a little sickness, the pre-christmas rush, ashford's 11th birthday

 i did not expect to spend the first part of the last week before winter break sick on the couch, but that's what happened. it was not ideal when i still had so much to do for ashford's birthday and christmas, but i reminded myself there are bigger problems in life and all would work out.

last monday ashford stayed home from school and i was sick too, so we rested all day. he was almost back to normal, so i knew he could go back on tuesday. 

tuesday he went back to school and i hoped i would magically feel better, but i actually felt worse in a lot of ways. i still had a sore throat and felt exhausted and unable to do even basic tasks around the house. vanessa, azalea, and i were hoping to see 'wicked' that night, but it had to be postponed. 

wednesday i started to feel more human again. i was able to run some errands and get stuff done around the house. thatcher had a work thing in the evening, so the kids and i went to mcdonalds for dinner and watched 'home alone 2'. 

thursday was more errand running, and wrapping gifts for ashford's birthday. i am so glad we are waiting until january to do a friend party for him. one less thing on my plate this week, though we still planned a special family day for his actual birthday. 

friday was mooooore errands. i also drove azalea and sisi to school because they were bringing treats and gifts for friends. i was able to sneak in a brunch outing to 'portage bay' with kay and rebekah, which was much needed. after school azalea had her friends sisi and penny over for hot chocolate and cookie decorating. they even let ashford hang out with them, which was really nice. penny stayed for dinner, too. 

saturday was ashford's 11th birthday. here is the annual birthday collage with pictures from the past year. how is my baby 11 already? 

we told him he could pick a restaurant and activity to do during the day and he picked bowling followed by lunch at 'mod pizza' (always - haha). we went to a bowling alley in kenmore that we've been to before. thatcher was the bowling master. it was the kids' first time not using bumpers and it was challenging for them. then we had our lunch before heading home.

 we lounged at home the rest of the afternoon. there was a beautiful rainbow, so i went out to take pictures. 

in the evening we made greek chicken pita sandwiches (ashford's pick!). then we hopped on a zoom call with our family around the country (and world) to watch ashford open his gifts and sing 'happy birthday' to him. 

sunday morning we slept in and had biscuits, eggs, and bacon for breakfast. vanessa stopped over in the morning with a christmas gift for me and a birthday gift for ashford and we caught up for a bit. thatcher took azalea to belltown to see sisi's 'school of rock' performance. i spent a good chunk of the afternoon wrapping gifts and also picked up azalea when she was done and went to fred meyer with the kids. in the evening, our family all headed to thatcher's co-worker chris' house for dinner with him, his wife misty, and their daughter penny who is in 6th grade. we've started doing annual december dinners with them and it's really fun, though i feel guilty that we don't see each other any other time during the year. 

now it's christmas eve eve! ashford and i have some fun plans with his friends and their moms today and azalea is going to hang out at thatcher's work for the afternoon.