I started out writing this blog with the (unbelievably lofty) idea that I would [attempt] to update it on a daily basis, to kind of preserve a day-in-the-life feel for us when were are in nostalgic reflecting moods down the road. However, the double-job thing has been kicking my butt! I really enjoy both of my positions, however I am in training still (two days left!!) for my flex nurse one, and my boss wants me to [understandably] train during normal hours, when the more skilled, regular nurses are working. Which means, between my mornings at the base clinics and afternoons in various off-base ones, I have been essentially working a 9-5 job 3 or more days a week since Thanksgiving. I know that is probably not that daunting a task to most folks out there, but coupling it with pilot student wife, and mother of two kids highly accustomed to a stay-at-home mom--who also enjoy a very packed extracurricular schedule (including swim lessons two school-nights per week), and it has been a challenge. The girls' school has a wonderful after-school program which they have been going to, but the long days are particularly tiring for my oldest, who, as a kindergartner no longer enjoys naps as part of her daily routine. So...I am very glad that: 1) my oldest will get to partake in a special art (sculpture) class during after care tomorrow and 2) both girls only have two days of it left! It has also been a huge challenge for me to keep up with my daily cooking/cleaning routine working afternoons, as I had previously relied on my 2h gap between my base job and the girls' pickup time to prepare dinner, clean, and take Petunia out for her exercise.
We are enjoying a pleasant holiday season and had our first snow on Tuesday (which also motivated me to finally rearrange (if not completely unpack) the garage enough so I can park in it, making early mornings waaay more pleasant and warm for me and the girls. The "mancave" is no more. Matt had set it up very nicely for himself, but greatly greatly prefers to commandeer the family room instead (he has even set me up with headphones with a 10' cord for TV viewing at night), so I have reclaimed it. Our decorations are up (excepting outdoor ones [besides our yard inflatable Minnie & Mickey and some light-up door ornaments and a wreath], which probably aren't going to happen d/t Matt's training schedule and need for sleep...and my fear of modest heights) and our little home feels quite cozy and homey. The girls are incredibly excited about Christmas and will be performing as angels in the base church pageant. This is also the first year where they (thanks largely to Nickelodeon TV commercials) have wish lists for Santa, and boy are they specific! It has actually made shopping waaay easier and (surprisingly) less expensive this year, too.
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my brother/the girls' godfather and I ventured out on Black Friday Eve--to Walmart (bad idea) and then Walgreens (a favorite local shopping spot, alongside Ross, the Thrift Store, and Hobby Lobby), but did most of my shopping online on Cyber Monday (Kohls, Target, and Amazon). We did brave the poorly-reviewed local theater at Oakwood Mall (my opinion: not as bad as advertised, although it did smell like feet--but the odor was one that I got desensitized to pretty quickly once inside) to check out the Muppets movie. Matt said I laughed harder than anyone else in the theater. It was definitely a cute film, but in my opinion, could have used waaaay more Muppet screen time. I think the Muppets are at their best in films like Treasure Island and the Christmas Carol, where they are clearly the stars, instead of just part of the cast.
Thanksgiving pix...
The spread (couldn't quite motivate to use the nice china this year...too much stuff to hand wash):
My brother's specialty is super-fancy Williams-Sonoma cooking (he actually used all our pots for this...necessitating I use the microwave-rice cooker for the stuffing, lol):
Gluten-free poached fruit dessert with fresh mint and lemon whipped cream:
Fun in the leaves during our post-dinner walk/bike ride:
Ringing in the Christmas season the day after Thanksgiving at Oakwood Mall:
That night, we drove to Yukon for a festival of 4 million Christmas lights, followed by Custard at Freddy's:
We enjoyed a carriage ride (due to ineffective advertising, we had the whole car to ourselves!) through the park:
It seems like all our holiday parties will be crammed into this coming weekend. Friday night we are taking the girls to see a local production of Cinderella; Saturday the girls have breakfast with Santa, then bowling with my med group flight, and then a babysitter while Matt and I attend my squadron Christmas party; Sunday I am taking the girls to church, then they have pageant practice, and in the late afternoon/early evening we are hosting a holiday potluck (Italian) where Matt will also be dressing up as Santa and giving presents to the kiddos. I am also hoping to set up an ornament craft station...and at some point cook and clean the house before our friends arrive, lol. Next Friday the girls have their school Christmas party--I am very excited because I was able to sign them both up to bring in a holiday dessert for their class--so we will have fun scouring allrecipes.com next week. :o)
Matt is doing well in pilot training. His motion sickness has been flaring up and he has hooked several rides this past week, but is definitely improving. Pretty much if he gets airsick at all, it is an automatic hook, so at least by being assigned extra flights, he is getting more air time and practice. The weather has posed a challenge as it has been intermittently crazy-windy and also rainy and snowy over the past two weeks. Any time he goes more than a day or two without flying is a huge setback for him airsick-wise, so the weather has made it a real challenge, and all the down-time (a couple 4-day passes) will make the holidays difficult two. Since we are staying in town, however, he will have ample time to spin and will also hopefully be able to get three solid flights in in between the Christmas and New Years passes, when he has a little string of duty days.
Well, hopefully now that my schedule has slowed down, my blogging will pick up...always have to fill every minute of free time with something, lol. I'm just glad I am not even going to attempt to "catch-up" by back-dating my blog posts for like the past two weeks (like I did for our trip to New Orleans) and am just going for a clean slate...because that would take forever to catch up on and create totally pointless stress, turning something fun-ish chore-ish very very fast. :o)
