The last few weeks

I am not doing so great at keeping this thing up. I will briefly write about what has been going on here the last few weeks. Like everyone else, the holiday season is just a busy time here. I did get to do some fun things.

12/10-I met with some friends for lunch. They are friends from my old (maybe former is operative word here) doctor's office. We had a nice time laughing and visiting. I am still really sad about my doctor leaving, but I am happy that I will still get to see the others from time to time.

12/19-The last day of school for this year. We had our kindergarten Christmas program. My little part (aside from practicing every day) was to model the sign language for Silent Night for them. They did great and were so cute. After school let out that day, the kids and I went to Tempe and stayed at my parents' house. I took the kids to look at Christmas lights at the temple and to Bahama Bucks (yum!!!) afterwards.

It was nice to see my parents, but we were all very worried because my dad was notified that his entire department was being eliminated at his job. After working for them for 40 years, it came as quite a shock. He was not planning on retiring for at least four more years, but the company has been laying people off right and left. They gave him until Dec. 31st, but then they extended it until the end of January. This economy is horrible.

12/20-The kids and I went to the zoo with my friend and her kids. I had never taken the kids to the zoo and hadn't been there myself since I was in kindergarten. It was perfect weather and we all had a nice time.

12/21-I met most of my family (except for my sister's family) for dinner in Miami and to exchange gifts. We had a nice time enjoying one another's company and the kids enjoyed playing with their cousins. It was nice to get together. I also got to see my aunt and uncles and visit with them a little bit.

12/24-25-Christmas Eve & Christmas Day!!! Need I say more? It is a tradition of ours to drive around Christmas Eve night and look at Christmas lights. Sometimes this tires the kids out and they go to bed more easily. That wasn't the case this year, but we still enjoyed looking at the lights. We always read the Christmas story from the New Testament in Luke 2:1-14 and then the kids hang their stockings and go to bed. Erica stays up with me and we watch, "It's a Wonderful Life". I love that movie, plus it is about two hours long; enough time for the other kids to fall asleep. When the movie is over, we turn out the lights and go to bed so Santa can come. On Christmas morning, now that the youngest child is five, the kids have to wait until it is starting to get light outside to wake me up. At about 7:30-8:00, I lined the kids up on the stairs (youngest to oldest) and then they got to go in the living room to see what Santa had brought. With six kids, by the time we are all done, it looks like a tornado has struck the living room. The kids had a nice Christmas. I made eggs with ham, cheese, and mushrooms for breakfast. They played with toys for a while and then we went to my younger brother's house in Joseph City for my nephew's birthday. Kevin is a Christmas baby and he turned seven this year. We all had a nice time at their house.

12/29-My older brother and his family were coming home from his mother-in-law's house and took us to dinner. My 15 year old nephew, Michael, stayed with us. He and Tyler enjoy getting to spend time together. It is nice to have him with us for a while.

12/30-I went to lunch with some of my other friends. We stayed at the restaurant for about 2 & 1/2 hours just visiting. I really enjoyed it. It seems like we all get so busy with our everyday lives, that we often do not get to spend as much time with our friends. I was happy to get to do that.

12/31-(Today) I am going over to my friend's house for New Year's Eve soon. Single people usually do not get invited to parties, dinners, etc...because most people invite couples. My friend also falls into the single category so we are going to just get together, watch movies, and play board games. The kids are coming along too. It will be a quiet celebration, but that is okay. As far as I'm concerned, the best way to celebrate is to spend time with people you care about.

Mom's birthday-December 7, 2008

Since I wrote about Jared's birthday, I thought I should mention my mom's birthday as well. I actually did not get to see my mom on her birthday, but I understand that she had a nice time. I will not mentoin her age since this is the internet, but I have to say that she looks quite young for her age. Anyway, happy birthday, Mom! I love you!

Jared's 10th birthday-December 2, 2008

Since I am writing this almost two weeks AFTER Jared's birthday, I thought I should specify the actual date of his birthday.

For Jared's birthday, he had a party of sorts in my classroom. He had four friends come to my classroom right after school. They had red velvet cupcakes, watched Clone Wars, opened presents, and ate $5 pizzas. He had a great time with his friends.

I do not make Jared a birthday cake because he has this very extreme dislike for icing. This caused problems when he did not want icing on his cake and everybody else did. Thus the cupcake solution. The kids get to frost their own cupcakes.

After the party, I gave the four boys rides home. I was a little surprised to discover that third graders do not always know how to get to their home from the school. We did a lot of driving around trying to find one house. I had an address, but it was not an address I was familiar with. When I asked what (landmark) his house was near, he had no clue. It was very interesting. After lots of driving around, we finally got all of the kids home.

When we arrived home, Jared got to talk to both of his grandparents on the phone. It was nice for him to get to visit with them. All in all, Jared had a great day.