Day 2281. Finally Sunday and no commitments in the morning! I had gone to bed later than usual, at 2 am, so I was very much looking forward to sleeping in. And of course, the kids were loud and kept waking me up, but I did sleep well, especially after they had left. When they looked outside this morning, they saw that everything was covered in snow. It had snowed 5 centimeters during the night, and they succeeding in convincing Daddy to take them outside. So they got dressed, grabbed their sleds, and they went to the nearby park where they joined the other kids there to sled and enjoy the snow. On the way back, they built a small snowman right in front our our house.
It was a rude awakening when my alarm went off at 11:15. It took me a moment to realize that it was my alarm and that I actually had to get up. I went to the kitchen to start cooking. A few minutes later Randy and the kids returned from their little trip to the snow.
We ate just before noon, and Randy left with Tammy and Emmy before 12:30 pm to take them to their maths club. I stayed home with Sammy who was having fun with his tablet, while I was working on the computer. Randy returned at 1:30 pm and went downstairs with Sammy. At 2 pm I left the house to go pick the kids up again.
I got to the premises of the maths club just before it ended at 2:30 pm, however, they were already done for the day. They put their shoes and coats on, and we left.
As always, they still wanted to play and today they wanted to play in the snow. We had a little snowball fight going, the three of us, and had fun. Then we walked over to the climbing walls and other equipment where they spent a few more minutes having fun. But it was cold, and their hands were freezing because of the snowballs they had made without gloves on, so we didn't stay long but soon started walking back to the subway. As always, we took the elevator up. We were half-way to the top, when the elevator started making noises and rattling and then stopping. Tammy started screaming and crying while Emmy was also panicking. We were stopped between the bottom and the top floor and not moving. I calmed them down and was just about to push the emergency call button, when the elevator suddenly started moving again and continued on to the top. The kids were very relieved. I told them I'd never been stuck in an elevator in my 52 years on this earth.
We did reading practice on the subway train home and actually got it all done. Once back home, it was finally time to take our Christmas pictures. We've always taken them around November 6th which is when the kids should hav been born, so their biological birthday. But this year, I couldn't find the photographer's contact information, and the other one was too expensive, so we hadn't done anything. I decided to take the pictures myself. I hadn't had my good camera out since leaving Mali nearly 4 years ago, but I got it out and charged it up. We all put our new Christmas pj's on and went downstairs. Sammy was in a bad mood which was discouraging to start with but we were able to change that and cheer him up. Then it was Emmy who was hard to get to smile. I had the three kids sit next to each other and tried to get a good shot of them. Then Randy brought the Christmas hats, and I did a few shots that way. Then it was time for a family picture. I put the camera on the little table, turned on the timer and ran to the others and sat down in time for the picture the camera was gonna take. We did that quite a few times as there was always someone who didn't look right. It was quite the exercise for me. But in the end we had two great family pictures.
It was time for their birthday picture so they put their birthday T-shirts on, together with jeans shorts, and sat down next to each other. I started shooting them again while Randy was trying to get them all to smile, while I tried to get Sammy to look at me. Again, I was able to get a few great shots.
I was exhausted and glad we were done. But it was time for our own little home-service. I went upstairs to look up two of the preschool Bible teachings and prepared my props that I needed. Tammy actually helped me with them. Then we all walked downstairs. We started with the first teaching that was on worship which is where they each got a heart taped to their shirts. Then we did two worship songs together. The kids were playing instruments and dancing. Then I did my second teaching on prayer. I had made three false gods that the kids shred apart at the end. That was not even planned, they just did it! Then we prayed together, and then we were done. It had been a precious family worship time together.
It was time to go upstairs and make their dinner as they were already hungry. I made them soup once again, and they also had some leftovers. Then I cut up fruit for them to eat. After they had eaten, we went downstairs for piano practice that we hadn't done yet. Back upstairs, it was bathtub time, then Bible story time followed by bedtime. They went to bed, while I got myself something to eat.
