Back to December

Six weeks without blogging. It's probably the longest I've ever gone. The holidays are always busy, but this year, was beyond. The 40 hours a week at Costco and 20 hours at my other job meant I had very little time for anything else. The time I did have off, I wanted to spend with family and friends. I've also tried to take some steps back from picture taking and posting stuff on social media. I've been tagged in a bunch of stuff, but I've only posted one thing on Facebook in over 4 months, and it was the snow!

What I've learned by working so much, is this... the time I get with my family is precious. All of us sitting down to dinner is something I don't take for granted anymore. Laying in bed at night with the boys and David and watching TV is something I miss dearly when I'm working nights. It's those little things that I appreciate since I'm not around as much.

I'm thankful for my husband who has stepped up beyond belief over the past 5 months while I worked. Yes, he's always been wonderful, but he has taken it to a new level. He does anything and everything for me and our family and never complains. He's incredible. And my sweet friends are all amazing. They take my kids to parades when we can't, and are always there if anything should happen. I'm so very blessed and thankful.

Ok, so here's our December recap.

Ben and Emily were both in a parade. Ben's on the left in a green sweatshirt. Emily was with the marching band doing her flag.

 The next day, Emily was in another parade in Prescott. This picture was better since it was daytime. I took this from the newspaper or something that was posted online.



 Em went to the tree lighting in downtown Prescott with friends. I hope to go to this one of these years. And this is where friends come in. Em got ready for the parade, and I was working. She's in a sweatshirt. It was freezing and raining out later, and Dakri had an extra coat for her. I saw her wearing it in another photo and was like, "I have the best friends." They make sure my kid is warm and dry when I'm not around. That's the best feeling.

Noah had his Christmas concert at school. He doesn't want to wear ties anymore.

They sang some cute Christmas songs. He was with all his friends and got separated when they ran out of risers. So, he had to go to the front row alone. He wasn't thrilled. But, the concert was nice. Grammie and Grampie joined us and we went for ice cream and to see the drive-thru light display after. It was a good night. I was so happy I got to be there.

We went down to my Dad and Suzy's for our annual Christmas party on Sunday. We do it the Sunday before Christmas as it works better with work schedules and it's kind of nice to not be out in holiday traffic. We can just relax at home.

I didn't take a lot of pictures, but I did take this one of my cousin Rory. He seems to age backwards or something. He's looked exactly the same for 20 years.

 

And here's my beautiful niece and her boyfriend. I'm so proud of her. She is such a hustler and my sister would be so proud. She works 2 jobs, goes to college and just got her first apartment with her friend.  I love her spunk.

 

The kids got a bunch of gifts! Thank you Grandma Suzy and Papa! 

 

Here's Emily trying to choke her brother, I think. I'm sorry, I took like 5 photos, so I was just trying to post something here.  

 

As we were leaving my Dad's, Enrique fell and hurt his hip. We got him to the van and home, but we found out the next day that he broke it. So, he had to get surgery on Christmas Eve. Boo.

Christmas day, Gwynne spent the night as she wanted to watch the kids open gifts. They really didn't ask for a lot this year, so they got some things they needed and wanted and that was it. We usually have bags of wrapping paper. It all fit in one garbage bag this year.  

 

Emily got her Apple airpods. 

 

Ben got some video games and these books. He loves useless trivia.  

 

 And Noah got this virtual reality headset. Ben is playing with it here, but it was the hit of Christmas. It's actually really, really cool.

  

The kids did a lot of this on their 2 week break....just relaxing with the cats.

 

David and I had a date day and we went to see Grampie. He's in a rehab facility and doing well. He should be out next week sometime and able to go home. But they were saying he may need 25% help getting up and in a wheel chair. He can't bear weight on his foot for another month. Gwynne isn't in a position to help him, so now, he may go to another facility for 3 weeks.

 

 Alisa and the kids were not planning a trip out here for Christmas, but after Grampie fell, they quickly made arrangements and came out for 4 days. 

David was teaching Rachel how to roll meatballs.

Alisa took the kids sledding in Flagstaff. These 3 are wild together, but they have so much fun.

These two boys are so sweet together. I'm glad they are so close.

 

 And then, we got the best news ever! David took Ben down to Phoenix for his eye appointment, and the doctor gave Ben the all clear. Basically, he doesn't need to see a pediatric eye specialist anymore. He can just go to a regular eye doctor up here for annual exams like everyone else!  We were so, so happy. This has been a 10 year journey of going to Phoenix 2-4 times a year, 2 eye surgeries, patching and everything else, and Ben is DONE!  It was the best news ever!

 Then, Pam came up for a visit. I hadn't seen her in 8 months! I don't know how that's possible and we barely made this visit happen. We had to meet when I got off work at 4 and then I had to work the next morning, but we made it work.

 

She brought the kids cookies and gifts and we had a lovely visit. 

Then, we hosted our annual New Year's party. Somehow, we've fallen into hosting this every year, and it's all good with us. We wear pajamas and do a puzzle. It's a raging party.

We have fun and we barely make it to midnight, but we make it! Everyone leaves at 12:03.

So, here we are...at 2020! On the 2nd, I went to work and got called in the office by one of the head honchos. He told me that they'd like me to stay past seasonal status!  So, I'm now an official Costco employee!  This week, the hours have finally tapered down to about 30, which I find is totally doable with the 20 I do at home for Bargain Believer. This is where things will be for now, and we are all good with it.  The kids are doing more around the house and Emily is even cooking some dinners for us. Well, reheating pasta sauce and boiling water, but hey, it's a start. David is busy doing things for his parents on weekends, which works fine since I work every weekend. We're settling into a nice groove for now and it's working for us.

I think my plan going forward will be to post a blog once a month. At the end of January, I'll see what phone pictures I took and do a post, and so on for each month. I don't like pressure on me to feel like I need to keep this blog going, but I also like these little recaps and I love that the kids have journal of their lives. I don't want to give it up. Thank you for hanging in there with us for all these years.