Day 1214. No alarm this morning, but once again it was 8:45, when I looked at the clock. We opened the advent calendars and then sat down for breakfast. After breakfast, it was time to decorate the cookies we had made the other day, as I had no other obligations. I had bought some icing that you only needed to add water to and then whip. Tammy and Emmy were helping me and alternated holding the machine. Then I layed out the cookies for them to decorate. Tammy wanted purple icing, and Emmy blue. I got some of the white icing, put it into bowls and added the food coloring to get the requested colors. It soon became clear that I had to be the one applying the icing to the cookies, so I went back and forth between them. They then put the sprinkles on the cookies. After a while they were getting bored and had had enough, so I let them go downstairs to join Randy and Sammy. It was then up to me to finish the remaining cookies. I added another color and dunked the cookies in the sprinkles. I was also glad, when I was finally done, as I'm not someone who loves baking.
I let the cookies sit on the counter to dry. It was already time to make lunch, and I decided to put a lasagna into the oven for Randy and the kids, while I was gonna finish the leftover soup we'd already eaten twice before. Just after noon we sat down to eat. It was great to see Tammy and Sammy eat everything on their plates. Everyone had ice-cream, then we cleaned them up and dressed them. The kids wanted to watch videos, and as there was a little time left, they stood in Emmy's bed and watched on the Echo device. At 1 pm I stopped it, but it still took until 1:15 before they were all in bed and ready to sleep.
Thankfully the boys fell asleep fast, but once again it was Tammy who was not. Instead she was being loud and did not listen, when I asked her to be quiet so as not to wake up her brothers. I finally walked away, but it took her until 2 pm to fall asleep. I myself needed to sleep bad and lay down, but Randy needed me a few times, and then Emmy came and lay down next to me. I'm not sure I ever actually got to sleep. Randy and Sammy left at 2:30 for his physiotherapy session, and that's also when my timer went off. We got up, and then Tammy got up as well, which is not typical. I got them and myself ready, and we left the house at 2:45 to go to dance class one last time. They had started going there in the beginning of the year, but the teacher they had was not there any more after the summer, and the past few months had been rough with cancelations and lots of substitute teachers, and sometimes ones that had no clue what they were supposed to do. Like others, we'd had enough, as we paid a flat rate every month independent of holidays or canceled classes. And so it was our last time there today.
We took the subway and then ran to make the bus sitting at the bus stop. Thanks to that we actually got to the school early; it was 10 minutes before the class was to start at 3:30 pm, and we were the first ones there. We went to the top floor and waited for the teacher to arrive. She'd been sick last week and today was her first day back at work. There was only one other child there today, and both her parents were with her.
We started with the greeting song and then did one song after another. With only three kids, she really addressed the kids personally, but they were not very motivated. At first they were not participating at all, then they did a little. Emmy had a bad coughing spell right in the beginning that wouldn't stop. The teacher gave him a tissue and told him to hold it in front of his mouth.
Halfway through the class Emmy slipped and fell on his face. He was crying hard, and I went outside with him. He'd busted his lip a little bit and also had a little scratch on his forehead. It took me a long time to calm him down, and once back inside, he wanted me to carry him, so I did for quite some time, dancing together with him. The teacher would often ask the kids whether they wanted a specific song, and Emmy would often say no, while the other two kids didn't reply at all much of the time. The teacher would then do the song anyway. The third girl left before the last song, and so it was only us doing the hand-washing song with the teacher. This time they both participated. Then we said good-bye to the teacher and went back downstairs.
We put coats and shoes back on and left to go home. We walked to the bus stop, then got on the bus. I let them watch Paw Patrol all the way home. I had a student at 5 pm, and it soon became clear that we would not be home by then. I texted him that we'd start at 5:10 pm.
We got home just after 5 pm. I started undressing them, then Randy came upstairs to help, and I turned my computer on for my lesson. Because of the late start it ended at 6 pm, but the kids already came upstairs 15 minutes earlier. Emmy came first and lay down in my bed. A few minutes later Tammy came, and she was not quiet at all. Thankfully Randy then put Veggie Tales on for them to watch, and I was able to finish my lesson in peace. Then I went to the kitchen to start making their dinner. Tammy soon came and asked to play the baby games on my phone, while Emmy continued watching Veggie Tales. Then my 8 pm lesson was canceled, so that I did not have to watch the time anymore. It was after 6:30, when we sat down to eat, then they continued eating in the bathtub. Then we got them ready for bed, and it was going on 8:30 by the time they were all in bed, after having opened the advent calendars and read a bedtime story and having prayed over them.
I sat down by them and then we talked for quite some time, about Christmas the day after tomorrow, and about Jesus and the angels protecting us, and about the evil men in Mali because of whom we were not able to travel there, and about listening to God when to go where. It was quite a deep conversation. Finally I asked them to go to sleep, and I asked them whether I was allowed to leave yet so I could make my salad. At first they said no, but then Emmy gave me the green light, and then Tammy did, and Randy sat down by them instead of me. Soon the boys were asleep; Tammy needed longer as usual.
I went to the kitchen to make my salad and sat down to eat just before 9:30 pm. Then I started working on today's pictures and some other things. Now it's after 1 am and time to clean up the kitchen and go to bed. Tomorrow morning I have my last lesson before Christmas.
