It’s 10pm on Thursday night – the Eve of Christmas Eve. Ben took Benji to go see “A Christmas Carol” at the Hale Center Theater and they are still gone. I put the kids to bed but Rose just wants to be held. She screams if I put her down but snoozes happily if I’m holding her… I just want to hold her. Sometimes after putting the other kids to bed I hold Rose the rest of the evening and we fall asleep together – I don’t like being that unproductive at night but I LOVE holding this little baby. On Tues and Weds I read a book and the whole time I read I held her – I love baby stage.

I just went up to check on Packer and he is wide awake – this is the guy that usually hits the pillow and is asleep within 5 minutes but he said that he is waiting for Benji to get home so that he can sleep. How cute is that? I love this little family.

Before bed I took some time to really play with Cali and Packer since they knew Benji and Dad went to do something fun. We played animals in Cali’s room – pretending to eat and sleep and swim… Cali loves the pretending to eat part which is awesome cause she’s gonna love her Christmas present :). Then we moved to Packers room at his request and continued the fun with more animals. It was a simple 30-45 minutes but I could tell that my kids loved the attention. I used to “play” more often, then they started playing better with each other and I always have something else to do BUT I want to make “playing” a priority again.

Benji and Ben are home! Excitement is in the air. They are talking about the Door Knocker on the way in – I’m sure that is just one of many questions that Benji will have as he processes the play. Good Night.