Shana in Real Life

Brian informed me last night that I am a failure as a blogger. He listed off some double-digit number as the amount of days it's been since I last updated my blog. I thought about that for a little while. I've been busy, and lacking motivation to write. But frankly, I've been enjoying life and my family. And if that makes me a bad blogger, I'm okay with that.

The past couple of weeks have been wonderful. Two weekends ago we had both boys dedicated at church, which also meant a weekend-visit from Grandpa and Grandma A. We had lots of family time, enjoying each other's company, games and movies. After the dedication we hosted an Ethiopian luncheon for about 40 of our friends and family. A handful of the friends had also adopted from Ethiopia so it was great having all the kids together. And the food was amazing.

Last week we had our first snow fall (dusting) which was Biniam's first sight at snow ever. I got up early with him to make the announcement, then followed him outside with the camera. He made a few snowballs, took a bite of snow, then headed back inside to thaw his hands. He was completely giddy and can't wait until we get enough to sled and "fall down" in.

We all got colds in the days leading up to Thanksgiving so our plans were up in the air until literally the last minute. But we ended up having a very nice afternoon with extended family here in town. Biniam got to meet a couple cousins close to his age, and he got to play football with my uncle who happens to be a football coach. Despite not knowing very many people at the gathering, Biniam had a very nice time. And he even ate some of the food!

Friday morning my mom gave Brian and I a huge gift by offering to stay at our house with the kids for 24 hours! Brian had already been out shopping and back by the time my mom came over, so he took advantage of all the "hot deals" early which meant we had the day to shop at our leisure. We shopped, went out to lunch, shopped some more, commented on how easy it was to get in and out of the car with just the two of us, and then checked into a hotel. Then we saw a movie (Dan in Real Life), watched some football in the hotel lounge, shopped some more, went out to dinner, shopped some more (seriously) and finally crashed back in our hotel room. Oh yeah and I ate cheesecake. It was the BEST DAY EVER. And we're done shopping for our kids.

Saturday we excitedly greeted our kids and found out they had a wonderful time with Grandma and Grandpa, which included their favorite all-you-can-eat pizza and pasta restaurant. Then we all loaded up and went to a friend's birthday party at a bowling alley. This was Biniam and Emma's first time bowling and they both had a blast and lasted two whole games. Emma used the bumpers to avoid throwing too many gutter balls, but there were even a handful that she rolled straight down the middle. I got such a kick out of watching her technique: grab the ball, stick fingers in holes but still hang on with both hands, run from the ball-return all the way to the beginning of the lane and then THROW the ball while releasing from the highest point, creating the loudest possible thump on the floor. Biniam bowled without the bumpers and threw an impressive amount of spares and strikes. I'm glad I was too busy taking care of Isaiah to bowl, because I'm sure Biniam would have beat me.

After church on Sunday we got out all the Christmas boxes and decorated the house and both Christmas trees. Last year Emma had her own little two-foot tree, and this year we decided to upgrade the "kid's tree" to a six-footer. I have discovered that I have a reputation for being a Tree Dictator, so in going with that I thought it would be good for the kids to have their very own tree to decorate however they like. So they made garlands out of paper and put massive amounts of colorful ornaments all over. I think it looks charming.

Then there's "Mom's tree". Mine is nine-feet tall with 1800 white lights. I love it. Biniam asked "where's dad's tree?" and Brian and I just laughed as Brian obediently stood still holding a ribbon in the exact place I directed him. Brian says that in years past he would hang a few ornaments only to come back later and discover that I had moved them. I don't really remember that, but I don't argue that it's not true. So we have both agreed that Brian's job is to set up the tree for me and get it in the right place, then move outside to do the lights on the house. I think it's a great system.

So, we're busy, happy, and soon-to-be healthy!