Life As Kate (32)

Hello everyone! I hope you’ve all had a fantastic week! Here’s what went down in the life of Kate:

Last Saturday, the family went to the Christmas tree farm! We make a trip every year, the whole entire family. This year however, Andrew had to stay home with a busted up ankle. At first I felt so bad but then we got to the tree farm and Zack & Zeke proceeded to throw a slew of hissy fits and before long, I was envying Andrew. Zack and Zeke got upset by just about anything and everything. At first it was because earlier in the day we told Zeke that if he continued to be bad, Santa would put him on the naughty list. It just so happens that Santa was at the tree farm that particular day and Zeke was none too happy. After that it was a family argument over which type of tree we were getting and once that was settled we all had to agree on the actual tree. This proved to be much more difficult than one would think so we ended up leaving with two trees. By the time we got the trees selected, it was time for hot cocoa and donuts. Again, one would think this would be an easy task but after hearing an all-out brawl between my brothers about who would get what treat in the store, I’ve changed my mind on the easiness of this otherwise mundane task. After surviving the tree farm (just barely) I had to go into work. It was a pretty uneventful night as far as work goes but it got me out of the chaos otherwise known as my family.

Sunday started off pretty good. Everyone was lounging around, slowly putting up Christmas decorations and untangling Christmas lights. All was happy until it was time to take the family Christmas picture. It was at this time that Zeke threw one heck of a major meltdown. All of us kids climbed into my dad and stepmom’s bed, pretended to read a Christmas book, and ignored the fact that Zeke was screaming and crying the ENTIRE TIME. My stepmom managed to snag one good picture but Zeke’s meltdown during the picture-taking session led to her meltdown after the picture-taking session. After that whole ordeal was finished, I started baking for the potluck we were having at work that night while we reset the store. I am kind of weirded out to admit this but by this time I was happy to be going into work for the night! Half of our staff ended up being out sick so only 5 of us were left to clean and straighten the entire store, not to mention eat all of the food!

After next to no sleep, I had to get up for classes on Monday. My classes ended up being super easy because I didn’t have a single thing due in English and we were finished with the tough stuff in Geography until this coming week. Monday night the family went to Bronner’s, a Christmas store in the next town over that is HUGE and full of all things Christmas. It was fun to walk around, look at all of the decorations, and of course the Cold Stone ice cream we got afterwards wasn’t too bad

Since I had Tuesday off, I worked all day long to put a poster board together for my English class. After hours spent cutting everything out for my poster, I took a much-needed break to go out to eat with Kati and make a small trip to the mall. It wasn’t much but we ended up having a blast! However, I probably should have thought about all of the work I had left to do because I ended up staying up until 3 putting the finishing touches on my poster for my presentation the next day.

When Wednesday morning rolled around, I was reminded again why I hate group projects so much. Apparently one of the girls in my group found out over the weekend we would not be presenting until Monday…AS IN NEXT MONDAY! So I stayed up all of that extra time for absolutely no reason at all. It’s safe to say I was a complete grumpy butt the rest of the day.

Thursday I had a day off from work and school. Instead of finishing up my homework like I should have done, I decided to clean my room. I tend to clean when stressed, overwhelmed, upset, angry, or when I’m procrastinating. It relaxes me plus I was feeling a little mix of all of those feelings on Thursday. Even though no homework got done, my room finished off the day by looking absolutely spotless!

Friday was yet another day off and it ended up being pretty darn fantastic (for the most part). I chit-chatted with my stepmom throughout the morning, my cousin Sara stopped by for a visit with her foster dog (who was absolutely ADORABLE), I finished up a super cute book, I got through some old emails, I helped babysit my brothers, visited with my other cousin who stopped over on her way home from college, decorated a gingerbread house, ate delicious pizza, and watched cheesy holiday Hallmark movies until the wee hours of the morning. My day however great it may have been going, was tainted with the heartbreak I felt hearing the news of the Connecticut school shooting. I won’t say much about it because really, words fail to come to me at the moment but it’s safe to say I hugged my brothers a little bit tighter that night and I am still praying for those touched by these tragic events.

Now that it’s Saturday, I’ve got quite the day planned. I will be starting off my day with a Christmas party for my real mom’s side of the family. Not only just aunts, uncles, and cousins, but also great aunts, great uncles, and second & third cousins. There are SO many of us that are going to be there. This side of my family is incredibly loud and obnoxious (Regardless of how quiet and shy I may come off at first, I definitely carry these loud & obnoxious characteristics with me. I blame genetics), so I plan to take an aspirin before I even get there. Directly following the Christmas party I have work. Fun times, fun times. This next week is going to be crazy with finishing up school and trying to get that last-minute Christmas shopping done but I am incredibly excited! I hope you all have a fan-tabulous weekend!

PHOTOS OF THE WEEK:

The first picture is the one good picture my stepmom managed to take of us kids. The second two, us kids had absolutely no idea about. We were all kind of shocked & highly amused to find those last two pics on our family Christmas card!