A little bit of everything

Christmas day was a little strange this year for our family. Since we celebrated it a week early so our Daddy could participate in Santa, we did not have presents to open on Christmas day. My dad came up to visit and on Christmas morning we all just looked at each other! It reminded me of the year all of my siblings were married except for me. I was 17. My sister just above me had just gotten married in August. Christmas morning came and my mom and I slept in. When we finally decided to get up, we politely opened our gifts, threw away the garbage, picked up novels that each of us had received, and planted ourselves on either ends of the couch for the next 5 hours. Occasionally, we would set our books down, glance at each other and laugh. It was the boring-est Christmas ever! At least until the rest of the family arrived later that afternoon. An hour before the gang arrived, we reluctantly dog-eared our books and gussied up. Weird. Strange. I don't think anyone can imagine what it is like to have such a quiet Christmas unless you are the last child of a large family and not just the last child but the straggler of the family. I am 5 1/2 years my sister's junior. This year, although it wasn't super quiet, it was different. Celebrating early is just NOT the same as celebrating on the real day! Hopefully we'll never have to do that again.

I did mention that Dad came to visit, right?! I brought him back with me for a few days. Having him at our house is an adventure. He tries to be helpful. He watched the kids for me for a couple of hours while I ran some erronds. I left early and didn't have the chance to change Matthew's diaper before I left as he was still sleeping! I came home and the first thing Elise said was, "Mom, you have got to change Matthew's diaper. He stinks! He's poopy!" I asked her, "How long has he been poopy?" She said, "I don't know, but a long time!" GREAT! My sister-in-law consoled me by saying it's probably not the first time nor will it be the last time that he's sat in a poopy diaper for longer than 10 minutes. And, she's right! He survived without any long-term damage!

The first couple of days with my dad were not so good. He was not doing well, but he finally loosened up after a few days. He is 74 and not in the best of health. He walks with a cane and uses a grabber to pick stuff up! I brought him back down to Logandale on Thursday and we've been here ever since. I think he's considering coming back with me to stay for an extended period of time. Not sure . . . I'll keep you posted.

Yesterday, while in the car driving home from my sister, Rebekah's, house, I popped in Toy Story 2 in the dvd. And the first thing Andrew said was, "Yee Haw, Cowboy!" My dad and I laughed and laughed! And, tonight, Elise shouted at Andrew at the restaurant over dinner, "Don't even think about doing that!" Oh dear!!! And sweet Matthew, he is just as sweet as can be. He never complains and says, "more, pease." How can I resist that?! He also uses "cool" and "uh-uh" (with emphasis on the second uh) and "uh-huh" (again with emphasis on second syllabal) regularly in his vocabulary. He's very soft spoken and whispers yes and no but shouts mom. I have such great kids! I love them so much! : )