Free at Last!

Today was my last writing day of the year--I finished the last two letters on my list.  So, all told, I wrote 47 original letters this year, about 41 of which were done before November 1.  It has a long, exhausting stretch since summer.  I really thought my second year would be easier, and while my personal life certainly was, I can't really say the job itself got any easier!  The pace was break-neck, and it becomes hard to fit everything in when you have small children who need you.  Thank God the boys go to bed early--if I hadn't been able to work at night, every single night, I never would have kept up.

Tomorrow is the last day of the boys' fall session of Music Together.  We have a break now until January.  I am looking forward to some time off from the class. I can't honestly say I enjoy those sessions.  We'll see if the boys participate again next year.  By then, they will be able to tell me whether or not they enjoy it and want to do it.  I'm hoping they will opt for swimming lessons or some other sport-related or even art-related activity instead, mainly for selfish reasons.  I hate singing and clapping and all that crap.

At 3pm tomorrow we have the boys' birthday party.  It's morphed into more of a party for Carlos than the boys.  There are 10 kids coming, at most, and most of them are too young to really even know what's going on.  This was a terrible weekend to have it because people are busy right before Thanksgiving.  A lot of people have had to decline, which I completely understand.  It sucks for the boys to have a birthday at this time of year.  There is just too much else going on.  But maybe next year Carlos will listen to me and have the party earlier in November.  I didn't do any decorating or go with a theme for the party because the boys only recently started to get into things.  Their cupcakes will be Elmo, but I didn't get Elmo decorations or anything.  We have a piñata and a turkey egg hunt for the backyard, but then I heard the weather: it's supposed to be frigid.  But, as long as it's not rainy or the grass isn't soaking wet, I'm hoping we can all go outside for a few minutes to let the kids run around.

 Here's the piñata.  It's stuffed with left-over Halloween candy (which is the good stuff: Twix, Snickers, Milky Way, M&Ms...) and some fruit gummy candy.

Here are the favor bags.  Nothing special, but I like what's in them!

I had nowhere to put the favor bags out of the way, so I had to clear some space near the fireplace.

In other news, earlier this week I was away at Philips Exeter for a conference.  Natalie and the boys sent me this picture while I was away.  Made my day!

Tuesday evening at 6pm after I got home from the conference, the boys had a haircut with Maria.  This time, they were pretty good about it!  Phew.

Here they are post-haircut.  They look so funny with their short hair!