Getting back on track after the holidays

Well, we had a terrific Christmas.  The kids got a lot of stuff and plenty of activities to do.  The Tuesday before Christmas we went downtown and Johnny had his turn to see Santa.  It was funny.  When he was told it was his turn he broke out into a run onto Santa's lap.  It surprised everybody but, hey, keeps us on our toes, right?  The got to ride the carousel and check out the big Christmas tree and the Macy's Star and the Macy's trains.  On Christmas Eve we went to my brother Chris's house and got to see the extended family that lives in the area.  The cousins always like to play together.  The kids went to bed late that night but they slept in till 8 am (which is a record by the way).  Both got lots of cool stuff.  We took down the tree two days later partly because we put everything up early this year and we needed the room to get the new stuff settled.  We moved the play kitchen back into the living room and put all Holiday's 'Bunny House' stuff in her room so she can keep it together.  I still need to go through the toys and their bedrooms to purge out anything we don't need anymore.  I'm kind of in the middle of several projects.  One of which is deep cleaning the kitchen.  I just didn't realize how much it needed it until I was on a ladder inches away.  Thank God for Mr. Clean erasers. I'll be marching from room to room as needed till it's done.  I'm starting to set up again for another round of canning, this time applesauce.  I'm also planning my garden, what to plant from seed in the greenhouse, what I want to start as seedlings, when to replace the greenhouse, etc.  It changes every year.  Johnny had a cold but he's better.  Holly's been a little sniffly but it doesn't seem bad.  I've had a touch of something since last Wednesday but I think I'm on the downhill side of it now.  It's not bad except for the congestion.  I'm trying to establish a committed schedule for working out, it's all about balancing everything.  But we're all back in the swing of work/school/daycare again, getting back into a rhythm before the Boat Show starts (ack!).  Unfortunately we've had a loss for David's side of the family.  John Hack, dad to David's best friend Dan growing up, passed away over the Christmas break.  David drove back to his home town of Goldendale for the memorial service.  The journey went well enough for him, but funerals can be kind of tough to get through, especially when they play Taps (John was a Viet Nam war vet).  The kids and I stayed home and rode the bus for dance class.