All About Us

We had a very quick, smooth, and uneventful drive up to the Portland area, but not nearly so pleasant a drive home.  There was quite a bit of snow and slow speeds for the last 6 of 15 hours.  It was a bummer, but we were so happy to arrive home safely.  And our sweet neighbors who were taking care of our menagerie of animals left us a welcome home message.

Here is the chariot that brought us safely home.  My dream car-- a prison van.

Christmas is all about the children, right?  I'm good with that.  I mean, I bought myself a pencil sharpener and Abe bought himself a CD for Christmas.  We're easily satisfied. 
Well, if Christmas is for children, then the week after Christmas is all about the parents.

Thursday night Abe and I went to a fabulous Christmas party at the Flynn's home.  Many of our good friends were there and it was so enjoyable.  We left the children home to tend themselves.  They were all alive when we arrived home, but the house was in shambles.  Bad, bad, bad shape.
I was not amused and after a half an hour of playing Sergeant Mom things were put back together.  However, we told them that just to give them a chance to prove they could do a better job, we were going to go on a date the next night.
Friday night Abe and I went to go see Les Miserables.  The kids did a much better job and we thoroughly enjoyed the movie.  Although we agreed that we would have enjoyed it more if they had just cast true Broadway singers throughout.

We had plans Saturday night to have our wonderful friends, the Taylors down to our home for dinner, but they had some sickness that we wanted no part of.  We postponed until Sunday in the hope that the gunkies would have passed by then.
Shortly after talking with Rebecca I got a call from my dear cousins who were in town visiting asking if we'd like to join them and their siblings for dinner-- their treat!  Sure, Abe and I had left the kids for the previous two evenings, but why should that stop us from leaving them again?  And with all of my cousins' little kids as well-- 8 additional children to be exact!

We had so much fun and I cannot say enough nice things about these cousins of mine.  They are so kind, funny, smart, genuine and uplifting.  I just love them!

 Was I feeling bad about leaving the children so much?
On some level I thought maybe I should have.  But no, I wasn't.

Sunday evening did work out for the Taylors to come over.  No one was sick and games were played and children and parents were happy and we were together. 

These are all great fun activities we've been up to, but there has been one big bummer in the mix.  

My dad went to the hospital early Sunday morning with some sort of blockage in his small intestine.  No fun at all.  As I write this he is likely already home, but I did get to spend some time with him at the hospital this afternoon.  

Here is a dramatic reenactment of the discomfort he was in.  It was very disconcerting to hear he was in the hospital because he's never been one to take things easy and very rarely been sick enough to slow down.  Bev said that she knew he was feeling better when he started talking politics again:)   And although it was unfortunate circumstances, it was very nice to have a couple of hours to just sit and talk with him this afternoon.