Here is a jumbo post to cover the month December pretty much!


1st week- Don't remember....I am sure it was great! Does anyone else remember?


2nd week- Watch out for bad weather! We were the grand receipients of sleet and freezing rain for the weekend. Good news: Aunt April and Uncle Mike came to visit. Bad news: they drove through the bad weather. It is a reeaaallllyyy good thing Uncle Mike is originally from the northern states and was comfortable driving in such poor conditions. It was really great to see them again. They were kind enough to bring the Santa gifts just in case we 3 Crazies were not able to make the trip north!

3rd week- YEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW. That pretty much sums up the whole week. This pic was taken Sunday right after April and Mike left; note spot where car sat! The ice on the driveway from the weekend was added to just for the fun of Monday. When your husband is not at home to break up the ice in your north facing driveway, YOU get to do it yourself. 30 minutes of hacking at ice with an edger/spade was a great morning workout. Did I mention I didn’t have enough ice melt to really help me out? Well, I didn’t. grrrrrrrrr. I left work early that day to remedy that situation. 200 lbs of ice melt later, I picked up the girls and headed home to the frozen driveway. 1.5 hours of working on the drive + around 75 lbs of icemelt + 2 little girls fending for themselves= 1 tired, sore mommy singing “My Country tis of Thee” in 20 F temperatures.


We had some fun, but I really remember Thursday. I was sitting in my Finacial Peace University lecture thinking it was really cold in the auditorium. “Wow, I’m tired and really achy tonight” I think to myself. And then I noted that my right breast really hurt. I thought about the fact that I hadn’t pumped and Emily didn’t nurse for a LONG time. By the end of the evening, around 9:30 pm, I was done for. I couldn’t lift my right arm. I felt like I’d been run over by a Mac truck. Allison wanted me to carry her up the stairs when we got home. It hurt so much that I could not. She started crying and carrying on. I tried to explain. I tried to get her to be a “big girl” and walk up the stairs. It did not work. The message got through when I sat on the stair with her and cried. We just sat there and cried together. Finally she patted my arm and told me it was “okay”. I don’t remember how we got up the stairs, I just know we did. Any guess for diagnosis? Mastitis. Again. My parents met me and took the girls for the weekend. Praise the Lord!

4th week- So I was attempting to recover from mastitis, right? This also happens to be the Green Bay vs St. Louis football game in STL.
My in-laws are HUGE Packer fans and bought tickets for us to see the game. The ticket was part of my Christmas present from Donna and Wayne. So half drugged up, but feeling a little better, I headed to STL to the Jones Dome. It was my first NFL experience. We didn’t have the greatest seats, but the good company made up for it


My parents brought the girls up mid week. They were kind enough to spend two nights with us. I came home from picking up the girls after work, to find them searching through their car. They had been shopping, so I thought they might be optimizing space. No. They were looking for a Christmas present. It was in a small cardboard box. It had mixed in with cardboard recycling they took to the dumpster that morning. Mom was beside herself, and not too happy with dad. Dad just didn’t know how it made it to the trunk in the first place. SO, to rescue Christmas, my dad and I went dumpster diving. It took us 45 minutes or so, but we found it. I’m glad my recycling was really recognizable that week! And, Yes I was physically in the dumpster with a flashlight. It was clean cardboard and news print. The good news: my mom was relieved. And it turned out to be my present! It was from my girls to me, via Grandma Carolyn. ;)


5th week- It’s almost Christmas! Woo oo oo Hoo oo oo oo! The weekend before Christmas I gathered the girls and headed to Shane’s mom’s. We were able to celebrate with Shane's Mom’s family. It was good to see everyone again. It had been a few months. Emily had changed so much everyone was amazed. Allison was able to play with some 2nd cousins for entertainment. As we headed back from the celebrations the sleet and freezing rain made life exciting. Thank God Shane wanted a truck with 4 wheel drive! I didn’t really have much opinion when he wanted to buy this truck, but THANKS Shane! It has been really fabulous to have. Sunday we stopped by his dad’s so Grandpa Ranny see his granddaughters. It was a really great visit. Allison warmed up faster than expected and Emily was her usual pleasant self. Bandit was just about beside himself with joy to see Grandpa Ranny. A good time was had by all.

Christmas Eve was my parent’s 42nd wedding anniversary. They enjoyed a “romantic” evening with me and the girls. Dad put together Allison’s big present, while I wrapped everything. Christmas music abounded. I actually got to go Christmas shopping that day thanks to Nancy the earthbound angel turned baby sitter. She watched the girls for a few hours so that I could accomplish something. And the budget seemed to be forgotten for a few hours also! Grrrrrrr, must work harder on that in 2008!

Christmas was memorable in many ways. We did have fun with present opening and such. Allison really like to open gifts. Emily liked to eat the paper! We were an hour late to my mom’s family celebration, but no one minded. There was plenty of food, fun, and family. Now we have a year to rest up and try it again!

I hope things went well for everyone reading this. This has been a heck of a year. I am looking for some great things in 2008!