Well as you can imagine, this month’s blog (monthly is all I can get to at the moment, sorry) is not going to be a big one as November 08 will always be a crappy one.
Technically the month started off with the School Movie nights which I have to admit was a high, we raised several hundred dollars for the school PTA. The weekend was a tense one and Bruce got the phone call to come home on Sunday. I didn’t work on the Monday and put Angels orders together all day for Bruce to organize before we dropped him off at the airport in San Fran on Monday night. It was my first time driving home from the airport, let alone in the dark. So it wasn’t a fun trip, but we made it home late, around 12.30.
I worked the next day; the kids of course went to school. I worked the day then was home for the kids when they got home from school. Bruce called from Sydney, then periodically from the hospital etc.
The boys and I went through the usual weekly routine, Bruce calling when he could, he was out at the hospital etc and the calls were fragmented. He was doing well considering. On Wednesday I decided that wither way we would get on a plane on the weekend and join him. We couldn’t get a flight out until Saturday night, so when the phone call came on Thursday morning, I just had to wait. The boys wouldn’t be told until after the school week had ended.
Thursday for me was one of the longest days of my life. Paula turned up in her robe, (she’d been in Ohio with her boys seeing her step dad who has come out of remission, it’s definitely the year, I can tell you) she stayed for a little while the persuaded me to just get out and do some shopping, somewhere where people had no idea. I went out for the morning and finished the Christmas shopping to take home with me on Saturday.
The rest of the week is a bit of a blur. Friday night I had to tell the boys, Jamieson’s teacher told him that we were going home, so of course they wanted to know why. Promised myself that I wouldn’t lie to them. Bruce and I had talked about not saying anything until Saturday so they wouldn’t have to go to sleep. They took it as well as expected, as a shocking mother who had the guilt. I let them stay up until 11.00pm so they fell into bed and didn’t have any problems going to sleep. I packed and Conner didn’t leave the house for the day until it was time to go to the airport.
We arrived safe and sound and the spent the next couple of days at Tracey’s with her and kids. Bruce was up and down the highway organizing some stuff for the funeral. We got through Wednesday JUST!! The boys did worse than I expected, I think seeing Bruce that upset didn’t help them either. The 4 of us got through it together, literally!!! I was really proud of all of us.
We spent the next couple of days catching up with my family and some friends and stayed our last night with Maureen before getting into the car and off to the airport. I remember everything of those 10 days, but sometimes I wish I didn’t.
We got home and got back into the swing of things pretty quickly. The boys had to go to school for another half a day before going on holidays. Bruce hit the ground running and I dropped into work to catch up with the girls, but didn’t start back at work until Monday.
We had thanksgiving at the Rivera’s, which was a lot of fun. I spent the morning doing some cooking for dinner, and we arrived at the Rivera’s at around 2.00pm. We were in and out of the kitchen doing stuff for dinner and sat down to eat at around 4.30. The meal was very traditional, even with an adult’s table and a kid’s table. After dinner we rugged up and went through the back fence to sit around the backyard fire with the neighbors. We got home around 10.30 (frozen) It was a great day, a beautiful meal with great friends, we all had a wonderful thanksgiving (our 2nd we are old hat at it now)
The last week of the month was pretty full on for me, I went off to work and Bruce stayed home with the kids. They did some catch up homework everyday. We started basketball practice this week, so it was a hectic week. Bruce and I got a treat on Thursday night; Paula and Steve took us out to a function called the best of Sacramento, features all the best service businesses of Sacramento. Paula arranged for the Rivera’s to have the boys and we all got dressed up and had an adult’s night out. I think the last time Bruce and I did that was his birthday last year. So we had a fantastic time, a couple of drinks, lots of dancing and laughing, it was a fantastic night. It wasn’t a late night, work the next day, we got home at a very reasonable 11.00, which was late enough.
I was out the door to work at 8.00am the next morning. We had a busy weekend, understatement. Friday night I went out and did some Christmas shopping, then Saturday up and out to the grocery store at 7.30, back before breakfast, then Paula dropped off a voucher that was expiring so I went out and bought myself one of those LARGE clocks, which looks great here, but will look fabulous in the Highton house stairwell.
Back to the house and very quickly out the door to watch the end of Jeremy’s basketball game then Jamieson and Justin’s game was after that. They played really well and won. Jamieson played well, he has great athletic ability, but we just have to work on the lay up’s. He gets on the fast breaks but is having trouble finishing off. We left their game and dropped the kids off, had a quick something to eat then off to Paula’s to help her move in her new house. It was last minute thing, so it was just the 4 of us; she just wanted to get the big stuff moved. We helped from 3-6pm then picked up the boys and back for Conner’s game. What a game, they played so well, for a team of kids that played their 2nd game they have jelled really well. They won and were SOO happy about it, we played against, and let’s just say a very intense, not so nice coach. He teaches his kids lovely things like yelling in the other kids faces to put them off and how to foul without getting caught. Anyway we got home, had a quick dinner the kids got into the jammies and back to Paula’s to get some more done. We got home around 11.30, all exhausted!!!! So we all slept really well.
That was November for the Hultgren’s. Lots happened but not a lot to talk about. I hope everyone is well and gearing up for Christmas. We are heading up to Seattle for Christmas with Bruce’s friend Rich and his family, then back to Elk Grove for New Years party at Paula’s new house. So December is going to be a busy month for us, at least the last half of the month anyway.
ENJOY THE BEST TIME OF THE YEAR, and as they say here....HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!
