The Calm after the Christmas

What a busy time we've had! Todd's parents stayed for a couple days, so I had to be sociable almost all the time :o) They kept themselves busy, though - cooking, laundry, working on the bar renovations, etc. Sharon and Russ cooked the entire Christmas dinner, so I didn't have to lift a finger. It was kind of strange, not doing anything in my own kitchen, but Todd's sister Doris said to take advantage of it, and let them feed us. We ate like pigs, and still have tons of left-overs! We had more people come in yesterday, so Todd's mom cooked a ham and made tons of salads. Another day of pigging out, and yet more left-overs... Let's not forget the chocolates, cookies, squares, rolls, ice cream, etc. It won't be hard to "maintain my figure" ~heh heh~
Kids all had fun, lots and lots of presents! Caitlyn seemed to handle everything quite well, as long as she was the centre of attention. With so many people here, it got loud, so Caitlyn would yell louder still to make sure she'd be heard. She must get her social genes from Todd's side of the family! Anyway, I got some nice pictures to share - I'll put them up as soon as I can edit out the red eyes! Here is a little teaser...

Once I have the other photos ready, I'll put them in my Yahoo photo album, and add a link for you here.

A Soggy Holiday

Another rainy day on the island. It's probably not going to be a white Christmas here - but that's no surprise, we usually have rain, or fog, or rain and fog! I guess we'll have to put up the lights in the rain... 'cause we still haven't got it done! Shopping isn't done either. Nor is the house cleaning. We don't have a tree yet. Hmmmmm... what else is there not done for Christmas? Oh yeah - everything! We like to leave things to the very last minute, and then freak out completely. Something about working better under pressure... *wink*
We did do one important thing: Caitlyn met Santa. She was as friendly as ever, although she did try to rip off Santa's beard. He was too quick for her, though, and turned her around before she could cause any injury. I don't know if she asked for anything for Christmas, she wouldn't tell me. :o)

P.S. - Tuffysmom: This is just the small version of the photo, for the web. I have a higher resolution version suitable for printing.

Only have a minute, but...

Check this out! I so want to learn how to do this:

Maybe I can use this to challenge the boys to fold their own laundry (or, shirts, at least). They are pretty clever, though - they'd figure out before too long that I am only trying to trick them into doing their own work. ~sigh~

Another First

Big news! Caitlyn has tasted her first "real" food! Ok, maybe the news isn't that big... still, it's exciting to us. She had rice cereal. It sounds (and smells) bland, but I tasted it, and it's actually kinda sweet. She figured out the spoon pretty quickly, and finished off 2 tablespoons of cereal in just a few minutes. Clever girl! Now we can test the theory that she'll start sleeping better at night once she's eating solid food. Personally, I have my doubts... she just loves being with us so much that she hates to go to sleep; I think she's afraid she'll miss something. She'll soon realize that we are actually rather boring, and that sleep might even be more exciting than a night with us. I can always hope, anyway!
Work is progressing in the rec room - walls are all painted, and it's time to rearrange the furniture, set up the dart board, hook up the stereo, connect all the wires for various tv, dvd, playstation, nintendo, etc. That part just might take the longest - there's a lot of wires down there! I'll be taking pictures as soon as Todd brings back my double-A batteries (he took them out of the camera to use in his flashlight, which I cannot find). It's looking nice, though - I am quite happy with it so far.
Well, better get back to the ol' grind - Caitlyn is only good for so long in that automatic swing :)