Playing Catch Up!

I can't believe it's been almost 2 weeks since I wrote last!

We've been busy and been having lots of fun this Christmas break! So... where to begin...

We went to see The Tale of Despereaux on Christmas Eve and both the boys loved it! We'd read the book, which is fantastic, and I knew the movie would be different so I was a bit concerned how Josh would take it.

The movie was different -- but the message in the movie and the book are the same. And it wasn't too different. I thought it was a great movie. Of course, I liked the book better, but both the boys really enjoyed the movie and that's what matters.

Christmas day was fun too. We managed to hold the kids off until about 6:30 or so. Then came downstairs and opened a few presents. We were a bit unfortunate... Sam's only present he asked Santa for was the Playmobil Knights and Castles set. I found one about 2 weeks before Christmas on Amazon and ordered it in plenty of time for a Christmas delivery. We got the notice that it would be delivered on 12/19... and it still hadn't come by Christmas Eve! I wrote Amazon and they told me to "wait until 12/26." Yeah. I don't think so.

I had to go out and buy something else for Sam (I got the Playmobil Skatepark for him). Santa left a note saying the elves ran out of the item he asked for, He was a bit disappointed Santa didn't get him the set he asked for, but still loves the Skatepark anyway.

The boys got a Wii and some games for it from the Grandparents (both sets chipped in for the unit plus a few games, extra controller, etc...). So that has been the main source of entertainment for the past week.

We've been having all sorts of fun "Family Challenges" on the Wii Sport.

We took the kids on a Nature Scavenger hunt one day, and to the Tennessee Aquarium one day. Both were lots of fun and there are pictures up on my Flickr page.

We also had a bit of bad news about our car. On Christmas Eve when I was driving all over trying to get Sam's gift, I noticed the speedometer had stopped working. So we brought it to the dealer shortly after Christmas and discovered it needed (among other things) a new transmission.

We hummed and hawed over getting the repairs or buying a new car and when I mentioned to the dealer we may be interested in a new car, he told me he couldn't help me out there. No wonder they need a bail out!

When that happened, we decided to cut our losses and bring it to an independant garage for a 2nd opinion. He was so nice! He looked at our car and spent a lot of time diagnosing it. He called us frequently and let us know what was going on. Bottom line tough -- yes it did need a new tranny.

We were prepared for this, so we'd been looking at some new car options and decided, for now, the best thing is to keep our car and do the repairs. I love my car and am just not ready to give up on it, downsize or settle for something I don't really want. Hopefully we'll get the car back later in the week.

The boys start back at school on Tuesday. Sam told me the other day he missed his friends and wanted to go back to school. Josh is ready to go back too!

So that's pretty much up to date -- the abridged version anyway!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year! Here's to new beginnings, and a prosperous 2009!