Return to Normal

OK, life is back to normal. Well, as normal as it usually is anyway. I am busy signing homework papers, writing down dates for holiday plays and reviewing papers brought home. The kids are working on their homework right now. Erik has a Lunar chart project where he charts the phases of the moon for 28 days. He needs to rewrite some of the dates because it looks too sloppy. Rachel is working on a weather forecast project where she had to pick 4 areas of the country to chart the forecast, actual, humidity and wind speed for a week. She chose Laguna Niguel, Houston, Tulsa and Caribou Maine. There are always projects for the kids to do during the end of the year when the holidays are here and I find that a bad time to be adding extra work.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I know we did. My parents came over early Thursday morning so we could all have a wonderful holiday breakfast together. Then they played with their grandchildren while Chris and I started cooking, then they came in and cooked with the kids and brought delicious stuffing, gravy and pie!

After dinner, Erik opened his presents and boy was he excited when he saw he received the Mr. Wizard DVD's and a video camera. What a blessed boy! We all watched Mr. Wizard in amazement and tried a few of the experiments and cannot wait to try some more. This was the first time my parents and Chris had ever seen the show so they were as enthralled as Erik. What a pleasure to watch everyone learn together.

The next day we went to my ex brother in laws house for a visit and barbeque. Alex, Elisa, their daughter Alexis and my niece Valarie were all there. We had another wonderful time. It is so nice to be able to catch up with everyone after not seeing them for the past 2 years. Elisa made a bunch of delicious appetizers and Alex grilled carne asada and chicken for tacos. It was fabulous. Dad and Alex reminisced about going wild boar hunting and how much fun they had out there in the desert. We are all planning a day trip up to Alex's sister in Big Bear over the holiday break to go sledding and visiting. Seeing Valarie was so good for the kids. I luckily, had just seen her in Oklahoma, but the kids haven't seen her in years. They love their cousin Valarie!

On Saturday, graciously, my parents stayed and babysat for Chris and I so we could go out and do a little shopping. We had a party to go to that night so we needed to grocery shop and we still needed our holiday lights. Chris had promised Rachel for the last 2 years that he would hang holiday lights. We finally found some beautiful twinkling snowflakes that hang down. They look lovely. As I cooked the chili for our party, my parents helped Chris hang lights and they finished in record time. Oh what we can do with the help of our elfs!! Chris also built a large menorah for the front that has individual electric candles on it so the kids can light one up each night of Chanukkah.

After all the cooking and decorating, we went to our friends house where we were one of 4 couples that came together for chili night! The kids had all their best friends there. It was a wonderful night of good friends coming together, sharing holiday stories, family secrets and getting support for just being who you are. Chris and I feel so incredibly blessed to have all these wonderful people as our friends. We truly feel at ease when we are with them and feel like they are a part of our family. The holiday could not have ended on a better, sweeter note.

After resting yesterday, today it is a little hard to return to normal. But, alas, I must. The kids are now finished with their homework and Rachel needs to get on my computer to do her daily weather logs. I have to clean out the frig and contemplate going to the grocery store to stock back up. Oh, but take out seems to be calling my name tonight!

Love to you all,
April