Family, Functioning, and Finishing a Decade

Well, it's been a blurry handful of days since Christmas.  It's hard to believe a week ago we were in the midst of the halfway point of our two days of Christmas, already three gift-opening sessions in.  I'm not even sure where these days have gone, but let's see if I can remember...

The day after Christmas Jacob had to be at basketball training bright and early, so Carter and I did some Walmart clearance shopping while we waited to refresh my bags and wrapping paper.  Beyond that, it was a lazy day.  I currently seem to have a problem staying awake in the afternoon, which I think I can blame on changing my allergy medication.  I tried Zyrtec (Certirizine) years ago and felt it helped my allergies a bit, but felt it made me extra tired.  Friends had raved about Xyzal (Levocetirizine), and with lingering allergy congestion after my sinus infection was done, I figured maybe I should try something new.  Despite the similarity in the name of its active ingredient, I figured I'd give it a shot.  But I'm pretty sure it's making me drowsy.  Either that, or two months of illness followed by a month of constant Christmas planning has seriously exhausted me to the point that I can't stay awake for most of the afternoon.  I think I need to switch back if I want to maintain any sort of productivity.  I have managed to do some laundry and put away most of the presents during my time at home.  The days after Christmas have really been a struggle, honestly.  Whether it's the allergy medicine, or general tiredness, or what, I don't know, but everything has taken massive effort.  Dragging myself off the couch, planning meals, disciplining the kids (for the millionth time), and general cleaning up has been very difficult.  I haven't been able to get myself back into working out, either, which is starting to get problematic given a plentiful, food-filled holiday.  I am really struggling with a lot of aspects of life--and I'm sort of freaking out that come next Monday I need to start getting up at 6am (and getting Jacob up early again as well).  I really need to use the next few days to get my you-know-what together, but more on that in a bit.

I had to go into work on Friday for half the day, and then it was home to hang with the boys.  Also a sleepy day, although we did get to try out one of Carter's main gifts, an anti-gravity car.  I'll admit it looked too good to be true in the as-seen-on-TV commercial, but you know what, it worked!  Check out this thing climbing the living room wall!

On Saturday Craig had to work, so the boys and I headed back to Buffalo to hang out with my brother and his kids, who arrived on a redeye the morning after Christmas.  My mom was throwing a family get-together so people could see them while they were in town.  When we arrived, the kids got to open their Christmas presents, which they all very much enjoyed.  Carter got a bunch of Beyblades, which he'd been wanting--and which cousin Max was more than happy to show him how to use.  Jacob got a Raptors shirt and a basketball he's been really wanting (as in, he asked me repeatedly over Christmas which family member I gave that item to off his list).  Both kids were thrilled.  Kate loved her unicorn hoodie (which she put on immediately), her unicorn robe (which she put on that evening), and her sparkly leggings (which she wore today).  Max was like a Lego master builder putting together the two fancy car sets we got him (along with a Minecraft t-shirt).  They all made out well--and I even got a gift, an ornament with Kate and Max's picture on it.  

After last year's photo fest with the kids (and recent fun comments when my mom reposted a funny shot from that day), we had to get another one.  I think Kate gained a little ground on Jacob, but for the most part they were proportionately similar in height...but so much more grown up!

We had a nice time at the party, and I even got to see a cousin on my mom's side that I probably haven't seen in person in a couple years, as well as her dad, who I see pretty rarely as well.  I got to spend more time with my cousins' baby girls, Emmy and Lucy, and relished seeing my other cousins twice within four days!  The boys and I headed home that night, because we had a couple commitments over the next couple days.

Sunday morning we headed to Craig's boss' house across town for brunch.  His boss and his wife are the sweetest people (with the cutest kids) and they were hosting brunch in their gorgeous (but homey) new house for a bunch of the lacrosse staff.  We had a very nice time chatting with everyone (including a couple coaches (one of whom is a former player) that I've known for nearly 20 years but rarely get to see now).  The food was fabulous!  We headed home to watch the Bills game (boo, they lost, but at least it didn't matter--they had already clinched their playoff berth) and relax.

I had to go back into work Monday to finish up my last set of data for the year, and came home a little before noon so Craig could fit in some work.  We were heading out late in the afternoon to come back to NT to spend more time with John and the kids.  We arrived in time for dinner, had an entertaining meal (particularly when my dad offered Max a bribe to try lemon juice on his broccoli and Max negotiated like a pro), and then had a fun time of gaming.  The kids (and my mom and me at times) tried to solve puzzles in Carter's new "Invasion of the Cow Snatchers" game, and we all took turns playing Yamslam, which is a dice game similar to Yahtzee but with some fun little twists.  Jacob was hesitant to play, but of course he rolled the best rolls twice in a row to start and then pretty much ran the table for three straight games!  John has played it a bunch and was floored!  We actually had a lot of fun with that game--which we've owned for a year or so but never got around to learning, mostly because Carter's a terrible sport and games rarely go well.

The four of us shacked up in the basement for the night, which was interesting but probably better than I thought--Carter on his usual crib mattress, Jacob on a loveseat (not as successful), and Craig and me sharing a full size air mattress.  We had a pretty slow morning, though Kate and I had fun painting her nails with rainbow sparkles, which she had admired on my nails last night and I happened to bring with me for touch-ups.  The kids alternated between playing and devices for most of the afternoon, but Kate, Max, and Carter did go outside when we got a random freak snow squall that dumped an inch of snow outside.  They had a blast chasing each other around and throwing snowballs.

Carter chasing Max

Three-way showdown

Kate laughing after getting some snow down her back

If you zoom in, you can see Kate's snowball hitting Max in the back!

We also took a new family picture, since the last one was three years ago!

And yes, Carter was a complete sourpuss.  Not sure what his deal was, though he was insisting he forgot how to smile.  Ugh.

After that, it was time for us to go home and let John's crew spend New Year's Eve at our cousins' house, where they always have a blast.  We came home to do our now-traditional choose-your-own-takeout dinner (Mighty Taco for Carter, Chipotle for Jacob, and Chinese for the adults).  We eat in the dining room, and I got sparkling grape juice for the kids (though Carter opted for root beer instead).  I lit some faux candles and tried to make it fancy.  Now we're all just sort of killing time until midnight.

As for me, I can barely believe we're heading into a new decade.  Thinking back, we really sent the last decade out with a bang.  We had an 18-month-old at the time, and on New Year's Eve 2009, we put an offer in on our house and said good-bye to Jacob's first daycare, which closed.  It was quite a day, and then we started the decade with a truly heinous stomach bug that took down Jacob, then Craig, and then sort of battered me to a lesser degree.  It even delayed Jacob's start at his new daycare.  That was followed by a nasty cold for Jacob, as well.  It was not a fabulous start, but at least the house thing worked out--although the gas leak caused by a pre-sale furnace inspection was what made me realize my smell had disappeared, which means that it's been nearly a decade since I had any meaningful taste or smell.  Crazy, huh?  Anyway, it's hard to believe we've been here almost 10 years now.  I still love so much about this house, but apparently there's some sort of 10-year itch for needing to get projects done because some things need to happen soon to keep me happy here!

Given my aforementioned struggles these past few days, I have all sorts of resolutions for this year (unofficially, I guess), which is way more than my usual none.  Beyond the house projects that need to move forward, I need to get myself back in shape (two months of illness and a month of Christmas have killed me), and I need to get my meal planning on track.  This past week has been a real struggle for any sort of eating at home, which throws everything else off, so I need to start figuring out how to make that better on a regular basis.  Craig's new lactose intolerance combined with the gluten issues we've dealt with for six years have made my struggles even more pronounced.  I either need to get more ideas or just plan better, which is always hard given sports schedules and work schedules and shopping coordination.  I'm also looking forward to starting family therapy at some point soon, because we need to get our family challenges on the road to recovery.  Between kid behavior/disrespect and general communication issues, we have a lot to tackle and need it to happen ASAP to keep all of our sanity.  We have a lot of improvements to make all around, that is for sure.

I hope for great things in this coming decade, but odds are it will have its ups and downs.  A lot will change for us--both kids will become teenagers, and one kid will not only graduate from high school, but also hit his 20s!  We'll both hit 50 (!), though, and unfortunately chances are we'll lose some family members as we all get older.  But hopefully many great things are ahead and we'll start this decade much better than the last!  Happy New Year, everyone!

Christmas!

I finished all of the Christmas prep right around midnight, which is pretty much par for the course.  I took a few minutes to settle in on my new furniture to enjoy the lights and the pile of presents.  I love my new star LED lights on the fireplace.  They're so cute--wrapped gold wire.  They are perfect, actually.

Only the gifts on the far left are for the kids.  Most were for the rest of the family!

I had to get tree #2 in on the fun.  I've really enjoyed my angel tree and its multicolored lights.  It looks so pretty in the dark dining room as I sit in the living room at night.

It was hard to believe all of the prep was finally done (short of one jello fruit salad and some packing).  Every year when we bring out the Advent calendars, they seem like an insurmountable climb.  But every year, the little tree one goes from sparse to filled, and the doors on the rest are opened one by one, and before we know it, we're there.  It ended up being a weird year for me, as even when I got to the end point, I was sort of in disbelief that it was over.  I barely felt ready for it all.  Even in the middle of our celebrations, it didn't seem like it was the real thing.  Not sure why.  Too much busyness and not enough emotional preparation?  Not enough seasonal events prior?  Bigger kids?  Subconscious emotional detachment since I know that these happy Christmases won't last forever?  Something just felt different.

Anyway, after a shorter-than-ideal but reasonable night's sleep, Jacob tried to convince us to get up around 7:30, but we held out until after 8 because Carter was still sleeping!  Jacob was all too happy to wake him up, and he perked up pretty quickly.  I made them wait a few minutes until I got our cinnamon rolls in the oven, just because it makes things flow better if they cook while we open gifts.  And, of course, the traditional picture...

They got right into opening their stockings, which as usual were filled with mostly candy.  Carter had the bonus of a small pack of Legos--a popcorn cart vendor that I couldn't resist.

It was sort of a weird gift year, too.  In addition to the shipping debacle, things were pretty minimalist.  Jacob had one big gift, and in the end, Carter did, too.  Jacob loved his special pair of sneakers--his next basketball shoes!

He also got a basketball ornament (a shiny, orange, glass basketball), some Nike gear to wear under his basketball uniform, and a basketball nutcracker from Carter.  I'll admit that I panicked a little bit once I had wrapped all of the gifts that there just wasn't much.  Honestly, it's not about the stuff...it's really just that we get to do this once per year, and if it only lasts five minutes, that's sort of sad.  I cherished those moments as a kid and I wanted to stretch it out as much as I could.  So Craig got the Nike stuff at the last minute, and I tracked down a reasonably priced lucite basketball display box for Jacob's special basketball that he got signed by a Raptor last year when he went to a preseason game.  He was pretty surprised to see it!

Carter was very excited to get his big gift, the Treasure X King's Gold Tomb.  It's basically a playset that starts out with a bunch of puzzles to solve to find the treasure hidden in the set.  Jacob gave him a little add-on to go with it--basically a little coffin to dig through and find treasure and a figure.

He also got an ornament--a Grinch one since he watched the newest movie a ton this season--along with some Call of Duty-themed army guys and a rock tumbler.  However, upon further investigation, I think the tumbler is going back.  I went the cheap route (just in case it didn't go well) but I didn't realize that once you start them you have to leave them running lest they turn to cement, and they have to run for days.  I'm not comfortable leaving it running all day and night unattended, so I think it's going back.  I'll get him a rock dig thing instead where he can dig out nicely polished rocks instead.  Oh, well.  He also got a last minute panic gift--a snow block mold.  In the end it was sort of strange only having one thing with lots of little pieces needing assembly, but Carter and Craig had fun figuring it out.

We had our traditional cinnamon rolls, I made some fruited layered jello, we and started to ready ourselves to leave for Buffalo.  We got on the road just after lunch.  Our first stop was Craig's Aunt Marie's, and we had a very fun time there with his aunts, uncles, and cousins.  The boys got pool floats, this crazy inflatable "pouch couch", and a small "Guess Who?" type game.  I got a couple nice little things, as well.

Then it was on to do gifts at Craig's parents' house.  Unfortunately, Jacob's biggest gift (another pair of sneakers) didn't arrive in time, but he got some clothes he was pretty happy with.  Carter got a ton of snow toys, some clothes and pajamas, and this crazy anti-gravity car that can drive up walls!  Craig got some clothes and socks, and I got a cozy Sherpa throw, among other things.

Since there's no longer space for us to sleep there, it was off to my parents' house for the night.  It was a rather late arrival, but luckily Carter already had his pajamas on and stayed asleep.  I slept on the air mattress in the office and didn't sleep awesomely well, but I guess it was good enough!  As we did last year, I had the boys sit at the top of the steps like my brother and I did, before coming downstairs to open one gift from Santa left at Grandma and Grandpa's.  Jacob got a shirt (he's excited about clothes now--yay!) and Carter got one of those pin art things that you can mold your face or hand in momentarily.  He was eyeing one of those up a couple weeks ago, and it was also a last minute add!

After church and a delicious ham lunch, it was time to open presents!

Carter got some clothes and a cool game called Invasion of the Cow Snatchers, and Jacob got yet another pair of sneakers (don't ask--at least these were really cheap) and more clothes. 

Craig got a new Braves shirt (since his others are too big now), and I got a very cool new angel ornament, a Christmas decoration that's almost exactly what I'd been looking for this year, and a meat thermometer, along with some other small things.

After some down time to figure out Carter's game (and then a panicked cooking of my dish to pass after the playing went a bit too long), it was off to the "family homestead", a.k.a., my uncle and aunt's house that used to be my grandparents', where we've spent every Christmas evening ever.  After another fabulous spread of food, it was on to gifts there!  Craig got a gift card, Jacob got a shirt (but also delayed shipping!) and a beautiful handmade yo-yo from my masterful woodworker uncle.  Someday maybe he'll appreciate it!  Carter got a cool addition for his Hot Wheels collection--a little bank valut playset--along with a few cars.  He happily played with it while everyone else opened.  I got a bottle of wine, my yearly Chihuly wall calendar, and a rather large blanket scarf that's so soft and pretty but I haven't figured out how to wear it yet!

While everyone was opening gifts, I had the pleasure of being on the floor with my cousin and her 20-month-old daughter.  She's always been really wary of other people, shaking her head at them or even growling.  It also took her a little extra long to talk, but she's finally pumping out a couple words, which is fun to see.  She also is into giving high fives to everyone and hamming it up with silly faces.  It was fun to have a front-row seat to her now very animated antics!  After presents, I found myself on the floor with her little cousin, Lucy, who you may remember me hanging out with a little over the summer when she was a newborn.  Lucy is now six months old, and she was such a cutie to play with!  She really wanted to grab my phone, so we opted for some pictures instead.  Alas, she moved a lot so most of the good smiles were blurry, but seriously...she is so sweet!

Such a doll baby!  Part of me misses those days, and part of me doesn't...but it was fun to pretend for a bit!

We had originally planned on sticking around until the morning of the 26th to welcome my brother and his kids in from their redeye flight, but by the time they'd get in, we'd have to be on the road so Craig could get to work, so we opted to just come home Christmas night and start the day fresh.  But before we took off, I made Craig drive by a house a couple neighborhoods over.  You may remember this house from its Halloween light show a couple years ago.  I didn't take video, but between these two shots you can get an idea of how elaborate it was.  The blocked out area on the right is a tree.  Sorry about that.  The show was really impressive, though!

All in all, it was a good Christmas.  Not particularly notable on the gift front (well, aside from Jacob and his sneakers), but I think it went pretty well.  I mean, Carter probably spent too much time on electronics at most family functions, and there were a few oddball gifts I haven't yet figured out what to do with, and the kids still fought more than we would have liked, but I really can't complain. And it's still not quite over yet.  The kids and I will be going back to my parents' house tomorrow to visit with my brother and the kids at a little family get-together (with kid presents before!), before all four of us go back early next week for a little more time.  It's amazing how much the kids' break is filling up.  I just have one half day of work left, but with the new year's holiday, I know everything is going to go so fast!  It's been a couple lazy afternoons since--busy mornings with basketball yesterday and work today, but equal amounts of rest and attempted productivity in the afternoons.  Not such a bad thing once in a while!  Onward to the rest of break...and coming soon, a new decade!

Pre-Christmas Everything

We had quite a busy week before Christmas...so busy that I barely thought to blog, let alone actually sitting down to do it.  And now, as predicted, Christmas has come and gone in the blink of an eye.  But let's get to all the stuff before Christmas first.

Carter got to make a gingerbread house at school on Wednesday.  He was very happy to show it off at home.  The roof became a little detached en route, but he still did a nice job.

The following day was Carter's big March of the Toy Soldiers, which Jacob also did in first grade.  He had been very excited about it, but very nervous!  They worked hard all month and he wanted to do well.  

He did awesome!  He actually led his whole class, and his form was amazing.  They did two different marches and he had them down pat.  They also had to be serious and not flinch for anything, which he did so well at, too!

I got a short video of the first one...


His class looked great in their hats!

We were so proud of our little marcher!

Each kid designed the crest on their hat, and I was very impressed by Carter's!  It has an "R", two basketballs, and what's supposed to be a trophy.

When I left off on my last post, Jacob had two basketball games on Thursday evening.  The games were actually on the U of R campus, which I think marked the first time I had to be on campus for something unrelated to work.  My work parking pass came in handy to get us a decent parking spot, which was helpful considering it was frigidly cold.  His team went 1-1, and probably should have won the second game.  Unfortunately, Jacob had a really rough night.  He couldn't get any shots to drop.  His team had similar problems, particularly at the foul line.  The loss was tough, but Jacob's rough night really ended the day on a sour note.

Jacob at the foul line

That made for a couple rough days around the house, with Jacob left to think about his performance for two days, until he played again on Saturday.  Craig left on Friday to go on his first road trip of the season, ironically to Halifax where the Knighthawks moved.  I had a fun day at work, thankfully, which kept me in a better mood.  We had catered Olive Garden for lunch, along with cookies people brought in for dessert.

Hello, giant box of breadsticks!

Later that afternoon was our office-wide gingerbread display.  We'd worked on it during the week and each department displayed their final products.  They were all so amazing, but I was partial to our creation, with a Christmas Vacation theme!

Jacob's Lego collection provided the RV and the characters.  Note the cutout of cousin Eddie near the RV.  The hand-placed lights on the side of the house were especially cool. 

If you look closely, Clark is on the right with licorice cords to plug in, and then his wife and kids are next to him.  It was all pretty outstanding.

I was stuffed from lunch, but couldn't resist the awesome hot chocolate bar!  It was a filling but fun way to finish off the work week!  

Saturday Jacob had another game at U of R, and rebounded fabulously with eight points!  I was so proud of him, and his team got a big win.  He had another game on Sunday morning that caused us to miss church (as we only had one service in preparation for Christmas Eve), this time at his usual gym.  His team had a big last-minute win, and he got two points and made a couple great plays that helped them make the comeback.  They finished second in their group in the tournament, which actually was fine with me because we probably would have had a game on Monday, which would have completely blown up our already busy day.

Most of the weekend was spent getting all of the last details done.  I was finally able to pick up our Christmas cards on Thursday, so those went out Saturday.  I tried to squeeze in shopping wherever I could, and started my wrapping.  Craig came home mid-afternoon Sunday and I pretty much ran out that night to finish shopping.  It was a challenge but aside from a couple things that needed to happen Monday, I finally got the last things figured out.  I even managed to get some cookies baked.

On Monday morning I had to go to work for a half day.  The tree looked extra pretty in the bright morning light before I left.

I got my work done almost in time, survived terrible traffic, and did my last two errands.  Then I met the boys at home so Craig could run into work, and I dragged the kids off to Jacob's last therapy appointment.  We're wrapping up his individual therapy and will hopefully be transitioning into full family therapy soon.  Both kids seem to be equal contributors to the problem now, so I think that's the route we need to go.  I knew when I made the appointment (because it was about the only time we could do it) that I would have about a million other things to do that day, but I did it anyway--and it was pretty much as stressful as I imagined!  But we got through it, and then it was home for a quick dinner so we could head out to Christmas Eve Eve church, since we'd be on the road the next day.  As is standard for us, we could not get out the door on time, and of course church was jammed.  Not only did we have to park pretty far away, but we ended up in the overflow in the gym, which was still pretty but not quite the same effect as the main church.  I started out the night very grumpy and frustrated, but thankfully church chilled me out a bit.  But I still had a ton to do--including last minute wrapping, cinnamon roll prep, and so much more.

Before I get into the good stuff in my next post, I'll leave you with our Christmas card from this year...Merry Christmas from all of us!

And...There It Is.

Oh, hi there, pre-Christmas-week stress!

You know, I was feeling pretty good about this Christmas season.  I had a ton of gifts bought or ordered, and heading into last weekend I just had a handful of gifts to figure out.  And I did that for most of them.  My packages were all scheduled to arrive on time this week...except one.  But more on that in a minute.  In general, even though I had a ton to do with wrapping and all the usual last minute stuff, I felt okay.  And then this week hit.

Sunday I was checking tracking info for all of my shipments, and I realized my one package containing two of Carter's big gifts hadn't moved since Wednesday.  The delivery date had fluctuated from Friday to Monday to Tuesday, but now FedEx's site showed no estimated delivery date at all.  The only time I've ever seen that before, my package ended up lost.  I got on a customer service chat with Target and asked when I should get concerned, and they assured me that it was fine and that it should arrive on Tuesday, which their site still said.  And if it didn't, they'd make it right.  She even gave me a 20% refund for my trouble, which was unnecessary but nice.  Well, shockingly, on Monday night I noticed the package had arrived in Syracuse, and delivery was in fact scheduled for Tuesday.  I felt a lot better...until Craig called me mid-afternoon when he stopped home for something and found the delivery leaning up against the garage.  He said, "Did you order cat food?"  I seriously thought he was scamming me, given the ridiculousness with this package already.  But no, the giant box that had been delivered did not contain two toys, but rather two 20-pound bags of cat food.

Oddly, the box contained two packing slips.  One was for our stuff, which of course was nowhere to be found, and the other was for the cat food, which was supposed to go to Salt Lake City.  That packing slip still had the shipping labels attached.  I have no idea how our box never got packed and this one was packed but never labeled properly, but there it was.  So of course I got back on the chat with Target, and later on the phone, at which point I figured out that they were sold out of both items and I had no choice but to get a refund.  I got a $10 gift card as a consolation prize, but that wasn't much of a consolation, since things were selling out left and right, and the one gift was actually on sale when I bought it and was now prohibitively expensive (for what it is, anyway).  By some miracle I managed to find the one toy available at the Walmart near my work, so I immediately bought it for store pickup.  The other one was available at a couple other Walmarts, but again, it was more expensive and now I was having second thoughts.  We hatched a backup plan, but we have yet to finalize which way we're going.  Regardless, it completely threw me off and aside from bringing out my wrapping stuff that night, I felt highly unmotivated to make further progress.

Oh, and shortly after the initial cat food discovery, I received three other notifications from Target that packages had been delivered.  Only, they weren't there.  Craig didn't see them, and neither did Jacob when he came home.  Of course, then I started panicking that we were the victim of porch pirates, and that I'd have nothing to give anyone for Christmas at this rate.  Then I noticed that the package delivery info mentioned a "dock" and a "mail room", which is odd since our house has neither.  Eventually I figured out that they were UPS SmartPost items and I'm guessing they were delivered to the post office.  However, I've never had a delivery say it was "delivered" upon arrival to the post office.  Usually it's just another update in the tracking, and then once it's in my mailbox courtesy of the mailman, it says "delivered".  Fortunately, those items did, in fact, show up yesterday...along with at least four other deliveries.  Sorry, delivery men, that everything ended up falling on the worst weather day of the year so far!

On the bright side of all of this madness, when I went to pick up the one reordered toy yesterday morning on my way into work, I took a stroll around the store just in case I could find a gift for my aunt.  It was on her family exchange wish list, and I should have ordered it on Amazon right away, but tried to find an alternative from elsewhere.  It was a very basic hooded sweatshirt, so I thought maybe I could find something a bit more stylish or fun that would serve the same purpose.  But I had zero luck, and by the time I went to order it, they were no longer guaranteeing on-time shipping.  So I had been a bit torn on that--whether to continue the quest or pick something else that wasn't on her list.  I still checked every store I went in for something similar without luck, but I knew Super Walmarts usually have an expanded clothing selection.  Sure enough, I walked over, and sitting on a rack was the exact thing I needed.  Size, color, style....everything.  It wasn't even with other stuff like it.  It was like it was just placed there, right for me. ::cue angels singing::  I did eventually find the similar rack nearby, but what are the odds that the one I needed would be sitting right there?  I killed two birds with one stone on that stop, which was fabulous.

So, on the gift front, I really just have a few things left to get, only one of which is a complete unknown and one of which I've basically narrowed down but need to hope things go well in actually buying it.  I have no idea when I'll have time to do this stuff, of course.  We had confirmation/bible study last night, two basketball games tonight, and then Craig leaves for Halifax on Friday.  The kids are never thrilled about going out no matter what, and if I have any last minute stuff to pick up for them, that won't work anyway.  I have a half day on Monday but by then I'll have a boatload of stuff to be doing, including packing for Buffalo.  Sigh.  The list never ends.

And that's not even getting into the thing that's stressing me out the most right now.  Food has always been a bit stressful at Christmas, if only because we have to travel and I need things that transport well and can deal with a cold car and/or lack of proper refrigeration, depending on the circumstances.  But that got even more complicated when Jacob was diagnosed with Celiac disease, as I then had to start making separate plans for him.  I try to have gluten-free cookies to offset the abundance of ones he can't eat at every party.  I try to have a backup for an actual meal, since once in a while there is inexplicably nothing he can eat--at least that he likes.  I know at our Christmas Eve stop there will be ham and kielbasa, and my mom always does her best to keep most of her stuff gluten-free for our Christmas Day lunch-time meal.  Dinner at my uncle's is always a bit more of a free-for-all. When I make something to share, I try to make sure it's something he likes and will eat.  Last year when I made Broken Glass, the yummy, creamy, jello based dessert that's a family tradition, I made it with a gluten-free crust and thank goodness I did, because the dinner selections just didn't really work for him and I think he subsisted on Broken Glass alone that night.  So, trying to come up with ideas that fit all of the criteria is hard, and I get to this point in the season every year and start freaking out, because it inevitably means multiple trips to Wegmans during already busy days.

In addition to party/travel food, the kids want to make cookies this weekend.  So I need to have the ingredients for that.  I know I have to make cinnamon rolls on Monday night to have ready to bake on Christmas Eve morning.  As if that wasn't enough, today Jacob's class is doing some sort of Christmas Around the World thing.  A couple weeks ago he said that he needed me to make tamales or some sort of other Mexican Christmas food.  I looked at him blankly, as I know tamales are a bit of a process.  I was hoping for more suggestions or a bit more insight, which never really came, so I searched Pinterest here and there.  Then I basically forgot about it until Tuesday when I saw it among his assignments in the parent portal (and he simultaneously happened to text me about it).  After a bit of a Facebook freakout, my boss suggested getting premade tamales.  Genius!  Turns out Wegmans has them, so last night after confirmation, we bought a couple packs of them.  They even had microwave directions from frozen, so I didn't even have to cook them myself!  Dodged a bullet there.

For work, I was debating just bringing in donuts or bagels as a Christmas gift to everyone, since our department is getting too big for even small token gifts.  But there's a gluten-free co-worker there, too, so I knew I needed an option for her.  Since a couple people are off on Friday I was targeting today for that.  Well, last night while we were at Wegmans I made the snap decision to just make my monkey bread for everyone this morning, and buy gluten-free donuts holes for my gluten-free co-worker.  So, as if shopping until 9pm wasn't enough last night, I stayed up until 11pm baking!  Oh, and we have a lunch Friday where we're encouraged to bring in dessert.  I don't know if that gets me off the hook for that, but let's just say there's only so much I can do! 

Oh, and as I mentioned, Jacob has two basketball games tonight night that we just found out about Tuesday (this league's last-minute scheduling is frustrating, and apparently tournaments are no better), so I ended up taking a last minute half day off work because Carter is also marching in his toy solider thing this afternoon.  I was just going to work from home after that, but with the quick transition into getting ready to leave basketball, I figured I'd just take the time and not worry about the work.  But of course, work is busy, too, so there is literally an endless supply of stuff to be thinking about right now. 

I love Christmas.  I do.  We're getting so close and I know the kids are excited, and I am too.  I just wish the to-do lists weren't so long and so full of things that could potentially disappoint people or make the holiday less than enjoyable for them.  All of these things are part of the process and therefore the holiday season wouldn't be the same without them, so I'm trying to maintain my composure and revel in the fact that it does all somehow get done each year.  But I'm concerned.  There's a lot to do and minimal energy and time to do it.  And by the time I'm putting my feet up on the 23rd (for five minutes after midnight before I drag myself off to bed) with just the Christmas lights on and the gifts under the tree, to take pictures and revel in the feeling of being (mostly) done, the rest that follows will happen so quickly that I'll barely know what hit me.  Then another Christmas will be past.

I was looking through pictures the other day from when Jacob did the soldier march, and as I scrolled through the rest of the December pictures and was reminded of what he got for Christmas that year, I was a bit shocked.  I mean, in many ways I feel every bit of those five years.  But on the other hand, I can't believe Carter is that same age now.  They are such different kids that the comparison is really futile, but still...how is littlest boy in those pictures now the same age Jacob was, and Jacob a legit big kid?  It's mind-blowing.  It really makes you realize how few of these little kid Christmases we have left, so I'm trying to savor all of the little things--Advent calendars, cookie making, toy buying, stocking stuffers, and anything else that's special about this phase of life--as I know that before we know it we'll have teenagers we have to drag out of bed, or college kids that we'll just be happy to have home.  I'm just not sure how it's happened, but time is really flying.

Well, I finished my lunch and my half day is calling.  Time to run errands and make it to school by 2pm!

Weekend Update

With all the busyness of the season and wherever my mind has been wandering this week, I realized I never talked about last weekend.  We had a pretty busy one!

Craig's birthday was on Friday.  As I mentioned previously, I was actually lucky enough to be off that day, mostly just because I could.  Originally it was to go to the funeral home for my great aunt, but then the weather took a turn for the worse and I decided driving to Buffalo might not be a great idea, so I stuck closer to home and got a few things done instead.  One of those things was baking up Craig's birthday cake.  He wanted a cookie cake, which I used to be good at making, but finding a gluten-free recipe that wasn't totally from scratch proved to be a challenge.  But I finally found one, and this was the result...

We went out for a tasty birthday dinner at Outback and came home to enjoy some cookie cake, which was pretty darn tasty itself!

Selfie with the birthday boy!

On Saturday, Carter attended a birthday party for twins in his class at school, for the second year in a row.  Like last year it was a bowling party.  I didn't take any pictures this time, but suffice it to say that he had a good time, mostly just running around like a maniac with a couple boys from last year's class who he's still buddies with.  He bowled, ate pizza, drank root beer, and finished off the party with a giant cupcake.  He had a great time, and I kept my sanity chatting with his buddy's dad while we tried to keep them from destroying the place with their sugar high!

On Sunday morning, Carter had his Sunday School Christmas program.

I don't think remembering words and motions to songs is Carter's particular forte--and to be fair, they only practice them every Sunday at Sunday school, and I didn't make him go to the practice the previous morning--but he did well considering.  It was a very sweet program, as always.

Craig and Jacob had to leave in the middle of it, because Jacob had his first day of games with his new basketball team.  This is a town elite team in a Rochester-area league.  He practices twice a week, which he enjoys but which definitely keeps us busy in the evenings.  The only downfall to the league is that the game schedule is last-minute.  We're used to sports where we get the schedule a solid couple weeks in advance and can plan it out for a couple months, but with this one we only know games around the Thursday before, if not later.  In addition, there's two per weekend so it's a pretty solid chunk of time.  With one parent who travels, that's not ideal!  It's going to get extremely difficult once Carter's basketball starts in January.  Let's hope for no overlap, especially when Craig is out of town!

He did well in his first game, with six points, and added two more in the second game.  He also plays solid defense, though it's tough when he gets matched up against the opponents' bigger players at times.  His team went 1-1.  This league doesn't do three-pointers, which steals a bit of his thunder, but all of his points were in the paint for the first time ever, so that was good to see him broadening his horizons a bit!

We had his second round of games first thing this morning (which meant Saturday night church for the first time ever last night!).  Once again his team went 1-1.  He chipped in 10 points in the first game, which could have been 12 if they counted threes (which would have been an all-time high for him).  He was a huge contributor in the win.  The second team played them tough and their big men were just a bit much to overcome.  Jacob had four points, including two clutch free throws in the fourth quarter.  The loss was a bummer, particularly because the ref wasn't awesome and things got a bit heated--including one parent who got tossed out of the gym.  That's not really how you want things to go, regardless of the outcome.  

We have some tournaments coming up over the holidays, which will be fun but no doubt a scheduling challenge, especially because last minute holiday prep is hard enough and my brother and his kids are coming in on the 26th and I'm hoping basketball doesn't complicate being able to spend time with them.

After spending yesterday running around like a crazy person trying to wrap up more shopping, today was able to be a lazy Sunday afternoon.  I even got to cuddle this guy for a while...

Craig has his work holiday party tonight--and yes, in a perfect world we'd have had a babysitter and I'd have gone, too--but good for him to get a fun night out before things get busy again.  They're providing a limo ride to and from the party, and since the boys hadn't been in a limo before, they had to check it out when Craig got picked up.  They look like naturals, don't they?

So now it's just an evening of trying to keep the boys away from each other and off screens if possible, and getting ready for the last week of school and work before Christmas (well, mostly--I have a half day next Monday to hopefully set me up for only a half day later in the week).  Just a few gifts left to get, and probably evenings full of wrapping this week.  Baking next weekend, and then the final push will be on!  Not sure how we got here already...but here we go!