We are going to be late.

Merry Christmas from my People to yours. 

Growing up Christmas was a big deal to my Mom. She always crammed the house and yard with lights, decorations and music. We had lots of traditions at Christmas time. For example every Christmas Eve we would eat split pea soup (which is surprisingly good despite the similarity to baby poop) and go to the late service at church. Christmas Eve my cousin and I always got to open one gift and it was usually a pair of pajamas. Sometime close to Christmas we would all pile in the car and go drive around looking at lights. During the month of December my Mom, Brother and I always made tons of homemade candy. There were 7 layer bars, fudge, divinity, orange balls, chex mix, cookies, etc. We would pass it out to our neighbors and friends and eat it until we were sick. Every year my Mom would make sugar cookies in all sorts of shapes and then my cousin and I decorated them. We thought we were quiet the artists. I have always loved Christmas. I don't go all out like my Mom used to. I don'

My goal this holiday season was to slow down a little. I have been a little bit successful. I can't really say that we have been totally idle. We are having fun though. We are still managing to stay super busy though! In fact we've been so busy (and tired zzzzz) that we aren't decorating our Christmas cookies until next week! I normally have that done early in the month. Just not happening. Between school activities and family life the holiday season is again zooming by. I am making an effort to breathe and make some memories. This past weekend goes down in the books as the busiest we've had in a while. I let #1 have her very first sleepover at our house. And, one girl wasn't enough, I decided she could have 2 little girls spend the night. Mr. Mayer and I took all 5 kids to see a movie that night. Ugh. What were we thinking?! 3 little girls is a bad combination. They argued and "broke up friends" at least a dozen times. I think the last time #1 came in my

See that sad little face? That little face breaks a Mama's heart. Friday I took the Dudes to a favorite hang out, Bounce U. They have a Preschool Bounce a few times a week and I try and take the boys a couple of times a month. Especially in the winter. It's too cold to play outside and Bounce U burns a lot of energy. They have a particular inflatable that is called a "Cliff Dive." It is #2's very favorite thing in the world. You climb up some stairs and jump off a "cliff" onto another inflatable. Super fun. The boys were there a few weeks ago and #2 got to play on the inflatable. We go Friday and he's told he can no longer play on it because he's too small. They have put a new rule in place stating that the child must be 42 inches to play. 42. Inches . I'm not sure #2 is ever going to be 42 inches. He's a very tiny guy. Needless to say this new rule resulted in a complete and utter meltdown from #2. Straight to an ugly cry. There was no

Before twins I always had the idea that I would take my kids on regular "dates" and spend all this quality one on one time with them. After twins I felt like if I could keep my head up for air I was doing good. I've always been pretty good about one on one time with #1. Her and I do things pretty regularly just her and I. Mr. Mayer and I try to take her out just the 3 of us periodically as well. The Dudes are a whole other story. Every once in a while Mr. Mayer will take one and go run errands and I'll keep the other one with me. Most of the time it's me and Dudes doing things together. Me and just one of them is very rare. So this week I decided I would take each child on a date. Just the two of us. I had gotten us a sibling group of 3 off the local Angel Tree. I had also taken a child in need from church a few weeks ago. It was a perfect activity to do with each kid and a lot less overwhelming for me than taking all three to pick out gifts together. I decided