Christmas at 2967

We've imagined this day for eons.  Christmas at our new house. 

You'd have thought there'd be fireworks.

Nope.

Just Minute to Win It Games.

Fresh oysters...

and American Girl dolls.

Christmas Afternoon.

Whew!

Christmas Eve Eve

Somehow it's Christmas Eve. 

And whatdaya know; I'm blogging. 

Obviously things are 'as good as they're gonna get' this year.

I actually did better than I thought I'd do by this point... given the circumstances.

It started on Christmas Eve Eve.  Yes, the night before Christmas Eve.  As I climbed into bed it was one of those ultimate tired/super comfy/ I can only grunt to communicate types of exhausted. 

That should have been my first clue.

I didn't mention Molly's been fighting a mean fever since Monday afternoon and therefore has been as thirsty as an Anderson girl in July. 

At 10:18 I woke to, "Moooommmm, mooooooooooom!"

As I reach the girls' room, "Water" was declared.  That meant I had to go back downstairs to fill a glass, then back upstairs to deliver the glass, then back downstairs to go back to bed.  However, once I reached Molly with the water glass, Maisie decided she was thirsty too.  It was temping to use the same glass, but I knew it wouldn't be in my best interest given the germs marinating in Molly's system.

Fast forward to 11:22.  "Mooooooommmmm, mooooooooom!"

I reach the girls room again to discover Molly lost her 'nigh-nigh'.  As I feel around her bed in the dark, I locate the nigh-nigh next to her pillow. 

Ugggg.

Fast forward to 12: 06.  "Moooooommmmmm, mooooooooom!"

Now she's pissed the bed.  It's somehow gone through the rubber pad under the mattress pad and soaked the mattress. 

Again, ugggggg!

I return the our bed which suddenly smells like fart and try to fall back to sleep under a tunnel of clean air beside the comforter.  

Fast forward to 3:40.  "Mooooooooooom, moooooooom! 

"What?"  I holler.

"I'm barfing".

"Mike, your turn."

Ross was puking.  Of course Ross felt the need to re-hash every moment of the ordeal; out loud.  Mike asked how he was feeling and he replied, "I just wasn't expecting to puke tonight!" Turns out his biggest concern during the actual puking process was keeping the puke pieces off his teeth. 

Mike returns to bed and continues to fart... 'something from the depths', as he described it with a giggle.  I'm tired and pissed as this is the 3rd or 4th time this night our bedroom has smelled like stale shit.  As he goes in and out of silent-laughing hysterical mode, he had the nerve if I was proud of him for not 'fluffing' the covers.

Finally morning arrives and Molly's dry heaving.  She finally pukes in a bucket which Kuda quickly becomes obsessed with.

Yep, it's Christmas...Christmas with kids. 

As trying as it is, I know Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without them. 

And therefore, I think I'll keep 'em.

May gratitude always fill your hearts,
Heidi

 

Genetics

Because I knew it was in my DNA to be able to make these.  So I did.

As GG would say, 

"Genetics.  It's a powerful thing."

Christmas Countdown

Here we are, 3 days before Christmas.  I wanted to put red bows on the outside of the house.  I wanted to hang Christmas lights on the banister of the loft and maybe even on the porch pillars.  I wanted to write and send Christmas cards and make an assortment of Christmas treats.  I want, I want, I want.  I sound like a spoiled brat.

Instead I sit next to Molly who came home from school with a fever.  I'm up to my eyeballs in broth and am struggling to come up with stocking gifts each morning that aren't too corny.  This morning I actually shopped the snack basket in our pantry.  Ross was on to me when he pulled out fruit snacks from GG's Christmas and rolled his eyes at me...

I went hunting for cleaver stocking stuffers today and discovered if you have girls, you're golden. If you have a boy who doesn't happen to be into Star Wars, your screwed.  Ross will be looking at Sour Patch Kids gum, lip balm and gummy life savers in the days to come.  I guess it's better than coal. 

As I exchanged $2 in the pasta isle of Fareway this afternoon for a shirt for Maisie off the Winterset Online Garage Sale site, I made a comment to a stranger about all the Holiday madness.  She laughed and said, "We do it to ourselves.  We're all nuts". 

Perhaps she's right.  Perhaps we do bring stress upon ourselves.  Perhaps we're all a little bit nuts.  I've decided I'm okay with that.  I come from a long line of 'nuts' when it comes to Christmas and I've got pictures to prove it.  Therefore, I think I'll pour another glass of wine, stir the broth and revel the fact that I get to sit next to my Moo while the pine-scented wax melts in my Scentsy.  I may not have the time to make this Christmas as "Pinteresty" as I'd like.  But I also know there will come a day when I will.

Until then, pass the nuts.

Reminice (or however you spell it)

Two years ago....

Beyond the fact that their lips look chapped... they look the same.

This was the last Christmas he'd believe in Santa. 

"Ouch", says my heart.

My baby girls.  Ignore the fact that Maisie's wiping.

2 years ago. 

Makes me wonder what 2017 will look like...

60 Preschoolers

I'm supposed to be writing final exams for next week.  Instead I'm busy finishing up Holiday Parties for 'Heidi's Kitchen' events and drinking too much coffee at school.  The coffee is LOADED with caffeine.  Apparently it's giving me lots of ideas.

I spent Thursday baking sugar cookies with 60 preschoolers.  60 preschoolers PLUS my high school students.  Eye-Yay-Yay.

Fortunately, I teach in a 1-A school.  That's short for "small".

That also means Molly attends the same school building I teach in. Therefore.... Molly was able to be one of the preschoolers who made cookies in my classroom on Thursday. 

There's something about mixing preschoolers with high schoolers which brings out the mystery in both.  The preschoolers bring their innocence and playfulness to the classroom which carries over to the high schoolers. 

It's exhausting, funny and weird.  I love it.

Wednesdays with Maisie

Wednesday morning with Maisie...

In my past life I was either a chicken, cat or dog. 

Because I'm good at chicken noises and

cat noises and

I like dog treats.

Long Grove Christmas

How the Long Grove Christmas has come and gone is beyond me.  The balmy temps, light drizzle and sparklers made this holiday weekend feel more like the 4th of July than Christmas. 

Somehow all the kids and grown-up kids who gather at GG and Papa's can figure out a way to make Christmas happen anytime of the year.

My pictures aren't great.  But again, 'tis the season!  I think you'll get the idea.

Christmas at GG and Papa's with 11 kids. 

It is what it is!

Weekends

I remember Sunday's as being the worst day of the week.  It was a 'work-around-the-house, leftovers for lunch, homework finishing, messy hair, bored to tears, sweat pant-wearing day. 

Sometimes in the evening we'd get Dad to cut our hair at the barber shop. We'd usually end up folding towels and studying the Guinness Book of World Records book which sat on the magazine table in the barbershop.  The longest fingernail photo and tallest/shortest man in the world photo were my favorites.  This of course, was before 'Google' made it's entrance to society.

Today felt like one of those days.  It was a 'tried to sleep in, cloudy and cool, didn't shower till 1, steam mop the floors, baking cookies, catch up with laundry, clean out the litter box and sweep the garage' kind of day. 

Goose had a chance to show off his new pad...

While Molly got pissed at her jeep because the battery was dead and we couldn't find the charger.  Plus, the tires DO NOT work well on large rocks (aka: our driveway).

Oh Sunday.  You're one of a kind!

Heidi's Kitchen

Friday night is the first of 5 Heidi's Kitchen catered events at the Heartland Building on the square this month.

Bucket List.

Check.

December 2015

One year ago...

Molly was decorating our Christmas tree.  This was the temporary tree we decorated before I decided

to cut down the ditch tree below.  Stop laughing.

I had just begun to strip this dining room table and Mike was accepting the fact that I'd somehow lost my mind.  The fumes were unusually strong.

Today I sit at the refinished dining room table, next to my 9-foot Christmas tree, with a fire in the fireplace, wine in my glass and the smell of biscotti and Christmas pine in the air. 

Stop right there.

Don't let that paragraph fool you.  Maisie is bawling in the loft because Molly left her alone. Molly couldn't find her nigh nigh and apparently I have hidden it.  Ross calls everyone and everything a chode while thinking it's the most hilarious word in the English language.  Molly just got kicked in the throat and Ross is pissed the girls just selected Pop Pixie on Netflix.  I'm not complaining, really.  Every time I feel frustrated with the stage the kids are in at the moment, I refer back to 2011.  Now THAT was a time for complaining.

So today, I'm giving thanks last year is over.  Also that 2011 is over.  That my kids are getting older, but not too old, that it's not last December, that life has given me opportunities to explore my hobbies and passions, that we have a cat, a dog, a house and some land.  That my kids are healthy and we live in a pretty safe place. 

I took Goose with me to the grocery store today.  He likes mini-van rides.  He wanted the windows down, so I left the windows down.  I swear he sniffed the whole way there.  He kept farting on the way home.  I took him for a run before the kids came home from school.  He ran into a neighbor dog and they smelled each others butts before continuing on their way.  I felt for the neighbor dog.  Especially since Goose ate Kuda's cat turds 2 days ago and they don't seem to be agreeing with him. 

I don't know how that fits into the blog post, other than I realize I have no REAL problems, and man am I grateful.