Grandma is so Smart!

“Either Grandma really knows me or she has good taste or both!”  

Ice cream themed bag is a hit!

 

Frye Christmas

We enjoyed prime rib, bingo, and presents with my family.  Philomena's bag was ice cream themed and Maggie's bag was hot cocoa themed but more importantly had a Barnes & Noble gift card.  Maggie loves books!  My bag was foot themed with lotion and socks.

 

Christmas Afternoon

Philomena entertained herself making almond bark pretzels and Maggie decorated her gingerbread house.

 

Christmas Morning

Both girls appreciated but weren't excited about the under garments which is why I started with that gift!  We hadn't done gingerbread houses yet so I wrapped some for them to open.  Maggie was excited to get the game that she knew we'd bought her.  She thought it was going to be her birthday gift and I waited until Christmas to give it to her.  Philomena received a sunshield and a snow cover for her car.  Maggie received blue tooth headphones and an electric toothbrush.  Philomena also received a light switch to control her fan and light, just like Maggie got for her birthday.  Now to hire an electrician to install them.  Their stockings had candy and art supplies.  Maggie received nail art brushes so she can do designs on our finger or toenails.  Philomena has a nutcracker and "Blessed" to paint.  This year I also got them the usual ornament from Ten Thousand Villages plus a table decoration in the shape of a tree with a nativity cut out in it.  It was a great morning.

 

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve, the girls celebrated their dad's birthday and then we spent the evening at church.  I ran lights at 5 pm and 7 pm, while Philomena was in the nursery for 3 pm and 5 pm and joined us at 7 pm in the service.  When we got home, I let the girls open 1 present as we've come to make a tradition of.  Last year, the company went out of business that used to print my blog books and I couldn't find a company with reasonable prices.  This year I found a company and was able to order the last 2 years books.  They were both surprised and excited by the new books.

 

Maggie's Learners Permit

Maggie's first time behind the wheel and she drove around Mahoney city park.  She did pretty well!  A little more difficult to get her out driving when the sun goes down so early and the weather can be bad in the winter.

 

LHS Choir Concert - Philomena

Maggie and I aren't the best at recording.  One is upside down and one is sideways.  I know the phone was horizontal every time.  I recorded one and Maggie recorded 2 of them.  I'm gonna say it was Maggie's videos that are turned; haha but I can't know for sure.  The concert was great and Philomena is really glad to be back in choir this year.  She missed choir more than she's currently missing band.

 

Christmas Tree

This Thanksgiving, I was struggling with my depression.  The cold, cloudy weather wasn't helping.  I did get my nativity up when Philomena put up her tree on November 30th, but we didn't put the big tree up.  We didn't go to Ten Thousand Villages.  None of the normal stuff.  By December 14th, I knew I needed to get into my doctor because it was getting worse.  I told the girls I was struggling and needed help decorating the house.  Philomena helped me bring the tree upstairs in the afternoon.  Then Maggie helped me decorate it that evening.  They weren't home at the same time due to show choir rehearsals.  I told Maggie that I was overwhelmed by the number of ornaments that we have.  I've tried for 2 years to pare it down but I get too sentimental.  Maggie said, "No problem!  Don't think, Mom.  Just tell me yes or no."  She put aside the ornaments that she wants for her tree and held up ornaments for me to decide what to keep.  We cut the decorations in half.  

I got in with my doctor on Monday, December 15th.  She adjusted my meds and I was feeling better even on the first day.  By Tuesday, I came home from work with more energy than I had in weeks.  I decided that I wanted to put the lights up in the front window.  It is so good to feel like myself again.  The girls were worried about my depression and I told them this is just what life is like with autism, anxiety, and depression.  We have regular med checks.  We learn to recognize the signs in ourselves so we know when to call the dr.  I've been managing my depression for 15 years.  I never let myself get as bad as I was when I was first diagnosed.  I hope by being honest with them that they will see me modeling how to manage our mental health and use the supports we have both in medical professionals and in our family supports.

One of my symptoms of depression is that I spend more money.  It was hard to tell if I was overspending due to my depression or if it was just because Chrsistmas was coming up.  My checkbook tells me that I spent double what I planned for Christmas.  There's a lot of presents under the tree.  The girls might just want the next bout of depression to hit when I'm buying Christmas gifts again.  haha I know they wouldn't wish depression to hit, but I do hope they like everything that I bought!

 

Nativity Advent Count Down

Christmas is different now with both kids in high school.  They both have evening activities and by the time everyone is home we're too tired to do the nightly advent countdown.  Maggie and I did a few nights and Philomena joined us one evening.  I'll have to come up with a new tradition to do with them now that they're older.

 

Mom's Fun

The kids are kind of used to me, but they still are like "really, mom?" when I dress up for school and wear it elsewhere after work.

 

Pride & Prejudice - One Act Play

 

Grandma, me, and Philomena enjoyed watching Pride and Prejudice, the LHS one act play.  They went to district contest with their play, but didn't make it to state contest.  Maggie was on the scenic crew.

Philomena's Christmas Tree

I didn't have the energy to put up the big tree so I put up my nativity while Philomena put up her tree and decorated her bedroom.

 

Snowball Fight

I was making our Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday because the girls spent the holiday at their dad's.  I opened the back door to get a picture of the girls having a snowball fight. Maggie ducked and the snowball grazed my head & landed back by the dishwasher!

 

Ceiling Fan Installed!

My dad taught me well and in this case, I remembered what he taught.  I was able to read the manual and with both girls helping, we got the ceiling fan installed!  I told the girls that we're Girl Power!  I may have got an eye roll with their smiles.

 

Happy 15th Birthday, Maggie!

Maggie:  You bought me a ceiling fan for my birthday?

Philomena: Welcome to the age where mom starts buying practical gifts.

Me:  😅 this is what it’s like to have me as a mom 😆

Maggie:  Why doesn't my room already have a ceiling fan?

Me:  Well...there was a ceiling fan, but we removed the blades when you had a loft bed.  Then I thought my ceiling fan was broken so I tried to move your ceiling fan to my bedroom.  I dropped your ceiling fan and broke it.  Then I tried to put in your ceiling light and it was always on; we couldn't turn it off.  So then I hired an electrician to install my new ceiling fan and your ceiling light.  There probably wasn't anything wrong with my ceiling fan, but I didn't realize what I was doing wrong so here we are.  Then you went back to a bed on the floor and started using an oscillating fan.  So I decided to get you a ceiling fan for your birthday.

Maggie:  Oh

My thought:  that was probably longer of an answer than she expected -- haha

Maggie chose IHOP for her bday dinner with family.  I offered to buy Maggie a Nothing Bundt Cake but she said no.  Then we went to HyVee and she didn't like any of their cakes.  She wanted a cute marble cake.  So we bought ingredients and she asked me to put a mermaid's tail on it.  Not too bad for an amateur!