Christmas

Well, Christmas 2009 has come and gone- way too quick if you ask me. Although it has been extremely busy, we have had the most wonderful time! We were able to spend Christmas Eve with my in-laws. It was a whole day of playing and grazing- very laid back and relaxing. That night we came home and my MIL and FIL came to spend the night with us. Christmas morning started about 8:30 a.m. My kiddos tried to start at 6:30, but I told them I would return their gifts if they didn't go back to sleep. (I know, I know I am a wonderful mother- I hear it all the time. hehe) Around lunch, the in-laws left to see the other grandkids and we got things together to head to my parents. The day was so enjoyable!! An awesome steak and seafood dinner, a wonderful story from Paw Paw before presents, and 8 kids all playing with their new toys the rest of the day into the evening. Ahhhhh- life is good. I just really wished it lasted a little longer.


I have already taken down everything Christmas- not because I am a scrooge, but I want to start a new school year with a clean house and most things caught up- not behind. Hubby has been at the hunt club since Saturday morning. The kiddos have all had playdates and spend the night friends (as I speak I have 2 extra boys sleeping down the hall), and all is well. I really hope to get the energy to paint the kitchen tomorrow (or the next day). It really needs to be done.


I hope to get some pics of Christmas posted soon- until then, I hope everyone has a super New Year planned!!

not me Monday!

Did you have one of those days (weeks, months)? This carnival was created by Mckmama to help us vent a little, feel encouraged that we are not alone, and save us all the expense of professional therapy!

As the Christmas break draws near- we are NOT getting lazy with school, sleeping until 9 or 10 o'clock, and staying in our PJ's until lunch (or later). I am NOT counting down the days until I have 2 weeks to re-group for a new year.

This past weekend, when our goal was to install our new range, I did not allow our kiddos to decorate a gingerbread house mostly unsupervised and eat more of the candy than they decorated with just to have a few extra moments of time to think.

The range we were attemping to install had NOT been sitting in our garage for over a year. It has NOT taken us that long to finish our kitchen. I have NOT been without 2 major appliances for several months- who does that??

When trying to clean up the kitchen, our upstairs bathroom toilet did NOT flood the bathroom and hallway. The water did NOT fill a light fixture on the main floor and water was NOT leaking out of the moulding from the first floor.

20 minutes after said flooding, when trying once more to clean the kitchen, a connection from under the kitchen sink did NOT come loose only to flood the kitchen floor and other cabinets. Because the adults were NOT freaking out, the kids did NOT start freaking out as well.

Once the chaos had again been calmed, and supper was served, I tried cleaning the kitchen-again. When draining the water from the sink, another pipe did NOT come loose only to flood the floor again!!! I mean seriously- things like this do NOT happen around here!!

Sunday, after church, it was NOT me who sat on her bum by the fire all day enjoying a quiet birthday. It was NOT my hubby that worked all afternoon (still) on the range that had still not been installed.

Finally, it IS me who is loving her hubby more than ever for working so hard to get the appliances back in to the kitchen for my birthday!! (And I only wish I had the pictures to show!!)

surprise

Do you like surprises? I love the kind of surprises that come unexpectedly and brightens my day without cause. The little surprise word or gesture from my hubby, a sweet card in the mail from a good friend, or the random act of love from one of my kiddos (the kind that really shows a mom she is doing something right). Who doesn't love those kind of surprises?

I was on the receiving end of some random surprises today. I was greeted this morning with a big kiss from my 7 year old, and the words "I love you mommy" even before I opened my eyes. My in-laws came today and brought me a homemade birthday cake and gift. My daughter willingly did the dishes for me since my back has been killing me for days. My hubby started the day with the goal of installing our new range in the kitchen (I have been without a range for about 9 months). While here, my mother in-law cleaned, and my father in-law worked diligently helping my hubby with the stove. Ahhhh- such sweet acts and thoughts.

How about the surprises that happen which cause sudden chaos and a rise of your stress levels? How do feel about those? Yeah, I know what you are thinking- I am not a fan either. Unfortunately, we had our share of those today as well. After a few loud "popping" noises while trying to hook up the stove, that project was put on hold for a professional. Not long after, while I was attempting to wash dishes, my T man came to tell me the upstairs bathroom was flooding- and boy was he ever right!! Nothing a shop vac and all of our beach towels (and most of our regular towels) couldn't handle. A few minutes later I was back to washing dishes when I heard a loud sound and almost immediately felt wet. Yep- the line under the sink where the dishwasher line attaches came off. I sent kids scattering off in different directions. One for towels, one to turn off the main water, another to get the shop vac from upstairs, and one to find Big Daddy to figure what in the world was going on!! In the meantime we realized the water from the upstairs bath was seeping through mouldings and light fixtures on the first floor. Things really went nuts. We decided to disperse our kiddos to neighbors until things were a little better under control.

Its not long before things settle down, we make supper, collect our children, and preceed to have a wonderful steak dinner. For dessert? The mouthwatering homemade Caramel cake with my kiddos singing "Happy Birthday" to me. Not a surprise, but bliss all the same. After dinner, I decide to let out the water I had used to wash dishes and guess what?!?! Another flood!!!!!!

Seriously- the pipe came loose from the sink and the water was just emptying under the sink!! We managed to find the last 2 towels that somehow missed the first two tsunamis and was quickly able to get the last attempt on my sanity cleaned up. The water managed to make it into another cabinet, so we currently have fans running to dry things up while we slumber tonight.

Before my in-laws left tonight, my sweet MIL kept telling me how amazed she was that I was so calm through all the insanity. I let her go on for awhile before I felt the need to confess that I had taken a muscle relaxer earlier to help with the back pain!!!
I must say- it worked like a charm!! Not much back pain- and my muscles were most certainly relaxed!

So that is my day of surprises- and it was enough for awhile. I hope.

HP Giveaway

There is a wonderful giveaway for an HP Touchsmart computer going on. I really didn't want to share this, because I want to win, but share I will.

If you want to check it out go over to www.mckgiveaways.blogspot.com for the official rules and other ways you can earn chances to win!!

But of course if you aren't interested in this and really WANT ME to win, well that's alright too. Of course I am kidding - a little.

just maybe

The other day, I took the kiddos out to make an effort at a Christmas card picture. We didn't get one made last year, so I wanted to make sure we had one this year. Just for information- this is not usually an enjoyable or easy task and we ususally only find one that we can edit good enough to use. This year, however, we actually got quite a few that were keepers and needed very little editing. Just thought I would show you some of the better ones. This is certainly not all 50-60 of them (hehe)

Now I just need to get the picture made, ordered, shipped, envelopes addressed, and all cards

mailed. I still have enough time- Right?