Last day of the year

As I sit by the fire (heater) looking at the lit Christmas tree, the babes are down for an early nap in order to get to a New Year's Eve wedding at 3. Sometimes it's tough to get out the door to head to Costco, so let's see if I can manage it in our finest for a fine wedding. Just get me to the church on time...

Christmas has been wonderful. Today there are seven swans a-swimming, and there's much more to come! After today's affair, we'll wake the kiddos up to make the midnight fireworks over the Mississippi, Mass begins the year off right tomorrow before a big brunch party at a neighbor's house, and we've still got Celebration in Oaks in City Park to manage before the 12 Days are up.

But let's look back at what's been going on the last couple of weeks. Most of the last week of Advent was spent winding down and unpacking from our quick trip to Houston. So by the time Saturday and Sunday rolled around, and it was already time to pack again for Galveston, I'd hardly had a chance to blink. Dylan was very kind about making sure I wasn't stressing about what he would do (ie for meals, laundry) in the days we were separated. And in the end, upon return, he'd left the house spotless. Thanks, darl.

Here's a detailed low-down on Monday-Travel-Day, and after that you'll just get general themes. We picked up a rental car at 9am for me to drive Paul & Ada, so that Dylan could have Vinny to drive himself late on Christmas Eve. I was finally packed enough to leave just before 10am, when Peter - with Gregory Bonsignore, an old high school / boy scout friend - also hit the road in a sort of caravan. Paul and Ada slept til Lake Charles, ie 3 good hrs, and we stopped for food and play at a Chick-fil-a before hitting the road again at 3 for the remaining 2+ hrs to Texas City to return the car by 6. I made it to the Budget Rental at 5:40 with a full tank of gas. Phew. Both kids had lost it somewhere around 5:15. Good run, I know, but it was right at the end there that I didn't know where I was driving; we made it. After returning the car, though, Peter was still on the road from dropping Greg in Houston. He was on his way to pick us up ... and things got darker ... and kids got tireder (yes, that's a word) ... and passing cars in the parking lot got slower and louder uhn-ts uhn-ts uhn-ts ... Please, dear Lord, give my brother wings. He arrived in no time, really, and we headed for Bolivar! Just missed a 7:30 ferry, waited til 8, held an over-it Ada on my lap in the front seat for the 20 min ride and then 11mile straight-shot down the peninsula to the beach house, and finally hugged family close to 9pm. L o n g  d a y but Christmas is coming!! So we settled in, ate good food, drank good drink, and listened to Christmas songs.

That last line could be repeated for the 23rd, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and Saturday, too, before packing up Sunday for the long trip home again. One extra tidbit about each day, though, besides food, drink, and music: Tuesday was a stay-inside day with movies, too. But with the fantastic deck outside, Paul rode his little trike around for ages anyway. Nice. Wednesday had Mass at 5pm in a tiny little church with about 50 people. The priest chose us to be the choir, calling out what number whatever song was, and he talked straight to Paul during the homily. Dylan got in late evening and then drove himself to midnight Mass, poor guy. We missed going together. Then Christmas Day was beautiful - little beach walk, little cooking (ok, lotsa), pressie-opening, big meal after Ryan arrived, and another late night up talking and playing. Thursday was s'posed to be our traditional bowling day, but when we realized how far away everything was, we just scratched it and played a Ginny-original Christmas-trivia game. On Saturday, Momma's brother's family came in for the afternoon and evening, and it was great seeing them all together again! And Sunday ... boo hoo ... was go-home day. We left around noon and stopped in Lake Charles at a McDonald's this time; we go where the playgrounds are. (Sidenote: boy, the clientele sure is different among fast food chains.) Poor Ada napped the entire time what with her fever, green nose, and cough. More on that in a sec... We stopped in New Iberia for Mass and were eventually home around 9pm again. It rained the whole day. I've just been reeling since, trying to get things back in shape and shower the kids with attention comparable to what they had last week. Impossible, you say? Yeah, pretty much.

Over Christmas Beach Week, sleep was bad. Reeeal bad. Paul's cough stopped after about 2 nights, when Ada's started, of course. Her nose got nasty, and then the last night, she was burning up, but nothing would help the poor little dear. Dylan and I were running on nearly empty anyway, and then that last night knocked us over the top; Sunday was survived thanks to coffee.

And today I got to talk to Colleen!! Hooray! She's at her folks' house with her 2 girls while Mike's back in St. Paul already, and she and I had a big "oh, yeah, I hear ya, girl" for about half an hour. We said, isn't it funny how the regular routine is sometimes overwhelming, you look forward to busy family time and all the extra hands and help, stay up late because who doesn't have a case of the FOMOs*, and then get back to the regular routine with a big exhale, thinking "man, this feels easier" ... for a few days. Ha. We're catching up on sleep now that we're back.

*FOMO = fear of missing out

So there we are! I know I promised pictures from last time, and there are a slug of good ones for this post, too, but there's been no tiiiiime. Honestly. I think I'll just do another photo-heavy one without all the gab and get you caught up on the cuteness. 'Cause man, is there cuteness.

Halfway through Advent

We're already more than halfway through Advent and just 10 days from Christmas. The past two weeks have been spent preparing ourselves for Christmas, lighting our candles, reading a reflection, and, of course, having an individually wrapped sweet each morning. Necessities, people.

We've also celebrated a few saints' days and participated in a couple of neat-o public events here in NOLA and also in Houston: 1. Luna Fete on Lafayette Square 2. outdoor viewing of The Polar Express on Spanish Plaza 3. Algiers Point (massive) bonfire 4. Second-line with St. Nick in Dutch Alley 5. Walker Elementary's Jingle Bell Walk (Mom's school) and 6. Houston Zoo Lights (on St. Lucy's day). We even managed to have Mexican on Dec 12th for Our Lady of Guadalupe.

With the first of Advent, Dylan and I started hosting coffee & donuts at our church. It so desperately needs a little community life, so we're starting with food and hoping it grows from there! The first day, we were late for the early Mass (facepalm), but the second was a huge success. The following week was more organized and a big success again - for both Masses. Last weekend, we were in Houston, and a friend stepped up to host it. It's happening =).

Those are the big things that have been going on, and any photos were most definitely not taken by me, so I'll try to wrangle some up from Mom, Gin, and/or Dylan.

Little tidbits:
- Ada played peekaboo with (cousin / Father) Scott visiting from FL. Like, she initiated it, held up a napkin, and pulled it down to smile at him.
- Paul asked to go "back to Tetsas", oh, at about Beaumont... (ie, not that far from Houston en route back to NOLA)
- Paul's been asking for us to do to "our green house" what others have done with lights, cute.
- Ada dances, and it's so. so. funny.
- It's December 16th, and we're still in T-shirts (well, Dylan and I are).

Now, I'll get to work on getting some of those photos.

Was there a November?

Time's a funny thing, innit? Shalome & Ahlwan came to visit for 2 weeks, and they flew by in a flash! It's been 2 weeks since they left for Australia again, and it feels like forever. Bam - four weeks. The entirety of November.

And now it's Advent, Week 1! We've begun our Advent wreath and calendar, the former being for the whole family and the latter solely for Paul's enjoyment =). I love Advent.

Oh, what about those 4 weeks, you ask? They were fun-filled, not-so-fun-filled, busy, relaxing, and then Thanksgiving.

We so enjoyed having the chance to catch up with Shalome and really get to know little Ahlwan a bit. He's 18mos now, so he's changed tons, clearly, since we last saw him at just 4mos. We did lots of touristy things together and lots of normal not-so-touristy things. We ferried, streetcarred, playgrounded, and cooked & ate. Dylan couldn't take any time off work, unfortunately, but we all stayed up a little past our usual times in order to talk a bit without tiny people wanting our attentions. We were horrible at taking photos for the entire 2 weeks; we only took a very few at the zoo.

So, some of the fun included said zoo visit (and a 6mile walk for me from the CBD there while the others took the streetcar; Ada slept the whole way in the stroller!), an aquarium visit, backyard picnics, walks on the levee, "First Friday on the Point" browsing, the Gumbo Fest ending in Ahlwan, Paul & Ada's first taxi ride, a date with just Paul, and fancy mussel dinner at Broussard's.

I also must include some of the not-so-fun because, come on, when you're talking about 3 kids under 3, there is just bound to be some nighttime crying, nap refusal, ferry missing, ant bites (68 on Ada's legs!), falling off the bed (Ada again ... same day as Ant Day), nasty weather, teething, fussing, and puking. Add to that one almost-missed flight!

After that, there was a lot of laundry and canceling our normal things due to semi-sickness. Paul copped it bad the night before Shalome & Ahlwan left, then I had a mild version later in the week, even keeping Dylan home to watch the kids. As soon as everyone was up to par, though, we got out! And the weather shaped up. It was cool, wet, and nasty for the second of Shalome's weeks, but it's back up to 65ºish and lovely.

We've moved Ada out of our room and into Paul's! She's done excellently, and Paul hasn't bat an eye. He likes it, in fact, so that's great. Just to balance awesome things, though, let me also mention that we traumatized Paul with a haircut, and Ada fell - again - and busted her lip. She healed over Thanksgiving weekend, and there's nothing noticeable. Poor little - tough - dear.

Thanksgiving was great! Mom, Dad, Ginny, & Ryan stayed here, and Pete came over and/or met us wherever we were doing anything. We had a delicious dinner here together before a delicious dessert session at Aunt Cyndi & Uncle Ben's with the extended family. So, so nice to get everybody together <3. And never-mind that business about Ada's eating ... she'll eat anything, any way, especially if it's delicious, like gumbo or Thanksgiving dinners. Again, the only photos:

My turkey birds 

Now bring on Advent!