Christmas with the Aardemas

Because of everyone's schedules this year, we had to do Christmas with Brian's family over the weekend.  It was a lot of fun!  McCoy was still a little young to appreciate the gift opening process.  All he wanted to do was wrestle with his poor cousins who just wanted to open their gifts.  I ended up taking him out for a little so that they could enjoy their presents.

He was thoroughly spoiled!  He loves playing with all of his new toys.

Brian and I were pretty spoiled too ;)  I have lots of new clothes and jewelry to wear and lots of new movies to watch.  I even got a new bookshelf to put in my new house so that I can start my dream of having a library!  I also got some books to help start off my  library.

Ward Christmas Party

McCoy is a very social boy!  He loves to be around people and talk to them.  So when we walked into a room with a lot of people and a lot of room to run around, he was in heaven!  A lot of great women in the ward have watched McCoy for me and so he knows all of their kids and they know him.  It is really fun to see them interact with each other.

We sat and had breakfast and then Santa was almost there.  They lined the kids up against the wall to sing songs until Santa arrived.  We took McCoy and put him in the line with the other kids.  As soon as the singing started, he came out in front and started waving his hands to conduct and started dancing.  It was pretty dang funny and cute!

And you can see that he was not the biggest fan of Santa!  Part of it was that we had been waiting in line FOREVER!  My sister held our spot in line so that I could take him to run around while we waited.  Some kids in my ward told her that they thought it was cool that she was the only adult who was in line to see Santa ;)

"Fun" experience

So I thought I would share this "fun" thing that happened to me last night.  My neighbor usually watches McCoy, but her poor daughter got strep so I texted my back up babysitter on Tuesday and she said sure!  At 3am this morning, she texted me to let me know that her 3 year old was up throwing up and do I still want McCoy around that?  Well, with our upcoming trip I thought absolutely not!  I woke up Brian and asked if I should get a sub or what I should do.  He said I don't know and rolled back over and went to sleep. I frantically texted another lady in my ward at 3:30am afraid to wake anybody up, but needing to know how to proceed.

I then got up and went downstairs and made sub plans and put my absence in the system.  Any of my teacher friends know that you do not just simply make sub plans.  There is a lot that goes into it.  Lucky for me today is a short day so it only took me about 30 minutes to make my sub plans.  I then got back into bed, but could not sleep because my mind was up and reeling.

At 7am I get a text from the sweet sister in my ward saying she could watch McCoy!  So I quickly log on and cancel my absence.  Oh and I had also texted my principal at 4am to tell her I wouldn't be in today so I hurry and texted her back and told her just kidding.

I get McCoy all dropped off and situated and he loves this sister's 3 kids already!  They are playing cars with him and reading books to him.

Here is the great part...when I get to work I have a text from Brian that says, "I might be coming home. They scheduled me on accident."

I had to laugh because if I didn't I was going to scream.  So now I am sleep deprived for nothing.  Such is the life of a working mom I guess.

So blessed!

As I was walking through our house last night trying to get McCoy ready for bed, I stopped and looked at the HUGE pile of clean unfolded laundry.  I almost let myself complain and get impatient with myself and my husband who have not stopped to fold the laundry.  Then I started to feel something completely opposite, gratitude.

I am so grateful that we have clothes to wear.

I am grateful that I get to try to find the matching socks to little tiny feet.

I am grateful for our house that keeps us warm and makes me so happy.

I am grateful that my kitchen sink was full of dishes from a dinner that EVERYONE ate!

I am grateful that I have to clean toys out of my shower, bed, and drawers before I can go to bed every night.

I am grateful to be loved by two of the best boys I know!

Maybe it is just this time of year, but I am just bursting with gratitude for all that my Heavenly Father has given me.  Don't think that life is perfect, because it is NOT.  McCoy is really testing my patience lately and laughing and smacking me when I say no.  Brian and I have not seen each other all week because of all of the things going on right now.  But, even those things make me more grateful!