5 years 3 months 28 days

Day 1946. I went to bed late, as usual, and was hoping to sleep in as we didn't have to go anywhere. Of course the kids were up early, and by 10:30 Randy got me out of bed so he could go to the grocery store. The kids then were all around me, wanting me to get up, and Sammy wanted to watch videos of themselves, when they were little, as did Tammy who was also sitting on my bed. And so I let them watch videos of the first few months of their lives.

At some point I went to the kitchen to make lunch, and Tammy wanted to help. Sammy continued watching videos by himself. Once the food was ready, we started eating. Then Randy came home, put the food up, and ate as well.

The kids were eager to get started decorating the cookies we had baked yesterday, while I wanted to get a break. It didn't take long, however, until I went to the kitchen to make the icing for the cookies. They each got to choose the color they wanted and then dropped it into the white icing sugar and stirred it, getting it as dark as they wanted. After they had tried, I then ended up applying the icing to the cookies, while they put the decoration on top. After the first color was done, they chose another one. Tammy had done pink and yellow, and Emmy turquoise and purple.

This year we made half the quantity of last year, and I'm glad. The kids stayed until the end and finished all the cookies (contrary to last year). Sammy didn't want to do cookies this year. Instead, Randy strapped him into the new stander we've been given for free. We've had it for a while but not tried it out yet. Now that they're not going to kindergarten for 2 weeks, Sammy needs to use it, as he usually stands in the kindergarten for a few hours per day. It worked out well, and he was happy, as he got to do his favorite activity, which is opening and closing our apartment door.

I was so exhausted I just wanted a nap, but I never got to have one. It was time to clean up, and I really appreciated that Tammy vaccuumed the kitchen floor with the handheld vaccuum. The cookies still had to dry.

Randy then finally went downstairs with the kids, while I sat down by my computer. I wanted to take a nap, but ended up doing work instead. By 5:30 pm all the kids were back upstairs, and I soon went to the kitchen to make their dinner. They then ate while being on their tablets, and continued eating in the bathtub. Then it was time for the advent calendars, and I put Sammy to bed with a prayer. I was so tired I wanted to lie down and close my eyes as well, but I read the other two kids a story, prayed for them and put them to bed. Then I went to the kitchen to get myself something to eat.

After having eaten, it was time to finish wrapping all the presents, as it was the last night before Christmas - at least for us Austrians as we celebrate on Christmas Eve. I just about got it done before Randy wanted to go to bed. Tammy also already came running to sleep the rest of the night in our bed, so I had no choice but to go to the kitchen with my computer. I had yet to work on today's pictures and write my report. Now it's 1 am and I still have to clean up the kitchen.