New Year News

We started off 2010 on an very quiet note with my parents in town and Brian working long hours as his current project is coming to an end.   New Year's Eve we treated like any other night and were all in bed at our usual time thinking that sleep was more important than ringing in the new year right at midnight.  Sleep seems to be the thing we all crave lately.  Maybe it's the gray weather, maybe it's the cold, maybe it's the need for a routine after the hubbub of the holidays.  I am finding that I'm not getting the rest I need because Ben seldoms naps anymore and seems to be ready to roll every morning as early as 6:00.  Brian is not getting enough rest because he can't seem to turn off his computer engineer brain as he plays through all of the things he needs to accomplish before his deadline hits.  In fact, it seems that Sam is the only member of our family who sleeps enough!

Grandma and Grandpa stayed with us for a few days after Christmas and through New Year's and the boys loved having the extra attention they always provide.  I guess it's because there is always an adult to talk to them, play with them, or read to them but it seems like the bickering between the boys is lessened when we have company.

On December 30th, Grandma accompanied me to my Meals By Maggie kitchen and walked me through her recipe for Chicken Wellington which we served to my customers for the week with much success!  Grandpa stayed home with the boys and was successful in getting both down for naps and entertained for five hours!  It was basically a trial run for when the boys stay in Happy Camp while Brian and I travel to Belize this spring.  Grandpa will be on kid duty each day while Grandma keeps to her normal work schedule. 

Much to the boys' disappointment, Grandma and Grandpa headed back home on the 2nd but we got the news that my friend Tabitha from my days at Humboldt State would be up on the 5th to stay with us for a few days.  In a matter of hours I heard, "I wish Grandma and Grandpa could've stayed," change to "When is Tabitha getting here?"

I was very lucky to have my parents and Tabitha with me over a week and a half to help with the boys since Brian's work hours increased to a minimum of twelve hours a day.

Tabitha arrived on Tuesday morning and immediately got in the car with the boys and I and headed to Reno to do some shopping for us and for my business.  It was such a treat to have the boys separated into different carts and to have two carts to separate the personal and business groceries.  It was a long day but we had fun catching up with Tabitha and going out to lunch before heading home.

On Wednesday the 6th, we picked Ben up from preschool and drove over the mountain to Truckee to meet up with Steph, my other good friend from Humboldt, and her little one Julianna.  We had a very pleasant lunch at Truckee Bagel Company (imagine three kids ages 3 1/2, 2 1/2 and 2 all sitting politely while the adults chatted) then headed to the Kidzone Museum to play.  The Kidzone was a new experience for us as Chris, Emily and the kids gave us a family membership for the year.  The kids were in heaven!  They had such a good time playing with each other in this new environment and were less than thrilled when the adults agreed that it was time to go.  Tabitha did happen to have a camera with her so I'll add those photos soon.

By Thursday, Tabitha had to head back home to Southern California but came to the Meals By Maggie kitchen with me for a couple of hours to take some photos of me working.  I'll put some of those photos up on that blog soon too.  While I have been working the boys have been spending their days with our incredible sitter, Mary.  They were very excited that Mary was game for the Kidzone so they all headed back to Truckee for another day of playing.

My day cooking was successful even though I made a bread recipe I had never tried before!  By Thrusday afternoon I'd been fighting major sinus headaches for more than a week and decided it was time to call the doctor and address what I was sure was a sinus infection.  I am now almost twenty-four hours into antibiotics and am already feeling better.  Brian's entire week was very long and "ended" with his Friday starting at about six in the morning and ending at nine at night.  Here it is 9:00 on Saturday morning and Brian has already been at work for three hours and will most likely be there another ten or more.  We are all anxious for the deadline to be here and end these crazy days for him.

I haven't taken many photos of my own lately but I do have these few of the boys in new outfits they got for Christmas from Auntie Pauline, Uncle Howie, Olivia and Isaac.  They do look quite dashing I would say!