Our Christmas Break

It has been a wonderful break, and I want to remember the highlights. It started with ALL my family coming in town (always chaos, always a blast.) Mon all the adults (minus mom, she was not feeling well) played wally ball...that made for a few good laughs. Tues Grant took the morning off and went sledding with us at Hesperus, it was fantastic. Wed we got the fantastic opportunity of seeing our HEALTHY baby boy and then I spent the next five hours at urgent care and the ER getting Mique's MRSA taken care of. That night it was family pictures. Thurs it was our tradition of soup for dessert and white elephant. Friday was magical, of coarse and the kids had a blast. Grant spoiled me, as always and we enjoyed. That night Grant and I made a most wonderful dinner (our tradition.) We had crab stuffed mushrooms and shrimp cocktail then steak, crab, salad, rosemary garlic red potatoes...oh so yummy, the best we have done yet. Then Bub got sick and we took it easy. Grant had Mon off, so we did some major food storage shopping, feels good! It has been a great week and I am not ready for reality. Thank goodness we still have the New Year to celebrate.

It's a......

We had our ultrasound yesterday and we have a healthy little baby boy floating around. The boys were thrilled, Jamison could only grin and hug me, and Mique does not understand. We are so glad everything looked good and excited to add another Allred boy to the family!

My day...so far

My morning in a nutshell:

7:50 drop James off at school
8:00 pick up Haiden for preschool
8:10 drop Haiden and Caleb off at preschool, head home
9:15 drop Asher off at a little preschool
10:00 Pick Haiden and Caleb up from preschool
11:00 pick Asher and Kylie up from preschool, drop Kylie off at home
11:15 put Mique down for a nap FINALLY

Ahead in the day:
Visiting teaching at 1:00 and 2:00
be home by 3:00 for James to get home, then off to run random errands.

What I am grateful for: That I do not have this same schedule after school...that I have a car that gets us around, that our kids can do things, and the recognition that this is still the calm before the storm.

I did not fully appreciate

Until I was a mother, I did not fully appreciate the value of going to the bathroom alone, quietly, with the door closed and remaining closed in peace. I am pretty sure I am not alone on this one.

Something like this

The kids are very excited about Christmas...who am I kidding we are all very excited about Christmas. The other day they were a little distraught trying to figure out how Santa was going to get in our house since we do not have a chimney. A conversation went something like this:

Kids: Well how will he get in our house

Grant: He will just come in the front door

Me: We will just keep it unlocked for him if we need

Grant: I think he actually has a key to our house

Kids: Can you call him and make sure

Grant: Yeah I can do that

Kids: Do you know his number

Grant: I sure do

Kids: Can you call him right now and make she he has one

Grant: How about I just text him later

Kids: Okay

I love the wonder and excitement of the kids (it makes it so much fun for me) and I am amazed at their comfort and adeptness with technology...holy cow we are in for it!

(p.s. Santa's safety while traveling is never left out of Jamison's prayers...too cute!)