Holidays Almost Over

Even though we haven't travelled much(with the exception of a day trip to my parent's place), it's been an exceptionally busy holiday season. The kids have gotten through it without killing each other, or provoking me into killing them(although they've come close a couple of times). Aidan did sustain an injury just this morning inflicted by his sister throwing a piece of ice crusted snow right at his face(he has a cut above his left eye and a bump below it). I got my holiday knitting done right at the last minute(completed the final rounds of a fingerless mitten for one of my brother's girlfriend's girls within the hour of arriving at my parents), which means I forgot to take pictures of them before wrapping them. I had planned on doing regular mittens, but Kevin thought fingerless ones would go over better, so I simply modified the pattern I used for the adult sized ones I gave as Christmas presents to Jess, Julia, and Peggy(fewer stitches, different needle sizes).

The kids cleaned up for Christmas. Caleigh got my old Cabbage Patch doll along with a wooden crib and a high chair that were hand-me-downs from our neighbour; a Fairy Tree House play set(paper doll/furniture set, really neat); an interchangeable watch set; kid oriented knitting needles, some yarn and a very pretty basket for it all; a bowling set to share with her brother; a toothbrush; some slippers and a few other small things. Aidan got a remote control Mustang; a felted polar bear; safety goggles for when he's helping Kevin split wood; The Very Hungry Caterpillar game; a noisy helicopter; and some cars(including a wooden one and some hotwheels). Brynna got a bunch of small baby toys that she loves equally. Bill and Jenn gave the kids a Barbie Power Wheels jeep that Jenn's girls used to play with along with a new battery for it b/c the old one is just about done(my parents will be bringing that up for us in the future since it wouldn't fit in our car).

Now I'm on to my next knitting project: a Swallowtail Lace Shawl for someone special. I've already had to rip out my practice run at it with some spare yarn about 5 times, so it's a good thing I didn't just dive right in with the yarn I purchased for the project yesterday.

What You Get When You Put 2 Tired Kids in a Chariot

This is what I saw when I looked into the Chariot when we got home from the grocery store yesterday morning. Snug as 2 bugs in a rug they were, until mean old mommy woke them up to go inside and warm up before heading to the bus to pick up Caleigh.

Parent-Teacher Meeting

Kevin went solo to the meeting with Caleigh's teacher this time around because trying to have the 5 of us in the classroom, and one of us trying to keep Caleigh and Aidan in check while holding on to Brynna would've just made it completely impossible for the other to concentrate on what was being said by the teacher.

It seems as though Caleigh is having a much better year than last year, and with the implementation of the behaviour book that we're going to use for this year to map/reward her positive behaviour, she's getting even better. While leafing through her work so far this year, I'm very impressed.

Tigger is Fine

I wasn't home on Wednesday morning to take the phone call, but the results of Tigger's bloodwork showed that he was healthy as the proverbial horse, except that he's a cat. We still have no real explanation for the 3lb weight loss, but it could be due to the stress of having a new baby in the house along with him eating a food for senior cats exclusively. Kevin decided that to try to prevent any further weight loss(which may put him at a weight that is unhealthy for him) that we would increase the amount of food they get per meal to see if that helps. It is so good to know that Tigger is healthy and there's nothing wrong with his thyroid, which I'm not sure we would've been able to afford to have fully diagnosed and treated.

Waiting

Took Tigger to the vet this morning for his annual visit, and everything seemed fine, except that he's lost a little over 3 pounds inside of a year, which is not good for a cat. So I decided to go with the vet's suggestion of doing the "geriatric" blood profile for Tigger so that we can see if there's something going on that needs to be dealt with. We'll get a call in the morning to let us know the results of the bloodwork.

Also ended up taking Caleigh to the dentist this afternoon, which was interesting to say the least. The older two behaved quite well until we were headed back to the car. Caleigh had her first dose of fluoride this time, and we've booked Aidan for his first official visit for a check-up for next summer. All this afternoon stuff took from 1:45 until after 3:30, and then when I got home, the cats had taken a package of uncooked pasta off the counter and spread it around in two big piles in the dining room(I'm pretty sure it was Tigger b/c I found a bunch of the pasta on the blanket that he was lying on when we came in to the house before I discovered the mess. This all meant that I couldn't get to the pharmacy to pick up my prescription, or the dvd that we were thinking of getting while it was on special for the first day of it's release.