Last weekend of Three Rineer Kids?
This past weekend was the last one that all three of our progeny will be kids. One will be an ADULT by next weekend. So, despite the weekend being nothing to write home about in an ordinary sense, since it was Jacob's last weekend as a child, it was something worth writing for the blog.
I mentioned in November that December would likely be one of our least busy months of the entire year. So far, I'm correct. The first full weekend in December was a good mixture of plans (a Christmas party and birthday celebration) and down time. This past weekend was super chill. The upcoming one will be quite busy as we'll be celebrating Jacob's birthday and gearing up for hosting Christmas on Tuesday and then hosting out of town guests after that. This past weekend was the calm before the storm and I loved it.
Friday evening, Abby babysat and Jacob spent the evening with friends. Alyssa helped me with our Christmas cards after we watched an episode of Smallville.
Saturday morning Donnie had to go to Dayton for a board meeting. I thought it would fun to bake cookies with the kids. Baking cookies is one activity that all of the kids like to do. And doesn't it sound like a great kid activity to do? With this weekend being Jacob's last weekend being a kid, I thought baking cookies sounded like a good idea. I wanted to bake the cookies for Christmas Eve. Whatever we don't eat on Christmas Eve, we could add to the goodie mix on Christmas Day.
Alyssa was the first child up on Saturday morning. I told her that I wanted to bake chocolate chip M&M cookies and snickerdoodles. She was appalled. "They'll be stale by Christmas Eve," she sagely lamented. I assured her that I would put the cookies in the freezer and not get them out of the freezer until Christmas Eve, thereby ensuring their freshness. The concept of freezing cookies was foreign to her. About 99% of the time that we make cookies it's for our immediate consumption- this making ahead of time was a lot for her to wrap her head around. "Can't you just make the cookies on Monday when we're at school?" she asked. Welllll, of course I could do that but it kind of defeated the milieu in my mind of the kids and me blissfully baking holiday cookies and making memories together. Between her confused attitude about freezing the cookies and the teens' late wake up time, I decided to forego making cookies together.
Incidentally, I did end up making the cookies on Monday when the kid were at school. When Jacob came home from school, I told him he could have a couple of snickerdoodles (the last batch didn't turn out as well as the others; it was a small batch, fortunately, and I decided to let the kids eat the cookies). He asked me why I made them and I told him it was for Christmas Eve. He was appalled. "They'll be stale by Christmas Eve," he sagely lamented. I guess great minds and/ or minds that aren't aware of all of the uses of freezers, think alike :).
Back to the weekend, it rained alllllll day Saturday, rendering it a terrific day to turn on all the Christmas lights in the house and to get things done around the house. I did run out to the grocery store and Donnie and I ran out around dinner time to pick up dinner (Chick- fil-A) to take home. Abby had plans to go to some late night bowling event- as in, she left the house at 10:45 pm. Mercy! Donnie stayed up to wait for her- she didn't get home until almost 2:00 am.
Jacob and AJ hung out for a while on Saturday. The two of them have been friends since the week we moved into our current house- when Jacob was four and AJ was three. On the cusp of Jacob's legal childhood coming to an end, their friendship is poignant to me because it's lasted for almost all of Jacob's childhood. I'm thankful for it. Since the boys attend different schools, they each have a lot of friends from school and will sometimes go weeks without hanging out. But they seem to pick up where they left off when they do hang out together again.
Sunday was church, dance for Abby and running an errand or two. Alyssa and I watched the Netflix movie, Dumplin' in the evening (we could not get Donnie on board with watching it :)) while the teens studied as they had finals the next week.
It was a nondescript weekend in just about every way except it marked Jacob's last weekend of childhood.
Friday night- Alyssa loved using my mini cutter to cut pictures for our Christmas card. I will do a separate post on our cards.
Saturday morning before my dream of making cookies with the kids was shattered :). The secretary at one of the schools that I sub at gave me a gift on Friday- this cute mug with hot cocoa mix and cookies. I couldn't resist indulging on Saturday morning.
On Friday, Donnie's secretary made him this Chelsea blanket. It is the best (whether you love Chelsea or not, if you like warm comfy things, you will like this!)
We got a lot of use out of it during the cold and rainy Saturday (I only folded it for this picture. It's never been folded except for this photo).
I mentioned in November that December would likely be one of our least busy months of the entire year. So far, I'm correct. The first full weekend in December was a good mixture of plans (a Christmas party and birthday celebration) and down time. This past weekend was super chill. The upcoming one will be quite busy as we'll be celebrating Jacob's birthday and gearing up for hosting Christmas on Tuesday and then hosting out of town guests after that. This past weekend was the calm before the storm and I loved it.
Friday evening, Abby babysat and Jacob spent the evening with friends. Alyssa helped me with our Christmas cards after we watched an episode of Smallville.
Saturday morning Donnie had to go to Dayton for a board meeting. I thought it would fun to bake cookies with the kids. Baking cookies is one activity that all of the kids like to do. And doesn't it sound like a great kid activity to do? With this weekend being Jacob's last weekend being a kid, I thought baking cookies sounded like a good idea. I wanted to bake the cookies for Christmas Eve. Whatever we don't eat on Christmas Eve, we could add to the goodie mix on Christmas Day.
Alyssa was the first child up on Saturday morning. I told her that I wanted to bake chocolate chip M&M cookies and snickerdoodles. She was appalled. "They'll be stale by Christmas Eve," she sagely lamented. I assured her that I would put the cookies in the freezer and not get them out of the freezer until Christmas Eve, thereby ensuring their freshness. The concept of freezing cookies was foreign to her. About 99% of the time that we make cookies it's for our immediate consumption- this making ahead of time was a lot for her to wrap her head around. "Can't you just make the cookies on Monday when we're at school?" she asked. Welllll, of course I could do that but it kind of defeated the milieu in my mind of the kids and me blissfully baking holiday cookies and making memories together. Between her confused attitude about freezing the cookies and the teens' late wake up time, I decided to forego making cookies together.
Incidentally, I did end up making the cookies on Monday when the kid were at school. When Jacob came home from school, I told him he could have a couple of snickerdoodles (the last batch didn't turn out as well as the others; it was a small batch, fortunately, and I decided to let the kids eat the cookies). He asked me why I made them and I told him it was for Christmas Eve. He was appalled. "They'll be stale by Christmas Eve," he sagely lamented. I guess great minds and/ or minds that aren't aware of all of the uses of freezers, think alike :).
Back to the weekend, it rained alllllll day Saturday, rendering it a terrific day to turn on all the Christmas lights in the house and to get things done around the house. I did run out to the grocery store and Donnie and I ran out around dinner time to pick up dinner (Chick- fil-A) to take home. Abby had plans to go to some late night bowling event- as in, she left the house at 10:45 pm. Mercy! Donnie stayed up to wait for her- she didn't get home until almost 2:00 am.
Jacob and AJ hung out for a while on Saturday. The two of them have been friends since the week we moved into our current house- when Jacob was four and AJ was three. On the cusp of Jacob's legal childhood coming to an end, their friendship is poignant to me because it's lasted for almost all of Jacob's childhood. I'm thankful for it. Since the boys attend different schools, they each have a lot of friends from school and will sometimes go weeks without hanging out. But they seem to pick up where they left off when they do hang out together again.
Sunday was church, dance for Abby and running an errand or two. Alyssa and I watched the Netflix movie, Dumplin' in the evening (we could not get Donnie on board with watching it :)) while the teens studied as they had finals the next week.
It was a nondescript weekend in just about every way except it marked Jacob's last weekend of childhood.
Friday night- Alyssa loved using my mini cutter to cut pictures for our Christmas card. I will do a separate post on our cards.
Saturday morning before my dream of making cookies with the kids was shattered :). The secretary at one of the schools that I sub at gave me a gift on Friday- this cute mug with hot cocoa mix and cookies. I couldn't resist indulging on Saturday morning.
Monday {the cookies I made all by myself}
On Friday, Donnie's secretary made him this Chelsea blanket. It is the best (whether you love Chelsea or not, if you like warm comfy things, you will like this!)
We got a lot of use out of it during the cold and rainy Saturday (I only folded it for this picture. It's never been folded except for this photo).
Oh man, you are so calm about your oldest no longer being a “kid”! I am freaking out right now just thinking about when we reach that moment. I’m sure I’ll grow into it though, right? 😀
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