Today was nice!

Yesterday Ryan came home for less than 24 hours...unfortunately I don't think he got to enjoy it too much because (1) he was sick and mostly slept and (2) the kids were grouchy as all get out! He left for sunny Florida again this morning... :(

The kids were in a MUCH better mood today. They came into our room at around 8:30 so we enjoyed some snuggles while watching cartoons. The kids drank some milk, I had some coffee. It was very laid back and relaxing. Then we headed downstairs for breakfast. Last night I assembled an "art basket" that they shared...it had various things in it...glue sticks, stickers, colored popsicle sticks, tissue paper, paint pens, colored pencils, scissors...they did "art projects" for about an hour! Austin declared he was giving his to Aunt Bubbles and she was going to "blove it!" Caitlin always says she's giving her stuff to Gramma. Caitlin managed to use an entire glue stick without gluing one thing! You figure that one out!!! After that we headed to the basement. They played soooo nicely until naptime at around 1pm. Then we all took a little snooze until 4pm (I only fell asleep around 3pm so don't be too jealous...no 3 hour nap for mommy!). After a little snack I gave them a bath and put their pj's on because we had an exciting night ahead of us!

Their special treat was a car ride in their jammies to look at Christmas lights. And that's what we did!!! We stopped at Wendy's and the kids ate jr. cheeseburgers while we drove around town. We drove past the town hall, through some neighborhoods, and through this huge display at Reynolds (a John Deere place). We probably drove around for about an hour and 20 minutes listening to Christmas music and chatting about everything we saw. Caitlin saw some light up reindeer and said, "I wish Daddy would set up my reindeer." I told her I would tell him she said that and that it would probably melt his heart. She said, "No! Then his heart would be broken!" She was cracking me up. Austin was kind of being a stinker today but he was so sweet too...while we were at a stop light I turned around to smile at him and he gave me the biggest grin like he was having the time of his life! Then when we got home he wanted me to carry him and dance! He loves that!

At bedtime I read them a Mary Engelbreit edition of "The Night Before Christmas". That particular book gets me all teary eyed because I bought it at a book fair at Montwood (where I taught) shortly after Ryan and I married, with the intention of reading it to our children someday soon after that. There were a lot of discouraging Christmases where I thought I would never get the chance to do that. So every time I read them that book, it is special. They are our miracles & that book reminds me that God fulfilled the deepest desire of my heart.

Well, suppose I should go straighten up...busy day tomorrow...speech and eye dr. - woo hoo!