Rockin' Christmas Eve

We had such a fun Christmas Eve. There was nothing planned, nothing we expected to do. So we did some crazy things! We had a boys vs. girls gingerbread train decorating contest. Go boys!

I mean, go girls!

Wait, what?

Gingerbread kids! Leave it to Dave...

He's SO serious!

I think these turned out pretty amazing. I would just like to say the parents were only supposed to help assemble and then the kids were supposed to decorate, but Dave seriously couldn't help himself. He was definitely the art director, if not completely hands on froster. The top is the boys and the bottom the girls. Considering the girls followed the rules, I think it turned out pretty great!

Ready for Santa! We usually watch Polar Express, but after a day of decorating, games, church, eating and running around, everyone crashed.

Skipping forward... we headed down to Dave's parent's on Christmas, and Ava loved her hat and blanket.

I couldn't resist this picture. Super cute, but man she was sweaty as all get out!

Merry Christmas to all... just a month late. :)

The pressure!

The problem with not blogging for so long is that there is so much pressure to have an amazing blog post! Ok, maybe the pressure is just me putting it on me, but still. After so long I wonder... what's worth it?

And of course the answer is everything and nothing. Days come and days go and it's all blog worthy and not blog worthy at the same time. Today I took Abby and Nolan skiing with Ryan, a friend of Nolan's. There were some ski races going on so it was packed! But still fun. Nolan and Ryan and their friend Elijah who we met up with there are DIE HARD snowboarders. They disappear for hours. Abby? Not so much. She was supposed to go with her friend Holly but unfortunately Holly was sick. Abby went some, but then she was done. Instead, I dropped her off at the bowling alley where Dave took the littles.

All day I've been doing what I can to get ready for a trip to China and India, leaving on Tuesday the 10th and coming home on the 20th. I am a procrastinator. Seriously, it's almost more of denial than it is procrastination. It's bad. But ultimately I've been sitting in this chair since about 5:00 tonight. Paying bills, returning emails, reading school updates, working and getting through work emails, scheduling out the next two weeks. It's now midnight. And you wonder why I don't get any blogging done! Abby and Ava fell asleep a long time ago, Nolan and two friends passed out on the couch about an hour ago, Dave and Buca have been snuggled up in bed even longer than that. It's just me and Max, hanging out and watching a random show.

FEBRUARY!! I have no idea how it can be February. It feels like it was just Christmas. And now I'm leaving for two weeks. And another two weeks in March. And then Dominican at the end of March. And it's April. It's APRIL! Simply ridiculous.

Ok done. I'm certain this lives up to no expectations, but at least it's an update!

Jealousy

How strange, but when I go back into my blog to find something or reference something, I am jealous of my own blog. I was sending a co-worker links to the Dominican trips, and I got stuck looking at all the posts, and the kids and how much they've grown. And how grown I thought they were then. But really I sat there and thought wow. I wish I had a blog like this. And I do have a blog like this! Well, I had a blog like this. But I don't have it anymore. And it makes me sad, but not motivated. I do write blogs in my head all the time. And I tried a voice recorder thing, which worked well, but it could only actually send small amounts to an email or other program. I couldn't copy and paste it anywhere if I talked a lot. And by a lot, I mean more than what I've already written here. That's not much. There's just always trade-offs. Write about the kids, or spend time with them? Stress about writing about the events, or take a bath and de-stress. Stay up and write, or get some sleep. There's not enough hours in the day, but even if there were more, there wouldn't be enough. A strange conundrum I think.

I really think part of this is also not knowing what to write. I kind of wanted this not just for others to keep up with us, but for the kids too. For when they get older and have kids of their own and they wonder how I kept my sanity, and they'll read the blog books and they'll realize... I didn't. I yelled and screamed and made them cry at times too. But we also had fun, and cared, and loved each other. And it all comes every day and it all comes with life. But now. Now I struggle because life isn't always great or pretty or shareable. I could write that last winter was awful. I really didn't like my job, was struggling being married, and felt that somehow, somewhere, I lost myself. I wrote that a million times in my head, but it's different typing it into a computer. Fortunately, I have a good doctor, who prescribed just a tiny amount of anti-depressants, and I got a new job, and I enjoy being married again, and all is back in its place. Except the winter thing. That seems to be coming whether I want it to or not.

And then there's Abby. She's difficult to write about because she's amazing and awesome, and anxious and OCD. Truly and diagnosed and nearly diagnosed with Tourette's as well. She gets counseling once a week, is on the same anti-depressant I am but at a higher dose, and she thinks the world just rests on her shoulders. I want to take the world off, but I can't. And it's exhausting, and difficult, and amazing that she can do all she can do with all of the worries that she has. And the acne. Dear Lord, do you write about the two large pimples that seem to have tripled in size above her lip in the week that I've been gone? Maybe I write about them but just don't post a picture??

Life is messy. I don't think I'm unique but sometimes it feels alone. Like writing this stuff makes it more real, or me a worse parent, or a worse daughter, sister, wife. But maybe it just makes me like everyone else, but because I don't write about it no one will ever know that I'm just like them because we don't talk about it.

But tonight, as I sit in my hotel room in India, I'm Thankful. I'm truly thankful for Thanksgiving next week and the break it will give me. I'm looking forward to kids doing crafts, and carrom and bounce off tournaments (be forewarned to those coming to my house for Thanksgiving!). And just time to be. And if my blog gets updated? Great. But if not... that's life.

Second time around

India this time around is interesting. I wasn't nearly as worried, and I got so much done. In that way, it was a really great week so far. But, because everything wasn't brand new, it was also not nearly as exciting. It felt more like... work. It was good work, and work I really enjoy, but it felt less like an experience. I also have kind of an icky tummy this time around as well. Nothing major, but food just doesn't appeal as much. So, I ate a lot more granola bars this time and a lot less Indian food. I still ate some, but it just didn't hold the same appeal as it did last time. Really cool thing this week... I hired my very first Kohler person, and she's in India! I guess she's my first global hire as well! She started today and her name is Kadambini. I have met her on the phone but not yet in person. She's in Pune, where I was last week, but this week I'm in Gurgaon. She'll come to Gurgaon on Wednesday so I'll actually get to meet her!  

I still think the phrases I hear and see in India are funny. When writing emails, they often say "Please do the needful." I love that. Just like I like the sign below... Inconvenience is regretted please. 

Mmmm. After landing in Pune, checking into our rooms, doing some work, and napping a bit, Amy and I grabbed some lunch. This is garlic naan, a type of Indian bread. It is yummy. Even better? Garlic cheese butter naan.  

When I got to my office, this was there. It's like I never left from last time!

The picture that Ava drew me so I didn't forget them. I kept it on my desk all week.

I always drink Diet Coke, and really this time I decided I was saving the kids. You maybe can't read this, but it says, "This carbonated water contains a mixture of aspartame and acesulfane potassium. Not recommended for children..."

The inside of the cool car that took us to work...

 And the outside...

The Pune office is located in a round building that has one central tower and two Yin Yang buildings around it. I kind of liked the shape it made as you walked up to it.

 The team celebrated a birthday the first day we were there.

 A tiny little cake for 30+ people.

 They cut (and cut and cut and cut)

 And then the manager feeds it to the birthday person. Fun... but no thank you! They all pick up a piece with their hands and eat it. I did do that part of it!

I had the really awesome opportunity to attend a stewardship event that the group in Pune was sponsoring. In Magarpatta City, the (very large) business park where the office is located, there are a lot of buildings going up. Near these buildings all of the workers live. A company called Tera Mobile Creche has established schools around these transient areas, and the Pune group went to the school, got their wishes, and then purchased them. (Think Christmas wish tree.) When I was there the groups went to deliver the gifts. The kids did so great, sitting for a very long time on the cement floor, singing a lot of songs for us, and then being patient while each child was called one by one. I got to give two kids their gifts, and it was just so much fun. 

 Awwww! Some random kid pics. Their clothes cracked me up. They had everything from uniforms to jeans to the fanciest dresses ever.

 This is Rajesh. He leads HR for one of our other groups in Pune and also leads the stewardship events.

 I love this world map. India is in the center! I don't often see world maps where the US is put to the side.

 The gifts...

 And pictures of the school.

 Chitra giving her gift to a little girl.

Ummm, it's cold at home?

This was one of my guilty pleasures of the weekend. Basically, I got up late on Saturday, then laid in bed for quite some time. I went down to breakfast, and then came back to my room and once again just laid around. I watched bad tv (it's kind of the only option) which consisted of Big Bang Theory (good tv, but repeated often), Two and a Half Men, Desperate Housewives, some old MGM movies (Little Man Tate and The Cure, which made me cry), Discovery and National Geographic. After a bit I decided to do some shopping, which was nice. I didn't get through nearly as much of the mall as I thought I would, but I certainly shopped plenty. Then I came back, ordered room service and scheduled a massage for Sunday. My room service table is below. Nachos and pad thai. Yum. After dinner, I took a bath. Quite lovely!

On Sunday I didn't sleep as late as I wanted to, but got up, went to breakfast, and then went to my massage. It was the best.massage.ever. Afterwards, she asked me what I did because all of my muscles were so tight. I blamed it on the kids. :) After the massage I headed out to the pool. Ahhhh. I had my book (I'm reading Ghandi's autobiography... fitting, don't you think?), and I took a nap in the sun. From here I went one more time to the mall, grabbed a few things and then back to my room where I read all afternoon. And took another bath. And ordered room service.

It was all very lovely. But the fact of the matter was I was happy for Monday. I'm ready to be home. I can't believe it's snowing. And while I don't want it to be cold and snowing, I feel like I've missed so much. It really wasn't that cold when I left. How can it be winter now? I just can't comprehend. And I miss these little munchkins. I think I may try to plan my trips for 1 week instead of one and a half or two. It's just a little much!