It has to stay clean!

Deanna's in the kitchen studying Social Studies with her Grandpa. She has a test on her first unit on Tuesday. Dane stayed home from school today because his asthma kicked in this morning and I was afraid it would be too hot in the classroom for him. He just woke up from a long nap and is snuggling his daddy on the loveseat. Daelyn has just managed to single-handedly destroy the den once again, and grandma is chilling in the recliner.

My in-laws arrived this morning from West Virginia. They came for the weekend since Don's birthday is Monday. I furiously cleaned yesterday, staying up until 1:00 a.m. Although I only put a dent in the messes, the dining room is clean and neat and I got all the kitchen counters cleaned off. Most of the living room is clean and everything was picked up off the den floor.

I've been busy all day. I started out the day with a trip to the Allergist for my weekly shots and returned to find Grandma and Grandpa here. We visited for a while, then I decided I better get started on dinner. As I began dinner preparations, I realized it was lunchtime, so I needed to pull that together. After lunch, I had to get Daelyn down for his nap and then Grandma and I ran to the grocery store. I did some cleaning in the kitchen and it was time to pick up Deanna from school. Now I'm trying to convince Don to take the kids to the hotel where G & G are staying for a nice swim in the pool. I figure while he's gone, I can get a little more cleaning done.

I love it when my in-laws visit. Not only are they wonderful people who love and appreciate Don and me and our children, but it also is a great way to ensure my house gets cleaned every now and then. Unfortunately, they don't visit near often enough.

Don and I have been asked to put together a Colonial American booth for a local Christmas Festival. We will need to prepare costumes for all the people working in the booth, make and sell authentic period crafts, make and sell authentic period baked goods, make and sell a dinner meal that meets the same criteria, decorate, arrange for some type of authentic entertainment - skit, play or activity - to be performed hourly during the 4-5 hour festival, and prepare vignettes that display life activities during that time period. We have two months to pull this together.

Obviously, I'm like a crazy person. We seriously considered whether or not we would be able to pull this off and still manage Christmas for our own family, but Don felt like I had a vision for it and I had already done a pile of research about crafts, customs, dress and food in Colonial Virginia, not to mention that we've visited Colonial Williamsburg as a family and I've been there several times by myself.

We are just on the brink of embarking in a huge task and are praying we won't drown in the task before us. I told Don to enjoy the house being clean and neat - it may be the last time it is until after Christmas!!