The Landers' Life: Catchup on Aisle 3

This morning I woke up with a painfully sore throat. Jim has had the same (with a cough), and Jake has been getting breathing treatments two to three times a day since Wednesday. As for Parker, he is first choice for all germs, so cold symptoms just sort of linger.

Three days of straight up busy have passed us by.

On Thursday morning, Jake and his classmates went to Morning Pointe (an assisted living home in Northport) to sing Christmas carols to some of their residents. He sung out Jingle Bells loud and proud and bits and pieces of We Wish You A Merry Christmas, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, and Happy Birthday (to Jesus). During the in-between, he wiped the base of his nose with his sleeve and moved from front and center to almost completely in my lap. His redemption for the latter came in the form of the hugs and kisses and candy canes he handed out afterwards to the ones with totally grey hair and walkers. He waited in the carpool line for me at three o'clock (I left work early so I could get him home to do another breathing treatment.); and later that night, we left thank you notes and a Happy 5th Birthday card and gift card in our mailbox.

Friday was Jake's last day of school until 2012 (How crazy is that? Holy cow, I can't believe another year is almost gone!), and his class celebrated with a pizza and gift exchange party. It was an hour and a half of K4 chaos (you know...at least one spill and "Mrs. Lang! When do we get to open our presents?!"'s over.and over.and over.again.) and good times. What I loved most was how they each took a turn wearing a Santa hat while they divyed out the gifts they had brought for each other; and then when all fourteen were given away, a collective "Thank you!" rang out. Well...that and how cute they were doing it. His school day Friday was shortened by an hour and forty-five once again, and a few hours later we battled the toy aisles in Target (How in the world does a BOGO Barbie sale create two aisles of nearly bare shelves and red shopping carts every.where?!).

Finally, yesterday was a mostly at-home one. We played broken records (the ones called Cleaning and Laundry). We all took naps in the afternoon and then met our friends James and Tonya and their three for dinner. Afterwards, we swung back through Target and shopped on the opposite side of the store that we didn't even make it to the night before (dang Barbies).

Today, besides waking up to more Mucinex, we found Oscar on Jake's nightstand with stickers stuck all over his arms, face, chest, and legs (His days have been somewhat uneventful because at Jake's request, they've been co-sleeping.). We're in the process of packing Jake up to go stay with his grandparents for a few days. He'll be back home Wednesday. And as always (and especially on Sundays), we're rejoicing.