Christmas and Stuff

It's been forever since I blogged, and really I have no excuse.  I have been cooped up in the house since Christmas due to the weather so it's not like I've been too busy.  So much to talk about...

Christmas
We had warnings all week leading up to Christmas that we were in for a doozy of a blizzard.  And sure enough, Christmas Eve ushered in quite the storm.  I spent Christmas Eve doing last minute shopping in the rain, sleet, and snow (in that order.)  It was a terrible storm, and the last place I wanted to be was dragging a toddler and a baby around department stores.  But... it couldn't be avoided.  I won't go into the specifics of that trip since most of you have already read about it on facebook- and those who didn't could probably hear me screaming from three states away.  I survived.

Christmas Day we got up early and packed the kids in the car to go to Tonganoxie and celebrate with Justin's folks.  They had all but called off the gathering, figuring we would never be crazy enough to make the drive (everyone else in the family is local.)  Well they underestimated our level of crazy!  The normal one hour drive took two each way (once again saved by the DVD player.)  We only tried it (and made it safely) because we were on highways and main roads the whole way.  I tried to get Glenna out in her snow pants and boots for her first experience playing in the snow, but she refused to keep her mittens on and was miserable pretty quickly.

 

We made it home Christmas night in time for Caleb and Jenny to arrive at our house instead of my parents' as planned.  My other two brothers had made it out there... barely.  (My dad had to tow one behind his truck the last mile.)  They weren't going anywhere anytime soon and we weren't getting to them either.  Our family celebration scheduled for the day after Christmas got pushed back more and more until we were finally able to make it out by riding in Caleb's 4x4 three days later.  A pain for sure, but it made for some beautiful scenery.

 

Oreo
Finally, the last thing to update about is the death of my beloved kitty, Oreo.  Justin came running upstairs the morning of January 5th practically hyperventilating because he had found her dead.  I was shocked and not surprised at the same time, if that makes sense.  Shocked, because she has been with me since I was 13 and I can't imagine life without her.  Not surprised, because she would have turned 17 soon and she had been sleeping all the time and losing weight lately.  My next odd combination of emotions was deep sadness and great relief at the same time.  My biggest fear for her was being forced to make a decision to put her to sleep someday.  I desperately did not want to go through something like that with my best little furry friend.  I prayed for years that she would drift off peacefully in her sleep with no pain or sickness and that's exactly what happened.

Saying goodbye was very painful.  She has been with me through the difficult teenage years, the many changes of young adulthood, the transition to married life, and becoming a mother.  Through it all, she has been a constant in my life.  I can't count the times I laid my head on her side and cried or just talked while she purred.  We could communicate on a level only achieved by lifelong friendship.  I could tell Justin by her meow whether she was hungry, thirsty, playing with a toy, wanting to be petted, being picked on by Scooter, or needing a door opened for her.  And I was right every time.  He never could believe how we did it.  I met her for the first time when she was just over a week old and her eyes had just opened.  (She was a gift from my parents for my 13th birthday.)  We were only apart for a year in college when she drove my parents nuts by crying at the front door for me all day or refusing to leave my room.  It is unlikely that I will ever share that deep of a friendship with a cat again, but I truly hope I do. 

Christmas Tree is Up!!!

Finally, after more than 8 hours of work, the tree is fully lit, decorated, and looking beautiful.  I promised pictures, so here they are!

The infamous tree.  I'm a little partial to white, crystal, and silver.  I'm especially intrigued by icicle ornaments and I'm starting to get quite a collection.  I have at least 3 dozen glass and crystal icicles. 

Stocking holders and the wreath I made.






My attempts at artistic photography.  From a distance, you lose the beauty of the details and individual ornaments.

 

 

 

 

So pretty.  Decorating is so fun.  As an adult, I think I may enjoy decorating the tree as much as I did as a child.  Now if only I could find someone else to put the tree up, wrestle with the lights, take down the decorations, and put the tree away for me.

Holiday Preparations

I thought I'd be on top of things for once and put my Christmas tree up this past weekend since next weekend will be full of family activities for Thanksgiving.  I was very excited about this.  We didn't put a tree up last year because Glenna was right at that age where it would have been a month-long battle to keep her away from it.  Well she's a year older, we have a new house, and nothing was stopping me this year!

If you know me very well, you know that I am a very timid decorator.  Usually I rely on my mom (who has done interior decorating professionally) to help me with even the simplest decorating project.  The one area where I may have inherited a few of her genes is Christmas.  I've made my own wreath, come up with a theme for my tree, and have been buying ornaments for years.  I'm not going to tell you my theme- I'll show you when the tree is decorated... and it still isn't...

I logged four hours of work on the tree Saturday and another two Sunday with the result being a mostly lit tree Monday.  Normally dragging the three-part seven-foot-tall tree upstairs, assembling it, and "re-fluffing" the branches is a good two hours of scratchy work.  This year, however, there were sections all over the tree that wouldn't light up.  It's the kind of tree that is supposed to still light with lights burned out, so I decided to replace the fuses in the strands that were not lit.  Finding the plugs and replacing the fuses took a good hour filled with muttered cursing.  Finally, they were all replaced.  I plugged in the tree and presto!  Nothing changed.

I had three options left at this point.  1) String more lights on the sections of the tree that weren't lit.  That seemed a little silly, and wouldn't be a long-term solution.  2) Replace the tree.  This is a five hundred dollar tree I bought in an after-Christmas sale.  That wasn't happening.  3)Unwind the strands that weren't working and replace them carefully so that the tree would still be able to come apart in sections with the lights still attached.  This is the route I took.  So far I have replaced two of the six strands that aren't working.  I don't know what the Christmas tree company pays the person who wraps the branches with the lights, but it isn't enough.  That employee is going above and beyond, my friend.

I am bound and determined to conquer this project soon.  Hopefully pictures will be up shortly.  It can't sideline me for too long: I have a ton of cooking to do for Thursday when we celebrate Thanksgiving with Justin's family and Saturday when we celebrate with mine.  I also have a dirty house to clean before my brother Seth comes to stay with us for four days.  All of my family will be here this weekend.  I can't wait- two of my brothers and my sister-in-law haven't even met their new nephew.  (Who isn't so new anymore.  He started rolling over!)

And in case I forget to say it, my family is who I am thankful for this year.  This may sound like a given, but I'm not saying this lightly.  Dealing with my mother-in-law's leukemia and my dad's prostate cancer these past couple of years has made me acutely aware that life is short and time with family is precious.  I have been so blessed and I thank Him for every day I have with them.  Most of all, I am thankful for the honor of being blessed with my precious son and daughter.  God is good.

Glenna is 2!

It has been a while since I posted again.  Not because I had nothing to post about- because I had too much, and not enough time to sit and write.  Sunday was Glenna's second birthday.  We celebrated with the family on Saturday morning.  I always wish I could invite more people, but our house is so small and she has a November birthday, so an outdoor party is out.  Although, we could have had it outdoors this year: it was seventy degrees all weekend!  So beautiful.  I tried a new approach to opening gifts this time.  We all sat around the living room and held the gift we brought.  I had Glenna go around to every person one at a time and open their gift with them.  We gave her a little time to play with each toy before having her move on.  It was a nice approach.  She seemed to enjoy everything more and didn't get overwhelmed.  I think all the relatives liked opening a gift with her too.  She got some great learning toys, puzzles, videos, and clothes.

I really can't believe my little girl is 2.  Every time she climbs up on my lap and wants to snuggle, I wonder how much longer I have of the "cuddle years."  There are times that she wakes up crying in the night and I happily rock her to sleep regardless of how tired I am.  A year ago, I would have made her cry it out.  Now I wonder which night will be the last time.  I'm going to really be in trouble when my last child is this age if I'm this sentimental with my firstborn.  She is such an amazing gift from God.  I always wanted a daughter- that mother-daughter relationship is so special.  Don't get me wrong: I always wanted a son too, but for different reasons.  I am so thankful for my girl.

After the birthday party we went to Justin's cousin's wedding.  Glenna went home with my parents to spend the night.  Reuben went along too- he's like a moth to a flame where Glenna is concerned.  They played together all afternoon and evening.  He is such an amazing uncle.  I love seeing this side of him.  The photo shelves in his apartment are a little shrine to Glenna. 

The next morning at church (Glenna's actual birthday), I gave Glenna a hug, told her "Happy Birthday", and said "I love you."  Then she gave me the best birthday gift in the world.  She said "I love you" to me for the first time!  I cried.  She did it again that night when Justin was putting her to bed.  I tear up every time she says it.  I've been so looking forward to her doing that.

Well, this has been an exceptionally mushy post.  Now I have to start getting in gear for Christmas.  It's less than six weeks away, and I'm broke!  Yikes!

Think they look alike?

I've been accused of cloning. I think I see some family resemblance.

Nice weekend

It turned out to be a relaxing weekend at the in-law's. Despite the endless piles of things we had to stuff in the car in order to be away from home for just one night. Despite the crazy shenanigans, wrestling, and general mayhem between Grandpa, Glenna, and Cousin Lizzy when the sugar highs kicked in. Despite the chaotic consignment sale hunting through mountains of used baby clothes while Levi screamed. Despite sleeping in a strange bed and waking up at 5 a.m. because nobody informed Levi about daylight savings time. Why would I call such a weekend relaxing? (Cindi looked at me like I had lost my mind when I did.) Because I had tons of help with the kids. There were plenty of others to take care of Glenna's hissy fits and overflowing energy and plenty of people to try to soothe the fussy baby, and for once, I let them. Every mom eventually reaches the point when she doesn't care anymore if it's done her way as long as it gets done. That was my state of mind this weekend, and it helped me to finally relax a little.

The best part of the weekend by far was our anniversary lunch date without the kids. We racked our brains while we were eating and realized that our last date was for one of our birthdays- so in January or February. This was looong overdue. Justin wanted to eat at a burger joint or BBQ, but I stuck to my guns and got Italian. My argument was that he goes out to eat almost weekly with his coworkers, and it's usually burgers or BBQ. I go out to eat... never. (The fact that he goes out to eat so often without me is a sore point for me... but that's another story.) The minute we walked into the restaurant and I smelled the fresh bread, pasta, and spices, my muscles literally relaxed. It's amazing how the happy scent of carbs can affect me! Dinner was amazing. Fried motzerella, lobster ravioli, blackberry cream Italian soda, and some caramel, cinnamon, and ice cream covered bread pudding that I can't pronounce...wow. I think I just drooled a little typing that. We will definitely be doing that again as soon as I can arrange it.

Glenna had a sleepover at my brother and sister-in-law's house Saturday night with her cousin (who is 10.) She did pretty good, and Lizzy is already campaigning to do it again. I'm glad she enjoys her cousin. I was worried that my kids wouldn't really have close cousin relationships, since Lizzy is 8 years older than Glenna, and none of my brothers are anywhere close to starting families.

On Sunday we visited our old church. It was fun to see old friends, but hard at the same time. It gets more packed every time we go back, and we recognize fewer and fewer faces. We still love the music, the sermons, and the people we knew, but it's reassuring that we have found our home at Ottawa Bible.

I'm still not back into the swing of things around the house. Glenna's birthday party is at our house Saturday morning, meaning that about the time I have everything cleaned up, it'll get trashed again. Oh well. That's life, right?

Appreciating Life

I have been negligent in my attempts to be a blogger. I never have been much for keeping a journal and the like, but I'm going to try to post more often, even if it's short anecdotes of our daily lives.

The past two weeks have made me more appreciative of my family and the time I have with them. Friends of ours found out that their five year-old son who had neuroblastoma (cancer) two years ago is relapsing. When he was first diagnosed, he had a 30% chance of living. For relapsed stage IV neuroblastoma, there is no known cure. They're hoping for another remission, but his chance of getting one is only about 10%. How does a parent handle hearing something like that? My heart breaks for them every day as I pray for their son, and I'm looking at my own children and the time I have with them a lot differently.

We're getting ready to spend a weekend at my in-laws'. I'm going to a consignment sale Saturday morning in Tonganoxie, going out to lunch with Justin for a VERY belated anniversary date, and then his band has a show in Tongie that night. Glenna is going to sleep over with her cousin at my brother and sister-in-law's house. Sunday, we're going with them to Crossroads to visit our old church family and then out to eat with everybody. Should be an eventful weekend. I'm sure I'll be exhausted by the time we get home (and not at all ready for Monday morning.)