What we've been up to

To sound entirely redundant, it's been a very busy couple of weeks.  I had anticipated life slowing down a little bit before Christmas, but no such luck. (Stop laughing!)

Steve and I taught Sunday School on 12/14.  The kids are just so cute.  I brought in a bunch of scarves and such so that the kids could pretend to be Mary & Joseph, and we brought in a whole bunch of baby dolls for the baby Jesus'.  The kids were all a bit wired, but it was a fun day. 

Steve chatting with Sophie

He really is great with the kids.

Lots of baking has gone on--here's Eli stuffing a pretzel candy into his mouth.

Maddie had her ear recheck with the doctor last week.  She's all set now.  Thank God!  She's also been losing teeth like crazy.  All of her molars and eyeteeth are loose or missing.   She also had an allergist appointment, to get tested for allergies.  As I already posted, Steve is highly allergic to the guinea pigs, so we'll be getting rid of them.  I just want to know what Maddie is allergic to, so maybe we won't have such severe symptoms next year.  Of course, I forgot to take Maddie off of her Alavert, so they couldn't do the testing!  AUGHH!  So now her appointment is on 1/6.  At least it wasn't a wasted trip, since Eli was getting his allergy shot anyway.

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Last Wednesday was also the last day of bowling.  The kids all had a great time,but considering how busy we've been, I don't think I'm going to sign them up for the spring session.  We need to scale back!

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Thursday was, again, crazy.  I made a bank run, then Sue's kids came over for a few hours.  Sue picked them up, and then I had to bring dinner to a family that goes to our church.  On my way home I stopped at the grocery store because my friend, Julie, was coming over for dinner, and THEN I invited my other friend Sue, and her family for dinner as well, because they wanted to see the baby guinea pigs.  It was crazy getting ready for company, but Steve helped out a ton, and we had a great time.  Julie and I watched Music and Lyrics starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore after Sue and her family went home.  Pretty cute movie.  We laughed a lot, and Julie got her Christmas cards ready to mail!

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Friday was more running around.  I had to pick up jewelry that I had ordered from Premier Design Jewelry, and do a hundred other things. My mom stopped by before work to give Steve his birthday present--a Nintendo DS  lite.  He was so surprised that he forgot to say thank you! LOL  That night, my mom ended up sleeping over, since we got about 8 inches of snow, and she had to be at Toys R Us for 5am the next morning.  Yes, that meant I had to wake her up at 4am.  And I set the alarm off, so I woke up at 3am. Ugh.  I was so tired!

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Saturday started with me baking birthday oatmeal raisin cookies for Steve at 5am.  Yep, the old man is 43 now.  And I'm 34.  That only happens once per decade (that the numbers in our ages are juxtaposed).  He came home from Wal-Mart, and went right to sleep (after opening the Spider-Man trilogy that I got him--he loves it, but not as much as the Nintendo DS!).  The kids went out in the snow with the neighbors for a while.

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Around 3pm, our friends John & Kim came over to hang out before the church Christmas party.  We shared a car to the party, and a babysitter, which was nice. 

John & Kim opening their White Elephant gift:

Kimberly & Andy being lovey

My friend, Deb, in her new little black dress--she's recently lost a ton of weight, and looks fabulous!!!

(I am, of course, completely jealous, as the scale is moving in the opposite direction for me...ugh)

My friend, Val.  I just love her.  She is one of the funniest, nicest people you'll meet.

The birthday boy at the end of a long day (and a great party!).

Not to be outdone...

We really did have a great time!  The kids all behaved, and were thrilled that they got to stay up late with their friends. :)

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On Sunday we went to church.  It was snowing again.  Here are a couple of pictures I took on the ride home:

Route 95 North in Warwick, RI

Exit 10 to Route 117

The two younger Sunday School classes sang during church.  They did a great job.  I put a short video up on my facebook page.

Then we went over to Kyle & Beth's house for the afternoon.  We're so comfortable hanging out with them!  We watched the Pat's game, played Catch Phrase, and had a wonderful spaghetti dinner and fun dessets.  It was a wonderful, relaxing day, and we didn't get home until 9pm!

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Yesterday, my friend, Rose, volunteered to take the kids for the day, as her daughter is out on Christmas vacation.  I tried to get errands done, the operative word here being "tried".  I haven't seen holiday traffic like this, ever!  Every road I went on was completely gridlocked.  So frustrating.  And when I did make it to one of the stores I wanted to go to, they didn't have the item I wanted.  So while I did get a few things done, I felt like I spent the day sitting in traffic.

Last night, I went out to dinner with my director and the other directors on the team.  Lots of fun, and a great time chatting with everyone.

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Today?  More busyness.  I had deliveries to make, prescriptions to pick up, Eli's allergy shot, library, etc.  The kids and I were gone from 9:45am-3pm.  We did go to this cute restaurant, T's Restaurant, on Park Ave. in Cranston.  Great food, great service, very cute place.

Steve's truck broke down, but he was able to get it to the mechanic's without having to call AAA.  Praise God for knowing our mechanic!  Kyle got the part, and had Steve back on the road within an hour.  That really is a blessing, because if he hadn't gotten the part today, Kyle wouldn't have been able to fix the truck until Friday, and Steve would have lost 3 days of work.

Now we're home.  The kids and I watched Rudolph together.  Steve and I need to wrap presents now that they're in bed.  I just want to fall asleep myself!