Phew!!

What a weekend! It started out bright and early Saturday morning with a shopping trip. Mick and I (and Trent) took off around 9 am. First stop was church so Mick could help move pews. I stayed in the car and tended to Trent. Then we drove down to Castleton and finished up our Christmas shopping. I spent 2 hours in Jo-Ann's picking up 3 patterns and picking out fabric for those sewing projects for Rachel. It was pretty crowded and very confusing for this novice seamstress. I made about 5 phone calls to Kelly during that shopping trip -- she was an invaluable source of information. I'm going to put all the fabric and materials in a big box and wrap them together. I can't wait to see Rachel's expression -- I think she is going to be very excited! While I was in Jo-Ann's, Mick went to Target and Dick's Sporting Goods to finish up his shopping.

From there, we drove back home, stopping by for a quick lunch on the way. We had made plans to go sledding in the afternoon, so we had asked Rachel to get the snow gear packed up and ready to go. True to her first-born nature, she attacked that mission with much vigor and organization, as is evidenced by these pictures:

How funny is that?! Yep, I would've done the same thing ... separate trash bags, with typed-up contents taped to the sides. ;-)

Heather & Ron were finishing up moving things to their new house, so their girls were at Mom & Dad's. We picked up Holly & Ellie and I dropped everyone off at the famous Maze Road hill and went back to Mom & Dad's with my sidekick.

The sledding only lasted an hour or so, then we ate dinner with Mom & Dad, then drove the girls back to their new house and got a tour. Got home by 10pm!

Today was just as busy ... up at 5:30 to put a roast in the crockpot, and make the communion bread and baked oatmeal. I woke Mick up around 7:45 and he was a tremendous help -- cleaning up the mess I'd made in the kitchen while I bathed the younger girls. After church, we had a nice dinner, topped by our Advent readings and gifts. For this last Sunday in Advent, we gave the girls their own giant Hershey's Special Dark bar. Boy, were they thrilled! During dinner, we got a call from Bob, who was on his way over with Melanie. They hadn't gotten to meet Trent yet, plus they had a Christmas gift for the girls ... a new Wii gameset! Very exciting! Hopefully, we'll get it all hooked up in the next day or so.

Right after they left, we headed back over to church for our annual Lessons & Carols service. Kelly & I sang with the choir and the Ladies Madrigal group (Rachel joined that group), the kids sang "Joy to the World" with a kids' choir, and Rachel, Courtney & Erica sang "What Child is This". They did a great job! Mom & Dad came up and we had nice time afterward visiting and eating goodies. We didn't get home until about 8:45. Trent was a fussbudget, so I quickly got wrapped up taking care of him, while everybody else fended for themselves for dinner. It was cereal for most of them, and judging by the surprise I found after everyone went to bed, it looks like Grant tried to pour his own cereal! :-D I think I fell asleep before anybody else (except for Brooke, who climbed up on the couch by Mick and fell asleep within minutes).

I'm hoping to get lots of baking/candy making done tomorrow. We're pretty well-stocked with ingredients, so we'll see how productive we are. A lot of it depends on Trent and how much he sleeps! We're hoping to deliver some goodies on Tuesday, wrap on Wednesday, then a tea party at the Orrs on Thursday. Fun!