Go, Go, Go

That's how today was! I've found that when I have my alarm set, I wake up several times in the night--either making sure I didn't sleep through it or just anticipating it going off. It's really quite annoying! So this morning, I remember looking at the clock at 2:30, 3 something, 4:20 and 5:15. At that point, I just decided to get up. I had set it for 5:30 because I had to wash, peel and cut up potatoes for a crockpot soup I was making and I needed to get it in before I went hiking so it could be ready by lunch time. After I got the soup in the crockpot, I left for hiking. It was dark for a while--I'll have to remember a flashlight for next time.

Everyone was up when I got home, so from there it was making breakfasts, making lunches, cleaning up, getting E&L ready for school, etc. After they were off, I got after Ellie and Hattie about 100 times to not take ornaments off the tree. It's a favorite past time right now and it's driving me crazy. It's tempting me to put ornaments on the top half only. But one day, I'll miss having little hands around taking them off, right? I have to keep reminding myself. So instead, I did a quick scan and made sure that no breakables were on the bottom half.

Today around lunch time, we had a little surprise party for Terri's birthday. I had invited her over for lunch, but what she didn't know (or hopefully didn't know!) was that about 10 of her friends were coming over, too! It was a fun time. I had made a soup and Susan brought a soup, Leslie made rolls and dessert. We had macaroni for the kids and Monique brought capri-sun for them to drink. Other than about 10 pounds of macaroni on the ground (outside, at least!) and brownies crumbs smooched flat into my tile, it was a great time! LOL. It was fun to do something special for Terri. She is such a great friend and will do anything for anyone.

After the party goers left, Ellie took a nap and we waited for Eliza and Libby to get home. Carson came over to play with Libby and Katie came to play with Eliza. I had a photo shoot this afternoon--it went well. It was a family shoot and they had three kids--the youngest was 4, so it was a breeze.

Tonight was a little bit crazy family home evening. It seemed that everyone had a meltdown. It was one thing after another...something I don't want to repeat!