Monday was a rough day. Nobody
wanted to get up and going (including myself), and it was a complete struggle
to get out of the door. By the time I finished getting everybody ready and
packing up the van, I was already late for work. UGH!!!! And, of course, with
two drop-off’s, that doesn’t’ help. So, I dropped the big girls off, dropped
Eliza off, and settled into work late. With Christmas complete, and people
taking time off, this week is pretty short…then, I’m off all next week, so I
HAAAAAAAAAAAD to find some motivation and tackle my inbox this week. No excuses!
The week should fly by though, that’s for sure. And I’m SO looking forward to
10 glorious days of no work! After clocking out, I picked Eliza up, and we
stopped at Target for a few groceries. I dropped her off at home with
Christian, set Buddy up, and was off to pick the big girls up from daycare. While
I made dinner, Christian showered and got ready for work. The girls worked on
the “Christmas Trees” that Buddy brought for them, we ate dinner, and we had a
quiet night at home. Olivia actually ate her tree after dinner – I did not find
it appealing, AT ALL! Christian was off to work, so the girls took baths, we
did their reading, and they were off to bed a little early. I did my nightly
clean-up before bed…I’ll be trying to play a little catch-up and get this
disaster of a house in order before our friends arrive on Saturday.
Tuesday was a much better day. I
did oversleep, oops, but everybody else got up and going much better than
usual. WHEW! I dropped the girls off at daycare, and was off to work. I was so frustrated
with Amelia though – this girls CANNOT remember her winter gear to save her life.
She leaves stuff at school, stuff at daycare, stuff at home….she has a bag
specifically for her stuff, but half the time she just throws the bag, and
whatever random items she hasn’t forgotten into her backpack. It boggles my
mind. Today she was missing her gloves and headwrap…but swore it was in her
cubby at daycare. So, I checked when we got there. Nope, nothing. UGH!!! So, I
told her “Too Bad!” – she’s going to have to start sitting out of recess, and I’m
hoping that will help her get it together. What a pain! Work was busy and
chaotic, and I got a TON of stuff done, which was a relief. I did have to leave
work a tad early, to get to daycare for the “Winter Gala” performances. They
don’t have the school-age kids perform, so this year we just had Eliza to
watch. Of course, she just stood there with her hands in her mouth the entire
time – like most of the kids in her “class”, which cracks me up. The other
classes crack me up – some kids are SO into it, and you can hear them from a
mile away, most are pretty shy, and there are always a few funny moments. We
all decided to stop into Chipotle for dinner on our way home, so YUMMY! Then,
we girls settled in at home, while Christian was off to work. The girls did
their reading, we watched a little TV, and we were all off to bed. I tried so
hard to watch some “Fargo” tonight – I’m so close to finishing it up, but I was
just too exhausted. For Buddy Day 22, we found him doing some Cirque du Soleil from the chandelier tonight – so entertaining!
Turned out that we were twins today, miles apart. LOL
Eliza's Winter Gala - she stood there like this the entire time, Ha
Wednesday started off on a rainy
note. RAIN…on Christmas Eve Eve! WHAT?! It is supposed to turn to snow
tomorrow, so YAY for that. The big girls had PJ day at school for their last
day before winter break, so that always makes it easier to get ready in the morning.
I dropped all of the girls off, and was off to work for the day. It was SO
quiet at work…it was wonderful! I’ve been having a really good, much needed
productive week, so I feel like I’m actually pulling my weight around the
office. It will be nice (for my sanity) when the Holidays, Vacation and Olivia’s
birthday are behind us and I don’t feel like my mind is being pulled in a
million different directions! I stopped home after work for a while, before picking
the girls up from daycare. I’m not sure why…just everything going on, mixed in
with some pregnancy hormones I suppose, but I was feeling so completely
overwhelmed. I needed to just stop home, in the quiet and be alone with my thoughts
for a while. Again, it will be nice to have a little sanity back here pretty
soon. I didn’t pick the girls up until close to closing time, so Christian
pretty much just showered, got ready and was off to work when we got home. The
girls and I had dinner, watched some Christmas movies on TV, did a little
playing, and they were off to bed. I forced myself to stay up and zone out with
some Fargo before passing out tonight. For Buddy Day 23, he had a little tea
party with some princesses tonight. So regal!
Thursday....Merry Christmas Eve! I
can’t believe Christmas is already here. So insane. I seriously feel like we
were JUST celebrating Christmas. I was up pretty early today, and Christian came
home from work early too. Before hopping into the shower and getting ready for the
day, I set Buddy up in the living room, with the girls’ Christmas Eve box. I’m
pretty happy that Buddy is heading home for the year today – I was SO not in
the mood for that dang Elf this year – so not in the “spirit” with all of the
chaos and craziness and pregnancy shock going on. Once I was ready to go, I got
the girls up and they right away found their gift and ripped into it. Well,
Eliza had her crabby pants on, so she wasn’t interested, but whatever. They got
a new movie, “Inside Out”, and each got a new pair of pajamas. Coincidentally,
it was PJ day at daycare, so WOOT! Well, Olivia and Amelia’s pajamas were too
big for them, oops, so Olivia got Amelia’s, and Amelia had to dig out a
different set. Once everybody was ready to go, we loaded up the van and were
off. Olivia’s favorite teacher, Miss Barb, who usually greets her and cuddles
her in the mornings, was not there today. Oh man, that did NOT go over well.
Poor Eliza was so upset – I had to leave her crying, which I haven’t had to do
in a LONG time, and that sucked big time. I finally got to work, and man was it
DEAD, all day long. There were only 4 of us in the office today, so crazy. I
got a ton of work done, and handed over a couple things to my team lead to
handle while I’m on vacation, and left for the day at 1:00 to pick the girls up
from daycare. There’s nothing like the feeling of leaving work, knowing you’ll
be gone for a nice long time! We stopped home to get ready, pack up, and grab
Christian, and then were off to my mom’s to celebrate Christmas. We spent a few
hours there…chatting, eating dinner (and way too much of it!), opening presents
and watching some TV. We finally loaded the van back up, and hit the road. My
in-laws’ house is on the way home, so we stopped by for a little bit so the
girls could play with their cousin for a little while and we could chat with
his parents for a bit. Then, we FINALLY made our way home for the night. The
girls were right off to bed, and we got their stockings filled, and their Santa
presents set up – Eliza’s rollercoaster, and the big girls’ Frozen Chairs. We
watched a little TV when we were all done and ready, but man was I exhausted.
With that it was official – Christmas is here. So crazy!
Baby Snuggles!
Friday was Christmas Day! Merry
Christmas all!!! Of course, the girls were up bright and early, and SOOOO
excited when they saw everything all set up. They all immediately hit up the
rollercoaster and took a few rides down the track. Then, ripped into their
stockings, and opened their presents one by one. When they were done, Christian
and I exchanged…he got me a new charm for my bracelet, and a pregnancy body pillow,
while I got him pretty much the usual…cologne, a shirt, and some underwear…I
did get him a Bluetooth shower speaker as well though, and that was a hit. After
presents, we had some breakfast, Eliza went down for an early nap, and we all
started to get ready for the day. My dad and step-mom stopped over around 12:00
to exchange presents and hang out for a while. My step-mom hurt her back really
bad a few months ago, so she wasn’t able to host a big Christmas this year with
my sisters and their families. Christian’s
friend Lorenzo also stopped over with some gifts for the girls. They are so
dang spoiled, it’s ridiculous. After everybody left, we started to pack up, and
load up the van, and we were off to my in-laws’ for the day, with my
sister-in-law and her family. We ate (again, WAY too much food), the kids
played and yelled and ran around and drove everybody insane (seriously, 6 kids,
a baby and 6 adults in an apartment – not the ideal Christmas gathering spot),
we opened presents (and OPENED presents, because of course everybody must
immediately play with their new toys) and had some dessert. It was chaotic and
loud and exhausting, but SO fun watching the kids play together and spend time
with each other. We didn’t end up leaving until around 9:30, and I was so
exhausted. All I could think about was everything we needed to get done
tomorrow before our houseguests arrive, and I was so overwhelmed. I love me
some Christmas, but this year was just too much for me to handle, and I just
couldn’t get into the spirit of everything. Just call me scrooge!
Saturday was a crazy busy day around
the house. We spent pretty much ALL day cleaning…the bedrooms, the bathrooms,
the entry, the kitchen, the living room, pretty much every room…dusting,
vacuuming, picking up. I spent a good amount of time in the basement…I had
moved everything around a couple weekends ago, into the room where it belongs,
so today I just had to go room by room and actually put everything away. It
went much faster than I expected. Finally, I went on a quick Target run to
stock up on some snacks, beverages and essentials for the house, we did a final
sweep of the house, making sure that everything was in order, and finally sat
down for a little while. I couldn’t believe that we actually pulled it off, and
the house was actually presentable. Our friends from Indiana arrived around 8:00
for their first winter visit. They’ll be staying with us until next Sunday
morning, and while I’m not sure what we’ll do in the freezing cold winter, I
was so excited to see them again. Especially because at this point, Dawn was
one of the very few that new I was pregnant, so it was really nice to have
somebody around to actually talk to about it! When they came up, knocking on
the door, the girls were SOOOOOOO excited. We don’t typically tell them when we’re
doing things, or when people are coming over, because they drive us CRAZY waiting
for whatever is going on to happen – so they were super surprised to see them.
They got right to playing, not wasting a minute, while the adults settled in
and started catching up. It always takes a while for it to settle in that they’re
actually here, live and in person, when they come to town. 10 people in one house,
in the middle of winter, is sure to be crazy and loud and chaotic – and absolutely
wonderful!
Surrounded by new toys, house in a disaster, and these three huddled up in the middle of the living room around the iPad.
She's a Pad Thai lover too!
Sunday was our first real, full day
together. Everybody woke up and got ready, one by one, had some breakfast, and
eventually we were all off to Red Robin for a big lunch out. It felt like we
were there FOREVER, and Eliza was so over it from the moment we walked in the door,
but we all survived. Afterwards, the boys made their way home with Eliza – who went
right down for a nice long nap, while Dawn, the big girls and I were off to do
some shopping at the Mall of America. We stopped into Build a Bear so their
daughter could fill some dolls she had, and Olivia decided that was what she
wanted to buy – so she picked an Elsa bear, filled it, and got a dress and
shoes for her. Next up, we were off to The Disney Store, and Amelia picked out
a Sofia the First doll set. We ate some
lunch, stopped into a couple of clothing stores, and made our way home. Christian
wasn’t feeling too hot, so he ended up calling into work, and took over a couch
for the night. We had dinner , the kids played, and we settled in for a very
exciting Vikings game, WOOT!! None of us made it much longer after the game was
over, so we turned in for the night. All these kids, they’re so exhausting!!
Our first day together!
Until Next Week! XOXO
