We had a good Christmas

 Happy rainy Tuesday everyone! Our weather is so weird here. It was raining on Christmas Eve and Christmas as well. We actually had to open doors at my parents' house on Christmas as it was warm out...almost 70 degrees. Anyways, I am getting ahead of myself. 

We had a nice Christmas Eve. Bill had to work until 4 and he said it was CRAZY! After he came home, we decided to order take-out Chinese for the adults and get Wendy's for the kids for dinner. We typically eat out for dinner on Christmas Eve, but we just didn't feel like it. After dinner, we drove around for a while looking at Christmas lights in the neighborhoods. Then we came home to find that Mrs. Claus had left a note for the kids to say they were on the nice list and some new pajamas for the family. This year was a "Good Mythical Morning" theme. Then it was time to watch "Elf." That is a tradition we started a few years ago.

After the boys went to bed, I napped in the recliner and Rebecca and Bill were on their various devices while we watched the NORAD Santa tracker. Rebecca and I then changed and went to Midnight Mass at our church. It was a nice church service and we got home around 1AM. After Rebecca went to bed, I filled stockings and headed to bed myself.

The boys let us sleep until around 8:30AM. Then we headed downstairs to find that the cats had gotten into their stockings and were LOVING all over their cat nip filled toys. LOL.

We all opened stockings and then Rebecca and Ben passed out presents. We took turns opening gifts. We opened our gifts from Santa and then we watched the kids take turns opening their gifts. We all received some lovely gifts. 

Then it was time to make veggie pizza to take my parents house. It was super yummy looking. I am glad that I had bought cream cheese a couple weeks ago because none of our stores (IGA, Kroger, Aldi, and Walmart) had any cream cheese in stock for the last 2 weeks. 

We spent the afternoon and evening at my parents house. We had a yummy appetizer based dinner and I ate WAY too much! The kids had fun playing with the dogs, spending time with their cousins and aunts and uncles, and watching the Packers/Browns game! Then it was time for presents and we received some nice gifts again as well. We ended the night with taking family photos in front of the Christmas tree.  

Then it was time to head home, where I crashed into bed and slept soundly as I was exhausted. Happy, but exhausted. 

Sunday, the kids and I went to church and then we came home and vegged. Ben put together one of his Lego sets that he got for Christmas. We watched some football and I made burgers for dinner. Seemed appropriate for almost 60 degree weather. 

Monday, I started the day by grocery shopping for the week. Then it turned into movie day at the house. We watched "Encanto" again as it is now on Disney+. We also watched "Thor: Ragnorak" which is my favorite Marvel movie. I also spent some time reading a new book for a new online book club that I joined. 

Today, it was raining again. I got some laundry done this morning and then took the kids to see "Sing 2" at the theater for bargain Tuesday. It was a cute movie. Tomorrow I am planning on taking down the Christmas decorations as the mess is starting to get to me. 

How was your Christmas? Anyone else getting Christmas put away or am I being a Scrooge?   

Cookies galore and Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Eve everyone! Are you ready for the big day? I am as ready as I am going to be and that is okay. Yesterday, I spent the majority of the day making cookies and wrapping gifts. 

We made peanut butter blossoms, peanut butter cup and sugar cookies. Last night we decorated the cookies as a family and it was fun...messy...but fun!

 

After, we watched "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and just spent time together. It was a great day! 

Today, I have made kolacky dough which has to chill for an hour (which is giving me time to hop on here) and that is about it. Bill is working and the kids are supposed to be cleaning their rooms or no visit from Santa tonight. ;) Later I will make the poppy seed kolacky. I will make up plates of cookies for my neighbor and to take to my mom's house tomorrow. I am not sure what we are doing tonight. I kind of want to get take out Chinese food and then we will drive around looking at Christmas lights. Rebecca and I will go to Midnight Mass tonight and then it will be home to play Santa and head to bed. I am sure the boys will be up early tomorrow morning. 

I will probably not be on here much the next couple days, so I will leave you with my wish of a very Merry Christmas from our family to yours! 

Spider-Man and Encanto

 Happy Wednesday everyone! How's your Christmas preparations coming along? All done shopping? All done wrapping? Cookies all baked? Food all figured out? Well, here the shopping is done. Some wrapping is done, but no where near done. Cookies haven't been made and I do know what I am taking to my mom's for Christmas appetizer dinner so I guess that is good. So what have I been doing the last 2 days...well, still trying to rest and not do to much. 

That being said, I did take the kids to the movies the past 2 days. Bill, the kids and I went to see that new Spider-Man movie yesterday for bargain Tuesday at our local theatre. You should know that I am not a Spider-Man fan at all. I think he is a whiny, annoying teenage boy. However, we do things for our kids that we don't necessarily want to do and going to see "Spider-Man: No Way Home" was one of those things. Well, I won't give away any spoilers but let's just say that Spider-Man grew up in my eyes and wasn't all that bad in this movie. In fact, I thought the movie was pretty good and I have a new respect for Spider-Man. I won't choose to watch his movies over say, Thor or Iron Man but it was good. It had all the feels. Bill and the kids loved it as well.

Today, Ben asked if we could see "Encanto." So we decided to go. It was a cute Disney movie. I don't think it was as good as say "Moana" but the music was cute and it was a good story. Ben loved it.

 

Right now, I have chicken enchiladas in the oven and am sitting here relaxing. Tomorrow I have plans to finish wrapping (I have wrapped Bill's gifts, Santa's gifts, and the gifts to take to my parents house, but have not wrapped any of the kids' gifts!). I also think we will make and decorate sugar cookies tomorrow as Bill has the day off work. He needs the break as he is working retail and work has been CRAZY! 

Have you been to the movies lately? What's the last movie you saw in the theater? Are you ready for Christmas?  

Christmas Concert and leading up to Christmas

Happy Tuesday everyone! So sorry for not checking in last week. It was our last week before Christmas break and it was full of holiday busy-ness. 

Monday the 13th, we attended Rebecca and Jacob's Winter Concert. The high school choirs and the middle school choirs combine for a wonderful winter concert each year. This is the 1st year in the last 4 that we were able to go. The first year, Rebecca got the stomach bug and couldn't attend. 7th grade they cancelled the Christmas program due to COVID. 8th grade (last year) they did a "virtual" Christmas program that they recorded during school. It was so special to be able to attend the concert in the beautiful chapel on the campus of Mount Vernon Nazarene University. 

Jacob and the 6th grade choir did a wonderful job. I did have to laugh as when Jacob went on stage, I noticed that his shirt was untucked and he looked like a pre-teen boy, unlike the tucked in pictures that we took before I dropped him off for warm-ups. 

One of the songs that the 6th grade choir performed was "Bring on the Snow." 

 

Rebecca and the Women's Chorus sounded amazing as well. Rebecca had a small solo in one of the songs and she sounded great. 

Rebecca had a small solo in "Christmastime" and I think they did a great job!

Rebecca and the Women's Chorus was super excited to perform "Mary, Did You Know?" (the Pentatonix arrangement). 

At the end of the concert, they had all 5 choirs on stage for the finale and I can just say we are truly blessed with a great choir director who is new to our district this year and really has a passion for bringing out the best in these kids.

The rest of the week was busy with working 4 days, getting presents wrapped that the kids needed for school, basketball practices, the different spirit days that the kids needed outfits for, Rebecca's hair appointment, etc. It was organized chaos I think. I was truly grateful when Sunday came around and there was NOTHING on my calendar. I saw a friend at PSR on Sunday morning and she said she was glad to see me smiling. I said that was because after I taught my class I didn't have ANYTHING on my calendar for the next 2 weeks! I really need a break. 

After we came home from Church, I did absolutely nothing except cook dinner. I napped, read a book, and just rested. And it felt wonderful! I had a few moments of feeling guilty, but I just reminded myself that I need to rest and I did.  Monday was a little bit of the same, except I did a couple things like take the kids to Walmart to buy their dad something for Christmas and I helped wrapped those gifts. Other than that Monday was also a day of resting, including reading another book.

Today, I have been to the grocery store to get produce, milk and Mountain Dew for Bill. I hope that I don't have to go to another store until after Christmas. I also took the kids to a local candy store to buy gifts for each other. Now the boys are playing on the Wii, Rebecca is crocheting and I am taking a break from reading another book. I am not sure what the rest of today will bring, but I will say that I am trying to focus on resting as much as possible! 

How are you coming with your Christmas plans? Are you ready or still have things to do? 

Ben's Concert, Rockapella, & a Stress Test

Happy Saturday everyone from extremely windy Central Ohio! It is extremely windy here today and we are actually under and wind advisory for the day. It is grey and gloomy and feels like a day to snuggle up and take a nap. But alas, I have things to do after a busy week. I thought I would take a break from doing laundry and hop on here for a while. 

It was a very busy week. On Wednesday, we had Ben's school Christmas program. Ben was looking forward to performing for us. His 4th grade class did a great job and was enthusiastic. They loved playing the drums (Lowes buckets turned upside down.) 

His school did 2 concerts. One at 6:00 for those families whose last names were from A-M, and then one at 6:45 for those families whose last names were from N-Z. They said that they did this so that those families who wanted to social distance could, but quite honestly there wasn't much social distancing going on and it was pretty well attended. After his 1st performance was over, Rebecca and I left as we had a mother-daughter date to go to.

 

We went to see "Rockapella" perform at Knox Memorial Theater here in our town. 

Rockapella is an acapella singing group best known for singing the theme song for "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?" They were performing "Christmas with Rockapella." It was a really fun show and they were amazing! Seriously if you have a chance to see them, I would highly recommend. 

Their "drummer" blew me away with his talent. There were absolutely no instruments and their vocals were amazing. The lead singer and the "drummer" vocalist have been with Rockapella for over 25 years. 

It was a really great show and Rebecca enjoyed herself as well! It was also a nice distraction for me as I had to have my stress test on Thursday morning. 

My stress test was tiring. I was at the hospital around 3.5 hours and a lot of it was waiting. When I got checked in they inserted an iv and then shot radioactive dye into it. Then I had to wait around 45 minutes before they could take photos of my heart at rest. Then it was time to do the treadmill part. They almost didn't do it as I had 2 abnormal EKGs beforehand but they decided they could do it. So I was on the treadmill. During the last minute or so of the treadmill, they inserted more dye through the iv and then I had to go back to the waiting room and wait 45 minutes or so before they called me back to take more photos of the heart. Like I said, lots of waiting. I ended up napping for 2 hours in the afternoon as I was exhausted. 

Yesterday afternoon, I heard from my cardiologist office and they said that my stress test came back negative. My cardiologist thinks that my issues are long-term COVID issues still and they just want me to keep doing what I am doing. They do not believe any meds will help with my pain issues. I am so tired of dealing with all of this. I have decided that I will go back to doing what I was doing in the Summer--- basically restarting my cardio rehab program but at home and going to eat less processed food to see if that helps. I will do this through the first part of next year. Then if I am still having issues, I will go back to my Primary Care Doc and ask her opinion and see if she can refer me to get a 2nd opinion from a larger hospital in Columbus. And if I feel like I have to go to the ER, I will have Bill take me to Columbus and not deal with our county hospital. It is so frustrating. I guess I should be glad they didn't find anything on the stress test, but then why am I still feeling like this? 

Today, I am just doing laundry and slowing getting some cleaning done. All of my Christmas shopping is done. I need to start wrapping. It will get done. Bill is feeling a little bad today as he had his COVID booster yesterday. Just laying low is the name of the game today. 

What are you up to this weekend? What's the weather like where you are? Have you ever heard of Rockapella?  

St. Nick Day 2021 and a health update

Happy Wednesday everyone! I am home today as my nephew doesn't have school so I am watching him so that my mom can work. It is fine as I have a super busy evening tonight and I haven't been feeling the greatest. In fact in an update on my health...my cardiologist ordered a stress test and insurance approved it on Monday. It is scheduled for tomorrow morning and I am really nervous. I hope to get some answers tomorrow as to why I have been having chest pain again or at least answers to rule out the heart. I cancelled work on Monday as I wasn't feeling good and really just needed a day at home. I organized all the Christmas gifts that I had ordered/bought and realized that I am done with all my shopping (I even have the stocking stuffers for Bill and the kids.) The last thing I was waiting for came in the mail on Monday so I am set to go. Now I just need to wrap...I might start that this weekend. Yesterday, I did work as I am the only substitute who is trained to work at a certain school. The woman who works it full time is out with COVID unfortunately. Another long time employee is working it on the days I can't. As long as the kids get fed that is what is most important. It took all my energy yesterday and last night I didn't feel good-- my chest and back were hurting. I am just sick and tired of feeling like crap. So as much as I am not looking forward to the stress test tomorrow morning, I am praying it will give me some answers. So that was the update on my health stuff right now....

Now onto more festive topics...🎄🎅🤶🎄. Monday was the feast day of St. Nicholas. We have a tradition in our house that shoes are left on the eve of the feast day (Dec 5) and overnight "St. Nick" fills them with a treat and an ornament for the year that says something about that person. We started doing this when Rebecca was little (and after I heard about it from a school kid at the school I was teaching) and I love it. 

This year's ornaments were: 

Rebecca received a silver choir girl ornament.  This is to represent her continued love of music!

Jacob received a choir ornament, as he joined his middle school choir AND a community choir this year. 

Benjamin received a personalized Ninjago ornament. During quarantines and shut downs, Ben fell in love with the show "Lego Ninjago" on Netflix and he has watched the series through several times. He loves it!

 

Bill received an ornament that represents this year...including the vaccine, Bernie Sanders, etc. 

I received a cafeteria lady ornament that I promptly dropped and broke. Ooops. I have a replacement coming in the mail (along with one for my mom who saw mine and wanted to know where hers was? LOL)

It is really fun looking at the different ornaments on the tree and to see what the kids used to be into and there is quite a collection. My nephew even remarked today that we had a lot of ornaments. LOL

Well, I need to end this here. I need to find Ben's nice clothes for his school Christmas concert tonight and I need to iron them. Rebecca and I are also going to a Christmas concert here in town tonight after Ben's concert so it will be busy, busy, busy. Does St. Nick come to see you? Do you have special ornaments? 

Christmas Tree and Candles and Carols

 Happy Tuesday everyone! I thought I would hop on here for a few minutes and update this here space while I had a free moment. I have to go to work here in about 20 minutes so let's see what I can come up with.... I know I have been kind of lax about being on here, but between work, my health, being tired, and all the craziness that is December I just haven't had time. I read others blogs usually in the morning while I am eating breakfast or while I am waiting in my van to pick up a child from school or an activity, but it is hard to comment on my phone. 

Anyhow... the craziness of December has crept in and we are trying to get into the spirit of Christmas around here. It has been kind of hard this year but we are trying. 

Bill and the kids put our Christmas tree up. I enjoy looking at the ornaments and the decorated tree, but I have always hated actually fluffing the tree out and the decorating part. So this year I decided to sit back and watch and take photos and be the supervisor! LOL I think they did a great job. All of the ornaments on the tree have meaning. One of Rebecca's teachers saw a picture of the tree and commented that we have no bulbs on the tree. Nope. All the ornaments are significant to something going on in our lives or the kids' lives throughout the year. 

I have also been trying to make an effort to incorporate more experiences into our Christmas season this year. Saturday night we attended an event called "Candles and Carols" at a local park. There were over 700 luminaries lit and hot chocolate and cookies provided. You were to stroll along the paths and listen to a couple different groups caroling. Rebecca's high school choirs were asked to sing and it was great. She sang with the women's chorus and it was beautiful. Cold, but beautiful! 

Well, I am going to end this here as I need to get ready to head to work. I am really not looking forward to it but it is what it is. What are you up to today? Have you done any Christmas-y experiences this year?