Kirk had Thursday and Friday off last week. He stayed home on Thursday and we got some stuff done around the house. Thursday evening we went to Scott's for dinner and decorated gingerbread houses. Scott was commenting on how chaotic it was around his house. 95% of the chaos came from my family. It seemed pretty normal for us.
Friday was a beautiful day. He went golfing in the morning while Cade was at preschool. Cade and Kirk went back to the driving range in the afternoon. Cade loves going and hitting balls. I took Ellie back to the doctor to be weighed and she was up to 7 lbs.
Saturday was the DFK Christmas parties. Kirk took Cade and Cami to the family party in the morning. They went to the trampoline park and then had pizza for lunch. They had a lot of fun. I stayed with Ellie and enjoyed some peace and quiet. That evening we had a baby sitter come over for Cade and Cami and went to the adult party. It was a lot of fun too. We took Ellie and everyone loved seeing her and commented on how small she is. We got a Brad Paisley CD in the white elephant gift exchange and a TV from the other give away. Kirk was really excited about the TV. We are going to put it in the bonus room downstairs.
Sunday Kirk took the kids to church and then we hung out at home in the afternoon. The weather has been pretty cold. He also took the kids to see Christmas lights at night and they thought that was great.
Monday I got some laundry done, went to the bank and vacuumed. I felt very productive. Even just getting some little chores done is an accomplishment for me right now between feeding Ellie, feeding Cade and Cami, playing, doing dishes and taking care of myself.
Tuesday my mom flew in. We got to go decorate gingerbread houses with some neighbors and then went and picked her up. We have been busy since she got here. Dar stopped by to say hi on Tuesday and then Ann Thompson came to visit too (my old RS president.) My mom was a great help in playing with the kids and making dinner.
Wednesday Cade and Cami went came downstairs and were very concerned that Grandma had left. I told them she was still in bed and they went and jumped on her. We took Cade to preschool. Mom, Cami, Ellie and I went to Target and got some Grandma Christmas presents for Cade and Cami. We also went to Kohls to get a couple of presents there. That evening we went to the dollar store and let Cade and Cami pick out presents for each other. They had a hard time with the whole secret thing. We came home and wrapped them right away, but Cami wanted to tell Cade what she picked and Cade wouldn't leave her alone while she was wrapping them.
Thursday was a snowy day. We took a quick trip to Walmart in the morning to get tape and diapers for Ellie. We wrapped some presents. My mom and Cade had several light saber fights. We made and decorated sugar cookies. Mom, Cade and Cami all went out and played in the snow and built a snowman.
Friday was Cade's preschool party. I dropped him off, went to Winco, picked up my mom and girls and went back to his school. Cami, Cade and I had fun at the party and my mom had fun taking care of Ellie. We got to listen to the kids sing their songs from the program that was cancelled. That afternoon I went shopping at JCPenney and got some new earrings. It was nice to have an hour out of the house by myself. We were planning on going to the ward party, but the kids were tired, I was tired and it sounded better to just stay home. We got some pizza and enjoyed being home.
Saturday Kirk was off, but ended up being pretty busy. We watched part of the BYU-Utah bowl game but lost interest when BYU was down 35-0. It ended up at 28-35. We played lots of games with the kids. Kirk and I went out the Stick and Stone that night and my mom took the kids to Dairy Queen. They had a great time eating french fries and ice cream.
Sunday we all went to church and enjoyed the Christmas program. Kirk and Cade played lot of star wars fights. Cade's primary was singing at a nearby nursing home and I took him over there. He really wanted to go and enjoyed singing with the rest of the kids.
Today is Monday. We cleaned the bathrooms and picked up this morning. We went to Costco and my mom took Cade and Cami to the store to get me a birthday present.
We have loved having my mom here. She has put up with Cade being onery and obsessed with star wars. She has loved playing with Cami and helped us a lot by doing dishes, making food and feeding and rocking Ellie. She leaves tomorrow and then is driving out to Lindsey's on Saturday. Lindsey is having her baby today.
One night we were talking for a minute before eating dinner. Cami was hungry and yelled "Stop. Pray!" and we looked at her and she started saying the prayer. She has also loved doing puzzles and will sit on the floor and do the puzzles over and over.
Ellie is a cute little baby. She is slowly growing, still in newborn clothes and diapers. She sleeps pretty well. I get her up every 3 hours around the clock to make sure she is getting enough to eat. At night, she goes right back to sleep. She likes to cry and fuss in her sleep and trick us. We are working on getting her to fall asleep on her own. She is pretty happy, but is only up for about an hour at a time. She loves to be held. If she is upset, we can wrap her up in blanket and hold her and she calms down right away. Cade and Cami love to talk to her and sing her songs. We are doing better than I though we would be at 3 1/2 weeks. I think that weeks 4-10 are the hardest, so we'll see what happens in the next little while.
