Home Again

Happy to be at home again. I truly didn't know what to expect from the kids this morning when they found me instead of Rachel but they did just great. That was quite the relief. We have had a few challenges with a bit of whining and some fighting between the boys but for the most part things have gone just fine. Rachel also made an effort to have the house fairly tidy when she left and that was nice. The kids still had Christmas presents scattered throughout the house so we got that straightened up, then did it again and eventually I managed to get every room vacuumed. Actually finished the living room right before we started FHE. Ahhh, peace.

I used the First Presidency Message for our lesson tonight and it was pretty cool because we actually have metalic glitter in our ceiling just like that spoken of in the story President Uchtdorf tells. The kids all looked up and saw it and anyway, it worked. We spoke then about how we need to be looking for the Savior in our lives. Perhaps they will associate glitter stars in old popcorn ceilings to the Savior now. I don't know, it was a good message if nothing else.

We did have a little excitement at FHE as Jack managed to pull out a loose tooth. He actually started working on it when we started FHE. The paper towel in the pictures is actually his third. Natty just had to make sure he changed them out when they got too bloody for her liking. Now the tooth fairy needs to get on the ball and make a visit tonight. I have to admit that I have not been the best tooth fairy. Poor Natty waited 3 days for the tooth fairy to show up once. What a loser. Anyhow, Jack is proudly holding up his tooth, already in a bag and ready to go under the pillow.



Here he is filling the new gap with his tongue.



Andy had to get in to a picture as well and started striking poses. He had some better ones but this was the only one I managed to catch on film. Such a character.



In closing I have to mention how grateful I am for secret Santas that have stopped by and delivered gifts for our family. A lot of people came by last week delivering goodies and the kids appear to have enjoyed them. Today somebody dropped off a package that contained a big gift for the family. There was no name attached just a card that wished us a Merry Christmas and that we enjoy time together as a family. I think whoever delivered this gift knew that I was out of the home. Anyway, I am humbled by the generosity of others. There was another gift left at our door anonymously a couple weeks ago and again, very generous and very humbling.

I did not do well on my exercise last week as it was quite cold at night and the night I did go out and run killed my lungs. I thought I was going to end up sick but fortunately the cough and tickle left within a couple of days. The elliptical is calling my name tonight and I am looking forward to it. I will need to check on my total miles to see where I am at for the month. I will finish strong this week and make sure that my miles are the equivelant of a 5k per day. I am looking at a couple other exercise programs at the start of the year as well. I've still got a few pounds to lose to get to my return home from my mission weight. Now I just have to cut off all this holiday sugar. Wow.

Oh yes, one more thing to note. The new TV, I need to figure out a stand for it. I took the boys over to DI to see what they had and I just didn't like anything. Not even on a refinish project. I decided that I am going to build one. The folks sold a beautiful coffee table at the shop and I really liked it. I took a couple of pictures of it the day we went to deliver it and thought I could duplicate it. I am going to test that on a slightly smaller version that will serve as the TV stand. Getting it to match the entertainment center may be a challenge but I will work with it. I've got a couple of Christmas gifts - shelves that I need to now finish and a few for the shop that I have to move along. Also have a shelf to design and build for Jay and Sara so I have a few things to do. I am still sitting on my first frame and need to finish that as well. Looks like I have some fun things to work on in the shop. Looking forward to it.