Day 1566. Sammy was the first one up again at around 7 am. Soon they were all up, and at some point Randy got up to make breakfast, while I opened the advent calendars with them. I enjoyed the luxury of being able to stay in bed longer. Eventually I got up to dress the kids. Randy then left with Tammy and Emmy at 10 am to take them to piano class. I was thankful for a morning at home.
Sammy and I had a good time. He was able to be playing by himself for short periods of time, and was interacting with me the rest of the time. I was working on the computer as much as I could, always close to Sammy so I could help him as needed. We were having fun together. As for the other two kids, Randy gave me a good report of them behaving well and participating. They returned later than expected at 12:15. Half an hour earlier Sammy had already been pretty cranky because he wanted his horsey that was downstairs somewhere. Randy knew where, so I told him Daddy would get it for him once he got home, which was supposed to be any minute. Once they did get home, Randy got it for him, making him very happy.
As he had bought them a pastry, they were not that hungry. Around our typical time of 12:45 pm we sat down to eat anyway. Then they had some of their candy and started playing. Tammy has been really great at playing with Sammy, and Emmy also has those precious play times with Sammy. And so they were all occupied and having fun. Randy fell asleep in the chair, while I lay down in bed, but I never got to sleep. We were supposed to take the 3:20 pm train, but Randy was only slowly waking up, so that was not gonna happen. We dressed the kids and left to catch the 3:50 pm train.
It had been snowing all day, but the snowing had stopped. Because it was too warm, much of the snow was already gone. We took the train, got some chestnuts, then took the subway. Then we walked through the mall to church. It was 20 minutes into the service, when we walked into the sanctuary, and worship was going on. Tammy and Emmy started running around and playing wildly, laughing loudly, while I had Sammy. He wasn't very happy and asked to go to the baby room. I then asked someone to unlock the room for him, and Randy went there with him. That gave me the chance to take care of Emmy and Tammy and to stop them being so wild. Emmy knows I like him worshiping, so he was putting his arms up and closing his eyes and stopped running around. Tammy was harder to stop. Our friend came by, and he made them "fly" a few times, much to their delight. Emmy then stayed with me, behaving well, while Tammy sat under the chair or on it, acting like she was upset that I had taken her brother away from her.
The service was soon over, as it was a special day. Randy and Sammy returned at the same time; he's never happy being alone with Daddy. We talked to a few people, and Tammy wanted a picture with the hamster (?) in the lobby. Emmy was still too scared to get close to it, and Sammy was afraid as well. Then we went downstairs, where all the fun was gonna take place.
It was an outreach to the community to invite people to the Christmas concert next week. They had invitations with candy, and our kids were eager to hand them out. They'd walk up or run up to people to hand them to them. However, many were from the church, and others didn't want them, but they always found some that took them, which made the kids very happy.
The kids sat down on the small kids' chairs, waiting for Kasperl to come. The program was supposed to start at 5:30 pm, but they had some technical challenges to overcome first. Tammy was a little impatient, but all the kids got to eat some cookies while waiting. Tammy and Emmy were sitting in the front row at first, with me behind them with Sammy, but then Emmy came to sit with Sammy who wanted to be with him. It was cute to see the two of them interact with each other.
And then the show finally started. The sound wasn't great and some puppets were hard to understand, but the kids were enjoying it, and there were some kids there that were not from the church. After the show was over, a choir from the church sang some songs, while our kids were eager to do crafts. We walked over to the tables, and the kids sat down. First they made candles out of paper. Sammy did some drawing. Then they went to another table, where they were supposed to cut, but they're not good at cutting yet. So Tammy just colored the black paper, while Emmy glued pieces of paper on top. Lastly they went to another table, where they drew on a round piece of wood that the lady then put a cord through so you can hang it on the Christmas tree. They were especially excited about the little bell added to the cord. As for Sammy, he was tired and bored. Just after 6:30 pm we left to go home.
We crossed the whole mall and walked back to the subway. We didn't have to wait long, and then were lucky that the train came right away as well. Just after 7 pm we were back home. It was time for dinner. I warmed up some soup for them, then made their bread with salami and cut up fruit. They ate some, then continued eating in the bathtub. After they had their pj's on, they opened their advent calendars. Emmy had a fit, when Sammy got the egg for the second time, while Emmy hasn't had one yet and wants one so bad. He was crying for quite some time. He finally calmed down as I would not have read a story otherwise. I then prayed for them and put them to bed, as It was later than usual. No long toothbrushing ritual tonight. Randy sat down with them, while I went to the kitchen to get something to eat myself. After having eaten, I went back to work. Sammy has a stuffy nose and has been a little restless tonight. It's now after 1 am and time for me to go to bed.
