Firefighter of the Year!

Last night was the annual Firefighter Christmas Party. They throw a nice sit down dinner party at a fancy hotel about 45 minutes from here, and then the firefighters and usually spouses head downstairs to the pub for drinks and dancing. I opted out last night since we have yet to leave all five kids with a sitter for the whole bedtime routine, and trying it out for the first time when we're 45 minutes away didn't feel right to me. So while I was home putting everyone to bed, my wonderful, volunteer firefighter husband was being surprised with the Firefighter of the Year award! He's still relatively new to the crew, but the chief said all kinds of nice things about his leadership and such. One older firefighter said that when he arrives for a fire call, he checks out who all has responded to the call, and if Jason is there, he knows everything will be okay. I couldn't agree more! Congratulations Firefighter of the Year. :)

And snowboarding season officially started today which means I am holding down the fort solo every Saturday and Sunday from now until mid-April unless I feel ambitious and cart the whole circus along for the hour long car ride for a day at the mountain. We will do that sometimes, but the weather has to be relatively decent and the snow at least so-so to make bringing the whole gang worth the effort. Today, for example, only a tiny bit of the high country stuff was open and sketchy at best, nowhere to teach a never ever like Princess Eee. After Christmas, we'll all get on the snow assuming it doesn't turn to rain again. The yard is finally all white and beautiful after some fluffy big flakes today. We needed it to cover all the extension cords from the Christmas lights.

Luckily for my first full Saturday of hanging with the youngers, the girls got along great! They played house for hours. The Spark was the mom, Princess Eee was the big sister, and, of course, Cupcake was the baby when she was cooperating. They tried to make me the grandmother, but I convinced The Spark to let me the cool aunt instead. They also got to watch Cinderella since both brothers were gone with J which is the only time the girls get to watch something purely girly. And I managed to sew three skirts (Princess Eee ONLY wants to wear skirts right now and she only has two that fit her, so now she has more), bake brownies, run the dishwasher twice, fold 5 loads of laundry, and watch the fairy godmother part of Cinderella. Don't you all go thinking that life is easy as pie around here and I can ignore the chidren and be Holly Homemaker all day. It was just SO MUCH smoother today than it has been since Cupcake came home (yep, never really smoothed out much before Princess Eee joined us too) that I took advantage of it to get some stuff done and therefore I feel like bragging about it. Also, between every peaceful moment there were plenty of Cupcake moments. One tantrum after another today. We are out of Yogurt Squeezers; the world must be ending! Princess Eee got to hold the mixing bowl for the brownies; Cupcake's life is a disaster! Seven times brushing her hair was plenty, and she wasn't allowed to take the brush to bed with her; look out world, Cupcake wants that hairbrush! Yes, several knock down drag outs today. Screaming & spitting (that's her new tactic). She is a handful. But in between, she was so sweet saying Thank You for things without being prompted. Sharing with her sisters without being reminded. Snuggling up with me after each freak out and just melting there soaking up some love. She is a piece of work for sure.