Day 1575. After an intense weekend, and for me a short night, we were pretty tired this morning. I had to get up to make Sammy's snack box for kindergarten, then lay back down next to Tammy who was the only one still asleep, and she was in our bed again after 3 nights of staying in her own bed. She soon got up, though, and I helped all the kids open their advent calendars. Then I lay back down. The kids were on their tablets, after Randy left with Sammy, and when Randy returned, he went downstairs with them so they could play. It finally got quiet upstairs! And I finally got some more much-needed sleep.
At about 10:30 I woke back up. Already so late! I slowly got started working.
While the kids were playing downstairs, Randy was putting up the Christmas tree we had bought on Saturday. At about 11:30 they all came upstairs, and the kids got their tablets. They asked not to do school work, and after our intense weekend I decided to give them the day off. That allowed me to keep working on the computer. At noon Randy left to go pick up Sammy, while I went to the kitchen to cook lunch. When Randy and Sammy came home at 12:45, I had just finished putting the food on the plates. We all sat down to eat. After lunch, the kids were playing and watching stuff. I returned to my computer to work. I was pretty tired, but never lay down for a nap, as I had too much to do. The kids were having fun. There are times now, when either Emmy or Tammy play really well with Sammy, and today it was Tammy who was having lots of fun with Sammy. Sammy was laughing the whole time. What Sammy enjoys most is to do what he's told NOT to do, and that's what they were playing.
At 3 pm the doorbell rang. It was Grandma coming on her Christmas visit. And she came bearing gifts. The kids immediately wanted to open those gifts, but Grandma asked for patience, as she wanted to take her coat and shoes off first. Then we all went downstairs. The kids immediately grabbed their gifts. I could barely get my camera out fast enough. Tammy had opened hers first. It was a baby rabbit, just like the one she'd lost, but this one had her name written on its ear. She hugged the rabbit, happy that she had it back.
Emmy was next. His gift was really big. His eyes lit up, when he had opened his gift. In the next hour or so he said about 10 times that he had wanted that so bad. It was a really big Chase from Paw Patrol. He had wished for a really big Chase from Paw Patrol and couldn't stop holding and hugging him.
Then it was Sammy's turn. We put some fabric and some of the other wrapping paper over it, as it was really big. When he saw that it was a horse, Sammy was really scared, and I comforted him. I told him it was not real, and it didn't take long for him to get over it. He watched his brother ride the horse. It's a mechanical horse that the kids make move by getting up while on it. Soon Sammy was sitting on it and making it move, and he hugged the horse, now really happy about his gift. We had three happy kids that were excited about their Christmas presents.
I soon had to leave, as I had a student at 4 pm. I taught for an hour, and once I was done, my Mom was at the door about to leave, so I got to say good-bye. Then I returned to my computer, while the kids were playing downstairs. I taught until 7 pm, but the kids already came upstairs at 6 pm. That included Sammy's horsey that he was also riding upstairs. Then I heard a loud thump, while I was teaching, followed by crying. Sammy had wanted to hold his tablet, while on the horse, which doesn't work, as he needs to hold onto the horse while on it, and so he had fallen and hit his head hard. I even interrupted my lesson to comfort him. He then stayed with me for most of the rest of my time of teaching.
After I was done teaching, I immediately went to the kitchen to make their dinner. They ate, then went into the bathtub, where they continued eating. Then we got them ready for bed. They opened their advent calendars, then I read two of the advent stories, as we hadn't read any yesterday. Sammy had fallen asleep, while I was reading. The other two then brushed their teeth with their app and took care of their little dinosaur on the app, then I prayed for them and put them to bed. Emmy had said that he was gonna sleep on his bed on top, as he had slept there last night after having fallen asleep on top, but it only took a few minutes until he said he needed to sleep on the bottom. Even big Chase wasn't enough to keep him on top. Randy sat down with them, while I sat down at my little desk in the bedroom to work some more before getting some food. By 9:30 I was so hungry I went to the kitchen to make myself some soup. After having eaten, I went back to work and started wrapping Christmas presents for the kids. As I had nowhere else to put them, I placed them on top of a low shelf by the dining room table. I had already told the kids to NOT TOUCH any presents that could possibly show up on that shelf. Hopefully they'll respect that.
Now it's 1 am and time to finish with the dishes and go to bed. It's another long day tomorrow.
