What happened to Christmas?!

There are 2.25 days until Christmas. So far, I have presents for the girls, Jeremy, his Dad, and my Dad at the right place. Everyone else... well I have some of them done. And Ashley's birthday present from November is waiting with them. My Christmas cards are mostly addressed and stamped, and even have a letter on the year's happenings in them, and still sitting on the desk. What happened to Christmas? When I was a kid (or dare I say, before I had kids), I had to shop for gifts, but it was a fun outing. One whirlwind trip to the mall, and then the joy of wrapping. Then all I had to do was kick back and wait for the big day. Team Noonan has been ill since Thanksgiving. Umpteen colds and coughs, one nasty bout of intenstinal bother that would take out one member at a time, and an "it couldn't be pink eye". Which it thankfully wasn't. Then fitting in taking a new job, finding child care, and getting through daily life, and here it is with maybe 36 shopping hours left. If I had it my way, I think I would postpone for an extra week, or at least another 48 hours. Although I would settle for free Fed-Ex on an internet purchase.

Working 9 to 5

Well, I started the new job yesterday. It is WONDERFUL. It was great getting into the lab again, and seeing familiar things. After seeing what the job is about, I feel like I'll be quite comfortable in just a few weeks. I already started processing data today. :) That was fun. The commute is sort of long, but I enjoy listening to the radio, or my CD's on the way in. On the way home, I call one of my SAHM friends and we chat for a few. The amazing thing is I did some dishes and a load of laundry before I left for my first day or work, and I did some more laundry and work this morning. I love coming home to the girls who run into my arms and give me big hugs that were reserved for just Daddy before. The girls seem happy enough with our regular sitter watching them everyday now. It really is turning out to be all that I hoped. Let's hope it stays that way!

Presenting, the Great Keira

I have always called Keira 'Houdini'. Strap her into a grocery cart, turn to look at apples, turn back and find her standing in the cart just about to face dive on to the floor. Once she even wiggled her way out of the top part of her carseat. (Obviously forgot to check the position on it before we headed out, but still!) She's a girl who can't be held down, or in. Yet, she still surprised me the other morning, when about 20 minutes after putting her down for her nap, I heard her little feet padding into the family room. She has bcome quite adept at climbing out of her crib, and so no longer calls for me when she's done from her nap. "Ah, I feel refreshed. Wonder what Mom is up to. Let's go see!"

We have a french door (panes of glass if you are not designer aware) between our bedroom and bathroom. We keep it closed most of the time because Keira is fond of climbing on the counter and going through the drawers in the bathroom. This morning, as Jeremy was in the bathroom, the girls were on the other side watching. As usual, Keira was crying because she wasn't allowed to find some chapstick or play with Mom's jewelry. Jeremy thought to break the tension by pretending to walk into the glass door, stumbling and falling to the ground. Oh how the girls laughed. So he did it again. So hilarious. Then, Keira walked up the glass, pretended to run into it and fell right over. She's a quick study, and I think Jeremy was a little put off that a not quite 2 year old could do his trick.

Birthday Parties and more

Today was a crazy day, and it all started yesterday. I got a call from the company with ONE week of vacation, who said they would like to negotiate and said how about 2 weeks. Ack. Did some calendar looking, and 2 won't cut it. So I had to call them back and say 3 or no go and best of luck in finding someone. They called back, but while I was on way to a birthday party for one of Cassidy's friends. So I will find out Monday what they want. The party was fun for the kids and the parents. Talked with another Mom about doing a big party since the birthday's of our girls are one week apart. I mentioned it to Cassidy tonight (just 10 minutes ago, and I had to blog right away so I wouldn't forget). She said, "Yeah, we could invite all my friends." "Yes, that would be fun" "And Oscar too. He's not my friend, he's just someone I like to spend time with." :-O I had a feeling she had a crush on the Don Juan of El Salon Rojo. (See his description in September post Birthday Ins and Outs).
PS- We got the class photo in Cassidy's folder today, and I asked who everyone was since I didn't recognize all the kids. "Kate, Keeshav, Callie, Julianne, Austin, Oscar. He's my 'spend-timer'". No joke folks.

Snow Day!

 

It happens about twice a year. Snow in Seattle. It started during the day, which is unusual too. I headed out to the store to pick up a few things and maybe do some Christmas shopping with Keira. Well, the roads were iffy and I decided it would be best to pick up Cassidy sooner rather than later. We got home, put on coats hats and mittens and headed out. I wanted to make a snowman and Cassidy seemed interested, but it turns out she just wanted to sled. We didn't get enough for sledding. Although Keira and Cassidy did have fun throwing snow on each other and me. Especially while I worked on my snowman. At least they were kind and posed for me.