Checking in

I feel like I haven't posted for a while. It's been busy around here. AND COLD!

It's SIX BELOW right now. I have an errand or two I'd like to run, but I have no desire to take 3 small children out in this weather. It's sunny, but frigid. Ugh.

It's also stopping me from running our Christmas gifts around the neighborhood. We got almost half delivered Sunday night and haven't gotten back to it yet. The ward choir is going caroling next Friday. I wonder what the chances of a decent warm-up by then are? Weather plagued us in June when we were trying to have our summer picnic. We must be a cursed choir!

Our tub situation has not really improved. Since Daniel gets to have braces, our tub fund has been hijacked. Now, the only way to fill the bathtub is via the shower head. Why does it seem that the water builds up really fast around your ankles when the drain is plugged, but when you're actually TRYING to fill it, things take forever? We've got the holes covered with a shower curtain liner and the trusty all-purpose board. The plastic is billowing from the cold air currents flowing under the house. It makes me long for a heated toilet seat! Maybe I'll plug some of the holes with washcloths the next time the tape comes off.

I am done with Christmas shopping (except for Chad's stocking). I am not done with Christmas sewing or Christmas cards (though the letter is written). I have to finish Christmas pajamas so that I can get pictures for the cards and my December calendar page. I am looking forward to being able to sit in front of the Christmas tree BEFORE Christmas day and do nothing while soaking up the twinkle of colored lights.

We've started sleeping Sarah in her crib. So the trips to the crib every two hours are starting to take their toll. Ugh. I am tired. I hope she can sleep through the night before too much longer. I can't remember what it feels like to do that.

We were in Hagerman this past Monday for a special FHE. We picked up the boys from school about 2:45 and arrived about 5:30. The kids had fun with their cousins and I was sure they'd be sleepy in the car. This is good and bad. Good because they'll sleep, bad because when they do wake up, they'll be monsters. Between the snow plows and the screaming kids, I nearly crashed the van. I did have to drive onto the median once, but the kids slept through that. Often, there were 3 kids going at it at once. Daniel didn't cry at all...probably because he slept through it all. I was crying; mentally.

Chad and I must have been playing "good cop, bad cop" because while I was making threats and counting to three (I used to be able to count higher than that, before I had kids), he was talking kindly and trying to find things that would make them happy. I was just looking for the biggest telephone pole to wrap the van around. We got home just after midnight.

So while we love visiting family, I'm really DREADING making trips to anywhere over 100 miles away. I think we have to set a ban on driving in the dark. And not at the same time that the murderous snow plows are out. They don't just plow snow, they plow you!

And now you're caught up. :)