Christmas Vacation

We are having way too much fun during this week with Ted off work and Rhonda with us.  On Monday Charis, Rhonda, and I did some shopping...Charis wanted to use the Michael's gift card that Grandma J had given her for Christmas, and I had a J.C. Penney's gift card from Grandma Shirley for my birthday that I wanted to try to use, since I never go to the mall as a general rule!  Charis found much to her liking at Michael's and happily returned with a bag full of new items to craft with, and I scored a big griddle for our family's pancake mornings (among other uses, LOL)!  It was on sale for $30, regularly $50, and with my gift card and tax, I ended up paying a whopping $6.94.  Woohoo!  We hope to talk Ted into making pancakes tomorrow morning so we don't have to wait until Sunday to see how it works!

Yesterday Ted and I escaped went out for a much-needed date!  The last one we had was in October when my parents were here.  We were hoping to go out for my birthday around Thanksgiving time, but our sitter had company that week and ended up not being able to get away to help us out.  So we were thrilled when Rhonda said she wanted to babysit so we could go out.  FINALLY we enjoyed seeing the new Harry Potter movie, which was very well done.  Though it's been over a year since I last read the book, it seemed like they did a very good job of sticking to the major plot points and staying true to the characters and themes.  We can't wait for the next one to come out!  After the movie (which was an early matinee), we went out for a late lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and returned home to find Lucan napping and everyone else watching the end of the Polar Express.

Today pretty much everyone played Wii this morning (as they have a LOT this week, LOL) while I escaped to my stamp room to work on some projects.  Now it's afternoon nap time, and I'm uploading some pictures to Facebook and getting ready to head back downstairs to work some more.  Leadership is in just a couple of weeks, and I don't want to leave my swaps to the last minute!

Tonight we're eagerly anticipating the opportunity to see the new Narnia movie, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, another Christmas gift from Rhonda.  We have a sitter for Kenna and Lucan and are pumping Kenna up for her fun night with Miss Rachel!  The older kids are beside themselves with excitement...as am I!  Hurry up, evening, and come!!

As much as we are trying to be relaxed and laid back, the week still seems to be flying by already.  Sigh.  Guess we'll try to enjoy this break from reality while it lasts!