It's that time of year again....Christmas Bazaar time!

I've gotta give Gene credit here.  Every year we make the rounds of several Christmas Bazaars.  Gene is usually one of the only guys at these--besides the priests, ha ha.  Usually they are held the first day of deer season but this year they were a week early.  Anyway, he has to give up most of his day to drive us around, get the boys in and out of the van, and traipse around crowded church halls looking at Christmas things and mostly girly stuff--and he doesn't complain.  So, thank you, dear.  I really look forward to our tradition each year.

We headed out later than normal since we had the boys last night.  Casey was a PERFECT sleeper.  He didn't ask to be flipped once.  And, he didn't complain or even notice whenever I got in and out of bed and smooshed his feet :)   Colin, on the other hand, was a rotten sleeper.  He was restless and then the Trilogy started beeping for 'disconnect.'  He was using the Mirage FX mask and sometimes the side cave in and it leaks.  After a bunch of times getting up and fixing the mask, I finally swapped it out with the Wisp and he slept better.

I went up to bed for an hour or so this morning after getting up early, letting the dog out, feeding the dog, feeding the cats, giving the boys morning meds and starting the dishwasher...I try not to wake up too much while I do all that so I can fall asleep pretty quickly and it works :)

Nancy H came at 9:00.  Let the boys have a morning movie--Elf.  Then it was time to get the boys up and washed and dressed and in their chairs.  Aunt Chris came here to ride with us.  And we headed out.  Gas, ATM and finally we were ready for the bazaars.

We hit the Holy Family bazaar at the rec center first.  Maybe next year the new hall will finally be finished...Found a couple of books for the boys.  Colin picked out some sort of angel for me but I won't know which one until Christmas!  I found a pretty Christmas wreath pin for 50 cents.  Got some raffle tickets, some baked goodies and we were off to the next one.  Oh, Casey was very cooperative and did not 'yell' so that was a bonus.

Next we went to the Congregational Church.  Judy, Aunt Chris's friend was working the door so it was nice to be greeted by someone we know.  They have the nicest people at this church--everyone is so nice and accommodating.  I think the building used to be a house and it is very cool, unless you're in a wheel chair or can't use the stairs.  Lots of different levels and little rooms everywhere.  We were able to fit one boy and two of us on the first elevator.  The second one was a little trickier as it's very tiny.  Gene got Casey in and sent him down by himself--don't worry--it's kind of an open elevator and there are only about 5 stairs right next to the elevator.  He thought it was cool.  We didn't think we could get Colin on it since his chair is so long so we left Gene with Colin while we checked out some of the other rooms of crafts and food.  After a little while we see Colin and Gene laughing and snickering because he got him in the elevator!  Colin loved it--he was very excited that he got to go in it by himself and that he had to sit WAY up--like he never does.  Found a couple of goodies.  Got a gift for Aunt Julia.  Colin loved the ride up the elevator again.  I wish I had my camera with me.  We NEVER sit him up like that and boy, does he look big!!

Then we went to Saint James.  We didn't bring the boys in.  Two was enough for them (although Colin really would have liked to go but he was in front of Casey in the van).  Alaina wasn't there this year with her mosaic cards but it was a nice time anyway.  They have the best raffle baskets there.  We've won one or two before and hope we're lucky again this year.  We were there pretty late so we were able to snag some cookies for 25 cents each, yum!

Headed home after that.  Tuckered out.   Crazy because we only went to three bazaars  but it's a lot of work and stress with the boys--physically having to get them in and out, pushing them up ramps, over thresholds and trying to avoid running into people and things.  Mentally worrying about sick people, worrying that the boys would be stared at, etc.  But that's part of daily life living with SMA.

Chilled out for the rest of the afternoon.  Google mapping, football on the ipad, scary shows and X-Factor.