Monday, January 16, 2012

T'was The Week Before Christmas

This year I was able to go home to Ohio the week before Christmas. It was probably the first time in several years (maybe even since I lived at home) that I was able to do that. You got to love the schedule of a teacher.

I flew home on Saturday Dec 17th. I had been sick with a stomach bug all week so I opted for the 1st class upgrade for the fight home. I LOVED IT. I was the first person on the plane, my seat was huge and comfortable, I was given a drink the second I sat down, presented with a basket full of treats rather than just handed peanuts. It was amazing. It will be hard to fly coach from now on.
I went to bed as soon as I got home that night.

Sunday we went to church. When we got home I helped my mom make dinner. My grandparents arrived and we all hung out. Then I we all went to Katie's concert. After the concert we came home and hung out and the kids played a game called "Last Word." I'm not sure how you are suppose to play it but we made up our own rules and it was a lot of fun. We all were laughing non-stop. Infant, at one point I was laughing so hard I was crying (which believe it or not was the first time that has ever happened to me.) It was a memory I will cherish forever. Now that we are all getting older we enjoy spending time together and we don't fight :) That is a good stage when your family finally hits that point.

Monday my mom and I went out to Amish country. I love it out there. We also went to wal-mart and ran a few more errand. When we got home we got stuff together for Elizabeths class party. Since she is in 5th grade they still have parties and my mom was scheduled to help out. Naturally I tagged along. We were in charge of games and we played a really cool one. We gave them a bag with eight groups of paper. Each group of paper was the letter needed to spell a christmas song. They had to unscramble the letters and spell the song. Then they all stood up and had to sing it. It was sooo much fun for the kids, teacher and other adults. I directed the activity. As soon as I got the classes attention another mom looked at my mom and said "is she a teacher?" Got to love my natural classroom control. After that we went home and began to get dinner ready. It is to bad that my families favorite dinner is one that requires so much work, but man is it good. We all ate dinner together which was wonderful, it's not often that all of us are home and was are able to sit down for a meal more than once. I think we had dinner together all but 2 nights I was home.

Tuesday- My mom and I went to Zanesville, where my mom grew up, to visit her parents. My Aunt Becky and her son Kyle came up from columbus to visit as well. It was nice to spent time with my moms family. Unfortunately we were only able to stay for a few hours before we had to get home. Tuesdays are busy at my house with all of my sisters activities. We drove them around town and picked up pizza for dinner (as tuesday is now pizza night at my house.) That night after dinner the kids made the traditional batch of christmas sugar cookies. Unfortunately this year the boys mostly watched "The Grinch" while the girls decorated. But the tradition was carried out which is the important part.

Wednesday all five kids and my mom braved Canton. It was busy and traffic was awful. My mom had errands to run and the kids had to get all their christmas gifts for each other. We went to Target, Dick's sporting goods, Khols, Michaels and Steak and Shake (for lunch.) Then we went to the Mall for a good 3-4 hours. My feet were so tired from walking back and forth and my shoulders sore from carrying all my bags and purse. My dad met us up their that evening and we all went to play lazar tag. It was a blast. They were pretty slow so it was only my family in the whole room. Andrew picked the perfect spot to pick people off from and I was getting frustrated. So I formed an alliance with my sisters so we could go get him. It didn't really work but we had fun anyways. We cornered my dad which was pretty funny, but I felt bad that all his little girls had teamed up to get him. After lazar tag we still had to go to Sam's Club, Jos A Banks and Walmart. We didn't get home till about 11pm (only 10 -11 hours after we left.) When we got home we found that the dog had eaten all but eight of the cookies we had made. What a shame, Those were good cookies!!! Lucky dog.

Thursday was spent mostly in my PJ'S watching How I Met Your Mother and Storage Wars while I wrapped gifts with my sister by the fireplace. Thats about all I remember. I was in a wrapping frenzy.

Friday my sisters and I went to run errands to find a few last minute gifts for people. We had fun spending time together as sisters. It isn't very often that we get to do that. They are both growing up so fast. I am so excited that it doesn't feel like they are 9 and 13 years younger than me. I love the bond that is growing as we get older and the age gap is less and less noticeable.
That night my friend Michelle, from high school, came over to see my family and I. I love it when you have friends that you may not see very often but when you do it is like nothing has changed. You still laugh at stupid things, the conversation flows just as easily and you feel "at home" with them. I hate that I live so far away from so many of my friends who I have that bond with. But I look forward to times like that night when we are able to reconnect and make new memories. After Michelle left Mike showed up. He had been driving all that day to get there. When he got there the ping-pond challenge began. He told everyone that the first person to beat him would win $10. I think everyone gave it a try, multiple times, but he still won. He remains undefeated on our table at home.

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