Five Things for Friday (on Sunday)

1.  People, people, people.  We had so very much fun having our college boys and Grandma and Grandpa home for Christmas!!! What a great time!  I was so sad to send them back to college....and all of my little people were sad and emotional too.  It is so very hard on those little people.  I had no idea.

I am the oldest child at my house.  When I left, that was it---I left.  Now on this end, as the mother, with the big kids coming and going, it is so emotional for the little ones.  We have to have lots of talks about wanting our college boys to become good men and wanting them to be prepared to support a family and the spiritual growth they will have where they are instead of staying here.  We love having them home and the little ones get so excited.  Then the night before they leave or the morning of, the little people struggle.  Friday night Shorty was struggling to be nice to people and to be obedient.  (Departure time:  7:30 a.m. Saturday)  Saturday afternoon, Sun admitted to being mean to people over and over again because she was so upset that Scuff had left.  I just really had no idea how difficult it is for the little people.

2.  Back to the routine.  Having the big kids home and extra relatives in town, our schedule and eating was all out of whack!  I think I didn't really do any laundry until yesterday (for three weeks....).  I started laundry on Friday and kept the washer and dryer functioning pretty much non-stop during waking hours.  I still have four loads that I know of (for myself) and Sun has two.

Drew and I have committed to our eating and exercising schedule beginning tomorrow!  Ugh!  But it will be helpful in the clothing department...I would like most of my clothes to fit again :-)  Classes begin on Monday, including seminary.  I am looking forward to putting the little ones to bed just a little early tonight so we can be awake and prepared for tomorrow.

3.  Teething.  OH MY GOODNESS!!!  I am soooooooooooooooooooo done with teething!  Poor little Spike, Spike.  He is the worst teether I have ever had!  He is super clingy.  He only wants to be held.  He won't eat anything.  He refuses, most of the time, to take medicine that would help him to feel better.

I could not figure out why I was so exhausted and frustrated with him yesterday.  Then I realized that I had prepared four breakfasts for him and he had eaten none of them, including a glass of rice milk.  He was whiny and hanging on me and crying and had been for a while.  Then I thought, oh, he is hungry and hasn't eaten anything I have given him.  What will that kid eat???  Oh!  I added chocolate to his milk (I know, bad mother....some days it is more about the nurturing than nutrition!), and fed him half an avocado.  Then he ate the other half.  Then he was happy.  Then we did the entire scenario over again at lunch.  By four pm, I forced ibuprofen down him and we had a less dramatic evening, though he still got up in the middle of the night.  Maybe once these eye teeth cut, we will finally sleep!  OK, well, maybe after the two-year molars!

4.  Putting Christmas away.....
I don't know about you, but with all of our guests and fun that we have been having, I have not bothered to try and put away the decorations.  It took me several days to be willing to put them up and now I am taking more time in putting them away.  Part of that, of course, is that I am spending my time nurturing a teething baby.  Alright, alright.....I will put them away this week.

5.  The crazy basketball schedules have begun.  So our schedule on Saturday looked like this:
5:30 a.m shower
6:00 a.m. help everyone get up and have breakfast, say goodbye
7:00 a.m leave for the airport to take the college boys to catch their plane.
9:00 a.m. leave the airport for home
9:30 a.m. arrive home, grab breakfast
9:45 a.m. leave for 8th grade basketball tryouts
10:00 a.m. basketball tryouts
11:00 a.m. arrive home
11:30 a.m leave with honey to deposit $ in the bank
12:00 arrive home and feed people lunch
12:45 p.m. leave for a baptism
1:00 p.m. attend the baptism
2:00 p.m have a conversation with someone at the baptism
2:45 p.m leave the baptism, pick up Shorty for a basketball game he was suppose to be at right now
3:00 p.m. Watch Shorty's basketball game
4:20 p.m. left the basketball game, came home, prepared dinner.
5:00 p.m. fed people, began the last 3 hours of Pride and Prejudice that I fell asleep during the night before
6:30 p.m went walking with hubby
7:00 p.m read and prayed with kiddos, turned back on Pride and Prejudice
8:00 p.m. put kiddos in bed
9:00 p.m. finished Pride and Prejudice
10:00 p.m. Headed to bed
2:00 a.m. up with the baby
3:00 a.m. back to sleep
Church in the morning (Yea!!)

Heather's Five for Friday