This weekend was one long marathon for both Shane and I starting on Friday night. Despite being completely exhausted by the time Sunday night rolled around, we had a great weekend.
Friday evening, we both volunteered at the NEST shelter at church along with my 3rd and 4th Grade students. NEST stands for Norfolk Emergency Shelter Team and is a program that involves churches rotating weeks from December to early March that they open their doors to our less fortunate neighbors and providing them with dinner, a warm place to sleep and breakfast the next morning. It was a wonderful sight to see my young students serve in the shelter and interacting with our visitors. They really are wonderful kids. Saturday morning Shane and I got up early and headed to the Naval Hospital for our "Prepared Childbirth" class. We learned a lot and now are both a lot less scared of Trevor's actual arrival. We got to tour the labor & delivery decks as well as the mother/baby unit there at the hospital--after seeing all of that we realized how lucky we are to be delivering there at Portsmouth Naval. The facility is amazing and everyone working on the deck seemed really friendly, helpful and caring. Saturday night, Shane helped serve at the shelter again with our 5th grade and Middle School students while I worked up in my office getting ready for Sunday's big events. Sunday morning, I was up early to get to work for 8am, after to Masses, religious education and children's church I was able to take a quick breath before the big event for the day. To help raise money for our new building, I have spent the past few months putting together a tile fundraising event for the parish....Sunday was the actual tile painting day from 4-7. It went amazingly well and everyone had a great time. I can't wait to see all the tiles once they are glazed and fired and ready to go up on the wall in our new building!
just some of the 140+ tiles that were painted Sunday afternoon!
By the time we got home on Sunday night, I had clocked in a 12 hour day at work and was completely exhausted. By 9:30 I was passed out in bed.......a long weekend, but a great weekend.
Makenzie was such a big helper!
My mom and Heather
Izabel fit right in the big bag...and then wanted to get right out!
Michelle, baby Blair and I
After opening presents the entire family headed to my Aunt Sharon's house for Christmas brunch. It was the first time in a very long time that the entire family had been together for the holidays--absolutely wonderful! Later that evening, everyone met back up together at my Aunt Carol's house for Christmas dinner. The kids had a wonderful time hanging out and even had a Christmas pinata. On Friday all the boys (Shane, Uncle Dino, Connor, Tyler, my dad and brother Chris) went bowling for my dad's birthday while all the girls (me, my mom, Aunt Carol and Grandmother) headed out to do a little shopping. That evening everyone came back to Aunt Carol's to celebrate my dad's birthday. On Saturday, Shane and I took Connor and Tyler to see Bedtime Stories. After the movie we headed back to the house and my Aunt Carol suprised me with a family baby shower.
We got tons of clothes and blankets for baby Trevor. We are so blessed with such a generous family and are so thankful for all of their thoughtful gifts. Early Sunday morning, Shane and I packed up the car and headed back home. Thankfully, the trip back this time was nowhere near as traumatic as the 15 hour trip home from Thanksgiving.