Quick takes.....Thursday

I'm quick taking on Thursday since I won't have time to do it on Friday. I'm doing inventory at work, and hand-counting roughly 11,000 items is no small task, my friends. Not at all.

1
Sunday night a friend of mine called me around 5PM in tears - she had been having contractions every five minutes for a couple of hours and thought she needed to go to the hospital, but couldn't get in touch with anyone who had agreed to help her with her three kids, ages 7, 4 and almost-2. I told her just to bring all three of them over to the house, and she said she didn't want to but didn't really have a choice. I assured her it was fine, and she and her husband dropped them off around 6pm. And it was utterly insane. Her three kids plus my two equaled insanity. I don't know how people do it. At one point, everyone in the house was crying except for the 4-year old and myself, and I was on the verge or tears. It ended up being a false alarm, and they picked the kids up around 9pm, but man. I don't mind doing it, though. I figure it's my karmic duty. I have a lot of family around to help me, and it's the least I can do to help others who aren't as lucky. And there are a lot of people in that situation, with all the military familes around here.

2
I am blogging from my aunt's house, where I stayed overnight with her three boys, ages 5, 5, and 4. Her daughter is in the hospital, and the bus comes for the boys at the unGodly hour of 6:15AM, so since my husband happened to be off work last night I was able to stay over and not have to drag my kids along with me. And holy moly! My sister was here for bedtime (we were putting together photo collages to give as gifts, and that was an adventure in itself, although we did manage to complete them without cutting ourselves with the scissors or taping ourselves to anything), and I'm glad she was because it literally took hours for them to fall asleep, with the youngest holding out the longest. And he was also the first one up, shaking me around 4:30AM and asking for candy. Um, no. Getting the three of them ready for school was an interesting experience, and I must confess that I was so relieved to see the headlights of the school bus that I performed a Tiger Woods-esque fist pump right there in the driveway.

3
Bella stayed the night with a friend a couple of weeks ago, and that friend is absolutely dying to stay the night with Bella, but the logistics just aren't working out. I work on Saturdays, so if she stayed the night on a Friday I would have to take her home super early Saturday morning. Saturday nights are out, because of church on Sunday. Since it's a school holiday we could do a weeknight, but my day off during the week is Thursday and both upcoming holidays fall on Thursdays, so that is out. But I'm trying to figure it out, because it's all this little girl talks about. She even mailed Bella a Christmas card and hand-wrote inside: "I hope I get to come to your house soon". I'm working on it!

4
Today is the last day of school before the Christmas break starts. There is a half day today, and then no school until January 5th. I have mixed emotions about this - it means no more getting up early for school (but I'm up with Bubba anyway), but it also means Bella will be home all day. And since there are really no kids around us for her to play with, she gets a little lonely. And bored. And cantankerous. So I am looking forward to it for now, but ask me in about a week.

5
I am done with my Christmas shopping. I am waiting for a few things I ordered online to arrive, and I have to ship a couple of packages still, but other than that I am FINISHED. Hooray! Everything is wrapped and ready. Awesome.

6
I have to go home now, to relieve my husband of Bubba duty and to undo the damage that my two children and husband wreaked on the house without me there nagging them to pick up after themselves. So I am limiting my quick takes to six. So farewell, friends - I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season!