False Start

For the last two weeks I've been complaining to everyone that I had to read a novel over Christmas break; it was for a class I'm supposed to have on Mondays. Unfortunately my professor emailed us last night to let us know that she has a bad cold and no voice, so class was cancelled for today. The funny thing is I actually feel a little bad, because trying to plan a once-a-week class is hard enough without having to cancel, especially on the first day of school. I was still glad for the reprieve. Today was cold and rainy so I stayed inside for most of the day. It was a good excuse to make some homemade bread, and I made homemade chocolate pudding for our Family Home Evening treat (I had to use up the half and half we had in the fridge--can you tell how well our diet plan is going this year?). It turned out to be a very nice day; Little Dude took a rare nap this afternoon and the kids were mostly pretty well-behaved. We had a fun Family Home Evening and a tasty dinner to top off the night. But the cutest thing happened at bedtime. For the last few months we've been in the habit of putting S-Boogie down for the night in our room and then transferring her to her own bed after she's asleep. This helps the kids fall asleep faster because they don't stay up bothering each other. Vacation got our routine all out of whack and the kids have been staying up and partying each night for the last few weeks. School's back in session and we need quiet, so after a half hour of partying tonight I went in to separate them. Little Dude was fine for about ten minutes, but then I heard some terribly heart-broken crying from his room. When I went in he was asking for his sister and said he needed her in the room. I could not calm him down (he was pretty tired by this point), but thankfully S-Boogie had fallen asleep and we could transfer her to the room easily. He immediately calmed down and I'm pretty sure he's asleep now. They're nearly three years apart in age and spend a lot of time during the day fighting with each other, so I'm glad when I get to see that they really do care about each other. I just hope she doesn't end up sleep-deprived because her little brother won't let her go to sleep peacefully in another room.

Also, I have to put in a plug for making your own pudding from scratch. It's not that hard and tastes way better than that instant stuff (yes, I am a food snob). I don't make it very often, but when I do it's hard to resist eating the entire pan myself. And you really must use the half-and-half because pudding is not supposed to be low-fat.