vacation detox

This past week was all about re-entry for us after our week-long Thanksgiving vacay. I'm sure that every parent out there understands what I mean about re-entry after vacation. Back to life, back to reality.

Our vacation detox week actually wasn't too terribly bad, though. It helped tremendously that I had 3 mornings in a row to myself, while both boys were in childcare! Bloom gives us mommas a free childcare day at the end of each semester so I took advantage of that on Tuesday, and Wednesday & Thursday both boys went to Mother's Day Out. Don't get me wrong, I love staying home with my two cuties, but three blissful mornings "off"--especially after a fun but tiring vacation--was just what I needed. I went a little crazy with the household cleaning this week. This time of year I get so overwhelmed with our busy schedules and cluttered home that I just needed to take control of something! I steam-cleaned our carpets (fully carpeted house=bad idea with two rugrats); bleached our kitchen counters, scrubbing each inch of grout with a toothbrush (white tile countertops=bad idea for anyone); took on some long-overdue organization tasks; and just got the house sparkly clean. Ahhhhh! I don't know how long it will last, but for now I am thoroughly enjoying it. Something about a super clean house just makes me feel like I can actually relax and breathe--and, unfortunately, my house is not super clean most of the time. 

I did have to take Sam-O to the doctor Tuesday after he woke up with an oozing ear (gross, sorry). Poor guy had an ear infection and with tubes, that makes it ooze-y. Drops have cleared it right up. The doctor also put him on an inhaler for the cough he just can't shake, so that's been fun. Oh and he confirmed that his molars are coming in. Sweet boy was still all smiles though, even with all that and a busted nose from a playground mis-adventure

Thursday morning Gus the Elf appeared! And he wrote each of the boys a note, set the table with some cute Christmas-ware, and left a recipe for some yummy red velvet pancakes that Noah & I then whipped up. Seriously, they were so good. Gus told me that he found the recipe on Pinterest here :)

It's been fun so far to see Noah's excitement each morning about finding Gus, and all throughout the day he talks about him. I've seen so many cute Elf ideas on Pinterest, like where people set the Elf up playing with cars or sitting on the toilet. I'm wondering though, how do you just leave the Elf like that all day? Is Mommy allowed the touch/move the Elf, even though the kids can't? Hmmm. I've seen some cute little poses that I'd like to try, so that may just have to be the rule at our house.

By the way, you may have noticed in Sam's letter from Gus that he clearly asks him not to touch the Christmas tree. In case you're wondering how that's going...

This morning I went to a fun Christmas Extravaganza with Josh's mom at her church, tonight we're having family Christmas movie night, and tomorrow we're going shopping with our Community Group for an Angel Tree family! Tis the season, y'all! :)