low, watch some movies and enjoy some hot chocolate. While the kids were watching the movies I tried to finish up my Christmas shopping and I’m almost done.

Ellie and Lincoln were excited to see some of their friends return home and got to play with them for part of the afternoon. We had an early dinner and then I took Lincoln to his basketball practice. He is on a Pre-K/Kindergarten team that some parents formed just to play in the Knox County Tournament next Thursday. It was their first practice and Lincoln was so excited. He came downstairs dressed and ready to go and said, “I wore shorts with pockets to I can hide things in them, like a basketball trophy.” Luke also plays on the team along with Aven and Cohen Eitel.  While they were scrimmaging, Lincoln had to guard Kyle which was funny to watch. He actually didn't let it intimidate him. It will definitely be entertaining.

 

Then later that evening I took Ellie to her tumbling class. Since we will be in Columbia next Monday, it is actually her last one before Christmas break. As much as she likes gymnastics, I think she will appreciate a break from her activities. The next morning brought in December which means our elf, Christopher Popinkins, returned. Ellie was the first to spot him hanging from the curtain rod. Then Jackson was the first one to open a tin on our Advent tree. There was a snowflake inside and we talked about how God made us all unique and special just like snowflakes. 

The trip to school was a little treacherous as there was unexpected ice on the roads. But I got everyone dropped off and then headed to the pool for my swim. Afterwards I ran by my parents’ house to pick up a few items that were left over the weekend, vacuumed my car out and then went home and cleaned out the garage a bit. Buddy got into a trash bag so I cleaned up that mess and just straightened things up a bit. I finished cleaning up the bathrooms that I had started on before taking the kids to school, took a quick shower, and started a roast in the crock pot before picking up the twins.

Andrew came home before I left. He had Buddy with him and Buddy had thrown up in his office. Andrew took it much better than I would though. But that also meant that Buddy had to stay at our house when he went back to the office. After the twins ate lunch, they got out a few puzzles to play with before nap time. I got them down for their naps just in time before I had a phone call with the Wash U group that had the study the twins are a part of. It was actually my last phone call since they end the study at 4 years. It was just 20 minutes of answering a variety of questions about the twins and their environment. I always come away from those calls thankful for having healthy, happy twins and that we live in a safe environment because they ask quite a few questions about any diseases, disorders and problems the children have plus questions about if the child has been exposed to violence to them or others, death, fear for safety, etc. Now I just have to fill out all the questionnaires and we will officially be done. It has always been hard to force myself to complete it because it is always in the weeks right before Christmas. I remember doing them last year while Andrew was having his hip surgery done.

Andrew ended up offering to pick the kids up since he wanted to get a bike ride in. So I took Buddy out for a little walk around the yard and to go to the bathroom and then got back to work. Andrew ended up just riding on the trainer. Ellie rode to gymnastics with the other mom in our carpool and I got dinner ready so Jackson could eat and get to practice. When he and Jackson got home, they brought Buddy into play with everyone. He is still pretty wild and will need to learn not to bite at people, but the kids love him.

Wednesday morning was not my normal Wednesday because we had a fun surprise for Ellie. I cleaned the bathrooms and did my swimming the day before so I just did a quick run before getting ready to take the kids to school. One the way to school, I was talking about my morning devotional that compared Abraham and Jesus. I asked the kids, “You know who Abraham is, right?” And Lincoln replied, “Yes. Abraham Lincoln.” Everyone got to school, I ran a couple quick errands and then went back to Ellie’s school to surprise her when they announced her as the third grade girl Student of the Month for December.  My parents, Mary and Andrew were also there. They had us hide out in the office and we didn’t get into the gym until after they actually announced her since they didn’t want us to ruin the surprise. And as much as she wanted it the first time she was nominated, I really think she wasn’t expecting it. She seemed very surprised and very excited. She got a gift bag that had a cup, t-shirt, certificate to Colton’s, a id card to get into school activities for free for a year and a form to sign her up for the fire truck to pick her up and take her to school. We were so proud of her. While the rest of the kids went back to their classrooms we got to stay behind and take some quick pictures with her before she went back to class. She told me after school that she was sure she didn’t get it because we didn’t let on at all and she knew Andrew was going to the office.

I went home and worked on snacks for small group that night before I picked up the twins. They were excited to show me some Christmas trees they had been working on. And I finally remembered to bring out our North Pole Communicator so know the kids can talk to elves from the North Pole every day until Christmas :-).

The afternoon went by quickly and before I knew it, it was time to pick up the others. Then Andrew had me drop the older three off at his office so they could go with him to take Buddy to the vet. I guess he got a shot and some medications for heart worm, fleas, etc. They let him play inside for a bit before taking him back out so I could finish getting everything ready for small group. It was actually our last actual group meeting, besides our Christmas dinner, before we break for Christmas. Andrew led for the first time since we started this semester. After leading for many years, I think he appreciated the break. That night, he decided that maybe Buddy could sleep in the house. He brought him in and let him play and then got him to settle down. I heard them up and about around 11 and I guess he finally decided to just put Buddy out in the garage. I think he was worried that he may be going to the bathroom in the house with any movement he made.

The next morning I was on the bike around 6 when Lincoln came in with his usual, “Hi Mom. How are you doing? How did you sleep?” Then Miles was soon behind him. I got off the bike for a bit to turn on some lights for them and didn’t realize Andrew was still asleep. He said it was a long night and we all agreed we didn’t sleep well. I took the kids to school, dropped off some Redbox movies, went to Wal-Mart, got the car serviced and then went by Aldi before heading home. Andrew came home a little later, ate a bit and then got ready for his first gravel ride to start training for a gravel race he signed up for that is the end of January in Rocheport. While he was gone, I picked up the twins, got them lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon working on my Silhouette. I finished designing several “gift cards” for various gifts and then printed and had the Silhouette cut everything out. I also assembled some stuff. It took longer than I was thinking it would and I worked right up until I had to get the twins up and pick up Lincoln. Jackson and Ellie had their last K-Life of the semester after school.  Lincoln is so polite some times. He asked all of us multiple times how our day was and if we were having a good day J. When we got home, we decided to take Buddy out but I made Lincoln walk around with me first and pick up poop. It was a lovely job. Then when we went to get Buddy out of his cage, his pillow was wet from pee. So Lincoln took him out while I got that into the washer. Alex came over about that time and Buddy loved playing with him. But Buddy was getting pretty wild so I eventually made Lincoln put him back in his cage.

When we got back inside, the twins decided to play with some of their airplanes. One of them wasn’t working very well so Miles took it upon himself to open up the battery compartment with a screwdriver, replace the battery and put everything back in place. It actually worked and I was impressed. I got busy making dinner since I was wanting to have it done when Jackson and Ellie got home so Ellie could eat before heading to dance. I was making sliders and decided to use a baguette instead of rolls since I ended up not using it for small group snacks. But it wasn’t until I started putting everything together that I noticed it had mold on it. I had only had it a few days so I didn’t expect that. So I ended up just using some sandwich bread and it kind of worked. Everyone just grabbed a sandwich or two and ate on the run. I got Ellie to dance and then 45 minutes later took Jackson to basketball. I just stayed there and worked on the paperwork for the twins’ study until it was time to pick up Ellie from dance and then we went back and waited for Jackson to finish up and then home. I had asked Andrew before I left if they could pick up the house a bit before I got back and they had done that and finished up baths. Andrew got them to bed while I went to the basement to work on some Christmas stuff. By this point I had almost all of our gifts so I finished boxing stuff up and organizing it and tore down boxes I didn’t need to use. Then I wrapped up the kids’ pjs for our big surprise the next day. I also made up treat bags with some Christmas fruit snacks and graham snowmen I found at Aldi along with some Christmas candy and Goldfish. I got tickets to take the kids on the Polar Express in St. Louis the next day. Our time was 8:30 so my plan was to surprise the kids after school with their pjs wrapped up in the car for them to put on as we left straight from there to St. Louis. I was so excited.

Andrew took the kids to school the next morning and I was going to get on the bike but decided to get everything ready to go first just to make sure I was good to go there. So I collected clothes and got everyone packed up. Then I got everything set up in the car-pjs, treat bags, a conductor hat for Andrew to wear, blankets, pillows, and hung some Christmas lights that Amanda let me borrow. I finished up a few loads of laundry, quickly took Buddy out, made sure the house was clean and finally got on the bike. The twins pulled out all sorts of toys to combat my attempt to clean the house though. After I got ready and we ate lunch I let the twins open their pjs and told them what we were doing. They were two very excited boys and quickly got their new pjs on.

When Andrew got home, he loaded up Buddy and we went to drop him off at my parents’ house. My parents were in Branson but Molly was going to watch him for us. She was still at work, so we just put his cage in the garage. Buddy wasn’t a good boy for Molly though. She would take him through the house to take him to the bathroom and he had a few accidents. It didn’t take us as long as I thought it would to do all of that so we got to the pick up line at school pretty early which meant we got through it pretty quickly too once the kids actually came out. I turned on the Polar Express music for when the kids were getting in the car and Andrew put his hat on. Ellie knew she should be excited but wasn’t sure what for. She was excited for her pjs and treats but then she thought we were just doing our usual “Polar Express” of driving around town and she couldn’t understand why we would do that during the day. But once Jackson got in the car I finally told them what they were doing and they were excited and surprised. Next up was Lincoln who was eager to get his pjs on and then we were on our way.

We stopped at Wendy’s in Hannibal to grab some dinner. We just drove through but ended up having to wait a little bit for some of the food so were able to eat a bit in the car. We stopped at a gas station so some of the kids could use the rest room and I got busy cleaning out the car from dinner and the pajama unwrapping. I also collected all the discarded clothes and got them in the suitcase and then we were on the road again with Union Station our next stop. They had a room set up where you could color pictures and write letters to Santa along with several areas to take pictures. They also had a girl doing face painting but we didn’t want to wait in line. Lissy met us there and she wanted to take us to the Grand Hall that was part of the hotel. On our way there we walked past a place that had some toy trains set up. I think a family did it and there was a little boy there who was very excited to show off his trains. He loved having Miles and Bennett there and they loved it too.

The Grand Hall was very pretty and Lissy took charge trying to find some drinks for the kids. We sat around there until it was time to board the train. They took us outside and we waited in warmed tents according to what train car our tickets were for. They had the “hobo” character from the movie come out and talk to everyone and then the conductor and little boy reenacted the part of the movie when the boy gets on the train. Then we were able to board. The train cars had a lot of room between the seats which made it easier to move around. They were decorated, had music playing and cookies waiting on our seats. Then the waiters came on and interacted with everyone until it was time for hot chocolate. They played the song and danced a bit up and down the aisles while they served it. Next up was an audio reading of the book while the waiters held up the book while walking up and down the aisles. The train slowly made its’ way through part of downtown St. Louis while we were doing this. At different times they would just play music and the kids could dance in the aisles but our kids didn’t really participate. I think they still enjoyed themselves though. When they said we were at the North Pole it was kind of entertaining because our car happened to be right next to Al’s Steakhouse. So the waiters were telling the kids that it was Santa’s favorite steakhouse.  Our car eventually made it to the “North Pole” and I think they fixed it up a bit from last year. They had lights and what looked like little houses and stores along with Santa standing in the middle of it, waving at everyone. Then Santa got on the train. The twins were in awe. It was so much fun. He came through and handed out a bell to all the kids and then made his way back through again to take pictures with them. I loved the smile I captured as Bennett got his bell from Santa. Precious. After Santa left the played some more songs with more dancing. When Let it Go came on, the elf and one of the waiters decided it was time to pick on Jackson and they sang the song to him. The elf got right down in front of him and she would grab his arm, tried to get him to use his bell as a microphone and tried to get him to dance. It was hilarious! The waiter moved on towards the last bit of the song but the elf stayed the whole time.

Soon we were back at Union Station and said our goodbyes to Lissy. We went to Sara and Ryan’s house where Sara and Bella were waiting up for us as it was about 10:20 at this point. Ryan fell asleep on the couch but woke up. We visited for a while and then went to bed. Morning came early as we had to leave around 7:15 to get back for Jackson’s ball game. His first one was at 9 so we didn’t even mess with that one. Sara had cinnamon rolls made for us that were yummy. And the highlight of the morning was when Brady and Lincoln saw each other since Brady was asleep when we got there. They just kind of jumped around yelling and were so excited to see each other. And then it was time for Minecraft. But we had to go so it didn’t last too long. We didn’t get very far before Ellie’s belly started hurting her so we had to pull off at a gas station. My timing was a little off and Andrew had to book it to get to Queen City on time for Jackson’s game. We got there around 10:45 for his second game of the day that started at 11. Andrew dropped Jackson and I off and we hurried in but the game actually had started early. They play 2 15 minutes halves so he got to go in the second part of both halves. I think he was a little unsure of what to do on offense but he was working hard on defense which made his dad and I proud. We had to work with him a bit on his positioning with defense and he did a great job with it and showed some intensity which was awesome. His team won both games so I think they were pretty excited.

After the game it was time to head home. I got the kids lunch when we got home and started unpacking, cleaning out the car and doing laundry while Andrew got to work setting up the wireless fence for Buddy. He and Jackson worked on figuring out where to set the boundary flags and then Andrew took some time to walk Buddy around the yard so he could start learning how it works. And hopefully it will actually work. Then that evening we went out to Matthew and Kristin’s as the birthdays continue to celebrate Ainsely’s second birthday a couple days early.  Kristin had a really cute gold and pink star theme and Jackson was excited she had pizza. When we got home, I was exhausted and so ready for bed as was the rest of the family. I ended up staying up and working on a thank you video for all who ordered our Thanksgiving cookies.

Andrew had the kids up early again Sunday morning, before six. His plans were to take them out to the ranch and put out some mineral and get back in time to go out on bike ride with another guy and possibly do some gravel. But it rained so his plans changed a bit. I cleaned up the disaster they left, started laundry and got a run in before I did my grocery shopping. Andrew ended up still going for a ride a little after I got home. He rode out to the ranch and met his friend because he lives out around there. They skipped the gravel and by the time Andrew got home he had done 54 miles! While he was gone, I got dinner started, did laundry, finished up the paperwork for the twins and Ellie and finished wrapping the twins birthday presents. Ellie and Lincoln spent a lot of the day playing with their friends. Jackson got to help me make some cookies. I decided I need to make 15 dozen for neighbor and teacher gifts so I went ahead and got around 80 out of the way and put them in the freezer. We were almost done getting the dough ready when Zach came over to see if Jackson wanted to play so I was left alone to finish.  After I finished the cookies, I finished up dinner and everyone started showing up back home just in time. Then after dinner Jackson and Ellie requested to play a board game and we eventually landed on Uno where Ellie won both rounds. Lincoln played with us which is always entertaining. He definitely understands it all now but he would sometimes get confused of when it was his turn. I had hoped to get downstairs and wrap some but it just never happened.