Week in Review: Christmas Prep

Merry Christmas! I hope you all had a wonderful day celebrating our Savior's birth. We definitely did! I am so behind on blogging, so I wanted to go ahead and get this posted since I had already typed it out. Our pictures from last week aren't on the computer yet, and I don't feel like uploading and posting them right now, so I'll have to add pictures later.We've had a really busy few days, and I seriously think I'm about to go get ready for bed right now, and it's not even 10:30. That's pretty much unheard of over here ;)

We had a great week leading up to Christmas. We were busy with last minute Christmas preparations. I cannot even believe that Christmas has now come and gone!

Sunday: We went to church that morning. After church, we had Sunday School. We have a joint adult Sunday School class in December, and this was my first week to be able to attend since Alaina has been sick the other weeks. I enjoyed it. After church, we came home and ate lunch. We then took naps that afternoon and went back to church that evening. We had to be there early because we were having special music that night and the children's choir was going to be singing, so we had to get Aubrey there early to practice. The music was great! Our choir does "Lessons and Carols" and it was very good. The children's choir was super sweet and we were happy with how well Aubrey did :) After church, we had some cookies in the parlor at church. On the way home, we stopped and ate dinner at Newk's. We got the kids to bed when we got home, and then I finally made myself sit down and address our Christmas cards. I was running a little behind, but it felt good to get that done!

Monday: We had an uneventful day. We hung out at home all morning, and then I got Alaina down for a nap. While she slept, I got ready and fixed some dinner to go in the crockpot. It wasn't anything complicated that I was fixing, but I was working with a whole chicken, and I always feel like the entire kitchen is nasty after messing with raw chicken. So by the time I got everything in the crockpot and got the kitchen wiped down, it took way longer than I thought it would. I fixed lunch for Aubrey and Jude, fed Alaina baby food, and got everyone dressed. Then we loaded up and went to Target. It was partly because we needed a few things and partly just because I knew it was going to be a LONG day if we didn't leave the house. It was pretty late by the time we got home, so I put the kids right down for naps. Unfortunately, Alaina took a short nap, and Aubrey and Jude didn't sleep at all. That evening, the kids and I ate dinner. Aubrey and Jude didn't like what I had cooked, and I don't think they took two bites between them. So, they didn't get any dinner. So frustrating, but whatever. I took the kids upstairs after dinner and bathed them. I was about ready for the day to come to a close when David texted me to let me know he was leaving karate early and would be home soon. That was a very pleasant surprise! When he got home, he got to play with the kids for a little while before bed, and then he took them upstairs. Once the kids were all asleep, David ate dinner, and we talked for a while. I made myself some coffee and read in the nice quiet house before bed. :)

Tuesday: We had our last Bible Study meeting of the year that morning. For some reason, I didn't think we were meeting that day until I found out at the last minute that we were. Because of that, I hadn't read my chapter, but I decided to go anyway. I got us all ready, and we made it to church on time. I dropped the kids off in the nursery, and then I went to Bible Study. We usually meet at church, but this week we were meeting at someone's house who lives close to our church. It was nice to be in a home for Bible Study, and we had coffee and quiche :) It was fun. We had a good discussion, and I enjoyed it even though I hadn't done the homework. I picked the kids up when it was over and fed Alaina before we left church. I was feeling lazy, so we drove through Chick Fil A and picked up lunch on the way home ;) We all ate and then it was naptime. The kids took pretty good naps that day, so I was able to get some stuff done and I also got on the computer for a little while. I got the kids up that afternoon and got us ready, and we left to go to church. Our Sunday School class was going to deliver Christmas gifts to a family with special needs that night, and we were eating pizza at church first. We met David there, and we had fun eating dinner together. Everyone was riding on a school bus to go deliver the gifts (my dad has a bus for his ministry, and he was letting our Sunday School class use it), but I was a little nervous about the kids (especially Alaina) not being in carseats. We didn't want to be that one party pooper family who didn't ride with the group, though, so David and I were trying to decide what to do. As soon as we got near the bus, Jude freaked out and didn't even want to get close to it. So, that made the decision for us. Haha! We decided we would just follow behind in our own car. Not as fun as being on the bus with everyone else, but it was fine. We took the gifts to the family, and they were very sweet and appreciative. All of the children sang some Christmas songs for them :) We then stopped at a couple more homes of people from our church who are sick or shut-in and sang some more Christmas songs. By the time we got back to church, it was late and the kids were ready for bed. It was a fun night, though, and I'm glad we got to participate. We got the kids to bed when we got home, and then I got on the internet for a while.

Wednesday: That morning, we got up and got ready. I put Alaina down for a nap, and she decided to take the longest nap she's taken in a while. We were supposed to be going over to my grandmother's house, and I wanted to go before it got to be time for Aubrey and Jude to nap, so I finally had to wake Alaina up. I took Aubrey and Jude over to my parents' house so that they could see my mom's new dog and play with their little friends who my mom babysits, and Alaina and I went to my grandmother's house. I got some fabric a few weeks ago to make some clothes for the kids, and my grandmother is "helping" me (a.k.a. doing it since I can't sew a bit. Ha!). We went to the fabric store and looked at and picked out patterns. That took longer than I expected, so that's about as far as we got that day. I drove through Chick Fil A to get myself some lunch (second day in a row -- oops! At least I had packed lunches for Aubrey and Jude to eat at my parents' house), and I ate my food at my grandparents' house. After that, I picked Aubrey and Jude up, and we came home for naps. They didn't sleep very well that afternoon. When David got home I cooked dinner, and we all ate together. I then left to go buy some wrapping paper. Everything was so picked over by that point, and I ended up having to go to several stores before I could find some that I liked. When I finally found some wrapping paper, I went to my friend Meredith's house because she was having a "wrapping party." Wrapping presents is way more fun when you have friends to chat with while you're working :) It was a fun night, but by the time I left, it was late and I had a headache and a scratchy throat. My brother had just been diagnosed with the flu, so I got super worried that I was coming down with it, too. Turns out it was just a cold. Thank goodness! I talked to David a little bit when I got home, and then we both went to bed.

Thursday: The kids were up bright and early that morning. We ate breakfast, and then Aubrey watched a movie and I tried to get some cleaning done. Alaina napped that morning, but only about 45 minutes. I tried SO hard to get her to go back to sleep because I knew she wasn't going to get a nap that afternoon and would be miserable with only 45 minutes of sleep, but she wouldn't. I got us all ready and we ate lunch. We loaded up and left our house at 1:30, and we stopped by Wal-Mart. We then went to church. I was helping with a Son's of the King (my dad's ministry) Christmas party that afternoon, and I was going early to help my friend, Megan, decorate. Getting the room decorated was a little tricky because Megan and I each have 3 kids, so it's hard to get a ton done while also watching 6 kids. Haha! We managed, though :) Some other ladies came to help with the party, and some of them watched kids for the rest of us who were helping with the actual party. It was fun! There was food, games, and gifts, so I know the boys were happy :) David just came to church when he got off work because the party was still going on. He ended up taking our kids home so that I could stay and help clean up. Megan and I got everything cleaned up, and I finally left the church around 5:30. Traffic was AWFUL, so it took me forever to get home. By the time I did, David had already fed the kids dinner. They were all so tired after no rest or naps that afternoon, so we got them to bed early. David and I had an uneventful evening ourselves. 

Friday: Alaina was still super congested, and she had started coughing more. This has been going on for over 2 week now, so I decided I wanted to have her checked out to make sure she was well for Christmas (if possible). I really didn't want to take Aubrey and Jude to the doctor's office, though, and risk exposing them to something yuck. So I called and got Alaina an appointment for late that afternoon so that David could meet me there and take Aubrey and Jude home. Our morning and early afternoon was completely uneventful. We hung out at home, ate lunch, and I got the kids dressed and ready before their naps. While they slept, I got myself dressed. Alaina woke up after only 45 minutes :( I'm not a fan of these short naps she's been taking! David called to say that he had left work early and would come home before Alaina's appointment. That worked out well because both Aubrey and Jude were asleep, so I wouldn't have to wake them up. When David got home, we talked for a bit, and then it was time to take Alaina. We decided that David would just take her because I wasn't completely ready when it was time to go. Jude woke up right before David left, and he was very sad that Daddy went bye-bye without him. Poor guy. Aubrey woke up right after they left, and the 3 of us just hung out. I finished getting ready, fixed them a snack, and straightened up a little bit. David called and said Alaina was fine. No ear infection. The doctor said it was just allergies and she wasn't contagious. That was good to know, but I hate that she has all of these allergy issues and there's nothing we can do. When David and Alaina got home I fed her, and then we went to Mellow Mushroom for dinner. After dinner, we went to several stores and did some last minute Christmas shopping. Because I wouldn't be Carrie Howie if I wasn't doing something at the last minute ;) When we got home, we put the kids to bed, and David and I were going to watch a movie, but we ended up just talking for a long time instead. It was a good conversation, and sometimes it's nice to just talk :) We went to bed late.

Saturday: I fed Alaina around 7, and then I put her back down and she slept until 9. That was so nice! When we got up, David and the kids were at the Farmer's Market. I took a shower and got dressed, and then I fed Alaina breakfast. I got ready and put Alaina down for a nap. David and the kids finally got home -- they had run into some friends at the Farmer's Market, so they had stayed longer than usual. I talked to them for a little while, and then I left to go finish our Christmas shopping. It was around noon when I left, and I met my mom and grandmother at McAlister's for lunch. We then shopped till we dropped ;) Of course, everywhere we went was super packed and crazy. I ended up being gone WAY longer than I had planned. It was 5:00 by the time I got home. David and the kids had had a great day, thankfully. I fed Alaina, and we got the kids dressed. I made a grocery list, and we went to dinner at Corner Bakery. I then had to run in a few MORE stores, but I finally finished all of our shopping! We went to Kroger, and then we came home, unloaded the groceries, bathed the kids, and got them to bed. Whew! It was a busy day! David and I talked for a while, and I ironed our church clothes for the next day before going to bed.