WEDNESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY

Wednesday - I started the day doing prep work in the kitchen - one batch of sugar cookie dough, one batch of ginger cookie dough, and sauce for Thursday's penne & sausage casseroles. We also spent a chunk of time cleaning, as our house was trashed from several busy days in a row. There was no Bible study that night, so we bundled up the fam after naps and headed off to ZooLights. It was about 30 degrees outside, but we had a great time. Lots of fun lights, a train ride, and some delicious elephant ears. Then we drove down to Panda Express for dinner, thanks to a gift card I earned a while ago.

All aboard! We're ready to ride the train around the zoo. And yes, I am wearing an ear muff headband thing (guess I don't know what they're called) and a knit hat. It was cold and I didn't care how dorky I looked.

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Thursday - I did some more work in the kitchen, including baking the ginger cookies. I intended on making the sugar cookies that evening with the kids, but that never happened. The dough is still in the fridge, so I suppose I'll bake it after I finish this blog post. Mid-morning Tim and I opened gifts the boys had purchased for us from the money in their giving budget. Silas gave me a candle that smells great (he knows I love candles) and Devon hooked me up with gum and a package of Baby Ruth bars (he knows it's one of my two favorite candy bars). Our boys are such cheerful givers. I love it!

We also opened gifts someone gave us anonymously. So thoughtful of them and fun for us. In case the giver reads my blog, the boys played with their cars for two days straight, Naomi has been curled up in her blanket every chance she gets, and Tim and I look forward to using our present. Thanks!

We picked up Granny (my mom's mom) around 3:00, then my dad, his wife, and her daughter arrived around 4:30. Debra, that's my dad's wife, brought over a plate piled high with cookies that were delicious. I'll have to get the recipe and post it on my recipe blog. I ate so many of them, that it's probably good I didn't get the sugar cookies baked. We spent the evening visiting, eating, and the males had some teamed up to race in completing some Christmas puzzles. That night, as tradition goes, the kiddos got to open one present. And, as tradition goes, it was jammies from Tim and I. After everyone went home we cleaned up and got baked oatmeal prepped for the next morning.

Aren't they cute in their cozy, new jammies (that I got for 75% off back in January)?

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Friday - Tim read The Legend of the Three Trees with the kids, they opened their stockings, and I got breakfast started. My dad and crew showed up about 9:00 and we scarfed baked oatmeal, scrambled eggs, and oranges. Yum! Then we picked up Granny and dove into presents. All nine of us were blessed with some great gifts!!

Here's something funny. The boys did their Christmas shopping separately. So, imagine our amusement when Naomi opened her gifts from them and we discovered they'd bought her the same thing - bumpy balls! And imagine our further amusement when we discovered what they bought each other - Fritos! That's right, they bought the exact same gifts for their siblings.

I didn't serve lunch, but just put out a bunch of snack foods for people to graze on throughout the day. Made my life easier and I earned some "good wife" and "cool mom" points by buying fun chips, instead of the usual, plain, tortilla chips. I also discovered that I love rosemary and olive oil flavored Triscuits. So glad Granny picked those out when we went shopping!! Next time Triscuits are free, I'll be getting more of them!!

The kids all went down for naps or out of sight for downtime, Granny went home to rest, and the other adults spent some time reading, blogging, doing puzzles and other mellow things.

Things picked up again around 4:00. We pigged out on ham, rolls, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, and salad for dinner. The evening wrapped up with all of us playing Apples to Apples Jr., a game the kids got from my sister's family. That was a major hit!! They'd played it with friends in July and I'd told them I'd use some of my Amazon gift cards from Swagbucks to get it for them. For about three months I kept forgetting, despite their reminders. I've spent the last two months saying "oh yeah, I'll get it done" and then not getting it done, as I knew they were getting it from the Moffits. Needless to say, they were thrilled to open that package!

Granny headed home around 6:30 and my dad's crew left around 9:30, then we just cleaned everything up, balanced the checkbook (me), and watched TV (Tim). I went to bed around midnight.

As a sidenote, my dad blogged about his time here and you can check out his pics right here.

Despite some serious faces in this picture, we all had a fun day! The smiley pictures are just too dark to post. You'll also notice stickers on some people. That's a result of Naomi decorating us with her stocking stuffers. More of us had stickers in strange places by the time the day was over.
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Saturday - I slept til about 8:45. I felt like I'd been run over by a train. Too many late nights and busy days, forgotten vitamins, lack of adequate water, and too much sugar had done me in. I told Tim I felt like doing nothing and he suggested that's what I should do. Major "good husband" points! So, I stayed in jammies, Tim served leftover pumpkin bread for breakfast, I hung out with Naomi while the guys ran errands, Tim heated leftovers for lunch, I napped for three hours, Tim heated leftovers for dinner, and I've stayed in my bed all evening loading pictures onto the computer and blogging while Tim has played with the kids, bathed Naomi and supervised the boys' getting showered and jammied up.

That nap was a miracle. I'm rarely able to nap and always have a hard time falling asleep, but I so was exhausted that I konked out almost immediately. Tim didn't snore, Silas was totally quiet during his downtime, and once Devon woke from his nap the two boys played quietly until we woke up. Awesome!

I guess I was in desperate need of a day off. Now that I've had one I'm feeling way less emotional, way more rational, way less achy, and way more refreshed than I was feeling this morning. If I can get a good night's sleep tonight, then I think I'll be back to normal tomorrow.

And that's that.