This year the boys had three weeks off for Christmas break. At first it sounded great having them home for three weeks, but as it drug on things changed. The week and a half went fine, since we were traveling for Christmas and then there was the OSU game. The last week before school started I wanted to get a lot done, that was my mistake. I was trying to finish packing up Christmas stuff, and they just wanted to play. I wanted to get the house cleaned up, they still just wanted to play. The days that they could go outside I was able to get things done without major problems. Monday, Noah had a friend come over for a few hours. They enjoyed playing basketball and learning some new moves. Tuesday, I gave the boys haircuts. The highlight of my week since I was so tired of their long hair. If only they would let me cut it off! Then the rain started, John left for Las Vegas and things got crazy. I tried letting them play Wii and other things they don’t usually get to do, but they would always start fighting, complaining, and just being kids. I think they were ready to go back, even more than I was. They were bored and wanted to see their friends. I wanted a routine again. Vacations are hard because you really can’t get a routine going, before things change again.
Before going back to school we enjoyed a movie night and rented Hop. We had never seen it before. The kids seemed to enjoy it and now I have bunnies that keep hopping around. They also Skyped with Granny (John’s mom) and opened her Christmas gift. It was a sno cone machine. Right now I put it up on top of the popcorn machine, but I’m thinking come summer it will have a permanent home on our kitchen counter! Granny got to see Noah’s missing tooth and toys the kids got from Christmas.
Their first week back went well. Everyone survived waking up early again. Okay, Mom survived waking up and not getting to go back to bed for a little while. My boys have always been early risers, it’s Makaela and I that seem to have a problem with it. Noah and Caleb got back into the swing of homework in the evenings. The three little ones had some trouble since they just wanted to play with their big brothers when they got home. Tuesday, the little kids and I got to have a snow day. The big boys still had to go to school and work. I think Noah and Caleb weren’t happy that they didn’t get to play in the snow. It was melted by the time they got home.
To entertain themselves the little kids got the dress-up stuff out when they came inside from the snow. We had Super Kid, a Spider Princess Fairy, and Buzz Light-year.
I went on a super cleaning spree since I had less kids at home and we were going to have visitors that weekend. I got a few “normal” decorations put back out. Found places for the new toys and redid Makaela’s room. Makaela had been wearing pull-ups from about Thanksgiving, since she kept asking to go potty when we were out. It was easier to let her try and if she had an accident change her with pull-ups than diapers. That worked since I knew we weren’t ready yet for full potty training. With the start of the new year we started potty training. She is still working on it, but we were no longer using her dresser as a changing table so time for a change. We put her dresser in her closet and pulled out her pop up tree house tent. She was SO excited about it. I also hoped it would show her that going potty on the toilet made her a really big girl and she had a big girl room too. (Well at least until I get in there and really decorate her room! I’m a little slow at these things.)
Friday the first week was over. Everyone survived. All the Christmas was packed and ready to go in the attic. There was other items cleaned out of the house that needed to be put up in the attic. The Christmas toys had homes in the play room and Makaela loved her big girl room. Caleb came home from school that day with his first loose tooth. Week 1 of the new semester done! Glad to also have a three day weekend before week 2 starts!
