So busy

It's a busy time of year and with me helping out Matt's basketball team as the team's unofficial sports information director, I have been going non-stop for a while now. I enjoy it though. I don't think I remember what being bored is and I am pretty sure I wouldn't like it.
I don't have any pictures to share but I wanted to let everyone know of the Christmas present that Matt bought us ... a new mini-van! He bought it last Friday, a Toyota Sienna. It's burgandy (though I am sure that the official color is something much fancier) and has a DVD player in it. Diana loves it because she has her own princess seat.
Our driveway is much smaller now, but everyone has room now to stretch their legs out in both our cars! :)

Here's wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I am Frankie Heck

One of our favorite TV shows this season is The Middle on ABC. It stars Patricia Heaton as a working mom (she's a car saleswoman) in Indiana. Her family is a little crazy.
Last week's episode saw Frankie earn a solo in the church choir. Because of all the rehearsing that was necessary, she passed the duties of Christmas on to her husband. Frankie is a list maker (so am I) and at Christmas she makes lists of everything that needs to get done and everything that needs to be purchased.
Christmas, she claims, is very stressful and she had a hard time convincing her husband of this. She passed her list on to him and he handled all the duties that Frankie always took care of. Long story short, though he was OK at first, he got a little flustered at the end and realized that, yes, Christmas is a crazy time of year.
I never believed that Christmas was stressful. I am a planner. I do my Christmas shopping online and weeks before Christmas. I didn't bake cookies or anything because Matt enjoys that and that's his thing. We only travel every other year a great distance so that was no biggie. There was always plenty of time to take care of everything.
Until we became a family of four.
Now there's all kinds of stuff to do. I want to bake cookies, take Diana to Candy Cane and Lolly Pop lanes to see the awesome Christmas lights, write (and send) our annual Christmas letter, decorate the tree, buy and wrap Christmas presents for the family under my roof, my immediate family and my extended family and all while being a working mom and a Coach's wife.
Last night, I got off work, rushed home to pick up Diana (who was eating dinner in her ballet outfit)and we headed off to her final ballet class of the season. After, I wanted to take her to Candy Cane Lane. It was 6:30 by the time we left ballet and it's always a gamble to keep Miss D up after her bedtime on a school night. I knew that taking her to Candy Cane Lane was worth it though. It was...she loved the lights and had a great time. I was beaming at my awesome parenting decision!
She went to bed a little later that night and with no tantrum. Score!
I finally had something for dinner at around 8 p.m. and I am hoping that the Christmas presents that I purchased on my lunch break yesterday get wrapped eventually. They are in the trunk of my car right now and if I forget about them a week from now, God help me!
I admit, there's a lot going on this time of year. I am not complaining by any stretch of the imagination. I have embraced the chaos that is now my life. I can relate though to Frankie Heck and appreciate her every day!

Our brave girls

Diana hasn't visited Santa since she was six months old. I don't know how she knew that Santa was a "scary" guy then, but she screamed the entire time. I, of course, purchased the two-keychain set of the picture of Diana screaming while sitting on Santa's lap and showed them off to everyone. Most people thought I was wrong for making that purchase, but it's memories. I am going to have to find that keychain because I know it's in the house somewhere.
For the past three Christmases Diana has taken a pass on visiting Santa. She wanted nothing to do with the Jolly Man. But this year, she was all about it. So on Wednesday, we headed to the mall after work with the little gals in tow and hoped that she didn't have second thoughts.
While waiting for the kids in front of her to finish, Diana kept saying "Hi Santa! Hi!" Cute.
When the kids went away and I told Diana to go up, she got a little nervous. I told her it was her turn and to go up and sit on the bench with Santa. Still nothing. Now, this wasn't a total refusal. She was thinking about it, but just needed some convincing.
"Mommy, I want Amy to go first," she said.
Sure, Diana, sacrifice the baby! In her mind, Diana's thinking, this guy might eat me, take me back to the North Pole and I will never see Mommy, Daddy and Amy again or worse! So, let's put the baby up there and see what happens.
I put Amy on Santa's lap and sure enough, he did not eat her or run as fast as he could out of the mall with her.
So, Diana jumped up on the bench with Santa and told him all the things she wanted for Christmas. It helped that Santa knew that a little girl wearing pink is probably a princess lover. Diana rattled on for 3 minutes about all the princess stuff she wanted. I was so proud of her!
The girls took the picture and it was time to get down. I collected the baby - with no teeth marks on her - and turned around to leave. Only, there was no 4-year-old with me.
"Oh, I want a princess castle too," I hear Diana say. She's STILL talking to Santa!
"D, time to go, hun!"
She got her Candy Cane and we headed out. She was beaming and I am sure that her teacher at school is hearing all about it today!
Later that night, day two of Christmas tree decorating took place. We are doing it in segments this year. Sunday was Day One: Tree Purchase and put the lights on. Oh the life of a family of four!