A stubborn child, a bellyache and a missed holiday party

So I had planned to go with my family to Jessica and Jeremiah's holiday party yesterday. The night before though, I had some really bad stomach issues. I wasn't feeling very tip-top, but was willing to muscle through it. But then, Tommy got a timeout. That was pretty much the end of any chance of going to the party. All Tom needed to do was stand, facing the wall quietly for about 30 seconds. He couldn't even do 1 second. He screamed, cried, sat down, complained...you name it. He just didn't want to do what he needed to do to get out of time out. He had already been through a shorter version of this earlier in the day. This time, however, he just wouldn't do it. I put my foot down and I wanted him to take his time out and then we could have left. He stood there screaming for at least 2 hours. I felt kinda bad, but he just needed to be quiet and face the wall for a very short bit. I ended up staying home while Jay took the kids to the party. I was a little bummed that I didn't get to go, but I had to fight this battle.

a friend's pain

I just heard that a friend of mine lost her mother unexpectedly yesterday. I heart aches for her. I can't imagine it. It makes the lights, decorations and presents seem so worth nothing. Family is worth so much more.

When I was 12, my grandmother passed away on the 23rd. Ever since then Christmas had a small touch of sadness for us kids and a much larger one for my mom.

My heart, thoughts, and prayers go out to my friend and her family. I wish there was something to ease your pain.

A snowy weekend

Well, Jay finally made it home. He was due on a flight into Dulles at 8:30pm Friday from San Francisco. It was canceled. He tried to book any other flight into Dulles or Bwi. All canceled. He finally was able to book a flight to JFK airport and thought he would take the train home that night. Well, his flight didn't arrive until 9:20 and the last train left at 10:05. He didn't make it. So he decided that despite the fact he had been awake for about 28 hours, that he would drive home that night. He rented a car and drove. Luckily he didn't hit any snow until the Maryland line. On 895, he did a good deed and helped some stranded guy get to a gas station so he wouldn't freeze.
I woke up at 2:43 in the morning, went to the bathroom, and thought...Gee Jay should be here soon. I opened my bedroom curtain and stood for just a minute watching the snow come down. As I get ready to turn back towards my bed, a car crept by the first driveway and then turned into our second one. Jay was home!! Talk about good timing!
He made it. Though we weren't able to return the rental car until Sunday afternoon. Jay had to dig out both driveways on Sunday and that took a while. Our roads still weren't the greatest, but we managed. Many friends are still all the way stuck in.
The boys' schools are canceled today. It was going to be Tom's last day at Galilee so that's kinda sad. He may get to go back if we aren't going in January, but I don't want to pay the tuition if we only go a few days.
I am curious what they do with Joe's school. He was supposed to go Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week. I am pretty sure that as long as the roads get cleared today that he will have school tomorrow...but if not, then will they have to go on Wednesday? I guess we'll see.
Jay is planning to work some days this week. He hopes to talk to some people and get a firmer plan for January. Hopefully, he does.

A possible delay of the inevitable

So last week, I emailed Jay several questions about moving and scheduling the move, etc. Jay gave very vague answers to the questions and it left me feeling very unsettled. So, I kinda knew something was possibly up. Then came his email that he is scheduled to be back in Australia in the second week of January...but that he is also leery of making whole family plans since the long term contract hasn't been signed. Sigh. What this all means is that there is a chance that Jay will go there in January and the boys and I will be stuck here until the contract is signed. It could still get signed before then, but based on the track record, there's probably a better chance it won't get signed. Jay thinks that there is about a 75% chance the whole family will move in January. Of course, that number is just something he came up with and not any number that has been told to him. I really really want to move with Jay and not have to move the kids by myself.
I am not the kind of person who goes with the flow very well. I am much more of a planner and I don't like this whole not knowing thing. Very stressful.

Four

Four seems to be the magic number today. I just schedule our 4th Christmas celebration. First will be on this Thursday while my sister is in town from Idaho. 2nd will be on Christmas day with my parents. 3rd will be with my brother and his wife when they come in town a few days later. 4th will be with Jay's mom, sister, aunt, his grandparents, and our nieces. I have gotten the feeling from my mom that she would rather combine the 2nd and 3rd one. That won't work though as Nick and Kelly won't get into town until several days after Christmas and two of my kids know that Christmas happens on Dec. 25th.
In past years, my siblings haven't been here on the actual Christmas and we did a "fake" Christmas usually the weekend before Christmas. My mom likes to act the part of Santa so she started telling the kids that the elves were leaving gifts since I told them that Santa only comes on the 25th. Jay, the boys and I would then have Christmas at our house on Christmas and Santa would come.
Joe and Tom have gotten some strange ideas about Christmas decorations. We aren't decorating this year for a lot of different reasons. The main one is that we have planned for months and months to do Christmas at my mom's house. The boys were very worried that Santa won't come to an undecorated house. I finally got it through their heads that it's okay because we aren't going to be here. If we are out in the evening, we drive through some neighborhoods looking at Christmas displays. They will exclaim from the backseat "wow! Nothing will stop Christmas from coming to that house!" They also seem to think that Santa will stop at the most decorated house first.

Jay should be home in four days. I really miss spending time with him. I have been emailing him lots of questions about moving and got some vague news Sunday night. He said that he was told that he had to be back there in January. (Well, that's what we planned, right?) Of course, NGC hasn't signed the long term contract, so the boys and I can't move until it is signed. Hopefully it will be signed soon. Of course, I emailed and asked if Jay had to go if it wasn't signed but I haven't heard back from him yet. I really really don't want him to go without us again.

Splish Splash

Today was a fairly good day. Though it started early when Sam turned on his light to play at 1 am. I turned it off and put him back to bed. He got up several more times until I brought him to my bed to sleep, around 3. He did go back to sleep then, which was nice. The big boys were awake by 6:30 though.

Jessica was a doll and watched all three boys for me this morning. I was really torn about what to do. Do I work at the house or do I do something for myself? I picked myself! I ran some errands and purchased my mom's Christmas gift. I thought my shopping was completely done, until I realized the store forgot to put something into the bag after they wrapped it in paper. I had to run back and pick it up. At least, I realized it before I had picked the kids up so I didn't have to deal with dragging them along with me. But my shopping is all done and almost everything is wrapped.

While the kids were with Jessica, they made us a meal for dinner. We already had dinner plans for tonight, but now we have dinner all lined up for tomorrow! yea! We ate dinner with our neighbors tonight. A yummy pork roast with carrots, mashed potatoes, gravy, and rolls. Cupcakes for dessert and we were all set.

After Jessica's house, we came home for one of the boys' favorite activities, splish splash. The boys don their rain boots and jackets and we all head outside to splash in the really big puddles that are in our driveway. We come inside as a wet muddy mess and then the boys all shower together while I clean up the entryway and start a load of their wet clothes in the washer. Splish Splash is always a really nasty mess for me to clean up, but they really do love doing it. After the shower, they had popcorn and watched a movie.

I took the boys to see Lights on the Bay on Thursday. I wanted to be there early so that we wouldn't have to wait in a really long line. There were no cars there. We drove through it twice and then it was only 5:40. So, I drove to Columbia and we went to Symphony of Lights. We liked it much better, but maybe that was just because it was something new and different. The boys loved it.

Friday night, I had a couple of friends over and then the boys and I went to my mom's on Saturday. We decorated her tree and it turned out beautiful.

slogging through

I feel like I am just slogging through the days. There are some good times and some low times and lots of work. We had Cub Scouts last night. It would have been much more enjoyable if I could have left Sam at home. Tom was an angel, even though it wasn't his activity and he wasn't able to make the craft. Tom sat and watched and was no headache at all for me. Joe did his craft really well, but if he wasn't actively working on it, he was getting a drink from the water fountain (about every 2 minutes) or hanging on the den leader. Literally hanging on him. Sam was everywhere, into everything, playing with the water, throwing coats on the floors, opening the door and leaving the building. I think I will ask my neighbor to watch them next week. Part of the problem is that Cub Scouts starts at Sam's bedtime and goes for a little over an hour. We don't get back home until 8:15. It's across the street so we just have to walk over and back. Next week is the cub scout Christmas party. It is also the pack meeting so there are about 4 times as many people and kids as there were tonight.
I am getting so sick of pizza. We went to pizza hut last week and then again this week. Last week, Joe had earned a free personal pizza because he read his 8 books for the Book It program. This week, Sammy got his flu shot booster and the nurse gave him a coupon for a free personal pizza. If she would have given it to me without telling Sam, then I could have saved it for another time, but she gave it straight to Sam and told him what it was. He cried so hard when we drove past pizza hut at 10 in the morning because he wanted his free pizza. Well, we got it last night and it was another headache to take 3 boys out to dinner. It was not as bad as last week when Pizza Hut just couldn't get my pizza made correctly so at least that was better.

My birthday snow

So Jay and I have been married for over 8 years, and it has snowed on my birthday (or the day of my birthday celebration) for 6 of the 8 years. About 6 years ago, after 2 years of snow, Jay proclaimed that it was his birthday present to me. And every year since then he makes it snow. Jay has the boys completely convinced that he makes it snow for my birthday.
As I was hearing the forecast yesterday, I was skeptical that we would actually get snow this year. Most of yesterday, the snow was going to be north and west of us. Jay tried to claim that sleet should be at least half credit, because after all, he's half a world away. I should have just kept the faith. Around noon, the sleet and rain turned into huge beautiful flakes and the boys came running and shouting "Daddy made it snow!" Happy Birthday to me!

A non singer

Joe had a note sent home from his music teacher at school on Tuesday. She had to move Joe to a new seat in the music room, completely away from all the other students. He refusing to sing and spends his time bothering other students. Joe is such a headstrong child and he doesn't like to do things on someone else's schedule. He also just has no interest in singing the same songs over and over again. I talked a lot with him and he is irritated that they have to sing the same song so many times so that everyone can learn it. He learns it really quickly and doesn't like having to sing the same ones over and over and over. I completely get his point, but also understand why the teacher has to go over and over. It's not the teacher's fault that Joe has an almost perfect recall for things like songs, movies, and stories. I've really got no clue what to tell Joe in order for him to enjoy music class more. I had a great music teacher for a long time, but I don't really know this teacher.
We had a good holiday break, a good Joe's birthday, a really nice Thanksgiving, etc etc. Jay is enjoying 75 and sunny in Australia while yesterday we had 50 and rainy. Oh yea. I have been working really hard on getting the house ready for the realtor. The upstairs is done except for cleaning, and most of that is really close to being done.
I have not been able to fall asleep at night, but once I am asleep, I sleep like the dead! I have almost missed getting up in time to get Joe and Tom ready for school. I ended up having to set an alarm this morning and I still almost didn't get up. I just need to get to sleep earlier.