Gunning for Mother-of-the-Year Award!

As promised, the story of my friend's & my 1st Annual Cookie & Crafting-palooza. Please be aware that although the word "crafting" is in the title, that aspect did not materialize.

I had that "picture-perfect" plan in my head ~ us 2 moms in the kitchen baking, while the kiddos sit peacefully at the table working on some homemade Christmas ornaments, maybe jumping in to help us grown-ups mix some stuff up here & there. Then they would decorate the glorious cookies that we made. :)

Yep, I can hear the laughing all the way over here. Maybe it's cause I'm the one laughing. But I'm sure you all are cracking up, too. 

So, my awesome friend Kristin came over with her son, Landon (who is awesome friends with Xandra - we're thinking a marriage someday???). And immediately, all 3 kiddos tore off running through the house, squealing, laughing, & having tons of fun. And Kristin & I got to work. 

In order to fully understand the hilarity of the day, you'll need to know that I've never done the big holiday baking party before. My mom & I used to make some type of pastry, but I've never made a bunch of different types of cookies from scratch. 

**Before I go any farther, please know that I did take pictures of my own kiddos. But I'm using a different lens & am not quite used to it yet, so none of my kiddos' pics turned out well (think blurry from constant motion). Thankfully, Landon saved the day (& the memories), by being so wonderfully photogenic & not sick of me taking pictures! ;)

Kristin & I started with sugar cookies, so the kids would have something to decorate (remember the vision people). Kristin rolled out the dough, and we began trying to use cookie cutters. We quickly realized the dough was just... sort of limp. Not stiff enough. (Get your minds out of the gutter people!)

Being oh-so-smart, I decided to look at the recipe (ha! there's a thought!). 

"After preparing the dough, refrigerate overnight." 

OOOHHHHHH!!!! DUH!! 

So we scrapped the cookie cutters & just rolled up balls. Then we called the kids back downstairs for the fun part- decorating!!

Hey!! That icing's supposed to go on the cookies!!

The ultimate guilty face!

I think Landon was the only one who decorated a cookie... but there was a lot of icing "mysteriously gone. :)  As soon as the face-wiping was done, off they went again, up & down the stairs. Laughing.

And off Kristin & I went, back to our baking. We were busy, measuring, mixing, rolling, throwing pans in the over & grabbing them out. 

Suddenly, I heard that sound. The one that no one wants to hear. The sound of a little body tumbling down the stairs. From how far up? Not sure. But far enough. Milo fell down the steps, and apparently bit into the inside of his lip. Blood everywhere. Did you know the mouth bleeds profusely when it's injured? I mean, like a LOT. I was freaked out. Thankfully, Kristin was there to calm me down.

Even that didn't hold him down long. He was off & running around with the big kids in no time at all. And we finished up the cookies... Cracking up once again, that had we looked at the 3 cookie recipes we chose to make, each & every one of them required the dough be refrigerated for anywhere from 2 hours-overnight. :)  Oh well. We skipped that part & the cookies still turned out awesome!

Now, here's the "Mother of the Year" award-worthy part of the story:
After Kristin & Landon left, I was getting Milo ready for nap time. I started vigorously wiping off his chin, because I saw there was some dried blood left on there. As I rubbed, Milo started getting really upset. Then I looked again at his chin. Nope, not dried blood. It was a scrape (or rug burn). And I'm trying to wipe it off. Ugh. Bad mom.

It gets better. After he got up from his nap, he asked for some orange juice. Ok- he pointed & grunted until I figured out what he wanted. And I didn't think twice about pouring him that cup of juice. Until he began wincing & tearing up. Poor baby! Ugh! Orange juice, Amy?! Really? Cause that sure would be soothing on a nasty wound like biting into your lip!!

Well, since this post is already insanely long... I'll keep going!! :) Because that was apparently just the beginning of my bad days to come. Today just might have topped Saturday. I woke with Milo this morning around 5:30. I got him a little breakfast. And around 6, Xandra got up. She requesting something different from Milo for breakfast. To which Milo had an absolute meltdown. How dare I not serve the kids the same *exact* meal - I just might be jipping Milo out of something.

As I was cleaning up the dishes after the meltdown breakfast, I heard Xandra yell that the dog had thrown up. I found vomit on the couch, spilling down the front of the cushions, & landing in a small puddle on the carpet. Lovely.

Cleaned that up. Got the kiddos dressed for school. Went upstairs to dress myself. Finished up. Smelled something. Milo. Blow-out diaper. Great.

Cleaned that up. Back downstairs. Found fresh vomit on the chair, again spilling down the front of the cushions, & landing in a small puddle on the carpet. Seriously?

Got the kids off to school. Came home. Started cleaning up the house a bit. Went upstairs to make my bed (too tired to do it when I woke up). Found more vomit between my sheets. OH. MY. LORD.

Did I mention I have a final (my last final of the semester) tomorrow? In Sectional Anatomy. Cumulative.
Time to study?? Ha (again)!! Obviously not on the agenda today.

I'll finish this up quickly with the highlights of the rest of the day:
11:45 Xandra home from school
12:15-12:45 Lunch
1:00 Finish making bed & pick up a bit more
2:00 Pick up Milo early
3:00 Milo's speech therapy
4:00 Matt home from externship (briefly)
>find more puke on another couch<
5:00 Matt off to dr. appointment
5:30 Make crappy dinner for kiddos
6:15 Clean up dinner
7:00 Bathe kiddos & get them off to bed
7:45 Study
10:00 Tired of studying~catch up on blogs & update my own

WHAT A NASTY DAY.
I hope it gets better after this.
Cause I'm really tired of finding & cleaning up puke.

Dreams Come True {Sunday Snapshot}

This is one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen:

This is what we waited a year & a half for. 

Not always patiently. ;)

Seeing 4 stockings up there on the mantle, instead of just 3, is just incredible.

This is the kiddos' last week of school before Christmas break. Tuesday is my last final of the semester (woo!!). I've been very busy trying to cram for that test....

Ok. I've been very busy avoiding studying for that test.

But it's finally the 11th hour. And I need to buckle down.

But who can concentrate with this cuteness in the house??

Building the tower up

It fell down Mama!!

I give up! There's something more interesting over there!

Do you think I'm rubbing off on him?

My friend & I had our "1st Annual Cookie & Crafting-palooza" yesterday. I'll post more about that in the next day or so. It was lots of fun, but we did have a couple mishaps, including one injury. Thankfully, the cookies are awesome, which makes it all worthwhile!!

Oh- for those wondering about my previous post & our sleep dilemma...
Milo got a little bit of a sniffle early last week (nothing serious). So I took that as an opportunity to give him some sinus medication that just happened to have the side effect of sleepiness. I hated to do that, but it did help all of us. And I only gave it to him for 2 nights. It seems to have broken the nighttime sleep pattern - he's sleeping now from about 8 pm to 5 am. It's still way early for me, but it's better than 3 or 4.

The naps are still difficult for him. I think he's afraid he's going to miss something fun if he's napping. I know we'll get back on track eventually. We'll have lots of time to work on it during our Christmas break. :)