I'm back!

Sorry for the long wait! I have been busy, busy, busy!!!

I made 12 different kinds of cookies, fudge, truffles, and candies to give away to friends and family for Christmas. Sarah, Simon, and I worked all week to get them made and assembled into pretty packages. By now, we are very tired of cookies and chocolates if you can even imagine!

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve spent with my best friend, Slavica. We made a seafood feast for dinner and watched Elf for the "bazillionth" time! My two boys can quote almost every single line from that movie now.

Then Christmas morning the kids opened their gifts and we packed the car to head to Michigan. Santa was proud of the kids this year because they wrote him a letter asking him to give some of their new toys to the kids at Pine Ridge instead of leaving them under our tree. It was a moment that a mother could only cry tears of joy about! Santa granted their request and left a note of pride and gratitude in their stockings.

Michigan was not pleasant. We did not really enjoy our visit. In fact, it may have been the most depressing 10 days of our entire year. Family drama, the slow economy, pending divorce of our dearest brother and sister-in-law, and family feuds made for a very dramatic week. 3 nights in a row we did not get to bed until 3:30am trying to comfort hurting family members. And to top it all off, I came down with the flu on our last night. If you want all the gory details, email me and I will tell you. But it isn't really appropriate for blog material. Let's just say I am happy to be back in Chicago. I am looking forward to the routine and schedule of a new semester. I have 18 credit hours, and also plan to volunteer 2 days a week at the AIC (American Indian Center). So I will be quite busy and may not have time to blog as often as I'd like to.

I have a few New Year's resolutions:
1. Lose weight (I know, every year I say the same thing...)
2. Save money, or at least spend less frivolously.
3. Take more pictures of the kids and family functions.
4. TRY to keep up with laundry and dishes daily. (I know, it will never happen. Homework + kid's clubs and sports = no time for housework!)

I have 6 awesome classes lined up for this semester:
1. Directed Readings in Anthropology (Preparing for the Pine Ridge trip)
2. Sociology - Social Problems (For student leaders of alternative break immersion trips)
3. English Literature - Human Values
4. Theology of Moral Problems - Poverty
5. Photography I
6. Psychology 101


Well, that's about it for today. Tomorrow Dr. Calcagno and I are going to Andrew's social studies class to talk about early man. Then I will go up to Dr. Amick's office to work on the Pine Ridge trip details and buy my textbooks- then come home and take down the Christmas tree. Life is back to normal - just the way I like it!