A little Down Time

I've been away from the blog. I know you noticed. I've been missing it a little, but I needed to be away. Hubby has had some much needed time off and I needed to be with him. It was nice to have him home for a little while. I always get incredibly spoiled when he's here. It was nice to spend some time as a family, just focusing on us. We get incredibly spoiled with that, too.

Christmas was nice and relaxed for us. It was a welcome change from the past when it seemed very rushed and loud and tense. This year it was just us. We went to the late Christmas Eve service and it was wonderful. I greeted. Love that. There was no greeter at the door when we got there, so I decided we needed one. It is one of the busiest days at church and to not have someone standing there, making you feel welcome when you arrive is just wrong. Hubby said I did it to show off my new zebra print shoes. No, but it was nice when they got noticed.

New Year's was quiet as well. Since the kids have come along, we have decided not to travel on that night. It's more important to us to start the new year and end the old one with the people that matter to us most. I made some finger foods, which seems to have become a tradition, and we snacked all night and played games and had tournaments on the Wii. Lots of laughter and fun and kisses when the clock struck twelve. And we all slept until about 10 the next morning. I don't remember the last time I slept that late. That was lovely.

We started back to school yesterday. We've been off for three weeks, so it was time to get started. The kids weren't as ready as I was. At least they say they weren't. I could tell, though, that all the mostly unstructured days were starting to grate on them. And when it grates on them, they grate on each other. Even though we had a rough start, they seemed thankful to have something to do. The boy almost drove me off the deep end, but that's what he's good at. I have a feeling that if he was in public school, the teacher would want to medicate him. He speaks out of turn (wonder where he got that?), likes to make funny sounds, and generally tries to always be the center of attention.

We get back to our regular activities this week. Dance starts this week and co-op next week. I'm ready for both. I miss my dance class. I've been practicing the Broadway step as often as I can. I love it. I'm trying to become more confident so maybe one year I'll do the recital. We'll see if that ever happens. I have planned a field trip for the co-op to a local radio station. I am very excited about it. We listen to the station all the time, and we are excited about meeting some of the personalities that we hear every day. I am planning one to a local carriage museum. Hubby was fixing their phones yesterday and asked about field trips. They even offer a bus. If the bus is free, we may take advantage of it. If it costs money, not so much. I'm trying to set up a trip to the local airport, but good luck finding someone to talk to about it. There's not really a person to talk to about it since they don't have a tower. They do have a customs agent, but good luck finding that number in the phone book. It's all 800 numbers and I am not calling one of those. They list things like Drug Smuggling. Thanks, but no.

We've actually completed a couple of big projects. One has needed to be done for quite awhile. We replaced the faucet in the kitchen. It's been leaking and every now and then when you lift the handle, water would go spraying across the kitchen. Stand in the wrong spot and you get sprayed. The problem with that is you never knew when it would spray and you never knew where. I finally have a new one that doesn't spray. Well, only when you press the button on the sprayer. I really like that feature. It makes it easier for getting gunk off the dishes. The living room got rearranged. We put it back to what it used to be. It got to the point that I was feeling way too pinned in. We cleaned it up, got rid of some stuff, put some stuff in other places, and opened it up. It is so much bigger and has really opened up to usable space. We do need more light in the evening time, but that is a project for another time. We have enough room to do yoga as a family instead of all scrunched up.

We finished The Incredible Journey. That was a great book. I even cried a little at the end. Hubby had even asked me to wait to read until he was home for dinner. He didn't want to miss any of it. I hadn't read the book before, and it was nice to be able to share it with my family. Our new book on CD is The Black Stallion. I haven't read it, either, so we'll see how this one goes. Being able to share books with my kids and introduce them to new things has been amazing for our family. I bought Chik-Fil-A calendars and they have a literary theme. It has inspired me to find kid friendly versions of some of the books and have that as our nightly read. Our first one is The Three Musketeers. I am really looking forward to it.

Other than that, we've been pretty boring. I like it that way. I'm trying to keep a low profile and stay out of trouble. Good luck with that. My goal this year is to blog more, while spending less time on the computer. That means not so much meaningless time when the computer is on. I have an opportunity to write a couple of articles for a health magazine that a friend is buying. We'll see how that goes. One day soon, I could be a published writer. When it happens, I can mark that off my list. I like marking things off my list.

Have a great day!