Up

I hate waking up in the morning.  It doesn't matter if I have gotten plenty of sleep, morning just feels full of doom.  At night I lay in bed and go over the events of the day.  And on the nights it takes me forever to fall asleep, I spend a lot of time going over the day.  Most days I am just relieved the day is over and I plan the next day in my head.  I almost always feel optimistic that tomorrow is going to be a better day because I am going to be more patient, more fun, more effective with my time.  But then morning comes and I feel awful and very unmotivated. I hate waking up.  

You know what's worse than waking up though?  Having to wake somebody else up.  Ben takes after me and has a very difficult time falling asleep at night.  And although almost everyday he comes home from school and has enjoyed his day, when he wakes up in the morning he just doesn't want to go to school.  On average it takes Ben an hour to fall asleep and a half an hour to get him up in the morning.  It's hard to be patient when I have to spend so much time getting him up.  I am patient the first couple of times I ask him, but after asking him again and again to get up I get frustrated.  He doesn't seem to be phased by an alarm, so it's up to me to get him up.

Yesterday I got up, took a shower, and when I was done noticed that my bedroom light was on.  Ben and Luke end up in my bed every single night (Jack is amazing and stays in his bed all night almost every night) and I saw that Luke was sitting up in my bed.  He had turned on the light and then sat down by Ben.  Next thing I knew, Luke was laying on top of Ben yelling, "up Ben, up!" And after a minute, Ben was up.  It was awesome!

I can't believe Luke is almost two years old. He grew too fast.  The past couple of weeks his vocabulary has taken off.  It is amazing to Chad and I how much he is saying and how much he is participating in the routines of the family.  He loves to get dressed in the morning and insists on having his socks and shoes on, even if we aren't going anywhere.  If he hears me tell the other boys to get their coats on, he puts on a hat and grabs his coat and brings it to me to put on.  At night, if he hears Chad tell the boys to get their pajamas on, his runs and get his pajamas and brings them to us because he wants them on too.

He has gotten a bit feisty as well.  We like to call him the 'no man.' He just loves to say no, even if he means yes. He makes me laugh.  All the boys do.

The Christmas Disco Ball

A girl in my neighborhood gave me a Christmas ornament. We don't have our Christmas tree up, so we hung the ornament up from a light.

The boys were sooooo excited, they loved it. We kept spinning it around and it entertained the boys for twenty minutes. Ben said, "it's like at those places when you go dancing." Huh? Where has Ben been going and with whom?

CrAzY George

This weekend I found myself laughing more than I usually do. That's always a good thing because I just don't laugh much. So, what made me laugh?

Friday night we went to a dinner party at the Grand America. It was for my dad's work. We always feel a little bit awkward and out of place going but hey it's good food and they have a prize raffle. We arrived before my parents and we sat down at a table. A short time later a couple about the same age as us, who looked like they felt out of place like us came and sat by us. When my parents and their awesome friends the Phillips arrived I scooted over and sat next to the girl. We started talking and quickly discovered that although I didn't know each other she pretty much knows half of the people I know in the world. It was just interesting all the connections I have to her and her husband.

The funny part of the evening is when the did the raffle. One more couple had joined our table. They arrived late so they didn't get raffle tickets. The lady said she was a lucky person and ended up rubbing all of our tickets for good luck. Everybody at our table, who had a ticket, won a prize but my dad. Maybe we don't always all win a prize but my dad pretty much never has. People at the other tables couldn't believe we kept winning. They called us the 'party' table. And we weren't even drinking. :)

Another funny part of the night was when I opened the present they give all the women. Usually it's lotion or something like that. This year it was this very interesting very blingy necklace with lots of rhinestones and a crystal hanging from it. I laughed as I watched the looks on the faces of the other women at my table as they opened their gift.

And the funniest part of the weekend- we went to Kitty Papas Steakhouse for dinner with some friends from our old neighborhood. The food was not good. Don't believe the good reviews they have gotten on the Internet unless you are like sixty or seventy years old. I say that because I know my grandpa would love the food because he has taken me to places that serve food like that.

So the food was not good and I probably won't go back, but I don't feel like it was a waste of money to go once. It was worth the experience. . Instead of going to a movie it was like I was in a movie. A strange movie like Reuben and Ed. The decor, the server CrAzY George, a fifty or so year old guy with a pony tail, bad cologne and shirt that showed off his chest, it was all just funny. He was quite the character besides his dirty mouth with I didn't really appreciate. I couldn't stop laughing. That place was so unreal!