Whoa, what a weekend! Started out on Friday up all night with the 24-hour stomach flu (suppose that’s one way to shed pounds during the holidays, but damn I do not recommend it!) and slept Friday away. Dee played “super mom” and kept the kids out of the bedroom while I caught up on sleep. Fingers are crossed that nobody else comes down with this!

Saturday was our Foster Parent Holiday party and we took the kids out for that. They had fun, lots of activity going on and all so that’s the part they enjoy most. They had a total pedophile-looking scary Santa that I seriously would have been afraid of. Don’t know where they got him! Came home and had the boys sleep awhile then went to my folks for dinner with my aunt, uncle and cousin who are in from Detroit visiting. It was really great to see them, they were just meeting the boys so that was fun, too. Carlos was his typical “mama’s boy” and Dominic and my cousin (who’s 13) Alanna played non-stop!

Sunday was the boy’s and Dee’s baptism and it was a wonderful service. Both sets of godparents were there, my folks and Sharon, Alan and Alanna too! It was touching and the pastor cried, as she does during all baptisms. Makes it really nice, though, to see how much it meant to her and the congregation. A woman got up and thanked us for having the boys baptised that day, since her cousin had just passed away and it was life affirming for her to see this. That really hit home, we knew it was something important to us, but it was neat that it touched someone else so deeply.

Anyhow, off to start another Monday….Alice is coming to play and the boys will be up soon. Then it’s off to the mall to try and finish up the Christmas shopping. Arrgh! At least I get to take Alanna with me for company this year! Yeah!

Went to court this morning to show our dedication to Dominic and all went fine. It wasn’t a big deal, just the judge saying all would be reviewed in 6 more months (if he hasn’t been adopted by then). Grandma watched the big boys and I took Trey with me, so it was nice time for them to spend with her.

Faith is over playing (or sleeping right now) with Carlos so we’re having fun with her. Just trying to get ready for the holidays and keep Carlos from climbing the Christmas tree! We decorated last night, and the boys love it! It’ll be so much fun to watch them grow up and see the changes each year.

Not too much to report…life gets crazy here starting this weekend with the holidays! Hope all is well with everyone!

What a weekend…we have been trying to lie low and get ready for the chaos of the season to start, and wouldn’t you know we all ended up with this cough! The boys have been miserable (as well as the moms, but we didn’t get it so bad at least not yet) and crabby all weekend. We tried to go as a family on Saturday to get a tree but had to limit it to me and Dominic since Carlos was throwing fits and it wasn’t working. We did get them down to see Santa and I think we got a good picture, even though Dominic kept looking at Santa saying “I don’t want that”.

Today I did my weekly shopping with Dominic and the little boys stayed home with Dee to rest before our outing to see the Christmas Ship in Eagle Harbor. It was fun, although Carlos was out of sorts. Can’t wait til he gets over this cold and gets back to his normal happy self.

Off to watch the finale of Survivor!!!! WOO HOO!

Still waiting to hear about the verdict came in (that’ll be at 1:30pm). Had Ann and Lori stop in with lattes to hang out and chat with us and keep us calm! The kids all have coughs, so we’ve been spending the last few nights up numberous times with them. WE ARE TIRED! Glad the weekend’s coming, although we still have 3 sick boys. Hoping to get a Christmas tree and get Santa pictures done. I have some shopping to do but other than that we’ll be mellow.

Did get a cute tub picture of the boys when my folks were over for dinner last night. Papa was pulling the curtain back and doing peek-a-boo and they loved it. They got all clean, then Gramma and Papa put lotion on them and they got into their pjs and read stories. It was a good night (until the not sleeping due to coughing came to play)!

The waiting is killing us…we will know the verdict tomorrow at 1:30pm from the termination hearing for Dominic. We know it could go either way so that makes us more stressed out than ever. Regardless of how the judge rules, it will still be a long road for permenancy for Dominic. I’m just glad he’s too young to really know what’s going on.

Onto other things. I just got done programming (yes, programming) two “Know Your Name” Elmos. They are really cool, you plug them into the computer with a USB cable and basically download into the stuffed animal the kid’s name and favorite things and daily schedule. Should be neat! My mom got them for Carlos and Luca (my nephew) since they are both such huge Elmo fans. Carlos calls Elmo, “Momo” and Luca calls him “YaYa” (like the theme song…la la la la, la la la la Elmo’s World). Too funny.

We’re trying to figure out getting our Christmas tree and then how to keep the boys out of is as well. I think this weekend we’ll take them down to see Santa, and then the Christmas ship comes to Eagle Harbor for carols so that’s always lots of fun, too.

I’m off to get some laundry done while all the kids are sleeping! Good times!

The Men’s Choir Concert was GREAT! We had a nice evening out to dinner with Patti and Jeanie, got a couple free tastes of Cold Stone Ice Cream’s new flavor on the walk from the waterfront to Benaroya Hall and then sat and enjoyed the concert. What an impressive theater, and the Men’s Choir was hilarious. They sang Christmas carols and some non-traditional songs but also made it their own comedy show. DEFINITELY something we’d go to again. We’re feeling old, though, as we came home around 11pm and barely got up this morning.

I had 3 extra kids today (as part of the drop-in childcare service I’m doing) but they all played well together and the day went by quickly. Dee and I even got our Christmas cards mostly done, whew!

Guess I better get some sleep….tomorrow comes early! Oh, the picture is from the Zoolights, Dominic and Carlos got these cool light saber things that they were using to swordfight with. Well, they were doing that at least until I got a picture…then we made them stop. We’re meanies for sure! Bad picture, but it’s kinda cool too. Also a couple more from the “Christmas Picture From Hell” series!

Didn’t blog over the weekend, just got caught up in the holiday details. We took the “big boys” to see Zoo Lights on Saturday night. It was fun, I think next year will be more enjoyable. Carlos wasn’t having anything to do with the stroller (and if you’ve been to Point Defiance before you know you do NOT want to be carrying a 1 year old around there) and Dominic let us know that he had to potty…right as the bathrooms were being cleaned. They got a couple of cool flickering lightshow toys that surprisingly, only cost $3.50 each! What a bargain at an event like Zoolights.

Sunday was mellow, went to church and I did my weekly shopping trip (www.thegrocerygame.com) and saved a TON of money. Saw Capt. Marc, a buddy from Clipper, at the Kingston Albertsons so that was fun. I run into more people out there I can’t even believe it.

Today was off to Silverdale with Joy to get some holiday shopping in. Dominic had a visit so we thought we had a few hours, but turns out his biomom wasn’t feeling well so she cut the visit short. I just will never understand that….we’d walk over broken glass for him and this could be her last visit and she can’t stay the full 2 hours. Hmmmm.

It’s off to the Seattle Men’s Choir Holly Jolly Concert tonight with my folks and L3&L4. It’ll be SO nice to have an evening out on the town! Can’t even remember when we did that last. I’ll report more later, I think Trey’s about to scream out a lung!

OK, so we went to my folks last night to have dinner and hang out, and while we were there we tried to get the family Christmas card photo taken. WHAT A FIASCO! At this point, Carlos doesn’t want his picture taken ever and he doesn’t want to stay in any one spot for more than 2 seconds. In the pictures that Carlos was actually there and not crying, Dominic was looking off into space! Trey was cool for the beginning but then decided to scoot himself out of his seat right when Carlos was in frame, so it was ridiculous. Ended up without the great picture I was hoping for.

Tried again this morning and damn if it wasn’t the same deal…only this time it was only me trying to do it! Think I got an ok picture, but tempted to send out one of the one where they are all wild. It was funny!

Off to Costco with the herd today to pick up prints whichever picture we choose to go with. Should be another adventure!

Can’t believe it’s already December! Only 24 days of shopping left until the BIG day! Can’t wait for Christmas this year, Dominic and Carlos will surely get into the spirit of things and Trey is digging all the cool lights.

Tonight we’re going to try to hit the downtown Christmas tree lighting and the arrival of Santa. Grandma and Grandpa are taking Dominic and we will follow with the little boys. Should be a fun evening for sure. It’s SNOWING here, not sticking yet but really snowing lots of big flakes. Dominic is asking what it is (he wasn’t a fan of the snow last year at all) and Carlos just keeps looking out the window at it. Hoping to get lots tonight and be able to take the kids out to play in it. We’ve got snowsuits and all, which is a surprise since we live in a no-snow zone.

Court is over for the day…apparently the judge is needing more time to review the case and come up with a verdict, so we have to wait until the verdict is read on December 9th at 1:30pm. Keep the positive thoughts and prayers coming our way, they are all needed! So now, he has a visit again on Monday (as usual) and then the verdict comes in. If they don’t terminate, the state will wait 60 days and re-file and then it will all be dealt with again. If they do terminate, the family will appeal and we will wait to see the result of that. All in all I hope this ends soon so Dominic can really have the closure, I know he doesn’t know it’s going on but it does have its impact on everyone around him.

Sleepy time…hope the kids sleep through the night. Busy day tomorrow, as I have Faith coming over to play with Carlos for a few hours. Lee…great party tonight! Also, if anyone knows anyone who is good fixing laptops send them my way. Mine is cycling through the Windows XP start-up but can’t seem to get into Windows. YIKES!