Day 6 of our Advent Calendar

Alas, it is true, you cannot believe everything you read on the internet. That includes my statement that I would blog each day of the Advent Calendar, but alas, 6 days in and I have failed already. Frankly, that's about 4 days longer than I thought it would take--so, yay me! The reason I am a day late, is because our activity was in the evening and when I got home we needed to get the kids to bed and I needed to visit with my husband. So really, I was just being a good wife, and those of you that know me, also know I would never be one of those bloggers who are blogging at 4 am in order to get their post up. Nope, nothing besides a crying child would have me up at 4 am. I have zero dedication to anything besides sleep at that hour. Seriously, how do people have that kind of energy? I really wish I didn't need sleep as much as I do. On a typical night, I try to stay awake, but I end up sound asleep half way through whatever show we're watching, wake up, mumble to Bill not to delete the episode, and stagger up to bed. And it's only 10:00. Let's blame my allergy medication, shall we?

Anyway, now that I have ruined any illusion that you may have of my glamorous life, I will move on. So today's Advent Activity was to go to McDonald's Playland with my friend Heidi and her three boys, Trenton, Calvin, and Max. We were meeting for dinner, and I, selfishly, wanted to visit with Heidi instead of helping Brendan climb down from the giant tunnels, so he stayed home with Papa and was in bed before we got home. Papa told me they had a lovely evening eating waffles and watching Mickey Mouse.

Now that Heidi and my kids are getting older, it's harder to get together for playdates because of school schedules. Heidi lives about 40 minutes away, so this was perfect to meet halfway and in the evening. The kids had a BLAST and I loved catching up with her. She and I met at work. I will never forget the day that I met her. I hadn't officially started, but my new boss invited me to the company's quarterly lunch. My boss left me at the table by myself while she checked on the lunch setup. Again, if you know me, you know that I am a total introvert that works at being an extrovert. So I was absolutely terrified inside, but tried not to show it. Later, my boss told me, she left me by myself in order to see how I interacted with employees, because I was going to be in HR. Heidi came up to me and introduced herself and told me she used to work for United Airlines, which is where I had recently worked as well. I was beyond thrilled that she saved me from looking completely pathetic and alone. I took this opportunity to latch onto her and probably didn't let her leave until lunch was served and mingling time was over. I do that, just so you know, if we are ever at a function and I don't know anyone--the first person that is nice to me will not be able to get rid of me.

Heidi and I really bonded, though, during our pregnancies. She was pregnant with Trenton while I was pregnant with Faith. We even went to an ultrasound together. We both volunteered at the local community college ultrasound program. I was about 10 weeks, I think, and she was about 20 and was on the fence about finding out the gender :) She was there for me when we lost Faith, and was incredibly excited for me when we became pregnant with Rori. We have celebrated each other's babies and encouraged each other through motherhood, weightloss, and life in general. So, thank you, Heidi, for coming up to me and talking to me that first day! I will never forget it!

Max, Liam, Calvin, Trenton, and Rori

Please excuse the quality of the picture. Halfway to McDonald's, I realized that I forgot my camera, so I had to take a picture with my phone. I don't have a very good phone--it cost a penny and doesn't have internet so I had to text the picture to my dad, who emailed it to me--we have not yet joined this century as far as cellphone technology  :) Thanks Dad!