Yeah, I know...

... it's been a while since I last posted anything. Things got extremely busy between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but now that we're on the downside of busyness for a while, I hope to resume regular posting.

So, what's happened in between? Let's see...

The boys stayed with Billy's parents for a week after Thanksgiving. I spent my free time that week getting my hair cut, taking a wire-wrapping class, and shopping. We got almost all of our Christmas shopping done that week! It was nice to be able to get out during the week and shop, avoiding all the weekenders. And it was nice to get it all done at once, without having to run out here and there and pick up a little at a time.

The wire-wrapping class I took has opened up a whole new world of jewelry-making for me! I'm now able to confidently make earrings, as well as decorative silver bookmarks and more intricate-looking jewelry than just beads strung on a wire. Every female on my Christmas list got jewelry of some sort! And I'm seriously considering selling some of what I make. (Billy told me I need to do that to help support my bead habit.) Lindsay told me about an online site (Etsy.com) where people can sell handmade things, and Billy and I have been checking it out to see if it's something we both might like to do. I've also been talking with a friend of mine who used to have her own jewelry business about the ins and outs of getting started. And I'm currently reading You Can Make Money from Your Hobby for more ideas/inspiration. I enjoy my Pampered Chef business, but my passion right now is making beautiful pieces of jewelry from all the gorgeous beads I find.

Jacob had oral surgery: three white fillings in permanent teeth, 5 silver caps on baby teeth, and one tooth pulled. He was hilarious before surgery, after they gave him his "giggle juice" to help him relax. It's like drinkable laughing gas. Immediately after surgery, he was a bear. He was confused coming out of the anesthesia and he was crying that all his teeth hurt. The nurses managed to get some pain meds into him and he quieted down pretty quickly. While they were doing that, another nurse was helping me out. Just one look at his bloody mouth and I got all weak. I took off my coat, sat down in a nearby chair, and leaned over with my head between my knees. The nurse grabbed a Gatorade (gross!) out of the refrigerator and told me to drink as much as I could as fast as I could. I did and almost immediately started feeling better. They had me get in the bed with Jacob, then they rolled us back to his room to finish his recovery. Not much later, he was released to go home. We ate lots of soup, yogurt, pudding, and mashed potatoes. Oh, and milkshakes! Now he's back to normal. He thinks he still can't eat certain things, but it's just in his mind. Soon he'll have an orthodontic spacer put in.

We left for our Christmas travels on Christmas Eve morning. The first party was the family gathering at Billy's parents' house. It was a full house, as usual, though there were some missing. It was a lot of fun, and I ate entirely too much food. In fact, the last piece of candy I started eating, I had to put down because I felt so miserable. After everyone left, the boys opened their gifts, played a little, then went to bed. The next morning, they went through their Santa gifts, carefully examining each item before moving on to the next one. After breakfast, we got busy getting repacked and loading up to head to my aunt's house for Christmas lunch. After that and an afternoon visit with everyone, we moved on to my parents' house. After getting unloaded and visiting a bit more, we exchanged gifts and played with our "toys". Friday was a lazy morning, then Mama and Lindsay and I did a little shopping in the afternoon. Jennifer, Robert, and Seth came over that evening and we visited and played games and snacked on leftovers. Saturday morning, we loaded everything back up and headed home.

Today was our ideal Christmas day. We all slept in, then spent the day at home, playing with the boys' new toys and watching WALL-E. After all the rush, we needed a day to stay in and do whatever we wanted. It was very relaxing.

Tomorrow Billy goes back to work, and I have to take Jacob in for a dental check-up. Then we'll do a little shopping to get ready for our New Year's Day gathering with friends. We'll get back into our normal routine slowly, then be back in full swing next Monday.