Roundup

This will really be a hodgepodge of thoughts... as scrambled as they come to me. Our Christmas party was another success. We had about 45 people in & out throughout the weekend. The Gombas family spent Friday night with us, along w/ 5 bachelor friends of ours... two of whom are complete nuts and shall remain nameless. They slept in our garage! We didn't force them, honestly. Nobody new came on Sunday, so we cleaned up some and addressed our Christmas cards. Hope they're getting out to all y'all okay! Big thanks to Dada's boss and his family for lending crock pots, chili, and furniture; to Rita for her crock pot; to Tom & Connie for their crock pot of meatballs, and presents for the kids; and to everyone who braved the icky ice and snow to come and play with us. I would be remiss if I didn't thank all the boys who helped Dada install his brand new TV in the basement. The party wouldn't have been the same w/out all of you.

Carrie hasn't been to school on a Monday for quite awhile. There are some nasty bugs making their rounds through her preschool. They've had bronchitis (so has she), strep (missed us, thankfully), intestinal flu (we had some 24 hour version), and then last week she had a fever for days and a rash. Anyone else claiming that one? Hopefully she will be going to school tomorrow and not waking up with some mysterious Mondayitis affliction!

Hang on, the dog is trying to maintain her footing on the icy steps outside...

Okay. Dada's also been home for a few weeks and that was really nice! The basement looks amazing. We still need to get a baseboard-ish thing done, a door to separate the unfinished part from the rest of the room, and get one wall finished where the water meter and stuff will be enclosed. But we did party down there and it really wasn't too bad. It is pretty chilly down there still, so we are thinking about one of those plug-in fireplaces to help warm things up down there. Currently there is a futon in pieces all over the floor awaiting assembly. Seems like no big deal except for the fact that the parts that came with it are not the parts it needs. I am going to say this as diplomatically as I know how: don't buy from Cottonwood Futons online. The pictures you see do not correspond with the actual product, they don't answer their phones, they don't write professionally in emails, and overall satisfaction is ________________ (insert your own conclusion here). Poop.

Grandma Barb has been visiting this weekend so that I could go to Jan's memorial service and Dada's work formal. Jan's service was very good- I think she would have enjoyed it. We all cried a good bit and had a few laughs too! She is sadly missed. Dada's work party was a blast. It was great to get dressed up and eat food without cutting anything up for kids, etc. Adult conversation! Yippieeeeee!

Hold on, Liam wants a "dink". He has been chattering nonstop and is so funny. He knows all the colors and an amazing amount of letters & numbers. I'm always surprised at what he can say. I think he really enjoys having all the toys to himself while "Dee" is at preschool. He's delighted to see her when she gets in the car afterwards, but he entertains himself really well while she's gone. I am going to enjoy next year when she can get on the bus and I don't have to taxi her all over ;)

I'm getting a laptop of my own for Christmas, so as soon as I figure out how to work it, there will be pictures and a more interesting background than just this plain stuff. I promise! I'm so tired of looking at it. But I don't want to lose all the links, etc by changing anything until I can print off all the gobbledegook and have a copy to look at what I need! So thanks for being patient with the boring stuff!

Have a great week. I won't be blogging this week with the other stuff we have going on, so maybe next weekend I'll get another post up. Stay safe on that ice if you have what we do, and enjoy the preparations for the holiday instead of wishing the time away. Or worse, wishing it was already over! We hope you all get some joy out of the anticipation, and remember the reason for the season! You are so loved!