Busy fun weekend

What a nice weekend we had. We spent in all in for the most part, except for gymnastics Sun am. We baked cookies, made stew, watched holiday movies, sang songs and made spicy popcorn. The kids did crafts on Sun, making little trees and decorating more cookies. It was so nice and relaxing, just what we needed to recharge ourselves and get set for all the windups and holiday stuff coming up. Josh did the cutest thing too. After he made his little tree he hung it on the snowman tree. He then went and got my snowman potholders and carefully hung them on the tree too. It was so cute that i left them there. He was quite proud of himself. He really loves to get involved in our activities, even though he makes a large mess usually. He was funny saying "mmm tasty" eating big spoons of icing out of the bowl! Sat a friend brought over some wine and visited for a bit, then we settled in for movies and I was baking till 930!My only venture out was for an hour on Sun when the kids and I slipped out to Michaels to pick up craft supplies, gift tags, and supplies to wrap up baking gifts. I then wrapped up 4 baking packages and gifts for friends.

Talked to Mom on Fri, she has surgical consult next week, hope all goes well. A friend is having her twins tomorrow too-it is so exciting for them! I packed up 3 large bags of clothes and toys to donate, as pick-up is next week. I am so glad to be getting rid of more stuff, as the tree is over-flowing with stuff to take its place. Damn sales, I bought too much. Good excuse to replace old stuff I find we hang onto too often. Noni voluntarily gave away 10 barbies. I am so pleased, as she had a ton. A whole pile of old baby stuff went too, everything JR has outgrown has gone. This reminds me, I still need to buy some toys to donate pronto, as well as more food packs. Tonight I will gather up cash to donate too. Tis the season, I feel deeply sad at the thought of children with nothing at Christmas, there is no worse time of year to be without. It is nice to be able to buy things and pay bills and eat well. It is way too convenient to forget that so many can't really do any of those things. I cared for some really impoverished people in community nursing, and it was all the more poignant at this time of year for sure.

Dave makes the best buscuits. They are fantastic, he has been making them for years, but they are honestly better than the ones I make. We had them with turkey stew last night that the kids loved. It can be challenging putting meals together that everyone likes, but this one was a winner. I wanted to use up all our frozen turkey as more turkey will soon be on its way...

We are anxious to get out of here, the weather is nuts. Why people choose this locale is a little beyond me. Its funny, people who have never lived anywhere else seem to like it, and the rest of us just want out. I can't wait, despite family and friends we have here, it has not felt like home.