Things I didn't miss- Christmas, New Years, etc.

Once I got home I was pretty wiped out.  It kind of felt like my body and brain were waking up again and remembering how to function together.  :P  I definitely didn't feel comfortable driving for a few days and my Dad graciously drove me to a follow-up doctor appointment.

We sort of ended up celebrating the 12 days of Christmas instead of just Advent.... we started reading "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" after Christmas, we went to see the lights after Christmas.... 

The girls were very patiently waiting to frost the cookies they had baked.  Probably the first "cooking" I'd done in a long time was mixing up a big bowl of icing for them.  And then I just set it on the table with some other reaaaaalllly old icing tubes and food coloring and sprinkles and just let them make a mess.  haha.  Usually, I have a few colors mixed and try and keep most of the cookies nice-ish, but we let go of all expectations and have a large percentage of multicolored frosting piles with looooots of sprinkles. 😜

Miriel just wanted to eat cookies.

I made a few too.  And then we had Bob help us clean up the gigantic mess. 

I had ordered Christmas cards in plenty of time to send out before Christmas.... I think we finally got them mailed New Years Eve.  Oh well.  :D  Aren't they cute?

Koch Christmas was Christmas Eve... life size dutch blitz for the kids.

And Bingo with prizes.

Miri and I spent most of our time in the baby room... for the toys and the comfortable rocker because I was tired.

We did not attempt church Christmas morning.  It sounded really overwhelming, so we had a cozy day at home.  Starting with stockings.

Hehe.  Earmuffs for all!

And those fun magnetic hairdo toys I remember from long ago. 

We watched church, ate lunch, and then we opened presents. Somebody got a Paw Patrol sweatshirt.

While I was gone, Bob had them pick out presents for each other online from Walmart (signed in to my account).  I kept getting emails at the hospital about all of my different Walmart orders- what on earth are they buying!??  So they were all very pleased with their loot. 

New earmuffs, new bow and arrow set, what more could a girl want?

Sunday morning Bob took the older three to Sunday School- getting them ready (I hate tights! But I'm old fashioned and it's too cold for bare legs!) completely wore me out, so Miri and I watched morning church and came at noon.  BUT they finally got to wear their Christmas dresses! 

I needed a nap after church.  This recovering and slowly returning to regular life is exhausting.  

Bob's immediate family got together the next day.  I had another appointment (hooray for weekly appointments now...) and when I got back, Miri was working on a rather large pile of chips.  It was a quiet day since most of the adults were recovering from plague or other maladies.  

The girls got a cool fort building kit that has already been many things- a viking ship...

... a castle with a turret.  So fun. 

Susan took the older girls to Bass Pro one day for lunch and bowling.  I'm told they behaved and had a lot of fun.

New Years Eve we stayed in.  I wasn't up to getting everybody ready for church so we watched online (Seriously, what did we do before?  haha.  It's so much better than just listening.)  Then greasy snacks.  And the girls wanted to stay up late, so we let them watch Up.  Such a fun movie, but the first 10 minutes makes me cry. :P 

And then we got snow! Somebody didn't want to go outside, but she did want to try on half of her gear. 

There was barely enough to cover the grass, but they had fun, and we even got Miri outside for a few minutes (not as long as it took to get her bundled up, *sigh*)

By Sunday I had enough energy to make pancakes for breakfast!  Miriel's reaction when she saw them was the best-  *sharp intake of breath* "Woooooow!" 😂

We all went to church all day!  Hooray!  And then Dale and Meg invited us to come sledding after church.  I stayed inside with Miri, don't worry.  It was actually a really big day for me and I was really wiped out that evening.

Monday Emmy got to go with her teacher to school to work on Christmas present projects that she missed out on. The rest of us put away Christmas decorations. Then in the evening we were all ready to go back to tumbling... and the van wouldn't start.  Figures.  So Bob spent part of Tuesday replacing the battery.  Woot.  

The big girls went back to school today, some were more excited than others.  haha. I was not excited to have to set my alarm.  Also, Cadence switched to full day kindergarten, which kind of makes me sad.  It will make our schedule much simpler to only have one pick up time, but still.  She'll like getting to do more crafts and more play time at school.    

It will make scheduling doctor appointments easier too, if I don't have to be in town to pick her up.  Since I have to go every week *sigh* and it takes at least 2 hours each time (including the drive time).  ugh.  I am so not a fan.  

Anyway.  I feel like I can do a little bit more everyday, and I'm slowly regaining energy.  Although, the whole 3rd trimester no energy thing is probably going to limit things.  :P  I at least am feeling motivated about getting things done again, even if I am being overly ambitious. 

Blessings.