Winter Break

One thing I like about the kids not having school is that there is no crazy rushing around in the morning to get everyone up, dressed and fed and out the door. However, I must admit that I miss my quiet time. Okay, I'll admit it's not really quiet time since I have one child atleast with me in the mornings and usually up to three. But it is amazing how just taking a couple kids out of the mix makes the house seem quieter. Though I gotta say so far they are all being really good...must be that threat of Santa is still watching you and can take all your presents away! I've been trying to keep them busy though with making cookies and crafts and they seem to be enjoying that. We made a craft yesterday with the perler beads that kept them busy for over an hour since it takes quite some time to put one bead on each peg in the design they pick out and then I would iron the beads together for them. Jayde unfortunately missed out on this project since she was at a birthday party so we will be doing them again today once the little guy is down for a nap. I'll have to take pictures of them this time to show you just how hard they are working on these!

Last week was their last week of school until next year...which of course really confused some of them. Jayde asked me if that meant she would be in a different class when she got back. I then had to try and explain to her that they would be going back in a new year, not a new school year...I'm still not sure if she totally understood that or not. Last week was pretty crazy though, since we are getting just slammed with snow over here. Everyday except for Friday (which they get an early release anyways) was delayed two hours. And jammed into that week I helped out in both Jayde and Doogie's classes with their "winter" parties. I like to be able to help out in their classes, it's always fun to see what they are doing and it's a good way to get to know the other kids in their classes and also the other parents who volunteer.

Last Friday Doug went on his annual Christmas shopping with his good friend. Since I noticed that some of the prongs on my wedding ring were bent I asked him if he would take it in and have the jewlers fix it while he was up at the mall. When he dropped off the ring he called me back and asked me what the heck I had done to my ring! It seems like the prongs weren't only bent, but a couple of them had completely broken off! So I am pretty lucky that I didn't lose my diamond! The jewlers had to send it off to get fixed and it is going to take around 3 weeks before I'm going to get it back. I feel pretty naked without it! I didn't realize how much I mess around with my ring, I will be pretty happy when I get it back!

Everyone is pretty excited that Christmas is almost here. The bottom half of my Christmas tree is looking pretty bare (except for the lights) since we had to keep moving things up higher and higher to keep CJ from destroying things (and the cats too!) We had considered actually going up to Seattle for Christmas this year (since both Doug's sister's are up there now) and we thought it would be fun for the kids to be with their cousins on Christmas to open presents...but with the weather being like it is, it just didn't seem like a good idea this year. So we will be staying home for Christmas and having Christmas dinner at our house. The house won't be quite as full as it was for Thanksgiving (we had a total of 18), but 13 still isn't bad!

So anyways, we are just hanging out trying to stay warm in this crazy weather (which by the way I just look out the window and it is snowing once more). So the Crowe Family is wishing all of you a very merry Christmas and I promise I will try and post some more pictures soon!