What We've Been Up To

I took a bit of a blogging break to enjoy my family over Christmas.  It was lovely having Oleander and Karate Kid home for two weeks.  Ollie once again experienced a little travel hiccup--her flight was delayed several hours because of weather, but she made it home safe and sound.  My favorite memories from the last couple weeks were hearing my three oldest girls laughing and enjoying each others company.  What a blessing to have siblings!

Christmas was pretty low key for us.  We went to Mass, came home and had birthday cake for Baby Jesus, opened gifts, and ate a lovely meal.  I did not go crazy baking this year.  We did make Naniamo bars during Christmas week and lefse on New Year's Eve.  I made a couple pies here and there and that was about it.  I wasn't much in a baking mood due to the fact Ollie came home with requests for all her favorite elaborate meals, leaving me with little energy and appetite to bake much.  She was pleased to have all her favorite meals over the two weeks--lamb curry with naan, Chinese orange chicken, Navaho tacos, black bean soup, chili, calzones, etc.  Unfortunately, my scale is none too happy.  I decided to forgo counting calories from Thanksgiving through Ollie leaving and now I'm paying the price.  We are back on track and eating healthier again and I'm hoping that holiday weight drops off quickly.

Ollie has had continuing knee issues and so skiing was out for her.  We thought we might go sledding instead.  Wouldn't you have it, the first run down the hill, she and Wingnut Jr. went flying over a jump and she broke her wrist.  The day after Christmas is the busiest day in the ER I was told after waiting 4 hours for her to be seen.  Poor Ollie!  That put just a bit of a damper on her visit home, but she is a trooper and did not complain a bit.

The skiers managed to hit the slopes several times over our two week break.  Wingnut even found photos of the kids online available for purchase.

Oleander made it back to the East Coast without a hitch, between winter storms and the crazy polar blast being experienced there now.  Two weeks flies by too fast!  We are already looking forward to her next visit in April.

We started back to school on Monday and as much as I was dreading it, it wasn't so bad.  It's nice to be back into a routine.