T'was The Night Before Christmas

and all through the house, Daniel is sleeping as quiet as a mouse. :)

What a fun day this has been!

Daniel and I went to the Y this morning. I took him so Jacob could run an errand and wrap my presents. I only had one family (of 4 hyper kids. Jeesh!), but they left at 10:45 and I decided there was no sense in sticking around, so we took off.

We stopped at Kroger for a couple of last minute food items and then came home and fed Daniel lunch.

Then this afternoon we watched "A Muppet Christmas Carol" Daniel danced along to some of the music before going down for nap.

We weren't sure what to watch next, but after I said I had never watched "White Christmas" that's what we settled on!

In the middle of the movie we decided it was junk food time. An Elam family tradition on Christmas Eve. Chips and dip, mozzarella bites, little smokies and boneless chicken wings. Yum!

Finished White Christmas and fed Bubby.

Cleaned up the kitchen and prepared the breakfast casserole for tomorrow so all I have to do is pop in in the oven in the morning! Also got the muffins baked and the roast in the crock pot ready to slow cook tomorrow. Go me for being on top of stuff!

Headed to church for the Christmas Eve service. I enjoy Christmas Eve services. They make me stop and remember the true meaning of Christmas.

Came home and let Daniel open his Christmas Eve present.





Daddy read, "The Night Before Christmas"



Put Daniel to bed early because he was very fussy and tired.

Watched "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation". Christmas cannot happen in my world until I watch this on Christmas Eve and quote along the entire movie while cracking up at the same stuff every year...and singing along to the song at the beginning AND end of the movie. :)

Seriously...Jacob cued up the movie while I was getting my jammies on and hits play. Me from the bedroom, "NOOOO!!! Don't start it! I have to sing along!" I have problems my friends.

Oh and guess what!? Santa has already been here!



Looking forward to morning, so I'd better get to sleep!

Merry Christmas to all! And to all a good night!

Tis The Season!

Yay! It's almost Christmas! Plus, I feel like I've accomplished almost everything that was on my "To Do" list, which makes me feel pretty good. The only thing I didn't do was go back to Springfield. That can wait until after Christmas. I don't want to deal with the crowds!

The presents have all been purchased! That was a huge weight off my shoulders. Now, we just have to wrap everything. We're going to do that during Daniel's nap tomorrow. I decided that I'm not wrapping his big picnic table we got him or even hauling it upstairs. LOL! We were down there the other night so I showed him and said, "This is one of your presents! I'm not wrapping it because you'll never know the difference!" He smiled. I'll take that as an okay.

Yesterday was probably my most stressful day. Things were just not going my way! Car doors frozen shut, Daniel losing a shoe that I had to take him back out of his seat to go find, almost forgetting a mitten, twisted up car seat strap that required me to bring it inside and yell at it (well...the yelling wasn't required...but always helpful.), and a little boy who boycotted his lunch.

Once Daniel fell asleep in my arms, I felt better. I just snuggled with him for awhile. Then talked to Jacob as he drove home from work. He was excited because he got some scratch off tickets as gifts and won $7, so he was stopping to cash them in. Once he got home my day perked back up!

I told him I wanted to make cookies...except for the part where I didn't REALLY want to make them. I just wanted them so I could EAT them! He has made them the last 2 years, but I finally decided to make a batch. I haven't frosted them yet, but they're made. I swear his taste better. I think I made them too thin. Dang!

Daniel woke up in the middle of baking, so I brought him out to "help"! I really like to include him in things. He may not know what's going on, but I enjoy spending time with him.

He stole my star cookie cutter!



Playing with the dough.



And sampling a still warm cookie. He liked it!



Last night was great! I gave Little Man a bath and he things the squirty toys are HILARIOUS now. Especially when I squirt him with them! Then we all played in the living room and he was in the best mood ever. At one point he came up behind me and "pushed" me. He's never done this before so I went "Ahhh!!!" and pretended to fall over. That boy was in hysterics. We did it over and over and over again. What a silly boy!

I'm so excited to celebrate Christmas again this year. Last year was awesome to have our little bundle of joy lying next to us in his bouncy seat, but this year we'll have a wild child tearing off wrapping paper and of course playing with it more that his gifts.

I'm planning to start the Thatcher tradition and Daniel will get a gift on Christmas Eve to open! We're also going to start "The Night Before Christmas" tradition and Jacob will read it to Daniel. :)

I'm even going to make Christmas breakfast. Muffins and a breakfast casserole. Mmm!

Not sure on our Villa Grove plans quite yet, but hoping to figure it out soon! Then my parents will be here on Wednesday. Hooray!

Crunch Time!

It's funny how Christmas stuff has been out for 2 months and yet it still just snuck right up on me! How the heck is it only a week away? I'm not even done shopping yet! I have a list a mile long of things I need/want to get done, and I'm slowly getting there, but I'm not sure I'll accomplish everything.

My list for the week still includes: balancing the checkbook, doing the weekly grocery shopping, wrapping presents, finish shopping for presents and stocking stuffers, do the weekly grocery shopping get Daniel's hair cut (he's turning into the shaggy dog and I have a coupon. hehe), and go back to Springfield. I want to cash in my JCPenny gift certificates. They have to be used by the 31st, but I thought maybe I could find a small gift or two. Then go pick up my gift certificate for a massage that I won on a radio contest last week! I also need to make a return. Of course all 3 places are in totally different directions. Sigh.

All this between keeping the normal stuff clean in the house and working at the Y in the mornings! (This is the time I miss those couple of hours at home!) I also had "rake the yard" on my list, but it's not gonna happen. Sad, but true...our yard has been unraked this year. The lady next door has a huge tree and it sheds really late into the year and dumps all the leaves in our yard. There just hasn't been a time. Sigh. I planned to do it today, but the wind was crazy. I battled the wind last year...but I was more determined. I was trying to make myself go into labor. LOL! Now it's going to snow, so it' looks like we'll be raking in the spring. Fun. Fun.

Oh! And I wanted to bake Christmas cookies. I always make some kind of goody at Christmas, but it may not happen. I don't even feel like making almond bark pretzels! Sadness. It's hard because I have a small window of time to get things accomplished...otherwise I have a mini sidekick who wants my attention. Even if Daddy is here he HAS to see what I'm doing at all times. Good thing Jacob brought home a delicious chocolate chip pie from a teacher at school!

It's pathetic how stressed I've been trying to figure out what to ask Jacob for, for Christmas! I finally got a list done! I tried to get everything on Amazon, because we have Prime shipping right now, which means we still have a day or two to order! :) I am excited to get a swim suit though! I really want to swim again!

I HAVE accomplished some stuff though! Got some gifts ordered. Vacuumed. Did laundry. Dusted. And FINALLY started clearing the 6 big boxes of stuff for Goodwill out of my basement. They've only been sitting there for over a year now. Dropped one load off last night at the donation center in town and dropping the second load tomorrow! Heck yeah! Now to start the new pile. LOL!

Anyway...hoping I can get a lot more finished so I can enjoy the holiday and spending time with my family! Jacob's break starts Friday afternoon! Not sure what I'll do with Daniel. I planned to keep him home with Jacob, but I think he actually enjoys going somewhere each day, so we'll see. He may stay home some days and come with me others. My parents come next Wednesday, so I'm taking Thursday off! YAY!

Okay...that's enough rambling for now.

So Many Emotions

Yesterday was just like any old Friday. Got up, worked at the Y, grocery shopped and then came home to eat lunch and catch up on Facebook. I logged in to see post after post about another school shooting. I looked it up on Google and was completely heart broken at what I was reading. I can't even describe the feeling that goes through my body when he hear about mass shootings and other tragedies.

I think because this one involved small children it tugged at my heart strings even tighter. As I was cleaning Daniel up from lunch, this huge sob escaped me and I said out loud, "God, please help these families!". I hadn't expected it, it just came out. Just then my phone started ringing. It was Jacob calling to see if I had heard what had happened. He said he knew that I would be upset and that he was thinking of Daniel. I started crying right then and there. It was very comforting to hear his voice in that moment. With Jacob being a teacher it makes it even more scary. Yes, he teaches in small town schools that are "safe", but everyone thought that Sandy Hook was safe too. :( All it takes is one psycho path.

I had good intentions of doing some things around the house yesterday, but with the news of the shootings my headache returned for the 4th day in a row. (I've been battling a weird sickness/headache this week). I knew I should stay away from the news, but for me watching things unfold almost helps me. In a way it helps me at least attempt to get a grasp on what is happening. Unfortunately, it also hurts. I sat on the couch and sobbed. I told Jacob, even though there have been other shooting in between, I haven't cried so much during a tragedy since 9/11.

My emotions have ranged from heart broken to just flat out angry. If you're going to kill yourself...kill YOURSELF. Do not murder innocent people to go out in a "blaze of glory". I can't imagine how terrified that I would be, let alone little children.

It scares me to death to send Daniel and our future children to school. I know this is just me in worry mode right now. I know that these things can happen anywhere at anytime. Although, I informed him yesterday that I'm building a bomb shelter and he's going to live in there forever. I'm a worrier in general. In fact...it's bad enough that I've actually considered getting help for it. (That's big for me to even admit). I try to joke it off, but if people knew how much worry is built up in me at all times they would probably understand. I play the "What if" game constantly.

Beyond the anger, there's the sadness. The families of these little ones and the staff who were brutally mudered have popped into my mind all day long. I cannot imagine. I do not understand why this happened to them, so I can't even imagine how they will ever begin to understand. I cannot fathom losing my son and I don't know how I could even carry on without dying of a broken heart. Losing him is my greatest fear in life.

Then there's the questioning. I know people have have the rational "church" answers, but I don't get it. I know. I know. "We're not meant to understand." When non believers ask, "Why does God let bad things happen to good people.", I just don't know. I don't get why he lets a man walk into a school and get right up close to the children and shoot them dead. That makes no sense. It always brings me back to wondering why the heck we were even put on Earth? Why didn't God just make it so we were all just born into Heaven? Why did he think we needed free will? Had we never had the opportunity to have free will, we would have never missed it.

I don't knowI could write a book on all of my questions...but no one can help me answer them except God himself. Sigh.

I hold my baby tight every day and I thank God for letting him be in our lives. I just pray that I get to watch him and all of our children grow up.

Prayers to all of the victims families.

Busy, Busy

This month is flying by! Last week was not a good week for me work wise. I was in a bad mood with the kids and they were acting up all the time!

We had a nice relaxing weekend. Friday night we watched the Cy-Hawk game. Hawkeyes won! It's so nice to have a winning basketball team again. It's been too long! It's actually fun to watch again.

I sadly can't even remember what we did on Saturday. We must've just hung out and relaxed all day! That was the goal. I do remember that evening we watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I had been wanting to watch it again for awhile. It's one of those movies that makes me laugh every time I watch it!

We had an interesting Sunday morning. We got up and headed to church. When we got there, the person on the schedule to work in the nursery wasn't there. We just hung out with Daniel waiting, while 3 different people popped their heads in asking if I was supposed to be in there and that they were going to go find out where the person was that was supposed to be in there. Someone else brought their kiddo in, so I told them they could just leave her if they wanted and we would watch her until they figured out what was going on.

By the time someone came in and we headed in for the service, they had just finished communion. Come to find it, it was a communion only service! They were having a Christmas musical during first and third services. Anyway, there was a small devotion and then we were dismissed. So...yeah. We went and picked up Daniel after 10 minutes. Ha!

We ran a few errands and then spent the afternoon at home.

Sunday night the shopping bug hit me. I printed out a bunch of coupons and started debating if I should take Daniel shopping on Monday even though it would mess up his schedule. In the end I decided to go for it.

We did the Y thing and then headed off for a busy afternoon of shopping. My first stop was Penny's to see if there was anything I could use a 20% coupon on. (I find it hilarious that the CEO of JCP threw a fit over the fact the consumers were mad that they took away coupons and said they weren't coming back. Well...the lost a lot of business and now they're trying to win us back!) Plus they have these little buttons with codes and 1 in 4 wins. I was hoping to win some money off my purchase, but no luck! I did grab and handful though to try and win in the next few days!

I picked up an cute outfit for Daniel as a late birthday gift. (Used some of his birthday money) and a pair of jammies. Both Carter's and both on clearance! The jammies are going to be his Christmas Eve gift!

Next it was on to Target. I mainly needed to go there because A: I love to walk around Target and look at everything. And B: I needed diapers for Daniel. Plus I had coupons for some good deals. My 2 best scores were, a 12 roll pack of Angel Soft for $3.99 and a package of Bic pens that I got for free after coupon!

After spending entirely too long at Target, we hit up Goodman's, and got my mom checked off the Christmas list. That store is jam packed with stuff...and Daniel became a little kleptomaniac! Not to mention we were having a battle of the wills with his socks and I had to back track through the store to find them at one point!

Then onto Barnes and Noble and Michael's. I gave up at Michael's quickly. I had a couple of ideas in mind, but I could settle on anything and Daniel was starting to get fussy. I still needed to go to Bath and Body works, so we headed over there instead. I had a coupon for a free travel sized bottle of shower gel or lotion. I picked out a shower gel and then also grabbed some other things and used my 20% off coupon. Not to mention everything I bought was on sale too!

By the time we got home it was just after 5 and I was WIPED out. BUT...Jacob had his K-2 program last night and I really wanted to go surprise him. I let Daniel play and I fed him quickly. He seemed to be in a good mood, so we jumped back in the car and headed to the school . It was PACKED. After we found a seat, I saw Jacob talking with some of the teachers, so I decided we'd sneak up behind him and surprise him. The look on his face was priceless and it totally made his whole  night! I'm so glad we went!

Daniel had a blast. He clapped his hands, waved his hands, bounced and kicked his feet during all of the singing!

 By the time we got home it was a little before 8. I decided to skip his bath. My head hurt and we were both tired. He was asleep by 8:30 and I was out around 9:30. Unfortunately, I took 2 Tylenol PM (for the first time in almost 2 years). I was so drowsy and Daniel did not sleep well. Poor baby. I royally messed him up! Thankfully he's been taking a good nap this afternoon. I should have napped, but I wasn't tired until a bit ago. Dang!

It's just the boy and I this evening. Jacob has the middle/high school concert tonight. That one would be too long for Daniel to sit through, and this Momma needs a night to rest! I know they'll all do great though. I'm super proud of all the Jacob has done with the music program!

Just One Of Those Days

It wasn't great. It wasn't awful, but there were parts that kinda sucked.

It was all good until I headed into the Y. My 2 little girls who are there almost every day were already there waiting for me at 8:55. By 9:03 I had 10 kids. The twin boys that come are extremely frustrating to me. They whine, cry, throw tantrums, and literally don't understand basic commands. They're 2.5. They should be getting this! Plus it was one of those days were they all stayed forever too!

Whenever I get stressed and annoyed about one thing, I get stressed about everything. I was super annoyed that I have been there for one month and still haven't gotten any of the supplies that I've requested, even though I've filled out exactly what I'm supposed to, to get them. I even handed the paper directly to my supervisor one day and she promised she'd get the stuff for me. I have no cleaning supplies. Ugh. I kinda feel like no one really cares that I'm there anyway. Oh well. I just keep reminding myself it's extra money and it's only a couple of hours a day. Could be worse!

We came home and had our lunch. Well, I had lunch. Daniel threw most of his on the floor. Then I got mad at him. I hate when that happens. My stress caught up to me and I took it out on him by shouting at him. There's a difference between me being stern and then yelling. His little eyes welled up and in that moment I felt like the worst Mommy ever. I know I'm not, but I felt awful. He may only be 1, but on those few occasions where I've gotten upset over something I shouldn't have, I apologize to him. I always want to make sure that I right a wrong with him and our future children.
Thankfully kiddos are resilient and forgiving.

After that we played. Actually...he played. I plopped down on the couch and watched Everybody Loves Raymond to decompress. He kept leaving the room, so I barricaded him in. He's been pretty good at staying in even though he has ways to escape. Well, all of a sudden I realize it's really quiet. I turn around and he catches my eye. He was on the other side of the pack n play (the barricade) and he started giggling and just tears off. It was seriously the funniest moment of my day! It was like he knew he wasn't supposed to be doing that, but he wanted to make sure I caught him!

Then Jacob called to explain his new health insurance plan to me. I ended up getting overly stressed about it. Partly because we had to decide on a plan by tomorrow and mostly because I was hoping with the new plan that Daniel and I could get back on his plan. That turned out to be a no go. But not before I gave myself an anxiety attack about it. Thankfully logic set in after panic. I still think it's a crappy crappy world that we live in, when school districts have to offer insurance that only benefit their employees, but not their families. For Daniel and I to be on his plan it would be twice the cost of our monthly mortgage payment! Um... So yeah. Sticking with what we have and hoping to switch back to Blue Cross possibly on our own plan in the next few months if I can go meet with an agent. Weirdly the online quote I got for nearly the same plan that I could get through the school is half of the cost.

The evening was better thankfully. I should probably go to bed since I was falling asleep an hour ago, and I'm still up.

This picture pretty much sums up my life though.

Another Weekend Bites The Dust

Weekends go way faster when you actually have to get up during the week and get moving. Such a bummer!

Yesterday some of Jacob's kids were caroling for Christmas on Main Street in Moweaqua. They had vendors selling different items, free carriage rides and barrel tractor rides, and a parade. I debated taking Daniel since I knew it was going to mess up nap time, but it was December 1st and 60 degrees outside so I couldn't resist.

Daniel and I walked around a bit and then listened to the A&M band. Then we listened to the caroling for awhile and looked at more vendors. At 2:00 they had the parade. It was pretty short and not very eventful, but it was the perfect length for Daniel to watch...and he even scored a mini candy cane and a bunch of Dum Dums.

I wanted him to meet Santa, but he was in the parade and so I knew there would be a LONG line of kids waiting to see him. We decided we would skip it for now. Hopefully I can take him sometime.

He only napped in the car for 20 minutes on the way, and then jabbered and played the whole way home. I put him in his crib when we got home hoping I could get a short nap out of him. Nope. He played for an hour. I was fine with that except that at one point I peeked in and realized he was playing with his mini blinds! UGH! Unfortunately there is no other place his crib can go due the the way his room is configured. Well, there is one way, but that would put the crib against the wall with his light switch. Yeah...so he's either going to tear apart his blinds or turn his lights on and off. Great.

Once I decided he wasn't going to nap, I let him out and he was a huge goof ball! He played happily until he got tired. By 7:30 he was fast asleep and he slept until 7:00 this morning!

Today I was in the nursery at church. The lady who is in charge and is always in there just had a baby 2 weeks ago so it was just me. I only had 3 kids though, which was crazy! Usually there are at least 10 during that service. One was our new senior minister's little girl. Quite a spit fire, but she was good. Today their family was visiting and he was preaching. They won't actually start until May when the current minister retires. Yay for a church being on the ball about hiring someone!

Once the service was over, Jacob came in and I had to wait for my replacement. She was late, but Jacob made a friend. A little girl who is 2 or 3 befriended him and climbed up in his lap with a book. It was seriously the cutest thing ever! I guess we really do need a little girl next! Totally melted my heart.

This afternoon Grandma and Grandpa came over. I tried getting Daniel down for an early nap. Once again, he played for almost an hour (but left the blinds alone. Phew!). He finally fell asleep and ended up sleeping until I woke him up at 3. He had fun playing and showing off his walking skills. The last time he was just starting to take steps. Grandpa and Daddy took Daniel outside to play too.

Brenda brought a main dish for supper and I made a veggie, rolls and dessert. It worked out great and the meal was quite tasty.

Gave the little man a bath, played and then he was ready for bed at 7:30 again. Poor boy...after 3 weeks of a cold, he was FINALLY better. Yesterday his nose started running and it hasn't stopped since. Back to being congested. Hopefully he sleeps well again!