one decade ago...

Day 15...

Went into work and handed out Christmas bonuses. I always enjoy putting a smile on everyone's faces.

DAY 14...

Took and few moments and opened and read a whole slew of wonderful Christmas cards. It jsut isn't me though that enjoys seeing the faces of friends and family on these cards, or reading the updates on those we know and love; the kids can't wait to pull them from me and have a good look-- see as well. Thank you to all that have sent greetings our way. ;>

Day 13....

Took Lauren to see one of her dance teachers perform in a wonderful ballet, "The Nutcracker". It was 55 minutes of the most beautiful costumes I had ever seen. Thing that stood out the most: Miss Michelle's perfect dancing--and the big green blob of makeup covering up the large star tattoo on her back! This was once again, another lesson on why it is never good to get tattoo of any kind.

After that, Lauren made a darling card for her little sister at dance, and grabbed her gift and we were off to the Dance Team Christmas party. Dropped her off, came home and the boys were out

doing some Christmas shopping. Used the time to wrap some more gifts and do the dishes.

At 7pm, we all got in our fancy holiday clothes and drove up to the Honda Center in Anaheim. Andrea Bocelli was performing and we got there just in time! Took our seats and the lights went down and the orchestra began to play. It was enchanting. The voice of that man--well, I could have listened to him for hours. The first half of the show was filled with some of his opera hits, and the second half was all Christmas. He had one song where a dozen or so children came out and sang with him, "Santa Claus is coming to Town" --if you can imagine that! "Silent Night" brought tears to my eyes, and can that man hold a note! NIko said, "Man, I can only do that for two seconds and then I have to breath. He is awesome!"

I want our kids to witness excellence on many levels. I pointed out this man's success, not because of his voice, but in spite of his inability to see. When he sat down to play the piano, Niko was blown away. "How did he learn if he can't see?" Lauren enjoyed both halves of the show, and giggled when he had four curtain calls! Culture is all around us, thank goodness.

Day 12...

Cleaned up my red room today. Had a pile of presents under a burgundy blanket for two weeks now. Kids new they were there (I was testing their self-control--or maybe torture is the right word?). Hee Hee....anyway, I decided to wrap them all and place them under the tree. They were met with a big round of excitment (which I caught on my flip video camera!).

This was supposed to be our party night. With Juan getting sick though, we had to call it off. We were very disappointed not to get to see our dear friends, but we knew Daddy needed this time to get better. Scabs are there now, so he is not contagious anymore, but now it looks like he took a bad fall bike riding and skidded his face across the pavement. He was craving a meal out last night though, so we ventured to a restaurant we all liked, and then, with the light rain falling all around us, on the way home we drove around Ladera and looked at Christmas lights. Not as many as last year, but the home that did put up lights, went all out, more than usual. It was not our Christmas party, but we were together, and that was nice.

DAy 11...

Juan, on the mend. Doctor says he was lucky the lesion on his eye (from shingles) went away.

We are grateful.

Rainy morning, forgetful morning. Had to run home and get niko's binder, book report, sweatshirt (he thought he left at school) and both kids umbrellas. Then, I worked at school and helped pack up Christmas store. Got grays hairs on my head covered in a nice shade of brown. Grocery shopped, and washed one load of laundry. Made niko's favorite tacos for dinner, and Isabel came over and cooked plantains and beans and rice for "dessert". Only 6:22pm and I am ready for a hot bath and a good movie upstairs. Loving the rain. Tired and worn out, both.

At peace though. Gonna enjoy the weekend.

First 10 Days of December...

Day 1: Happy December! Put out my "Jesus is the reason" sign.
Day 2: Bought and delivered See's Candy to everyone at the office
Day 3: Christmas Shopping and finish putting up deocrations
Day 4: Volunteered at school to help set up Christmas Store--miss tree lighting in town square due to tennis lessons. Kids disappointed.
Day 5: Cleaned house and garage to prepare for our kids Christmas party
Day 6: Finish Christmas shopping and wrap some gifts. Juan gets sick. Went to doc and put on anit-biotics. They say it is an infection.
Day 7: Lauren has sore throat. Juan is worse--I send him back to Doctor because I think he has shingles and it was misdiagnosed. Niko is stir-crazy from the rain, so I play catch with him in the house. He loves it, and goes to bed easy tonight.
Day 8: Lauren a bit better, no fever, still sore throat. Juan does have Shingles--I run to the only pharmacy in South County to get his new strong antibiotics--over in Lake Forest. Forced to cancel Christmas Party. Too tired to cook- Drive to Pasta Bravo, and find out they went out of business. Drive to Panda Express, get dinner, serve dinner, grateful no dishes to wash.
Day 9: Take Juan to eye doctor. Shingles in his eye, ear, throat and nose now. Care for Juan, clean bathrooms, do two loads of laundry, address and mail tons of Christmas cards (while Juan sleeps), do banking, grocery shopping, and run kids to and from all after school activities. Try and remember to administer Juan's eyes three bottles of eye drops in the correct order: two of the bottles, four times a day, and the third, three times a day. Homework, pass out.
Day 10: Dishes, vacuum, pay bills, drop off toys for Toys for Tots. Deal with grumpy husband
whose had it with the nightmare of Shingles. Make chicken and asparagus for dinner. Boys grumble because I put something green on their plates. Lauren devours it. Dogs get out of kennels in middle of night and wake up Lauren. She wakes me up. NIko hears us and now we are all awake. Let dogs outside, clean up their mess, and we all go back to sleep.
Need to go feed dogs now because Niko forgot this morning. Then get lunch for kids (see posting below). Oh, and--- Juan says I'm getting absent minded because I forgot to buy his favorite bread at the grocery store. If the shingles doesn't take him out, I will.

Morning Musings...

It is like an ice box in here! I just turned on the weather channel (which I really enjoy for some odd reason!) and we are experiencing mild temps compared to the midwest. I cannot imagine living like under a blanket of snow like that. It is pretty to look at, but brrrrr!!!!

Finally, at 8am this morning, I lifted the heavy warmth of my comforter and shreaked as the chill rushed in, attacking my skin. Kids had been up for a hour getting ready for school. We had 30 minutes to get to the campus. Fortunately, it is only 1 minute away, but still, I had to get dressed, brush my hair and teeth, and make sure they had breakfast and lunches.

It is incredible how stiff my bones get in the winter. I managed to get my sweats on, and my hair pulled back, and the kids fed breakfast. Lunches? I told them I'd treat them to the lunch of their choice today. After a round of hurrays, I pulled on my uggs and ran them over to school.
Line up had already begun as they hopped out at the curb. Lauren blew me kisses, "Bye Mommy, Love you, Have a great day!" Niko grabbed his backpack and slid over the seat and jumped out, "Bye Mom!" I said, "Bye Loves. Bye Baby girl, Bye Sweet Boy. Love you!"
and they were off. I sat there, along the curb, and watched as they scooted off. Lauren was two yards ahead of Niko and her body language told her teacher she was making every effort to hurry. Niko (I had to smile) was going, but at his own pace. His body was saying, "I'm coming. I'll get there. I'm cool." And, they both did get there, in their own ways, in their own time.
Everything was fine. Something tells me this is indicative of the years to come, and that is just fine as well. :>

Progress...

Spent three hours so far Christmas shopping--80 % done, got cool things, unbelievable prices, and so easy!