WA Thanksgiving Trip/Goodbye to Grandma

I feel like I have been living an alternate reality the past 3 weeks. Justin, the boys & I went to WA for Thanksgiving week. I knew my Grandma was doing poorly & that I'd likely be seeing her for the last time. We stayed at my cousin Regina's house & had a wonderful visit with many family members from Justin's side of the family & even more on my side. I did have a chance to visit with my Grandma & say goodbye to her, after Thanksgiving. I thought she probably had a bit more time left, but I knew that I would probably never see her again, alive, as I live so far away. The morning we were planning to leave to come home, my cousin came into my room to tell me our precious Grandma had died a couple hours before. Justin had bereavement time available at work, so we just stayed there to wait for the funeral. All in all, we were gone from home for about 3 weeks. It was a wonderfully bitter-sweet time. I became very close to my cousin Regina, who was an angel (as was her husband, Chris), to house 8 people....6 of whom are fun-lovin' & rowdy boys.....for almost 3 whole weeks!!!!! I think there may be a special place in heaven for her. But now we're finally home. Half of December is suddenly, mysteriously, just gone. The boys got somewhat behind in their school work. Reality is sometimes a big bucket of cold water. It's Seth & Jarod's finals week & all of the boys are catching up now....or trying to. Mama is trying not to freak out about it all & just have them do the best they can. Mama is also bribing them with King-sized candy bars at the end of the week if they work very hard. Around here, with all of our happy chaos, we do what can to get the job done, ya know? The boys have their own special way of trying to focus as well, and shut out the constant distraction of active littler brothers (see below). I have taken a break from the SweetTarts & am trying to prepare for Christmas. I am nowhere near ready. 

This is what an angel looks like, in case you were curious (the pretty one holding the less-angelic one):