Visitors from Home!

My mom and sister, Erin, arrived last week. I was so excited to see them. I was so thankful that my sister's husband worked out so she could come. We had lots of fun shopping the steals, had some good laughs, cried a few tears, and slept very little. I'm sure Cheeto thought there was a little too much estrogen in the house! He was a little out numbered.

Friday night is when we got Erin. Mom and Dad wanted to give the kids some money as part of their Christmas to buy gifts for each other and for us. Mom wanted to take them and help them do this so it was a surprise for Cheeto and I as well. I thought this was awesome! Cheeto and I went to his mom's to get her family room put back together. She finally got her carpet.
Saturday we kicked around all morning. Cheeto had to go to work in the morning to prepare for his Florida trip. We met him at his office around noon to show Mom and Erin. We really got to see the "entire" building- finished and unfinished. We came home, ate some lunch and then left Cheeto with ALL of the kids. Mom, Erin, and I went to Kohl's shopping. We found some killer deals. I got 5 pairs of shoes for less than $50. We then went Joann's to get the finishing touches for Addelyn's blessing dress. Analise is still coughing like crazy! The boys are too a little bit. Mom wanted to try the thing with putting vapor rub on your feet and wearing socks to bed, since we had so many patients to try it on. I must say I believe worked. I didn't hear a cough all night.

Sunday only the boys went to church. We stayed home and knitted our Christmas gifts and watched movies. We ate dinner and then went to see the Christmas lights in Caswell. If you have been long time readers of our blog, you will probably think that this post is identical to one from last year. There is a Caswell family that has been putting up these Christmas lights for the last 60 years. We talked to the wife while we were there. They put up 1.5 million lights each season. She said they take the lights down right after the new year and start putting them up in August or September sometime, after the major hurricane season is over. They can't leave them up because the trees growth breaks the lights and wires. They also can't put up the colored lights until right before Christmas because the sun fades the lights. I thought all of this was interesting. Definitely things you would only learn by years of experience and by trial and error. We had told mom and Erin what to expect but I don't think words can explain what this family does. The kids love the train sets and villages. My dad would have loved the train sets. This was another place where Papa C was truly missed!

Monday I had to get Cheeto to the airport by 6am. He had a business trip to Tampa. About 6:30, I get a text from Cheeto to look at his facebook. He had a friend from his Kernersville office offer him Panthers tickets for Monday night's game. Panthers vs. Buccineers. I felt so bad for him. He could have gone on a guy's trip to a Monday's game. Those offers don't come around everyday. Instead he had to watch his Panthers play the Bucs in their hometown. That's messed up! Mom, Erin, and I went back to Kohl's, where we found even better deals. We found many $50 skirts for less than $4. It was exciting! That night we had watched Home Alone 2 with the kids. Oh the laughs that movie gets from kids. It was worth watching just to watch my kids!


Tuesday I had a "meeting" with Cade's teacher. She emailed me Friday asking for me to come in sometime this week. I got there about 11am and the class was working on math. She didn't look like she was ready for a "meeting." One of the kids saw me standing in the hall and shouted, "Cade's mom is here!" His teacher opens the door and invites me in. She then says, "I hope your not too mad but we lied to you. There is no meeting. We just wanted to get you here to give you something. Cade just found out this morning so this ia kind of surprise for him too." She then went behind her desk and brought me this HUGE basket full of baby gifts. The entire class pitched in got Addelyn stuff. I was shocked. What a sweet surprise. Cade had to help me out to the car. He asked if he had to go back. :) He also asked if I would wait to show everyone until he got home. He wanted to be the one to show Addelyn! After I got back we went to eat at Mexico and pick up Addelyn's birth announcements.


We got home and started picking up the house and got some Bojangles for dinner. Mom and Erin then had to do some clever packing to get all the deals in their suitcases. Cheeto wasn't going to be home until 11pm. I was exhausted but was afraid if I went to sleep I would be to out of it to drive. We got home about midnight.

Funny Kid Stories (there are so many this time!)

ANALISE
I wasn't as prepared as I wanted to be when my mom got here Wednesday. I didn't have a chance to get her room put together so I figured she could sleep in Analise's bed the first night. I put Analise in the boy's room for the one night. About midnight, my mom got a lil' visitor. Analise wanted her bed more than we thought. Mom said as tired as she was Analise had her laughing most of the night. She kept saying, "Damma, me loves you!" "Damma, do you need your purse?" The she would throw mom's purse on the bed. "Damma, can I have a treat in your purse?" This went all night. When I say mom the next morning, my mom told me what about her night's events. Cheeto was embarrassed. I told Analise that we were going to lock grandma in her own room tonight. Analise looked up at me and said, "But mommy why you do that? Me loves my Damma?" That night Analise tried to find her Damma. She even woke Cheeto up to help her. There was one night that mom forgot to lock the door and guess what happened.... Yep- she received a lil' friend to sleep with.

KELSON
We had just gotten back in city limits from picking up Erin when a cop came flying up behind me with his lights flashing. I pulled over to the side and Kelson said, "Phew! Mom, I thought we were busted!"

Analise was fight with Kelson and snatching toys away. When Kelson yells out, "Analise! You need to share! God wants us to share and He's watching you right now!"