I’m Not Dead! (And Our Floors Are done)

I don’t think there were too many people out there wondering if I’d actually died or not, but I’m sure someone other than my mother was wondering if I was ever going to blog again.  I am!

I’d like to get back into a sporadic-regular blogging schedule, but we’ll let that work itself out in the future.  I have tons of stuff (by tons I mean about 5) to blog about, but I haven’t had the motivation to actually sit down and get any of it into word form. 

Anyway, I thought I’d update you on our floors.  They’re done!  They were done before Christmas, which meant we were able to host our annual family Christmas Eve celebration with my sister’s family and our mom.  I LOVE that Christmas get-together.  I love them all, really, but because this is the only one I host, it seems more special to me I guess.

Here is a look at our floors in the few Christmas pictures I could find that showed off our floors. I never took a really great AFTER picture, so these will have to suffice. 

This was the night that we actually finished.  I was in love.  We have since changed out the metal registers for wooden ones.

Here is the widest shot we have from our Christmas Eve party.  Those are my sister’s boys.  Jack (and the rest of us) LOVE them!   You can see how our dark coffee table and our dark secretary (in the back to the left of the tree) look with our dark floors now.  I like it. Though, I have my eyes on a light beige shag rug (that I’m hoping comes way down in price soon) to put under that coffee table.

This is our Christmas morning.  You may notice an absence of presents under the tree.  We usually stick to the rule of 3 presents for each of us, but this year, Rick and I decided to count our floors as our gift to each other, so we didn’t get gifts for ourselves.  I love how, on Christmas morning, I asked Jack “It’s Christmas morning, do you know what that means?” and his response was “Yeah!!  We get to get out the train!!” 

This last picture is blurry.  Too blurry to show as a good picture on a blog – unless you’re trying to show the length of the new floors you just put in, and you’re trying to protect the identity of the Plasma Car thief in our house.  It also does a good job of hiding the clutter in our kitchen. 

We love our floors, but it was HARD WORK putting them in.  It took about a week (or 2) longer than we expected, and we had two big situations that required us to pull up floor that had already been laid.  It was very interesting ad frustrating. 

Thanks for still hanging around my blog to see if I’m alive.  I appreciate all my readers, even the ones who never comment.  If you are so inclined, please leave me a comment today saying that YOU’RE alive, so I know if anyone other than my mother reads my blog.  I have missed you, blog friends! I hope to be around more often on your blogs as well as writing more posts for my own blog.

Happy 2012!

 

Where Did the Time Go?

I didn't blog through the whole Christmas season!  I know why.  I was busy.  Plain and simple. 

My first time being a SAHM for the holiday season turned me into a nut job.  I decided that I was going to make 10 different cookies for Christmas this year.  TEN!!  Who did I think was going to eat all of these cookies?  I gave a lot away as presents, but I still had a ton left.  Next year,  maybe I'll do just 3 or 4 types.  Or maybe I'll cut down the batches of the 10 I did this year, so I don't have so many left at the end of the season.

We had a GREAT time during our many family Christmas celebrations.  I loved having my sister's family and Mom down for Christmas Eve.  I love hosting them, and we always have such a good time being together.

 

After that, there are no pictures of family visits.  No more Christmas celebration pictures.  There was little celebrating for me. On Christmas Eve, Jack came down with the pukies.  He got sick around 2am and didn't go back to bed until around 4, after having rid his body of everything.  Then the diarrhea hit him.  We left a day late for our next family Christmas celebration, hoping to give Jack enough time to recover from whatever it was that he had.

While we were at my husband's family's house, I came down with whatever it was.  I stayed the entire evening upstairs in bed, while my family opened gifts and enjoyed each others company.  I was miserable.  I didn't even get to see my brother-in-law at all!  I want a do-over!

When we got home from the weekend, I found out that my mom had gotten whatever it was as well.  She was down for a few days because of it. 

Nice Jack...thanks for the Christmas present!

We spent the next week recovering, and enjoying our little family.  Jack came down with a cold on New Years day, which he's still hanging on to.  I'm glad to get back to a regular schedule.  We still have one more family Christmas gathering to do, and I'm hoping we'll all be well for it!

Cookie Fest '09!

For several years now, my sister has gone to my aunt and grandmother's house to bake Christmas cookies on one day close to Christmas.  They pick a few recipes, bake double batches, and split the goodies between the families.  I've always been left out, because I was teaching on the day they got together. 

But not this year!!!  This year I'm a SAHM, so I was able to join in the fun of baking oodles of cookies and visiting with my family.  I gathered my ingredients, containers, and apron, and I was ready!

Only one problem...JACK!

I brought the pack-n-play for him to stay in while I worked in the kitchen.  It turns out he didn't like that idea.  So, patiently, I strapped him in to my ring sling while I worked in the kitchen.  He didn't like that idea either.

I had my 11 and 9 year old nephews try to play with Jack and keep him occupied while I worked in the kitchen.  Turns out he hated this idea the most. 

So, I was stuck holding my child the whole time.  I was no help at all to my family!  I did manage to roll a few cookies in sugar, but that didn't count as much help in my book.

Since Jack didn't get his afternoon nap, he was a bit cranky all day.

 Finally, he and I sat in the big, comfy chair, while he took a late nap in my lap.  That was the best part of the day for me.

He can't scream when he's sleeping.