Holidays

Despite the weather, we were able to make the drive to Nebraska for Christmas. It was great to spend time with the family! We miss them all dearly. The kids were thrilled to get to spend the week with Grandma & Grandpa (and Mom was pretty thrilled to get a week off work and away from kids).

On New Years the weather held out again for us to meet Grandma & Grandpa to pick the kids up and bring them home just in time for Michael’s 10th birthday. He really enjoyed his party.

Today is the first day back to school after Winter Break. Michael was very excited but Bailey could have stood staying home for a bit longer (Mom knows exactly how she feels).

Done….I hope

I think I was able to finish the Christmas shopping this weekend. All I have left is to figure out what to put in the stockings. I think filling them with fruit snacks is a good idea…but we are still thinking on it.

Bailey didn’t want to go to school this morning. Can’t say that I blame her. I talked her into it with the promise of going to a Christmas party tonight. Michael has his first strings concert today….at 9:00 am….that is very frustrating. Normally I would have no problems taking an hour or so off from work but today I have training that I can’t miss. So I have to miss Michael’s first concert. Why in the world would the school have the concert at 9:00 in the morning???? I just don’t get it. Not everyone is a stay at home mom or dad. Frustrating.

The Light

I think I see a light. I think I may have figured the money situation so everything will work out. Now let’s just hope this light isn’t a train coming towards me.

Rock Band 2 is addictive (big surprise). I want to buy it….that won’t be happening any time soon so I will just check the library every day until I have to return the copy I have to see if another copy is available to take home.

I got the kids a subscription to GameFly for Christmas. I thought that would be a cheaper alternative to having games for them to play right away than spending hundreds of dollars.

Monday Again

Honestly, I have nothing against Mondays. I just like to play into the hype. I actually kinda like them. I spend all weekend with my kids, love them dearly, but I’m happy to get back to the world of grown people. Maybe that is a good sign that I like my job, when I don’t dread Mondays.

I’ve started eating oatmeal in the mornings…well, work mornings anyway. I’m not sure what the significance of that is. Just thought I’d share.

Still trying to figure out how we are going to manage paying for Christmas. I just keep telling myself, “It will be ok. We will figure it out.” If I lose that hope all I can do at that point is cry. I’m just really frustrated that I went through all that school, got a decent job, and we are worse off now than before. I’m desperately trying to figure ways to dig us out.

Pulling My Hair Out

My daughter reminds me WAY too much of me. Mainly the bad parts. Every morning she has to throw a hissy fit about something. I swear some mornings she makes it up. Most of the time it is over her socks or her shoes. She can never get them on right. Then she doesn’t like how they feel. So instead of just paying attention how to do it right, she continually does it the same way, gets mad, and throws a fit. This in turn causes the rest of the house to be crabby…well, except Michael. That kid smiles like a goon no matter what is going on in the morning. Yet he acts so sad by the time he gets home at night. Luckily most of the time we can pull him out of it. I’m sure he isn’t so much sad as tired because he loves school. He is so sensitive though. I don’t know how to react to him most of the time. He is either bouncing off the walls and driving everyone nuts or sitting like a zombie in front of his computer not wanting anyone to bother him.

Michael wants a Wii for Christmas. This year, like most other people I know, we are really strapped for money. I had come to the conclusion that we would not be able to afford one and I was ok with that. The last thing that kid needs is another video/computer game to distract him. We are constantly trying to keep him from playing them as is. Then Tony won a Wii at work. We were very excited that we would be able to give Michael what he wanted. Last night I came to the realization, to buy the extras and games it will cost another $300. We don’t have that money. But we can’t really give them (we were going to make the Wii a present for both kids) a gaming system without any games.

I’m torn. I want to just sell the Wii and use that money to buy other presents for the kids. But I know how much the kids would love it and I know how much Tony wants it.

I hate Christmas!