Ti-i-i-i-me [Ain't] On My Side

So time ain't on my side. I have too much to do. Too little time. Things like blogging have fallen to the wayside lately. And when I have family pictures to post so my dad can see them, I probably should make it more of a priority. But somehow my life is full of things that need doing. Even my reading has been moved to the back burner. And that kind of irritates me. So here's a little catch-up post :). Sometimes, when I do song title posts, I learn a lot. Because I totally didn't know this song was by the Rolling Stones.

So Thanksgiving was pretty good. Okay, well. The part where we all got there and got to the eating part. I think I'm too high strung for Thanksgiving. It has too much chaos, and I get grouchy. I think I may be part Grinch. So I went over to Brad and Tarylyn's first and took a lot of the stuff over. And then the kids and I hung out until everyone else arrived. Which wasn't long. But here is Samuel with me. Poor kid. He was licking his chapped lips like crazy and ended up with a bunch of canker sores. So sad. But isn't he just the cutest? I can't believe he's 6 1/2 now. I remember being there the day after he was born. My how the time flies.
This is the only picture I got of Benjamin, other than the group shot, and you can't even see his face. In this picture, he and Emily were hugging. Thank goodness for my sister who took pictures with my camera. Because other than the self-portraits and the group shot at the end, I didn't take any of the other pictures... I'm such a slacker!

While we were waiting for the food to finish cooking, the kids and I watched some videos on the computer. Look at my sweet Desiree. She is such a sweet girl. I mean so incredibly sweet. And she's so pretty. How I love her. Is it possible this is the little tiny baby they wheeled into the room all bundled up?

And here I am with Saria, Desiree, and Samuel. Saria is quite the beauty. She is incredibly photogenic. She will be 10 soon. How does this happen? I was there when Tarylyn was in labor with her, though I did have to go to work (the HLML book sale...) before Saria was born. But I saw her that very night. And then, not even 2 years later, right before my wedding, this sweet thing was there, calling the Wizard of Oz "kai!" Don't know why, but she was consistent with it. And now look at her! She is beautiful! And of course, sweet Desiree again and handsome Samuel. How I love these kids! They make my day every time I see them. How thankful I am to be their aunt. On Thanksgiving and every day. They so enrich my life.

Dinner was ready shortly after these pictures were taken. Desiree told me she wanted to eat next to me. Which meant I ate in the kitchen with the kids. Because other than Emily who was being fed and was therefore able to eat with the grown-ups, all the other kids ate in the kitchen. So Aunt Hila did too. And Samuel didn't want his sweet potatoes or his green bean casserole, but was told he had to eat it. So Aunt Hila broke out the big guns and introduced them to the childhood game that Brad, Christina, and I made up. We call it: "When I take a bite, they put me like this..." And let me just say, the kids loved it. Saria had finished her food, but she decided to eat more bread and then pretend to eat just so she could participate! And Desiree was doing a good job of eating her food anyway and not complaining about it, but she also wanted to participate. They had so much fun with it! These kids are just, in a word, awesome. They make me laugh. And I told Brad what they were doing when he came in the kitchen and he just laughed. Because it's exciting for the kids for sure. But it's fun for us too, because it brings back memories of our own. Of days sitting at the formica-covered kitchen table, eating the potato soup we didn't like out of the little green bowls. I have that mental image every time I think of this game.

And here's little Emily. Emily who will be 2 in 11 days. Emily who loves books. And who can now point at a pumpkin and say "punkin." And at a rock and say "rock!" Her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds, and everytime I go without seeing her for more than a week, it feels like she advances so much it astounds me! I know that is what they do at this age. It's just amazing to see it. And actually, Emily is the first niece or nephew I've seen go through this stage. The others didn't live near enough to me at this age for me to see their daily and weekly advancements. Anyway, in this picture, she had taken a book to her grandma to read, and she was just happy as a clam to sit there and listen to the story. She's so pretty.

We were getting ready for group pictures and Desiree wanted a picture together. I had already put the timer on for the group picture, and I thought I'd turned it off for this. But I hadn't. So we had to pose for 10 seconds. And Desiree sat there saying "Cheese!" The whole 10 seconds. Oh! Desiree can spell STOP and she points out stop signs and such. She is also becoming more observant. I pick the girls up for church on Sundays, and this past Sunday she asked me, as we were driving along, why "those signs" have numbers on them. So I explained to her about speed limits.

So we took a group shot before Christina had to leave. Being in retail, she had to work at 4 a.m. on Black Friday. So they ate and headed out pretty much. But we got a group shot.

I also had a ton of toys and such for the kids. Mostly they were things I forgot to give them at Halloween. Like stretchy glow in the dark skeletons. Actually, those I got on sale after Halloween. But I had glow-in-the-dark bats and various-colored vampire teeth. The kids loved that. They all put the teeth in, including Emily! (And including Aunt Hila). Maybe I will post them tomorrow (or in my next post...) if Christina sends them to me. All those pictures are on her camera. I told you, I did a really bad job of picture-taking this time! I also got to enjoy talking to Saria about books she is reading. She loves reading and reads well above her grade level. I am proud of her. After everyone left except me, Brad's family and I watched A B.C. Thanksgiving and A B.C. Christmas. I love those cartoons. The kids chuckled, but mostly when the grown-ups laughed. I think the cartoons are geared more toward adults. And they are hilarious. I headed home around 8:30 and didn't actually go to bed until midnight, though I had definitely intended to go to bed way earlier. Not only did I have to work at the funeral home the following day, but I'd also committed to go to Black Friday sales with Rebecca! And we agreed to meet at the funeral home at 3 in the morning! Gross!

So my alarm went off at 2:30 in the a.m. I texted Rebecca to see if we were still meeting at 3. I secretly hoped she'd say she wanted to meet up later (or not at all... hahaha). But we were still on. (Though she later admitted she had wanted to beg off, but didn't want to let me down...). So we hit Kohl's a little after 3 in the morning. Then we went and got hot chocolate. Then we drove around and ended up back at the mall. And walked around. Then we went to eat at this place called Shari's. At like 5 in the morning. I looked like death warmed over. Then we hit Target. Which we promptly left when we saw the check-out lines wrapping around aisles in the back of the store... Then we went to Wal-Mart and Fred Meyer. I did pretty well. Other than the breakfast and cocoa, I only spent $20. And $10 of that was Emily's Christmas present. I got her one of those sing-a-ma-jig things. If you don't know what they are, you should go look for them in the toy section. They are hilarious! I kept making it sing the notes, so I finally had to wrap it so I wouldn't kill the batteries before Emily could play with it on Christmas. Then I also bought 2 movies for $5 each. New movies :). And then it was time for work. Yeah, so I worked a full day at the funeral home, as did Rebecca, after we went shopping at 3 in the morning. Blech! I slept well that night. By 10:30 I couldn't even keep my eyes open. I was trying to read, and it wasn't happening, so I finally gave up.

Saturday I had to work at the library. Which I thought was pointless. The library was closed Sunday and Monday because it always is. Closed Tuesday due to the ice and snow. Open Wednesday (again, pointless). Closed Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving. Open Saturday. And closed Sunday and Monday again for regular schedule. I thought it was dumb to have us in on that Saturday. But nobody asked me... I had my annual evaluation, which went fine. The day went pretty quick. Then I came home and actually went out and started pulling up my garden. It's the first Saturday afternoon I've had to do it. I still have to till it all under, but all the plants have been pulled, except the strawberries, and I won't pull those. Saturday night I had a dinner and movie night with Heidi and Wendy. We had Bistro Chicken in Rich Cream sauce (which I made out of my new crock pot cookbook), quinoa, brussel sprouts, orange julius to drink, and chocolate trifle for dessert. And we watched The Importance of Being Earnest (which to me is silly. I read the play back in 2006 for my English degree, and I thought it was absurd then... And I know it's mean to be...) and we also watched New In Town, which I loved! That was so funny! But it was a romantic comedy (ie chick flick), so of course I enjoyed it.

Sunday was church. Like I mentioned, we took the girls to church. Emily was more of a pill than usual. But when we gave her snacks and things to color, she settled down. Desiree is always so good. She is just such an easy-going, even-keeled kid. Not that Emily is awful. She really isn't. She just likes things to go her way sometimes (don't we all?) and she is still learning how to convey those wishes and frustrations.

Monday I worked all day at the funeral home. And then left at 4:30 like I always do, so I could get ready for Marvelous Monday Meals (or as we have started calling it: 3M). We had autumn chicken over egg noodles (another from my crock pot book. It was okay. Not as flavorful as I'd hoped, though Lea's family seemed to like it), homemade cream corn, Sis. Schubert rolls, and rich chocolate bars for dessert. Plus Lea has her Christmas tree up already, so it seemed so cozy to see it lit up in the corner as we laughed and watched Scrubs.

And today. This brings us up to date. For now :). It was a typical Tuesday for me. Lots and lots of rain the last two days. Lame. But at least it's not snow :). After works, I walked with Sue, ate dinner, got application stuff ready for a job, and finished up making oreo truffles. I have a love/hate relationship with those things. I love to eat them and give them to others to eat. I hate to make them. With a passion. If only they weren't so awesome-tasting, I would never feel the need to make them. Like ever. This batch is for the cookie swap we are doing at the library Christmas party this Friday.

So, I totally put reading and emailing my friends on the back-burner to write this blog. Which turned out quite lengthy. More-so than I had planned. So forgive me Julie, Annie, April, and Julia-Ann. You were on my list tonight, believe me. But oreo truffles, job applications, and blogging happened. And then it was 11 p.m. And my eyes hurt.