Keeping up with...Family (Weekly Wrap 12/15 - 12/21)

Friday (12/15) It's finally Friday!!  This has been a super long week with all of us feeling worn out and tired.  I've felt behind all week as well, it's so hard to come back from vacation.  But I'm hoping after this weekend, we feel caught up and in control again and we're all over our vacation hangover.  We got AJ up and out to school and when Adrian left for work, I went back to sleep for an hour.  I felt so much better after that!  I got the other boys to school and then came home and worked like crazy around the house.  I got all caught up on laundry, dishes and snuck some TV time to watch some recorded Real Housewives from vacation.

I picked everyone up from school and we had a very lazy night at home together.  We watched TV, played video games and ate a quick dinner.  Adrian and I ordered from Max and Erma's to support our church in a fundraiser for a mission trip to Haiti.  We put the boys to bed at their normal time in hopes that we will all get a good night of sleep.  Adrian and I finished up the night with some wine and some DVR shows.  We have so many to catch up on now!  We also did the boys favorite elf "prank" and toilet papered our Christmas tree.  Tomorrow night he will replace the toilet paper with candy canes for them.

Saturday (12/16) We changed our mind a bunch of times about what we were going to do today and after a not great night of sleep we woke up unsure of what we would do.  The one definite was a service project with AJ's Scout pack.  We went to visit a local senior care home and delivered cookies, cards and some Christmas cheer.  It was a nice morning with the seniors.  While I was there with the boys, Adrian went to his first coaches meeting of the season for Crossover basketball.  Even though the boys don't want to play this year, he still wants to volunteer his time as a coach.

After we did that, we decided to bag all of our other plans and stay home and try to get stuff done and get ready for Christmas.  Adrian and I took turns taking the boys out shopping for each other and for us and we managed to just about finish our shopping today.  I only need a few stocking stuffers which I'll pick up early next week.  We spent the rest of the day working around the house while the boys played video games, watched TV and worked on a giant puzzle.  We were pretty tired at the end of the day so after getting the boys to bed, we watched a few DVR shows and called it a night.  Will this vacation hang over ever end??

Sunday (12/17) We all slept in today and finally feel well rested after the past two weeks.  We had planned to go to first service for church, but we just didn't make it on time.  So we all headed to second service together where the boys celebrated Jesus' birthday while Adrian and I heard a sermon about how to be less stressed during the holiday season.  It was a great message as always!  Then we grabbed a few snacks in the car and headed up to Cabela's to see Santa.  Unfortunately when we got there, the line was over an hour wait and the boys did not want to do that (and honestly neither did Adrian or I).  So we walked around the store a little and then headed back home.

We got home and had a quick lunch and then went to work on finishing up our to do lists.  The boys all had a lot of homework to do this weekend so we made sure that was all done.  We also watched the Jets lose (again) and then watched the end of a few really great late games.  Adrian made us amazing ribs for dinner which we enjoyed with a salad.  The boys played some video games and played with their toys for most of the day.  We finished up the night watching the Cowboys game while I was working on our Christmas cards.  I made it just past halftime before heading to bed but Adrian stayed up to see the whole game.  I'm glad they were able to pull off a win and stay in the playoff hunt!

Monday (12/18) Last week of school before break!  I got everyone up and out on time to school and work before heading to the dealer to finally get the oil changed in my van.  I got a few things done while I was waiting and then ran a few errands when the van was done before heading into Zak's class to volunteer.  I finished up the evaluations I was doing with the kids and got to see Daniel at lunch too.  It was a fun morning in the school as always.

After volunteering, I came home and did a few things and then got ready to teach my Zumba class.  It was a small but might class and we had fun dancing to the students' favorite songs.  After class we ran home and got ready to head to Zak's Cub Scout Christmas party.  We enjoyed a lot of junk for dinner and had fun playing games, making gingerbread trees and making slime.  The boys want to do it again over break so I'll be picking up some glue for us this week.  We got home and were all sugared up and exhausted!  We got the boys to bed, finished cleaning up and watched a few shows on our DVR before heading to bed ourselves.

Tuesday (12/19) Today was a little harder to get everyone up and moving but we did it and everyone got to school and work on time.  After I got everyone where they needed to be, I headed to teach my two Silver Sneakers classes.  When class was over, I went to get a hair cut and finally went back to my short 'do, cutting off just over 10 inches.  I will be donating it as soon as I can get to the post office in the new year.  I'm super excited to have short hair again, I love it already!!

When my hair was done, I ran a few errands and then headed home to pick everyone up from school.  We loaded up the car and headed to Easton to finally see Santa!  We got there and they had about a 15 minute wait so we joined the virtual line (brilliant!) and headed to Cheryl's to get our free cookies from the boys' first quarter report cards.  By the time we were done eating one cookie, it was time to head back to the front of the Santa line.  The boys did a great job visiting with him and we got a great picture for our wall.

After our picture, we fought the traffic back home and had dinner with Dad.  The boys then helped Adrian set up our two new decorations that our elf brought yesterday.  And then we all enjoyed an ice cream party with the gift the elf brought today - ice cream, magic shell & a new ice cream scoop.  We watched Shrek the Halls while we were eating.  It was a fun family night!  After we got the boys to bed, Adrian and I cleaned up and then watched a DVR show.  We were so tired we didn't make it through the whole half hour before calling it a night!

Wednesday (12/20) Somehow Adrian and I both slept thru our alarms this morning so we were late getting moving.  Thankfully he was able to drive AJ to school on time while I got the other boys ready for school and out the door.  AJ had a read-a-thon at school today so he got to wear his pajamas to school and bring his pillow and blanket as well as books to read for the afternoon.  He read for just under two hours today & his 5th grade classmates raised just over $1,000 for water for South Sudan.  And Zak had an excited lunch - he lost a tooth while he was eating!  Unfortunately he actually lost it so he didn't haven't any tooth to bring home.  But I'm pretty sure the tooth fairy will still come.

While everyone was at school, I ran the rest of my errands and finished up my shopping for the next two weeks (hopefully!)  Then I came home and got a bunch of stuff done around the house.  I was supposed to sub in the afternoon but they didn't end up needing me so I got some extra stuff done around the house.  I picked the boys up at the end of the day and we all headed to the Y for my last Zumba class for the year.  It was another small but mighty class and we had a great time!

After class, we headed home and had dinner.  Then we finished up all of their projects for the week, whew!  And I worked on some of the teacher gifts.  It was a busy and productive night.  The boys decided to start a penny hockey tournament so I was able to keep working around the house.  Adrian was out all night at a happy hour for work and then his Bible study.  He came home just in time for bedtime, although he had to work from home after we got the boys in bed.  It was another early night for me, I'm just really wiped out this week.

Thursday (12/21) We are skating by but we are almost done this week and are ready for our winter break!  Everyone got up and out to school on time today and after I dropped everyone off I headed to teach my two Silver Sneakers classes.  My students surprised me with a very nice Christmas gift of a candle and a gift card to the local movie theater.  I am really touched that they did that for me.  We had two great classes and then I ran home to have a quick lunch before heading in to volunteer in Daniel's class for the afternoon.

Daniel's class was doing a few special activities this week instead of a holiday party so I went in to help them with an ice experiment and then an activity about snow.  We read an article, answered some questions and then made snowflakes together.  It was a lot of fun, I enjoyed being in there with Daniel and getting to know some of the kids in his class.  When the day was over we walked home and had a mini heart attack when AJ wasn't here.  Thankfully his bus showed up a few minutes later, they were just running very late.

After everyone was home, we did the few things that they boys needed to do for the night and then they just played and watched TV for the night.  I got dinner ready and then got ready to head to the church to work.  Adrian go stuck working very late, although thankfully he was able to come home and finish up from there so I could go to work too.  It was a bit of a hectic night but we made it work.  I finished up all of the teacher gifts so the boys can take them in tomorrow and got everything cleaned up and ready for our last day of school before break.  Once again I was exhausted so I headed to bed on the early side.