Tis the Season (Part I)

Tis the Season....for overbooked schedules, cookies to bake, presents to buy, songs to sing, parties to attend, stories to tell, memories to make and unfortunately in our house so far this year...vomit to clean up, laundry to wash, and bathrooms, doorknobs, and light fixtures to disinfect. Yuck. Poor Benny has had the dreaded "stomach bug" TWICE in the past two weeks. Poor baby. He will be staying home with me again today for the third day in two weeks. I feel bad for him...and selfishly a little bad for me as this was my last "day off" before the kids are on Christmas Break for two weeks, which for Joe Bug starts today at 2:30 p.m. Oh well.

I am trying (really, really trying) to remember that I will look back on these days one day (even the vomit covered days) with a heart-breaking fondness and will miss the days when my boys needed me and wanted nothing more than my time and attention. I am failing miserably, by the way, in remembering this during the day and have been going to bed lately with a heavy heart, realizing how, in my haste to cross items off my ever-growing To-Do List, I blew it. I wasted precious time that could and should have been spent with my boys. Laundry can wait, but my boys just keep growing and changing and I fear that I am missing it. The good news is that God is good and gives me a chance to get up every day and try to be better. Maybe today is the day that I get my mommy gold star. We'll see...

Anyway, it has been a nutty two weeks for sure. Here is a quick review of the fun stuff we have been up to:

PACERS GAME

We went to the Pacers game last Friday night with Nana, Bampaw, and Aunt Mal-Mal. Ben and Joey loved the popcorn and cotton candy (as always) and Ben was excited that an "Indiana Hero" honored during the game was sitting right behind us and let him wear his medal.

BREAKFAST WITH SANTA

The morning after the Pacers game we got up bright and early to go to church for the annual Breakfast with Santa. Much to our surprise (after being told all month by Joey that he is not a fan of Santa "I don't like he.") Joey immediately jumped up on Santa's lap and told him he wanted a train and a boat. He then settled in and had to be moved along by his brother!! Ben told Santa that he couldn't really think of anything he wanted...actually it was a lot like that moment from A Christmas Story when Ralphie panics and can't remember what he wanted to ask Santa for. With a little prompting, Ben said he would take some Legos!

I was just informed by my husband that I am not getting a book made this year if I include everything in one post as it is hard for him to format...so I will pause and continue the chaos on the next post....