Update

Sorry for the delay in posting -- we've been so busy lately with all the stuff going on. Here's a synopsis:

Wednesday: Brandon finally returned to school after having strep throat. There were 5 kids out of his class with what's kind of being termed around here "the fever flu." Basically, it's a high fever for a couple of days (I don't think it's really the flu, but I'm not a doctor) but nonetheless, it's going around.

Brandon had his first violin recital after school on Wednesday. They all did pretty well with no major screeches or obvious wrong notes played. Yea!

Brandon also had his first vision therapy session Wednesday night. I wondered what vision therapy would entail, so I accompanied him back to the therapy room so I could watch. One of his exercises was pretty difficult -- I was getting a headache just watching him. He had to wear glasses with one red lens and one green lens and had to read alternatively from a hand-held card and a chart on the wall. The card and chart had black letters on them and each letter was in a red or green bubble. It was quite difficult, and after reading three rows of letters alternating between the card and the chart, Brandon was starting to slow down a bit. The doctor noticed this, and told Brandon he could take a break if he needed it.

Brandon responded, "I don't need a break; I've figured this one out." The doctor asked him what he meant, and Brandon told him that when he had to read a green colored bubble, he closed the eye behind the red lens, and when he read a red colored bubble, he closed the eye behind the green lens. Evidently, the slowing down part was Brandon taking the time to close the appropriate eye. The doctor, clearly amused at this, told Brandon he was cheating. Brandon responded, "I'm not cheating -- it's strategy!"

Needless to say, I was slightly frustrated with the kid for a couple of reasons: 1. We're paying good money and spending extra time for him to have vision therapy and, darn it, he's attempting to cheat strategize his way through the program. 2. While it was slightly embarrassing to me that he freely admitted cheating to the doctor, I guess it was good that we found out early instead of him not getting any better and doing vision therapy for the next 5 years due to his cheating.

Thursday: Nothing much happened.

Friday: Nothing much happened.

Saturday: Feeling very guilty that I've waited this late to get everyone's Christmas presents (and knowing that I have to mail them), Matthew and I went shopping. Trip one: got most everyone's gifts. Got home and found out we forgot a couple people. Trip two: bought gifts for the people left out of trip one.

Then I wrapped presents for like an hour. Or more. And then I found out I had forgotten yet another present. But it being late, I decided I would wait until Sunday to finish shopping.

Sunday: Very unexpectedly, I was asked to help out in the nursery at church. I was not especially dressed for nursery duty, having worn 'dry-clean only' clothes and my boots, but I helped out anyway. Every kid in there was grouchy and fussy. I'm not exaggerating. EVERY KID. At one point, I was in the nursery alone with a crying, fussy kid (the other nursery workers had each taken a fussy kid and were walking the halls in an attempt to quiet said fussy kid) and magically, the kid's dad walked into the nursery. It was a Christmas miracle. For me, at least.

We then had lunch at church and watched the "Polar Express" movie. Neat movie. Brandon's review: "It's okay."

We went home and I decided that Matthew really needed a nap and he really needed me to take a nap with him. Of course, I had to figure out how I would finish the Christmas shopping, so I decided I'd finish up tomorrow, since the gifts wouldn't be shipped until tomorrow anyway. (Note to family: Sorry if the presents get there late. Basically, I needed a nap more than I needed to ship your presents. Hope you understand. And I hope they get there on time because I will feel really guilty if they don't. Really guilty.)

Had nap time, and that brings us to the present. I still have shopping to do (one more family gift, gifts for Chris's work party, stocking stuffers), which I plan to finish tomorrow and get the presents shipped and finally be done with all the Christmas shopping. Every year, I think, "I'm going to start shopping in October -- I'll have everything done by early December and then I'll just enjoy the holiday season." Not once has this happened. I have occasionally bought gifts early, but then I usually forget I had them stored away.

Anyway, tomorrow I'll finish up the shopping. Brandon's out of school on Wednesday, and I can't believe it's only one week until Christmas! Hope you have all of your Christmas presents bought!

Post Script: I just returned from finishing up the gift-buying and have now wrapped-tagged-packaged everything so I can swing by the UPS store tomorrow before work! Yippee!