Holiday Hiatus

As far as blog creativity goes lately, I guess I'm feeling a bit . . . let's see . . . what's the word . . . unmotivated? But it's not nearly as bad as it sounds.

Why am I so unmotivated you may wonder? Because I (and the rest of the family for that matter), have been enjoying a much-needed break from our routine, thanks to the arrival of the holidays, the arrival of Grammy Bev, and the absence of any school or other required activities. And while most of the time I thrive on routine and structure, it's nice just to take a break once in while. Sometimes my brain (and my schedule) just needs to slow down . . .

So, with that, we've been taking each day at a time . . . beach lounging, shopping, reading, going to the movies, playing on Brian's new Wii, and just enjoying the absence of obligation. It's been pretty nice, if I do say so myself.

The few things that we have scheduled have been in the fun category. Much to my delight, I've been able to sneak away for a couple movies with my friends ("Invictus" and "Precious" were both really good by the way). Brian and I attended the air station's Christmas party on Friday night in downtown Waikiki, and we had an absolute blast. We got a room at the Hilton, spent the afternoon hanging by the pool with friends, went to the party where there was lots of food, drinking, and dancing, and we even stayed up past midnight like adults (even though everyone bet against me that I wouldn't make it up that late) and went out for appetizers after the party. Then Brian and I got to sleep in, followed by a yummy breakfast overlooking Waikiki. Most fun we've had in a long time, I would say. The next day, we threw a double birthday party for Charley and Quinn, as their birthdays are only a week apart and they both wanted Princess parties this year. So to save on time, money, and pain, Heather and I threw one big party for our little royal subjects, which included nearly 20 kids and just as many adults. Everyone seemed to have a great time, and the kids were happily exhausted at the end of the night. On a side note, just one little piece of advice . . . DO NOT schedule your child's birthday party the day after a Christmas party. It's rough.

Tonight Charley is enjoying a sleep-over at our house with Tabitha's daughter, Becca, in celebration of her real birthday, which is tomorrow. Tonight we got take-out dinner, and ate it down at the beach while watching the sunset, and tomorrow we are taking all the kiddos to the water park, followed by a birthday dinner of french toast (Charley's choice). For Christmas Eve, we will be joining our neighbors for some drinks and appetizers, and on Christmas we are just going to be lazy and enjoy the day, at home.

So that's our life lately . . . a whole lotta nothin' with a bit of fun thrown in. Doesn't sound too bad, does it? ;)

Blessings

Ahhhhhh, the joys of the holidays, slower schedules . . . and . . . . my mother-in-law!!!!

Yes, you heard me right, my mother-in-law. She has only been here a week, but ever since she arrived, I feel my inner peace settling in. Some of you may totally know where I'm coming from, whereas others might have no idea what I'm talking about. But for everyone, I will shed some light.

My kids are completely crazy about their "Grammy Buv" (her name is really "Bev" but they have always said "Buv" for some reason). She is an awesome Grammy who helps them with everything from getting dressed, to making breakfast, to wiping butts . . . and those are only the every day things. When she's not doing those things, she is taking them for walks, playing games, throwing balls, or helping them ride their bikes. And when she's not doing that, she's reading to them, playing letter and number games with them, and using her thirty years of teaching experience to help them learn new things. She sings with them, laughs with them, and tells them when they are out of line. And that's just the stuff she does for them.

For us, she helps me shop, babysits whenever we need her to, helps me with meals, cleaning, laundry, and any other household chores, and she keeps us company. She does whatever needs to be done so that I can read my book, take a nap, sleep in, go out late, and run errands all by myself. Essentially, for the time that she's here, she provides me with a sense of freedom that I otherwise do not get to enjoy very often.

So Grammy Buv is here for a whole month, and we plan on enjoying every minute of it. So far, we've all been to the movies, watched the kids' Christmas program, went to the museum, spent the day at the beach, and ate out a few times. In the weeks ahead, we have Brian's Christmas party downtown (and we get to spend the night this year with NO KIDS!!), Charley's princess birthday party, Christmas Eve and Christmas of course, and then Brian and I are going to sneak away to Kauai for a couple days ALL BY OURSELVES. Talk about a fun holiday season.

The past few weeks were stressful for me (for various reasons that I dare not bore you with), but slowly, I feel the stress melting away . . . a little me time, a little Brian time, and of course that massage at the spa that I'm getting on Sunday won't hurt either.

Thanks Grammy Buv for helping us make this an awesome holiday season . . . you are a blessing.

"Deep Thoughts" by Charley Palm

"Mom, why don't cats wipe their butts after they go to the bathroom?"


"Mom, why does Daddy only sleep in his underwear?"


"Mom, why do girls have babies and not boys?"


"Mom, how do babies get in our tummies anyway?"


"Mom, why can't I marry my brother?"


"Mom, are we stopping here for gas or beer?"

"So close, yet so far away . . . "

There have been about a million times the past few weeks that I've wanted to sit down and write a good blog entry, but then life gets the best of me and I lose any small window of opportunity that I thought I might have (since this whole blog thing DOES take quite a bit of work, you know :)).

FINALLY I have a few minutes to skim through the past few weeks, which I once again have chosen to do with a picture-heavy entry (which is way more fun than reading my boring words anyway, right?).

So let's jump to the earlier part of November, before turkeys had been bought or pies had been made. We decided to take the kids to their first ever circus ("The Great American Circus" to be exact) . . . but since there were no animals, only one ring, no bearded ladies, and only a couple clowns, I would qualify it more as a trapezing/dancing/specialty-act type of event . . . but it was cool and fun nonetheless.

Apparently, however, this was still not enough to keep Zander entertained . . .

Around that time we also enjoyed the arrival of some old friends of mine, Jen and Justen, and their son Jaxson. We all go way back to my Montana days in Bozeman. I met them both right after I graduated from college, in '99, and then just a short year after that, Jen and I moved into together in Seattle. Justen was also going to school in Seattle at the time, so we all spent a lot of time together during my Seattle years. This was their first visit to Oahu, so we did all the usual things that are on the Palm family tour. Long story short, we had a wonderful time with them, and it was so great to just relax and enjoy the company of good friends.

They stayed with us for a week, and shortly after they left, it was time to participate in the preschool's annual auction that we spent months preparing for. The auction went really well, and the night was made even better when my friends decided to surprise me a with an early birthday celebration . . . and man, Risha can cook one mean cake. Oh, and of course there was wine too. ;)

We also had some other old friends from Oregon, the Smith family, arrive for a vacation that same weekend, so we enjoyed a day of lounging out at their beach rental, hanging out at the pool . . .

Eating an early Thanksgiving dinner . . .

And I even decided to take each of the kids out for a scenic canoe ride . . .

The kids got to hang with their good buddy, Conner (or "Corner" as Zander likes to call him) . . .

And we just enjoyed a nice long day catching up with the Smiths and all their Portland friends (and boy are they a fun group of people those Portlanders!). Shortly thereafter, my Dad arrived to share my birthday and Thanksgiving with all of us. He was even lucky enough to catch the preschool's annual Thanksgiving feast.

While my Dad was here, we did a lot of the usual stuff, lounging at the beach, swimming at the pool, eating a lot of food . . . you know, the usual vacation stuff. Can't help but love this place . . .

A local fisherman found these cool sea creatures for the kids . . . a sea cucumber and a starfish.

On my Dad's last day in town, we decided to go pay a little visit to Santa. As usual, the kids got their pictures with Santa done, but I'm going to save that one for my annual installment of the the Palm kids with Santa (coming soon!). But here is Santa reminding the kiddos about his reindeer . . .

And, of course, we had to end the morning with the Christmas train ride. Since we were the first riders of the day, the conductor decided to take the kids on 6 laps instead of the usual 2 . . . guess that must mean they are on Santa's "Good Kid" list.

So, let's see, where does that leave us . . . ah yes, Christmas.

The next three weeks will obviously be primarily dedicated to Christmas and all its affiliated activities . . . children's Christmas parties (2 of them), adult Christmas party (2 of them), shopping, wrapping, cooking, decorating, eating, etc., etc. . . . and this year we have Grammy Bev (Brian's mom) to join in the fun. She will be arriving on Tuesday and staying for a whole month, so we are all looking forward to that. Oh, and I suppose I shouldn't forget to mention that we will also be squeezing a couple birthdays in there too, Brian's on the 11th and Charley's on the 23rd (with a co-Princess birthday party with Quinn, to-be-held in a couple weeks).

Wow, it exhausting just talking about all of it. Guess I better go take a nap . . . ;)