playing catch-up

I think I will just do one big blog and try to get caught up on everything at once. Catch-up reminds me of my favorite joke, are you ready for this?
Momma tomato, daddy tomato and baby tomato are walking down the street. The baby tomato keep falling behind so the daddy tomato turns to him, squashes him and says "catchup"
I love it!! You know I cant tell that stupid joke without tears rolling down my cheeks laughing so hard. I watch Pulp Fiction just to hear my joke. OK, anyway.....

The kids were out of school for 2 1/2 weeks and we got to get out and about quite a bit. Their last day was my birthday but by the time I took Cheara to cheer practice and Corri to tennis we just had some dinner opened bday presents and that was about it. They were so sweet though. Jeff took them out to get me something and the decided I needed a new robe, and then he took them to get a cake and ice cream and candles. They were so excited. The rest of that week, Jeff and I both worked but then it was a four day weekend. Christmas Eve the kids exchanged gifts and we went to candle light service at church, which Landon slept through then thought he should be up until 11. Christmas day we stayed home, it was so nice. I forgot to make half the food I had bought for dinner, but that just made it that much easier for dinner for the rest of the week. I still haven't made the pumpkin pie, they finally quite asking for it. We spent about two hours opening gifts, a little crazy but the two little ones are soooo much fun to buy for. Landon got a Buzz Lightyear and didn't want to open anything else after that. We finally got done opening gifts and had to get everything carried up to their rooms right away. These little houses were not made for big families and Christmas! We were opening packages for a week. They only opened stuff as they were going to play with it for the first time. Cheara might even still have something that isn't opened. Santa brought the oldest three an MP3 player and Landon a scooter. Stockings were overflowing and there was stuff everywhere!! I love it.

We made it to the Botanical Gardens where they had a Christmas light show. They had lights on everything and a laser show at the end. Until this point Landon did not want to see Santa, but he decided that he would go sit with him.

We did a lot of getting out over the last week. Everyone was home, no work, no school and no sports to hurry and get to. We went to 2 different parks and back to the aquarium. Jeff and I went to see a movie one night. While we were in line, some kid behind us started puking so that was really nice. For New Years we, again, stayed at home. We all played games, snacked and watched a movie. Precisely at 12:01 it was time for bed! I have to take a nap if I am expected to stay up that late. So now it is the second week of January, everything is back to normal. No more Christmas music or lights, no more worrying if I got everybody a gift, for a few more months anyway. Now I just have to figure out a birthday.