Holiday stuff.

Happy Holidays, to all! Jeff has actually had these past two weeks off, and consequently, I haven't had as much free time on my hands, so my blogging has been seriously lacking. (He's been adamant about us catching up on shows, watching movies, and playing new games that we received for Christmas). Sorry to all five of my readers. In addition to that, I've had family in town and I've been contacted by a half-sibling that I'd never met before. (FYI, it's going really well, and I'm thankful for this opportunity). So suffice it to say, it's been a busy week and a half. (Also, Jeff and Riley and Cole have been sick...take that with the constant demand of a newborn, and it makes for me being busy even during lazy days). Anyway, despite severe sleep deprivation, I am posting. I hope you all appreciate my efforts, will forgive any massive typos due to lack of functioning brain cells, and you haven't forgotten about me.
Let's see, Christmas Eve was busy for my little family. That's the day we do our visiting. I have told my family this for the last six years, however, they still seem surprised to know that this system is still in place. I THINK it's finally sinking in, though.
We visited my Dad and Teresa, first. They had gifts for the kids, and also offered us treats, so all in all a definite score. :) They both did well with picking out things they thought Riley and Cole would like. For the rest of the day, wherever we went both kids begged to let them bring their new toys. Sadly, because I'm a mean and cruel mother I always said no. One day they will appreciate how terrible I am, though. I'm sure. I'm hoping...
Next we stopped at Muff and Chris's house. She'd taken photos of Sydney and got them in early for me so I could pass them out to family. She totally hooks me up, and I'm always amazed at her talent, and the way her loving husband helps her. Also, they're sooo good to my kiddies. When she gives me the photos she's taken with the copyrights on them, I'll upload them onto my blog.
Our next stop was Bob and Maida's house. I'm bummed to say that I didn't take any pictures...and it's not that I don't WANT pictures, it's just that Jeff's family isn't like mine, in that we are always reminded to take photos. Someone always has a camera out, and then I remember to do it, too. Now, I'm also totally going to blame Kelli for my lack of Anderson photos, as well. She's the one that does take pictures, and she didn't remind me this time. Also, I feel justified in blaming her, because the whole time we were visiting the Anderson's she accused me of being a total raunch. And I must live up to that.
Lastly we went to my grandparents, where my Mom and Scott and my Aunt Sharon were staying. One thing that I WILL say about my babies having a lot of grandparents, is that they totally clean house on the holidays. Riley and Cole got to open gifts from my mom and grandparents and they enjoyed every second of it. They were totally taken care of. It was a nice day, and then we went home, opened our family presents to each other, and went to bed, anticipating Santa Claus's visit. (Oh, and I feel like I need to tell Amy that when we got home, I noticed that her and Kory's gift was under our tree instead of under Bob and Maida's tree, where all the other gifts that we took to others should have been. It turned out that Riley saw it and thought it was to us, instead of from us and put it under our tree...so Amy, if you're reading this and hopefully not hating me right now, Jeff will take your gift-nothing overly exciting, I'm sad to say-to Kory during racquetball this week. And sorry for totally sucking).
On a more personal note, I have another cold sore and a story that goes with it. You can't really see it in the above photo, however, I posted a picture of the offending grossness last time around, and I'm sure it was memorable enough that you all can still see it burned into your brains. Though I love the holidays, there is so much stress that comes with them, and for some reason, all the stress I feel manifests itself right on my face, for everyone to see. As we went to visit family on Christmas Eve, my cold sore was slowly getting out of the "just red" stage, and growing into the warty-pussy grossness phase. Ahh....fabulous. I'm sure everyone that I hadn't seen for a while enjoyed it just as much as I did.
Anyway, this leads me to my sad, sad story. Christmas Day, for our little family, was enjoyed immensely. We opened presents, got to nap, ate lots of chocolate, and stayed in our pajamas all day. Is that the definition of awesomeness? I think so. Our family got a Wii from Santa this year, and it took the majority of our day to make our little "Mii's" and just enjoy playing games and figuring stuff out. While Riley and Jeff were playing, I told Cole that he needed to sit with me at the table, and he needed to write in his Holiday journal. This is something his teacher sent home for him to do to work on his writing skills. He was to draw a picture and then write sentences describing what the picture portrayed. Anyway, all day he'd been playing with his new toys, trying out the Wii, and organizing his stuff--he and I hadn't had a lot of time to talk. He sat down and drew his picture then looked up at me while asking what he should write about his Chrismas Day, and stopped mid-sentence as he looked straight at me. "Mom", he said, "you got something kinda gross on your lip." I told him that I knew that, and he asked me what it was. I noticed that he couldn't make eye contact with my cold sore, and that he'd turned a greenish color. I told him I had a sore on my lip, and not to worry about it. He sat there for a few minutes and wouldn't look at me. I asked if he was okay, and he said that he just wanted to write his sentence and then go play--all the while not looking at me. I started to laugh, and he looked like he was going to start crying, so I told him he could go play, and we'd finish his sentences later. He then said, "Thanks Mom", without looking at me, and ran upstairs. The next day they were both playing the wii and Cole asked me to come down stairs to make him some eggs. So I went and started brunch when Riley asked me a question and I went into the living room to answer. Without looking at me Cole asked if I was done talking to Riley and asked me to please go back into the kitchen. Apparently I was still grotesque to look at but I still had to make him his eggs. For the next day and a half whenever he'd walk by me, he'd be very focused on the floor and just mumble "Hi mom, I love you". Yesterday morning I caught him looking at me, and he goes, "Your lip isn't puffy, mom." From then on, he didn't have to avoid looking at my face, and he loved me again.
I just thought I'd share. Like I said, limited functioning brain cells, so give me a break on this post.