Mon. - Sat., Dec. 31 - Jan. 5

Justus has his first ever hair 'style'! He and Jeremy have been working on this plan for a couple weeks now, so everyone is excited that the time has come.... It's weird ... I guess mohawks are back in style or something; I'm seeing them all over the place these days!

The other day Jeremy put Jabba in his hood and was walking around the house with him in there. Both dog and man were perfectly content!

It was around 1am on the evening we opened Christmas gifts. The children had left the leather couch in a jumble, and as I was heading to bed I was looking for Jabba; this is where I found him.

How has it been almost another whole week since I've posted?? Well, it's been a REALLY busy week. Monday was New Year's Eve. (I'll post those pictures tomorrow.) We just had a regular day preparing for company that night. When Millie and Gail got here we ate, played Taboo for a long time, and played Boggle with the children before they and their father went to bed. Then the four ladies played For the Heck of It. They stayed until a little after 1am, and all of us had such a nice evening.

Tuesday everyone rose later than usual ... no surprise there. It was grocery shopping day (read: "make a menu, clip coupons, etc.). I taught the children to play Slap Jack ... which they are enjoying very much. Lots of time this day (and Monday, to) was spent on the computer catching up on projects.

Wednesday I taught the children to play War ... which they are enjoying at least as much as Slap Jack. I prepared my Bible class ... a little too last-minute for my comfort zone. gr During J's nap N made cookies, and I taught her to play Solitaire. We're on a (card playing) roll! The children played outside a lot on Wednesday; it is starting to warm up some ... we tried not to blink and miss winter when it was here. ha Kiana seems to really be settling into the routine around here. She's less excitable, thankfully. Still, when she's too much into the kids' business when they're playing outside, they do lock her up so they can play undisturbed. From my observations, however, that is happening less ... about which I'm happy.

Thursday and Friday were CUH-RAZY, both!! The schedule I'd originally set in my mind for Thursday was thrown off by telephone time required for Jeremy to explain to me two huge bits of news; one was sad (some local friends' marriage breaking up), the other was amazingly happy (a 64-year-old dear friend from church had been thinking and studying so much about his baptism when he was 15, and had decided that it was not by faith but by peer pressure, so he needed to be baptized into Christ! Amen!). The children got their household service done; it's most important on Thursdays and Mondays since those are poop pick-up days!! Thursday was the day we'd scheduled to do the East Side trip for the month, but we wanted to schedule it so we only had to drive out there once in the day, instead of twice, since we already had to go out there in the evening for our weekly dinner & Bible study with the Balderramas ... which we all enjoy so much. It was one of those days when the list of errands has to be numbered so I remembered the order in which I'd decided it would be best to stop.... (Aye-yie-yie) Sparing you a complicated explanation, I ended up doing most of supper's prep work at the building during the 3 o'clock hour while Jeremy wrapped up his work for the day. Then we accomplished our errands as a family - nice! We first stopped at the Christian Book Store, and then went to Bookman's, where N let J spend $2 of her $5 birthday gift from the store!! They both chose some new-to-us books to bring home and have already spent much time reading their books ... and one another's. :) Then it was time to arrive at the Balderramas' and whip together Stir-Fry for supper. The food was a big hit, and Bible study was even better. On the way home we had to stop at Dillard's ... twice (b/c Jeremy's wallet had fallen out of his coat at the Balderrama's and we had to go back for it - argh!). Boy, we were beat when we got home! After everyone went to bed I had a lot of church secretary work to do; got to bed around 3am.

Yesterday, Friday, I had more errands to run ... stops on this side of town. (sigh) But first, I had to bathe Jabba ... all these THINGS! :) The day required another carefully-planned list. Thankfully, at least, this day Justus got his nap; I left the children at the building with Jeremy so they could decompress a bit ... and I could move more quickly. I packed their lunch so they could eat there with Jeremy. It was N's responsibility to rinse the lunch dishes, which she did exceptionally well. (YAY!) While J was sleeping N played Solitaire and began writing a book about a boy who became a one-person band. She used spongee letters to make the title, and drew a picture of a boy behind a drum set ... and it LOOKS just like a boy behind a drum set. (blink, blink) "I didn't know where the crash cymbals attach, so I left them off." !! ?? Jeremy had Elaine's car for the day, since he was headed to Sierra Vista last night to help supervise a youth group lock-in, so I had to pick up Elaine from work at 5, before the four of us headed downtown to attend a college graduation party at the restaurant owned by the graduate's family! They fed us supper, and it was also a candle party! What a lovely experience we had; they left the doors to the (enclosed) patio open, so the children were able to play outside with another little girl who was there. A motion-sensor light made for a hilarious game of 'Freeze' when the light comes on ... and then dance like crazy when the light goes off, to get it to come back on. :) Oneta (age 82) said they looked like they were having so much fun she wanted to join them!! :) Travis called last night, pretty late; he has big, exciting things going on in his life, so I listened and worked over our new Flylady 2008 calendar for the year while he shared stories of Abbie, his holiday time with his family, Abbie, possible upcoming changes at work, Abbie, updates on the church situation, and ... oh, did I mention he talked about Abbie? :) MAJOR wonderfulness.

Today (Saturday) we got to stay home alllllllll day. Phew!! I had a LOT to do!! I think it's good for me to have some days in a row when I'm out of the home because it helps me appreciate better the situation working moms are in. For example, when we sat down to eat our Potato Soup tonight for supper, Justus said, "Oh, I'm so happy to eat at home with my family!" No kidding!! Today the children and I busted out their new "Memory" game; I played it with them once, and they played a game by themselves. The laundry pile was up past the light switch. eek! But today's project was taking down and packing away all the Christmas stuff ... now that it's January 5. Blech -- I would have been happier to have done this a week ago or more! The tree itself isn't done yet; Jeremy and I will do that tomorrow when he can carry the box back up stairs instead of me having to do that which throws my back out (ha - it's already out, just not completely out; I really need to get to the chiropractor again. gr) N made Finger Jello for the first time; it's for a social time tomorrow evening after services. I'm happy to say that N & J were GREAT help in doing lots of putting away of Christmas stuff!

We have lived in this house for six months now and there are a few rearrangements I'd really like to do. Some things are where they are because that was the best place we could put them, "for now," but we don't necessarily mean to leave them there forever. Sssssssso. I'll be thinking about where to put certain things (possibly completely out of the house ... as in - garbage/give-aways) in order to make certain spaces more functionable. Functioning. What word is it I want here?? THANKFULLY there is very little on the calendar for the rest of the month, so I should have time to complete lots of things I've been needing to do. I will feel better in my mind when that happens.