Thoughtful Christmas notes

This year I managed to convince Clair to limit her Christmas gift making to four gifts or less per person. I think she still very much enjoyed Christmas preparations. Her gifts were very thoughtful. The most amazing part was the thoughtful card she gave every person on one of their gifts. She truly wrote out kind words of what made them special to her. Here’s a picture of mine. I wish I could get a picture of all of them because they were just so sweet.

Christmas preparation By the Mom

I started preparing for Christmas earlier than normal this year, thanks to Vicki. We started discussing Christmas gifts and October. This really preparation helped make Christmas Eve more relaxing for me. I haven’t found time for a game with Clair during the afternoon.

As is typical of the past few years, I took a week before Christmas off work so that I will have time to be prepared and not be up until 4 AM on Christmas Eve. I don’t think I was ever up till 4 AM, but they were definitely a few years in the early days where I was up past midnight and tired in the morning. I don’t like being tired in the morning because I’m grumpy and I want to enjoy Christmas with my kids.

Earlier this week despite Max being home sick from school, I managed to get most of the wrapping done. I counted the number of gifts I wrapped the day I did the most. I spent a good six hours wrapping and wrapped about 100 presents that day. I had to wrap more two separate occasions. I think I wrapped her 150 presents this year. My children are spoiled. I am blessed to have the resources to spoil them. I also hope it’s not damaging them. I know that they get so much. I’m not sure if they know they get so much.

Thankfully Max and Claire, who have both been sick over the past week, have recovered. Sadly, David was sick today. He was running a fever. He had to get tested for Covid and the flu. I’m grateful that he was negative. And I’m hopeful that tomorrow he will feel better to enjoy Christmas with our kiddos. 

We managed to have all of the traditional Christmas eve activities completed. After breakfast we start by The kids decorating their gingerbread houses with loads of candies. Then we enjoy the afternoon lost the people who are not quite ready for Christmas finish Christmas preparation‘s. Then, we have a check could you reboard dinner before going to church. After church we come home and have cookies after giving the reindeer their food and setting cookies out for Santa. Finally after everyone is in their Christmas pajamas, stockings are hung in the living room with care. Tonight we ended with family prayer before sending the children off to their beds.

It was a relaxing Christmas Eve for me. Thankfully I’ve had the week off to prepare. I’m looking forward to tomorrow with my kids and hopefully my parents over for dinner.

I’m also thankful of the kids are at an age where I was able to get some decent pictures easily.

Christmas Eve teeth

Christmas 2022, Claire was missing her two front teeth. She enjoyed being able to connect the song. Fast forward to Christmas 2021 and Clair has two loose teeth on either side of her front teeth. She suddenly becomes determined to lose them on Christmas Eve so that the tooth fairy and Santa clause come on the same night. 

I honestly did not believe she would pull that off and ignored it. There’s two side wiggly teeth stayed in there for a while. Fast forward to Christmas Eve. She wakes me up by telling me that she got her two side teeth out one at 6:45 AM in the other 7:15 AM. She was so proud of herself. This is surely a girl who knows how to execute a plan that she has made.

Kittens and kiddos

In the beginning of October 2 kittens found us. Rachelle‘s sister-in-law had rescued them and she was convinced they were the ones for us. I should’ve known that when I agreed to meet them we would be bringing them home.

It has been a journey. They came with fleas and mites and worms and a hair problem. Sunshine even had a little heart murmur at her first visit.

For the first few weeks they had to stay in a bathroom and we had to do a lot of cleaning to keep the house from getting fleas all kinds of stuff.

But we have nursed them to full health. They are lovely little kittens that run around our home. They absolutely love spending time with Max in his room. Clair has a doll house that’s been converted into a sleeping condo which they enjoyed greatly. Eli has made them a special soft bed under her couch. These kids love these cats. And I will admit I’m quite smitten with the girl, sunshine. She’s starting to be quite chatty and I like chatty kitties.

M

Sharing my sink

Ever since we moved into the new house, five years ago, I have been sharing my sink, my bathroom counter, and our master bath with Clair Vonita. This happened because Max‘s bathroom that she was supposed to share was just so nasty I could not keep it clean and I could not have her use it. This has stuck.

Every week and there’s extra toothpaste and yuck around my sink I have to take a deep breath. I think I wish she had her own bathroom. And then I quickly think, soon enough she’ll be out of my house and I’ll be wishing for these days back. She is such a sweet girl. The conversations we’ve had while sharing a bathroom or countless. She is so open with me and she tries so hard to clean up and to make good choices. She is a wonderful wonderful little person. And I am lucky to share the bathroom with her. 

I keep asking David when he’s going to build her very own bathroom, but honestly, as long as this is working and she’s happy, I’m happy.

Fourteen years of parenting

14 years of parenting started 14 years ago today. It has been a wonderful journey and it has surely changed my life. This morning I sit here having woken up at seven as the first one in the house the week and I’m downstairs heating the oven to cook cinnamon rolls for Eli‘s birthday because that is her tradition as she calls it. The girl likes her traditions especially when they’re associated with sugar.

Each year and Eli‘s birthday I reflect on the night before she was born. David and I went out for a nice dinner because I knew it be the last table to go out like that without a babysitter for a long time. It was a nice meal and I enjoyed at the time and ended up regretting after the C-section. The day Ellie was born what is a exciting and terrifying day. I had no idea how that baby was coming out. I knew I was ready to meet her though.

14 years later that baby has turned into an independent, smart, caring, thoughtful, self thinking, artistic, artistic person. She’s still my baby but surely is not a baby anymore.  

Over the past 14 years of things that I have cared about and worried about have changed dramatically. The personal adventure of the world has subsided greatly, and the adventure of parenting has taken me on journeys of caring about things like ounces of milk consumed and pumped, number of wet diapers, schools to pick and choose, number of calories to eat a day, bones to have x-rayed, physical therapy to do, how to teach a child to be on time, how to learn how to healthfully feed a vegetarian, How to help a child through without having a friendship she needs (when I myself don’t have them), Coaching sports (instead of playing them), A lot less happy hours with colleagues and a lot more home to cook dinner, learning how to be a better cook, trying to cook things like tofu and beans and lentils, trying to balance a vegetarian who loves cheese and has been who hates cheese, how to plan the perfect family vacation instead of self adventure, had a balance my vacation days for meeting all the children’s needs instead of the most traveling I can do, how many vials of sunblock and how many layers of protective clothing to five people need to spend a week at the beach instead of the right alcohol to bring, are the children reading the right books instead of am I reading write books, trying to teach my children how to enjoy boardgames which I love so much, focusing on their friendships instead of my own (probably a parent failure quite honestly but I’m trying). All of these things represent a huge shift that you go through when you become a parent, and I honestly believe my life would never have been complete without these wonderful changes.

They say the days can be long but the years fly by. I know this is true. It wasn’t that long ago that I remember celebrating the birthdays of the Perrotta boys and thinking they had grown up fast. It’s amazing how much of a blur the parenting years and life as a whole can be. 

So, the decorations are up. The signs have been hung, the balloons have been blown up, presents are wrapped and placed under the birthday tree which is standing erect in the family room. The plans for the day have been made. The birthday meal has been ordered. We will celebrate and we will try to make it a wonderful day for Ellie. 

I hope as she ages she has fond memories of her childhood. I hope the same for all of my children.

The oven has beeped and I’m off to put the cinnamon buns into the oven so my daughter wakes up to the smell that makes her happy. I’ll probably wake her with the kittens in my arms.

Here’s to a happy 14th my dear darling daughter Ellie! 

Love you always and forever!

Mommy

Fall soccer tournament closes the season

Today Max and David soccer team finished up their season is a tough tournament showing. It was a very cool risk for a morning on a wet field in Frederick. They were three games. The boys battled hard, but it wasn’t hard enough to make it into the final game tomorrow. No Matter, I think they had fun this season and that’s what matters. Max is like going to have his daddy coaching him. This Reckley struggles to find coaches so we help we can. We are also going to coach Josh stepped up to help David this year and I could take a backseat and focus on softball.

Throughout the free games today Max had some time on office defense and even in goalie. I manage to snap only a few pictures. I got one of his cheering section.

I enjoy watching Max play soccer.