December 21, 2012

Last day of school. It was awesome. The kids had parties at school. I was a wreck because well... well we will get to that.

We decided to skip Christmas this year and do a Sub for Santa. Told the kids that they were more fortunate than others and we were not doing gifts. The kids were surprisingly okay with it. Then we told the boys in private that we were going to surprise the girls with a trip to Disneyland for Christmas. The boys went along with it. So cut to the last day of school, the day before we were going to leave and I haven't packed or frankly even thought about it. I was busy with work, and the kids, and finding a house sitter for the dog and the house.

So that night some gifts arrived in secret (Lewis). Gifts were also delivered from my parents. We told the kids that we were going to let them open the gifts from my parents and the surprise gifts too. they were down. So Abi had a gift for Lewis that he opened first: 

The boys got bush pilot hats from Alaska that my dad brought back for them from his cruise this summer.

The girls got necklaces from the Alaskan trip.

Then the gifts from Lewis, that I knew nothing about. He used the money that his dad and Grams sent us for Christmas to buy the gifts. The girls each got a nice new camera:

Jason got his favorite movie (inside was a new video game).

Adam got a nice set of headphones (to help cover up the noise in the car for the ride to California). He wanted a nice set anyway.

And there was one gift left. Lewis told me that it was for me. It was a brand new Cannon camera. (I sold my old nice camera a few months ago and wanted a new one for the trip.) He knows me so well. Thanks dear.

After the gifts were cleaned up we got the girls to bed and set to work. I packed for 6 people. The boys helped Lewis load the car topper so the girls would not know what was in the car. I cleaned the house the best I could. It was a crazy few hours and I never stopped. I set my alarm for 7 and got the last load of laundry out of the dryer at 2 am. I was almost ready. I got into bed and laid there wide awake. I was so excited to surprise the girls...