While Gary is watching football with Chloe cuddled by his side, and Brody is crawling around the house like a puppy, and Addie is chasing that puppy around trying to pet it, I'm at the kitchen table fighting the homework battle with Emma. It's a rude awakening after a restful, do-nothing week. It's not that the homework is hard, she's just easily distracted. (Can you imagine? Here?!)
Until I had school-age kids, weekends were like weekdays, and holiday breaks were like any other weeks. It all just ran together. But now? Oh, how I live for those weekends! And breaks! Last week was a wonderful week of lazy mornings, plentiful family time and no schedule. Today I looked at the calendar and counted the days until Christmas break (14 school days, in case you were wondering). (Which is now 13, because remember, now it's Tuesday.)
We had a great Thanksgiving break. It was filled with a whole lot of nothing. A whole lot of wonderful nothing that was everything we needed it to be. Gary got to be home with us a bunch, which is our favorite thing. We cleaned the house, decorated for Christmas, played games, did puzzles, watched movies, built Lego houses, played the Wii, hung out with friends and extended family, cleaned up the yard... truly, it was all very relaxing.
I caught a bug over Thanksgiving break. The SEWING bug! I got this impulsive idea to make outfits for my kids for Thanksgiving. Matching outfits, of course! I come by it naturally. I think my mom dressed my sisters and I alike until I was 14. I'm probably not exaggerating, but I might be. Anyway, I think they turned out SUPER cute. And it was SO FUN! Who knew I could sew?! Maybe I'll post about them.
Also, I got determined to use up stuff in my pantry, freezer and refrigerator. Am I the only one that has random cans of beans and half-used packages of pasta in the pantry? Meat in the freezer that I got at a good price and have no idea how to cook? And two cans of peach nectar that have been in the fridge for years? No? Oh. Well, I took inventory of what was in there and found recipes to accommodate it all. This is NOT like me. It's like a more organized, more motivated version of myself has taken over the house. It's awesome. I made my list of groceries to complete the recipes and actually planned this week's meals. It's a miracle. At this moment, I'm browning the meat for lasagna. All I needed to complete this meal was the ricotta cheese - I had the rest! Now I just need to figure out what to do with the two bags of chow mein noodles I have in the pantry. Looks like we might need to make some tingalings in the next few weeks! (Maybe I'll post about that too - my mom always made tingalings every Christmas. Didn't everyone? My sisters and I loved eating them in our matching outfits.)
Speaking of Christmas, our tree was up and decorated for barely 24 hours when a certain 2-year-old tornado destroyed the bottom 1/3. And you know what? I'm probably not going to fix it.
Happy Monday/Tuesday! :)
