Almost Christmas

I've been ready for Christmas for a good month now.  Gift purchased and hidden away, Christmas cards ordered written and mailed.  So here we are a few days away from Christmas itself and I'm bored out of my mind.  Apparently the hustle and bustle is all a part of the fun.  The one downside to shopping and making things for christmas 2 months early is that you have to hide it for 2 months.  Apparently I am really good at the hiding part.  Not so much at seeking.  I've misplace just about every gift I bought but have been able to find most things.  Most.  Felt cake I spent 2 weeks hand sewing to go with matching felt cake stand for Alex's tea set from santa. Missing, still very missing.
The good end of all this is that I've been completely free to help out and babysit just about anyone.
Since Alex has been out of Joy School for 2 weeks I've discovered how clingy and "what can we do Mom" she can get without an outlet everyday.  Unfortunately Kate and I can no longer play since Alex and Archie have decided to be Russia and the USA playing Coldwar.  As soon as they get within 5 feet of each other, one or both spontaneously combust into little balls of screaming yelling tantrum throwing machines and the house is thrown into instant chaos.  I am so glad I don't have twins.  I've heard that this happens, and that one day they will be friends again.  Dispite all this Tuesday Kate was a doll and took Alex swimming while I babysat the rest of the kids.  I had a splendid time with Archie, he is so fun to play with.  Archie loved on Heidi and Heidi loved on Annie and all was right with the world until Alex came back and we had to evacuate the premises ASAP.
Yesterday I babysat for a couple friends and ended up having 6 little girls at my house for a few hours and it was surprisingly wonderful!  They played an odd game with their dolls (the babies kept getting hit by cars and dying.  Don't worry, the doctor was able to bring them back to life), read books, made a game of mothering Heidi and the other 'baby', and the whole time I was able to sit and stitch!
We haven't seen much of Tyler the last month.  He had finals for school and was studying day and night.  Now that finals are over he has been working full time and then going to his Grandpa's shop until late to finish Heidi's Christmas rocking horse.  I have a feeling this is going to be one of those "staying up until 3am to finish" gifts.  I am very excited though, she is going to love it!

Yes. Every minute of everyday with Heidi is this entertaining.