december twenty-two

I left the kids at home this morning with my sister-in-law, her boyfriend and my nephew. I ran some errands with my mom. It was nice to get out of the house for a little bit. Being cooped up in the house is hard, especially when you are with extended family for a few days. I love my family, don't get me wrong. But it's hard to be with them 24/7 for 5 days straight. I can see myself having enough by the day before they leave.

A funny thing happened today. My friend Nathan (who is Canadian, originally from Ottawa, Ontario, whom I met in a youth group years ago) met and married an Aussie. They live in Melbourne.

He's coming over tomorrow night for supper while passing through Montreal. His parents who live in Ottawa were supposed to drop him off tomorrow night then kill some time then come back to my house to get him and then drive back to Ottawa. Nate & his wife flew in from Australia to Miami and are in Miami for a few days until tomorrow.

Anyhow, Nate just called me a few hours ago, and was like "Uhm, my parents thought I was arriving today, and just left the Dorval airport. They are heading back into Ottawa, but have winter jackets for us. Can they drop them off at your place?"

So I have their winter jackets now, and if I can get them I will go to the airport, or they'll take a taxi here tomorrow. I'm actually having them over for dinner, as well as my parents (its my mom's birthday today) as well as my in-laws (it's my step-mother-in-law's birthday tomorrow) and my brother & sister, all over for dinner tomorrow. I'm not cooking (Chinese food take-out) or doing dishes (fine china paper plates). I don't even know if I have room to feed 12 people at our dinning room table, but we'll make it work (and that's plus 3 kids) but we'll find out tomorrow! My entire family knows Nathan, as he was a good friend for years (his parents wanted us to date way back when, but Nate to me was not like that to me) and he was a groomsmen at my wedding almost 5 years ago - I was so happy he flew back for my wedding.) I have seen him & his wife once since, when Jamie & I went to their wedding in Ottawa in July 2006 when I was pregnant with Sean. They were once at my apartment in the city, but that was before my wedding, because I was already in my duplex when we got married for about 5 months.

Tonight, my sister-in-law, her boyfriend and my nephew had dinner plans. We made tacos at home for us, and then started to watch Survivor from Sunday night. We were able to get one hour into the 3 hour finale (so we still have no idea who won... so shhh!) before they got home. We were watching TV in the den, which is where my sister-in-law & her boyfriend are sleeping. My nephew has been sleeping on the floor in Sean's room.

While watching TV, I cast on a new project. I just couldn't resist. The Dream in Color Classy was calling my name. I cast on for Mara. It's a free pattern online by Madelinetosh. I will post progress pictures tomorrow.

Today is my mom's birthday. Happy Birthday mom! It was nice that I got to see her this morning, it was really nice of her to take me to run some errands. She really didn't have to spend her birthday doing them with me.