Busy!

So many thoughts have been running through my mind, about my children, religion, life in general.  But my hands have been too busy doing other things to sit and type out all my thoughts.  The quiet books are nearly finished, and then I will have time to do other things.  I'm really looking forward to that.

Edith now has a mouth full of teeth, and she is such a joy to have around now that the teeth are in and she's feeling well.  It seems like ages ago that Dylan was at this developmental stage, and I'd forgotten how much fun it is!  Edith just runs around the house getting into things and discovering.  Last night I got out the crayons that my mom gave us ages ago, and she picked up a red one.  She did a little bit of drawing with it, saw the bright red color, and gave us the most beautiful, amazed look.  Oh, and we got an "ooooooooh!"  She is learning to speak, but doesn't say hardly any real words.  She just runs around babbling, but she thinks she's speaking English.  Her face is priceless when she babbles at you, because she looks so serious--she KNOWS that what she just said makes perfect sense.  I love it.

Dylan had his school Christmas party yesterday, and came home all happy and glowing.  Apparently, he loves parties.  He's told us so several times now.  He's excited for Christmas, and it's going to be a fun one this year.  Unfortunately, he's also 3 years old going on 13.  He's seriously like a stroppy teen-ager, and it's driving me (and Martin) crazy.  Last night I had to sit on him to hold him down while I cut his toenails.  He is very anti-personal grooming.  Hates haircuts, brushing his teeth, cutting his nails, cleaning out his ears, etc.  And he's going through a tantrum phase at the minute.  Charming, but still an adorable boy.

Martin has been putting in some extra hours at work.  Of course, with the run-up to Christmas they have been busy--except for the week it snowed.  Last week he worked 6 days.  But Saturday is Christmas, and that gives him an extra day off this week.  I'm sad that he's not working somewhere that closes over the holidays.  Last year he had about 10 days off, and that's just not going to happen this year.  But I'll take three days off, gladly.  He's working on Christmas eve, normal hours, so I will have to play Santa by myself.  That might be a bit lonely, but really no more so than a normal Friday night.  We'll miss him at Christmas Eve present time.

And me--well, I colored my hair black again.  It seemed to suit my mood.  I've been inexplicably sad lately.  I think it might have a lot to do with the weather.  At least, I hope it is.  Winter in England has always been tough for me.  A few days ago, sunrise was about 8:35am and sunset was 3:41pm.  And we haven't been getting a lot of sunlight even when the sun was technically up, you know?  I'm hoping it's just a touch of SAD and I can start being happier once the days get longer and the sun is out more.  Maybe I'll try a sun bed for a quick pick-me-up.  Anyway, the sadness has hit me before, and it will hit again.  I can function just fine with it, and it's not life-threatening.  I just need to suck it up and get on with things.

In happy news, my bathroom is now plastered and I have a new cupboard in there.  It looks great!  Now I just need Martin to finish some of his jobs in the kitchen so I can get that plastered and finished off as well.  The bathroom/kitchen remodel has taken a LOT longer than I wanted, but at least the bathroom is nearly there.  It's made a big difference with the space.  Seriously, the bathroom looks amazing.  And I had a great time plastering it.  The cupboard has really cleaned up some of the clutter!

Well, it's time to get breakfast made for my brood.  Ham and cheese omelettes with toast, I think.  Then leftover tuna casserole for lunch.  Dinner is still a mystery at this point.  I simply don't remember what we're having, because I planned the menus last week.  I'm sure it'll be tasty though. 

I remember when I only cooked one meal a day, if that!