There may be a light appearing at the end of the tunnel. Don't get all excited and everyone look at once...you might scare it away...

Raiden slept until 10:40 this morning. That's when I woke him up. Brian was home for lunch and I figured it was about time. I knew he was still alive as I had been in a few times to check on him...however, it was a bit concerning that he wouldn't get out of bed. Rai was hot and uncomfortable again by noon...so I drugged him up again and he rallied. He was up all afternoon. He joined in some school work at the table. Which was painfully drawn out and frustrating - for me - kids were in fine form.

The long drawn out school work session meant I started preparing for company and getting the housework done much later than I had expected. But I managed to fit in an emergency trip to the grocery store, so there must have been a little bit of efficiency in there somewhere. I managed to vacuum up most of a dog (Nuk's blowing again..still...whatever...there's a LOT of hair coming off of that beast..constantly) and prepare a dinner for the fam. I had put on a pot of chili in the afternoon. I bought fruit for a fruit bowl. I baked cupcakes - no icing - for dessert and I managed a pot of pasta for the vegetarians. So it was an impromptu dinner for Dad's early birthday celebration...kinda thrown together, but hey, that's what we're used to.

And surprise, surprise......someone brought up Christmas plans. I'll spare everyone the sordid details...I spoke up as Brian was clearing everyone out and it was decided that I will email out the gift exchange options and we will go with the most popular option based on the responses received. So, for your viewing pleasure...here are the three-ish options we discussed...I think. But since I'm sending the email...I guess whatever I come up with is what we have to work with. Darn...sometimes I just bowl myself over with these clever ideas...

OPTION #1 - All adults will pull one name. Purchase a gift for that individual, $30 - $50...amount to be announced.
OPTION #2 - All adults will draw an item from a list (eg. Christmas ornament, socks, book or magazine, chocolate, etc.). Purchase that item for all adults. ($3 - $5 x # of adults)
OPTION #3a - All adults will purchase one general gift at Canadian Tire in an amount t.b.a. ($30 - $50). A Gift Exchange Game will be played at gift-giving time. All Canadian Tire money will be pooled and given as a door prize.
OPTION #3b - As above, but you will purchase a Candian Tire Gift for a drawn name.
OPTION #4 - Matt buys all gifts from American Eagle Outfitters. We may or may not contribute toward the expense.

As you can see, I did not incluse Lucas' idea of saving our money and going away...or his idea of gambling for gifts. Who is this gangster that Janie is going to marry??!?! lol To be fair, he did have two very good ideas...but we can't let him have too much input yet...at least not until we've sucked him in past the point of no return. When's the date, you guys...February? March??
We had barely enough daylight left today to get in a quick outing with the helicopter. No major crashes so it was a successful night. The kids, however, crashed at 8:30. I'm hoping that Rai will kick this fever soon. He is SOOO skinny! He did eat a bunch of fruit and then had toast before bed, so there's hope for him yet...He'll probably just be feeling ok...and then he'll insist on going to hockey on Thursday...which should set us back a day or so.
I'm feeling a little land locked...need to get out for a real grocery shop and up to Prescott to pick up my Stamps at Jennifer's. Nuk should go to the beauty salon too. Might be able to convince the kids to go for a road trip here in the next day or so. The only other news is that I've started the ball rolling to open a Scholastic Books account. I'm tentatively thinking about trying to set up a book club for the homeschoolers...not sure of the logistics yet...but I'm working on it. Oh, and the kids' picture appeared in this months Homeschooling Horizons magazine. That was a bit of a surprise to open the cover and see my babies starting out at me.
Oh...and I saw the soccer coach in the grocery store...he works there. I wonder if all the kids who weren't there on the last day of soccer got their trophies...I'm trying to remember all of their names...I know the girls were Megan F. and Riley H. I'm not sure of the boys though...and I'm pretty sure I threw out the team list. Oh well, at least we got a deal on the trophies.