Family Time

I am so happy to have the time to enjoy my children! I spent Friday running errands and attending Christmas parties at the kids' schools. Both kids had a great day and I am glad I was able to be with them. It has been so hard adjusting to not being able to make it to all of the kids activities. I have missed several field trips this year due to my school schedule. After school and a few more errands, we picked up some friends to come over for the evening. I helped Courtney, Jordyn, Andrea, Erik, and Aidan bake sugar cookies and there was lots of giggling (especially when we noticed that Andrea managed to get flour on her butt while rolling and cutting out cookie shapes). I appreciate the noise and laughter.

Saturday was spent doing a whole lot of nothing. I spent most of my day in pajamas and played board games with the kids. We spent a lot of time snuggling and relaxing. I did manage to throw a few loads of laundry in and pick up the house a little. We rented movies and it was quite comical to see Aidan's reaction to watching Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. He is getting into Indiana Jones now. Courtney's rental pick was The Longshots. It was a cute little movie with Ice Cube and Keke Palmer about a girl joining an all boy football team. Courtney ended up catching a stomach bug and an evening on the couch was much needed.

Today was another much needed lazy day. Andy and I spent quite some time wrapping Christmas presents. I am so glad to be done with that project. I ended up with Courtney's stomach bug today and it was not nice. Even though I was toilet bound most of the day, we braved a trip to the movies so see Despereaux. It was cute, a little dry for the younger kids, but still cute. Courtney read the book this week, so she already knew what to expect. We came home and played some board games. I beat everyone at Whoonu and Courtney won at Disney Channel Scene It. The boys even teamed up, but they were no match for us awesome girls!

I am definitely counting my blessings and not taking a single minute of family time for granted. I have truly missed being able to enjoy my family without worrying about exams and studying. I am so blessed and fortunate to have this time to enjoy. My heart and prayers go out to the Finzer Family. I am amazed by their strength and faith in this difficult time. I am not sure I could be so strong. I will continue to pray for Samuel and the rest of the Finzer Family.

As of today, Andy is still working. He has actually been working a lot lately. There are supposed to be more jobs cut in the next week, so we will see if Andy can hang on a little longer. We looked at apartments again last week. We have turned in an application to Willow Bend. It was not our first choice but it will ensure that Courtney finishes out her elementary career at Horizon. The apartment was just refinished with brand new carpet and linoleum and fresh paint. We will have to repaint because we need color on the walls. There are many more updates that could be made, but we can overlook appliances and cabinets if it means keeping our family together in a home that we can afford and enough room for all of our junk. I fully intend to do a ton of purging over the next few weeks and start packing. We will be moving during the last week of January. Our lease is up on Jan 31st. This will only be temporary until I finish school and then we will never have to worry about our finances so much.

FINALLY! It's Christmas Break. I have never been so exhausted in all my life. The stress of school and life has kicked my butt! I passed my last final today. I worried for nothing. We had to draw a skill out of a bowl and I drew oral meds. How easy! My final grade in anatomy is a B and for Nursing 100, a B also. I am waiting on my Nursing 110 final grade. I did great on all my finals and I can try to breathe soon. I have to get up at the crack of dawn to get cookie dough in the fridge and make some chocolate covered pretzels for Courtney's teacher. I don't know why I always wait to the last minute. Then we have a million and one errands to run, I have to brave the stores for groceries, Aidan has to get a haircut, and then both kids have their Christmas parties tomorrow. Should be a slow day, NOT! I will make up for all the chaos by staying in my pajamas and holding down the couch with a good book that doesn't have pictures of the human anatomy ALL DAY Saturday. If you value your life, you will not disturb me. :)

I will try to remember what has happened in the last month.....

Thanksgiving: We had a wonderful weekend. Lots of food and shopping. We got a lot of great deals and the kids will have a great Christmas. Courtney and Aidan got to spend some time with their cousins. The kids all created a rock band and I have to say they were all hilarious and cute as can be. Aidan was the dancer and I was rolling on the floor, laughing and crying. His moves were that good! We took a lot of good pictures that weekend. There is a pic of Courtney and Andy's grandma Margaret. Margaret has been diagnosed with breast cancer and we are waiting to hear whether or not she can sustain surgery and/or chemo. Please pray for Margaret.

School: I am done. All I have to report is studying, exams, studying, and more exams. Courtney is still doing well. Her teacher sent home an extra math packet and Courtney can't stop. I haven't seen her come out from behind the packet in days. Aidan has enjoyed school, but tomorrow will be his last day. Daddy will be in charge of taking Aidan to the library to get lots of books to keep practicing his reading until kindergarten comes around. I can't believe my baby will be in kindergarten soon.

Andy's Job: As of today, Andy is still working. We are taking it day by day and I will continue to pray for job security. It really stinks that I am so consumed with school and taking care of my family that I don't think I could juggle work right now. It will work out, it always does.

Life in general: I took my Girl Scout troop ice skating last weekend. The girls did so well! I was extremely impressed. Courtney did a lot better than I expected. I am so proud of her! I did not skate for I fear that I would have been the one to leave with a broken arm. Broken bones means sitting out for clinicals and missing clinicals means failing the course. I can't afford to flunk out of school, I have too much at stake. Speaking of injuries, Aidan decided to pounce from one side of the couch to the other to get Daddy and ended up knocking his lower front teeth loose instead. I took him to the dentist and there is no permanent damage to his grown up teeth and we were given a copy of the x-ray and it is pretty cool. Courtney had a choir concert also last weekend and she did so well. I have to say that my baby is turning into quite the beautiful young lady these days.

Ok, I am tired now, so I will submit another post as soon as I get my last grade so that I can share how well I have done. I have to say, I am amazed by how well I have done considering the obscene amounts of stress in my life.

Good Night!