Week in Review: Baptism, Christmas Cheer, and an Anniversary

Last week was a fun week! It wasn't as busy as the week before, but we had several fun things going on. Saturday was our wedding anniversary, so that was a special day! We got to go on a great date, and that was super fun!

Sunday: This was a big day. We were having Alaina baptized! We had to be at church early, so I got up earlier than usual, and we rushed to get ready in time. We did make it to church early -- yay ;) The baptism went well. Alaina got a little fussy before the baptism, but she did fine. After it was over, we took Jude to the nursery, but I kept Alaina with me because she had a cold and I didn't think she needed to be in the nursery. I sat out in the narthex with her and fed her some baby food. When church was over, we got a few pictures and then I took Alaina on home (we had gone to church in two cars) so that she could nap and I could get lunch ready because we were having our families over.

In our rush to get out the door that morning, we forgot to grab our camera, so all we have are iPhone pictures :( Poor third child.

Alaina ended up falling asleep on the way home and taking a car nap, so she wasn't interested in going back to sleep when we got home :-/ It was ok, though. I worked on lunch, and it was pretty much ready by the time everyone got out of Sunday School and made it to our house. We had a nice lunch! We enjoyed having our families over to celebrate Alaina's special day :)

Aubrey loves Gramzie :)

Jude loves being silly ;)

And Alaina loves being held!

After lunch, we went outside and my brother's girlfriend took some family pictures. My mom was trying to get a Christmas card picture.

Anna directing from our storm shelter. I'm pretty sure she said that my family was the most difficult group of adults she's ever photographed. Ha!! I can totally see that ;)

I took Alaina inside and got her down for a nap, and everyone headed out shortly after that. David put Aubrey and Jude down for naps, and I took a short nap myself. I got up and got ready because I was going to night church and David was going to stay home with Alaina. I took Aubrey and Jude with me, and we had a good service. We drove through and picked up some dinner on our way home, and we ate and put the kids to bed after that. David and I talked for a while, and I got on the internet before bed.

Monday: This was a school day for Aubrey, but shortly before 6AM, she woke up with croup :( I hated for her to miss school because this was their last week before Christmas break, and I had planned to run several errands while she was at school. Oh well! When Aubrey got up for the day, she was much better, and thankfully she had a very mild case of croup and never had any more issues. I was still itching to get out of the house, though. One of the errands I was going to run was to go to a book store. I was REALLY wanting to find a good book to read. We didn't have book club in December, and I just was wanting something to read. I decided we'd get dressed and run to Target and look at their books. (I wasn't willing to brave a book store with all three kids.) Alaina had slept late that day, so we went to Target during her usual morning nap time. Bad idea! She was so tired and fussy, and the other two kids were just loud and wild. Our little outing ended up being more stressful than just staying home. Plus, I didn't find a book that appealed to me. Ugh. After we got back home, I fixed lunch for the kids, and we all ate. I fed Alaina baby food, and then I put her down for her afternoon nap early because she was exhausted. It was finally naptime for Aubrey and Jude, and I was looking forward to some quiet! Alaina didn't nap very long, unfortunately. She was still congested, and that was keeping her from taking a good nap. I fixed some chili and put it in the crockpot for dinner, and I did some laundry. David was SO sweet and skipped karate that night and just came home. He knew I had a long day, and I was SO thankful to have him home that night! When he got here, I ran to several stores to try to find a Christmas ornament for an ornament exchange the next night. I couldn't find anything I liked and the stores were CRAZY, so I gave up and came home. As soon as I got home, we ate dinner. After dinner, we had a family devotion and then we bathed the kids. We put them to bed, and then I straightened up the house and got on the computer.

Tuesday: The kids were all feeling better (Alaina was still congested, but I think that's just how it's going to be with her all winter), so we got ready for Circle. They were having their Christmas lunch that day, and I didn't want to miss it! I dropped the kids off in the nursery, and then headed to the house where we meet for Circle. We had a Bible Study time, and then we ate lunch. I love being with the sweet older ladies once a month :) After the delicious lunch, I went back to church to pick up the kids. We came home, and I fixed lunch for them. I then put them right down for their naps. While they slept, I got a few things done around the house and then I just sat :) David came home that afternoon, and I fixed dinner for them. I then left to go meet my mom for our Bunco party. My mom and I met and rode together, and thankfully she had gotten a super cute ornament for me since I couldn't find one the day before. We met our Bunco group at Bon Ami, and we just ate and talked instead of playing Bunco. We then had an ornament exchange, and I ended up with a really pretty ornament. It was so fun! When we finished with dinner, my mom and I went to Books A Million so that I could finally get a book :) We looked around for a while, and I found two books. We went in Kroger next so that I could get fruit for Aubrey's school Christmas party the next day and ingredients for a dessert to take to church. When I got home, David and I talked and then went to bed.

Wednesday: I got up and cut up the fruit for Aubrey to take to school, and David took her. This was her last day before Christmas break. The little kids and I hung out and had an uneventful morning at home. I really didn't want to "waste" Aubrey's last day at school for a while, and I wanted to get a lot of errands run, but there just wasn't much we needed to do. So, we stayed home and Alaina napped while Jude played and I got ready. I fixed lunch for Jude, fed Alaina baby food, and we left a few minutes early. I had to run in Kroger again because I realized I had left the cream cheese sitting out overnight. Ugh. We picked Aubrey up from school, and she had had so much fun at her little Christmas party! She told me all about it on the way home :) When we got home, I put everyone down for naps and then baked chess squares to take to church that night. David came home and helped me get the kids ready, and then we headed to church. This was our Christmas banquet and our last Wednesday night until the New Year. The banquet was really nice. The food was great.... of course our kids didn't touch it :-/ The children's choir had practice in the sanctuary that night because they were singing in church Sunday night. I took Aubrey to the sanctuary for practice and it was kind of chaotic (they were trying robes on the kids and taking their pictures), so I ended up staying in there to help. After that was over, we got our little kids from the nursery and came home. We put them to bed, and I read my book.

Thursday: The kids slept a little later than usual, which was really nice. David called to let me know that he had gotten a chiropractor appointment for Alaina for later that morning, so I hurried and got us all ready. We had been wanting to take Alaina to the chiro to see if it would help with all of her sinus/congestion issues. David met us there, and he took her in while I sat in the car with Aubrey and Jude. They were only in there a few minutes, and Alaina did great. After we left there, we stopped by David's office so that he could copy my driver's license for a passport. We came home for lunch next. Aubrey wanted to have a picnic outside, so I got Aubrey and Jude set up on the deck with their lunch and a towel. It was a little cold for a picnic in my opinion, but Aubrey and Jude didn't seem to care. I stayed inside with Alaina and just watched them through the window. After lunch, I put them down for naps. That afternoon, David came home from work a little early, and we decided to watch our wedding DVD with Aubrey. We watch it every year on or around our anniversary, and we thought it would be really fun to let Aubrey watch it with us this time. She LOVED it. It was so cute! She had some hilarious commentary ;) She did tell me that she wants to wear all of my "wedding stuff" when she gets married. I told David we should document her saying that for when she changes her mind later. Ha! After we finished the DVD, we ordered pizza and had a nice quiet night at home. We bathed the kids and put them to bed, and then I got on the computer and read for a little while.

Friday: That morning, we had a "service project" field trip with Aubrey's school. I got myself and Aubrey and Jude ready, and my grandmother came over to stay with Alaina so that she could nap. The three of us left to go to a nursing home. The kids sang some Christmas songs and then we visited with the residents. Sadly, Aubrey got SUPER shy when we got there. She wouldn't stand with the other kids and sing, and she just clung to me the whole time. Jude was shy too, but he would at least smile when people would speak to him. Oh well, it's basically what I was expecting, and I'm glad we went anyway.

After it was over, it was still pretty early, so SD and I decided to grab lunch with our kiddos at Beagle Bagel. We used to go there literally every week with Ashley, but we haven't been in forever. Our kids didn't even remember what Beagle Bagel was! Crazy! Anyway, we had a fun lunch, and when it was over, we came home to relieve my grandmother. She and Alaina were just hanging out and had had fun :) I fed Alaina some baby food, and the kids played for a little while before it was naptime. When David got home that afternoon, we hung out at home until dinner time, and then we went to a Mexican restaurant. After dinner, we took the kids to a park that goes all out for Christmas. They have TONS of lights and a train ride, hot chocolate, and Santa. Jude got SO scared of the train as soon as we got there. I have no idea why he was so scared, but he was. He insisted on riding in the stroller, and wouldn't even get out and play for the longest time.

Jude reminded me of a little old man sitting in a wheel chair with an afghan on his lap. Hahahah!

He did eventually get out and we had a great time!

We stayed until bedtime, and then we came home and got the kids down. After they were asleep, David and I watched The Green Lantern. It was honestly about the dumbest movie I've ever seen in my life. Ha! I really struggled to not fall asleep in the middle of it. After it was over, David and I went to bed.

Saturday: This was our six year anniversary! :) David let me sleep in that morning, and then I got up so that he could take Aubrey to church for choir practice. He took Jude with him so that they could go to the Farmer's Market while Aubrey was at church. I put Alaina down for a nap, and then I took a shower and cleaned up the house. When Alaina woke up, I fed her, and then David and the kids got home. They played for a while, and then we got them down for naps. David and I got ready, and my mom came over that afternoon so that David and I could go on a date! :) Our first stop was an animal shelter. Our little beagle dug out about a month ago and we never got her back :( Aubrey loved having her, so we are going to get another dog for the kids for Christmas. Shhhh! ;) I can't wait to surprise them on Christmas! David and I saw several cute dogs, but we're still looking and deciding what we want. After we left there, we went to see Skyfall. It was good! It was pretty intense, but we both enjoyed it. We went to dinner next. We tried to go to Bonefish, but the wait was too long, so we went to Biaggi's instead. There was a wait there too, but we went to Fresh Market while we waited. We had a great dinner, and I loved being able to talk uninterrupted. After dinner, we ran in Kroger and then headed home. I think my mom was pretty happy to see us. We had been gone a long time. Ha! Alaina was in bed, but she was still trying to get Aubrey and Jude down, so David and I took over and let my mom go. We straightened up the house and I read for a little while before we went to bed.