Ahem. Holiday fun abounds! Holiday fun which takes me away from my computer and out being social. Also, we’ve called a moratorium on screen time for Kiernen. The YouTube and videos were making him…well, cranky. There was screaming, whining and hitting after he’d watch something - anything - but most of all when he watched what quickly became his obsession, Spongebob. So one day I’d had enough and I just said, “That’s it. We don’t watch videos anymore.” And we haven’t since. Of course, that includes me, too. So that also means I am not getting my screen time, either. Which really is a good thing, but I am so far behind on all of my internet forums, blogs, emails…I call this the process of finding a happy medium.

An amazing thing happened to me in my eating raw. I blogged about it here on my raw blog, so I’m going to send you there to read about it if you’re curious. Pretty darn cool.

We’ve got the tree up and it finally has the requisite number of lights, we just need to decorate it. Every day since Sunday we’ve woken up and declared that today will be the day we decorate the tree, and then something else happens entirely and our whole day is swept away in doing that something else plus napping plus eating lunch/dinner/etc, and then we don’t get the tree decorated. Kiernen doesn;t seem bothered, though, since the tree DOES have lights all over it.

Kiernen has been having lots of social time with his little friends lately - and as a result, so have I. His little friend Nina (name changed to protect the innocent) in particular has adopted Kiernen as her older brother and us as her other parents. She is so darn sweet, too - I’ve adopted her back. Her mother and her grandmother are both very engaging people that I love spending time with, as well, so it is ALL good. AND! They’re both getting into eating more raw food, too, so now I’ve got people to actually swap recipes with! Life is good.

He also plays with his friend Max (I’d better write these names down somewhere so I remember who I’m calling what here) a lot - they love riding bikes together, as they have identical bikes. Max’s mom is personal training me and Nina’s Mama on Saturday mornings - its a really cool setup. We workout for a bit over an hour and then just talk for like two more hours after. Sometimes MBD watched Nina while we workout, so Kiernen gets to play with her. And sometimes in a special treat Kiernen gets to play with Autumn, Max’s older sister. Kiernen adores her - she is 5, so she does pretend play with him, and puzzles, and games, too. He LOVES that, because all of his younger friends still are doing sort of parallel play and aren’t yet engaging in acting out stories or doing things cooperatively. Perhaps I ought to seek out older kids or kids Kiernen’s own age to play with more often - I’d have to go outside of Windsong to find them, though, because Autumn is one of the only ones here who fits the bill for that.

Anyway, we’re getting lots of opportunities to socialize lately with the other stay-home Mamas and kids that are here. Some are here only part-time and go to preschool the rest of the time, some have classes like music but we still manage to find lots of time to play. Which is fantastic, because Kiernen no longer has videos to occupy him, and we’re seeking other things to occupy us here during the day. I’m also looking into other things to take us outside more - other than shopping, that is.

We’re all feeling pretty darn happy lately - because did I mention that MBD is now working from home? YEP. And it pretty well rocks. His company wasn’t sure what they were doing with him for awhile, and they’d done all of these layoffs, but of course, as always, even though everyone else in his group got laid off, they kept him - because his skill was unique enough that they had no one else that could do his job.

So they finally got his contract signed to extend him until the Spring, and they might well just keep extending him or something. It’s a good time to be a contract worker, actually, since companies want to not have to commit to anyone permanently anymore. So. Not only did they extend him, but because he is the only one left from his group, he finally gets to work from home. AND! There isn’t nearly as much work for him to do as there was before, either, so he has lots of time to study or take long lunches and visit with us - or even go out shopping or whatever with us. No commute, and no more paying for Vanpool (carpooling). So we’re saving lots of money AND time every month. He gets to sleep in, and he gets to be HOME from work sooner. We’re working out the little kinks of the big change in routine, but it’s good, and we’re all loving it.

And the holiday season is upon us! Wahoo! There is a parade this Saturday, and a Kids Swap Meet, and there are Storytelling performances that we’re going to go to, and and and….so much to do! It’s the most wonderful time of the year, right?

Yep, life is GOOD!